General Emulation chit chat

CiDeRmAn

Welcome to the first port of call for emulation discussion here in the newly christened "Arcade, Retro and Emulation" forum.

This thread is new, quite empty and in need of some posts, so feel free to fill it, as long as it doesn't include rom/bios links or requests, because that's against the rules!




Big or small emulation projects, maybe using an old console, a new console or any one of the hobby micro computers on the market these days.
It's all good, and feeds the need to enjoy those games from the entire history of gaming.



Also, feel free to discuss the "legit" emulation as used via the various electronic stores for use on your modern console/computer, nostalgic replicas like the NES Mini Classic or Atari Flashback and so on.


I look forward to reading it all, as both a regular user and a moderator here, and, if you're a regular yourself, that you'll find the additional discussion enjoyable and, if you're new to the scene, that we can effectively corrupt you to loving only the first four Sonic games on the Megadrive. :pac:


I have not yet determined the punishment for encouraging people to emulate Golden Axe or the Streets of Rage games, but as soon as I figure out some fair response, I'll begin site banning people.

CiDeRmAn

I downloaded Strikers 1945 last night for the Nintendo Switch, and very enjoyable the game is too, as it always is.
I already have it via the PS and PS2 ports, not to mention the various Mame based systems at home.
It's a nice version, and includes a Tate mode, where you pop the Switch on it's side and play it in portrait.
The game also includes a couple of filter modes too.

I wonder then, would this be considered emulation, or is it a simple port?
I'd hope the console would see further releases from the other great Shmup developers, like CAVE.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread. By the end of the year I'm hoping to buy a mini PC which will live under my tv. This will be used for streaming movies and sport (Netfix etc.), and as an emulation machine. I'm planning on buying adaptors from Amazon so that I can use my original Snes, Megadrive, Playstation (etc.) control pads with it. Not entirely sure how well they will work, but the reviews I've read have mainly been positive!

Tom Mann Centuria

A really good way of playing ZX Spectrum games on the go is zxds, brilliant emulation on the Nintendo DS family machines. Plays virtually all formats tap, tzx, sna etc. Hundreds of legitimate free homebrew games available, and more out every week. Due to Speccy game file sizes you can fit thousands of games on a 4gb card. Keyboard on touch screen means even text adventure games play well, it's the best I've found.

(You can play zx81 games on a DS too by the way. http://www.qj.net/qjnet/nintendo-ds/ds81-sinclair-zx81-emulator-for-ds.html)

http://zxds.raxoft.cz

Zxds, flash cart (which are not discussed here) and memory card is all that's needed.

20 odd quid and you have a portable Speccy.

CiDeRmAn

Might be a nice project, a RPi0 in a Competition Pro stick, with the Spectrum emu loaded and ready to run, with a curated selection of games that run will with the joystick interface.
A few tidy little buttons to perform other processes, such as replicating "Enter" and a reset button, could be pretty cool.
Or, pop one into a USB keyboard, one of the models with a built in hub, you'd have full keyboard control over the emulated Spectrum as well as somewhere to plug in your USB Quickshot II!
Hmmm.....

megaten

What do people use for PSX emulation on windows? I got a GPD Win recently (intel atom clamshell) and epsxe works well enough performance wise but it seems pretty awkward in terms of usability on a small screen.

super_furry

What do you make of the GPD Win? I have the GPD XD and it's great for most emulation but the Windows support of the Win is tempting me.

megaten

super_furry wrote: »

What do you make of the GPD Win? I have the GPD XD and it's great for most emulation but the Windows support of the Win is tempting me.

It's pretty good so far.. Regular windows games are grand since you can do everything with steam big picture mode.
Emulation seem tricky since most emulators aren't designed for small screen.
I find retroarch a pain to use in general so I might look into alternate front ends.

The only real flaw is the heat distribution with the fan on the bottom which is pretty poor placement. How hot it gets is pretty game dependent.

