Batocera 5.11 vs. Recalbox 4.1 - 17.12.02

joinski

Hi Guys!

I have recently tested the latest PC 64-bit versions of Recalbox (4.1 - 17.12.02) and Batocera (5.11) on my Intel NUC-Kit D54250WYKH together with original Sony PS3 DualShock3 Controllers (CECHZC2E).
And here are some things, that i noticed, when comparing them in PSX, Kodi, Dreamcast and Gamecube:

recalbox
good:
- better graphics in PSX Emulator with mednafen core (different settings possible in retro-arch quick menu under "Options", for example higher resolution)
- no problem with sound output on x86 hardware (appropriate HDMI-Output is selectable directly and sound is working even after shutdown and restart of the system)

bad:
mainly PS3 Controller Bluetooth problems:
- with bluez-driver no control in kodi and in gamecube games possible
- with official-driver the control in kodi and gamecube games is possible, but all four leds are blinking constantly (so you do not know which controller is player 2 for example) and there is a problem with the left analog stick in dreamcast games (hard left is recognized as right-direction and hard up is recognized as down-direction)
- No Vibration in PSX (i tried every setting in retro-arch menu under "Controls" and "Options" with every Libretro Core, but i could not get vibration/rumble to work)

batocera
good:
- Vibration in PSX (in RetroArch Quick Menu under "Controls" you have to set "User 1 Device Type" to "RetroPad w/Analog" and under "Options", "Pad 1 Type" to "analog")
- newer kodi version
- no problems with controls neither in kodi, nor in dreamcast games with left analog stick. Also for player one only the first led is constantly on (for second player second led, third player third led and so on)

bad:
- no enhanced resolution or other options to get better graphics in PSX Emulator possible (no mednafen psx core)
- problems with sound output on x86 hardware (workaround possible with starting kodi first, and after exit kodi, the appropriate HDMI-Output is selectable (sometimes you have to set Output Device to "Auto" first and then reboot, start/exit Kodi and only then the appopriate HDMI-Output is selectable), but this workaround has to be done everytime after system has been shutdown/restarted)

So the pros of recalbox are the bads of batocera and vice versa.

Too bad that you are in dispute with the developer of recalbox and you can not help each other 🙁

Kind regards
joinski

nadenislamarre

yes, that life.
but we're not a company. if we prefer work separately let's work separately.
that's not ideal, but better than nothing at all.

i thought that the sound issue was fixed in 5.11 but while i've no computer with the issue, it's hard to understand and fix. it appears that on batocera, the sound is just muted at boot time.
but maybe while you have the issue you can help me ?
the problem is probably in the file /etc/init.d/S26recalboxsystem

(here on internet : https://github.com/batocera-linux/batocera.linux/blob/master/board/recalbox/fsoverlay/etc/init.d/S26recalboxsystem)

can you for example remove the line 186, save the overlay (/recalbox/scripts/save-overlay.sh) and reboot and tell me if the sound is still muted ?

for the rest, recalbox is mainly batocera 5.0 + some enchancements, so, yes, you can found things that are not on batocera, but this is true for several other retroprojects and a lot of things are still missing on batocera, for sure ;-)

G22

Recalbox 4.1 made a huge step forward but they for the most part used Batocera code. Since RB4.1 I think there's more addition to Batocera. I feel like yes you guys should work together but if it's going to create more problems, then no.

nadenislamarre

recalbox didn't use most part of batocera code. i worked for recalbox before. since recalbox 3.x, recalbox was mainly written by me, but i forked once 4.1 was already mainly written, it's why 4.1 equals approximatly batocera 5.0