• StepMania is a free and open source, cross-platform rhythm game. It supports common key-based rhythm game formats (including 4-panel and 5-panel dance games among others), as well as Switch controllers (joycons recommended for their individual buttons), keyboard and dance pad controllers (ex: Gamecube ones with adapter). It is customizable with user-made add-ons such as themes, and provides an integrated editor for creating your own simfiles.
  
  Getting Started
  
  Grabbing Binaries
  
  You can download the latest release here on github: https://github.com/retronx-team/stepmania-nx/releases.
  Extract the archive in the /switch folder on your SD Card. Then, run the game from the hbmenu using hbl.
  Be sure to run it as an app, it won't work as an applet (you may get a black screen and/or crashes).
  
  Song Installation
  
  You can install songs by simply putting them in a subfolder of your Songs-folder in the directory you installed Stepmania to. You can find for example a few packs of songs on Stepmania Online http://stepmaniaonline.net/index.php?page=downloads or Otaku's Dream Website here : http://www.otakusdream.com/downloads/.

• You can access all the official documentation, forum, news and wiki on the following links:
  
  * StepMania wiki: https://github.com/stepmania/stepmania/wiki
  * StepMania official website: https://www.stepmania.com/
  https://gbatemp.net/threads/stepmani...h-port.546958/

...

• Sony’s on a roll, bringing firmware updates to not just one, but two of its legacy systems. Released today was OFW 4.85 for the PlayStation 3, which “improves system performance”. If you’re looking to get a PS3 and are afraid of this being an unhackable firmware, worry not, as scene dev Joonie has already released an exploit for 4.85. However, there is no reason to currently update to that firmware at this time, as not all of the standard hacked PS3 tools are available on the new HFW 4.85.1 just yet.
  
  Source
  
  https://gbatemp.net/threads/ps3-gets...n-4-85.547012/

...

In these past years, VUEngine has improved so much and become better and better in all areas imaginable... well, except a single one: music. As one of the oldest parts of the software, the engine's sound manager has been seriously lagging behind, supporting only single track music and lacking any tools to actually produce any music, or convert some into the engine's format.

But that's history from now on! We have finally filled in the missing puzzle piece and rewritten the entirety of the engine's sound code. From now on, it is possible to play either PCM, converted from WAV files, or MIDIs, converted to a special format readable by the music player. You can use all 6 tracks, which are automatically allocated and released, and there are fading effects and spatial positioning of audio sources, allowing you to locate the source of a sound thanks to the Virtual Boy's stereo speakers. You can also modify sound while it is played, and for instance speed it up. See below for a full list of features that are already implemented, as well as possible future additions.

Of course we also added another tool to the existing range of debug tools to accompany the updated sound support. Build your project in tools or debug mode and press LR+RT+RDown in-game to bring up the Sound Test.

You can find a standalone version of the Sound Test tool attached to the post on our Patreon page, including a selection of sample songs and sound effects.

https://www.planetvb.com/modules/new...hp?storyid=463 ...

Despite Vita's long ride into the sunset, Sony is still releasing anti-hacking firmware for the handheld.
As reported by Kotaku, Vita hacker Andy Nguyen -- responsible for the recent Trinity Exploit -- this week revealed a new hack, h-encore².
Unlike previous hacks, h-encore² doesn't require a PSP, and can be done directly onto the Vita system.
However, Sony shut it down almost immediately, and released a firmware update that "improves system performance."


Posting on Twitter, Nguyen said: "Welp, Sony doesn't want to see us having fun. They just released FW 3.72 which blacklisted the userland exploit."
Over the past year, Sony has been slowly scaling back its support for the Vita, ending game card production in the US and Europe, console shipping, and the roster of free monthly games with PlayStation Plus.
Despite this, the Vita still enjoys a certain level of popularity in Japan -- where game cartridges are still being produced -- meaning Sony still has a vested interest in maintaining security for the near future.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...n-vita-hacking ...

• After teasing some of their upcoming features, the Libretro team has just released their latest stable build of RetroArch: 1.7.8. This is a sizable update for the emulator frontend, offering many new changes and functions such as an "AI Service" which has a Speech Mode that can automatically parse text onscreen into speech, or an Image Mode that quickly pauses your game to overlay machine translated text from one language to another. Also new to this update is the RetroArch Disc Project, allowing for CD-ROM support so that players can experience their original game discs right through RetroArch's supported cores, or dump them into a bin/cue format.
  
  Other, smaller additions, like touchscreen lightgun controls for mobile, on-demand thumbnail downloading, enhanced core options, and more, have been added as well.
  
