v1.8.0

July 22, 2026

Feature release focused on TV Mode, scaffolding, infrastructure, and quality-of-life. Adds a full-screen TV Mode browsing experience with animated backgrounds and box-art focus effects; revamps box-art loading, resampling, and theming; expands RetroAchievements with an enable prompt and import progress; hardens rewind, save-state, and XPC reliability; and brings type-to-search, smart collections, and genre improvements to the library browser.

Highlights

  • TV Mode: Full-screen TV-style library browsing with entry tiles, animated backgrounds, an integrated game detail view, and box-art focus scaling.
  • Box-art pipeline: Async thumbnail loading, local-path resolution, refined resampling, and a dedicated TV Mode boxart theme for sharper on-screen focus.
  • RetroAchievements upgrades: First-run enable prompt (with hardcore option), cache-import and game-matching progress indicators, and accurate console-ID mapping via RomHasher.
  • Rewind & save-state reliability: XPC state polling and capture reworked to fix serious double-rewind issues (#20); better Play! (PS2) save-state handling and rewind-capture warnings.
  • Library browsing: Type-to-search in the main window, smart collection rows that respect the search query, system-aware empty states, and search-aware sidebar filtering.
  • Background shaders: Refactored LCD Grid shaders, manual RF sync-hold and position controls, and enhanced Famicom RF display uniforms.
  • ROM scanning & metadata: Caching and filtering for metadata processing, refactored scan/identification, and merged-ROM derived-field refresh.
  • Infrastructure & lifecycle: iCloud dataless-placeholder materialization, ROM-removal notifications, improved error handling and UI responsiveness during XPC crashes, and a paused-hotkey binding.

Detailed Changes

  • Added TV Mode with entry tiles, game detail view, and dedicated settings
  • Refactored TV Mode game tile for improved aspect-ratio handling and focused state visuals
  • Improved TV Mode backdrop rendering with optimized background layout
  • Added boxart theme to TV Mode, with animated backgrounds and system-icon style settings for TV-mode entry tiles
  • Refined TV Mode settings view and navigation handling for improved state management and focus control
  • Added game-shifting functionality in the detail view for improved navigation
  • Pinned background fill to image size to prevent halo clipping; refined boxart positioning and clipping for sharper focus effect; removed TV-mode overlay for cleaner visuals
  • Refactored LCD Grid shaders and implemented LaunchBox metadata service
  • Refined box-art thumbnail generation and resampling logic for improved performance
  • Enhanced box-art handling and thumbnail generation to resolve local paths and improve image handling
  • Added enable prompt for RetroAchievements with hardcore mode option and updated translations
  • Enhanced RetroAchievements integration with progress indicators for cache import and game matching
  • Updated RetroAchievements console ID mapping to use RomHasher for accuracy
  • Optimized XPC state polling and capture handling to fix serious issues on double rewind (Fixes #20)
  • Improved save-state support for the Play! (PS2) core and enhanced rewind-capture warnings
  • Implemented type-to-search functionality in the main window with focus handling
  • Implemented search-aware smart collection rows in SystemSidebarView
  • Enhanced library filtering and empty-state messages for system-specific contexts
  • Enhanced gamepad navigation with auto-repeat functionality and dynamic delay scheduling
  • Enhanced gamepad navigation management to prevent stale inputs during gameplay
  • Enhanced genre management and display features
  • Optimized ROM metadata processing with caching and filtering mechanisms
  • Refactored ROM scanning and identification process
  • Enhanced merged-ROM function to refresh derived fields when no record is found
  • Updated ROM fingerprinting to include match status and game ID for improved tracking
  • Added ICloudMaterializer for handling iCloud dataless placeholders (file and directory materialization)
  • Implemented ROM removal notifications and enhanced library folder management
  • Enhanced error handling and UI responsiveness during XPC crashes; updated library-status translations
  • Added force-expiry policy to cache and implemented cache entry invalidation
  • Added pause functionality with hotkey bindings and updated translations
  • Added Wii controller-type support in the Dolphin core
  • Enhanced RF display and shader uniforms with manual sync-hold and position controls
  • Ensured UI updates run on the main thread during SDL input capture