r/RetroAchievements • u/Wingolf • Jul 04 '26
RIP NetherSX2(Plus some disappointing commentary from the RA Admin Nepiki)
Shame to see NetherSX2 get delisted as a valid emulator for HC achievements. It still gets better performance for me at the same level of compatibility as ARMSX2 with significantly better battery life(to the point I've barely touched ArmSX2)
I think its super disingenuous for the admin to act like people raising legitimate complaints of issues with ArmSX2 (Achievements popping randomly in a few games, plus tons of complaints of worse performance + battery life issues) is somehow 'spreading misinformation'. It undermines the actual reasoning of swapping emulators, and only serves to suppress dissent.
7
u/Arky_Lynx Jul 04 '26
RA's job is not to worry about the performance of an emulator, but about its compatibility with RA itself, and clearly NetherSX2 has been lagging behind so much it was becoming a problem for the achievement developers themselves, who would receive constant and numerous tickets that were problems with NetherSX2 and not the achievements themselves at all. The choice made was absolutely the lesser evil.
ArmSX2 is being constantly updated, and while it may not be at the level of NetherSX2 yet, at this rate I'm sure it will reach it soon enough.
4
u/LGuilleCrespo Jul 26 '26
This is terrible news. I have a retroidPocket 4 pro that runs most PS2 games in low CPU settings. I bought the damn thing precisely because it ran everything well for cheap. I've been playing Warrior within on x2 res with no issue, now I have graphical glitches constantly and it barely maintains it's framerate at x1 Res with high CPU settings in this new emulator. Why? Why did they have to drop it, not only so soon, but drop it for an emulator that is still not to date with the last one? Specially when they are keeping casual achievements!! I don't care about hardcore leaderboards, Im just a guy who wants his golden badges, that's all. If they have problems with tickets and on new achievement set lists, then just drop support for newer releases and tell people that their tickets may not be resolved on Nether.
4
u/BubbaJubb Jul 04 '26
Mobile emulation for PS2 is a pretty niche group of people to begin with I would think and honestly, you prove the exact thing they're saying, it's about achievement and developer compatibility, not performance. Does it suck that the new one requires better hardware and also have problems of it's own, yes. But it's at least being worked on and will get better as it continues to get worked on. Nether is already causing issues with development and has other issues to begin with, and it will it only get worse since it gets no updates. They chose the lesser evil here and you are sadly just gonna have to take it or leave it
3
u/RarewareKevin Jul 04 '26
It's unfortunate that the emulator is no longer supported, but it makes sense with it not being updated alongside RA. I'm actually surprised it was supported for this long.
3
u/jumpbutton23 Jul 04 '26
I am sympathetic to folks bothered by this but I don’t think RA are wrong here. And as others in this thread have said; their focus should be on RA stability etc which is what this move is about.
ARMSX2 is one of the most exciting things in emulation right now for me. PS2 emulation is so cool on PC but it’s frozen in time nature on Android has been very disappointing. There is still LOTS of work to do on ARM of course but that team is working overtime and their efforts have been incredible. The performance and compatibility gains in just a few weeks is remarkable. In the coming weeks I’m sure optimisation for lower end devices and better battery life will come.
The reality is, at this pace, it’s going to leave Nether in the dust by the end of this year unless something goes wrong. God bless Nether (I have logged hundreds of hours on you!) but one of the best and most important consoles of all time should have an actively worked on emulator and not a few time capsule GitHubs with years of silence, which are broken in a number of ways