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.
