General Emulation Discussion

Doge · 08-10-2018 10:37pm

Looks like it's not a scam site after all and had a successful Kickstarter. However a lot of people are saying it has the same fate of the Vega by calling it Scam Z!

Will be interesting to see if it gets released.

Doge · 08-10-2018 10:45pm

Inviere wrote: »

New Cemu version released, 1.13.2 (for Patreons, free version in a few days). Seems to have given a significant performance increase

That's not your channel I presume?.when I heard the Irish accent and since you're the biggest emulation enthusiast on here it got me thinking! Hmmmm

megaten · 09-10-2018 10:41am

I wouldn't hold out much hope for the Smach Z. It's probably been around 5 years or more since they announced the connect and still don't have a functional prototype. Its a shame we don't see more niche handhelds since I really like them. I think my favourite is still the GP2X Caanoo I had years ago despite the ridiculous design decisions it had like having an analog stick instead of a dpad.

CathalDublin · 09-10-2018 2:35pm

megaten wrote: »

I wouldn't hold out much hope for the Smach Z. It's probably been around 5 years or more since they announced the connect and still don't have a functional prototype. Its a shame we don't see more niche handhelds since I really like them. I think my favourite is still the GP2X Caanoo I had years ago despite the ridiculous design decisions it had like having an analog stick instead of a dpad.

I'd the GP2x Wiz, was awful, I sold it and got another PSP phat

Inviere · 09-10-2018 3:16pm

Doge wrote: »

That's not your channel I presume?.when I heard the Irish accent and since you're the biggest emulation enthusiast on here it got me thinking! Hmmmm

Hey Guys, what's up, and welcome back to the ch....no, not mine I'm afraid

I find his videos were instrumental in learning how to set up Cemu though.

2 Scoops · 11-10-2018 7:25pm

Some of these new snes emulators are amazing, they can remove the slowdown in games without speeding up the framerate. I've only tried UN Squadron, Final fight 3 co-op so far and the slowdown is totally removed and the games play like the exact same as the originals otherwise.

Inviere · 15-10-2018 6:55pm

Had a blast of the new Switch Virtual Console release of RetroArch for the Switch. Wow, an absolute game changer for the Switch in terms of homebrew. The shaders look really nice too (they look way better in person, my phone camera didn't do a great job of capturing the image properly)! Very simple setup & useage, I'm truly impressed with it!

The Last Bandit · 16-10-2018 8:15am

It really is a brilliant handheld for emulation alright, not messed about too much with the shaders yet still just figuring out what works and what doesn't - Playstation emulation is still a work in progress though, even with the workarounds I'm not really happy with it.

An Arcbrowser type of frontend would be a brilliant addition in time too, as good as retroarch is, the UI is a bit meh for jut picking up a game and playing.

o1s1n · 16-10-2018 9:50am

Is it particularly difficult to get homebrew running on a Switch? Amazed to see software of that quality running on it already.

The Last Bandit · 16-10-2018 10:06am

o1s1n wrote: »

Is it particularly difficult to get homebrew running on a Switch? Amazed to see software of that quality running on it already.

Nope, super simple - even has its own app store to download from. Now, its rather easy to get your console banned so if online play is a must from you then extra care must be taken - or buy another console.

I've complete disconnected my console from my Nintendo account so if its get banned no big deal, I'll can always get another and relink to my account if needed.

megaten · 16-10-2018 10:47am

Looks interesting, I thought people were looking at a dual boot solution for switch though were you could run homebrew without afffecting your official OS tied to your accounts.

Inviere · 16-10-2018 3:30pm

The Last Bandit wrote: »

An Arcbrowser type of frontend would be a brilliant addition in time too, as good as retroarch is, the UI is a bit meh for jut picking up a game and playing.

I'm quite comfortable with the RetroArch UI at this stage, having spent the summer practically living inside it. That said, it could do with some tweaks to simplify/streamline certain things. They've been listening too!

https://twitter.com/libretro/status/1051522388754599936

o1s1n wrote: »

Is it particularly difficult to get homebrew running on a Switch? Amazed to see software of that quality running on it already.

