Download:

https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/melonDS-android/releases/tag/0.7.0.rc3

Check out the GitHub release to see the Vulkan vs OpenGL comparisons!

Main focus:

This Release Candidate is focused on stabilizing Vulkan and fixing RetroAchievements.

Vulkan is now the recommended renderer for the best visual quality and high internal resolution.

It can now render high-resolution 3D correctly on both DS screens, which is something OpenGL cannot currently do in the same way.

This is especially important for games that use 3D on both the top and bottom screens, or games that move 3D between screens during gameplay or cutscenes.

RetroAchievements:

RetroAchievements received a huge bug-fix pass in this RC.

Achievement unlocks, leaderboard score submissions, session handling, offline behavior, Softcore behavior, and achievement list loading should now be much more reliable.

I need help from you!

Please test RetroAchievements as much as possible.

Things to test:

• Unlock achievements

• Submit leaderboard scores

• Test offline and reconnect flows

• Test games with empty achievement sets

• Test Softcore mode

• Report anything that still behaves incorrectly

Vulkan improvements:

Vulkan is now much more stable.

Frame presentation has been improved.

Heavy 3D scenes should behave better.

High internal resolutions should be more reliable.

Games that alternate 3D between the top and bottom screens should now work better.

Many visual bugs were fixed, including:

• Flickering

• Black screens

• Incorrect top and bottom screen mixing

• Corrupted textures

• High-resolution rendering issues

• Artifacts in some 2D elements

• Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia visual issues

High-resolution 3D on both DS screens:

This is one of the most important Vulkan improvements in RC3.

Vulkan can now render high-resolution 3D on both DS screens.

This makes Vulkan the best option for games that use 3D on both screens, and for games that need internal resolution scaling without falling back to lower quality output.

OpenGL is still available as a compatibility option, but Vulkan is now the recommended path for the best visual quality.

Per-ROM settings:

You can now customize settings per ROM.

This means each game can have its own video, controls, filters, microphone, and other options.

Internal resolution can also be configured per ROM.

This is very useful because some games work great at high resolution, while others may need different settings.

Now you do not need to constantly change the global configuration every time you switch games.

New ROM list:

RC3 also includes a new ROM list screen.

It includes:

• Grid and list views

• Favorites

• Filters

• Improved search

• Faster access to recently played games

• Better controller navigation

More improvements:

New emulation speed options were added (slow mode):

• 1.0x

• 0.75x

• 0.5x

• 0.25x

Other improvements:

• Savestates should no longer leave emulation running at reduced FPS after saving

• Audio should be more stable, with fewer crackles and dropouts

• Screenshots for savestates are now handled better

• External displays were improved

• Screen recording behavior was improved

• Layout handling on devices with notches or cutouts was improved

• Configuration writes are now safer to reduce the risk of data loss

• Recovery from corrupted ROM cache or configuration files was improved

OpenGL:

OpenGL was restored closer to upstream behavior.

It remains available as a compatibility renderer.

Vulkan is recommended for the best visual quality and high internal resolution, while OpenGL is still useful for compatibility.

Removed unstable paths:

The old Vulkan Compute backend was removed.

The old Simple Pipeline toggle was removed.

This simplifies Vulkan and avoids exposing unstable backend choices to users.

The old OpenGL msha filter support was also removed to keep behavior more consistent.

Upstream changes:

Several upstream changes from @rafaelvcaetano were integrated into this release.

As always, the most important work in this fork is preserving the custom Vulkan renderer, RetroAchievements improvements, Android integration, and the changes needed for this version of melonDS Android.

Testing needed:

Please help test RC3 before the final 0.7.0 release.

The most important things to test are:

• Vulkan rendering in 3D games

• High internal resolution on both DS screens

• Games that move 3D between the top and bottom screens

• Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

• RetroAchievements unlocks

• RetroAchievements leaderboard score submissions

• Per-ROM internal resolution settings

• Savestates

• Fast-forward

• Audio stability

• OpenGL compatibility

When reporting bugs, please include:

• Game name

• Renderer used, Vulkan or OpenGL

• Internal resolution

• Device model

• Android version

• Whether RetroAchievements was enabled

• Screenshot or video if it is a visual issue

• A comparison against Software renderer if possible

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone helping test these Release Candidate builds.

Your reports are what make it possible to stabilize Vulkan, improve RetroAchievements, and prepare melonDS Android v0.7.0 for the final release.

This RC is a very important step for the project.

Thank you for supporting development and helping improve melonDS Android.

- Sapphire 💙