If you’re interested in self-hosting, gaming and emulation then you might be interested in RomM’s new (and significant) update to how things work - version 4.2

I’ve long-since befriended the dev team behind RomM, after covering their last few releases, and interviewing the team previously too! This time I got to chat to some of the members (some new to the team) and get an inside line on what they’ve been making for the new version. If you’re interested in my article, I’ll link it at the end, but I’ll also quickly dot-point what’s new in RomM here for those who aren’t interested:

(it’s looking far prettier now, too!)

Console Mode:

The new console interface is designed for big screens and easy navigation with a controller or remote. It features a grid layout, large icons, and a simplified menu structure to enhance your gaming experience from the comfort of your couch. Launch it from the navigation bar or navigate directly to /console.

Out-of-the-box PSP and DOS Emulation:

PSP and DOS play is support out-of-the-box, no custom reverse proxy settings or browser launch arguments required! You’ll now see play buttons on supported games, though please note that performance is limited by the browser’s WASM engine, and performance will vary.

Incremental RetroAchievements Sync:

A new scheduled task has been added to sync RetroAchievements progress for all users on a recurring basis. Enable the task by setting ENABLE_SCHEDULED_RETROACHIEVEMENTS_PROGRESS_SYNC=true in your environment variables, and manually run the "Convert images to WebP task in the /administration page to start generating .webp files.

WebP Image Task:

Another scheduled task has been added to convert all uploaded images to the modern .webp format. WebP images are 5-10x smaller then JPG/PNG images with no loss of quality, leading to faster load times for cover art in galleries. Enable the task by setting ENABLE_SCHEDULED_CONVERT_IMAGES_TO_WEBP=true in your environment variables.

Anyway, I’ve written up a little itty-bitty mini feature article on it, after interviewing the team, so if you’d like to read through that, then click here!

Also curious to hear if anyone here runs RomM, and what you think of it?!

  • warmaster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    3 days ago

    Fantastic post as always @perfectDark!

    I want to selfhost it but without RetroDeck sync it just isn’t worth the effort just yet at least for me.

    Also, now that it can identify the checksums, does it auto organize the ROMs into the required folder structure?

    That’s also my 2nd biggest entry barrier.

  • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zipEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    Heh, heard about this yesterday on a different board and gave it a go.

    It is definitely jank. Super easy to set up and get running (one of the best docker compose files I ever used) but the hodge podge of grabbing your own API keys for the metadata services is a mess. Would have preferred it if their folder structure were the same as the “industry standard” retroarch (ugh. transphobic shits) layout but whatever. Same with support for distinguishing that a .cue file means the associated bin/iso/chd files probably shouldn’t be scanned to.

    My only real complaint is that it doesn’t have a clean way to remove missing files (for example, if you moved said isos into a subfolder rather than using the .cue file that was always a mess) or providing in-UI excluding of matches (e.g. shader caches for modern emulators or a memory cards folder of older emulators).

    Still, I like it a lot. Not likely to play anything in my browser but really nice for browsing what is actually on my NAS when the mood strikes. And gonna take a look at the romm APIs in the not too distant future to see if I can leverage that to finally set up my sync utility (which will probably involve research/getting involved to figure out how save states and memory cards are handled… or set up a way for them to be handled).

  • bitwolf@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    Oh that’s awesome I didn’t know it ran the games locally in browser with wasm. Def will be spinning this up now

  • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    Sounds like something that wouldn’t be too hard to do, given that Plex (and others like it) exists. The difference is, Plex is streaming.

    So with a good network, you can just send the game and do the emulation client side, and sync the save and other data back to the server. With a powerful enough host, you can handle the emulation on the host machine and just stream the video, with the client streaming the controls back, but this wouldn’t be good for a lot of games (too much latency). Same issue as GeForce NOW. Good if you’re near their CDN; otherwise, useless.

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zipEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      Look into Moonlight… or GeForce Now (and Google Stadia for the five minutes before Google realized it was a good product and killed it). Game streaming is more than solved. The issue is more just having “a powerful enough host” than anything else.

      And, in hindsight, it really makes a lot of sense. The vast majority of the cost is video streaming and… youtube and twitch exist. Hell, the entire white collar world ran on video teleconferencing for a year. All that is left is sending what amounts to text back and forth since controller inputs aren’t actually that complex.