Happy Pi Day – RetroPie 4.8 is released

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Happy Pi Day! After a long wait, we are pleased to announce the release of RetroPie 4.8.

The RetroPie 4.8 images are built on the latest version of the Raspberry Pi OS Lite Buster (which is now their legacy release). This image supports the latest Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and recent Raspberry Pi 4 boards that require a newer firmware than is available on the RetroPie 4.7.1 image.

Support for the current Bullseye version of Raspberry Pi OS is in progress.

There have been a lot of changes since the last image. RetroPie-Setup has had some visual and functionality improvements. Package management is now simpler and there have been improvements to joystick control in the dialog menus as well as the addition of an On Screen Keyboard for configuring your WiFi password. Versioning is now supported for source packages, so source packages will only update if there are new changes available. This makes updating quicker when you have many packages installed from source.

The front-end EmulationStation has had some useful changes including theming improvements, faster loading, and bug fixes. The new default theme is Carbon-2021 that uses a new theming feature to allow pixels for positioning/sizing. This should make it easier for people creating themes.

For the Raspberry Pi you can download a 4.8 image from https://retropie.org.uk/download/. For first installs please follow the Installation Instructions.

You can also install RetroPie on top of an existing Raspberry Pi OS (Buster) set up, or on top of Ubuntu on a PC/Odroid XU3/XU4. Links to the relevant instructions can be found on the download page.

If you want to support the project, donations are always appreciated and can be made on our Donation Page. The lead developer Jools Wills also has a Patreon page up at https://www.patreon.com/retropie.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with this release.

Changes since 4.7.1

  • On screen keyboard for entering WiFi password in RetroPie-Setup
  • Improved joystick support in RetroPie-Setup dialogs.
  • Improvement to RetroPie package management and updating.
  • retroarch – updated to v1.10.0
  • Updates to many libretro cores – in depth details about libretro changes can be found on their site – https://www.libretro.com
  • EmulationStation updated to v2.10.2
    • Better Random: Perfect shuffle of systems, games and screensaver items
    • Fixes for event handling so startup events are cleared
    • Pixel positioning/sizing support for themes
    • Added a progress bar during loading + threaded loading for systems (threaded loading is disabled by default currently)
    • Added a cache for stat checks (performance)
    • Support for new scripting events – switching systems/selecting games/screensaver videos and image switching/etc.
    • Improvements to text wrapping for CJK glyphs
    • Updated Arcade resource lists (used to hide MAME devices/bioses and to provide friendly names for zip archives)
    • Ability to use full screen paging with LB/RB
  • hatari – updated to v2.3.1
  • xpadneo (Xbox One Bluetooth driver) – updated to v0.9
  • zesarux – updated to v9.1
  • lzdoom – updated to 3.87c
  • xroar – updated to 1.0.9
  • srb2 – updated to 2.2.9
  • ags – switch to v3.5.1 release branch
  • eduke32 – fix for gameplay bug in E1L4
  • scummvm – updated to 2.5.1, first release since the ResidualVM merge includes bug-fixes and new games.
  • cgenius – updated to the latest stable version (Added Cosmos engine, GUI, sound and controller improvements)
  • tyrquake – updated to 0.69
  • yquake2 – updated to v8.00 and added add-ons game source
  • vice – switch to v3.5 branch
  • advmame – fixes for building on GCC 10+
  • audiosettings – add PulseAudio configuration support
  • esthemes – support branches, to allow multiple themes on a single repo and many new EmulationStation themes added
  • bluetooth – various fixes and improvements
  • kodi – scriptmodule compatibility improvements on Ubuntu
  • Improvements to handling of dkms drivers.
  • New modules:
    • lr-stella – added upstream / current Stella libretro core (Atari 2600 emulator)
    • lr-tic80 – TIC-80 is a free and open source fantasy computer for making, playing and sharing tiny games (see https://tic80.com)
    • lr-retro8 – retro8 is an open source re-implementation of the PICO-8 fantasy console.
    • yabasanshiro – standalone Saturn emulator based on Yabause (RPi4 only)
    • hypseus – Hyseus Singe (Daphne) SDL2 Laserdisc emulator
    • ppsspp-1.5.4 – Added old ppsspp module (performs better for some users)
    • dosbox-staging – an enhanced and modernized DosBox fork
    • lr-uae4arm – libretro core of the uae4arm Amiga emulator.

Vilros sponsorship

Thanks very much to Vilros who are generously making a donation to the RetroPie project for every Raspberry Pi gaming kit they sell.

Vilros was founded in 2010 with the goal of helping to create a more technological society. They are passionate about promoting STEM education and making it easily accessible for all people, regardless of their economic status or educational background.

They offer a robust mix of products and bundles related to Arduino and Raspberry Pi including computer robotics hardware, starter kits, boards, components, wires, resistors, transistors, and cases.

You can visit their site at https://vilros.com/

More Power and USB-C for the ControlBlock

TL;DR

ControlBlock with USB-C and dedicated power switch IC

The ControlBlock provides

  • a soft power switch and status indication functionality, as well as
  • an easy-to-use interface for original and arcade game controllers.

It has been updated now with a dedicated power switch IC to provide all the power that you need for your retro project. Also, it comes with a a USB-C connector to align well with the latest Raspberry Pi connector changes.

Continue reading

RetroPie 4.7.1 update

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RetroPie 4.7.1 images are now available from the Download Page.

Unfortunately a couple of bugs crept into the EmulationStation front-end for the 4.7 release. A performance issue causing EmulationStation to have a poor frame rate and a bug affecting its built in scrapers.

The performance issue affected Raspberry Pi 0/1/2/3 users and is related to a problem with the EmulationStation GLESv2 renderer on the legacy broadcom drivers (we have switched to the previous GLESv1 renderer for now).

The scraper issue affected all systems, and was a problem introduced recently in the development branch that we missed.

These issues are resolved in the 4.7.1 image. If you have already installed the 4.7 image you don’t need to re-download. Just choose the “update” option from the main menu in RetroPie-Setup.