The next Win looks like the fan exhaust will be on the back which should solve the heat problem but its also swapping the stick and dpad positions (sticks on the outside edge.)

banie01

Really only starting to dip my toe into Emulation.
Currently running RetroArch on a couple of Nvidia Shields and keep getting distracted by GoldenEye everytim I start to give setting it up properly some time.
Any tips or resources for RetroArch, or advice on something "better" would be much appreciated.

moonlighting

Id highly recommend intel nuc for proper emulation setup. Small and easy to hook up to tv/pc monitor. x64 cpu rather than messing with arm stuff.

super_furry

banie01 wrote: »

Really only starting to dip my toe into Emulation.
Currently running RetroArch on a couple of Nvidia Shields and keep getting distracted by GoldenEye everytim I start to give setting it up properly some time.
Any tips or resources for RetroArch, or advice on something "better" would be much appreciated.

I use RetroX for the Shield and it's great. You have to pay $13 for a lifetime account but it's well worth it to me and takes so much hassle out of setting things up and side-loading emulators as it downloads the emulators and updates itself. There's also a Raspberry Pi version.

http://www.retrox.tv/

Steve X2

I got the GPD Win to test it out. I'm not a fan at all, low power intel system so the windows side is weak for games, and I find emulators are better on Android for a system like this. I ended up using it to run a laser engraving machine as it just needs to run Corel and push a file.

So GPD XD is still my goto portable emulation system(with the legacy rom of course). Big fan of it actually and I hope they bring out a new version that runs android

CiDeRmAn

not preaching to the regulars but anyone looking for roms or other prohibited files or links to files will have the post deleted.
Anyone seeing such posts report same and it'll be acted on.
Repeat offenders will be banned from this forum with no further warning or infraction.

Stuxnet

Steve X2 wrote: »

So GPD XD is still my goto portable emulation system(with the legacy rom of course). Big fan of it actually and I hope they bring out a new version that runs android

I only bought one of these yesterday, should have soon, looks great, been reading legacy rom is the way to go with it, have you tried it?...eta you have.... Worth flashing I assume

Digital Solitude

megaten wrote: »

What do people use for PSX emulation on windows? I got a GPD Win recently (intel atom clamshell) and epsxe works well enough performance wise but it seems pretty awkward in terms of usability on a small screen.

I use PCSX, much prefer it to epsxe

CiDeRmAn

I quite like playing my PS catalogue on my PSP Go, they seem to work quite well and it's very comforting to have Need for Speed Road Challenge, Return Fire and Einhander in my pocket.

Steve X2

Stuxnet wrote: »

I only bought one of these yesterday, should have soon, looks great, been reading legacy rom is the way to go with it, have you tried it?...eta you have.... Worth flashing I assume

Yeah, you end up with a better device with the legacy rom. There are a few versions, i went for the 1.8Ghz version as there is a performance boost without much battery loss. Plus you can always change the CPU speed (up or down) anyway using various apps as the rom is unlocked/rooted.

Another handy thing is you can download more games from the Play Store as the device is spoofed as a Nexus 5. Before the spoof some newer games wouldnt download as it said device not supported, when in fact it was.


Changes/Updates:

Features:

- Hybrid between pure AOSP using google, plus some stuff needed from RK SDK and latest stock firmware (mapper or gamepad apk)
- Fully rooted with superSU- (App will be updated via google play and ask to update binaries, just update it using normal in superSU, no risk at all)
- Better Google Play compatibilty with some apps (device spoofed to a Nexus 5).
- Init.d support (place scripts youu want under ystem/etc/init.d.
- Launcher3 is the only launcher included.
- MicroSd can also be accessed from storage/sdcard1 together with mnt/external_sd as before.
- Some tweaks for WIFI streaming and better signal (those having very poor signal will still have it I am afraid, since most ptobably is a hard issue with the antenna in your device)
- CIFS/NFS (untested) Try with this patched version of cifsmanager to see if it works. I don't use CIFs so it's untested by me

- Custom kernel made from scracth with following features:
- DDR Overclocked from 360 to 456 mhz.
- SELinux set to permissive.
- Overclock until 1,8 ghz (depending on the version installed). ROM comes in three versions according to your needs(1,4, 1,6 o 1,8 ghz).
- Added new CPU governor (ragingmolasses). Very conservative governor for not demading apps All other governors from stock kernel are included too and interactive is still the default one.
- You can change trigger button position like in latest stock firmware with gamepad app
Changes added in NULL version:
- Inclusion to use new null joystick driver, That helps with apps that doesn't have good controller support, like horizon chase, or according to some people, RR3 or fifa games. Just select it with the gamepad application (the one you use to change between xbox and ps3 modes).
- readded the rockchip update service and OTA applications, so future updates will be installed easily as before. (unless next update will be marshamllow that probably will require Batchtool I am afraid)

briany

Right now, the emulation setup I have is Kodi with the Advanced Launcher addon, and that launches to RetroArch, or PCSX2/Dolphin. It's a nice enough setup, but does take a bit of maintenance.

