Raspberry Pi

RetroPie 4.3 includes a lot of improvements to our default launcher Emulation Station, including Favourites/Recently Played and custom ROM collections, video and image screensavers, power saving modes, and the ability to configure your own RetroArch hotkey enable button when setting up your gamepad.

Basic support for the Odroid XU3/4 boards has been added. It’s a source only install on top of the Hardkernel Ubuntu Minimal image, but most emulators run well.

Please note that RetroPie images for the Raspberry Pi are still based on Raspbian Jessie. Raspbian Stretch is not yet supported, and will be worked on after this release.

Many emulators have received updates and fixes, including the RetroArch frontend. See below for a detailed list of changes to RetroPie.

You can download a 4.3 image from https://retropie.org.uk/download/. For first installs please follow the Installation Instructions. If updating from 4.0.x you should make a backup first then choose Update all installed packages from RetroPie-Setup main menu. Anyone upgrading from 3.x will need to update the RetroPie-Setup script first. See the upgrade instructions for more details.

You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspbian Jessie set up, or on top of Ubuntu on a PC/Odroid-C1/C2/XU3/XU4. Links to the relevant instructions can be found on the Download area.

If you want to support the project, donations are always appreciated and can be made on our Donation Page.

Thanks to everyone who helped with this release.

Changes since 4.2

• Many updates to Emulation Station including:
  • Collections support including Favourite, All, Recently Played and custom collections.
  • Video and Image Screensaver support.
  • Power saving modes.
  • Many theming fixes and improvements.
  • Configuration of RetroArch hotkey enable button.
  • Allow using OMXPlayer for video playback on the RPI.
  • Many other fixes and improvements. Full changelog can be found here – https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation-Changelog/
• Added basic Odroid-XU3/4 support.
• RetroArch updated to v1.6.7. Include minimal retroarch assets for the xmb interface by default.
• AdvanceMAME updated to v3.5
• fuse updated to v1.4.0
• zesarux updated to v5.0
• lr-fbalpha updated to 0.2.97.42
• lr-imame4all renamed to lr-imame2000 to match upstream name.
• lr-bluemsx updated to add Colecovision support.
• lr-mame2003 updated with fixed audio for the Mortal Kombat series.
• Added SDL1 version of scummvm – scummvm-sdl1 – for those with joypad and MT32 issues with the standard SDL2 version.
• gamecon_gpio_rpi and db9_gpio_rpi updated for Kernel 4.9 compatibility.
• Workaround for using PCSX2 on 64bit without our custom SDL library.
• Updates/improvements to mupen64plus and the GLideN64 plugin.
• Improved controller button mapping in the RetroPie-Setup menus.
• esthemes – Many new themes available to install from esthemes configuration. Ability to update all installed themes.
• Runcommand – user menu support.
• usbromservice – fix BIOS and configuration folders not copying.
• Enabled some additional packages on Odroid boards – hatari, zdoom, openblok, alephone and lr-ppsspp.
• Bluetooth configuration – improved interoperability with the ps3 controller driver.
• New configuration tool to change terminal font size
• New packages added to experimental section:
  • pegasus-fe – Pegasus Frontend – new launcher/frontend in development.
  • lr-vice (C64 Emulator).
  • srb2 – Sonic Robo Blast 2 port.
  • cdogs-sdl – C-Dogs SDL – Classic overhead run-and-gun game.
  • lr-px68k (x68000 emulator).
• Many other fixes and improvements.

The post RetroPie 4.3 is released appeared first on RetroPie.

A lot has happened since 4.1, with updates to EmulationStation adding video support and fixing the dreaded white screen of death. Many packages have been updated and RetroPie 4.2 includes the latest RetroArch v1.5.0 as well as Kodi 17 (installed optionally).

There are new experimental packages including lr-beetle-saturn (a Saturn emulator for x86_64 only), and DraStic (Nintendo DS emulator for RPI only) amongst others.

The pre-made Raspberry Pi 1/Zero image will now work on the new Pi Zero W. RetroPie 4.2 also includes initial support for the ODroid-C2 board (installed on top of the Odroid C2 Ubuntu minimal image).

You’ll also notice that the documentation has received a much needed update at https://retropie.org.uk/docs/.

There are many other changes, including usability improvements, and bug fixes – for more details please see the changelog below.

