Hardcore mode restriction for outdated and unknown emulators

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Joined Jun 22, 2023

January 12 2025, 11:14pm, edited January 12 2025, 11:15pm

missclicked, sorry.

Joined Feb 25, 2023

January 12 2025, 11:24pm

You are correct Ephraim.

I also agree with hbROBO. The "Melon DS DS" core works amazing on Android. It was how I was able to get the minigames working in My Health Coach: Stop Smoking With Allen Carr (Nintendo DS) My Health Coach: Stop Smoking With Allen Carr (Nintendo DS) . There are many more options for rotating the screen too which is helpful for games like Hotel Dusk. And running DSi on Android is great, I have tried that. It runs much better than BizHawk on PC imo. I only need to use DeSMuMe core for some homebrew which I assume is because they were developed and tested using DeSMuMe.

When I first started my account I was very new to using RetroArch and LibRetro but you know how I got better? I used them. I tried to set up each core and googled when I ran into an issue. It didn't take long to get comfortable with these programs, and I don't consider myself overly tech savvy.

Complaining about how hard supported emulators are to use or setup will not make it any easier for yourself, the player. Just my two cents.

Joined Nov 12, 2019

January 13 2025, 10:11am

So Pizzaboy wont be supported (for hardcore) anymore? That's incredibly frustrating.

Developer

Joined Aug 8, 2017

January 13 2025, 1:53pm

@kyyyte Pizza Boy was explicitly never officially supported, it just could still unlock achievements despite the fact that the RA site never supported it.

Joined Feb 24, 2024

January 13 2025, 2:26pm, edited January 13 2025, 2:32pm

So this could be a chance to contact the app developers and making it officially supported

Edit: I just looked at the list and it Brock me to peices looks like most of the emulators are done working

Joined Aug 2, 2024

January 13 2025, 4:38pm, edited January 13 2025, 9:33pm

It's possible after this event, the M64plus FZ Emulator get a support for RA in android?
Just a dream, you know, something who will help like... Me And... And... More three persons who received the grace of obtained the J2 Prime, I guess? Probably the same people who make the aethersx2 dev get a burnout. You know, just good people.
That's my serious and important commentary in this post. Let's all love the Hotscrock. Peace everybody✌

Developer

Joined Aug 8, 2017

January 13 2025, 5:12pm

@Mydo2000, I believe the RA admin team is doing that: On the first page by Jamiras it states:

> Pizza Boy Emulators: Dev team has been contacted. We're going to work with them to hopefully resolve achievement stability issues.

So hopefully those ones will eventually be fully supported

Joined Feb 24, 2024

January 13 2025, 7:38pm, edited January 13 2025, 7:39pm

Ok sorry I did not notice because I didn't even know it existed untill 4 days ago and that page haven't been updated since October

Joined Jan 22, 2020

January 14 2025, 1:37am

Wait, Pizza Boy was never Officially Supported?
That's weird, because I only found it because it had been featured on the Download Page

Event Manager

Joined Jul 20, 2014

January 14 2025, 4:05am

DemonKingOdio for a time downloads listed anything that had achievement support. Some of us were asking web team to consider not adding stuff that isn't truly supported or to at least note that with emulators like Pizza Boy that players are playing at their own risk because devs can't resolve issues they have with achievements and it wasn't tested. Then Pizza Boy got taken down for a time so it was removed and then not added back because it was finally decided that downloads would only include the emulators RA supports and are allowed to earn achievements in hardcore per our rules.

Joined Nov 21, 2024

January 14 2025, 8:20am, edited January 14 2025, 8:23am

If this is the case why let softcore? I want pizzaboy working with hardcore bur if was never supported i don't understand why let softcore working, as far as i know softcore tickets are allowed to create so...i don't get.

Joined Oct 23, 2023

January 14 2025, 9:41am, edited January 14 2025, 1:35pm

Totally understand the change and huge appreciation for the voluntary work that has gone into this project. I'm just over a year in as an android user and, with PizzaBoy as my main GB/GBA, I'm hoping these will be supported by April (sounding hopeful by Jamiras's second post).