Probably find tinkering with emulators a lot more fun than actually playing any of the games, if I'm honest, but there's a lot of fun to be had playing titles on Dolphin.

pasta-solo

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Einhander in my pocket.

My favourite Alanis Morissette song.

super_furry

Steve X2 wrote: »

Yeah, you end up with a better device with the legacy rom. There are a few versions, i went for the 1.8Ghz version as there is a performance boost without much battery loss. Plus you can always change the CPU speed (up or down) anyway using various apps as the rom is unlocked/rooted.

How straightforward is this? I've been on the stock firmware since getting the device and while it's not amazing, it's been mostly fine for playing the games I want on it.

Steve X2

super_furry wrote: »

How straightforward is this? I've been on the stock firmware since getting the device and while it's not amazing, it's been mostly fine for playing the games I want on it.

I went for the super easy option and it worked fine for me(method 2).

Installation:

Method 1 (suggested though it makes a full erase of the device):

Install RK drivers included and open BatchTool, and choose the img file you want to install. With the GPD powered off press volumen + and connect it to PC. BatchTool should recognize device and show a green box. choose Restore and waut until process finished. Then power on device and wait till<process finshes . If you are using win 8.1, win10 or usb 3.0 ports try this method if device is not recognized:


If your device is not detected after installing drivers, In folder with RKBatchTool there file config.ini

Open config.ini, find string

SUPPORTLOWUSB=

replace on

SUPPORTLOWUSB=TRUE

Method 2 (less suggested though it seems it works).
Rename the Legacy file to update.img. Place it in root of internal or external memory. If you notice something weird using this method a factory reset is recommended or reinstall using method 1.

And to the one person who probably cares(you know who you are), 3DO emulation works a treat on this with the latest "Real3DOPlayer" emulator. I even exported my real 3DO save file from the console and imported it, works fine with my old saves from the mid 90's


.

CiDeRmAn

pasta-solo wrote: »

My favourite Alanis Morissette song.

.... and the other one is playing Galaga!

phily2002

I'm going to try out a few emulators on the vita to see how they run.
I tried the snes one out last night and runs very smootly. I always found it didn't run great on the original psp

CiDeRmAn

Well, my Ouya has landed, all sealed and stuff.
PSU included, though it's twin pin, EU style, so they have also included an appropriate adaptor.
I don't envisage myself using it for emulation purposes, although being Android based it's probably as capable as the Retron5 for such things.
It's mostly for Plex, Netflix, Amazon Prime, XBMC and other streaming purposes, but you never know....

Theres a Wii dev kit up on adverts. Interesting bit of kit
http://www.adverts.ie/nintendo/nintendo-wii-rvt/4916620

CiDeRmAn

Cake of Tremendous Power wrote: »

Theres a Wii dev kit up on adverts. Interesting bit of kit
http://www.adverts.ie/nintendo/nintendo-wii-rvt/4916620

Very nice, not €750 nice, but nice all the same.

super_furry

The Wii has been blown so wide open with firmware hacks, I wonder is there anything you could do on that which you couldn't do on a standard machine.

um7y1h83ge06nx

After giving my Pi2 to my brother months ago I finally have a Pi3 setup with Retropie. I'm now having the common problem of figuring out what to play, the choice is too much.

My wife likes 2D platformers, but not too difficult. Any recommendations outside of the usual Mario and Sonic games? Obviously no links.

CiDeRmAn

Susan Disgusting Wallaby wrote: »

After giving my Pi2 to my brother months ago I finally have a Pi3 setup with Retropie. I'm now having the common problem of figuring out what to play, the choice is too much.

My wife likes 2D platformers, but not too difficult. Any recommendations outside of the usual Mario and Sonic games? Obviously no links.

Google a few top ten lists, you'll find some dedicated sites to genres giving some pointers.
Limit the selection a bit, build a favourites list of the games recommended and start there.
Another good way is to recognise the development team behind a favourite game, like Treasure for example, and then see what else they've made and try those.

