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Configuring RetroArch

Update all the things!🔗

From the RetroArch main menu, navigate to Online Updater.

Find each of the following and select them to make sure everything is up to date.

  • Update Core Info Files
  • Update Assets
  • Update Controller Profiles
  • Update Cheats
  • Update Databases
  • Update Shaders

Emulator Cores🔗

From the RetroArch main menu, navigate to Online Updater -> Core Downloader.

These are the cores that I installed.

Console Emulator Core
Game Boy / Color Gambatte
Game Boy Advance gpSP / mGBA
Nintendo Entertainment System Nestopia
Super Nintendo Entertainment System Snes9x
Sega Genesis Genesis Plus GX
PlayStation SwanStation

These are all recommended by RGC's RetroArch Starter Guide.

Why only these systems? This is what I play. I'm a simple man.

Global RetroArch Settings🔗

These settings will be displayed as nested lists. The nesting follows the navigational hierarchy.

Settings will be displayed as Setting Name: Value

Notes included when for sections when spelling out the value of every setting is cumbersome.

If a setting is not listed, a safe assumption is I am using the default.

User Interface🔗

Setting Value
Menu Driver glui
Display Overlay Off

Notification Visibility🔗

Notification Type Enabled
Input (Autoconfig) Failure Notifications On
Save State Notifications On
Screenshot Notifications On
All Other Notifications Off

Video🔗

Setting Value
Video Driver Vulkan
Integer Scaling On
Aspect Ratio Core Provided
V-Sync On

Audio🔗

Setting Value
Resampler Quality Highest
Menu Sounds All Off

Input🔗

RetroPad Binds - Port 1 Controls🔗

Control Button
Start Button Button 109 (Top Button)
Select Button Button 108 (Bottom Button)

My brain likes having Start assigned to the top button.

Hotkeys🔗

Function Button
Hotkey Enable Select [Button 108]
Menu Toggle Back Button [Button 4]
Quit (Controller Combo) Start + Select
Fast-Forward (Toggle) R1 [Button 103]
Rewind L1 [Button 102]
Audio Mute D-Pad Down [Hat #0 Down]
Load State L2 [Button 104]
Save State R2 [Button 105]
Show FPS (Toggle) X [Button 99]

Why bind Audio Mute?

As mentioned earlier, I installed Apple Music. If I want to game and jam out to tunes this hotkey will mute only the emulation sound.

Setting Value
Menu Swap OK and Cancel Buttons Off (Japan style)

Saving🔗

Setting Value
Sort Saves into Folders by Core Name Off
Sort Save States into Folders by Core Name Off
Sort Save into Folders by Content Directory On
Sort Save States into Folders by Content Directory On
SaveRAM compression On
Auto Save State On
Auto Load State On

Configuration🔗

Setting Value
Save Configuration on Quit On
Save Remap Files on Quit On

Directory🔗

Directory Type Path
System/BIOS SD_CARD/Emulation/BIOS
Save Files SD_CARD/Emulation/Saves
Save States SD_CARD/Emulation/Save States
Overlays SD_CARD/Emulation/Overlays

Game Boy / Game Boy Color🔗

Core Options🔗

Setting Value
GB Colorization Internal
Internal Palette DMG
Interframe Blending LCD Ghosting (Accurate)

Video Scaling🔗

Setting Value
Integer Scaling Off
Aspect Ratio Core provided

Shaders🔗

Setting Value
Video Shaders On
Shader Preset Shaders Slang > Handheld > lcd3x

Game Boy Advance🔗

Core Options🔗

Setting Value
Color Correction On
Interframe Blending On

Video Scaling🔗

Setting Value
Integer Scaling On
Aspect Ratio Core provided

Shaders🔗

Setting Value
Video Shaders On
Shader Preset Shaders Slang > Handheld > lcd3x

On-Screen Overlay🔗

Setting Value
Display Overlay On
Autoload Preferred Overlay On
Overlay Preset gba-retroid-classic-integer-scale-rainbow

Nintendo Entertainment System🔗

Video Scaling🔗

Setting Value
Integer Scaling Off
Aspect Ratio Full

Shaders🔗

Setting Value
Video Shaders On
Shader Preset Shaders Slang > CRT > newpixie-crt.slang

Super Nintendo Entertainment System🔗

Video Scaling🔗

Setting Value
Integer Scaling Off
Aspect Ratio Full

Shaders🔗

Setting Value
Video Shaders On
Shader Preset Shaders Slang > CRT > newpixie-crt.slang

Sega Genesis🔗

Video Scaling🔗

Setting Value
Integer Scaling Off
Aspect Ratio Full

Shaders🔗

Setting Value
Video Shaders On
Shader Preset Shaders Slang > CRT > newpixie-crt.slang

PlayStation🔗

Video Scaling🔗

Setting Value
Integer Scaling Off
Aspect Ratio Full

Shaders🔗

Setting Value
Video Shaders On
Shader Preset Shaders Slang > CRT > newpixie-crt.slang