PS Vita RetroArch Full Setup & Install Guide! 2020!

Hi guys, Tech James here,
The complete guide for installing and setting up RetroArch on the PS Vita and PS TV! This guide also includes the setup for the improved style XMB theme, that is commonly used on the Windows version of RetroArch.
This video is for educational purposes only.
➤ (RetroArch): www.retroarch....
➤ (RetroArch XMB): github.com/lib...
➤ (SD2Vita): amzn.to/37g2e4T
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- Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
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[@simonjones1017]

Dude, you dont seem to do many vids anymore. Ive learned so much from you over the years!

[@teckelmarijuano8220]

Do you know if the emulator is still working ?

[@JeezyFoke]

I am a Sith Lord and Tech James is a Sith Holocron with all the info lol

[@jadegacuya3534]

Same

[@siegfridbautista776]

@@jadegacuya3534 yeah im kinda worry for him to due to the pandemic

[@legin3753]

@@siegfridbautista776 i think he got sick of nintendos bullshit taking down videos n that

[@DungarooTV]

For those that don't have to automatically loaded go to Settings > Drivers > Menu > XMB and then go back to Main Menu and Exit (very important)

[@BxRxMETAL]

Thank you :)

[@mariahanover9335]

thank you

[@mindinchaos8464]

thank you

[@DungarooTV]

@@mindinchaos8464 All good glad it helped!

[@lilchunnky78]

thanks bro works

[@Apt407]

*XMB menu not changing 2020 August Update* If you copied over the xmb file and retroarch didn't change do this!! While in retroarch:.......Activate the XMB menu. Go to Setting -> Drivers -> Menu Drivers and select XMB then restart the application and boom.

[@alone_as_a_god]

Thanks mate

[@Joeki11a]

what? I got some generic menu UI not even this one on the video, so go into the Drivers and is there?

[@Joeki11a]

Didn't work, it reloaded to the generic menu, should I do all this again?

[@chamamemestre]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

[@jeb_leeds2928]

Hm, it wont save the change to xmb though and when I re open retroarch it is back to the regular generic menu

[@yeeetbro4546]

"is sonic copyrighted? Guess ill find out" Balls of steel

[@yeeetbro4546]

@Bento Werner English please

[@chrispena8186]

Lmfao

[@Anemunt]

yea me tube Edit: i ment too

[@Lasha16_]

@Bento Werner OMG IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKING JOJO REFERENCE! ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA! MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA! JOSUKE IS SO BADASS! YO ANGELO! YO ANGELO YO ANGELO! YARE YARE DAZE!

[@funwithoutpants]

Thank you SO MUCH for your SD2Vita video. It worked great and was simple to follow. I do appreciate you.

[@enriquebn4853]

If you installed RetroArch and it looks different (ver 1.8.5) go to Settings>Driver>Menu then change it to XMB. XMB is the look that James is showing here.

[@benchout8817]

you are my prophet, thanks

[@BSODPK]

THANKS!!! I cant find this option by myself.

[@vashranoid]

Thanks for this, but there's still missing assets, will do Online update to see if it sorts it out.

[@chavawinnie1]

@@vashranoid Maybe you need to update assets from the online updater tab.

[@seedipu]

I am a huge fan of your tutorial. Its is very easy to follow and now I use my Vita like never before. Thanks a ton!!

[@Guitario666]

Thanks James! That missing assets warning was driving me crazy Maybe do another video on fixing errors or reinstalling retroarch and deleting the config file

[@kylemarsden9627]

I'm getting the same error message with mine. I even went to the online updater and ""update assets"" and i still have this error. Did you figure out how to get rid of the error message ??

[@richtofen9352]

It only says that for gba game for me

[@android_dreaming_of_sheep]

have you gotten banned

[@kylemarsden9627]

@@android_dreaming_of_sheep the new retroache was missing a rdb/ file I simply downloaded and now everything works perfectly

[@playertwopoint0]

Done this exactly, but even after copying xmb it stayed the same

[@uberlanceordonez3559]

you know what i like with you tech james its fast, its clear, and it really works!

