melonDualDS v0.7.0.rc4: Final Release Candidate, Vulkan Stability, RetroAchievements Fixes, Custom Adreno Drivers, and DSiWare Improvements

[SapphireRhodonite]

melonDualDS v0.7.0.rc4 is now available.

This is the biggest 0.7.0 release candidate so far.

RC4 focuses on fixing the remaining major Vulkan renderer issues, stabilizing RetroAchievements, improving DSi / DSiWare support, and adding custom Adreno Vulkan driver support through AdrenoTools.

This release fixes the major reported RetroAchievements problems, including offline unlock syncing, Softcore caching, leaderboard tracking, challenge state reliability, pending ledgers, and stale ROM configuration issues.

It also fixes most of the remaining reported Vulkan rendering problems across several games, including Super Mario 64 DS, Etrian Odyssey, Picross 3D, Soma Bringer, Plants vs. Zombies, Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros., Sonic Rush, and Disgaea DS.

If no major regressions are found in this RC, this build will become the final melonDualDS 0.7.0 release.

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Main Feature:

• Custom Adreno Vulkan driver support

  • Added support for custom Vulkan drivers on Adreno devices using AdrenoTools / libadrenotools.
  • Vulkan users on supported Adreno devices can now install and select alternative Turnip drivers.
  • Depending on the device and driver, this may improve Vulkan compatibility, stability, or performance.
  • The system Vulkan driver is still available as the default option.
  • This feature is intended for Adreno Vulkan users only.

Recommended driver source:

https://github.com/K11MCH1/AdrenoToolsDrivers/releases/

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Highlights:

• Major Vulkan compatibility pass

  • Fixed multiple game-specific Vulkan rendering issues.
  • Improved high-resolution Vulkan fallback behavior.
  • Added more granular Vulkan failure tracking and diagnostics.

• Major RetroAchievements stability pass

  • Fixed the main reported RetroAchievements syncing and unlock reliability problems.
  • Improved online/offline behavior, Softcore unlock caching, leaderboard tracking, and challenge state handling.

• Improved DSi / DSiWare support

  • Fixed DSi BIOS boot with JIT enabled.
  • Fixed DSiWare .nds installation failures.
  • Added ROM list integration and shortcuts for installed DSiWare titles.

• Improved ROM list, layouts, and UX

  • Added hold-to-fast-forward input support.
  • Fixed custom layout background orientation after backup/restore.
  • Fixed 7z ROM scanner crashes caused by high memory usage.

• Improved RetroArch / librashader support

  • Fixed shader output sizing for presets that require native DS source resolution but display-sized output.
  • Improved shader folder synchronization behavior.

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Vulkan and Rendering Fixes:

• Super Mario 64 DS

  • Fixed Vulkan dual-screen minigame rendering issues.
  • Fixed jumping minigame rendering behavior.
  • Improved challenge reliability when used with RetroAchievements.

• Etrian Odyssey

  • Fixed flashing colors.
  • Fixed menu and UI rendering problems with Vulkan.

• Picross 3D

  • Fixed slicer visual glitches with Vulkan.

• Soma Bringer

  • Fixed Vulkan display glitches.

• Plants vs. Zombies

  • Fixed sun rendering issues.

• Mario Kart DS

  • Fixed geometry rendering issues.

• New Super Mario Bros.

  • Fixed geometry rendering issues.

• Sonic Rush

  • Fixed Vulkan rendering regressions.

• Disgaea DS

  • Fixed intro text rendering.

• High-resolution Vulkan rendering

  • Improved fallback behavior when high-resolution rendering cannot safely be used.
  • Added more detailed Vulkan failure tracking.
  • Improved diagnostics for compatibility issues.

• RetroArch / librashader

  • Improved shader output sizing.
  • Fixed behavior for presets that need native DS source resolution while still outputting at display size.

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RetroAchievements:

This release includes a major RetroAchievements stability pass.

The goal of RC4 is to finally make RetroAchievements reliable across online play, offline Softcore unlocks, pending sync, leaderboards, challenges, savestates, and ROM launch configuration.

• Fixed multiple RetroAchievements unlock reliability issues.
• Improved offline achievement handling.
• Improved savestate reliability with RetroAchievements.
• Improved Softcore achievement caching.
• Improved online/offline sync behavior.
• Added submission offsets for offline unlock replay.
• Added a 14-day expiration policy for newly-created offline ledgers.
• Existing pending ledgers from older builds are left untouched.
• Added clearer UI around pending offline unlocks.
• Added clearer UI around ledger expiration.
• Improved leaderboard tracking indicators.
• Added leaderboard values and timers in-game when available from rc_client.
• Added leaderboard rankings in the in-game achievements menu.
• Added visual feedback for leaderboard and challenge success/failure.
• Added an option to disable RetroAchievements without logging out.
• Refreshed ROM configuration before RetroAchievements launch to avoid stale config behavior.
• Improved challenge startup reliability in supported games.
• Improved behavior when achievements are unlocked while offline and submitted later.

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DSi / DSiWare:

• Fixed DSi BIOS boot when JIT is enabled.
• Fixed DSiWare .nds installation failures.
• Improved DSiWare title entry handling.
• Raised/fixed the DSiWare title entry limit so more installed titles can work correctly.
• Added DSiWare titles to the ROM list through the DSiWare filter.
• Added support for launching installed DSiWare directly from ROM list shortcuts.
• Improved DSiWare metadata handling.
• Improved DSiWare title detection and launch behavior.

