(WiiU) Update WUT and add RetroArch target for WUHB files (Aroma enviroment) #14429
Comments
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Maschell added the following info in the Aroma discord about rpx-loading:
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I wonder if the vWii retroarch could be updated to support the sign_c2w_patcher in a forwarder or inject. We'd be limited to 480p but for retro games on Wii U that seems like it'd work pretty good enough. And then it would be compatible with Aroma. |
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I think I'm going to have a go at a wut port, at least depending on my availability over the holidays... I wrote up a bit of a game plan that might work but there are a few key questions:
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wiiu-wut - as in a new platform/target - seems like a good idea. Overall I'm fine with whatever @gblues thinks we should do.
How big is it ? |
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I would prefer that we avoid adding WUT in-tree. We should consume WUT artifacts, and we can control the version we get without resorting to completely duplicating the source tree. Adding it in-tree creates a bunch of toil. If we needed to add functionality to WUT, it should be contributed upstream. Which yes, may take a little longer, but it means that more projects than just RetroArch benefit. I am in favor of having a separate build target. I propose that we just call it |
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whoops, I was signed into my work github account. ^ that's me. sorry! |
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I will mention that my current draft of RetroArch (frontend) does not keep both codepaths - it assumes wut. Also, the differences in the cores might not be that bad - snes9x at least was just some (backwards-compatible) compiler flag changes; thus for that core a new target isn't needed. I assume other cores will be more complicated though. (specifically |
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For those following along:
Right now it mostly works under Tiramisu, aside from some long load times. Toolchain container is not well-tested, and cores still need to be updated. |
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Just submitted the makefile changes for snes9x - with luck, all the cores will be like this. The core now builds fine on both old and new devkitPPC (with and without wut) at the cost of some extra meaningless warnings on the old version. |
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I didn't see the last messages, this all sounds fantastic. |
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As an update for everyone:
wuhbs aren't in for this initial porting stage, though it may end up being a solution to the loading time issue.. we'll see! I'll probably try and land initial support first. |
That's awesome! Really looking forward to what you come up with for the RA rework for WiiU. Hope it all goes well with the last tidbits of nuances |
That sounds familiar: devkitPPC's newlib port had its disk IO buffering disabled for the longest time, and it has only been re-enabled in a recent commit. Without buffering, SD card accesses are extremely slow. No update to devkitPPC has been released yet with this fix, so in the meantime IO buffering has to be explicitly enabled with I hope this helps. |
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It's a good shout - setvbuf does help a lot, and we're already doing it in the wiiu port. The issues are instead mostly from the hundreds of small files existing in the assets folder, as well as the directory listings RA does. (the dirent functions get slower if there are larger files in the folder? not more, but larger?) ...wait, why are we setting a 128k vbuf and then a 4k one straight after? that's not in a3be192, did we get screwed on a merge conflict? |
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Also hey, had no idea devkitPPC had enabled buffering upstream. Do we know what their buffer sizes are and what release rev that change is in? Very cool if they've fixed one of the biggest pain points for porting things ( |
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From what I can make of newlib's code, the default buffer size is 1024 bytes ( |
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Makes sense. Looks like we'll still have to setvbuf in RetroArch (64k and 128k are the ideal sizes for large files in Cafe) but it'll be a nice help for other projects. |
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Hey all. I manged to compile a handful of modified Cores and have tested them on WiiU to see how they perform. Another problem (as mentioned above) is the long core load/rom load times, it can take up to 2 1/2 mins from loading the Core from WiiU Menu to game boot. But even with current issues is great to see Retroarch Cores working in Aroma! the future is now! :D |
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Hey @Ploggy, is there anywhere we could download this experimental wuhb to try it out? 😁 |
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https://www.mediafire.com/folder/bvrennhlwsw2s/Aroma+Cores EDIT: fixed link |
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Thanks for the speedy response! Editing my first post cause I'm dumb, lol. I'll work with the Atari cores to see how well it will work, but it is nice to see it running in Aroma. Good job! |
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The Atari Cores should be fine, just be warned the Cores do take a while to boot currently and so does rom loading ;) |
I am pretty sure this is an Aroma-specific issue, by the way. I don't have a great fix for it right now though. If you're switching between Aroma and Tira, try deleting retroarch.cfg and see if that speeds it up - it'll remember that libfat was disabled (from Aroma) otherwise ;) |
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(Testing Amstrad CPC Core) On Aroma CFW (with fresh Retroarch.cfg) = Core swapping not possible.. When you try to load another Core after 54 seconds it'll return back to the Retroarch UI but the last Core will still be loaded. So its a problem for both CFW but on Aroma Core switching is broken as well. |
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Core switching was definitely working in my tests :( |
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Closing content and browsing long romlists with thumbnails is alot slower too :( Its a similar situation we had in Retroarch a while back with slow io? |
