Recalbox 8.0 Beta!

[Bkg2k]

Here we are, almost: the Recalbox team is proud to present, in Beta version, the new version of Recalbox:

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What's new?

Several months of work separate us from the version 7.2.2, and there is a huge amount of new features.
Not only has Recalbox taken a leap forward, but also has the whole eco-system around it:

• Enjoy the new website!
• Keep up to date with the new blog posts
• Learn how to get the most out of your Recalbox in the new Video tutorials (still under construction)
• Read our new knowledge database and contribute to the new open Wiki

Do not hesitate to give us your feedback about all those new web resources!

With native support for Raspberry Pi to Scart/Vga adaptors along with Recalbox's new CRT configurations, playing your favourite games on Televisions & Monitors becomes a reality. Plug your adaptor, switch on your TV and enjoy the same image quality as on the original hardware.

Regarding new boards, in addition to the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 support, the PiBoy DMG is now automatically detected: Just flash the SD and Recalbox configures everything.

PC owners can now enjoy Playstation 2 games. We're providing you with the very latest version of the PCSX2 emulator, with full support of CHD and a global compatibility of more than 98%, thanks to the hard work of PCSX2's developers.

Raspberry Pi4 owners are about to discover most of the treasures of the Saturn console. Not all games will run and not all games will run smoothly, but the auto-frameskip of Yabasanshiro is smart enough to let you enjoy games without slowdown. The emulator has support for CHD disk format, but it is not recommended as it may fail in several games. (wiki)

Atari fans will be pleased to know that not only have we added the Hatari standalone emulator (which has more options than the core), but also both emulators have a new & very easy model and bios management for ST, STE, MegaST/MegaSTE, TT and Falcon series. (wiki)

With Amiberry upgrading to 4.1.5, and the new awesome Uae4ARM core, playing Amiga games as well as CD32 and CDTV games has never been so easy (wiki)

Old Computers are still the Kings and several old computers have been added and we did our best to make them usable by everyone, adding our own options and extensions in emulators themselves.
We're also proud to offer you in exclusivity, the Recalbox port of BeBeem, a BBC Micro series emulator which was very popular machine in the United Kingdom! Due to lack of time, the sound is not ported yet. But it will very soon.

Installing a beta: what does it mean?

Taking advantage of the latest news in advance requires a little contribution from you: we count on you to report any problems you may encounter.

Please report any issue here in the most accurate way and give us all necessary information:

• Your board (PC, Rpi4, OGA, ...)
• Connected controllers
• Any extra hardware (USB Hub, HardDrive, special Screens, ...)
• GPU information (for PC versions)

Tell us what you did, what we can do to reproduce the issue, and anything that can can help us to investigate and track down the issue. We count on you!

Installation

To install Recalbox 8.0-Electron Beta 1, you can choose between:

• go to the Download section of the website and download the image corresponding to your board
• edit your recalbox.conf file and modify the updates.type key: updates.type=beta
  Then reboot and wait for the new version notification

Key features :

• Add CRT Televisions and CRT Monitors support (wiki)
• Add Playstation 2 system on PC, emulated using the pcsx2 standalone emulator and the libretro-pcsx2 core (wiki)
• Add Saturn system on Raspberry Pi4, using libretro core Yabasanshiro (wiki)
• Add support for new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 board
• Add a new Playstation standalone emulator: Duckstation(wiki)
• Add Recalbox default overlays for all systems (wiki)

Keep in mind that some problems will be corrected before the final version, others will not, due to time constraints.

The complete list of new features:

New systems:

• Add a new Atari standalone emulator: Hatari (Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon) (wiki)
• Add a new ColecoVision libretro core: Gearcoleco (wiki)
• Add BBC Micro system with Beebem emulator (wiki)
• Add TI-99/4A system, emulated using the ti99sim standalone emulator (wiki)
• Add Dragon 32/64 system and TRS-80 Color Computer, emulated using the XRoar standalone emulator (wiki)
• Add LowRes NX virtual console (wiki)

New cores:

• Add widescreen support on Megadrive, using genesisplusgxwide the genesis/megadrive widescreen core! (wiki)
• Add Channel F system, emulated with libretro fbneo (wiki)
• Add an Amiga core optimized for ARM boards (RPi, odroids): libretro uae4arm core (wiki)
• Add Atari stella2014 core on RPI1/Zero and RPI2 as it is more performant than stella (wiki)
• Add libretro Gong (Pong)

Hardware:

