RetroBridge 0.1.417 Update - GDI compatibility and wide screen resolution support + game compatibility patches.

- Games using GDI should now scale better with RetroBridge. The current GDI adjustmetns were tested with iF-22 Persian Gulf v5.0.
I also added a game configuration profile with a compatibility patch for iF-22 Persian Gulf v5.0 fixing a hang during file reading. The game works now without requiring any compatibility tools nor admin permissions. See the folder iF-22-v50 for the retrobridge configuration file.

- Glide gets unofficial widescreen support using the methodology used by VEG's Widescreen patches for NFS 3, that were adopted in nGlide and dgVoodoo: Re: dgVoodoo 2 for DirectX 11

To test it out, I added widescreen support to Ultim@te Race Pro via the RetroBridge patches. You can find the configuration files in the URP in this release of RetroBridge that include the patches which can be enabled or disabled.
I added two HUD variants, one where the HUD stretches (Similar to how the game does it in the letterbox mode), and also a 4:3 mode that needs to be enabled to take effect.

More to come..

THanks for this. I have found a workaround for the mdk cd error. Unfortunately when running mdk with the powervr patch it actually doesnt detect powervr and runs the ddraw version

rkk wrote on 2026-09-17, 12:48:

RetroBridge 0.1.417 Update - GDI compatibility and wide screen resolution support + game compatibility patches. […]
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RetroBridge 0.1.417 Update - GDI compatibility and wide screen resolution support + game compatibility patches.

The attachment RetroBridge - 0.1.417 - Preview.zip is no longer available

- Games using GDI should now scale better with RetroBridge. The current GDI adjustmetns were tested with iF-22 Persian Gulf v5.0.
I also added a game configuration profile with a compatibility patch for iF-22 Persian Gulf v5.0 fixing a hang during file reading. The game works now without requiring any compatibility tools nor admin permissions. See the folder iF-22-v50 for the retrobridge configuration file.

The attachment iF22v50-50.png is no longer available

- Glide gets unofficial widescreen support using the methodology used by VEG's Widescreen patches for NFS 3, that were adopted in nGlide and dgVoodoo: Re: dgVoodoo 2 for DirectX 11

To test it out, I added widescreen support to Ultim@te Race Pro via the RetroBridge patches. You can find the configuration files in the URP in this release of RetroBridge that include the patches which can be enabled or disabled.
I added two HUD variants, one where the HUD stretches (Similar to how the game does it in the letterbox mode), and also a 4:3 mode that needs to be enabled to take effect.

The attachment URP-Widescreen-25.png is no longer available

More to come..

rkk , Thank you for your specific attention to iF-22 Persian Gulf. I've been following the progress and doing some testing using DarkenedRoom's guides for this sim. A huge leap in progress in what you've done with this latest version of RetroBridge.

rkk wrote on 2026-09-17, 12:48:

RetroBridge 0.1.417 Update - GDI compatibility and wide screen resolution support + game compatibility patches. […]
Show full quote

RetroBridge 0.1.417 Update - GDI compatibility and wide screen resolution support + game compatibility patches.

The attachment RetroBridge - 0.1.417 - Preview.zip is no longer available

- Games using GDI should now scale better with RetroBridge. The current GDI adjustments were tested with iF-22 Persian Gulf v5.0.
I also added a game configuration profile with a compatibility patch for iF-22 Persian Gulf v5.0 fixing a hang during file reading. The game works now without requiring any compatibility tools nor admin permissions. See the folder iF-22-v50 for the retrobridge configuration file.

Thanks again for spending time getting iF-22 to work. I've been following Darkenedroom's guide to get this one to work on modern operating systems from the start of this journey. I have it currently up to using your iF-22-v50 retrobridge configuration file for retrobridge v0.1.417. And so happy to see it works, no more freeze or lockups after mission end, even the in game animations now work. Fantastic ! I did have some issues with several drop down choices and another click for increase and arrow down for decrease for wingman and enemy counts. In that case when I click on the down or decrease count selector, it will only increase the amount and not decrease no matter what button I press. ( up or down pointers ) But all the drop downs below that area work fine. (That is in the Instant Action Setup screen from the main page.) The sound or music volume sliders only move to the left when they are clicked on by mouse. (That is in the setup page.) I can only move them to the right by pressing the right arrow key on my keyboard. There are a few more areas in the other UI screens but they all probably caused by the same culprit. I do have one bit of discovery I found by accident that fixed those problems. I originally used the standard retrobridge.confing.yml ( I forgot to include the custom iF-22 version the first time) The size of the window and resolution was small and windowed. But when I went to those problem areas with the drop downs ,wingman/enemy count and volume sliders, they all worked as intended. Except of course the game froze after exiting a mission. It wasn't until I figured out that I used the wrong config file that I ran into those menu issues.
The only thing I edited was the Video settings in retrobridge.config.yml for iF-22-v50 to the first four lines of that file to set it to widescreen. These are the only things I changed from the default settings.
video:
resolution: "desktop" # "app" | "desktop" | "1920x1080"
scaling: "aspect_fill" # "stretch" | "aspect" | "aspect_fill" | "integer"
window_mode: "fullscreen" # "windowed" | "windowed_fullscreen" | "fullscreen"

The resolution and screen size looks great and works just fine. I hope my feedback is helpful as I would love to continue testing and playing this sim.

@rkk Also I get this partial image of the lower cockpit when changing the in-cockpit view after a few minutes of play when in fullscreen. I tried different settings for the video: resolution, scaling and window_mode but that didn't make a difference. Can't figure out why I'm getting that. It's not immediately like this. I noticed after a few minutes of gameplay it appears and does not change back.

Thank you @Hap for the reports. I have these already fixed in the next release. I'll try to publish them soon.

