RetroArch is the reference frontend for the libretro API. Popular examples of implementations for this API includes videogame system emulators and game engines, but also more generalized 3D programs. These programs are instantiated as dynamic libraries. We refer to these as "libretro cores".
libretro is an API that exposes generic audio/video/input callbacks. A frontend for libretro (such as RetroArch) handles video output, audio output, input and application lifecycle. A libretro core written in portable C or C++ can run seamlessly on many platforms with very little/no porting effort.
While RetroArch is the reference frontend for libretro, several other projects have used the libretro interface to include support for emulators and/or game engines. libretro is completely open and free for anyone to use.
Latest Windows binaries are currently hosted on Themaister's homepage. Builds can also be found on the forum.
To reach developers, either make an issue here on Github, make a thread on the forum, or visit our IRC channel: #retroarch @ irc.freenode.org.
See our wiki. On Unix, man-pages are provided. More developer-centric stuff is found here.
- Cg/HLSL shaders: common-shaders
- More Cg shaders: Emulator-Shader-Pack
- Helper scripts to build libretro implementations: libretro-super
RetroArch attempts to be small and lean, while still having all the useful core features expected from an emulator. It is designed to be very portable and features a gamepad-centric UI. It also has a full-featured command-line interface.
In some areas, RetroArch goes beyond and emphasizes on not-so-common technical features such as multi-pass shader support, real-time rewind (Braid-style), FFmpeg video recording, etc.
RetroArch also emphasizes on being easy to integrate into various launcher frontends.
RetroArch has been ported to the following platforms outside PC:
- PlayStation3
- Xbox 360 (Libxenon/XeXDK)
- Xbox 1
- Wii, Gamecube (Libogc)
- Raspberry Pi
- Android
- iOS
- Blackberry
On Windows, RetroArch can run with only Win32 as dependency. On Linux, you need:
- GL headers
- X11 headers and libs, or EGL/KMS/GBM
OSX port of RetroArch requires latest versions of XCode to build.
RetroArch can utilize these libraries if enabled:
- nvidia-cg-toolkit
- libxml2 (GLSL XML shaders)
- libfreetype2 (TTF font rendering on screen)
RetroArch needs at least one of these audio driver libraries:
- ALSA
- OSS
- RoarAudio
- RSound
- OpenAL
- JACK
- SDL
- PulseAudio
- XAudio2 (Win32, Xbox 360)
- DirectSound (Win32, Xbox 1)
- CoreAudio (OSX, iOS)
To run properly, RetroArch requires a libretro implementation present, however, as it's typically loaded dynamically, it's not required at build time.
Console ports have their own dependencies, but generally do not require anything other than what the respective SDKs provide.
The default configuration is defined in config.def.h. It is not recommended to change this unless you know what you're doing. These can later be tweaked by using a config file. A sample configuration file is installed to /etc/retroarch.cfg. This is the system-wide config file.
RetroArch will on startup create a config file in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/retroarch/retroarch.cfg if doesn't exist. Users only need to configure a certain option if the desired value deviates from the value defined in config.def.h.
To configure joypads, use the built-in menu or the retroarch-joyconfig command-line tool.
PC
Instructions for compiling on PC can be found in the wiki.
PlayStation3
RetroArch PS3 needs to be compiled in the following order:
- Compile RetroArch Salamander
make -f Makefile.ps3.salamander
- Compile the RGL video driver
make -f Makefile.ps3.rgl
- Compile RetroArch as a library
make -f Makefile.ps3.retroarch
- Finally, compile RetroArch packed together with the GUI:
make -f Makefile.ps3
PlayStation3 - Creating a PKG installable file
You can add pkg as a parameter in order to make a PKG file - for example:
make -f Makefile.ps3 pkg
This creates an NPDRM package. This can be installed on debug PS3s.
To make a non-NPDRM package that can be installed on a jailbroken/CFW PS3 (such as PSGroove or PS3 CFWs and other 3.55 CFW derivatives), do:
make -f Makefile.ps3 pkg-signed
If you're using Kmeaw 3.55 firmware, the package needs to be signed:
make -f Makefile.ps3 pkg-signed-cfw
NOTE: A pre-existing libretro library needs to be present in the root directory in order to link RetroArch PS3. This file needs to be called libretro_ps3.a.
Xbox 360 (XeXDK)
You will need Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 installed (or higher) in order to compile RetroArch 360.
The solution file can be found at the following location:
msvc-360/RetroArch-360.sln
NOTE: A pre-existing libretro library needs to be present in the msvc-360/RetroArch-360/Release directory in order to link RetroArch 360. This file needs to be
called libretro_xdk360.lib.
Xbox 360 (Libxenon)
You will need to have the libxenon libraries and a working Devkit Xenon toolchain installed in order to compile RetroArch 360 Libxenon.
make -f Makefile.xenon
NOTE: A pre-existing libretro library needs to be present in the root directory in order to link RetroArch 360 Libxenon. This file needs to be called libretro_xenon360.a.
Wii
You will need to have the libogc libraries and a working Devkit PPC toolchain installed in order to compile RetroArch Wii.
make -f Makefile.wii
NOTE: A pre-existing libretro library needs to be present in the root directory in order to link RetroArch Wii. This file needs to be called libretro_wii.a.