RETRO-GAMING: UPDATED RELEASE OF RECALBOX FOR THE ROCK64
#1
EDIT: DECEMBER 2021 - UPDATE: My recalbox releases are now archived and outdated. I have a new retro-gaming platform, R-CADE available that replaces it.
Click here to read about RCADE
Click here to download the latest release

---------------------------
ANNOUNCING THE UPDATED BETA - RELEASE 3 OF RECALBOX FOR THE ROCK64

The details on the previous ROCK64 releases can be found here: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=6351

After many efforts with much teamwork, collaboration, and testing, we are very excited to provide an updated BETA release of RECALBOX for the ROCK64 board!

-- The download is located under this repository's releases -- 
https://github.com/mrfixit2001/recalbox_rock64/releases

Details on the ROCK64 SoC can be found here: 
https://www.pine64.org/?page_id=7147

For those of you unfamiliar with Recalbox: https://www.recalbox.com/ 
"Recalbox offers a wide selection of consoles and game systems. From the very first arcade systems to the NES, the MEGADRIVE, 32-bit platforms (such as the Playstation) and even Nintendo64. With Kodi already included, Recalbox also serves as a Media Center. By connecting it to your home network, you will be able to stream videos from any compatible devices (NAS, PC, External HDD, etc.)."

Please do keep in mind that this is still a BETA release, which means you should still EXPECT some things not to work quite right. We have done a LOT of testing on our own to try and resolve as many issues as we can before this release, but now you get to help! (Lucky you!) So if/when you do find things that don't work right, please use the link in GitHub to report the issue.

When reporting issues:
Provide logs or screenshots of the issue so that we can see the error(s) you are seeing
Provide detailed steps for us to follow in order to reproduce the issue

Improvements and Changes Since the Last Release:
Kernel Updates:
- Updated to version 4.4.171
- Various custom kernel fixes, mainline backports, stability and other enhancements
- 4K Playback @ 60fps is now smooth and Audio/Video are synced

- Default Over-Clock Removed (if you have a heatsink, you really should enable this in the recalbox menu!)
- RTL8812EU USB Wifi adapter working (Buy it in the PINE64 Store)

Emulator and Recalbox Updates:
- Updated version of Recalbox
- Updated versions of many emulators and cores
- Customized default emulator configs to optimize performance
- Buggy button re-mapping issue is resolved
- Reicast runs at 100% speeds in most games
- PPSSPP now capable of performing at 100% speed for most games
- Customizable "max fps" setting in PPSSPP to fine tune your experience - set to 30fps to support playing demanding games (GOW) nice and smooth!
- PSP video scenes now play perfectly
- Custom fix for widescreen stretching (READ BELOW)
- VirtualJaguar is now fixed and playable
- NEOGEO Core Fixed
- Reicast Configuration Can be Edited Now
- Bluetooth Controllers Reconnect After Reboot

- On-Screen-Keyboard issue Resolved
- Custom patches to ES and Emulators to improve overall stability

Important Note about Widescreens:
The majority of users will be using widescreen monitors and TVs with 16:9 aspect ratios these days, and most of these will automatically stretch a 4:3 video to 16:9 to make it full screen. This distorts the graphics and makes everything look stretched out and askew. So, I have added custom patches and new configuration settings to Mupen64, Reicast, and Retroarch to correct this so that the emulators will still render at the right scale after being stretched. Smile This is ON by default
If you do not have a widescreen monitor, or your monitor does not have this auto-stretch feature, then your games may not be centered or look too thin. In this case, simply make the following one-time changes to the configurations to turn off these customizations:
- Retroarch: use the retroarch menu to change the default - Settings->Video->Aspect Ratio
- Reicast: change the setting "rend.FixAspect" to 0 in /recalbox/share/system/configs/reicast/emu.cfg 
- Mupen64: each video plugin (core) has been given it's own setting, allowing you to customize each to your own needs, and GLES2N64 (n64 core) has it's own config file. The settings for these plugins are in /recalbox/share/system/configs/mupen64 in the files mupen64plus.cfg and gles2n64.conf. Just change the listed widths and left offsets to whatever your needs are.