  A full changelog is available below:
  

  1.7.8 (future)
  

  • 3DS: Fix C-Stick y-axis inversion
  • 3DS: Update all icon/banner images
  • AI: Add AI Service functionality (enabled for Windows/Mac/Linux/Android/iOS).
  • APPLE (MAC/IOS/TVOS): Fix autodetect for mFI controllers: properly call autodetect add on the connect notification, and add call to disconnect on GameController disconnect notification.
  • ANDROID: Implemented multi-touch touchscreen support
  • ANDROID: Now can be built with Gradle/Android Studio
  • AUDIO/WINDOWS: You can now select between audio devices for XAudio2/DirectSound/XAudio2 by pressing left/right on the Audio Device option.
  • AUDIO/WINDOWS: Setting the device by either index number or name string should work.
  • BLISS-BOX: Add 4 new pad types from firmware 3.0
  • BPS/UPS: Re-allocation target_data variable for target patch size (can now apply bigger patches without extra-bytes on memory)
  • CDROM: Added real CD-ROM functionality for Windows and Linux.
  • CDROM: Added disc dumping.
  • COMMON: Add separate frontend logging
  • COMMON: Ability to set FPS update interval (used in the window titlebar/FPS widget)
  • COMMON: Add 'Reset Frame Time Counter' functionality, enable it by default for resizing the window, loading/saving shader presets, fastforwarding, etc.
  • COMMON: Add optional 'on demand' thumbnail downloads
  • COMMON: Add new playlist-based thumbnail downloader. Hide the legacy thumbnail pack version by default
  • COMMON: Show license per core (if available) inside 'Load Core'
  • COMMON: Add option to load content from (and dump) CD-ROM discs
  • COMMON: Re-enable '--log-file' command line option
  • COMMON: Default playlist core association is now stored as metadata inside each playlist
  • COMMON: Fix playlist format detection
  • COMMON: Favorites playlist size can now be set independently of content history size. Values can be set from 0-999, or '-1' for unlimited (99999)
  • COMMON: Prevent adding new items to favorites when playlist is full (old entries are no longer overwritten)
  • COMMON: Prevent loading content with cores that require an incompatible graphics API version from the current one
  • COMMON: Saved shader presets are now portable across platforms and use relative paths
  • COMMON: Add '--set-shader' command line option which works like an override for automatic shader presets
  • COMMON: Add global shader presets
  • COMMON: Remove 'video_shader' setting, shaders are not saved automatically anymore
  • CORE OPTIONS: When saving core option overrides, only include settings for the current core
  • CORE OPTIONS: Add option to save core options per-core
  • CPU FILTERS: Add Scanline2x filter
  • DINPUT: Cleanup magic numbers mess surrounding hat code
  • GAMECUBE: Add default video/audio filter directories
  • GL/MALI400: Fix menu issues on Mali 400 series GPUs, should also fix 'RetroArch flickers black on ARM Mali GPUs (Android/ARM Linux)
  • GL/GLCORE: Use highest supported OpenGL Core version on Windows and X11
  • GL1: Ignore alpha in core video, fixes XRGB8888 rendering in some cores
  • GLCORE: Don't hardcode shader cross compilation target version but poll it. glcore would always only use the minimum target shader version, i.e. GLSL ES 3.00 for OpenGL ES 3.0+ or GLSL 1.50 for OpenGL 3.2+
  • D3D10/11/12/SLANG: Added "FrameDirection" slang semantic. Works fine with braid-rewind shader, not entirely perfect with D3D12 though
  • D3D10/11/12: Add option to select which GPU to render with
  • D3D10/11: Fix maintaining aspect ratio when resizing window
  • GLCORE/SLANG: Added "FrameDirection" slang semantic
  • HID: Add Retrode support. Should work on Wii/WiiU.
  • INPUT: Menu toggle hotkey can now be bound to another keyboard key and it will toggle properly
  • IOS: Correctly centers screen on iPhone X landscape
  • IOS: Implemented multi-touch touchscreen support
  • IOS: Add in more Apple Model numbers for RetroRating Added in all current Apple Model numbers and set a base rating of 19
  • IOS: Remove pause indicator; show the native UI menu using 4-finger swipe down gesture
  • IOS: Support L3/R3 in iOS 12.1, Options buttons in MFi/PS4/XBox One controllers in iOS 13
  • LIBRETRO: Add new core options interface, allows for localization, sublabels and more
  • LIBRETRO: Add

...

