About Cemu 1.17.0 (Patreon)

Hey Patrons,

we wanted to share a bit of news about our upcoming release, Cemu 1.17.0

In short, here is what's planned:

• Graphic pack version 5
• Native support for game patches via graphic packs
• Vulkan stability improvements

Release on the 17th

Since this is a pretty substantial update we want to make sure everything is well tested and working as intended. We also had some last-minute ideas that we still want to implement. Therefore we decided to make an exception to our regular 2-week release schedule and add an extra week this time. That means Cemu 1.17.0 will release for 5$+ Patrons on Friday the 17th and for everyone else a week later.

The new graphic pack features in detail

The first big addition is that graphic packs now support a dynamic amount of preset categories. 

An obvious benefit to this is that it allows graphic pack authors to merge multiple packs with shared functionality into one. It also opens the door for more fine tuned control if a single preset category isn't enough for a pack.

We tried to design this feature in a way that is as flexible as possible. It includes support for hiding/showing preset categories based on the current selection of presets. If used in the right way, a large amount of different options can be fit into a single pack. Although we generally encourage graphic pack authors to keep it simple :)

Existing graphic packs remain compatible and don't need to be updated for Cemu 1.17.0

Native support for Cemuhook game patches

Another new feature is that Cemu 1.17.0 will support Cemuhook-style game patches (known as patches.txt)

This means Cemuhook will not be required for cheats, FPS++ or other graphic packs that rely on patching gamecode. Although you will still want to keep it for motion controls if you are using them.

Can we improve upon Cemuhook's patches.txt? (technical)

While working on the patch feature we realized that Cemuhook's patches format works well for small-scale patches but starts to become difficult to maintain for large patches. A common annoyance is that if you write an assembly routine it requires you to specify the address of every single address.

We therefore expanded support for patches and designed our own format with several key differences. It's entirely optional and offered as an alternative to Cemuhook patches.txt

Going into detail on what the exact differences are would explode this post and also be far too technical (we are talking about assembly patching after all). We will however provide detailed information and examples with the release of 1.17.0 for those that are interested.

Vulkan stability improvements

Work on the Vulkan renderer also continues. We fixed several issues which should result in improved stability. We also started to rework our Vulkan memory manager as it's currently the main culprit for crashes. The first improvements for it should arrive with Cemu 1.17.0 and will be mentioned in the detailed changelog.

Last but not least, we want to thank everyone for their support and hope you are looking forward to the improvements we will make to Cemu throughout 2020!