Preamble: This is a blog post meant for an older release of Batocera. You can think of it as diving into the past. I felt this version in particular deserved a blog entry for how much it changed in a single major release.
This has been a long time coming, but here’s the blog post for the v30 release! This release is significant in that Batocera is officially becoming 64-bit!
🎊
But Batocera was always available in 64-bit? There’s a huge x86_64-bit download button on the download page, after all. Well, although Batocera’s linux kernel was pretty much always 64-bit, most of the software on top was running in 32-bit compatibility mode. In most ways, this change to 64-bit doesn’t matter too much for the end-user, but it opens up the path for using the latest software in the future. Some currently developed emulators such as DuckStation (Edit: hindsight is 20/20) can be added more easily now.
But there are some required steps for Raspberry Pi 4 users upgrading from v29 to v30. You’ll need to:
- Go to Main Menu > Updates & Downloads > Update Type and set it to Beta. Don’t worry, we’ll be switching it back later. Edit: This step may no longer be necessary!
- Upgrade to the v30 beta. Edit: Since we’re now on the v32 beta, you may need to do this manually or skip straight to the v31 stable.
- After that’s all done, shut down the Pi and take out the SD card.
- Put it into a computer and rename
config64.txt to config.txt.
- You’re good to go now. Boot back into Batocera and switch the update type back to stable.
Unfortunately this means newer builds will no longer be compiled for the Raspberry Pi ½/Zero, as they use older 32-bit CPUs. There will still be a release for v30, but this will likely be the last one for those devices. This doesn’t mean you have to stop using your old Pi’s with Batocera, v30 will continue to function perfectly fine with them. You can still compile the current 32-bit versions of Batocera for these boards if you’re interested, though! Just be aware there might be major untested bugs if you choose to do this.
Edit: Actually, there has been some work by a few dedicated devs to release one extra version of Batocera for these devices! Kind of like a last hurrah, should things go smoothly. Expect a release of v32 for the Raspberry Pi 1/Zero (unfortunately, the Pi 2 is proving more difficult to backport changes to)!
v30 adds support for the Odroid GO Super!
Its internals are pretty much identical to the Odroid Go Advance, but it has a much nicer and larger screen, similar to the form factor of the Nintendo Switch.
And the Orange Pi PC too (Allwinner H3).
Now for the major additions: a slew of new emulators! Including:
- melonDS for NDS emulation (x86_64/RPI4/Odroid C4/Odroid N2/VIM3)
- Supermodel (we already had it for other systems) now supporting Sega Model 3 (x86_64)
- REDREAM for Dreamcast emulation (x86_64)
and a heap of new ports (keep in mind you’ll need to source the program files from your game install, read the _info.txt files):
and plenty more, check out the changelog for the full list!
PCSX2 now has support for up to 8 players!
The RetroAchievements screen has gotten an overhaul! This includes adding a new screen for each individual game to use in addition to the large over-arching one for all games. There’s also a RetroAchievements icon available in the game list too!
A new SaveState manager has been added in ES. Manage your saves without having to launch it! Isn’t that neat?
You can access it by holding down the South button. Edit: This has been switched to pressing the North button since v31! You can switch back to this behaviour in the Developer options.
The scraper tool has gotten some love, too! We’ve added the ArcadeDB to our scraper list, and Screenscraper and TheGamesDB sources have gotten a bunch of additional options too. Check them out!
You’ll also get a friendly notification of when you connect and disconnect a controller.
All in all, this was a huge release! Props to all of the devs for working tirelessly to get this version out the door!
I hope to stick around and do a few more relevant blog posts in the future for Batocera, see you soon for the v32 release! (31? I don’t know what you’re talking about.)