You can download a 4.2 image from https://retropie.org.uk/download/. For first installs please follow the Installation Instructions. If updating from 4.0.x you should make a backup first then choose Update all installed packages from RetroPie-Setup main menu. Anyone upgrading from 3.x will need to update the RetroPie-Setup script first. See the upgrade instructions for more details.

You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspbian set up, or on top of Ubuntu on a PC/Odroid-C1/C2. Links to the relevant instructions can be found on the Download area.

Thanks to all those who contributed to this release with a special mention to fieldofcows for his excellent EmulationStation improvements.

Changes since 4.1:

• EmulationStation Improvements
  • Video Support
  • White Screen of Death Fix
• Support for the ODroid-C2  (on top of the Ubuntu 16.04 minimal image).
• Kodi 17 now installable from optional packages.
• AdvanceMame has been updated and split into three separate packages –  0.94, 1.4 and v3.3.
• Updated to RetroArch v1.5.0
• To match upstream changes, lr-mupen64plus has been renamed to lr-parallel-n64, and lr-glupen64 has been renamed to lr-mupen64plus.
• Fixed launching Pixel desktop and other X11 apps from Emulation Station.
• Fixed problems building Zdoom, ResidualVM and Mupen64Plus and PPSSPP.
• Doom ports will automatically add launch scripts if it finds doom1.wad, doom2.wad, tnt.wad, or plutonia.wad.
• lr-snes9x emulator added – a libretro port of the current snes9x codebase.
• Added Amiberry (an Amiga emulator), which is an updated fork of uae4arm, with more features.
• Multi disk zip support for Vice (C64 emulator), fs-uae, uae4arm and Amiberry (Amiga). You can now launch Amiga disk images directly from Emulation Station with uae4arm and Amiberry.
• Standalone version of Stella (Atari 2600 emulator) updated to v4.7.3.
• usbromservice – support mounting of usb stick over ~/RetroPie to keep roms on USB.
• Ability to set custom ES themes in configs/all/platforms.cfg (can override any setting in RetroPie-Setup/platforms.cfg).
• SDL2 updated to 2.0.5. Our patched SDL2 is now used on the PC version of RetroPie, which should resolve an issue with ps3 controller mapping.
• Sselph’s scraper updated to the latest version, and new options added. Scraper has been moved to optional packages and needs to be installed before it will show up in configuration / tools.
• Include PowerBlock and ControlBlock driver packages.
• Input configuration script for Daphne.
• RetroPie-Setup menus now works with all connected joysticks (mapping is still hardcoded).
• Updated RPI detection code to support BRANCH=next firmware/kernel.
• Overhaul of the runcommand launch script.
• Raspbian Wheezy support removed.
• Support Xbian on RPI,  and Devuan, Elementary OS, and Neon on X86.
• Added emulationstation themes: fundamental, futura, and flat.
• New packages added to experimental section:
  • lr-mrboom (an 8 player bomberman clone).
  • lr-mame2016 (Arcade emulator).
  • lr-mess2016 (Multiple omputers/console emulator).
  • DraStic (Nintendo DS Emulator – RPI only).
  • lr-beetle-saturn (Sega Saturn emulator – x86_64 only).
  • Minivmac (Macintosh Plus Emulator).
  • Quasi88 (NEC PC-8801 emulator).
  • np2pi (NEC PC-9801 emulator).
  • Xm7 (FM-7 / Fujitsu Micro 7 emulator).
  • Mehstation and Attract-Mode Frontends.
  • launchingimages (a script from Meleu to generate system launch images based on installed Emulation Station themes).
• Many other code changes and bugfixes.

The post RetroPie 4.2 is released appeared first on RetroPie.

RetroPie 4.1 images are now available for download.

Since 4.0.2 there have been various emulator updates including new versions of lr-mame2003 and lr-fbalpha (formerly lr-fba-next) as well as updates to other libretro cores. Some standalone emulators have also been updated such as PPSSPP (PSP), Vice (C64 et al), Fuse and Zesarux (ZX Spectrum).

A port of Darkplaces Quake has been added which has hardware 3D (opengles) support on the Raspberry Pi.

Some new packages have been added to the experimental section for x86/x64 users, including lr-bsnes (SNES emulator), fs-uae (Amiga emulator), and pcsx2 (PS2).

