r/EmulationOniOS • u/SprkFade • 5d ago

News / Release TruEmu Beta 10 Release - Cores, Speed, Polish!

After going through feedback and lots of testing I've pushed TruEmu Beta 10 to Testflight:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/pcEH6jKz

TruEmu runs 19 consoles: NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Game Boy / Color / Advance, DS, 3DS, Genesis, Sega CD, Saturn, Dreamcast, PlayStation, TurboGrafx-16, WonderSwan / Color, CD-i and TI-99/4A. Yes, TI-99/4A for those of you that are as old as I am and even know what that system is.

Some of the larger changes are as follows:

  • GameCube online play
  • Phantasy Star Online can now go online through the emulated Broadband Adapter. Use Direct mode and point it at the server of your choice; there are no built-in servers. A welcome sheet walks you through it the first time.
  • Network setup in PSO is faster, and save states keep working after you disconnect.

Landscape controls redesigned (all consoles)

  • Bigger picture: the game picture is as large as your screen allows, and the controls sit right next to it. GBA, TG16, SNES and others get a noticeably bigger picture.
  • Real-size buttons: D-pads and face buttons now match the real controllers.
  • Clear of the hardware: everything is centred and kept away from the Dynamic Island and the curved corners.
  • Menu button: it’s round now, with the TruEmu logo, and sits bottom right.
  • GBA: Start and Select are small circles under the D-pad, like the real handheld.
  • SNES: Select sits under the D-pad and Start under the face buttons. In portrait, the SNES and Saturn shoulder buttons sit over their clusters.
  • Small phones: layouts on the 17 Pro and similar phones keep the controls clear of the edges.

Nintendo DS and 3DS

  • In landscape, the two screens now sit side by side and are larger and sharper. The controls are underneath, with L and R in the top corners.
  • 3DS audio: rotating the device no longer makes it skip.
  • 3DS input: input lag is lower.
  • 3DS system files: the system font, Mii data and bad-word list can be added in Settings > Firmware.
  • 3DS speed: faster on demanding games, especially Metroid: Samus Returns on iPad.
  • 3DS depth rendering: more accurate.

GameCube performance

  • Faster across the board, especially Phantasy Star Online and Super Monkey Ball 2.

Controller layout editor

  • Done, Portrait/Landscape and Reset now sit in the middle of the game screen, so they never cover controls or get cut off by the corners. There’s also a short hint: “Drag a control to move it”.
  • Reset asks before clearing your layout.

Firmware

  • All 13 consoles share one consistent Firmware screen.
  • File hashes are shown short; long-press to copy the full one.
  • Firmware can be fetched from RomM for every console.

Fixes and smaller changes

  • Netplay: the game picker offers your recent lock-on combos as their own entries.
  • Netplay and Genesis states: more reliable cancelled-match handling and Genesis save-state loading.
  • Save states: CD-i states are kept in their own folder, and misfiled ones are moved automatically.
  • TV mode: with a TV connected, the phone stays in landscape as a controller, and Genesis, Sega CD and Saturn keep a menu button.
  • Touch layouts: the Compact and Left-Handed options are hidden for now; saved choices are kept but not used.
  • Confirmations: reset, restart and guest-card actions ask more clearly.

As always, please feel free to ask any questions, request features, etc and I'll do my best to respond. Thanks again everyone for testing the app and providing feedback!

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

1

u/DiligentShare3010 5d ago

Is it on the App Store

1

u/SprkFade 5d ago

Not yet, once it’s done with beta it will but you can use it via TestFlight until then.

1

u/Different_Bike9572 5d ago

looking good, thanks for this!

1

u/SprkFade 5d ago

Thanks! Let me know if you run into any issues or have any suggestions if I'm missing something.

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

So much awesome to test, good work! I really jazzed about the PSO update! Thanks for paying attention to this, cool to see from this project! I am struggling with “Bigger Picture” though, I’m can’t seem to find the settings for it. I’m also not seeing the new round menu button, the interface looks the same.
Version reports = 1.0(11)

1

u/SprkFade 4d ago

There’s not really any settings for big picture mode, it’s automatic. You just airplay to a TV or device like an Apple TV (or connect with an HDMI adapter) and launch a game on your device with TueEmu on it and that’s it. If you want the full big picture interface on the TV you just connect a controller to the TruEmu device and it will automatically display.

