General Emulation Discussion

And a SWEET little Mini Megadrive

The RetroArch Disc Project:

Looks preliminary at the mo, but will be a very, very cool feature for those who like to use original discs. Obviously shown here on a laptop which isn't ideal, but I imagine using this feature on something with a proper/nice interface where you put the disc in and it boots seamlessly will be the goal (Launchbox hopefully)

The Last Bandit wrote: »

What's the general state of PC emulation these days for these consoles ?

Dreamcast, Saturn, Gamecube, 3DO

Seriously thinking of a big clear out and just building an emulation PC using a Ryzen powered Asrock A300 of similar small PC.

This is precisely what I did. I got tired of having no space, hoarding junk, having 90%f my collection in storage, the stupid pricing of retro stuff, etc etc. Now, I would preface this by saying, as you’ll prob agree with, that original hardware, on a real crt, with rgb interconnects, is the definitive and best way to play. But that’s not to say you can’t get damn close with some of today’s modern emulators.

With all due respect to Retr0’s post, I’m not sure I’d agree with his info, or that it’s entirely accurate. So here’s my thoughts on it.

Dreamcast has come on immensely, like seriously. Have a look at Redream. It’s a free emulator, with a premium version if you so choose. Premium allows you to increase the internal resolution of the games, and for the whopping price of €5, I think it’s a fantastic deal to compensate the guy for his work and contributions. A LOT of games play amazingly well, and with the resolution bumped, you might find yourself losing interest in playing these games on a real DC at some stage. Obviously it’s not perfect, you may encounter bugs here and there, but the emulator is being actively developed with updates frequent.

Saturn, Retr0 isnt far wrong here, it still has a ways to go before being properly able to take over from real hardware. It has definitely improved, and continues to do so all the time, but it’s a tricky beast. Expect bugs and glitches, though again, many games play very very well.

GameCube, I find GC emulation is incredibly good. The modern versions of Dolphin (and not the stable releases, believe it or not they only update the stable releases very infrequently, so you need to use the nightly versions to get the proper modern releases) are amazing. Ubershaders have completely eliminated shader cache stutter, the graphics resolution can be internally increased, making GC games look nothing short of gorgeous at high resolutions, compatibility is massively high, support for the GameCube controller adapter for the Wii U meaning you can use real GC controllers. For me, and the games I like, Dolphin has replaced original hardware as the best way to play. Same with Wii, Dolphin can use the Bluetooth chip from a real Wii (I built a tiny circuit to connect the chip to usb) and allow you to use real a Wiimote and Nunchuk to play Wii games with the same resolution increases etc, it’s brilliant.

3DO, it’s actually not bad at all. I think it’s strongly game dependent though, lots like Need for Speed will play perfectly, others might have bugs. I use a RetroArch core for 3DO, so no messing about with controls etc, seems fine for as much as I’ve used it (which admittedly isn’t much).

It doesn’t end there though, PCSX2 is coming on leaps and bounds, and PS2 compatibility is very good with many many games being perfect (perfect as in perfectly playable without noticing bugs or glitches). PPSSPP handles PSP like a champ, allowing you to increase the resolution of the games faaaaaaaar beyond what original hardware could do, making them look amazing (same with PS2 btw). RPCS3 is making incredibly strides, with updates very frequently, I’ve played several games to completion without any noticeable problems (check out Demon Souls at 4k resolution, 60 FPS). Cemu is a champ for Wii U stuff, they’re just about to release a version that uses Vulkan, so expect some further improvements before long. Hell, Yuzu is already running Switch games at resolutions and framrates a real Switch wouldn’t be able for. I’d say in a years time, Yuzu will be able to replace the Switch in terms of compatibility etc.

Modern emulators are damned impressive, but for me, the real hook is when you move away from having a folder of individual emulators that you use. This breaks the experience a lot, and for whatever reason, I find it harder to engage with emulation that way. What sold me was having a professional frontend for everything, with metadata like screenshots, preview videos, box art, game manuals, etc etc. Only then, emulation becomes a ‘product’ as such, where you launch the frontend, and have systems and games available from the Atari 2600 up to the Wii U, all presented to you in a manner that makes you feel like you’re using a real system....much like the effect the Snes Mini et al gives, only waaaay better. I use Launchbox, and one new feature is the ability to pause a game, then browse through high res scans of that games manual, through the pages, and return to the game, all without the controller ever leaving your hand. The days of launching Zsnes with a mouse, clicking file, load rom, and playing the game, are long gone.

^^ it can be a real project to set that all up, but the learning curve isn’t steep, and it becomes mostly repetition after a while. RetroArch handles most everything up to the modern stuff. Having one emulator for 90% of systems is a dream, and you can set different configs for different systems, so I’ve shaders set for certain consoles, then I’ll switch to something like a GameBoy, and it’ll load a GB game, put up the GB DMG overlay, switch to the Gameboy shader, and then if I switch to something else, it’ll load that config. It’s an incredibly versatile emulator. Well, I’m not sure emulator is quite correct. RetroArch is more like a frontend, and the individual cores you can download from within it, they are the actual emulators.

I don’t regret the move one bit. If I had a spare room, maybe I’d go back to shelves of carts and original hardware, but I don’t. The effect of having everything available to emulate means since switching, I’ve played way more games than I would have otherwise. If you do go down this road, I’ve learned tons from doing it, and have documented a lot of info Incase disaster strikes and I ever had to do it again. I’d be happy to help if stuck etc

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I find with Dreamcast, PS2 and Gamecube they have the popular games working nicely. However I've played those already and like to explore the weirder stuff in the libraries which is what makes those consoles so special. And its there that you run into lots of issues. PS2 emulation in particular has a very long way to go.

Have you any examples of this, and do you know what versions of the emulators you were using? I'm not at all saying that these emulators are perfect, but PS2 aside, I've never run into anything on GameCube for example that gives 'lots of issues'...

Take look at the Dolphin compatibility list - https://dolphin-emu.org/compat/ Playable games listed at 61.4% (Runs well, only minor graphical or audio glitches. Games can be played all the way through), Perfect games listed at 32.9% (No issues at all!), that's 94.3% of games can be played either perfectly, or very well all the way to completion.

PS2 does have a long way to go, but it has made large strides of late. It's seemingly because the PS2 used bespoke hardware, with virtually no documentation available for it.

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Maybe a forum rename is in order....

Arcade Retro & Systems Emulation..........