Very simple. You need either a phone, a pc, or something like this which I ordered (no faffing about with cables etc, just insert it before boot & job done). After that you need a memory card for the Switch with the required files for the cfw of your choice, and you're all set.

megaten wrote: »

Looks interesting, I thought people were looking at a dual boot solution for switch though were you could run homebrew without afffecting your official OS tied to your accounts.

I think TLB's solution is a good one, disconnect your account from the Switch you're exploiting, and leave it offline. I'm not a believer or advocate of modded consoles being online anyway, so for me, it works perfectly - my Switch has never been online, and never will be. If for some reason I want a Switch to go online with, I'll buy another one. Modded consoles online should be banned, but not banned in terms of updating (which I believe Nintendo do, a pure arsehole move that one).

16-10-2018 3:35pm

Any jailbreak to emulate on the ps3 superslim yet does anyone know?

o1s1n · 16-10-2018 3:54pm

Inviere wrote: »

Very simple. You need either a phone, a pc, or something like this which I ordered (no faffing about with cables etc, just insert it before boot & job done). After that you need a memory card for the Switch with the required files for the cfw of your choice, and you're all set.

.

That's mad! So do you have to do that every time you turn the Switch on? Or is it just to put Homebrew material onto the unit and then it's loaded in?

I don't have a Switch yet, but if it's that easy I may need to add it to my Chrimbo list!

Inviere · 16-10-2018 4:05pm

o1s1n wrote: »

That's mad! So do you have to do that every time you turn the Switch on? Or is it just to put Homebrew material onto the unit and then it's loaded in?

At the moment, yes every cold boot you need to re-exploit the machine. Mine is on firmware 3.0.1 which is considered low (current is 6.0.1 I think), and they reckon that eventually there'll be a cold-boot exploit for low firmware consoles (meaning it'll boot in an exploited state), so I'll keep it on this firmware for now. Otherwise yes you need to reapply the exploit if the machine is turned off, though it does survive standby which is nice.

All you need to do is power the console off, slide the jig (comes with the Atmosphere dongle I linked to above) into the right joycon rail, put the Atmosphere dongle into the usb-c slot and turn the jig on, and boot with volume up and power on pressed. Job done. It's <5 seconds of work.

I don't have a Switch yet, but if it's that easy I may need to add it to my Chrimbo list!

Be advised, Nintendo have released revised hardware consoles by now, which are currently no exploitable. Try and get old stock if you can.

The Last Bandit · 16-10-2018 4:16pm

I'm using the SX Pro kit and its even easier (little bit more expensive though). I'm on the latest firmware 6.0.1 as well and find it a good overall solution, once setup the slide dongle is no longer needed, just pop in the USB-C dongle on cold boot and press power - this has the side effect on not accidentally booting into OFW as well.

The only reason I've to power off is to remove the SD Card and install stuff on it, could use FTP but for larger files its quicker to write directly to the card.

This exploit has been patch sometime ago at the factory so don't work on newly bought units.

Inviere · 16-10-2018 4:20pm

The Last Bandit wrote: »

I'm using the SX Pro kit and its even easier (little bit more expensive though).

Just to note, you can buy a license to use the SX OS with your own dongle, which can make it a bit cheaper. I'm considering buying it myself after todays news, that you can now connect an external hdd to your Switch dock and use content from that instead of your memory card.

Does the SX PRO use AutoRCM to do away with the need for the rcm jig on cold boot? If so, do you have any issues shutting the unit down or getting battery drain etc? The reason I ask is because there's a way for me to update the firmware without burning e-fuses (this'll allow me to downgrade in the future if a coldboot exploit becomes available), but it needs AutoRCM turned on & I've read conflicting reports about having that on

The Last Bandit · 16-10-2018 4:35pm

emuNAND should let you update the firmware safely I think as well ?