• Add PiBoy DMG support
• Add controlling of various RPI fan controllers

Enhancements:

• Add CHD support for Mega CD Games with Picodrive core (wiki)
• Add gamelink support for gameboy (two players)
• Add Xbox One wireless dongles support (xow userspace driver daemon from Medusalix)
• Improve ergonomy in gamelists when "quick system select" is enabled
• Add new Netplay's MITM servers: Montreal & SaoPaulo
• B*mp libretro MGBA (Gameboy Advance core)
• B*mp Libretro PX68K (Sharp x68000)
• B*mp Oricutron to latest version
• B*mp SimCoupé to v1.2.5
• B*mp Libretro Beetle PSX
• B*mp Libretro MAME2003 Plus
• B*mp Libretro-MAME2003 to include latest fixes
• B*mp Libretro VICE to include new options and latest fixes
• B*mp Amiberry to v4.1.5. Add CDTV support
• B*mp Retroarch to v1.9.8
• B*mp Hypseus to version 2.4.18 (DirtBagXon) to support Singe
• B*mp Fbneo v1.0.0.03
• B*mp Sharp X68000 core (px68k)
• B*mp Flycast
• B*mp ScummVM to 2.4.0
• Improve responsiveness & eegonomy of Netplay window
• B*mp Kronos libretro core
• B*mp Mame 0.235
• B*mp pcsx_rearmed on Raspberry PI Zero and 1

Fixes:

• Fix performance issues on RPi 1 and RPi Zero
• Fix controllers behavior in WII & GC systems (dolphin)
• Fix message "failed to set last used disc" for core libretro px68k
• Fix laggy video playback on Odroid XU4 OGST
• Fix message "failed to extract content from compressed" for core libretro xrick
• Fix loads of bugs on pcsx_rearmed on Raspberry PI 0 and 1
• Fix static WIFI IP configuration not working

Games:

• Added Demons of Asteborg demo for Megadrive

Known issues

• No sound in Beebem (BBC Micro emulator)
• Controller issues in PCSX2 with Hat DPADs
• Unconfigured pads & false popup in Kodi
• nVidia drivers need to be manually installed on some dual-GPU systems
• Hyperion is no longer available
• Compatibility issues with libretro-UAE (you can still play with core options to improve compatibility)
• Non working screenshots on Raspberry Pi3
• Solarus games run once, and then fail to load assets. Reboot or relaunch ES to wokraround the issue for now.

Final words

As the Recalbox documentation has also been revamped, finding the tutorials and info you're looking for has never been easier: https://wiki.recalbox.com

Have a good retro-game !

[Pitch64]

To Argon One case owners, the script to install until now doesn't work anymore with the version 8 for technical reasons. However, I was able to edit it to make it work.

To install it, download the script, extract it, put it on your Recalbox into the same directory than recalbox.conf file and use it via SSH :

bash argonone-setup-recalbox.sh

Note: if you prefer to use the fan controller now included in this version, the script will not work mainly to turn off the case.

[Xglacius]

So there's no final release of 7.3?

[Pitch64]

@xglacius 7.3 has been renamed 8.0

[Secamfr]

@Pitch64 @Bkg2k 7.2 -> 8.0 Beta -> 8.0 Stable possible ?

[Bkg2k]

@secamfr Yes

[dolpingates]

hello , i using raspberry pi 3B+ , power switch not working .system.power.switch=PIN356PUSHRESET
uncheck, save en restart.
on 7.22 version doing well, on 8.0 beta not working anymore
sorry for my bad english ^_^

[Bkg2k]

@dolpingates Thank you for your report, we will investigate as soon as possible

[Valippo]

hi, I have tried the beta on my CRT TV, a Sony KV-21FX30E.
My configuration is RPi3b+ and PI2Scart.

The screen is shaking, the image is not stable in EmulationStation.

I do not have this problem on 7.1 with hdmi.timings set for emulationstation. the image is perfect. I have specific hdmi.timings set in recalbox.conf for each system and ES.

Where in 8.0 can you set the exact timing for each resolution? I'd like to set the same I have on 7.1

[Valippo]

I have checked the CRT folder in /recalbox/share/system/configs/, unfortunately it's empty.

I was expecting to find the modes.txt, system.txt and
arcade_games.txt

[digitaLumberjack]

@valippo emulationstation timings are in timings.txt, the file is on the RECALBOX partition.

