Leaf v0.10.0-beta.3 (Tester Build)
Warning
This is a beta test build, not a public release. It is provided for testers
only and may be unstable, incomplete, or change without notice. Do not run it as
your everyday setup, and please do not redistribute it. For a stable, supported
version, install the latest release from the main Leaf repo:
https://github.com/Utility-Muffin-Research-Kitchen/Leaf/releases/latest
What's new in v0.10.0-beta.3
Leaf speaks Chinese, RetroArch does now too, wireless controllers arrived, and there are
two new apps.
简体中文 - Simplified Chinese
Leaf's interface is now available in Simplified Chinese. Go to Settings > General >
Language and pick 中文. Leaf restarts, about a second, and comes back translated.
Pick English the same way to go back.
The translation was written and reviewed by a native speaker from the community, not
machine-translated and shipped. Around 275 strings are covered: menus, settings, dialogs,
button hints, the in-game menu, and status messages.
Some things stay in English on purpose. Game names come from your files and the
scraper, so Leaf never rewrites them. Console names stay in Latin script, which is how
Chinese players write them too, though the arcade category is translated. Product and
app names keep their names since those are what you would search for when asking for
help. RetroArch's own menus now follow along too, covered below.
The interface switches to a font that can draw Chinese, since none of the nine Leaf fonts
carry those characters. That is why the Font row is locked while Chinese is active;
your chosen font returns when you switch back.
Chinese text is lighter than it was. Native speakers said it read too heavy, and they
were right: Leaf thickens every font a little for legibility on a small screen, which
suits Latin but closes up characters that already pack a lot of strokes into one square.
Chinese is now drawn at its true weight. Tell us if it has gone too far the other way,
especially in the smaller text.
Chinese and Japanese game names
This one works in any language, including English. A game file named in Chinese or
Japanese, a fan translation for example, used to show as empty boxes. It now renders
correctly everywhere titles appear.
RetroArch has a new menu, in your language
Open the RetroArch menu in a game and it looks nothing like it used to. It was a plain
green-on-black text grid drawing from a built-in bitmap font. It now has icons, readable
type and a proper theme.
The reason is worth knowing, because it explains the rest. Leaf ships RetroArch's real
asset set for the first time: icons, TrueType fonts, and a font that can draw Chinese and
Japanese. The old menu could not use any of it. The new one can, and that same font is
what lets RetroArch show Chinese at all.
So RetroArch follows Leaf's language. Set Leaf to 中文 and RetroArch's menus are
Chinese the next time you launch a game. Set Leaf back to English and they come back. You
never set it in two places, and there is no way to strand yourself in a language you
cannot read your way out of.
Multiple controllers
Wireless controllers now play alongside the Pocket 1's own controls, up to four players:
three controllers plus the handheld. Pair one under Settings > Bluetooth. The Xbox
Wireless Controller is the one we test against, and other controllers SDL recognizes
generally work, but treat those as best effort.
Controllers take the first player slots in the order they connected, and the handheld is
always the last player. Handing someone a controller should make them player 2, not
demote whoever is holding the device. Player order is decided when the game starts, so
connect everyone before you launch.
The Xbox button now does what the Pocket 1's Menu button does. It opens the Leaf
menu over your game, and the menus inside PPSSPP, DraStic, Flycast and the N64 emulator.
Whoever is holding a controller can reach the menu without asking for the device back.
One thing that looks like a bug and is not. Most of these consoles only ever had two
controller ports, so with two controllers connected the handheld is player 3 and seems
dead. That needs the console's multitap switched on in RetroArch, per game, and Leaf
deliberately does not do it for you since plenty of games misbehave with one plugged in.
Disconnect a controller and the handheld becomes player 2 again straight away. The full
explanation is at https://leaf.game/guide/controllers/.
This is the newest and least proven thing in the build, and we already know it has rough
edges. Please be rough with it.
Two new apps
Neither of these ships on the card. Install them on-device: press Menu, open
Actions > Pak Rat, and pick them from the list. They install over Wi-Fi and turn up in
your Apps tab.
Video From Hell plays video on the handheld, including the gameplay you record with
Menu + R1. H.264 and HEVC decode on the MLP1's video hardware rather than the CPU, so
1080p plays comfortably without flattening the battery. With two SD cards it merges the
Videos folder from each into one library, and it remembers where you stopped.
Syncthing keeps a card's game saves in sync with your other machines: another Leaf, a
computer, a NAS, a home server, or an Android handheld. Leaf handles the awkward parts,
binding folders to physical cards, pausing sync while a game has its files open, and
following a card whose mount point moves after a reboot. Start with saves; states also
work but are less portable.
Worth saying plainly, because it is the mistake that costs you a save file: Syncthing is
not a backup. A deleted or damaged file syncs everywhere. Keep real backups, or turn
on file versioning on whatever always-on machine you sync against.
Details: https://leaf.game/app-store/video-from-hell/ and
https://leaf.game/app-store/syncthing/.
Testing notes
The Chinese translation has been reviewed on a flat list but not yet walked through on
the device, which is where context problems show up. Worth reporting:
- Anything that reads oddly in place. A word can be correct in a list and wrong in its
row. - Text that overflows or gets cut off. Chinese is denser than English and some rows
are tight. - Anything still in English that you would expect translated. Some of that is
deliberate, above, but not all of it. - Switching back and forth between 中文 and English a few times.
On the RetroArch menu:
- Switching Leaf between 中文 and English, launching a game each time, and checking
RetroArch followed. - Any missing or boxy characters in the Chinese menus. Report the screen you saw them
on, ideally with a photo. - Menu size and theme. Leaf now sets both. Say so if they read badly on the panel.
On controllers, the useful things to try:
- Pairing, then power cycling the controller and the handheld, and whether it comes
back on its own. - Player order with one and with two controllers, and that the handheld keeps the
last slot rather than losing one. - The Xbox button reaching the menu in RetroArch games and in PPSSPP, DraStic,
Flycast and N64. - Controllers other than an Xbox pad, which are the least tested case of all.
Expected, not faults: translated system names sort to the bottom of the Games list, the
on-screen volume and brightness flashes stay English, and the handheld going quiet as
player 3 when two controllers are connected without a multitap.
Installing
Already running a compatible Leaf install? Open System Update, set Update Channel
to Beta, then check for and install the update.
For a fresh install, extract leaf-mlp1-sd-v0.10.0-beta.3.zip to the root of a FAT32 or
ext4 SD card and boot with it inserted. Your games, saves and states are left alone.