@Bladeforce Could you share a log so I can see what MDK is doing when it decides not to use the PowerVR path? Add this at the top of the retrobridge.config.yml in your MDK folder:

runtime:
log_level: trace
logging:
enabled: true

Then start the game once until it falls back to the DDraw version, close it, and attach (or upload) the retrobridge.log from the game folder. It would also help to know which MDK version you have (original CD, GOG, Steam..), where you got the PowerVR patch from (a link or the file name), which exe you start, and whether RetroBridge's sgl.dll is in the same folder as that exe. My guess is that the patch checks for the PowerVR card in a way RetroBridge doesn't fake yet, but the log will tell.

Excellent ! Thank you so much @rkk

Hi rkk thanks for the reply.

The version i use is an iso from original cd and the patch was downloaded from

https://www.infania.net/misc/gona/3D/files/MD … dk_patches.html

I have uploaded the log file too

RetroBridge 0.1.621 Update – Native renderer, Glide 3, more games and better accuracy

Quite a lot has happened since the last update. The biggest change under the hood is that development now has automated regression testing on real games, so any change in how a game looks gets spotted right away.

RetroBridge was designed from the ground up to keep the shims separate from the virtual video, audio and storage systems. That makes it easy to move the heavy stuff into a separate process, so there’s now a native 64-bit renderer. It tends to give better performance and driver support, and it allows high definition textures beyond what the old 32-bit games could ever address.

A lot of games have been added to the test suite and made to work with the latest version. Among them:

- POD 2.0 now runs properly in Glide, D3D and SGL mode.
- Need for Speed III (D3D and Glide), Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (D3D and Glide 3) and Rogue Squadron 3D (D3D and Glide) are working now too.
- iF-22 got numerous bugfixes.

Glide 3 is now supported as well.

The accuracy mode now reproduces the artifacts of the original hardware much more faithfully. The quality mode also got its share of accuracy fixes, while still rendering above native quality. I also properly implemented aspect_fill: instead of black bars, it keeps rendering whatever the game draws beyond the 4:3 edges. This looks pretty bad in most games, but it can give a wider view in games that have no widescreen patch.

There’s a new MIDI subsystem with SoundFont support. That’s great for games with MIDI music like iF-22, which can now play through a SoundFont instead of the system’s MIDI device. Just set midi: output: soundfont and point soundfont: at your .sf2 file. A list of free SoundFonts can be found here: https://archive.org/download/free-soundfonts-sf2-2019-04

A few things changed that need updating in previously published profiles:

- hooks.workarounds.force_16bit: true is now hooks.workarounds.desktop_color_depth: 16. The old setting no longer does anything.
- Saves and settings now go to %APPDATA%\RetroBridge\<game folder> by default. You can change this with hooks: write_overlay: user_dir:.
- Glide now emulates a Voodoo2 SLI (Glide 2) or a Voodoo5 5500 (Glide 3) by default, so games that only work with a specific card need glide.card set. For example, NFS: Porsche Unleashed needs glide: card: voodoo_graphics.

There’s also an experimental VR mode, with headset support through OpenXR built in.

And there’s a new .rba archive format with a command-line tool (tools\archive-tool.exe) that compresses a game’s files with zstd. In one test, 131 MB of game files became 56 MB. The game reads straight from the archive without unpacking it, which also makes games much easier to move around. Expansions and mods can be stacked on top as separate archives, each switchable on and off, without touching the original game folder.

The zip also has tools\rbloader.exe, which starts any program with RetroBridge loaded into it. It’s useful for programs that don’t load any of the DLLs RetroBridge replaces, like some games’ setup tools.

Plus a ton of bugfixes and performance improvements across all wrappers. As always, feedback and screenshots from real hardware are very welcome!

@rkk , Thank you for the updated RetroBridge. I tested it out on iF-22 and those problems that occurred before with the menu are all gone and works great. I am having a different problem that I did not have before. The single missions and campaign missions are not generated, then it CTD. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the game thinking I missed something. I checked the Theater setup in the game and all three maps are listed as being installed.
These are the files I entered into the game's directory. I unzipped the latest version v0.1.625, selected ddraw.dll, dinput.dll, dsound.dll, glide2x.dll, glide3x.dll, retrobridge_core.dll, retrobridge_host.x64 and the retrobridge.config.yml ( from version v1.417 ) created specifically for iF-22. The winmm.dll and Xidi.32.dll are being used by Xidi.
RetroBridge created a folder in username>AppData>Roaming>RetroBridge>iF22v50 where the Data folder ( 3 theater files inside ) and UserData folder (57 items inside) plus a F22Runtime.err (empty) , f22times.txt (empty) and the f22times.txt which has a bunch of lines in it. I will attach that file to this post named iF22.7z
I tried different theaters after the crash to desktop but the same thing happens. After a second only one mission name will show then it will crash to the desktop. Everything else works great !

Update: I didn't see this at first. "To change hooks.workarounds.force_16bit: true is now hooks.workarounds.desktop_color_depth: 16" in the previous version. I made the change and tried it again but it still crashes to desktop at the mission generating screen. I am uploading that crash log from the if22.RPT report to be more accurate in the error that it is showing. It might be the same but just in case, I wanted to let you know that I made the edit that I should have done in the if22 retrobridge.config.yml file.
Thanks !

I'm trying to get unreal to work with this but as it comes with its own sgl support it doesnt seem to want to run in sgl mode when i put the sgl and ddraw dll files in the unreal system directory

@Bladeforce @Hap Thank you for the messages. I'm currently in the middle of relocating to a new country. I'll look into the issues once things stabilize around here (Hopefully within a week or two).

Yes that can be a huge undertaking, no problem and thanks for the update !