Azahar 2122 Release Candidate 1

[OpenSauce04]

⚠️Important Release Candidate Information⚠️

This is a release candidate. Please expand this drop-down to read more about what this means before installing.

As a release candidate, this build is not yet considered a stable release, but is instead a build which could be promoted to a stable release if it is sufficiently tested with no major issues being discovered. Ideally, the release candidate period will last for 7 days, however if major issues are discovered, this will be extended to allow for additional testing with a corrected release candidate.

Despite its status as a pre-release build, users are encouraged to test this version to help us catch any newly introduced issues before the build is promoted to a full release. If you do observe such issues, please report them to us on GitHub so we can evaluate them.

If you are unwilling to tolerate potential minor issues, you may be better off waiting until a release candidate is promoted to a full release.

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This update is notable for having a high number of improvements to game performance and compatibility. Please read the change notes.

Additionally, for x86_64 devices (most desktop computers), this update requires a CPU which has SSE4.2 instructions, and it is likely that all future releases will also have this requirement.
This feature is available in all modern CPUs released in 2011 or later.
The few users who have hardware which doesn't support this instruction set can compile the emulator from source with the ENABLE_SSE42 CMake option disabled.

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ℹ️ For those who have already read the 2122 Alpha 1 changelog, you can expand this dropdown to see only the changes which have been added since that prerelease.

MacOS

• Fixed an issue where certain entries would disappear from the native MacOS menubar while using certain non-English languages. | @RedBlackAka Fix and restore macOS native menu #1111
  • Due to this change, the native menubar, which was disabled in 2121, has been re-enabled.

Android

• Fixed an issue where Azahar would consistently crash on opening if it lost permission to access to the user data directory. | @PabloMK7 android: Fix crash when user directory permissions are lost #1110

Desktop

• Fixed an issue where the RPC server setting wouldn't save and would consequentially always be disabled when restarting Azahar. | @PabloMK7 frontend: Save RPC setting to config file #1129

Technical

• Suppressed redundant GCC ABI warnings produced by -Wpsabi. | @OpenSauce04 cmake: Suppress -Wpsabi warnings when building with GCC #1089
• Addressed several deprecation warnings flagged by Android Studio. | @OpenSauce04
• Vulkan::CreateSurface now reports an error code if an error occurs. | @PabloMK7 vulkan: Report error code on Vulkan::CreateSurface #1130

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Azahar 2122-rc1 Changelog

All

• SIMD operations have been used to optimize a commonly used function, reducing GPU processing time for all applications. | @PabloMK7 video_core: Use SIMD on RasterizerAccelerated::AnalyzeVertexArray #1086
  • This change breaks compatibility with x86_64 CPUs which don't have SSE4.2 instructions (primarily CPUs released before 2011).
  • The few users who have hardware which doesn't support this instruction set can compile the emulator from source with the ENABLE_SSE42 CMake option disabled.
    • Disabling this CMake option also disables the optimization to the commonly used function.
• Improved SVC handling timings by simulating the passage of time more accurately. | @PabloMK7 kernel: Improve SVC handling timings #1093
  • This results in significant performance improvements for several games, including but not limited to Luigi's Mansion 2, Star Fox 64 3D, and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
• Refactored state tracking in the video core, reducing the amount of needed syncs and uploads to the GPU. | @PabloMK7, anonymous contributor video_core: Refactor state tracking #1059
  • This improves performance in all applications.
• Allow SPIR-V when using Shadow2D texture mapping. | @PabloMK7, anonymous contributor Allow SPIR-V when using Shadow2D texture mapping #1057
  • This greatly reduces stuttering in some games. Games known to be affected by this include Luigi's Mansion 2 and Resident Evil: Revelations, but other games may also see improvements.
• GLSL -> SPIRV optimizations have been disabled by default, with a new setting added to re-enable them. | @PabloMK7 Add toggle to disable SPIRV optimization pass #1080, Fix disable spirv optimizer option not saving #1084
  • Disabling these optimizations has minimal impact on performance while greatly improving stuttering in all applications.
• Fixed the start index parameter for the geometry shader config being set incorrectly. | @PabloMK7, anonymous contributor Fix incorrect geo shader config start index parameter bit length #1056
  • This fixes an issue in Kid Icarus: Uprising where grind rails would appear to be invisible.
• Replaced a problematic assert in AccelerateTextureCopy with a logged error. | @PabloMK7 video_core: Remove assert in AccelerateTextureCopy #1092
  • This fixes an issue which caused The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth to immediately crash when starting a run.

MacOS

• Fixed an issue where certain entries would disappear from the native menubar while using certain non-English languages. | @RedBlackAka Fix and restore macOS native menu #1111
  • Due to this change, the native menubar, which was disabled in 2121, has been re-enabled.

Android

• Additional options have been added during shortcut creation, allowing the icon and name of the shortcut to be customized. | Kleidis android: Enhance shortcut customization with a custom dialog #824
• The performance overlay has been enhanced with new settings and statistics available to be toggled from the Layout settings. | Kleidis android: Improve performance stats overlay settings and functionality #808
  • By default, only the current FPS is shown. Other statistics can be toggled on in the aforementioned settings menu.
• Added an aspect ratio setting which affects the single-screen layout. | @icy-briar android: Add aspect ratio setting for single screen layout mode #913
• Added an option which allows disabling JIT shader compilation. | @PabloMK7 android: Add missing shader JIT option #1085
• Reorganized the setup process to reduce the unnecessarily high number of pages. | Kleidis, @OpenSauce04 android: Reorganize setup process to use multiple buttons per-page #820
• Added rotate screen upright toggle. | Kleidis android: Add rotate screen upright toggle to UI #819
• Fixed an issue where Azahar would consistently crash on opening if it lost permission to access to the user data directory. | @PabloMK7 android: Fix crash when user directory permissions are lost #1110

Desktop

• Added an option which allows advanced frame time information to be displayed at the bottom of the window. | @PabloMK7 Add more advanced frame time information #1083
• Fixed an issue where a custom-set background colour wouldn't be used while using the Vulkan renderer when an application was initially booted. | @icy-briar renderer_vulkan: Actually initialize background colors on start #896
• Fixed an issue where the RPC server setting wouldn't save and would consequentially always be disabled when restarting Azahar | @PabloMK7 frontend: Save RPC setting to config file #1129

Room

• Private room hosts are now automatically given moderator privileges. | Kleidis Room moderation functionality adjustments #822
• The --enable_citra_mods option has been removed. | Kleidis Room moderation functionality adjustments #822

Technical

• Refactored Android switch setting code to only store values as booleans. | Kleidis android: Make SwitchSetting only allow Boolean setting types & move all Int settings used for switches to Boolean settings #821
• Updated some outdated Vulkan dependencies on Windows (MSVC) and Android to match the Vulkan SDK 1.4.304.1 used elsewhere. | @OpenSauce04 Updated outdated Vulkan dependencies to SDK 1.4.304.1 #1094
• Vulkan::CreateSurface now reports an error code if an error occurs. | @PabloMK7 vulkan: Report error code on Vulkan::CreateSurface #1130
• Addressed several deprecation warnings flagged by Android Studio. | @OpenSauce04
• Suppressed redundant GCC ABI warnings produced by -Wpsabi. | @OpenSauce04 cmake: Suppress -Wpsabi warnings when building with GCC #1089

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This discussion was created from the release Azahar 2122 Release Candidate 1.