Mupen64Plus Next 2.0 – 64DD Support, Angrylion and GlideN64 in one build, Parallel RSP support, and Android!

Libretro Team



What a massive release we have for you today! M4xw has been really delivering the goods now and we’re pleased to release Mupen64plusNext 2.0 today. This release would not be as significant as it is today without the combined efforts of LuigiBlood, Gillou, Fzurita and Themaister.

The latest version is now available on Android, Linux, Windows, and Libnx (Switch)! Updating to the latest core is as easy as starting RetroArch, going to Online Updater, and selecting ‘Update Installed Cores’. If you have not installed the core yet, instead go to Online Updater and select ‘Mupen64 Plus Next’ or ‘Mupen64 Plus Next GLES3’ from the list.

64DD support


Previously, only Parallel N64 had 64 Disk Drive support, courtesy of LuigiBlood. Work on it was left rather incomplete though.

Mupen64Plus Next now has a new implementation that LuigiBlood feels more comfortable with. Currently the way that you load 64DD content with Mupen64 Plus Next is completely different from how you do it on Parallel N64.

First, you need a BIOS file. Make sure the file ‘IPL.n64’ is located in your /Mupen64plus directory.

You can either use the subsystem for 64DD, or you can name the disk image the same as the ROM including extension.

If you need to load a specific cart with the Disk image, that would be: “homebrew.n64” and “homebrew.n64.ndd” then Load Content “homebrew.n64”.

Zelda 64: Dawn & Dusk - unofficial 64DD expansion game to OOT
Zelda 64: Dawn & Dusk – unofficial 64DD expansion game to OOT
64DD had an exclusive Sim City version, called Sim City 64
64DD had an exclusive Sim City version, called Sim City 64

Angrylion and GlideN64 in same build!

Previously, Mupen64Plus Next only had GLiden64 as an RDP graphics option, and only ParaLLel N64 had Angrylion.

Now, Mupen64Plus Next has both, and allows you to choose between them. To do so, go to Quick Menu -> Options, and change RDP Mode. Angrylion is a low-level software-rendered accurate renderer, while Gliden64 is a high-level emulation OpenGL renderer.

Angrylion is the most accurate the graphics are going to get with an N64 emulator – and it can be made relatively fast now thanks to the multithreading capabilities of Angrylion RDP Plus, as well as the Parallel RSP dynarec. You cannot internally change the resolution with Angrylion beyond what the N64 was capable of.

Gliden64 on the other hand takes a more pragmatic approach and emulates the RDP with a high-level approach. It is an OpenGL renderer. You can upscale the graphics, and there is a wide array of settings to tweak.

Most regular people will probably be satisfied by Gliden64 and HLE RSP, and indeed, for many platforms, that might be the only feasible way of attaining fullspeed. But Angrylion definitely fulfills a niche for those that want a more accurate portrayal of N64 graphics – and combined with an upscaling shader, it can still look remarkably good.

Parallel RSP support

Parallel RSP saw its first debut in ParaLLel N64, and now we have it backported to Mupen64Plus Next as well! Read our articles here and here for more information on Parallel RSP.

Parallel RSP is a Low-Level RSP plugin that serves as a replacement for Cxd4. You can use it in combination with Gliden64 and/or Angrylion. With Angrylion you are pretty much required to use either Parallel RSP or Cxd4 as your RSP plugin, HLE RSP won’t work. Cxd4 is an interpreter RSP plugin while Parallel RSP is a dynarec RSP plugin. Parallel RSP should be noticeably faster across the board than Cxd4.

You might see better performance with Mupen64plus Next and Angrylion/Parallel RSP vs. ParaLLEl N4, because Mupen64Plus Next uses the New_dynarec CPU core. ParaLLEl N64 instead uses the Hacktarux dynarec CPU core, which can be a tad bit slower.

NOTE: You can also use Parallel RSP in combination with Gliden64. While HLE RSP has made significant strides in emulating the vast majority of known RSP microcodes, there might still be some microcodes that have either not been reversed at all or were not accurately reversed. In this case, an LLE RSP plugin is always an option, and Parallel RSP ought to be the faster one of the two options.

Angrylion + Parallel RSP on Android – approaching fullspeed on high end phones?

50fps with Super Mario 64 on a Galaxy S10+ - RetroArch Mupen64Plus - Angrylion - Parallel RSP
50fps with Super Mario 64 on a Galaxy S10+ – RetroArch Mupen64Plus – Angrylion – Parallel RSP

Angrylion is now available as an option for both Parallel N64 and Mupen64plus Next on Android.

