Parallel Launcher

An open source launcher for the ParallelN64 emulator featuring very easy controller configuration, automatic loading of ROMs from given folders, and automatic setup of optimal settings.

The ParallelN64 core for RetroArch has a number of advantages over other emulators: it's faster and more accurate than Project64, it comes with all graphics plugins built in so you don't need to manually install and update them, and it runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac. However, as a RetroArch core, it also has some downsides: setting up controllers in RetroArch is needlessly confusing and difficult, you need to change the default settings for the best experience, and it doesn't have a great way to manage your library of games.

Parallel Launcher aims to fix all of these problems, so you can get the best of Nintendo 64 emulation without all the hastle. Parallel Launcher features a very straight-forward controller setup, shows you the important options with good defaults enabled by default, and has a simple game library interface that allows you to categorize your games and track your play time.

Parallel Launcher also features optional integration with romhacking.com. With this integration, you can download hacks from your playlists (with the recommended graphics plugin and other settings set automatically for you), as well as rate hacks and manage your playlists from within the app. It also features a built-in star display for SM64 hacks to track your progress in each hack.

Parallel Launcher also uses a custom build of ParallelN64 that adds some features, including the addition of the GLideN64 plugin and support for emulated Gamecube controllers (yes, the N64 technically supports that!)

Special Thanks

aglab2 for bringing GLideN64 to the ParallelN64 core and providing some optional tweaks to improve compatibility with older romhacks, as well as getting the ParaLLEl plugin working on MacOS and supporting ARM.
Wiseguy for implementing Gamecube controller support
devwizard for adding SummerCart SD card support

Thanks to the translators:

Italian - Luigi "JakeDower" Orabona
Spanish - Reonu German - Kate "CommandMC" Dröge
French (Standard) - Naeso
French (Québécois) - max954
Arabic - Elazul
Portuguese - Lila
Japanese - Rulu

Building Parallel Launcher from Source

Building on Linux

Setup

• Install the dev dependencies.
  • Debian/Ubuntu/Mint: sudo apt install build-essential coreutils dosfstools findutils fonts-noto-core fonts-noto-cjk fonts-noto-mono fuse3 libfuse2t64 libgcrypt20-dev libjack-jackd2-0 libqt5svg5-dev libsdl2-dev libsqlite3-dev p7zip-full policykit-1 qmake6 qt6-declarative-dev qt6-svg-dev qt6-base-dev-tools qt6-l10n-tools udisks2 xdg-utils zlib1g-dev
  • OpenSUSE: sudo zypper install coreutils dosfstools findutils fuse3 gcc15 gcc15-c++ google-noto-sans-arabic-fonts google-noto-sans-fonts google-noto-sans-jp-fonts google-noto-sans-jp-mono-fonts google-noto-sans-mono-fonts qt6-dbus-devel libSDL2-devel libgcrypt-devel qt6-linguist qt6-base-common-devel qt6-declarative-devel qt6-svg-devel p7zip polkit sqlite3-devel udisks2 xdg-utils zlib-devel
  • Fedora/CentOS: sudo yum install coreutils dosfstools findutils fuse3 gcc gcc-c++ glibc google-noto-sans-arabic-fonts google-noto-sans-fonts google-noto-sans-jp-fonts google-noto-sans-mono-fonts libgcrypt-devel libstdc++ p7zip polkit qt6-linguist qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtdeclarative-devel qt6-qtsvg-devel SDL2-devel sqlite-devel udisks2 xdg-utils zlib-ng-compat-devel
  • Arch/Manjaro: sudo pacman -S coreutils dosfstools findutils fuse gcc gcc-libs glibc libgcrypt make noto-fonts noto-fonts-cjk p7zip polkit qt6-base qt6-declarative qt6-svg qt6-tools sdl2 sqlite udisks2 xdg-utils zlib

If you are editing the UI, you will also want to install either Qt Designer or Qt Creator

Building

• Build the makefile with qmake6 app.pro (or run ./qmake-debug.sh for the debug build)
• Run make to build (or make -j$((`nproc`-1)) to build much faster)

Building on Mac OS

Setup

• Install Qt6:
  • Download and run the installer from www.qt.io/download-qt-installer-oss
  • Modify your .bashrc to add the line PATH=$PATH:$HOME/Qt/6.9.1/macos/bin (altering the version number if you installed a different version of Qt)
• Install the dependencies with brew: brew install libgcrypt libgpg-error sdl2 sqlite dosfstools zlib
• If you do not have a /usr/local/opt/libgpg-error folder, make a symlink to the brew install (eg. ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.55 /usr/local/opt/libgpg-error)
• Make a folder named lib and a folder named mac-extra
• Copy the following files into the lib folder you created: (note the version numbers in the paths may be different)
  • /usr/local/Cellar/libgcrypt/1.11.1/lib/libgcrypt.20.dylib
  • /usr/local/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.55/lib/libgpg-error.0.dylib
  • /usr/local/Cellar/gettext/0.25.1/lib/libintl.8.dylib
  • /usr/local/Cellar/sdl2/2.32.8/lib/libSDL2-2.0.0.dylib
  • /usr/local/Cellar/sqlite/3.50.2/lib/libsqlite3.3.50.2.dylib
  • /usr/local/Cellar/zlib/1.3.1/lib/libz.1.3.1.dylib
• Enter the lib directory and make the following symlinks:
  • ln -s libgcrypt.20.dylib libgcrypt.dylib
  • ln -s libgpg-error.0.dylib libgpg-error.dylib
  • ln -s libintl.8.dylib libintl.dylib
  • ln -s libSDL2-2.0.0.dylib libSDL2.dylib
  • ln -s libsqlite3.3.50.2.dylib libsqlite3.3.0.dylib
  • ln -s libsqlite3.3.50.2.dylib libsqlite3.dylib
  • ln -s libz.1.3.1.dylib libz.dylib
• Download the MacOS version of discord-rpc from https://github.com/discord/discord-rpc/releases and put libdiscord-rpc.dylib in the lib folder you created
• Copy /usr/local/Cellar/dosfstools/4.2/sbin/mkfs.fat into the mac-extra folder you created
• Run mac-download-fonts.sh

Building

• Run ./mac-build-and-deploy.sh
  • To do a clean build, run ./mac-clean.sh before running ./mac-build-and-deploy.sh

Building on Windows

Setup

• If you do not already have the Windows MSVC/C++ dev tools/SDK, download it from Microsoft's website:
  • Download the installer from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=BuildTools
  • Run the installer and select Desktop development with C++, then check the following under Installation Details:
    • MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools
    • vcpkg package manager
    • Windows 10 SDK
• Download the Qt installer from https://www.qt.io/download-qt-installer-oss
• Run the installer and select a custom install
  • Under Qt 6.9.1, select MSVC 2022 64-bit
  • Under Build Tools, select OpenSSL 64-bit binaries
  • (Optional) Under Qt Creator, optionally select the Debug Symbols, Debugging Tools, and/or Qt Creator
• Run windows-install-dependencies.ps1
• If you have not already installed Parallel Launcher and do not intend to build and run the installer, then manually install the fonts in the winfonts directory created by the previous script

Building

• Run windows-build-and-deploy.ps1
  • To do a clean build, run windows-clean.ps1 before running windows-build-and-deploy.ps1
• If you want to build the portable Windows version instead of the normal installed version, run windows-build-and-deploy-portable.ps1

Building the Installer

• Download and install Inno Setup (https://jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php)
• Open win-installer.iss in the source directory
• Click the green play button to build the installer