RetroArch gpsp (GBA Emulator) - MASSIVE update (2024)

RetroArch gpsp has now been updated with a brand new video renderer, written by David G.F. from scratch! Literally hundreds of games previously with minor/major visual issues have been fixed! In terms of this thread, that includes -

Golden Sun - intro and black boxes in dungeons fixed
Pokemon Pinball - table selection and in-game slot fixed
Metroid Prime - Mosaic effect has now been implemented so the pixellation enemy effect is now displayed properly (this effect is also used in several other games, like Super Mario Advance 2: SMW, V-Rally 3 and Aria of Sorrow to name a few!)
Top Gear Rally - Scanline sprite limit has been implemented which fixes the 'seeing objects through hills and corners' issue. Again this fixes several other games with the same issue.
Payback - Mode 4 OBJ/Sprites have been implemented properly meaning menus now display correctly (still horrendous performance but that's a core issue). Lots of other Mode4 games now display correctly!
Street Fighter 2 Revival - 'Turbo' menu corruption has been fixed!
Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc - the graphics corruption on the water skiing stages have been fixed! This was a Mode 0 affine scanline issue, so again this fix will also address other games!

The saving issue affecting some games (Dragonball Z series, Yggdra Union, Top Gun Combat Zones) has been largely fixed on development builds, attention will now be turned to completing and merging these changes!!!

You can get these changes by using one of the nightly builds of RetroArch and the gpsp core -
https://docs.libretro.com/guides/install-psp/

PSP 1000 ARK-4 4.20.62

2023-08-28_RetroArch nightly

I tried the two cores that are available :

mGBA - "works" really really really slow

gpSP v0.91 188887e - just crashes, psp shutting down

gba_bios was in the system folder (if it's even needed)
Is this core not working on psp 1000 models (32mb ram)?

Hey @Happy1337 thanks for the report!

We did test on a PSP 1000 and all seemed ok. Which game are you trying? Can you try a low-mem game please (4MB ROM)?

Hey,

I tried
Sims 2:The Pets PAL
Tiny Toon Adventures - Buster's Bad Dream PAL 4MB
Super Mario Advance 4MB
Breath of Fire 1 4MB

They all work on TempGBA and on mGBA(retroarch)
On gpSP everything crashes

Btw. not using any plugins
gba_bios.bin in Psp/Retroarch/System

e: just dusted off my psp 2000 6.61 pro-c
It works ! (Sims 2:The Pets is a graphical mess intro and everything)

Well might than maybe an ARK problem

ARK-4 4.20.62
https://github.com/PSP-Archive/ARK-4

I think my last update was like 2-3weeks ago

https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/playstation/psp/
2023-08-28_RetroArch.7z

That should be the latest right ?

I know right? It's crazy - a 17+ year old emulator getting all this love and attention!

More big things planned too

Burlz said:

This doesn’t seem to have affected the black screen issue in golden sun when summoning high level djinn (Neptune and Boreas). Can someone confirm if they experienced something different

Click to expand...

This issue just got fixed in the main branch!! So will appear in RetroArch core nightlies from tomorrow.

Other stuff pushed recently/today -

Yggdra Union save games fixed
Dragon Ball Z hardware error message fixed (Goku 2 and Taiketsu)
RTC support improved
Rumble support added!

And various other minor core fixes!!