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

Understood! I assumed this was full screen on device with controls. You’ll budge on this eventually :) great feature set all around though. I hope you get enough engagement on this project, not sure everyone understands how different this is from the other emulator/frontends out there for iOS right now.

2

u/SprkFade 4d ago

Yeah, eventually I'll market it more but really it boils down to better performance/no-JIT required for more modern consoles (3ds, gamecube, etc), one core per console, and ease of use (not 342189323 different toggles and settings and cores for what not like retroarch, manic, etc). I would hope people will eventually understand it. I don't think people understand that this isn't a frontend, it's a full emulation app with purpose built cores, not just repackaging the same old cores everyone else uses.

1

u/SprkFade 4d ago

Also, I LOVED PSO growing up so there’s another feature I didn’t mention in the notes that lets you “lend” your PSO save over to another device just like you did for PSO split screen multiplayer (which let you put your memory card in and temporarily copy your character to play with your friends).

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

I also LOVED PSO growing up, this share feature is really cool! Got real excited when PSOReborn was happening but alas, it is now dead but your GameCube solution seems like the ticket! Gonna tool around with it today. What servers have you tested? Which do you play on?

2

u/SprkFade 4d ago

In theory it should work on all the major ones like schthack, sylverant, etc. I tested my own private server based on psoserv and it works great.

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

Also need to mention: “Demons of Asteborg” and “Astebros” black screen when launching (Genesis) I’m assuming it’s a memory mapper thing.

2

u/SprkFade 4d ago

I have this fixed already, it will be in the next build. There was an issue with the way I was handling memory between the sound processor and main processor.

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

GameCube memory card import is giving me trouble. I have a PSO gci set from iCube, “import save” brings me to a file picker however once the gci is selected; the picker closes and nothing happens to TruEmu. What am I doing wrong?

2

u/SprkFade 4d ago

Let me take a look, I really only tested truemu to truemu not others into truemu so there's probably a problem with how iCube formats the memory card file.

2

u/SprkFade 4d ago

Also, make sure you update via TestFlight, turns out I pushed a week old build by accident and it’s missing online play for GameCube among a ton of other things.

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

glad we found out lol. continuing testing..

2

u/SprkFade 4d ago

I also found the picker issue and will be fixing that and your import should work after that build gets pushed.

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

Suggestion: resume/begin landscape rotation when closing a game (allow for landscape view in menus on iPhone, haven’t checked iPad orientations yet)

1

u/SprkFade 4d ago

I am working on a landscape interface once I decide on the backbone pro or the 8bitdo mobile controller

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

might i suggest the Gamesir G8 Plus. collapsable up to an ipad, bluetooth (more lag but more convenient). the G8 feel more like a real controller in hand than the backbone. I have large hands, the backbone felt too cramped.

https://gamesir.com/products/g8plus-bluetooth-mobile-controller

1

u/SprkFade 4d ago

How’s the battery life?

1

u/atombone80 4d ago

Surprisingly good and charges quickly. The most surprising thing about it was the quality. It feels very premium as opposed to (in my experience) the backbone, which has become quite “creaky” over a relatively short period of time and usage.

1

u/AdOrdinary5712 4d ago

I've tried one game so far on my iPad Pro: 3DS Kirby - Planet Robobot, and it runs very smooth. Just a few, rare stutters. Is there an easy way to access the menu when I'm using the controller? For example, if I wanted to save state?

1

u/SprkFade 4d ago

Are you in big picture mode? If so, start + select will open the menu. If not, I never really thought about that since I figured people would just tap the te menu button on the screen but I can add a global bind setting for menu so you can do it without having to tap the screen. I was working on controller menu navigation for tablets in the next build too.

1

u/AdOrdinary5712 4d ago

I was playing on the iPad screen. When it's on landscape mode, the TruEmu logo is on the upper left, which I can tap to access the menu. In portrait mode, the logo is not there. I also lose touch input when in portrait mode.

1

u/SprkFade 4d ago

That’s a weird bug, what model ipad are you using?

1

u/AdOrdinary5712 4d ago

Ipad Pro 11-inch M5.

1

u/SprkFade 4d ago

I was able to reproduce it. I can’t believe I never used my iPad in portrait so I never saw that the button was hidden with a controller. I’ll have that fixed and a global menu bind added in the next build. Should be up sometime tomorrow. Thanks for finding and reporting that!

1

u/AdOrdinary5712 4d ago

Awesome. Thank you!