I give up on Retroarch

[leoblaidd]

Just a little rant.

I know, i know, retroarch is amazing emulator of community, simply on union of better of better of games for games.

But, i believe what is no for me, every year (and already has some) i download retroarch, i try to use her, waste hours configuring, download cores, change theme and simply I always get tired her, in point i tired to try change a small detail and opening one, two, three menus for acess a small option to change, for found what i change in core wrong.

Just he is a big emulator your configuring is confuse e tired, nothing is simple to apply, I don't like any of the themes, mainly that one ps3.

I wanted be able to like him, i try serious, but i always after getting frustrated again with retroarch, i back for normal emulators that have simple configs, for exemplo, duckstation, PCSX2. I see a lot of cool stuff the community is releasing for him, I wanted to be a part of that.

Sometimes I think I'm just dumb for not knowing how to use it. ???

 

[DunkeyKong]

That's okay man, I feel you. Sometimes it can be quite complicated, but that's because it's a multiplatform emulator so it won't be as easy to use

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

I've never messed with Retroarch or really understood it, I just use standalone emulators like I always have. I'm old and stuck in my ways.

 

[LiberoVulpes]

I have had the exact same experience with Retroarch, which eventually drove me back to just having individual separate emulators.

 

[Bovo]

I uderstand the frustration, just had to re-do everything from scratch on a new phone, configuration wise, as I didn't know how to transfer the settings over. I would recommend a youtube channel called Retro Game Corps, he has an easy to follow video as well as a written guide on setting up retroarch, hope that helps.

 

[Boo Man]

retroarch is good! but yeah it sucks to navigate and can be confusing
i can see why people dont mess with it

 

[fishboneKiller]

as a very frequent retroarch user, i 100% understand your frustrations. it's super annoying at first (and even once you get used to its weirdness it can still be a hassle to go through your filesystem using its dumb gui instead of just using file explorer...) the main reason i use it is because it's the main way to use retroachievements for a lot of emulators, but if that's not something you're interested in it's 100% easier to just use separate emulators for everything

 

[DunkeyKong]

as a very frequent retroarch user, i 100% understand your frustrations. it's super annoying at first (and even once you get used to its weirdness it can still be a hassle to go through your filesystem using its dumb gui instead of just using file explorer...) the main reason i use it is because it's the main way to use retroachievements for a lot of emulators, but if that's not something you're interested in it's 100% easier to just use separate emulators for everything

There's also a lot of standalone emulators that supports retroachievements, you can check it here

 

[bubbyrude]

i recommend launchbox, useful frontend. i still plug retroarch into it as well as other emulators, i just hate using retroarch's UI

LaunchBox Frontend for Emulation, DOSBox, and Arcade Cabinets, Portable Games Launcher and Database

LaunchBox is a portable, box-art-based games database and launcher for DOSBox, emulators, arcade cabinets, and PC Games. Download it free!

www.launchbox-app.com

 

[Stingy Perry]

I’ve seen this review about Retroarch it says that it’s made for gamers who likes to tinker more with the emulator than actually play on it.

 

[LiberoVulpes]

gamers who likes to tinker more with the emulator than actually play on it.

The Gentoo of emulators huh.

 

[Boo Man]

I’ve seen this review about Retroarch it says that it’s made for gamers who likes to tinker more with the emulator than actually play on it.

thats me tbh

 

[DunkeyKong]

I’ve seen this review about Retroarch it says that it’s made for gamers who likes to tinker more with the emulator than actually play on it.

That's true, it also makes it easier for the others to make retroachievements with it

 

[Klonoa7]

The UI is what keeps me from taking Retroarch seriously. Most of my emulation is done on Android and I found Robert Broglia’s apps more useful than Retroarch.

 

[thanonyx]

This is why I prefer standalone emulators for the most part.

 

[Stookymalarkey]

The UI is what keeps me from taking Retroarch seriously. Most of my emulation is done on Android and I found Robert Broglia’s apps more useful than Retroarch.

On Android, Lemuroid is a good alternative to Retroarch. It does use Libreto cores for emulation but it has a much more streamlined interface.

 

[Octopus]

The biggest thing for me is the terrible file search system when you're adding games to it. It never works for me, I'll try using the manual custom scan option for like half and hour and it still doesn't pick up a .bin or a .gdi. Then I just use desktop mode (hit I think F5) and do it manually and it works perfectly fine, it's strange. I've also routinely had issues trying to get mutli-disc games working with it where it just won't detect .m3u's, or the disk switching doesn't work for whatever reason.

 

[samuelg]

Emuhawk is a much more straightforward multi-emulator to use.

 

[RedNin3]

Nope, you are good my boy (GET IT? THE GBA ONE? I will show myself to the door on my own).

Jokes aside, I just can't battle Retroarch's horrible UI and search system, I got 9 in total and I'm good like that.
PPSSPP
DuckStation
PCSX2
RAVisual Boy Advance-M
RAProject64
BizHawk
Vita3K
RASnes9X
Dolphin

One icon for each, no need for overcomplicated "cores" mumbo jumbo, or anything like that.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Emuhawk is a much more straightforward multi-emulator to use.

It was made for a computer, they are also making it as easy to use as possible

 

[RedNin3]

as a very frequent retroarch user, i 100% understand your frustrations. it's super annoying at first (and even once you get used to its weirdness it can still be a hassle to go through your filesystem using its dumb gui instead of just using file explorer...) the main reason i use it is because it's the main way to use retroachievements for a lot of emulators, but if that's not something you're interested in it's 100% easier to just use separate emulators for everything

Even using it for that reason (as it was always the one that they push on everyone in RA) had more errors for me, using the clean correct ISO/ROM still didn't trigger the correct achievements lots of times. But never had a problem with solo emus or Bizhawk.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I used it a few times, but found it a tad too complicated for my liking. Good program, though.

 

[Stookymalarkey]

Nope, you are good my boy (GET IT? THE GBA ONE? I will show myself to the door on my own).

Jokes aside, I just can't battle Retroarch's horrible UI and search system, I got 9 in total and I'm good like that.
PPSSPP
DuckStation
PCSX2
RAVisual Boy Advance-M
RAProject64
BizHawk
Vita3K
RASnes9X
Dolphin

One icon for each, no need for overcomplicated "cores" mumbo jumbo, or anything like that.

I would recommend checking out mGBA for GBA emulation, and Simple64 for N64 emulation. Just my 2 cents.

 

[RedNin3]

I would recommend checking out mGBA for GBA emulation, and Simple64 for N64 emulation. Just my 2 cents.

Got both as backups, the ones I listed never gave me much trouble so I don't use them too much.
(Honestly I have a folder with like 100 different emus and versions for no reason)

 

[Blamhammer]

Retroarch has quite a bit of a learning curve to it. I usually want a quick and easy experience when it comes to emulator setup and play, but I did hunker down and learn to use it...via the PS Vita version of Retroarch.
It was somewhat easier configuring it on a Vita due to the Retroarch build having cores pre-loaded on it, and from messing around with the software I do understand and appriciate how flexible and configurable the program is now.
As always you put the legwork in and you get results. Take a moment to stop to learn where the console systems files need to go, how to globally or locally save settings, and many other things.