[@Jp-gc6bh]

thats what she said

[@RoseihDBTB]

@@Jp-gc6bh thats what he said

[@vinpascual6734]

Lacks details for example the xmb in the settings

[@wolvesh0r696]

I simply love your channel! Thank you for your videos! My vita was hacked for 4 years, but I hadn't touched it until recently I found you. Now I can fully enjoy it uwu

[@SwitchStation]

For some reason when my retroarch vpk install was at exactly 38%, it was at anywhere between 1-8kb/s as soon as it hit 39%, it was back up to several thousand kb/s. Edit: 75% was also like that for a second

[@TealTheDropster]

it's normal, wait for it and it works

[@KevinMcgaw1988]

I don't fully understand this retroarch app. But I'm definitely gonna watch this video later. Respect man

[@KevinMcgaw1988]

@The monster under your bed Yeah I just stick with the adrenaline bro and sometimes use the retro app to play a certain snes games. It's not too bad when you kinda figure out how to use it. Still complicated, but it's ok. Have you tried out that new n64 emulator? It's awesome. Check it out when you get a chance

[@ReLive_Photos]

Just a quick thankyou.... Re discovered by PSP from years ago which was never modded and didnt even know you could and saw one of your videos by accident and now have 2 psp units and two vitas all running enzo etc with perm jailbreak cfw. Seen a few other videos, but found you have the cleanest style and voice (one guy just holds his 2001 phone camera to the screen and babbles and you cant see what he is doing and another spends half the videos calling out to his 'homies' guess the nationality there)...YEP...Americans eh! So thanks again for all the work and consistant style.. even your voice is soothing which is handy for us noobs starting off as you are quite relaxing. getting a pstv next week also and another psp for my wifes mother and will be tweaking that via your videos too!

[@andril]

Oh Snap I almost crashed my car when this popped out - rushed home to get this working properly - wish we could get a Neo-Geo and Dreamcast setup tutorial soon

[@djandreal]

just not powerful enough to emulate dreamcast games sorry

[@cameronn2572]

Yea I'd love to try neogeo games through this method

[@NCC-0000]

@@cameronn2572 Neogeo games work perfectly using the Mame 2003 or 2001 core.

[@andilemabasa1997]

fully loaded with ease, just need some ROMS and we good to play , plus my boss is not at work so its vita day all day , you rock man , next m adding this to my ps3

[@xoemyisaixo]

Yo do you mind helping me out? Recently I tried downloading retroarch and it won’t let me install the vpk

[@m.i.a473]

You are awesome man..everytime i want to do something with my PsV,i will try to find you first before any other channel..you help me alot

[@darrendelima2909]

Thank you for explaining that! I didn't know how to get a good GUI on Retroarch. Now to see if that XMB ui works on the PSP version of Retroarch :D

[@Thunderbird1337]

If the XMB menu doesn't work (for me with Retroarch 1.8.9 it didn't work automatically by just copying the folder): You have to activate the XMB menu manually. Go to Settings -> Drivers -> Menu Drivers and select XMB. Then restart Retroarch.

[@420guccigang6]

dude, thank you, you're awesome 😁

[@wunderlichD]

If you look through the retroarch menu, you can swap X and O and also set the hotkeys to bring up the retroarch menu since the default hotkeys are a pain to press on a vita

[@CottonCandyUnicorn]

Take a breath between words. Its like a speed run.

[@plentynumb3997]

Am I the only one who’s loves it when he says install?

[@CyberSnake100]

Bringing the VITA back to life , and not just using remote play to continue to play my ps4 games whilst I rock a shit lol

[@metalcoremichael1024]

I was on the fence about selling my vita, as I would mostly use it for KZbin (which the app is no longer supported) and other....activities. After I got the homebrew channel on my wii, I think I wanna crack out the old vita and put this on there. Great vids, man!

[@kyokhalid3046]

good job . yes we need video for themes and icons and how use cheats on RetroArch roms . and which emulator for arcade shmup games (shoot-em up) like Cave and MAME . keep good work mate 👌

[@ImperialRoads]

I heard a knock sound and I instinctively looked behind me LMAO\

[@nony2143]

When you press install and it's stuck at 0 you must lock and unlock the vita, it will a reveal an permission that we can allow it and continue installation with out waiting that 2 minutes, it's a software issues or something

[@TheRandomname951]

About to confirm this right now. Currently transferring the VPK over. EDIT: when installing the VPK it is true that for a faster install press your standby/power button once and after a second press it again and prompt will show up! Thank you for that tip!