Joined Oct 23, 2023

January 14 2025, 2:10pm

Kujura The essence of Hardcore mode is to earn achievements by playing a game as it was originally intended to be played. From what I’ve read, some unsupported emulators might have loopholes that let some users cheat and illegitimately earn Hardcore achievements.

Although the ticket system may be there for Softcore as well, it already allows rewinds, savestate loads, cheats etc. anyway; I don't think there is a good enough reason to remove them too.

Joined Oct 16, 2019

January 14 2025, 2:28pm

You can't create issue tickets for un-supported emulators like pizza boy in the first place that was always the case IIRC as they lack proper RA integration so devs can't test them.

Joined Mar 3, 2024

January 14 2025, 5:08pm

TLDR: PS2 HC achievements on Aether/Nether should be allowed until a replacement is created.

What will blocking HC achievements on Aether/Nether do to https://retroachievements.org?
When looking at https://retroachievements.org as a whole . . . nothing. PS2 games make up ~7% of the total gaming achievement library, within that library based on popular games ~25% are hardcore users, from those hardcore users, let's just say half are Android users. So really we are talking about less than 1% of users. Except it isn't. PS2 achievements have only been around for a little over 2 years. It might have the largest total game library, it's probably the fastest growing in terms of achievements and it's the most requested - 60% of first page requests are PS2 - Link.

What will blocking HC achievements on Aether/Nether do for those "<1%" of users?
It will eliminate their interest to be part of an awesome community that has been around for over a decade. Who are these people you ask? Anybody who games using the RG556, Retroid Pocket 3/4/5, Odin 2/Mini, or other Android handhelds I forgot to mention. These <1% want the satisfaction of getting that hardcore achievement by playing the game as it should be played. So someone save states their way through a game and I play legit, but we get the same achievement? You might not be disabling the emulator but I'd rather not even play, so for me, you might as well have. The whole genesis of hardcore mode was to differentiate these players.

What will blocking HC achievements on Aether/Nether do for the PS2 achievement community?
It will 100%, without a doubt, have less old and new players playing and interested. That means people switching over to other consoles or not even being part of the community at all. This in turn will make cheevo devos less inclined to work on PS2 games with less interest.

Stop crying, other systems are being effected in the same exact way.
Yes and no. Bizhawk/Flycast/Pizza Boy all have Retroarch replacements . . . might not be as good, but hey, at least there is something. This is the point, you are directly targeting and eliminating a group of players by getting rid of Aether/Nether. There is nowhere for us to turn.

Let's talk EtherealSX2
The only, ONLY, thing that I have seen is 4 months ago, a GitHub repo was created, with more coming "soon". This project could take years to do or might never happen like so many other projects before. I mean Dolphin came out with Windows achievements July 2024 . . . we're still waiting for achievements for Android and that's not even a full port, it's just a change on a pre-existing stable build. If I were a betting man, I'd say EtherealSX2 doesn't come out until 2026, based on the developer's definition of "more coming soon" 4 months ago.

What should be done then?
It's easy, do nothing. People have already been earning HC achievements with Aether/Nether for over 2 years. By allowing people to CONTINUE to use Aether/Nether to earn HC achievements it doesn't eliminate a community of players and inclusively let's them partake in the awesomeness of RetroAchievements. The two year depreciation and decisions to not "officially" support are completely and entirely in your hands. This clearly isn't a democracy, nor should the "Golden Rules" be treated as rigidly constitution.

The Main Heavy Message
Hundreds of people, fathers, mothers, children, bought an android handheld this Christmas/New Years to earn HC cheevos for PS2, it may have been their sole reason for getting it. There is no law making body forcing you guys to do this, you are just deciding now is the time. If you guys can stomach the possibility that a child's happiness and interest in retro gaming might get destroyed because less than a fraction of the <1% of HC PS2 players who care about global leaderboards might lose a position due to an unnoticed, magically unbannable, exploiter, then by all means, pull the plug.
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