RetroForge 0.7.1 beta: six languages and our own Switch Player

RetroForge 0.7.1 beta

RetroForge in six languages, and our own Switch Player.

WHAT'S NEW

The RetroForge Switch Player (new, beta)

• RetroForge's own Switch player, built on Eden (open source, GPL-3.0) and tuned for phones:
  • shaders build in the background so new scenes don't freeze;
  • resolution is set to suit your phone's memory;
  • touch controls light up when pressed and catch quick taps;
  • a RetroForge pause menu (swipe in from the edge, Back, or Home on a controller), with the performance overlay off until you switch it on there.
• It's a separate download on its own page: https://github.com/RetroForgeFrontEnd/RetroForge-Switch-Player/releases. Once it's installed, Switch games open in it straight from RetroForge (Eden is still offered as a second choice). It has no app icon: RetroForge is the front end.
• Keys and firmware: Set up RetroForge has a new step, "Switch keys and firmware", and Settings → Playing has Switch settings. Both open the player's own screen and show whether keys and firmware are installed. The player opens it by itself if a game starts without them.
• Snapdragon phones: one tap downloads the recommended Turnip driver (open source) inside the player.
• You need your own keys and firmware from your own Switch. Nothing of Nintendo's is included.
• Frame rates on a Galaxy S22, with screenshots: docs/SWITCH_FPS.md. Blazing Chrome runs at full speed; Super Mario Odyssey and 3D World are playable at 41-57 FPS.

Six languages

• Every screen in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Italian, about 1,600 texts.
• RetroForge follows the phone's language, or choose one in Settings.
• Holding Start + Select + L1 + R1 + L2 + R2 for two seconds goes back to the phone's language.

Your games away from home

• Play the games on your home PC from anywhere (a friend's house, a hotel) with Tailscale, a free private network for your PC and phone.
• Settings → Games and library → Games on a network drive → Get Tailscale (free), with step-by-step help in How to use RetroForge.

Better graphics drivers

• Settings → GPU and drivers recommends the best driver for each emulator on your phone's chip.
• Turnip now really loads in RetroForge's built-in players on Snapdragon phones; it fell back to the phone's driver before.

Fixes and smaller changes

• "What will my device run?": a rough low-end to flagship guide in How to use RetroForge.
• Switch updates and DLC no longer show as games, and catalogue tags like [cr Elite] or [GoodMSX] no longer count as ROM hacks.
• Switch games on a network drive are copied to the phone before they start, with a percentage. Eden can't play them over the network.
• If the PC is off, network games say so within seconds instead of waiting forever.
• Find a system: type to jump to any system.
• On-screen controls: a remapped button keeps its place.
• The built-in player's pause menu uses RetroForge cyan, with the orange focus outline.
• Mega Drive and Atari 2600 games named .bin get the built-in player again.
• 32 more systems get their logo, console picture and year (GameCube, Lynx, Jaguar, SG-1000, WonderSwan …).
• Arcade games show full titles and say which files are missing; Doom cheat codes; ST-V plays with MAME 2016.

Made by Darren Glancy, built with a lot of help from AI (Claude). Feedback and bug reports are very welcome on GitHub.