In this guide, I'll show you how to setup and run RetroArch on the Xbox Series S/X and Xbox One consoles via Microsoft's official Developer program. It's actually pretty easy, and anyone can do it. Yes, even you.
Full written guide: retrogamecorps.com/2021/09/11...
Emulation showcase on the Xbox Series S: • Emulation on the Xbox ...
Archades Games YT channel: / icestrike256
Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
01:48 setup and registration
03:24 activating and connecting to your Xbox
05:37 installing RetroArch
07:14 setting up RetroArch
09:55 adding system files and games
16:11 creating playlists
20:35 controller config and other tweaks
24:41 summary and conclusion
If you want to support the channel, please consider Patreon: / retrogamecorps
Intro theme song sampled from "Hexadecimal Genome" by Bit Shifter:
bit-shifter.bandcamp.com/albu...
Note that this description may contain affiliate links. By clicking on an affiliate link and buying something, I may earn a small commission of the sale at no extra cost to you.
This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
#Xbox #RetroGaming #DevMode
Just to let everyone aware, when you're about to access retroarch to set up the files, according to the tutorial you're supposed to access the S: drive, but something changed recently and now you'll have to access unit D:. Don't know what happened, but that's working nice.
lol im literally stuck at this part rn and came to comments for a solution. I noticed stuff in my D: drive but theres no "Program Files" option to choose from. I have DevelopmentFiles, Drives, System Volume Information, Temp, and Titles. Thats it :/
I'm thinking maybe it changed to Developer Files? would make the most sense I guess
@@zaccoatsit's definitely in D:, but yeah the structure changed a bit. I think it's DevelopmentFiles/WindowsApps, something like that. I found my retroarch folder there and it's working very well!
@@bloomorte Yea same here! everything is working great! well except PS2 it won't load past PS2 game title screens for some reason
Lifesaver
Of all the tinkering I've been doing with retro gaming over the last year or so (thanks to your great guides and videos), this is easily my favorite device. Having a neat, clean, powerful box that can do modern games, a big library of games to try from GamePass, all of the retro consoles I want, and media streaming in a compact, reliable, good-looking box makes this my go-to right now. The only place where the Series S rates lower for me is with the controller options. I might have to pick up the 8bitdo xbox wired controller for this. Otherwise I suspect this box is going to be with me for a long time. Sidenote, I appreciate your great technical writing and documentation skills. You don't get enough credit for that! Clear writing (like in your guides) is such a treasure to find. Hope your "retirement" transition goes well and we'll all look forward to seeing more videos from you.
I set this up through developer mode on my Series X when I first got it last year and I learned how to do it all through Archades' channel... Kudos to you for giving him props on this. He had a guide up for it so early on, he def deserves a lot of credit!
Can anyone help me get the bios files? He skips straight to his bios files without showing us how to get them?
@@Shotts_Fired that's cuz it is very much illegal for him to do that. Lol
@@EvEnMoR gotcha, thanks for that info, I think I figured it out
@@Shotts_Fired right on man.. Didn't mean to come off as a dick. It's just that his channel would get bitchslapped by Nintendo if he or anyone else provides system bios files. Just the way it is.
@@EvEnMoR I’m having trouble with my N64 emulation. Any advice? I know it sounds weird but if you have discord or something I would love the help lol
Not only did you make me want to unpack my Hyperkin Megaman x91 (I even forgot I had it) But you also named Archades' channel as a place of incredible resource. I learned all I know on retrograding my Series box from Archades' channel. But you sir easily earned a new subscriber with this. Thanks.
Thanks heaps for taking the time to make this vid 👍Have previously played with RetroPi on an underpowered Linux Mint lappy but this was a whole different story ... can finally get all the good stuff and currently have SNES and PCEngine/GrafX up and running nicely thanks to you with the written guide being a bonus. Slow and steady from here on in. Again TYVM 😁
you're really great at explaining things, i usually have to rewind multiple times to understand these tutorials
Thanks for this, this is the best walkthrough I’ve ever seen for this. I highly appreciate the work you put into this.