[@ozziearchangel9096]

Awesome vid thank you. As per the end of your video I look forward to your new vids on cheats, icons and themes for the consoles. I would very much like to complete the setup of retroarch to look mint for each console loading the game libraries to play on the fly without navigating so much to folders to run etc

[@johnnymoles318]

Thanks for all your videos man. Helped me a lot

[@EmirhanSanl4]

best vita channel...

[@samuelsamporterbridges]

I LOVE TECH JAMES GREETINGS FROM TURKEY

[@hidirapaydin3074]

merhaba

[@WoLF_Rko]

I got Vita recently OLED one . And your videos . Love it man . Better experience from this console that is sure :) And can I ask Vita Shell theme on the video ? :D I like it :D

[@yamoto7142]

GBA games work perfectly fine for me, no lag or problems

[@matthewaltepeter8941]

The emulator is shit compared the the separate mGBA emulator, though. The image is much crisper in mGBA than in retroarch.

[@ZyHead]

Same for me since the last release ! Even Snes works better now, I've been playing Yoshi's island so smoothly !

[@auroraparadox5235]

@@matthewaltepeter8941 any idea if they will make mgba a core at some point?

[@theerealatm]

Matthew Altepeter eh.... gpsp is the best...I prefer retro arch. Mgba is ok...

[@WeGoJym341]

Great video, I can play all my favorite games now. keep making vids

[@tenhush5272]

Kudos to you sir. You’re a legend. Appreciate this

[@MJF510]

Great video, do you know if you need to also add the Bios files as well as the Roms, if so where do you install them?

[@FDCAFOK]

This is great thank you. I'm going to do this & just use my Vista as a portable Emulation station.

[@Pablo121k]

Nice!! Been looking for this!

[@williamm9372]

Thanks man great video

[@MikaTarkela]

For some reason the XMB folder didn't have any effect. The emulators work fine though! Thanks for the video! It was easy and informative.

[@kristjaangaming1935]

You have to change this in thé settings Than it Will work

[@MikaTarkela]

@@kristjaangaming1935 Thanks, now its fine.

[@Staffy_]

Where do you get roms from

[@ryanbrown6862]

Type up the name of the game on google then put rom at the end of it

[@chrispena8186]

Vimms lair is a good site for Roms

[@Staffy_]

XMB menu not changing 2020 August Update If you copied over the xmb file and retroarch didn't change do this!! While in retroarch:.......Activate the XMB menu. Go to Setting -> Drivers -> Menu Drivers and select XMB then restart the application and boom. if you have done this and it still dont work go into settings and update assets using online updater

[@lilchunnky78]

thank u

[@Staffy_]

@@lilchunnky78 np

[@blu3ntv]

How do i save settings? Because when i select it if i reopen the app it goes back to the default driver

[@meowdrawer]

Yo James, can you review cspsp? This is basically 2d cs 1.6, but what makes it interesting is that you can play multiplayer easily and its kinda alive

[@Arkanio]

Would you be willing to do a video on setting up adrenaline post 3.72? Assuming that such a thing is possible. I already have so many saved games and an sd2vita setup, so I was really hoping not to have to downgrade to an earlier firmware version since that requires redoing everything and basically wiping all your data. Love your videos man.

[@capuman]

You can't, you have to downgrade. But you won't lose the stuff you have downloaded on sd2vita, so just downgrade and then install adrenaline.

[@NCC-0000]

Downgrade dude, 3.71 ~ .73 CFWs are done just to open the door to downgrade to Enso. They are glitchy

[@mpbangamusic9673]

Working perfectly! Thanks

[@Aleef_Adam]

Thank you so much bro.. your channel helps me a lot.. thanks thanks thanks thanks

[@moisesflores1562]

When I install mine it doesn't look anything like that, it just brings up a bunch of tabs that say sources, and the theme in the back is black

[@bluefox9er]

Download the mega pack lite version. It’s stunning

[@maoufreed1684]

Still waiting for A Vita dock w/ raspberry pi tutorial from James XD

[@DoubbleDdragon]

Its crap ... So brutal the delay and inputlag

[@smidsy1979]

Went well, thanks mate !

[@sharodw454]

Hey James, will you do another video on how you got that skull on your UI? That's pretty sick! Edit: Also hope you and everyone else are staying safe and in good health during these bad times.. Edit: I feel kind of silly I think I've come to a conclusion that the skull is part of a theme? 🤦🏽‍♂️

[@Thunderbird1337]

What skull? I don't see any skull.

