Now, which one of these 999 save state slots was I using in my last session 
Is there a way to toggle between save states you have saved or see them in a list instead of just trying different slots until you find the right one? I’m on Android
save states
You get what you deserve
This is why i try to keep it to 2-5 save slots.
As much as I love Retroarch, does anyone else find it super user-unfriendly? Maybe I’m just getting old but some stuff that should be easy is really obtuse. Like setting up a controller for a system that doesn’t use Xbox360 style button layout is way harder than it should be. You go to map the buttons and it doesn’t have them as an option. Like buddy I’m using a N64 core where is the option to map the c-buttons?
It’s clunky af.
Compare Retroarch to AetherSX2 if you’re on android - Aether is not nearly as fully developed as RA but from a user-interface perspective Aether blows RA out of the water.
There’s a noticeable absence of sub-sub-sub menus and the vague menu naming convention that RA uses (why anyone would think that menu names like Interface, Display, Controls, Input and Configuration are a good idea is completely beyond me. Those are all so broad and ill-defined that the setting you’re probably looking for could fit into at least half of those top-level menus. Conversely, you also have Directory, Playlists, File Browser, and Saving which are all top-level menus in RA that could easily be put into one menu named something like File Management.) Aether also provides a screenshot of each save state and the date/time it was modified which is a huge quality of life feature imo.
I’m a big fan of two-tier menu organisation when it comes to any kind of software: it should always be that the main menu options that every user needs are front and centre while the nitty gritty and poweruser options that are generally not used, not needed, and have the potential to break things should be tucked away behind a kitchen sink sub-menu with a name like Advanced Settings so if you have the want or need to tinker you’re able to but you don’t have unnecessary menu options cluttering up the interface.
Just look at the Input menu on RA - there are so many poweruser options at the top of the menu and the descriptions are vague and recursive “Override the input binds with the remapped binds set for the current core”. What?? Mate, all I want to do is to map the buttons so I can play the game smh.
Honestly I think the only app on Android I’ve come across whose settings menu is more of a disaster is Podcast Addict, where there are like 4-5 different entry points into settings that are scattered across the app (gear icon, triple dot menu > App settings, Podcast episode description page > Customize menu with another gear icon, Player triple dot menu > Settings (player)) and different entry points provide different settings options. This might have changed since last I tinkered with the app but it was such a clusterfuck that I get flashbacks any time I even think about trying to change the settings in Podcast Addict so I haven’t looked recently.
it’s annoyed me a few times cause messing with settings to fix games is unnecessarily obtuse, esp. if it’s missing settings for your games, and then I have to load that emulator anyway
Every time I’ve tried to use retroarch I eventually get frustrated and go back to good ole discrete emulators for everything.
I’ve been using it on my retroid pocket for a while and i still spend way too much time forgetting which sub menu something lives in. Also the dev is a reactionary poo head.
Emulator launchers like emudeck and equivalents end up being a lot nicer to use
Definitely- I have a number of other emulators and all of them have much nicer UIs than RetroArch. Unfortunately I’m limited to RetroArch for a number of systems
A Hexbear user once commented links showing that the main Retroarch dev is a piece of shit and a transphobe which helped me reconcile with my gut feeling that individual emulators are better than RetroArch.
Yeah they’re pretty shit, I remember the duckstation dev quitting for a while cuz of the retroarch devs
Didn’t the RetroArch guys just steal DuckStation for a core without permission?
Yeah iirc stenzek had some code that hadn’t made it to the public branch yet and the retroarch devs took it, he said they plagiarized him, they harassed him for a bit after that leading to him quitting duckstation. He started taking community PRs again eventually and I believe works on pcsx2 now but we really almost lost a really good emudev.
It’s also clunky as hell. Unfortunately I have to use it for a bunch of systems because the phone I use for emulation is so old and underpowered. For example, as much as I love the standalone Snes9x some games just crackle and stutter on my phone so I have to resort to the Snes9x 2010 RetroArch core.
I also use it for GameBoy/Color/Advance because mGBA doesn’t have an Android port.
