Sneak Peek: Massive RetroArch/FinalBurn Neo Update (WIP)

Update 13 January 2023, several amendments and Preemptive Frames as third big thing

2023 starts with some big news for Mac Retrogaming: RetroArch received a Vulkan driver for MacOS via the MoltenVK layer and further big things. I try to explain why this will probably become a major game changer and even less reason for me to use MAME.

First: Vulkan and HDR

The MacOS Vulkan shader comes with HDR, nicely configurable in the UI. I had to heavily scale down the default settings to achieve decent colors on my HDR monitor, however. Contrast must go up tremendously here.

(wip: insert default settings vs my settings here)

Vulkan let's you use more of the latest and greatest shaders. One shader that can be easily overlooked is the koko-aio shader (bundled with RetroArch, but only github provides for the latest version 3.5 currently):

 https://github.com/kokoko3k/koko-aio-slang

This shader provides for screen bezel reflection and other goodies and is easily configurable and editable (after some initial work). Here is an example of my first work results (videos will follow, the main point are the reflections on the screen bezel, which incredibly add value) - the bezels are included in the shader configuration!

HDR and bezel reflections as you play are a significant upgrade. The background image needs further adjustment.

Second: Stable 60 fps on 60 Hz monitors

FinalBurn Neo is the best choice for everybody that has a 60Hz fixed rate LCD: In the Core Options of FinalBurn Neo, be sure that "Force 60 Hz" is activated (you need to close the Core and restart, if changed!). It truly makes a difference with difficult candidates, such as Moon Patrol:

Moon Patrol scrolling at 60 Hz is perfect (again, see the screen bezel reflections!), the vertical lines come from the screenshot.

The system's default refresh was at 56,97 Hz, and this must cause severe hickups with 60 Hz fixed rate monitors.

In essence, perfect scrolling in FinalBurn Neo can be achieved easily, while the workaround explained for MAME in an earlier post seems more of a hack. That‘s a huge thing.

Third: Preemptive Frames instead of Runahead

Very recent RetroArch Nighties deliver another new function called Preemptive Frames (under Latency Options). The RetroArch team claims that it is consuming less resources, so you should use it instead of Runahead, unless you experience audio issues - then again Runahead. 

Happy to report that during my initial testing, I encountered no issues whatsoever in FinalBurn Neo, for me it just works like Runahead. Another very nice thing is that the new function takes over the core-specific and game-specific settings. So I am running FinalBurn Neo default with one preemptive frame and 2 frames only in selected games (e.g. gyruss). 

Even better, many games now have functioning highscores even if you activate Runahead/Preemptive Frames! In the past, you had to decide between the two. While it is not universal like in MAME, it keeps getting better (for me, however, RetroAchievements have become much more important than personal highscores).

These three things alone, combined with RetroAchievements and a steady development of FinalBurn Neo, provide this emulator a clear edge over MAME on Mac systems. I know, that's heresy, but on the other hand, MAME development for Macs has not seen any improvement through the last two or so years.

More to come here soon.