Additional drivers have been added with support for the Steam controller, and mk_arcade_joystick_rpi which can be found in the drivers section.

We have also included some new Emulation Station themes for installing via RetroPie-Setup.

Some of the libretro emulators have been renamed to match their upstream names.  For further information and to see what else has changed since the 4.0.2 image, please see the change log below.

You can download a 4.1 image from: https://retropie.org.uk/download/. For first installs please follow the Installation Instructions. If updating from 4.0.x you should make a backup first then choose Update all installed packages from RetroPie-Setup main menu. Anyone upgrading from 3.x will need to update the RetroPie-Setup script first. See the upgrade instructions on the Wiki for more details.

You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspbian set up, or on top of Ubuntu on a PC/Odroid-C1. Links to the relevant instructions can be found on the Download area.

If you want to support the project donations are always appreciated and can be made on our Donation Page. If 1 in 5 people who downloaded RetroPie donated £1 it would be enough to have someone working on the project full time!

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this release, and to all those who donated to the project.

Changes since 4.0.2:

• Updated RetroArch and many libretro cores to the latest versions.
• Some libretro packages have been renamed to match the upstream core names:
  • lr-fba to lr-fbalpha2012
  • lr-fba-next to lr-fbalpha
  • lr-pocketsnes to lr-snes9x2002
  • lr-catsfc to lr-snes9x2005
  • lr-snes9x-next to lr-snes9x2010
• Updated Vice (C64 emulator) to the latest version.
• Fixed PPSSPP building on the RPI and updated it to the latest version.
• lr-fba-next updated to fbalpha v0.2.97.39 including fixes for Irem hardware on arm (rtype / rtype 2 etc)
• WiFi configuration – added ability to import Wifi ssid/psk from /boot/wifikeyfile.txt for set-up without a keyboard.
• Updated Fuse (Spectrum emulator) to v1.3.0
• Updated Zesarux (Spectrum / CPC emulator) to the latest version.
• Include lr-glupen64 by default on image (moved from optional to main).
• Added darkplaces-quake to optional packages. When installing/update the Quake emulators, launch scripts for any installed mission packs will be created.
• Build ResidualVM with SDL2 + opengles support.
• Added steam controller driver from https://github.com/ynsta/steamcontroller
• Added mk_arcade_joystick_rpi driver from https://github.com/recalbox/mk_arcade_joystick_rpi
• Fixed build issues on uae4arm, and kickstart removal on upgrade of uae4arm/uae4all.
• Screensaver / Screen dimming in Emulation Station no longer stops the built in scraper.
• Compatibility with upstream plymouth changes. Image is based on the latest upstream Raspbian Lite from 2016-09-23 with all updates.
• New themes added to the theme installer – including pixel-meta, pixel-tft, luminous, minilumi from Rookervik and io and spare themes from Mattrixk
• New packages added to experimental section
  • Added emulators lr-beetle-pcfx (PCFX emulator)
  • Added retropie-manager web interface (based on recalbox-manager).
  • Added pcsx2 emulator (Playstation 2 emulator – x86 / x86_64 only).
  • Added openpht  (x86 / x86_64 only).
  • Added fs-uae (Amiga emulator – x86 / x86_64 only).
  • Added lr-bsnes (Super Nintendo emulator – x86/x86_64 only)
  • Added lr-hatari (Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon emulator)
• Added some RetroPie-Setup function documentation to aid those contributing code – https://retropie.org.uk/api/
• Various other improvements / bugfixes

The post RetroPie 4.1 is released appeared first on RetroPie.

The excellent Raspberry Pi magazine The MagPi have released their 50th issue (free to download but also available to buy in print).

To celebrate they feature the top 50 Raspberry Pi projects as voted for by readers and their panel of judges. We are very pleased to have been included in their top software projects as judged by Eben Upton. Thanks!

Thanks also to everyone who has contributed to the RetroPie project and to the developers of the many emulators and games that we include.

The post The MagPi 50th issue released appeared first on RetroPie.

RetroPie 4.0.2 images are now available. This is primarily a bug fix release, but also includes Dolphin – a GameCube / Wii emulator (only available for those running RetroPie on a x86/x86_64 machine).

You can download a 4.0.2 image from: https://retropie.org.uk/download/. For first installs please follow the Installation Instructions. If updating from 4.0 you should make a backup first then choose Update all installed packages from RetroPie-Setup main menu. Anyone upgrading from 3.x will need to update the RetroPie-Setup script first. See the upgrade instructions on the Wiki for more details.