Hey guys. So I did some testing on the link you shared and didn't get great results :\ First off, I wasn't able to get anything to boot in Aroma, other than the Retroarch main menu. I could move around the Retroarch menus just fine though. When I tried to load content or even exit the app to return to the Wii U main menu, it would crash. Now I read that it has some long loading times, so each test I gave it about 10 minutes, but each one froze on the screen. And secondly, it also locks when I'm trying to load a core. And then oddly it showed the information for the last rpx core I loaded. So say for example that I tried loading Hatari rpx first. It crashed on me so I restarted the Wii U. I then loaded the DOSBox rpx and I got to the Retroarch menu. If I look at the "Core Information" at the top it would display "Atari - ST (Hatari)" and display all of the information on the ST core. Even though at the bottom corner it shows that "DOSBox - SVN" is loaded. Very odd. However, loading the rpx files you gave me through Tira works perfectly fine. Does this sound right or am I possibly doing something wrong? And in a side note, if the problems are Aroma related, might it be time to get Marshall in on this conversation? |
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Man, has progress on this stalled? |
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Updated the link with the Test Aroma Cores since it was dead :) ^^^^ |
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still nothing on this ? :( |
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Any more work? |
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Any news on the port? |
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Kinda, I still don't know what the cause of my slow loading is if it doesn't happen in Quarky's tests.. tho it has been said that the issue with the slow loading could be remedied with a PR that apparently has a 100x performance increase in WiiU native FAT32 driver :D not a bad addition lol But still strange Quarky doesn't get the slow loading issue. But others here have :/ Perhaps I'm compiling it wrong? Quarky do you still have an Aroma Core lying around that you used for tests? |
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Has there been any easy to use implementation yet? |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI2cNgmiosg&ab_channel=Ploggy Aroma RA now Loads Cores/Games at a much more acceptable speed, I don't know what has changed between now and last year when I last tried it but I assume it must be Aroma CFW updates.? |
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Beta 17's changelog mentions patching the OS to make |
I thought it could be that too :) It made a massive difference over what it was before. |
This looks great. Are the downloads for this still the link you posted above months ago? |
Yeah technically the Cores are the same but best to use this link.. It has a wuhb retroach file for a cleaner setup 👌 .. And a working Snes9x Core lol Dont Try to load any Tiramisu Cores with this lol EDIT: Fixed link :) |
Sorry to bother you @Ploggy, but I get an error from MediaFire with that link indicating that maybe the file has been removed - did you take it down? |
Sorry here's a new link :) https://www.mediafire.com/file/gcevyd36qgqtc5k/Aroma_Cores_Extract_to_SD_Card.zip/file |
You're a legend, thank you kindly! ❤️ |
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Hmmmmm. It appears that the Atari 5200 (A800) core crashes on loading a Atari atr floppy with a white text error screen. It looks like this is better, but not yet ready for primetime. And @Ploggy, could you please render and include a hitari core please? Those are the only two cores I use retroarch for anyways. Thanks man. |
Yea, its true this is all WIP right now and Core weirdness is to be expected. I'll try and recompile that Core and the Hatari one and post it here if there's any difference :) |
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@Sowden I compiled Hatari and recompiled Atari800 but both seem the crash the same way? I dont know why? |
Hey man, don't shake it. Thanks for trying. I think from between the two different angles, the guys working on these cores, and the guys working on Aroma, their gonna meet these cores half way. |
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(Sorry if this seems a selfish ask) |
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I love the work you've been able to do, it's amazing. |
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Sorry for sending another message so soon, but I have noticed a glitch with the SNES9X core. Some games, such as Super Metroid, does not boot. However, it does boot in the SNES9X 2010 core. I felt like bringing this issue to light. |
I dont know much abouts this stuff but i recently tried it on my WiiU and it seems to be pretty stable and complete just asking if this is still being worked on and if this will become the main build for the WiiU soon. And or its own github page. aplogies if i said something that is not possible I am quite the newbie at this stuff. |
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The plan it to eventually have the Aroma build be the main WiiU Retroarch port and is currently in progress :) |
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should we expect the aroma version to come out by the end of the year? |
Hi, sadly it seems the link is down again. Could you reupload it? Thank you for the work you're doing. |
Grab the link from here ;) https://gbatemp.net/threads/retroarch-wiiu-wip.447670/post-10432540 |
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Any update on when we'll see this as apart of an official release? |
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Bumping this back up because I would love this to be merged. |
and others
Description
A few weeks ago, the WiiU received a new form of CFW called "Aroma", which runs apps under the WUHB extension.
What this is effectively creating a coldboot option for the system, and also adds a bunch of features and other things as plugins directly on boot.
One of said options is the ability to be able to run Homebrew apps straight from the WiiU's home menu, as if it they were official apps on the system. This way, each homebrew app can be threated as their own app within the system.
In order to make RetroArch compatible with this setup, an update of WUT is required, as well as having a TV logo image (tv_splash.png, 1280x720), the gamepad image (drc_splash.png, 854x480) and the home menu image (icon.png, 132x179).
With that, creating the WUHB file out of the rpx should be easy enough by following these recommended instructions after updating both wut and wut-tools:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-aroma-environment-for-wii-u.618474/page-17#post-9940681
Expected behavior
Updating to the Aroma-friendly WUHB format would allow for RetroArch to be recognized and properly loaded on the system, alongside their proper boot logo, icon, and message.
Actual behavior
RetroArch currently cannot run under this environment since; while Aroma does have support for RPX apps, upon loading it simply stays on a black screen.
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