[@v1x4z]

Instead of going to "Load content" each time you wanna play a game, go to "Scan directory" and choose your rom folder

[@Joeki11a]

Or go to HISTORY

[@realone3602]

Tech James! You da man!

[@BodofLegend]

if it still didnt work.. while in retroarch.. go to settings... drivers... menu...choose xmb. Go back all the way.. and go to RESTART RETROARCH. DONT JUST CLOSE OUT THE APP

[@EvertvanIngen]

(Ux0) U ex zero... U ex oow

[@TheeAgentSmith]

subed! i think im on the most recent firmware. do you have a video to get me to where i need to start this. i know there are other videos out there but you are very well spoken and easy to follow thanks

[@bryanwin-em4rb]

Thanks you man

[@gerardosantana4089]

Can you make a video on how to load the playlist on retroarch 1.8.5... for some reason they are not loading on my vita?

[@lordaizensama8852]

Got a completely different looking menu to yours, black and white and the GUI XMB file doesn't work. Following the persons comment below and manually selecting it does not save the setting and it goes back to the default look. very confused. EDIT: Figured it out. for those having my issue you have to actually click restart in the actual Retroarch app, not simply close the program and reopen it. thats why it wasn't saving.

[@jong2359]

Online updater, but doesn't have core updater =( Oh well, nice video, James.

[@Alex_Power]

yes where do you find the cores. Only 2048 is appearing on my Vita

[@yapkinsiong]

I got "upair (0/0) not configured" message on the screen for the first run into Retroarch after new installation. Please help up.

[@squidwardstesticles5914]

When I try to copy the xmb folder into the assets folder, a bunch of files won't copy and it says "Error 0x80070570: The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable." All of the files that don't work are PNG files. What do I do to fix this? The same thing happened when I tried to follow the old version of this tutorial on this channel and I assumed it was just because it was an older file that no longer works, but this one won't work either.

[@Its_2d]

how do i save in retroarch? im not able to save or maybe i cant find the buttons on how to save lol

[@shemars651]

by default its set to L + R + start + select, but you can change it in the controller hot keys setting. Hope this helps :)

[@andyb7374]

If my Vita is hacked will it instantly work on the PS/TV once I put in the memory card and SD2Vita into it? Or do you have to hack the PS/TV separately? Any help is much appreciated.

[@dakotastone4997]

This didnt work at all for mine. It still looks crapy and says missing assets. I cant even play anything.

[@MrYann666]

same...

[@wiltenflowergaming2921]

When I install retroarch and open it I get a grey screen with a header labeled "quick menu" and under that is a darker grey box that says "no items"

[@javedbinkalam9268]

same

[@javedbinkalam9268]

how to fix this?

[@wiltenflowergaming2921]

@@javedbinkalam9268 install homebrew browser and install retroarch from there, it works completely fine and comes with each gui style, you might have to swap the enter and cancel button in the settings though

[@jasonstorm464]

I have a modded vita and I was using retroarch and I opened the game i wanted to play in the wrong file that was set up to play that game and retroarch stop working?is this the way it works? Need help figuring it out.thanks

[@webfly]

helps a lot thanks

[@bbs_rs]

Thank you

[@alitopcu3941]

Hi Techjames, your tutorials are very great and absolute useful. Can you gimme a hint how i can run arcade (mame) and neogeo roms on the vita with retroarch? My vita gives error when I try to run those roms. Thx a lot dude

[@tisoccerfan3623]

Thank you!!

[@real_arktic_foxxy]

I hope I´m not the only person that can´t dowload Retroark from the page...because it has been deleted

[@ammazzatartufi]

exactly...how can we download it now?

[@JasmineTea48]

@@ammazzatartufi Their website got hacked and it was down you should be able to download it now

[@troigrl]

Jasmine Tea do you know how to get the PlayStation core because I installed retro arch recently and the PlayStation games are not recognized

[@JasmineTea48]

@@troigrl do you mean the VPK file?

[@troigrl]

Jasmine Tea no on RetroArch. I read more into the blog from RetroArch and I see they don’t have the Sony PlayStation cores repaired yet. Oh well those are the games I want to play. I do have VPK on another Vita.

