RetroArch is now "fully" compatible with RetroAchievements!

BuZz

@meleu Please don't tag me unless I am involved in a discussion. I keep an eye on both the forum and retroarch/libretro developments and rebuild binaries when needed (I would prefer not to be asked to build binaries every time a change happens upstream).

If you want bleeding edge retroarch/libretro cores you should install from source.

meleu

It is not a trivial change, at least for those who like the RetroAchievements feature. I've already updated from source and checked that it's working fine before asking. I was thinking on other users.
But I caught your message. It won't happen again.

BuZz

I appreciate that, but there are a lot of non trivial upstream changes for various emulators - and I do for example subscribe to the retroarch github and check the recently updated repositories. I just don't want it to be that I am constantly rebuilding binaries on request, and recently there have been multiple requests on the forum. I am already maintaining the the retropie-setup code, the images, the binaries, the server, the website, the forum, the retropie email, the twitter account and so have a lot to do.

I put 30 + hours into the project most weeks (sometimes less), and unfortunately it feels like more of a job than a hobby these days due to the size of the user base and the constant requests I get. I spend far too much time answering questions on the forum too (my own fault) - but prefer it when I can choose to answer rather than feeling I have to because someone has asked me something directly.

Cheers.

edmaul69

@meleu i have never had an issue withe fceumm and super mario bros except 1 ahievement it wouldnt get but the other day everytime i started a game of smb i was popping several cheevos each time. So now i am going to have to reset my cheevos which isnt a huge deal.

mediamogul

@meleu

Will updating RetroArch from source be enough, or will all the cheevos compliant cores need to be updated as well?

meleu

@mediamogul RetroArch is enough for a while.
Some fixes on fceumm will be added in the future (the Metroid case) and an update will be needed.

mediamogul

@meleu

Sweet deal. Thanks.

meleu

[UPDATE: the issue I describe here was already fixed in 05/November/2016.]

I forgot to mention one thing.

With the official retroachievements emulators, if you get an achievement in "softcore", it's registered. And then you play again and get the same achievement in hardcore mode, it's registered again (as hardcore this time).

With RetroArch it doesn't happen. If you get an achievement in softcore and want to get it again in hardcore, you have to go to the retroachievements.org -> Settings -> Reset Game Progress -> choose the game -> choose the achievement -> Reset Progress for selection. And then play your game with hardcore mode on.

meleu

The issue I described on the previous post was fixed today!

It's a good feature for @mediamogul , for example, who like to practice in softcore and then play with hardcore mode ON. :-)

Now we have two Achievement Lists on Quick Menu. The "normal" and the hardcore Achievement List. Obviously, when you get a cheevo in hardcore, it unlocks the "normal" too.

The RetroAchievements feature is now yet more cool than it already was...

mediamogul

@meleu

Wow, this just keeps getting better! I had a little bit of time today to test the prior improvements and it really is great to see this feature working so well now.

Floob

@meleu This sounds really good, I'll have to give it another go soon, I think its a great feature that lots of people may enjoy, my video about it is startign to get quite dated.
I'm inclined to wait for Retroarch to update their stable release first though so it'll be clearer for anyone trying to do the same if I make a video. I'll keep an eye on their updates:
http://buildbot.libretro.com/stable/

meleu

I agree. It's better to wait these fixes reach the stable release.

But for those who like to earn cheevos on Android devices and can't wait these changes reach the Google Play's version, you'll need to update your RetroArch to get the latest leiradel's fixes. Here is how to do it:

step 1: install f-droid
https://f-droid.org/
Yes, it's an .apk. It's not at Google Play.

step 2: add the retroarch repository on f-droid
https://buildbot.libretro.com/repo/fdroid/repo

step 3: install RetroArch_GIT.apk

Hope you enjoy! :-)

mediamogul

@meleu

These updates are amazing. My retro-gaming throughout October was mostly spent practicing the unbelievably difficult 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' for the NES. To beat the later stages, you must have a cache of extra lives that only accumulate by progressing through the earlier houses without ever dying. There are also RetroAchievemnets that are awarded for never dying, but they were never triggered in the past. I just did a brief session and they are now triggering without fault. I also easily switched over to hardcore mode on a whim and got awarded double points for another go. Anyway, my point is that these improvements are a lot of fun and I thank you again for your involvement.

meleu

@mediamogul Thanks for the feedback.