You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspbian set up, or on top of Ubuntu on a PC/Odroid-C1. Links to the relevant instructions can be found on the Download area.

Changes since 4.0:

The post RetroPie 4.0.2 is released appeared first on RetroPie.

RetroPie 4.0 has arrived and with it come some major improvements to the software. It is now more modular than ever, and allows emulators and ports to be easily added and removed. There are also updates to included emulators, as well as improvements to the set-up tools to make configuration even easier.

Highlights of this release include (full changelog below) :

• Improved management of RetroPie components.
• Better N64 emulation.
• Improvements to configuration of Xbox/8Bitdo gamepad
• Analogue support in lr-mame2003 and correct aspect ratios for games.
• Splashscreen/Carbon Emulation Station theme updates.

You can download a 4.0 image from: https://retropie.org.uk/download/. If updating from a previous version you should make a backup first, update the RetroPie-Setup script, then choose Update all installed packages.

Installation Instructions can be found at https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation. Users of RetroPie v3.x can upgrade to the latest version by following the upgrade instructions on the Wiki.

You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspbian set up, or on top of Ubuntu on a PC/Odroid-C1. Links to the relevant instructions can be found on the Download area.

NOTE: Some people have been having trouble with the XBox/XBox 360 controller driver xboxdrv on the current Raspbian Kernel. To work around this we now include the latest xpad kernel driver with the image (it is available from the Packages -> Drivers menu for those upgrading). The included xpad has been patched to map the Xbox 360 triggers to buttons, so they work out of the box with Emulation Station, without the need for xboxdrv.

Big thanks to everyone who has contributed to this release. Thanks also to our excellent web hosts Mythic-Beasts who are sponsoring us with our hosting. The performance and connection speed is great. We highly recommend them if you need a decent hosting solution backed by expert support.

Changes since 3.8.1:

• Setup script improvements:
  • Added the ability to install/update and remove packages.
  • Added help docs to the setup script.
• Renamed mednafen emulators to beetle to match upstream libretro repositories.
• Renaming of ES input configuration which was causing confusion for shoulder/trigger inputs.
• Much faster Emulation Station start-up in gamelist only mode.
• Updated Xpad driver included with “trigger to button” enabled, so mapping of Xbox 360 / Logitech trigger buttons is easier.
• Input configuration script to set up player 1 automatically on pifba and pisnes.
• Configuration Editor can now help you configure player gamepad order for libretro emulators.
• Updated PSP emulators ppsspp and lr-ppsspp with a fix for the pausing during play.
• Autostart improvements: boot to kodi option added – (exiting kodi will take you back to emulationstation).
• Improvements to mupen64plus Glide64 video plugin, which is now the default.
• Added new libretro emulator based on mupen64 – lr-glupen64.
• lr-mame2003 updates – support for mice/analogue joystick support. Fixed aspect ratio issues.
• Updates to various other emulators including reicast, lr-fceumm, lr-nestopia, lr-snes9x-next and the RetroArch frontend.
• SDL2 dispmanx scaling, so SDL2 software can render to a lower resolution and be scaled in hardware. This enhances performance on mupen64plus for example, without having to change the video mode.
• Improvements to the Bluetooth module, including the ability to try and reconnect to devices in the background, and an option to switch off our mapping hack for 8bitdo, so devices with a newer firmware will map correctly for RetroArch. Fix pairing with Android phones.
• Splashscreen improvements: New default splashscreen and a new splashscreen repository with additional splashscreens.
• Support for configs/all/runcommand-onstart.sh  configs/all/runcommand-onend.sh user scripts
• New experimental modules:
  • TRS-80 emulator sdltrs.
  • TI-99/4A emulator ti99sim.
  • Oric 1/Atmos emulator Oricutron.
  • Dinothawr (lr-dinothawr – standalone libretro puzzle game).
  • lr-mame2014  (Late 2014/Early 2015 version of MAME – uses 0.159 romset)
  • Alternate Virtual Gamepad by sbidolach.
• Various other bug fixes and improvements.

The post RetroPie 4.0 is released appeared first on RetroPie.

RetroPie has a brand new website – https://retropie.org.uk.

