Rpcs3: Libretro core

[CoalaJoe]

Are there any plans on making this emulator retroarch-compatible?

[ghost]

Also interested by this. Even if this is obviously a last order priority, this would be good to know.

[gotakk]

Interested too :)

[arabek]

👍 +1 on that and since retroarch comes with basically an xmb like interface (it even has ribbons) it'd be a great fit ;)

[FinixFighter]

I'm also very interested! :D

[gouchi]

Are there any plans to officially integrate with libretro?

hcorion
RPCS3 - Developer (Linux/CI) Arch Linux, GTX 1070, i7 4770

There's an open issue regarding that on GitHub here: https://github.com/RPCS3/rpcs3/issues/2304
Unfortunately nobody has mentioned any interest, and there is some refactoring work to make it so that RPCS3 has the flexibility to run two supported UI backends. If we ever do get developer interest, I would love it if the support was kept upstream on our repo, rather than having an outdated fork like I've seen with some libretro ports.

AnnieLeo
RPCS3 - Web Developer, Community Manager

No plans, specially with endless high priority stuff that needs to be done, but if someone wants to work on it they can open a discussion issue on the repository. I assume if it's not intrusive on the current codebase and people are willing to maintain it, it won't be a problem, but again, whoever is interested on working on it should open a discussion thread.

Source

[FinixFighter]

@CoalaJoe I think you should not ask if there are any plans for a libretro rpcs3 core, I think you should write something like "Create a rpcs3 libretro core" and similar things... Also try to give as many details as possibile, so that the bounty is more tempting both for new backers and for potential developers.

[IngwiePhoenix]

So I have been fooling around with RetroArch for a while and am rather impressed by it. Sure, the PPSSPP core crashed while it was doing literally nothing as I was having a cig break, but... I tried to look into libretro's headers to see what it essentially takes to allow a core to be made available to it.

From what I gathered, all it does is provide basic abstractions and ways to retrive native handles and scopes to platform specific functions and features. For instance, it appears that it is possible to draw directly on a native GL surface, or to push frames to libretro, to then have them rendered. Both is possible, but with the latter preffered in order to support more platforms and renderers.

Now, looking at the PS3 itself, I seem to remember that it had a dedicated GPU and one hell of a complicated CPU. Assuming that libretro does indeed allow drawing on a native surface, my initial thought would be to stub a few of the basic drawing functions to the point where the GL context is retrived through libretro, and then used to draw upon. The CPU can be processed all in the core - as far as I am aware, this is very much core internal for essentially all cores. As for inputs... I am not sure how they work, so I couldnt put out an estimate there.

To round it up a little: In order to make a libretro core out of RPCS3, one would have to sit down and start replacing and partially refactoring functions - maybe even whole files. The most two obvious ones - to me at least from my initial thought - would be input and graphics. I don't think sound is that hard since the PS3 itself used actual mainstream things like OGG and even MP3 in some places. But yes, this too would have to be factored in. Depending on how the project is structured, this might be more or less of an issue - and then, there is also the question of #ifdefing the code. This would probably end up in the actual emulating component of RPCS3 to be split from the frontend that has already been worked on, which would create more hassle.

I think, that while I would absolutely love to see a RPCS3 core for RetroArch, that it will take a lot of work to achieve this. And as the demand does not seem to be so high, as stated by @gouchi's quotes, I unfortunately doubt this would happen any time soon. It would be great, but the work that would go into this would also have to be done by someone, y'know ;)

[SaVavZ]

I'm also interested! :3

[NeoNight1986]

Im interested! I would love to keep everything in one place.

[AlanRibas]

Im interested! I would love to keep everything in one place.

I dream with this day.... :-)

[NeoNight1986]

Between PS2 and now PS3 cores... which i imagine will be insane to eventually put in, but if all the groups could work together... one program to rule them all.

[AniLeo]

No need to keep bumping unless adding new information

As previously mentioned, we obviously won't work on this ourselves but whoever wants to work on it can suggest / submit changes, perhaps starting by providing a list of blockers and discussing with the respective developers for those parts of the code how to solve them in upstream

[JustinSUF]

we. need. a. core.

[AniLeo]

Then you can start working towards one, as it has been said several times

[IllMethods]

This would be awesome, especially now with the series x. New Xbox, backwards compatible with Original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation, Playstation 2, PSP, Playstation 3. Compatibility list has now become quite high.

[AniLeo]

libretro implementation wouldn't matter in the slightest for Xbox Series X unless Microsoft magically starts allowing Vulkan to be used through UWP on Xbox Series X. No one is going to waste a bunch of time writing an entire Direct3D render just for that.

[Passingby1]

You might as well close this now. Later on you'd start getting complaints because RPCS3 does not run RDR too well on 300usd consoles or smartphones.