As for specifics, New Zealand Story is great fun, you'll find that in Mame, Super Metroid is outstanding and bridges the gap between platformer and shooter.
The Castlevania titles on Snes and MD are great but, with a Pi3, you now have a choice of PS games, which means Castlevania Symphony of the Night is available to you, and that game is yet to be equaled.

Retr0gamer

I good reference on where to start is the Racketboy hidden gems lists, or even their other lists.

The hidden gems ones though are particularly good. It lists a few obscure games in each genre in a systems library which is great for looking for games you might miss. However they also list other examples of games in the genre, common and rare and most are well worth checking out.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Thanks! For shame I have never played SOTN despite having bought the XBLA version (which is now playable on Xbox One). I need to add that to my backlog. At least I have played Super Metroid back in the day but never finished it.

Another game I want to play is Snatcher on the Sega CD, had it all setup correctly on the Pi2 but need to troubleshoot it some evening on the Pi3, I have all the necessary files but don't think they copied correctly from my USB stick.

The missus likes more cutesy platformers, New Zealand Story would work and will look up those lists, thanks.

As an aside we started Yoshi's Story on the N64 last night (I have Yoshi's Island on cartridge) but we found a strange emulation bug that others have reported online. Even though pulling down on the analog stick works for Yoshi to duck or stick his tongue , it's impossible to get Yoshi to perform a ground pound (jump then push down on the stick). Impossible to finish some levels without that, couldn't even complete the practice area.

Retr0gamer

Analogue stick and d-pad might be assigned to the same buttons?

I'd give Yoshi's Story a skip and just play Yoshi's Island. Much better game. Story isn't bad but you need a faq to know how to play it properly otherwise you will breeze through the 6 stages in about 2 hours and miss all the content in the game. It's weird and not intuitive.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Yoshi's Island is excellent. I have a 100% save file, unlocked all the extra levels and bonus games. The only criticism I could aim at it is that it is a little easy.

I'm delighted that more will get to play it when the SNES Classic is released, it didn't get the limelight it deserved at the time as it was at the end of the SNES lifecycle and people were focused on the PS1, Saturn and the hype around the upcoming N64.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Analogue stick and d-pad might be assigned to the same buttons?

I don't think so but must check it again. Lots of people with the same problems with this game and also Wave Race 64 for some reason.

CiDeRmAn

Much of the problem with the N64 games is the issue writ large for most emulated systems, there are always going to be compromises, sometimes big ones, sometimes not so big, but they are almost always there, nothing replaces original hardware.
The N64 in particular was always a poor system to emulate, at least in the past and, from what you report, it hasn't changed in the decade since I was trying it.
If cost/storage is going to be an issue, better to forgo the emulator route and buy a classic console or two, and then the appropriate Everdrive.
You've probably got the files you need to populate it already, but this is possibly the best way bar spending the time collecting the carts over time.
Most TV's retain a AV input and a Scart, so you are not going to be out of luck hooking it up to your tv.

Retr0gamer

I'd go so far as to say N64 and PS1 emulation is rubbish. It's just so off from original hardware.

The Last Bandit

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd go so far as to say N64 and PS1 emulation is rubbish. It's just so off from original hardware.

Bit harsh.

N64 emulation is still far from perfect but PS1 emulation has improved a lot and most games are well playable. They may not be pixel perfect but still very playable.
I'm using ePSXe on a Nvidia Shield with the Shield controller and experienced very few problems.

CiDeRmAn

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Bit harsh.

N64 emulation is still far from perfect but PS1 emulation has improved a lot and most games are well playable. They may not be pixel perfect but still very playable.
I'm using ePSXe on a Nvidia Shield with the Shield controller and experienced very few problems.

Ps emulation on my RPi is pretty much spot on, Einhander, Raiden DX and Harmful Park running well on the cab.

Retr0gamer

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Bit harsh.

N64 emulation is still far from perfect but PS1 emulation has improved a lot and most games are well playable. They may not be pixel perfect but still very playable.
I'm using ePSXe on a Nvidia Shield with the Shield controller and experienced very few problems.