• Coming as a complete surprise is a brand new release of h-encore² for the PlayStation Vita. TheFloW is back, bringing hack support for PlayStation Vita systems on firmwares 3.65 up to the new, previously unhacked 3.71. As other variations of h-encore, this custom firmware allows users to make kernel modifications, resulting in plugin support, changing the default clock speed, and of course, running homebrew. You can grab the new release right now, but you'll want to make sure you have a few tools at your disposal, to get everything working. You'll need a Vita on any of the aforementioned firmware versions (3.65+), a memory card if you have an OLED model, a link to an existing PlayStation Network account, qcma, psvimgtools, and pkg2zip (download links in the source). Then, the last thing you will require is a DRM-free demo of a game called bitter smile, which is used as h-encore²'s entry point. This marks the first time that 3.71 has been cracked, after its release back in late July. If you've been stuck on 3.71, now is the perfect time to join the exploited PlayStation Vita club. The full instructions have been included, below.
  
  Regardless, you'll likely want to grab bitter smile as soon as you possibly can, just in case.
  

  
  

  1. Download h-encore² and extract it on your computer.
  2. Download and install qcma, psvimgtools and pkg2zip (check the releases section for the binaries).
     If you don't know where to put psvimgtools and pkg2zip binaries, just put them in the h-encore-2 folder.
  3. Download the vulnerable DRM-free demo of bitter smile (yes, that's the user entry point).
  4. Extract the demo using this command in terminal/cmd:
     
     pkg2zip -x PATH_OF_PKG
     
     This will output the files to app/PCSG90096.
  5. Copy the contents of the output app/PCSG90096 to the folder h-encore-2/app/ux0_temp_game_PCSG90096_app_PCSG90096(such that the files eboot.bin and VITA_PATH.TXT are within the same folder).
  6. Copy the license file app/PCSG90096/sce_sys/package/temp.bin to the folder
     h-encore-2/license/ux0_temp_game_PCSG90096_license_app_PCSG90096 and rename the just pasted file temp.bin to 6488b73b912a753a492e2714e9b38bc7.rif. Be careful with the file extension, it should not be .rif.bin. Again, this file should be in the same folder as VITA_PATH.TXT.
  7. Start qcma and within the qcma settings set the option Use this version for updates to FW 0.00 (Always up-to-date)to spoof the System Software check.
  8. Launch Content Manager on your PS Vita and connect it to your computer, where you then need to select PC -> PS Vita System, and after that you select Applications. If you see an error message about System Software, you should simply reboot your device to solve it (if this doesn't solve, then put your device into airplane mode and reboot). If this does still not work, then alternatively set DNS to 212.47.229.76 to block updates. This should create a folder at PS Vita/APP/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on your computer (see qcma settings where this folder is), where the folder xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx represents the AID (account ID that is 16 characters long) that you need to insert here. If the AID is valid, it will yield a key that you can now use to encrypt the demo.
  9. Change directory to the h-encore-2 folder in terminal/cmd and use the key to encrypt all folders using (make sure you don't confuse the key with the AID, the key is 64 characters long!):
     
     psvimg-create -n app -K YOUR_KEY app PCSG90096/app
     psvimg-create -n appmeta -K YOUR_KEY appmeta PCSG90096/appmeta
     psvimg-create -n license -K YOUR_KEY license PCSG90096/license
     psvimg-create -n savedata -K YOUR_KEY savedata PCSG90096/savedata
     
     The folder h-encore-2/PCSG90096 should then contain sce_sys and all 4 folders from above, and within these folders you should find files called X.psvimg and X.psvmd, where X has the same name as the folder. Backup this folder, since if everything has been done correctly, you don't need to redo all the steps to install it onto another device with the same PSN account.
  10. Copy the folder h-encore-2/PCSG90096 to PS Vita/APP/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/PCSG90096 and then select Refresh databasein qcma.
  11. The h-encore² bubble with a size of around 243 MB should now appear in the Content Manager and that's what you finally need to transfer to your PS Vita. If the size does not match or you get the error C2-12858-4, then it's because you did not do it correctly! Please re-read the instructions more carefully then. If you get the error You can only copy applications that your account is the owner of, then it's because you have used an AID that is not of your account, go back to step 8.
  12. Launch h-encore² to exploit your device (if a message about trophies appears, simply click yes). The screen should first flash white, then purple, and finally open a menu called h-encore bootstrap menu where you can download VitaShell and install HENkaku. If it prompts the error Cannot start this application. C0-11136-2, then it's because you did not do step 6. correctly.
  13. Enjoy. Note that you have to relaunch the exploit everytime you reboot

...