For the overrides files, they are not created by default, you should create them manually.

https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/tutorials/video/crt/recalbox-on-crt-with-scart-dac#advanced-configuration

Can you tell me what are your timings please ?

[Valippo]

@**digitalumberjack

these are the timings that I am currently using on 7.1.1
For EmulationStation I use the 450x270 since it makes text so much easier to read.

is it possible to override or modify the timings in timings.txt in the Recalbox partition? is it the same as overriding a system timing?
I am trying to follow the instructions to add my overrides but I cannot find the /recalbox/system/configs/crt/ with the default values. I have set my Windows to show hidden and system files but I cannot find the system folder in the recalbox partition.

## Video modes
system.es.videomode=hdmi_timings 450 1 49 30 91 270 1 1 1 30 0 0 0 50 0 9600000 1
#system.es.videomode=hdmi_timings 320 1 10 20 54 240 1 6 8 10 0 0 0 60 0 6400000 1
global.videomode=hdmi_timings 450 1 49 30 91 270 1 1 1 30 0 0 0 50 0 9600000 1
snes.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

mastersystem.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
megadrive.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
neogeo.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
segacd.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
sega32x.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

fbneo.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 1 3 18 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
psx.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
n64.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
dreamcast.videomode=DMT 4 HDMI

nes.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
fds.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

msx.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
msx2.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

pcengine.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

mame.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

gb.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
gba.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
gbc.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

intellivision.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
gamegear.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1
lynx.videomode=hdmi_timings 1600 1 88 150 197 240 1 2 3 17 0 0 0 60 0 32000000 1

[Lumpy]

@bkg2k
Thanks for the great beta! One issue below:

[GPi Case] Raspberry Pi Zero W (not 2)

Mostly this is performing incredibly well. PCSX works now finally, and runs great. Many other issues also fixed, however FBA2X performed well on the last release but now does not work well at all. This particular emulator is needed for the low powered Pi Zero.

I place my usual compatible roms into the fba folder as before, but upon launching a game I get the screenshot added here. Display is moved onto it's side. Not only is the display skewed in this way, but no controls work. No buttons, no hotkeys, and also no audio either. Device must be hard powered off to exit. Note: These are PiFBA compatible CPS and NeoGeo roms, and should work fine with FBA2X. They worked well on previous releases and other OS's using PiFBA.

Previously on the last release, the display was squished down from 4:3 but otherwise worked well. See also screen grab below of last release. On beta, sadly broken.

Hope you can fix before release. The performance is otherwise quite astonishing for such a low power device.

Original Recalbox 7.2.2 using fba2x

New Recalbox 8.0 Beta using fba2x

[digitaLumberjack]

@valippo you can change es timings in timings.txt, and every other timings in overrides files.

Make some test, and tell me what works for you

[el.pablo]

Doesn’t the Pi 4 firmware prevent proper 240P support unlike the Pi 3? Things like resolution switching etc. don’t work properly?

[xandi]

Bom dia eu estou tendo um problema diferente ,coloco a ROMs na pasta certa via rede ,mas o jogo ao atualizar lista de jogos não aparece no sistema e só na pasta ROMs do emulador correto da pasta Share . alguém pode dara sugestão . obrigado

[retroplayer88]

I wanted to report Wi-Fi on my Intel NUC (NUC7i7BNH) with Intel Wireless-AC 8265 Card still not working properly. After 7.1 Version it won't connect with my FritzBox 7590 Router (No changes made on the Router since 7.1 Version) The only way to connect is with WPS, but after a Restart it doesn't connect anymore, I have to do the WPS Procedure every time.

[RenaStein]

I would like to report some bugs and suggestions for possible improvements.

*First version 8.0 is not working on HDMI 1080i, only on 1080p, before it worked on reclbox 7.2.2.

*Second I would also like to focus on the Raspiberi's native AV output, as most users buy it to use on older RCA TVs.
And enjoy the nostalgia of old televisions.
Thanks for listening.

[AperteStart555]

Hello! I own a Retrotink Ultimate and I would like to know if it would be compatible with CRT output on Recalbox 8.0 beta. Thanks in advance!

[leaf]

Hi! I would like to report a bug that I noticed in the beta version. On raspberry Pi 4b, using Mupen64plus Rice I noticed performance loss compared to version 7.2.2, goldeneye is slower.

Another thing I've noticed in other versions is that if I change the default installation core in the settings menu, I can't use that core in the individual configuration for games anymore.

Sorry my english is not my native language. Thanks in advance!