malisx2 0.2.2

Vulkan driver for the ARMSX2 PlayStation 2 emulator on Android, for devices with an Arm Mali GPU:

• Mali-G615 / G715 — tested on the Anbernic RG 477V.
• Mali-G57, G68, G77, G78, G78AE — tested on the Anbernic RG 476H. The other GPUs in this family are untested.
• Mali-G52 / G52 r1 — experimental: for trying out, not yet for everyday play. Courtesy of @TheGammaSqueeze.

Install: in ARMSX2, Settings → custom GPU driver → install from file, and pick malisx2-0.2.2-18ad24d9a2.zip.

What's new since 0.2.1

• Works with more handhelds' Mali driver versions. Devices with a Mali-G57-family GPU whose Android kernel carries an older Mali driver than the ones we tested were turned away before; they are now let in. Only the kernels on our own test devices are tested.
• Fixes the black screen on Rockchip RK3576 handhelds, such as the Anbernic RG Vita Pro, where ARMSX2 stopped with "failed to create swap chain". We do not have one of these devices, so this is untested: please tell us if it works.
• Slightly smaller shaders from a newer version of the shader compiler. Same pictures; on the two GPUs we test, the frames ARMSX2 draws are the same as before.
• A fix for a possible GPU fault when a post-processing filter and normal drawing run at the same time.
• Mali-G52: uses the same colour blending method ARMSX2 already uses on the other two GPUs.
• Linux (not part of this download): the source now works with Arm's window-system layer and has build files for ROCKNIX, thanks to @beebono .

Good to know

• ARMSX2 builds its shader cache once after a driver update; the first moments of the first game may be slower than usual.
• Mali-G52 is experimental. Early tests are promising, but if a game misbehaves there, use the system driver.
• Mali-G57 family: if the driver does not start on your device, ARMSX2 uses the system driver; please send a log.
• A few HUD colours can come out slightly brighter than on a real PS2 (for example Gran Turismo 4's speedometer). Other drivers show the same.
• Reporting a problem: take a bug report or a logcat right after it happens, and keep ARMSX2's logs/emulog.txt (it is overwritten when the app starts again).

Build

For support:

• malisx2 0.2.2, commit 18ad24d
• Mesa: branch malisx2 of bmdhacks/armsx2-turnip, commit db9bce6c3d36570ef996a898f53cbcde08db39e8
• malisx2-0.2.2-18ad24d9a2.zip sha256 f860040265427e55abe4515eed75c302870708b4cbb613fedb7133997e2b3b6d
• libvulkan_malisx2.so sha256 6eb7afd301037fc884abc972ea2c893a235e2f62e6b5d9c1e04e48aa967e4c3f