• After having been decompiled back in July, the source code for Super Mario 64 has been completely reverse-engineered, and is now publicly available. Available on GitHub is a full decompilation of the beloved 3D platformer, Super Mario 64. The decompilation works for the NTSC-U and NTSC-J builds of the game, with (E) ROM support coming soon. To keep things legal, you will need to provide your own copy of the game, in order to compile the data, with the exact process being detailed, below. If you've ever wanted to see some of the magic that went into creating such an iconic game, you can now finally see into all of the finer details.
  

  Linux
  

  1. For each version (jp/us/eu) that you want to build a ROM for, put an existing ROM at ./baserom..z64 for asset extraction.
  2. Install the following packages:

  
  Debian / Ubuntu
  
  
  

  • git
  • binutils-mips-linux-gnu / mips64-elf (>= 2.27)
  • python3 (>= 3.7)
  • build-essential
  • pkg-config
  • zlib1g-dev
  • libaudiofile-dev

  
  Arch Linux
  
  
  

  • base-devel
  • python
  • audiofile
  • mips64-elf-binutils (AUR)
  • qemu-irix-git (AUR)

  
  
  

  1. Install qemu-irix

  
  3.a Options: 1. Clone https://github.com/n64decomp/qemu-irix to somewhere and follow its install instructions in the README. 2. Optionally, grab the prebuilt qemu-irix from the Releases section. 3. (Arch) Use AUR package qemu-irix-git
  
  3.b (For options 1 or 2), copy executable qemu-irix from irix-linux-user to somewhere convenient with a relatively short path.
  
  mkdir -p /opt/qemu-irix/bin
  cp irix-linux-user/qemu-irix /opt/qemu-irix/bin
  
  3.c Define QEMU_IRIX environment variable in your ~/.bashrc to point to this qemu-irix executable.
  
  export QEMU_IRIX=/opt/qemu-irix/bin/qemu-irix
  
  
  

  1. Run make to build the ROM (defaults to us version). Make sure your path to the repo is not too long or else this process will error, as the emulated IDO compiler cannot handle paths longer than 255 characters. Build examples:

  
  make VERSION=jp -j4 # build (J) version instead with 4 jobs
  make VERSION=eu COMPARE=0 # non-matching EU version still WIP
  
  Windows
  For Windows, install WSL and a distro of your choice and follow the Linux guide.
  https://github.com/n64decomp/sm64/blob/master/README.md
  https://gbatemp.net/threads/super-ma...leased.546814/
  
  
  

...

• More stability. You know you want it, and Nintendo is here to make your wish come true by streaming it directly to a dual-screen system near you. Firmware 11.11.0-43 has just been released for the whole family of EUR 3DS consoles and, while no official changelog is available at the time of writing, we can all imagine what it would look like. It is currently unknown if and when update will also be released for other regions. Even if something got changed under the hood, it doesn't look like anything significant for homebrew according to a tweet made by smealum:

  ​

  
  The coast may seem clear, but the usual rules still apply: while CFW users can upgrade freely, you are advised to wait until the all-clear is given before doing so if you're relying on *hax payloads or other entrypoints - especially considering the new firmware doesn't introduce any new features or functions. This post will be kept up-to-date with any other useful hacking & homebrew related info.
  
  https://yls8.mtheall.com/ninupdates/...-00-40&sys=ktr
  
  https://gbatemp.net/threads/nintendo...leased.546848/

...

• The updates just don't stop coming today: first the 3DS, and now it's the PS Vita's turn... however, unlike its competitor, things already seem to be bad right from the get-go. System software 3.72 has just landed and it aims to block h-encore², aka TheFloW's updated h-encore exploit for firmware versions 3.65-3.71, which was released only a few hours ago. This was achieved by adding Bitter Smile (the game used by the aforementioned tool as its entry point) to the title revoke list, thus blocking it from working to work on this system version. No official changelog is available just yet, but it doesn't look like any new features were added either.
  

  • As such, anyone interested in hacking their system is strongly advised against installing this new firmware. By doing so, you won't be able to softmod your PS Vita again until someone finds another suitable kernel exploit, which may not happen in a long while, if ever (PS: TheFloW is currently looking for help with finding a new savedata exploit). If you're already running a CFW, you should spoof your system version instead of updating. And as usual, this post will be kept up-to-date with any other useful hacking & homebrew related info.
    
    https://gbatemp.net/threads/ps-vita-...encore.546878/
  
  
  

...