Happy Valentine’s Day with Vita3k
Download: https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/Vita3K/releases/0.0.1
Today I’m releasing a new Vita3K Android build with something I’ve been really excited to share: external display rear touch support.
It’s a funny (and very cool) idea when you think about it: a device that feels closer to a 3DS-style dual screen setup can now also improve the experience of PS Vita games, by using the secondary screen as the Vita Rear Touch input.
What’s new:
External display as Rear Touch
The external screen becomes a black touch surface dedicated to Rear Touch.
Implemented in a clean Presentation.
Designed to not steal focus from gameplay on the main screen.
Easy toggle in the Overlay
You can enable/disable it directly from the Overlay:
“Use external display as Rear Touch”The setting is persistent, so you don’t need to re-enable it every time.
Smart display detection
Automatically finds a valid secondary display.
Handles connect/disconnect and transitions cleanly (RDS-Add On).
Filters out displays that shouldn’t be used (primary display, off/hidden/private/virtual displays) (Odin 2).
Rear touch injection into the emulator
Touch input from the external display is forwarded as Rear Touch.
Basic multi-touch support (up to 2 pointers).
Avoids conflicts with normal front touch behavior.
Videos / Demos
You can see it working in the videos:
Frobisher Says!: rear touch in a mini-game
Tearaway: even with some graphic issues, you can clearly see the emulator detects rear touch correctly
This is one of those features that makes dual-screen Android devices feel even more special, and I’m happy to ship it on a day like this.
If you test it, please tell me what device you’re using and how it behaves for you (especially display detection + touch accuracy + game).
What’s Next
Now that Vita3K rear touch is working nicely on dual-screen devices, I want to keep pushing this idea forward.
I’m going to start working on Dolphin next to explore dual-screen features there as well.
If you have ideas (best layouts, use cases, what you’d want on the second screen), please leave them in the comments.Also: if you know the best Dreamcast emulator on Android that already supports VMU, tell me in the comments.
I want to research it and see if I can implement dual-screen VMU-focused support there too.
- Sapphire 💙
Comments (13)
Vita3k has had a GUI, compatibility, and performance updates in the last few weeks. Any chance you could smoosh your updates into the latest version? I can't pass the rear touch things in God of War 2 and Uncharted (?) despite the games generally working now. Front touch isn't too functional either now that I think of it 😂 Thanks for all your hard work!
Hahaha thanks, I will update my fork!!!
I'm absolutely certain you will be adding some very dope GBA support to dolphin. Having said that, I'd much rather see the touch screen used as a pointer trackpad in wii games. Adding GBA support will add interesting stuff to a very few GC games while adding trackpad pointer support will add a ton of wii content including some absolute bangers. Yoshi's tongue sections in Super Mario Galaxy 2 come to mind as desperately needing the trackpad. Don't forget about the pikmin games. I believe both the Conduit and Resident Evil 4 support pointer based aiming.
From everything I've heard Flycast seems like the go-to for Dreamcast, it let's you put the VMU screen as an overlay in the corner already and supports a lot of other cool stuff. Also, integrated GBA link support on the second screen for Dolphin would be amazing! When they released it on PC they said it shouldn't be too hard to port but then never got around to it.
Using second screen as the udraw tablet would be funny.
For me, it would be either the GBA link, or using the screen as a touch screen pointer for Wii titles.
I second the GBA link on the second screen for dolphin!!
For Dolphin, we need GBA link on the bottom screen.
HELLS YEA
this is awesome! would be super cool if in dolphin you could use the second screen as a wii mote kinda like a mouse pad
Make it a deal ;)
This is sick
Absolutely Amazing