At the beginning of August we talk to you from RetroAchievements, a service that allows you to unlock achievements in retro games. RetroArch supports them in some colors, and we can also identify and unlock these achievements with programs like DuckStation (PSX or PS1). This support was missing in the PSP emulator, but not anymore. After a period of testing in version 1.15.x, this option to add our RetroAchievements account has arrived under the arm of PPSSPP 1.16.
It is without a doubt the most notable new feature of PPSSPP 1.16. From now on, if we want to unlock achievements RetroAchievements In PSP games we will no longer depend on the core from LibRetro in RetroArch, which while it is true that it allows us to play PSP titles, it is also true that it is lacking in options and does not offer the best user experience that it could offer. Now we can use the "standalone" option (loose application) in software like EmulationStation Desktop Edition or RetroPie and if we want to increase the resolution or skip frames to avoid choking the action, we can.
Other new features of PPSSPP 1.16
PPSSPP 1.16 includes fixes such as:
- Fixed an issue where many people with Android 13 devices were in a situation where the dialog to choose a folder during setup was not working correctly.
- Fixes in handling multiple input events, should help with external joysticks.
- Performance improvements on low-end devices by disabling ubershaders.
- Multiple bug fixes such as flickering in WWE vs Smackdown 2006, shadows in Motorstorm, etc.
- Many other performance improvements and fixes.
- Multiple bug fixes around replacing textures, fixing Tactics Ogre fonts, among other things.
- Fixed vrnd emulation by fp64.
- New JIT backends that will improve the user experience on devices such as those using iOS/iPadOS.
How to install PPSSPP on Linux
There are different ways to install PPSSPP on Linux. The only official or supported by the project is the Flathub version, that is, its flatpak package. It is likely that our Linux distribution does not have support added by default, and the way to install flatpak packages once support is added will depend on the distribution itself or rather on its software store, if it has one.
To enable flatpak package support in our Linux distribution, what we have to do is install the "flatpak" package, which must be in the official repositories of the distro, and then the Flathub repository, for which we must write the following and then restart your computer:
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Although the best thing to avoid leaving anything in the pipeline and to be able to install it on any distribution or descendant of a supported distribution is to link to the Flathub configuration page. In this link There are detailed instructions on how to install it. For example, in the first section, that of Ubuntu, they tell us how to install flatpak from its repository or that of Ubuntu, then the packages are updated, the software is installed, GNOME Software (the default store does not allow it) and then the Flathub repository. In Arch Linux it is only installing the first package (flatpaks are installed from the terminal), in Manjaro it is done from Pamac, in Chrome OS compatibility with Linux is first enabled... Everything is there.
No AppImage
But just because it is only recommended or there is one official way does not mean that it is the only one. Some distributions have it available in the official repositories, Arch Linux also has it in AUR (it is installed with a wizard like Spring) and Ubuntu/Debian has an official repository that can be added with sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ppsspp/stable. At the time of writing this article it does not work on Ubunu 23.10 Mantic Minotaur.
If you are wondering, not offered in AppImage, not officially, although you can find some on the Internet that a user has created, and it is not advisable to use software from unofficial sources. The snap package is long out of date. Canonical promised us instant updates, but… 1.12 when we are talking about 1.16 is not what I understand by updated software.
Enabling support for RetroAchievements
The first thing of all is to have an account, otherwise we won't be able to do anything. We have to go to their website, then click on Sign-up, fill out the fields and activate the account from the email we will receive. There is also a link in the same PPSSPP.
I wouldn't want to waste your time explaining what there is and how to navigate AR, but there is a section on games, another on achievements and community.
With the account already created, what remains is to add it to PPSSPP. Before trying it you have to look at the version number, since we will not find the option if it is <1.16, unless we have a test version that has already implemented it.
The configuration is quite simple. The only thing you have to do is:
- Let's go to Settings / Tools / RetroAchievements.
- We click or tap on Username and enter our username in the window that appears.
- Repeat the previous step with Password.
- Click or tap Login. What appears below is a link in case we don't have an account yet.
- To play and win trophies.
RetroAchievements works directly without any prior steps. Well, yes: do something in some game and unlock some achievement. What I don't really like is that the "Challenge Mode" point is translated. The bad thing about being translated is that RetroAchievements is not and can lead to confusion. The "challenge mode" is the hardcore mode, which does not allow the use of any cheats or quick saves. Try to simulate how it was played on a real console.
Help! Trophies are not unlocked in my PPSSPP!
This is a common problem. I couldn't say if it was widespread, but it is easy for us to do something to win a trophy and not be successful. Well, everything has a solution. Or almost everything. Possible problems:
That game has no trophies
There are games that don't have trophies. RetroAchievements is community-developed, and chances are we'll go into a game, see a message that it recognizes the game, but nothing unlocks. You have to go to the RetroAchievements website, search for the game and check it out. If it doesn't have a section with trophies and explaining what you have to do to win each one, end; does not have.
File hash not recognized
This is another problem that we can encounter and the one that can bother us the most. We have a game that works perfectly, we go to RetroAchievements, we see that there are achievements and our PPSSPP does not unlock them. What's happening here? Well, "simple": the games They are identified with a hash, which is that long string of characters that accompany some files. That hash is the "name" in the RetroAchievements database, and if our ROM has another one, it will not recognize the game.
Let's take an example: "God of War: Ghost of Sparta" has that name, but the hash "thisisarandomhash", our ROM with the same name has the hash "thishashdoesn'tmatch" and the service does not recognize it, so there is nothing to to unlock.
What we should do in this case is contact RetroAchievements, pass them our hash and pray that they add it. Another thing we can do is get another ROM, especially in English. There are many from Europe that do not have the correct hash.
The RetroArch system has been supported for a long time
RetroArch has a system or core which is basically PPSSPP but removing the interface and using RetroArch. The LibRetro software It has long included support for RetroAchievements and unlocks achievements. Our username and password are added from Settings/Trophies, but it includes extra configuration options such as the ability to change how we see the unlock message, view leaderboards or unlock unofficial achievements.
PPSSPP 1.16 can now be downloaded from this link for systems like Windows and Android. The project links to Flathub for Linux users, but the flatpak package has yet to be updated; should go up soon. The snap package is still at 1.12, and this is neither the place nor the time to debate what kind of next-gen package is getting the upper hand, but…