Happy to be of help!
@@RetroGameCorps Hi how do I save in game memory? so that I wont have to start from the beginning everytime in game
@@RetroGameCorps what if my s drive is empty
@@kahben10 buy an external SSD
@@RetroGameCorpsin theory is it possible 2 emulate ps5 games while in developer mode on xbox series x?
Not only is this clear and concise, you also provide a written guide and are crediting your main source of information. Well done, thanks for the guide!
I followed your instructions and did this on my series x and I now have the best emulator I've ever had (I've never had a good PC lol). Thanks so much. You've got my like and subscription
How did you find your bios files? I’m currently struggling with that part everything else I’ve gotten so far
HELP! I ACCIDENTALLY DOWNLOADED FARMING SIMULATOR 19!
Hi Kevin, there's an easy fix to this: 1. Open Farming Simulator 19. You'll find it in the "Apps & Games" section. 2. Enjoy
@@RetroGameCorps You can enjoy that game?!!
@@RetroGameCorps I'm having a great time! Awesome guide 👍
@@RetroGameCorps NARF!!!
@@RetroGameCorps can you play 360 games I wanna play mk9 so bad
As a playstation fan I'm honestly finally going to buy an Xbox specifically to emulate all my old favorites! This is incredible!
This + Gamepass + Backwards Compability for entire game collections like for example Gears of War or Skate. Honestly I will buy this over a Ps5 any day.
My thoughts exactly unfortunately they put in the hard to get though
That's why I got it day 1. So many games to play that I missed.
Yeah me too, got mine a couple days ago. Was a pain in the ass to order it in germany since they are always out of stock.
This betrayal is more powerful then what Big smoke did in GTA:SA
Great video like always. I was actually convinced to get a series S from this video and the last one. I was able to set up everything easily thanks to your tutorial and the written guide.
I really need help, my roms are not being scanned by retroarch!
This is very helpful and informative thanks . Hope to see more of this sort of stuff on this channel in the future .
Hi! I always find your videos well made and informative. Keep up with the good work, huge thanks!
Russ u are a national treasure! Finding your channel was one of the tech highlights of the year!
Wow man - you're one patient organised genius chap! For 'standard' people like me who are casual gamers and for whom 90% of this is WAY over our heads it was fascinating to see how guys with your brains and training operate. Kudos to you for your tremendous hard work, patience and altruism and thank you!
Great guide and thanks for all you do for the retro gaming community!!
My pleasure!
Great vid! Regarding controllers, I actually like the Xbox ones but the Hyperkin pads aren't the best for the long term so I would only consider it on sale. As far as the Brook Wingman, I dont have that particular model but I have the similar one for using modern pads on Sega Saturn and Dreamcast. They are good but just be ready for some initial cumbersome button mapping depending on the controller you use, and always check for firmware updates out the box. After setup though, they are solid.
This might be the best tutorial I've ever watched. Thank you!
Thank you so much. I’ve been refreshing your channel and KZhead waiting for this to drop!
So for the people who missed it.... Don't forget to check the link for the Full written guide 😂... Awesome video 👌, can't help it to check your video's instanly when they come out 🙄
Haha, yeah I thought I made it pretty clear that the written guide will be helpful for future reference!
@@RetroGameCorps why is my directory files in D/ not S/? my games wont play
Best video I’ve seen on this. Great stuff. Two things: 1) I very much recommend also installing Safe Exit, as mentioned by Archade, and using that to quit out of DevMode, so you don’t ever risk not unticking the “please delete everything” box. 2) Mupen randomly sometimes just boots games with sound only, and a black screen. Are there any known fixes, or do we just wait until Retroarch gets updated? Thanks. 😊
Thats the issue im having. Genesis, NES and SNES work fine but N64 has black screen with audio. Im on the original Xbox One, not sure if that matters.