[@Spartan764]

Nice

[@sirdavidnorth]

As of version 1.9.0 refuses to work on PS TV / Vita TV. When loading ROMS the programme crashes and exits the user. Earlier versions did work with Vita TV - haven't been able to find any legacy versions of RetroArch available for download :(

[@ahmadsauqi9362]

Thanks bro

[@rajacomputer9798]

Did retro Arch will playable others psx games with some cheats too like granturismo 2 with max money or digimon word 3 with max hp max mp and max zenny?,thanks for your information dude

[@alexovich777]

Good video, Very informative, Thanks. How can I make my old PC DOS game play on Vita?

[@kajaakaj]

why is sound lagging / distorted when i play NES super mario bros... ( all 3 cores tested same result?) tnx for looking into this.. UR TOP TJ=)

[@raym4694]

would you consider doing a tutorial for RetroArch on PSP, i was interested in that

[@lefishe2258]

adrenaline is better.

[@reyfrancisrances207]

best youtuber ever!!😲😲

[@j4rock966]

How do u get the skull logo on the top right corner near the battery icon it looks so cool and i want to do that on my vita

[@Sleaxel]

Use custom theme manager on hacked vita

[@davidmonmousseau9118]

Merci beaucoup :)

[@FDCAFOK]

Ive followed you video and everything is running great. The only problem is that I get an (C1-6775-5) error when first switched on. Is there a permanent fix for this?

[@kenniitran]

Hello Tech J. How to exit out a game to retroarch menu without hit the home button? Thanks

[@battlesai119]

shoulder buttons + select + start

[@kenniitran]

Albert Ives Solomon Thanks bros for the tips.

[@lea-rw5cb]

Put resident evil nemesis on but gets to blood and gore warning and that's it, not sure which bios to use would that make a difference and also where does bios go 🤔

[@MatteoCarellaBS]

You should honestly switch to 7ZIP, grat tutorial btw. You're my VITA lifesaver

[@wolfsyncc]

winrar is better

[@GiveMeSomeChonCho]

or it get stuck at 33 percent or other numbers aswell but just continue to wait

[@tinkerfox1774]

5:01 - KNOCK.

[@syrup_7275]

can't find my settings in retroarch "noob here"

[@jacksally09]

once you install retroarch you need to run it before the files appear under data. so you can copy over the xmb files

[@MrYann666]

@@jacksally09 did run Retroarch a few times on my vita but can't find the folder once I try to copy the xmb files... any chance you know why? Also "noob here"

[@HeatherVioletNoble]

Interesting I might do this...but I need the card vita thing

[@minoxiis3419]

So what are some of your favorite games to play with retro arch on the vita

[@raider54DJ]

whats the point of retro arch for the vita. Vita has a great UI as it is.

[@dablaccaiyan9152]

One stop shop for retro gaming......kinda saves space also

[@richtofen9352]

When I go to gba there is only 1 emulator and when I go on it it crashes retro arch any ideas?

[@bestgameNintendoswitchworldsg]

How to change the settings need go where??? In order to play NES games on RetroArch??

[@thommanalo2132]

can you do a video on how to fix the console icons not showing on xmb? i can see yours is not showing up too [@10:30]

[@leviwhite1151]

I had this same problem and reinstalled several times. What I did to fix it though was get proper roms that retroarch likes. Google no intro roms and get whatever packs you want and it will place them in the console area.

[@stevenkunzer9027]

When I go to Retroarch on my vita I no longer can move the cursor. I was looking through controller options and I may have turned off joypad I don’t know how to get it to work anymore.

[@britishyank17]

My menu looks like a Nintendo switch menu, I did everything in the video and after moving the xmb folder to the VITA it still looks like the switch menu. Please help James, thanks.

[@iCraftDay]

Can you change it in the settings?

[@britishyank17]

iCraftDay yeah, I finally figured it out, it’s in one of the setting configs

[@xervantezxvi5022]

Hi I have one question how do you connect your modded ps vita on iMac?

[@JavierVegaPerry]

Please make a video on PSVITA Retroarch dosbox

[@danielmajor3472]

Do ps1 games work and work any good

[@warpathh]

What was the exact song you used at the beginning?

[@AsyFromCali]

It's a cover of Dr Dre's "explosive" from the "Chronic 2001" album

[@billybob2025]

all i did was update the assets and it updated to the good look anyway