I've noticed another achievement that isn't working with FCEUmm and is working fine with QuickNES: Super Mario Bros 3, Goomba Massacre.

I use the FCEUmm as default (I like the turbo button), if a cheevo doesn't trigger, I try again with QuickNES and it usually works. So if you want to get a better RetroAchievements experience with NES games, I suggest the use of lr-quicknes as default (but if you wanna help with these tests, it would be very welcome :-) ).

I didn't notice any problem with MegaDrive cheevos ( @cabrunco is a close friend of mine and is a big MegaDrive fan, so we have a good sampling of working cheevos :-) ).

For SNES I need to make more tests. I beated X-Men with Wolverine with no continues/password and it didn't trigger before the recent fixes. I need to test it again but, damn!, I love 8bit NES! :-)

If some guy here play X-Men (SNES) and get those "beat the game with no continue/password", please let me know.

mediamogul

@meleu said in RetroArch is now "fully" compatible with RetroAchievements!:

if you wanna help with these tests, it would be very welcome

Well, I always have it turned on now, so it's a possibility. What all is involved in testing, just reporting cheevos that don't trigger?

I beated X-Men with Wolverine with no continues/password and it didn't trigger before the recent fixes. I need to test it again but, damn!

Ouch, that must've hurt. I actually got burnt out on trying to beat SunSoft's 'Batman' on one life a few months ago, but it's such a good game that I plan on restarting my efforts sometime soon.

meleu

@mediamogul said in RetroArch is now "fully" compatible with RetroAchievements!:

What all is involved in testing, just reporting cheevos that don't trigger?

well... reporting problematic cheevos helps, but a complete test is a dull task. It involves:

be sure you are using the updated version of RetroArch
face a cheevo problem in RetroArch.
check if it's working with QuickNES (if it's a NES game). If working, take note about it and the test is finished.
be sure that you are using the right ROM (TBH I only found this problem with MegaMan2). If not, get the right ROM and restart from step 1.
check if the cheevo is working with the official retroachievements emulator (needs a windows machine, I use VirtualBox for it).
if you confirm it doesn't work on RetroArch and works fine on official emulators, get a savestate right before complete the problematic cheevo.

But don't worry about it. And to be honest I doubt you need to do the steps 4 and 5 after the latest fixes. Step 3 is very rare... Step 2 is for NES cheevos only. So, I think the current tests would be only the step 1. And if you face a problem, please take a savestate to let the developers check what's going on the emulated memory.

And remember: if you don't want to get involved in this boring task and just report problematic cheevos, it'll still be much appreciated.

hansolo77

Just chiming in here. I've been in contact with leiradel too, and started the ball rolling on the RetroArch GitHub:
https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/3825
But this is great news. It doesn't matter who started it. What matters is that it's getting fixed! Now I just wish the latest update didn't break my Quick Menu toggle, because I don't know how to fix it lol.

mediamogul

@meleu said in RetroArch is now "fully" compatible with RetroAchievements!:

if you don't want to get involved in this boring task and just report problematic cheevos, it'll still be much appreciated.

I'll be going after quite a few achievements in normal play, so I'll start by reporting those that don't trigger. However, I may become more involved in hunting these issues down like the dogs they are as time goes on. Where is the proper place to report cheevo-specific issues anywho?

meleu

@mediamogul said in RetroArch is now "fully" compatible with RetroAchievements!:

Where is the proper place to report cheevo-specific issues anywho?

The original place where I started to log it was here:
http://retroachievements.org/viewtopic.php?t=3020

But I think you can report on this very same topic we are using now, here on RetroPie forum.

And if you have savestates, this is the repository I'm putting them: https://github.com/meleu/RetroArch-problematic-cheevos

If you are not used to those github stuff, you can send to my email meleuzord (at) yahoo (dot) com and I'll put in the repo.

mediamogul

@meleu said in RetroArch is now "fully" compatible with RetroAchievements!:

if you are not used to those github stuff

I'd like to become more familiar, so I'll work on learning the basics.