The AnonFiles isn't working for me. Can you post a link?
Thanks so much for sharing this guide! I recently purchased a Series X and am looking forward to trying this. Have a happy holiday season!
Words can't describe how excited I am to relive my childhood on my Xbox with this setup!!!!!
After selecting directories make sure to save new configuration instead of current. If you dont select new then it will pull from the q: directory with no assets. I just found this out following this guide. BTW thank you for showing us how to do this!
Can you elaborate a bit?
I found Hori Pad Pro for Xbox to be one of the best all-purpose controllers for emulation on the Xbox Series. The d-pad is amazing (soft like SNES).
Thanks friend. I wouldn't have figured out all the settings and stuff without your help
Amazing work and a great video! I think the signing up to developer program process has changed. Might be worth looking into and updating the guide. Thanks again.
Thank you for creating such a detailed video guide on how to do this. Great stuff. Will Microsoft ever remove that awful option at the end to delete everything? That’s the stuff of nightmares.
I haven't owned a Xbox since 360...got a PS5 but this will seriously make me consider getting a series S
Join us
Same except I just copped a series s
Thanks Russ! You make the best guides, been waiting for your method for my series X. Now I don’t have to drop $$$ on a super console x or something like that for my tv
Thanks for this tutorial! Sorry for editing so many times. Finally got N64 rom working but only manually searching for them works.
Just tried this today. You may want to update the guide. The files cannot be found on S:\ any longer. Had to find out on Reddit that with the current build of Retro Arch and the current dev kit activator, the files are now found on D:\ when you want to reconfigure the default directories or scan a directory of your ROMs. Thanks for the good work though!
Dont forget the first time you enter dev mode you may need to re-enable your wifi settings inside of the developer settings tab or the remote connect ion to the PC wont work.
Thanks for this info, I was starting to get frustrated after trying to get this specific part working for like 15 minutes
i connected my console to internet but cant get the url to work? it just wont connect at all i dont get the same error any ideas?
@@TheTrueCornelius Same!
Thanks for the demo and info, very easy to follow and informational. Have a great day
I love you man, this helped me setting retroarch on my phone.
This is so well structured. Can't wait to try it out
Note: Anyone following this setup now will not be able to scan directories. The latest XBOX Series/One Retroarch builds scan function are currently broken ... a link to a previous Retroarch build would be appreciated. If you are patient enough, you can generate playlist manually with a manual scan. You'll have to setup parameters yourself, but it can be done.
I just attempted this myself and have found the same issue. I was thinking that I messed up somewhere but it appears to actually be an issue with scanning stuck at 0%. Thanks for posting this
@@ChalcoAPRN you're welcome. Manually scanning, and fiddling around within RetroArch was good practice in familiarizing more for myself. I've got it running where I like it now (even though I have a half dozen other devices setup for retro play)
Thank you, even 1 year later this video still useful.
Finally sat and did all this. This was a godsend! Thank you.
For the option for storage size can you use a external hard drive instead of the system memory?
Yes
Videos like this helped me decide to change from PS4 in to the Xbox universe. NES, Megadrive, Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2, PS4, Xbox series X. Full circle.
this is so freaking cool, you earned a sub my guy
Brilliant guide just love your videos thank you.
11:45 in the bio’s folder it only shows me Parent Directort, Use this directory, and no items.
You find an answer to your problem yet?
@@Sno1001 Nope
why am I even watching this I dont have an xbox
Hi dishsoap
Sensei Russ does It again! Ty so much!
I’m doing it this weekend! Thanks for the well explained guide
Did you get it working? i had everything going smoothly until trying to get BIOS.
Hello.....
@@michaelvoorhees5978 i guess we will never know.
