Leaf v0.11.0 - Fun DraStic, Shaders, and Saturn

Leaf v0.11.0 - Fun DraStic, Shaders, and Saturn

Leaf v0.11.0 adds Fun DraStic as a validated Nintendo DS alternate, an in-game
shader picker, configurable in-game shortcuts, standalone Saturn emulation with
BIOS selection, Amiga support, and support for adding systems through Pak Rat.
It also carries forward every improvement tested in the unreleased 0.10.1 betas.

Fun DraStic, donated by tenlevels

A big thank you to tenlevels for creating Fun DraStic
and donating its source for Leaf to build. Fun DraStic provides a different Nintendo
DS interface with its own menus, screen layouts, themes, and overlays. It starts with
a Leaf theme.

Beta testers validated Fun DraStic across their games and common controls. The known
cheat-loading problem was fixed, long cheat names no longer draw over other rows, and
the hook is built from tenlevels' donated source with his license and credits included.

The existing DraStic remains the default. Choose Fun DraStic from a DS game's
Core option when you want the alternate interface. In-game saves are shared
between the two choices, while their settings and save states remain separate.

Choose shaders while you play

Open Leaf's in-game menu and choose Shader to browse presets recommended for the
system you are playing. Use Left and Right to choose This game,
This folder, or All RetroArch, then press A or Start to apply and save
the selected shader at that scope. Choosing Off removes the saved preset at the
selected scope. A broader preset may apply after you reload the game.

The recommendations include sharp pixels, LCD grids, scanlines, and CRT treatments
where appropriate. The bundle fixes the zfast shader loading problem and expands
recommendations across the packaged RetroArch systems. Browsing does not apply an
invisible preset behind the frozen game image, and the in-game menu stays idle without
redrawing continuously.

Choose Advanced RetroArch menu to edit the current shader directly in RetroArch.
Fugazi now identifies ownership of the global shader preset and provides confirmation
and recovery when replacing a preset created elsewhere.

Set your in-game shortcuts

In Settings > Controls & Feedback > In-game Shortcuts, choose or disable the
second button for Game Switcher, Screenshot, and Recording. Menu
remains the modifier. The defaults are Menu + Select, Menu + L1, and
Menu + R1, and two enabled actions cannot use the same button.

RetroArch's own hotkey modifier is yours to configure and defaults to Menu. If a
chord conflicts, a Leaf action takes priority when it is available; otherwise the
input reaches RetroArch. You can also bind the physical Menu button inside
RetroArch's input settings.

Standalone Saturn with BIOS selection

YabaSanshiro standalone is available as an alternate for supported Saturn images.
It can improve performance in some games and has its own menu and save states.
RetroArch remains the Saturn default.

YabaSanshiro can use an external Saturn BIOS for games that show a black screen under
its built-in HLE BIOS. Put 512 KiB BIOS images in BIOS/SATURN/ on either card,
select YabaSanshiro from a Saturn game's Core option, then open BIOS in the
same actions menu. You can save a choice for one game or the whole Saturn system.
HLE remains available, and an unavailable selected BIOS stops the launch with an
explanation instead of silently falling back.

Standalone is unavailable for .m3u playlists and ZIP archives, which continue
through RetroArch. Its native disc switching also has compatibility limitations.

Amiga support

Put Amiga games in Roms/AMIGA/. PUAE 2021 is the default, with PUAE as an
alternate. Put your Kickstart firmware in BIOS/puae/. Leaf supports common floppy,
hard-disk, WHDLoad, CDTV/CD32, archive, and multi-disk .m3u content, with library,
scraping, and Central Scrutinizer integration.

Multi-disk .m3u sets appear as one library entry while their member disks remain
available through RetroArch's disk controls. ZIP and 7z archives pass through intact.
Amiga, AGA, CDTV, and CD32 have dedicated launcher and Central Scrutinizer cards,
artwork handling, safe ROM and BIOS upload paths, and ordered ScreenScraper matching.

RetroArch settings and controls

Settings changed inside RetroArch survive Quit, launcher restart, reboot, and managed
shutdowns. Leaf gives each launch a private working config, replaces the durable config
atomically after a clean exit, and gives RetroArch time to save during shutdown before
cleaning up a verified leftover process. The unsupported alternate-config menu is
hidden, and normal startup no longer waits through the old fixed delay.

Leaf no longer reserves Select as RetroArch's hotkey modifier or Select + Start
as its exit chord, and it repairs those old mappings in existing shared configs. Holding
Select no longer blocks the D-pad or other controls. The physical Menu button and
existing RetroArch menu chords continue to work.

Appearance and launcher responsiveness

Settings > Appearance > Layout > System Icons lets you choose Automatic,
Flat, or Photographic independently of the home layout. Automatic keeps flat
icons in Tabs and photographic art in Cover Flow. An explicit choice persists across
layout changes and relaunches. A system can override its icon with
Roms/<SYSTEM>/icon.png, and a missing photograph falls back to the flat icon.

Short D-pad presses are more dependable, and the input service wakes immediately on
controller activity. Animated list text reuses cached glyphs, while Cover Flow loads
system and app art in the background, uses smaller runtime icons, and starts sooner.
PC-98, Atomiswave, and Naomi also have photographic Cover Flow artwork.

Add systems through Pak Rat

Content paks can add a system and its emulator to your Leaf library. ScummVM is
available through Pak Rat as the first example and is not bundled in the Leaf
installer. After installing it, put games under Roms/SCUMMVM/, with a .scummvm
game-ID file beside each game's data.

Leaf and Central Scrutinizer recognize contributed systems, and Leaf now uses the
display name supplied by each content pak instead of exposing its folder ID.

Reliability and everyday improvements

• Wi-Fi renews its address and can fall back to another saved network after resume or
  a connection change, while still respecting an intentional disconnect or disabled
  radio.
• RetroArch includes TLS support required for secure RetroAchievements connections.
• Fast direction reversals no longer leave a previous direction held in DraStic, and
  standalone sessions no longer accumulate controller-forwarding or calibration
  errors. Menu hotkey monitoring still works in those sessions.
• Pak Rat stops retrying recovery operations that cannot succeed.
• ScreenScraper distinguishes a result with no artwork from a failed request and
  redacts sensitive signed download URLs from logs.
• SSH Server explains when password login needs a configured password or key-only
  mode instead of showing an empty error.
• Leaf passes its language to apps. Thing-File includes a reviewed Simplified Chinese
  interface and displays Chinese and Japanese filenames with the shared CJK font.
• B exits the System menu when you open it from a tab root.

Installing

Existing Leaf installations can update through Menu > Actions > System Update.
If you used the beta channel, set Update Channel back to Stable when you want
future stable updates.

For a fresh install, extract leaf-mlp1-sd-v0.11.0.zip to the root of a FAT32 or ext4
SD card and boot the handheld with it inserted. Your games, saves, states, and settings
are left in place.

To return to stock, extract leaf-mlp1-recovery-v0.11.0.zip to the card root and boot
once with it inserted.

Everything from Leaf v0.10.0 and earlier releases is included.