Mupen64plus Next definitely has a performance advantage over Parallel N64 when it comes to Angrylion. Tests have shown that the first area in Mario 64 gets about 50-51fps on a Samsung Galaxy S10+ American Snapdragon version and 40/45fps on a Samsung Galaxy S10+ European Exynos version.

Will the next generation of phones be capable of pulling off Angrylion at fullspeed? It’s certainly a tantalizing prospect!

NOTE: There might be several ways you have to ‘nudge’ your Android device to get the best performance out of Angrylion/Parallel RSP. Some things you can try:

– Enable ‘Sustained Performance Mode’. If you find it helps with the framerate, leave it on. If not, disable it.
– Enable ‘Disable Expansion Pak’. It might result in a small performance boost for games that don’t support the Expansion Pak.
– Go to Quick Menu -> Options. VI Overlay can have an additional performance impact on the framerate. ‘Filtered’ is the most demanding option while ‘Unfiltered’ should be fastest.
– Go to Quick Menu -> Options. ‘(AL) Multi threading)’ is set to ‘all threads’ by default, but in case for whatever reason the software does not make the right core determination, you might want to set the amount of cores manually here. Base this number on the amount of CPU cores that your Android device has.

Angrylion + Cxd4
Performance results – LG G8X and Samsung Galaxy S10+ (Snapdragon)

Angrylion + Parallel RSP
Performance results – LG G8X and Samsung Galaxy S10+ (Snapdragon)

HLE RSP improvements – HVQM support

The HVQM RSP microcode has now been implemented for HLE RSP (thanks to the combined efforts of CrashOveride and Gillou). In the past, the FMVs for Pokemon Puzzle League would only show up if you used Angrylion and an LLE RSP plugin. Now the graphics glitches in Pokemon Puzzle League and Yakouchuu II should be gone! This means that you can now use the GlideN64 renderer for these games as well.

Difference between ParaLLel N64 and Mupen64Plus Next

Available plugins Mupen64Plus Next: Gliden64, Angrylion

Available plugins Parallel N64: Glide64, Parallel RDP, Rice, GLN64, Angrylion

In Mupen64Plus Next’s favor – it is based on a much more recent mupen64plus-core version than Parallel N64, and thus has benefited from years of fixes and architectural improvements. It also uses the New_dynarec CPU core on Windows/Linux/Mac. It is a bit faster than the Hacktarux dynarec from Parallel N64.

There are also currently some disadvantages. The sound is currently crackly with some games like Doom 64 and Quake 64. There are currently some experiments being explored to deal with these issues.

64DD support right now is implemented completely differently in both cores.

Changelog

  • 64DD support (works through the subsystem menu)
  • Angrylion and GlideN64 are now inside the same build – you can switch inbetween them
  • HLE and LLE RSP support – with LLE your choices are between cxd4 [Interpreter] and Parallel RSP [Lightning/Lightrec dynarec]
  • Parallel RSP support for the first time in Mupen64 Plus Next
  • Available on Android with all of the above!
  • The latest HLE RSP improvements – HVQM support – Pokemon Puzzle League FMV support works now with HLE RDP renderers like GlideN64
  • Mitigation for SPECIAL_INT on downcounter flip – fixes freezes in Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
  • Killer Instinct Gold now works with Angrylion + LLE RSP

RetroArch 1.7.8 (v3) released + big core updates! (bsnes HD, Flycast, Android, etc)

Libretro Team

RetroArch 1.7.8 was a very ambitious release, and as a result, it is taking some time to iron out some of the kinks. Instaed of leaving you waiting for a month again to fix some crucial bugs, we’d rather release these point fix releases first instead so that we leave you with a rock-solid 1.7.8 in the end while we then shift our focus and attention to 1.7.9.

In light of that, we are releasing version 3 right now, which will be especially beneficial for Mac users. The future-proof Metal Mac version should now work flawlessly on Macs with an AMD graphics card (they previously produced heavy graphics glitches inside the menu). It has just been released! Grab it here.

If you’d like to show your support, consider donating to us. Check here in order to learn more.

For all other details surrounding version 1.7.8, we refer you to our original article here.

Changes

  • GLCORE: Ensure correct scaling of menu texture (with RGUI)
  • IPS: Soft-Patch any IPS size
  • METAL: Fix overlay issue – setup correct viewport before rendering overlay
  • METAL/STB: Fix font driver issue with AMD GPUs on MacOS.
  • MENU/RGUI: Correctly rescale menu when resizing window if aspect ratio lock is enabled.
  • OSX: Remove OSX suffix in window title
  • PSP: Fix audio conversion code
  • REMAPS: Fix analog remapping regression -analog remapping would break controls

bsnes HD – Released for Windows/Linux/Android, and soon iOS and Mac!

bsnes HD should now be available on Linux, Windows and Android for RetroArch users! It’s based on the latest version of bsnes, and it should be significantly faster than previous bsnes versions.