@@SkinnyMuscles69 lol I hate when people don't check notifications and help lol
@@michaelvoorhees5978 yup. To be fair i rarely check my KZhead notifications
when i select scan this directory to add a games library to a playlist scanning bar comes up but stays at 0 percent and will not create a playlist no matter how long i wait. if i load a game through the load content option it plays just fine. help please lol
Hi! Thank you so much for this tutorial, but I've got a problem to solve: RetroArch just doesn't scan anything in any format. I've already tried from my external HD and also putting the ROMs directly inside the system, without having any success. If I choose to "load content" and then navigate to where the ROM is and pick it up, it runs with no issues, but it would be nice to have playlists etc.. Would you know what could be wrong? Thanks once more and keep up the awesome work ;)
Same here my friend. Have you managed to find a solution?
@@marksneddon3709 hi, pal. No... Not yet :(
Manual scan but do for each game console
Thanks, I'm going to set this up on my series s when it arrives this week.
Awesome guide! I picked up a 2tb and I'm just having a blast.
I am thinking about changing on PlayStation with Xbox series x, because of the backwoods compatibility, Retro Artch, and game pass.
This is why Microsoft are the goat for allowing this stuff
I followed every step, and when I tried to do a scan, the process just got stuck. It shows "scanning" for games, but no progress at all. Any idea why?
I have the same problem. :-( Nothing happens. Manualy scan also doesn't.have progress.
Yeah, I'm like this too. I can play games by loading content manually from the first drop down menu, but as far as bulk scanning and getting a playlist and all the bells and whistles no luck...
great video thank you very much appreciated! I was hesitant to try emulation on my series X but with this guide I am certain I'll go for it!
Can u still get out of developer mode to play with friends
A full written guide for just wiimote emulation would be useful. Or a whole bloody wiki. And a function similar to a N64 emulation plugin we had about 200 computer years ago. It offered a few different game profiles (with an option to make your own), targeted fps games mostly and allowed you to play them with keyboard (wsad) and mouse. It came with just a few profiles, but you could usually find an appropriate one (as long as you were playing an fps).
If ever the Series S/X was jailbroken and you could install Windows on it properly it would be the bargain of the century.
Only 10 gigs of RAM though.
you can use windows 360 and that works too.
I’m going to have to stop watching your videos now that I know you invert the Y axis… oh my days
🤣
awesome guide thanks. Much appreciated.
Superb work Russ!
This was going great until I got to scan in my games, found the proper folder in directories (i am uploading them to internal storage through my computer as done in the video), and the scanning on retroarch even says “0/16: Scanning [the name of my first game]” but it’s just resting on 0% and won’t load. Please, any advice?
Same! Looking for a solve right now.
@@JasonDerichsweiler OH DO the manual scan method shown later in the video
It worked for me for some reason!
@@MassimoMD Just tried manual again and it worked! But now I'm stuck with the black screen error others mentioned when starting games (GC, N64. SNES) Making progress lol.
@@JasonDerichsweiler lmk if you find a fix for that cause one of my games still has a black screen error, glad it’s getting there!
I'm lost in 11:40. When I try to change the directory. It shows nothing on /S
It’s on D now for some reason
Same
Absolute legends! This is the only video you need. upgraded my 1TB HDD to a 2TB SSD🎉
I rarely comments on KZhead video. But thanks for the video and for the pointing to the archades games. I watched and liked both. You are cool as hell ✌
It was going great for me until I reached the part in which I have to select a directories. In bios if i select the S: drive i dont have any folders. Tried every letter and nothing... Im stuck :(
I have also nothing in S./ what i am doing wrong?
Same wtf
Anyone reading this, I figured it out. They’re in the D Drive now
Hi, buddy! I am trying to follow ur steps but I am stucked into the 11:35 part that I have to sync the new folders with RetroArch. Basically when I select the S:\ the program files > windows apps folders didn't exist. I have created into the x64 folder, following step by step but I am stucked here. Someone could help me, pls?
Same
im also stuck on this. i hope someone reads this and find a solution.
@@IamTiiny8 Check and see if they are on the D: directory. things got swapped from S: to D:
Nice guide bro! Thanks!