Although the old site living under http://blog.petrockblock.com has served us well over the last years, the forum was becoming increasingly slow, and the project really needed its own presence.

Hopefully you will like what we have come up with – a simple site with general info, and a new forum running off nodebb – which is not only fast, but also works much better on mobile devices.

The old forum posts have not been moved, as we decided it would be better to start with a fresh layout, and it would have made the migration far more complicated. You can however access the old forum via http://blog.petrockblock.com/forums/forum/retropie-project-forum/.

Thanks to our excellent hosting company Mythic-Beasts who have sponsored us by providing additional resources and bandwidth. You can find out a bit more on our Hosting Information page.

This version is released a little earlier than originally planned, due to the release of the fantastic Raspberry Pi 3 – which our previous 3.5 will not boot on due to having out of date firmware. Along with Raspberry Pi 3 compatibility this release brings a bunch of interesting experimental emulators such as Daphne for emulation of classic LaserDisc arcade games, a myriad of libretro cores, and a few game engines. We’ve also worked around the pesky insert coin bug that has plagued the arcade emulators.

Installation Instructions can be found here – https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation.

Prebuilt images are available GitHub – https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/releases/tag/3.6. You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspbian set up – Instructions can be found at the GitHub project site.

To get the Raspberry Pi 3 built-in Bluetooth working please update the RetroPie-Setup Script before using the Bluetooth configuration menu, or alternatively drop to a terminal and do

sudo apt-get install pi-bluetooth

Changes since 3.5:

• Support for the Raspberry Pi 3
• Added new experimental modules:
  • Daphne (Laserdisc Emulator)
  • Libretro-QuickNES
  • Libretro-Beetle PSX (x86 only)
  • Libretro-Beetle Lynx
  • GemRB engine (Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape)
  • ResidualVM (Engine for Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island)
  • Libretro-MESS (based on the most recent version of MAME)
  • Libretro-MAME (based on the most recent version of MAME)
• Added EmulationStation theme Simpler Turtle Pi to the theme installer from Omnija.
• Added version details and uninstall option to the RetroPie Setup Script.
• Fixed insert coin not working on arcade based emulators.
• Various other bugfixes and improvements.

We are pleased to announce the release of RetroPie 3.5. After taking into consideration the feedback from the vibrant RetroPie community, we have provided a few more functions to simplify the user experience such as automatic expansion of the filesystem on boot, less terminal text, and more configuration options for the runcommand launch menu. We have also fixed up some bugs with Raspbian Jessie such as the USB ROM service and have added two new experimental modules – the Löve game engine and a ColecoVision emulator (CoolCV).

Installation Instructions can be found here – https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation

Prebuilt images are available from the main RetroPie website – http://blog.petrockblock.com/retropie/retropie-downloads/, or can be grabbed from GitHub – https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/releases/tag/3.5. You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspbian Jessie / Raspbian Wheezy set up – Instructions can be found at the GitHub project site.

Changes since 3.4:

• Added new experimental modules, Lӧve 2D Game Engine, Colecovision (CoolCV).
• Debian usbmount package fixed up for systemd udev compatibility, making the USB ROM service work properly again without being killed after 30 seconds. Also added ntfs support by default.
• Added an arcade rom folder option where all arcade games can be placed.
• Improvements to EmulationStation (Fix crash on rom delete, direct launch, symlink support, and other bug fixes).
• Improvements to the Runcommand Launch Menu: Cleaner dialog on launch, ability to show game artwork on launch, ability to disable joystick support as well as the ability to disable the entire runcommand launch menu.
• PS3 Controller improvements – Add multiple gasia and shanwan controller support.
• Updated lr-mgba emulator binaries (new upstream release of mgba 0.4.0)
• Improvements on pre-built image – disabled screen blanking, quieter boot, and filesystem automatically expanded on first boot.
• Various other bug fixes.

The Raspberry Pi show The Pi Podcast did an interview with me and two other members of the RetroPie team for Episode #13. Big thanks to them for inviting us on the show.

I was a little nervous before the interview, but it turned out fine – they did some good editing 🙂

If you own a Raspberry Pi or are thinking of getting one, then you should definitely check it out. They release a new show roughly every two weeks, with Raspberry Pi related news, chat and interesting interviews. It is professionally produced, and hosted by three knowledgeable and friendly Raspberry Pi enthusiasts.