Some things we have added to Recalbox that are Exclusive to Mr.Fix-It releases:
Upgraded Kodi (and addons) from version 17 (Krypton) to a version 18 (Leia)
InputStream.Adaptive Kodi Addon
Multiple cores for different emulators so that you can select which core works best for you on each ROM!
- Custom resolutions and configs for most emulators to optimize performance for the specific platform
- Included Wolfenstein 3D (shareware version) in DosBox

A few things to know about this release:
When the image first boots, you can expect a delay as the partition is expanded to the full size of your disk. Please be patient and let this complete. It will not happen on every boot, but you should not interrupt this process or you may need to reimage.

Some controllers will work with KODI right out of the box without the buttons needing to be mapping (like the x360). For others, once you hit a button on the controller it will ask you to map them - you will need a keyboard to interact with KODI until your controller buttons are mapped.

N64 has multiple core options, different ROMS work better with different cores! So if your game isn't running well, try another core! In our testing we have found that MOST games will run very well with at least one available core.

Some emulators / cores are highly dependent on a valid BIOS files being installed (Dreamcast, for example). Be sure to read the documents in the system’s ROM folder for details on what BIOS files are needed. Further documentation is available on the Recalbox wiki.

A single ROM not working is not considered a "bug", it's often an incompatibility with the ROM and the emulator / core. We have provided multiple cores for some emulators to try and help maximize the number of ROMS that work.

If you are suddenly and unexpectedly thrown into KODI, then that means EmulationStation may have crashed. Please provide your /recalbox/es.log file so we can review.

"Where's the source code?" The source is being cleaned up and organized in preparation to be made available for the recalbox team to maintain, instead of having it hosted in this repository. Merging it with the recalbox repo allows them to maintain and update it, which ensures that you will receive their updates as they are made available.

Lastly, please remember this is a community build, and just something I've worked on in my free time. There's no pressure at all, but if you appreciate the work then feel free to send me a buck on Paypal: mrfixit2001 at gmail.

Special thanks go out to the LibreELEC and Recalbox teams, as well as LukasZ at Pine64 for his huge efforts in research, testing, and feedback!

Mr Fix-IT
  Reply
#2
I must say I am impressed. Gran Turismo in PSP is much faster, I think almost smooth, so very playable, very good work, thank you very much, friend!
  Reply
#3
Thanks for the great feedback!! Really glad you're happy with it. A lot of work and testing went into the custom configs and patches. It should all around be a substantial increase in performance. Especially with 4K playback at 60fps working in KODI. 

If you use the new custom PSP settings I've added (frameskip % and max fps) you should even be able to run games as demanding as God of War at well over 88% in PSP2x and at full speed at PSP1x.

And if you've got a heatsink (yes the rockbox does) then don't be afraid of that overclock setting! Watch the temp over the web based monitor for awhile, just to be sure, but it really makes a difference in systems as demanding as PSP. 

Happy gaming! Smile
  Reply
#4
Will try overclock too and check if it will help.

Just waiting for the build with Linux package manager so I can also install print and scan server Smile
  Reply
#5
sweet, I had tried the recallbox image previous to this one and found it lacked some stuff(lots of crashes with roms), tried Lakka and found that it was also lacking (stability with OS).

I'll give this one a try again! I do love the dual boot out of box, specially since I bought the rock64 for 4k streaming this should be perfect!

Thanks for the hard work.
  Reply
#6
First off, my controllers worked out of box... ps4 and my chinese xbox ones.

I tried to run the defauly miner (i think turbografx) and it froze on me, not sure if I'm doing something wrong but wolfenstein took a wile to load and when I die the red blood takes for ever to go away/come back. Just a dosbox byproduct?

Still playing around with it, I'll test more later on.
  Reply
#7
Thanks for the feedback! If you experience anything freezing up then please provide some logs so I can try and identify any issues. But I have not yet had any crashes like that. Some roms can be a problem for the emulator of course, so that's possible. And dosbox is inherently slow, it's emulating x86 after all. So yes that is expected and not a limitation of the board.
  Reply
#8
New to the retro distros and rock64, do you just require the following log file? /recalbox/share/system/logs/recalbox.log

I'll replicate some issues and give you clear instructions with the logs. My posts are in moderation mode so bare with the slow responses Tongue.
  Reply
#9
There's multiple logs that could be helpful, depending on the failure.
/recalbox/es.log
/recalbox/share/system/logs/recalbox.log
/var/log/syslog or /var/log/messages
  Reply
#10
Added Recalbox beta v3.1 on Wiki and Pine64 Installer
  Reply


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