PS VITA / PSTV - RetroFlow Launcher

RetroFlow by jimbob4000,& VitaHEX Games

About Supported Systems Installation FAQ Additional ScreenShots

This is a modded version of HexFlow Launcher; a 3d coverflow like launcher for PS Vita.

This version includes categories for retro games which can be launched without bubbles for RetroArch and DaedalusX64. Playstation and PSP games can also be launched without having to create bubbles for every game!

Display and launch your retro games and homebrews in style.
RetroFlow Launcher features a 3d user interface to display your games with their box art and supports many customization options like custom covers and backgrounds.

Launching a game or app from RetroFlow Launcher will close the launcher automaticaly without asking.
Supported systems:
- PS Vita,
- PSP,
- Playstation,
- Nintendo 64,
- Super Nintendo,
- Nintendo Entertainment System,
- Game Boy Advance,
- Game Boy Color,
- Game Boy,
- Sega Mega Drive / Genesis,
- Sega Master System,
- Sega Game Gear,
- PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16,
- MAME 2000.
- DaedalusX64 is required for N64 games.
- RetroArch is required for other retro systems.
- Adrenaline is required for Playstation and PSP games.
Installation

1. Install the RetroFlow VPK's.
- Install the latest version of RetroFlow and additional RetroFlow Adrenaline launcher VPK from here.
- 'RetroFlow Launcher' is the app you will use to browse games. 'RetroFlow Adrenaline launcher' is needed for launching Playstation and PSP games.
2. Rename your PSP games using the steps below.
- Renaming is needed for cover matching. RetroFlow will look for a title ID in the filename.
Windows users:

Please rename PSP ISO and CSO files using Leecherman's PSP ISO Renamer tool using the following parameters:
%NAME% (%REGION%) [%ID%]

The result should look like this (please notice the square brackets):
Cars 2 (US) [UCUS-98766].iso

Games can also be named with just the title ID like so: "UCUS98766.iso" but this isn't recommended.

Mac users:

See the FAQ's section for a guide on renaming on a mac.
More information on PSP and Playstation after the FAQ's section.

3. Check your PS1 and PSP are in the right folders
PS1 and PSP games with eboot files should be saved here:

ux0:pspemu/PSP/GAME/

PSP ISO and CSO games should be saved here:

ux0:pspemu/ISO/

4. Add your retro games to RetroFlow
- Launch RetroFlow for the first time, RetroFlow will create the folders where you can save your games.
- Once it's finshed loading; close RetroFlow and copy your favourite retro games into the relevant subfolders below:
  - ux0:/data/RetroFlow/ROMS/
Tip: It's important that your roms are named using the no-intro file naming convention, e.g. "Game Name (USA)" , otherwise cover images won't be found.

5. Download covers

To download cover images, press start, then choose which covers you would like to download.

Issues loading games with Adrenaline?
Please try installing Adrenaline Bubble Manager to check bubbles load okay, or try installing AdrBubbleBooterInstaller.

Possible incompatabilities
Repatch
Potential issue with repatch / repatch_4 plugins in the tai config. May cause the Vita to shutdown. Try disabling these if you encounter an issue.
PSP Categories lite
Unsupported, if you're experiencing please try without the plugin.
RetroFlow FAQ's

I'm on a Mac, how do I rename PSP games?

You can use the UMD FileRenamer app here.

Step 1. Download the UMD FileRenamer app above Open the 'UMD_FileRenamer-1.0.jar' file and select your folder of games, then rename.
Step 2. Replace (parenthesis) with [brackets] In the finder, select all the games, right click and select 'rename items'. Replace the opening and closing parenthesis with square brackets instead.
Name (XXXX-XXXXX).iso

Will be renamed to:
Name [XXXX-XXXXX].iso

The game names will be missing the region code, but it's not required for the RetroFlow to work.

Can I use HexFlow too?

Yes; RetroFlow is seperate, it uses different folders and a different title ID.

Do I need to create bubbles for games?

No; RetroFlow doesn't need bubbles for games.

How should I name my games so covers are found?

It's recommended that your roms are named using the no-intro file naming convention, e.g. "Game Name (USA)" , these names are used to match with cover images.

Some systems aren't showing?

Empty collections are hidden by default, once you add some games into the roms folder, they will appear.

Can I change the Mega Drive name to Genesis?

Sure; changing your language to 'English - American' will change the 'Mega Drive' name and logo to 'Genesis'.

Can I change a core for RetroArch?

The cores have been set by system and cannot be changed on a game-by-game basis at the moment.
To change the core for an entire system, search for "Retroarch Cores" in the file below and edit the core file names accordingly.
ux0:/app/RETROFLOW/index.lua

The RetroArch core files can be found here: "ux0:/app/RETROVITA/"

Can I change the rom folder locations?

The locations have been setup to keep things simple, if you would like to change the locations, search for "ROM Folders" in the 'index.lua' file below and edit accordingly.
ux0:/app/RETROFLOW/index.lua

For example, to use the ux0 roms folder, the start of the section would look like
-- ROM Folders
local romFolder = "ux0:/Roms/"
local romFolder_N64 = romFolder .. "Nintendo - Nintendo 64"

Adding PSP and Playstation games
RetroFlow uses the game ID's for Playstation and PSP for cover matching. Please use the guides below.

PSP

For PSP ISO and CSO files please rename using Leecherman's PSP ISO Renamer tool using the following parameters:
%NAME% (%REGION%) [%ID%]

The result should look like this:
Cars 2 (US) [UCUS-98766].iso

RetroFlow uses the ID to match artwork, and tidies the rest of the filename to display in the app. CSO files are also supported, and should be named as above.

Playstation

For PSX2PSP, game folder name must match with the GameID. For example:
ux0:pspemu/PSP/GAME/**SLES01234**

Games will need to be in a EBOOT format, see here for information on how to convert PSX Disc Images to EBOOT for PSP. RetroFlow also uses the ID to lookup the name of the game.

Custom Covers

Place your custom covers in "ux0:/data/RetroFlow/COVERS/"
Cover images must be in png format. For Vita, PSP, PSX games and Homebrew the The cover image file name must match the Game ID or the Game Name of each app. For roms the cover image name should match the Rom Name i.e. "Game Name (USA).png". The recommended resolution for Vita covers is 250x320px. Sample image

Download Covers and Backgrounds

From v0.3 covers can be downloaded automatically from the settings menu (Start button). You can also download covers and backgrounds manually from the link below. A big thanks to astuermer for his contribution.
https://github.com/andiweli/hexflow-covers

Custom Background

Place your Background.png or Background.jpg image in "ux0:/data/RetroFlow/" (recomended resolution 1280x720px or less). Some custom backgrounds are available HERE

Custom Music

Place your Music.mp3 file in "ux0:data/RetroFlow/" (music will play automatically when the "Sounds" option is enabled)

AutoBoot

If you want to auto-launch RetroFlow Launcher every time your PS Vita boots up you can use the AutoBoot plugin by Rinnegatamante.

Controls

Navigate your library using the DPad or the Left Stick or with the Touch

Screen.

R/L triggers: Skip 5 items
Cross: Select/Launch game/app
Square: Change Category
Triangle: Game Details
Circle: Change View/Cancel
Start: Settings menu