Great content man!
Hey guys, when I try to launch some PS2 games I got this error: 'could not read content file' Help?
If some roms works then you have to big files - compress to CHD.
Is there a way to do this with Mac instead of windows 10?
Did you ever find out?
thanks bro.... i'll test it on my old xbox one ! thank you so much for all your tutos bro! Great respect for you and your work! i salute you regards
How's the performance on the Xbox one
@@melomelo1129 need to get home first, try it and i'll leave a details of my experience
@@ahmedelasmai8142 how is it?
cmon bro let us know lol
When i go to the S: drive i dont have windows apps folder. What did I do wrong?
I'm in the same boat! no idea why :(
Did you sort this?
It's in D now
Every time I go to my s: folder nothing pops up ,what can I do?
Same here
Dude I don't know you, but thank you so much for this. I hit a snag, but this video is the one that help me out, i'm so grateful. Thanks again.
You're very welcome!
Excellent tutorial and one of the clearest yet. A great idea with the document. What are your thoughts on Dev vs Retail mode? The only true benefit of retail that I can see is convenience - lack of mode switching
where did you get the ps2 bios from?
when I press the Microsoft partner center link it looks completely different then yours
Thanks I will try this very soon
...this is a lot more work than I anticipated... great walkthrough tho. The detailed explanation will help.
This going to be fantastic for when I soon get my Xbox One.
Just got my Xbox s, I wanna set up Dreamcast, GameCube, gameboy, psp and ps2. I followed your process for the ps vita and added a total of 300 games !!!! I’m excited for this next project !!!!
Thank you for sharing all of this great info 🙏🏼
Hello does dev mode on Xbox series x still work when playing n64 other games? Cause I don’t want to pay 19 dollars and then it not work
Good stuff. Thanks, Russ.
You bet!
got my son a new Xbox for christmas didnt know what to do with the old one, I do now! thanks
I am so impressed that Microsoft let's you do all this I'm kind of a bit gutted that I got me a PS5
Get a used series s
I always use the Retroarch XMB theme for the PSP nostalgia too.
People! There is also a full written guide! Check that out :) Just joking Onion! You did a amazing job (AGAIN) with this video
best guide ever! know i can play ps2, wii, snes and farming simulator 19!
Thank you for this, ultimate Legend!!!! really impressed;-)
This is really cool. Don't feel comfortable doing this with my xbox, but it's cool either way.
Good video Russ.
thank fxxxk for the detailed explanation, i am too old to be messed about...
Thank you so much! :-)
I had no idea this was even possible... holly balls. Will be doing this later.
I’m doing it after the cheaper Seagate drives come out
You're guide is amazing. Do have any settings recommendations for getting ps2 games to run faster. I'm experiencing a lot lag for all my ps2 games on retroarch.
Special Thanks for this 😁👍🏻👍🏻🖖🏻
Thanks so much for the guide I’ve gotten a lot to work so far but I do have one question… is there any way your friends can still see you online when you’re playing these emulators? It says appearing offline. I doubt it would ever show the roms we play but is there a way to appear online so they know we’re online still? Thanks!
I had doubts if once in dev kit mode, one could boot back into normal mode and play XBox Series games or not. My doubts have been resolved! Awesome guide, both video and written!
So, how easy is it to go back and forth?
@@christopherkinnaird2881 you just press a button called "Exit dev mode", and your console reboots. It might take a little while to switch between both (1-2 minutes for my One S)
I'm wondering if all this transferring and setup can be done straight on the Xbox itself since it has a browser. A lot of people don't have a PC (or want to use one) just to download or transfer games over. Can this be done from a tablet or phone as well? Just about every tutorial i see that deals with emulation automatically goes to "on your PC do this, and that" etc. for just about every device...even for a raspberry pi when a pi is a simple pc itself.
I’m wondering the samething
You are the man my friend!!!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!