In this video, we show you some of the HD Mode 7 features that are unique to this version. They make for a fairly significant difference overall as we’re sure you’ll agree!

This core is not fully complete yet and might still have some omissions. Also, the ‘bsnes HD’ name is temporary, and we will be doing some house cleaning of the various bsnes cores we are maintaining soon. The plan is to have an improved Core Updater in later RetroArch versions that allows for better categorization and filtering in the future so that users can more easily manage their cores.

On Android for the first time!

This is the first time the latest version of bsnes will appear on Android, courtesy of Libretro/RetroArch! Our core version of this is called bsnes HD, and you can grab it from the Core Updater right now! Just make sure to update the core info files first (by going to Online Updater, then selecting ‘Update Core Info Files’). bsnes HD should be a fair bit faster than the other bsnes cores already available, plus it has enhanced overclocking features and the acclaimed HD Mode 7 features.

In this video you see it running on a Samsung Galaxy S10+ (Exynos model) with 3x HD Mode 7 scaling applied, and it runs at fullspeed all the way.

User and contributor harakari has reported that he can run HD Mode 7 at 4x scaling and still have games run at fullspeed on his iPhone XS Max, so if anything, expect even better performance on high-end iDevices!

Flycast – WinCE core now 30% faster on average and sound improvements!

The FlycastWinCE version should now be 30% faster on average for non-Windows CE games! We have figured out a way to have the Windows CE code additions no longer affect the main performance of the emulator. For that reason, after we have ironed out some of the final kinks, you can expect there to be only one Flycast core moving forward. On top of that, flyinghead has really gone to town with some much needed audio improvements on the AICA and DSP side. Witness this long standing audio sample bug that is now finally fixed with the game Resident Evil: Code Veronica. This and many other sound bugs (such as the audio samples continuing to be repeated during the battle loading scenes in Soul Calibur) have been fixed now.

World-first – Windows CE Dreamcast games running on Android!

The Flycast WinCE core is now available for Android users!

  • 30% speedup in non-Windows CE games thanks to extensive optimizations made to the dynarec by flyinghead. No more performance reduction of non-Windows CE games.
  • Windows CE support further improved.

It is now possible to play Dreamcast Windows CE games on Android! Please be aware that this is very CPU intensive and that you should probably expect 15 to 25fps on high-end Android phones right now.

Note that Windows CE games could still be unstable on Android, and that you need a real BIOS for Windows CE to work. It won’t work with the HLE BIOS.

NOTE: We anticipate that after the final kinks has been ironed out, that we will merge the Windows CE parts of this core back into Flycast, and that the separate Flycast WinCE core will disappear from there on. So this separate core is only a temporary thing for now. We will let you know when this will happen. Video was recorded on a Galaxy S10+.

Mupen64 Plus Next – No more 10 second startup times on Windows!

Thanks to an important bug fixed by mudlord, Mupen64 Plus Next should no longer take up to 10 seconds to start up any game on Windows.

Mupen64 Plus Next is an up to date version of Mupen 64 Plus with the latest GlideN64 renderer.

More progress reports on other cores soon

Cores are often updated on a daily basis, and a lot of the times, all the amazing enhancements and improvements they receive go underreported because we’re so busy with development. We feel it is time to shine more of a light on these changes, so we will be doing more periodic updates on core updates as they come along.

PSA: RetroArch 1.7.8 – Important changes for people using the Google Play build

Libretro Team

Starting as of September, Google has started requiring app developers to update their apps with 64bit AArch64 support. Any app that fails to comply with this will no longer be able to upload any new APK to the Google Play Store.

Until now, the main RetroArch build has been built for 32bit ARM processors. This means that even on a 64bit device, if you were using this 32bit build, you would still have access to all the 32bit compiled cores.

This all changes now as a result. Under the new model, we are forced to build in both 32bit and 64bit support for the main RetroArch app. What this means is that 64bit devices will default now to the 64bit version, whereas 32bit devices will default to the 32bit version. It’s not possible to boot into 32bit mode for the Google Play Store version.

We unfortunately cannot do anything about this. What this means is the following:

  • Some of the cores available for 64bit ARM might lack a dynamic recompiler. As a result, cores like PCSX ReARMed and Picodrive might be significantly slower now as a result on a 64bit device. Fortunately, work is underway to backport a 64bit dynarec to PCSX ReARMed, and similar for Picodrive.

On the plus side, Aarch64 tends to have about a 10% performance boost in general for RetroArch vs. regular 32bit builds. So it’s not all bad news.