The fancy N64 hardware effects are just way off in emulation and the filtering on textures is totally different. On a good emulator the games run well but they look totally different to me, like the base game engine has been plopped into a modern renderer.... which it probably has just been.

It's kind of the same with PS1 emulation, things are just way too clean for my liking. Things like the lack of z buffer clipping and affine texture warping are kind of what defines the PS1 visually for me and losing just doesn't feel right. Also the fact you have to rely on plug ins specific to games is a sign of very inaccurate emulation code.

Some people like their games prettier but I like my old games warts and all.

Skerries

is there such a thing as a cabinet (table top or freestanding) that you just install a pc and screen or it comes with screen that you can buy or what is the lazy man version of getting a MAME cab?

eddhorse

Yep but it wont be cheap.

You could purchase the cabinet kinda like ikea and make it.

Then put in standard pc monitor or cheap tv and retropie or mame pc.

Lots of options really.

CiDeRmAn

Skerries wrote: »

is there such a thing as a cabinet (table top or freestanding) that you just install a pc and screen or it comes with screen that you can buy or what is the lazy man version of getting a MAME cab?

Mozie81 has this for sale
http://www.adverts.ie/13332934
Wouldn't take much to change it to whatever you want, plenty of advice here.

Inviere

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd go so far as to say N64 and PS1 emulation is rubbish. It's just so off from original hardware.

There's been a significant renewal of interest in the emulation of those systems relatively recently, and they're coming on well I must say. Further, for that generation of consoles in particular, I don't want emulation to just ape those systems, I want it to surpass them. Early 3D is truly horrendous, and unless you wanna play OoT at the N64's 20fps and laughable 320 x 240 resolution, then you'll want those emulators to significantly clean up the video output, drastically increase the fps, and allow those games to be played as they were intended, not how they were originally presented to us.

OoT at x4 internal resolution, and buttery smooth, is how to play that game...not on an N64 Conversely, the 3DS version is probably the definitive version now, and even that emulated with internal resolution bumped, it looks gorgeous.

The PS1 still lags behind though in terms of emulation, it's a system that really needs the graphics to be bumped in resolution.

CiDeRmAn

Inviere wrote: »

OoT at x4 internal resolution, and buttery smooth, is how to play that game...not on an N64 Conversely, the 3DS version is probably the definitive version now, and even that emulated with internal resolution bumped, it looks gorgeous.

I used to know who you were, but now you're a stranger to me....

Might have to do with the name changes though....

And the fact that I sometimes forget.... most things...

Inviere

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I used to know who you were, but now you're a stranger to me....

Might have to do with the name changes though....

And the fact that I sometimes forget.... most things...

I'd never dream of using filters or tinkering with graphics on any other systems...the N64 and PS1 though really do benefit from actually looking better than they originally did. The N64 in particular, it's games look fantastic, and play so much better when run at higher resolutions and frame rates. I mean cmon like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUEjdFI3utA

CiDeRmAn

Somebody has this little emu project for sale on Adverts
Link
It looks pretty nice tbh, though at €300 a bit fanciful, more like €150, €200 max if it works well.

Inviere

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

It looks pretty nice tbh, though at €300 a bit fanciful, more like €150, €200 max if it works well.

Wouldn't pay a cent over €70/€80 for something like that

CiDeRmAn

Inviere wrote: »

Wouldn't pay a cent over €70/€80 for something like that

:eek:

It's a nice homemade arcade casing and control panel, and the innards as well, maybe €100 for materials and €50 for the effort?
My gods, heartless you are!

Inviere

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

:eek:

It's a nice homemade arcade casing and control panel, and the innards as well, maybe €100 for materials and €50 for the effort?
My gods, heartless you are!

A Pi3, a wooden box, & a few buttons...I dunno man, can't see €150 or near it

When I see these kind of ads I can't help but get the impression that it never started off as a labour of love, it's someone who realised they possess the ability to knock together a get rich quick machine and they test the waters to see if it's worthwhile.
Or maybe I'm just a bit cynical during my quarter life crisis

brianregan09

Is that just a plug in one like those team retrobox ones ?

CiDeRmAn

brianregan09 wrote: »

Is that just a plug in one like those team retrobox ones ?

No, those have zero creativity.
They are from a group of chancers who did all their shopping for all the parts on AliExpress, before flogging it to the weak minded and ignorant, frequently both at the same time.