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ROM List, Layouts, and UX:

• Added hold-to-fast-forward input support.
• Fixed custom layout background orientation after backup/restore.
• Simplified layout backup and restore behavior.
• Improved ROM configuration refresh before launch.
• Fixed patched Retro Game Challenge 2 ROM detection.
• Fixed 7z compressed ROM scanning crashes caused by memory pressure.
• Improved stability when scanning large ROM libraries.
• Improved behavior after backup/restore scenarios.

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librashader Improvements:

• Improved RetroArch shader folder synchronization.
• Improved librashader output sizing.
• Fixed shader sizing behavior for presets that need native DS source resolution.
• Improved behavior when output needs to match the final display size.
• This should improve compatibility with more .slangp shader presets.

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Closed Issues:

• Syncing issue with pokemon ranger (original) #126 Syncing issue with Pokémon Ranger
• Import and export layouts? #121 Import and export layouts
• DSi Ware .nds files fail to install #119 DSiWare .nds files fail to install
• [Feature Request] Add a "hold to fast-forward" control key, instead of only toggle #118 Add hold-to-fast-forward control key
• Achievements not triggering on Hardcore or Softcore, no achievement cacheing for softcore #116 Achievements not triggering / no Softcore achievement caching
• [Feature Request] Add toggle to disable RetroAchievements without logging out #115 Add toggle to disable RetroAchievements without logging out
• [Vulkan] Screen flickers when activating/deactivating fast-forward via hotkey #113 Vulkan screen flicker when toggling fast-forward
• Last RC Bios dont start the game and sound crackle. #111 DSi BIOS boot issue and sound crackle
• Custom layout background issue in RC3 #109 Custom layout background issue in RC3
• [Super Mario 64 DS] Some RetroAchievement challenges not consistently starting #105 Super Mario 64 DS RetroAchievement challenges not consistently starting
• RetroAchievements Not Syncing #103 RetroAchievements not syncing
• Issues with Vulkan on AYN Thor #101 Vulkan issues on AYN Thor
• [Super Mario 64 DS] Rendering issue in dual screen minigames using Vulkan #99 Super Mario 64 DS Vulkan dual-screen minigame rendering issue
• [Bug] Could not find ROM #97 Could not find ROM
• [0.7rc3 Bug] Etrian Odyssey Menu Issue & Flashing #96 Etrian Odyssey menu issue and flashing
• Visual glitches in Picross 3D when using slicers (Vulkan renderer) #93 Picross 3D slicer visual glitches with Vulkan
• Glitch of display using Vulkan to play Soma Bringer #92 Soma Bringer Vulkan display glitch
• Retroachievements not unlocking consistently on recent verisons #89 RetroAchievements not unlocking consistently
• rc_client error #88 rc_client error
• Can't fullscreen properly top notch not fullscreen #83 Fullscreen / top notch layout issue
• [Bug] Certain 7z compressed games crash the emulator during rom scanning #57 7z compressed games crash during ROM scanning

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Final 0.7.0 Candidate:

This RC is intended to be the final release candidate before 0.7.0.

If no major regressions are reported, melonDualDS v0.7.0.rc4 will become the final melonDualDS v0.7.0 release.

Please test Vulkan, RetroAchievements, DSiWare, custom layouts, ROM scanning, shaders, and custom Adreno drivers as much as possible.

Reports are especially useful if they include:

• Device model
• Android version
• GPU
• Vulkan driver used
• Game name
• Renderer used
• Internal resolution
• Steps to reproduce
• Screenshots or videos if possible

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Sneak Peek:

After 0.7.0, the next big feature I want to work on for melonDualDS is something very exciting:

A texture extractor and texture replacement system for Nintendo DS games.

The goal is to make it possible to extract textures from NDS games, replace them, and finally allow the creation of custom texture packs for Nintendo DS games inside melonDualDS.

This will open the door for HD texture packs, UI replacements, game-specific visual improvements, and community-made texture projects.

More details will come after the final 0.7.0 release.

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Support:

This release took a lot of work, testing, debugging, and user reports.

If you want to support melonDualDS development, early builds, testing, and future features like texture extraction and texture replacement, you can support the project on Patreon.

Thank you so much to everyone testing the RC builds, reporting bugs, sending logs, and helping make Vulkan and RetroAchievements better

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This discussion was created from the release melonDualDS v0.7.0.rc4: Final Release Candidate, Vulkan Stability, RetroAchievements Fixes, Custom Adreno Drivers, and DSiWare Improvements.

[MightyDarkZero]

Regarding using custom drivers, are you interested in performance related reports or bug reports/crashes only?

[SapphireRhodonite]

More releted to bugs/crashes please!, for perfomance I am.working on that already!!!

[adamthepyramid]

What can I do about it crashing while searching for ROMs?

[SapphireRhodonite]

Please enable melonDualLog in Settings -> System -> "write app log to ROM folder..."
Then make the app crash and sent me the melonDualLog as attachment please!

[adamthepyramid]

melonDualLog.log.txt

[adamthepyramid]

melonDualLog.log (1).txt

[SapphireRhodonite]

Thanks working on a fix

[Unknowncat1991]

Nice!!!

[quarnster]

As mentioned in the previous thread, still doesn't display pixel grids for slangp shaders in the "handheld" directory. Ayn Thor pro if it matters. Tried system driver and turnip, both look the same

#90 (comment)

[SapphireRhodonite]

Thanks I missed it let me check it!