If you’d still like to use a 32bit only build, you can go to our buildbot and download the 32bit only version there. We just are not allowed to upload this version to the Play Store, since every app uploaded from now on has to work for 64bit as well.

Important news for people upgrading

If you are upgrading the app from 1.7.7 to 1.7.8, you might find that the core updater URL is still pointing to the 32bit cores, and you might find that a lot of the cores you downloaded will no longer work (because it boots you into 64bit mode now). 32bit cores cannot be ran on 64bit apps and vice versa. So, what you have to do is

  • First, make sure that you reset the Core Updater URL properly. Go to Settings -> Network, and scroll all the way down to ‘Updater’. Go to the entry ‘Buildbot Cores URL’, and long press. If done correctly ,it should reset the URL. Now exit the program and restart again.
  • From there, you will have to redownload the cores from the Online Updater.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to bother with all this, just reinstall the entire program from scratch, that way it will start out with sane defaults.

Other considerations

What this also means is:

  • The 64bit specific version on the Play Store is pretty much redundant now, and you might as well use the main Play Store version. We are unsure yet if we are going to delist the 64bit only version or have it remain up. Just know that it no longer serves a purpose.
  • RetroArch can now be built using Gradle/Android Studio. This should significantly reduce the barrier to entry for developers wanting to get to grips with RetroArch, but were unable to do so in the past as it required an old Android toolchain as well as tools like ant.
  • It might appear on Android TV soon for 64bit apps.

Hopefully this upgrade process will have as little bumps in the road as possible. We’re sorry for this inconvenience but this is really not our fault, and our hands are tied. As ever, if you want a 32bit version on your 64bit device, go to our buildbot, and download the latest dated version ending with ‘RetroArch_ra32.apk’.

RetroArch – In Development – Touchscreen Lightgun for iOS/Android (iPhone XS Max shown)

Libretro Team

With the upcoming new RetroArch version, it will be possible to use your fingers as a lightgun on iOS and Android. Not only that, but it supports multi-touch too! (iPhone XS Max shown in this video)

What you see here in this video is a demonstration of all the cores that include support for this new feature. The device being used here is an iPhone XS Max, and it’s plenty powerful enough to even run the likes of Mednafen/Beetle Saturn!

Here is a list of the cores so far that support this (along with the systems they support) –

  • NES/Famicom (FCEUmm)
  • Super Nintendo/Super Famicom (Snes9x)
  • Sega Master System (Genesis Plus GX)
  • Sega Megadrive/Genesis (Genesis Plus GX)
  • Sony Playstation (Mednafen/Beetle PSX)
  • Sega Saturn (Mednafen/Beetle Saturn)
  • Arcade (MAME)

Play! Libretro core (PlayStation2 emulator) ready for download on the Libretro/RetroArch buildbot!

Libretro Team

So without further ado, upstream versions of Play!, the PlayStation2 emulator, are finally rolling out on the buildbot today!

Currently, the core is available and has been confirmed to run on:

  • Windows (64bit and 32bit)
  • Linux (64bit and 32bit)
  • Android

How to download it

Inside the main menu, go to ‘Online Updater’.

You might want to make sure first you have the latest info files by selecting ‘Update Core Info Files’ first.

From here, go to Core Updater.

Scroll down until you have found ‘Sony – PlayStation 2 (Play!)’. Download it. Go back to ‘Load Core’, and load it. Now go load a backup image file with it.

NOTE: Play! does not require any BIOS for you to dump, it uses its own HLE (High Level Emulation) BIOS.

What is Play! ?

Play! is a Work In Progress PlayStation2 emulator. Thanks to the great efforts of Zer0xFF, who took three days out of his busy schedule to port the emulator to the libretro API, we can start rolling out this emulator to our buildbot soon!

It must be stressed that Play! is a Work In Progress PS2 emulator, and we mean that literally. Don’t expect every game to run perfectly, far from it. However, it has a solid foundation and already has working dynamic recompilers for all the popular architectures, its value which cannot be understated. The libretro core also already has working savestate support.

System requirements

This core will require OpenGL on the desktop and OpenGL ES3 on mobile devices.

Your system should currently be as powerful as possible in order to get the best possible results. As time improves, system requirements will probably reduce.

Game compatibility is entirely dependent on the state of the upstream #Play! emulator. So as Play! improves, so too will the libretro core!

Help PlayStation2 emulation get better by supporting Play!

#Libretro is currently a Patreon backer of the Play! project, and we are very grateful to Zer0xFF from the Play! project for getting this port up and running in less than 3 days! Good open source PlayStation2 emulation deserves to get more funding, and we are happy to do our part. We hope you will as well!

Example video – running on RetroArch Android on a Samsung Galaxy S10+

Some example videos