Wake up, a new version of Playback just dropped! We've been hard at work to implement some core features of our Roadmap. This update is massive in terms of features but also when it comes to optimizing the engine that powers Playback.
Game Boy Camera Support
Yes, it's true - live feed from the Game Boy Camera is finally available! This release includes the ability to use the Game Boy Camera directly from Playback. With OBS Studio you are also able to connect it to your Twitch streams, or use it to surprise friends and colleagues on FaceTime or Zoom as a webcam.
Just launch your Game Boy Camera cartridge as you would with a regular game and enjoy!
Follow this tutorial to see how you can activate it as a webcam: Have Fun with the Game Boy Camera as a Webcam!
Note: You need a firmware version greater or equal to v9.5.0.
GBA Real Time Clock Support
So, until now, the real-time clock in Playback for GBA games was a hit or miss. We've modified the mGBA core and now it can support real-time clock. This means that time-based events will synchronise between the console and your GB Operator. We hope berry farmers will enjoy this one!
Core Selector Screen
Up until now, mGBA was the default emulator core within the app. With this update, you can activate custom cores, or use your own! Please note that some features such as autosaving will no longer work if the core doesn't support it, but now you have even more flexibility when it comes to making Playback fit your preferences.
Shader Support
This is a big one - we've completely re-engineered the emulation rendering pipeline, so now it supports a wide array of complex shaders. We fully support RetroArch's GLSL shaders, you just need to install them and you'll be able to have CRT shaders, blurs, anti-aliasing, denoisers, dithering and many more.
The updated Shader system comes with curated shaders:
- Black & White TV: A 70s-80s grayscale TV with horizontal scanlines.
- Game Boy Advance LCD: Color correction and LCD effect emulation.
- Game Boy Color LCD: Color correction and LCD effect emulation.
- Living Room TV: A more "modern" 90s TV with color, horizontal scanlines, CRT effects and distortions with barrel distortion.
- No Pixels: The shader creates a smooth, clean image by removing the pixelated look from retro games. Unlike other shaders that highlight or enhance pixel edges, this one does the opposite - it intelligently blends pixels together to create a more modern, painted appearance.
- Old VHS: Distorted, old VHS effect, with visual artefacts and barrel distortion.
- S-Video Cable: If you ever connected a S-Video cable with a low resolution image to a TV, you'll already know how this one looks.
- Stock: Default shader, with the raw texture being displayed directly.
Here's a tutorial to how to install them: How can I install custom shaders in Playback?
Pixel Perfect Rendering
Emulation just got even better with pixel-perfect rendering. Under certain monitors in the past we've had issues with pixels being duplicated especially when the window wouldn't be a size the Game Boy or Game Boy Advance would normally expect. Now, we've added support so that emulation is pixel perfect.
Faster Game Loading
We've completely overhauled the game loading system on the firmware update bundled with this release, allowing you to wait less and play more.
Game Boy & Game Boy Color (~100% faster)
- Donkey Kong Country: 5.3s (was 12.01s)
- Pokemon Crystal: 2.91s (was 6.08s)
- Legend of Zelda, The - Link's Awakening: 900ms (was 1.66s)
Game Boy Advance (~67% faster)
- Famicom Mini 21: 6.9s (was 11.43s)
- Shrek the Third: 13.75s (was 22.7s)
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: 54.38s (was 1m 29s)
And Much More
There are so many things that we've improved, big and small, that it's hard to capture everything in a single article about release notes. To avoid making it too long we'll briefly mention some additional items below, then let you discover them on your own once you install this version of Playback:
- Improved responsiveness: We've updated the layout when resizing the window, which makes Playback look better when full-screened.
- Audio: Much improved, allowing more formats, with better handling of custom cores and better response on low-end computers.
- Input handling: We've fixed a considerable amount of issues with inputs getting stuck in certain situations.
- UI Issues under Linux: Some labels were getting trimmed due to display issues, they are resolved.
- Color management: We've transitioned to SRGB colorspace adding additional support for hardware which doesn't support it.
- Application Tour: For new users, we now have a tour of the application that guides you through Playback's main points of interest.
- Game Boy Camera: We've implemented multiple dithering patterns which will let you customize how the camera looks.
- Translations: Major changes to languages thanks to our contributors, added Portuguese. Translated some strings which were previously not translated. You can select the language Playback uses in the Settings menu. We'd like to take the opportunity to thank CodeByCR, Mimigris and willkyu.
- Translation automatic detection: If your computer has a certain language set as the operating system's language, we'll use that.
- Picture-in-Picture mode: Fixed Windows-specific issues when disabling the PiP mode.
- Video Game Database: We've added a large amount of games in anticipation of the 64 Operator and we now have cover art and descriptions for all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games from all regions.
Also adding these upgrades through the v1.7.1 release:
- Performance Improvements: Games should run more smoothly, especially when using multiple devices at once.
- Sound Quality Fixes: Fixed audio issues that were causing crashes and stuttering during gameplay.
- Better Multi-User Support: Fixed problems when two people use Playback on the same Mac.
- SN Operator Improvements: Better recovery methods if your SN Operator encounters issues.
- Behind the Scenes: Many stability improvements and crash fixes to make your experience more reliable.