I'm using AutoRCM alright, can't say I've noticed issues with it. The Switch gets chucked in the dock every night so haven't seen any significant power drain using it. I only use the console as a handheld so not sure hdd support will help me much

Inviere · 16-10-2018 4:38pm

The Last Bandit wrote: »

emuNAND should let you update the firmware safely I think as well ?

There's so much conflicting info out there, given this is all so new. Some people say emunand is great, others are saying it's not real emunand. Any chance of TLDR for dummies?

Inviere · 21-10-2018 11:25am

Having added the Sharp X68000 core to RetrArch, and some games, all I can say is wow....what an amazing system! It's the Japanese Amiga we never got

The Last Bandit · 21-10-2018 7:25pm

All I can say is I'm really enjoying playing thru Chrono Trigger on the Switch thanks to Retroarch, the screen size is perfect.
I'll probably retire my GPD XD and GCW Zero now.

Inviere · 21-10-2018 9:16pm

Tomorrow, I'm going in...it's CD-i time...

o1s1n · 21-10-2018 9:28pm

I went over to the dark side this evening and installed some emulators on my Wii. Have had it modded for years but only used USB loader for discs...put off emulation as I didn't want to spoil playing consoles on their original hardware.

Very impressive! Scoffed when the games first came on it 480i but then had them switch over to 240p - look absolutely stunning on the CRT.

Might be my go to way for playing NES games for now as they're in RGB and my Famicom only does composite.

Inviere · 22-10-2018 3:17pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Might be my go to way for playing NES games for now as they're in RGB and my Famicom only does composite.

CiDeRmAn · 22-10-2018 4:38pm

A,R&E, people crossed the street rather than be associated with emulation.
Back to A&R... they can't stop talking about it!

Inviere · 22-10-2018 5:26pm

Inviere wrote: »

Tomorrow, I'm going in...it's CD-i time...

Ok, I've just completed the first level of Lemmings on the CD-i, courtesy of MAME of all emulators. Fecked if I was paying for an outdated and abandoned CD-i emulator while MAME does the same thing. Granted, it's not at all the most intuitive setup. But if anyone wants to see for themselves, the glories of the CD-i...behold....(it looks more complicated than it is, it's actually quite easy once you follow the steps)

Obtain a version of MAME (I went with .172 because it's known to work, later versions probably work fine though).
Extract MAME by double clicking on it.
Place the CD-i bios files in the "roms" folder (cdibios.zip, cdimono1.zip, cdimono2.zip - I can't link these, so you'll have to find them yourself).
Obtain some CD-i games - again, I can't help with this, they're out there though. Ideally you want these in *.chd format in order for MAME to run them, if you get them as bin/cue's though, you can convert them using this tool.

If you need to convert them to *.chd, place your bin/cue's in the directory that you have the above tool downloaded to, and double click on the "RUN ME.bat" file, which will use chdman to automatically convert the bin/cue's into *.chd files....really nice process, very quick, and all you have to do is double click the .bat file to do it. Once finished, it spits out your new *.chd file, ready for use with MAME.

Now, create a folder in the MAME directory called "consoles" (without the inverted commas).
Within this folder, create a folder called "cdi", again, without the inverted commas.
Every game will need its own folder in this "cdi" folder you've created, but it needs to be named a certain way, so MAME can see it (this is where it gets a little tricky).

I'll use Zelda's Adventure to demonstrate. I have a file called "Zelda's Adventure. chd", and I need to create a folder for it and place it in the "cdi" folder, under "consoles", in the main MAME directory. I can't just call the folder for the game anything though, MAME needs it named a certain way. To find out what MAME expects, I'll use the "CDI_blank.zip" I've attached to the post, and find my game in there. At the bottom of this file, I can see mention of "zeldaadv", which to me, suggests Zelda's Adventure.

So in the main MAME directory, I've created a folder called consoles, and within that, I've created one called cdi. So inside this cdi folder, we need to create folders for our games...I'll create one called "zeldaadv" (without the inverted commas), and place my Zelda's Adventure.chd file inside this. We're almost there, but not quite. The folder is named correctly, but the game isn't. The game file needs to be specifically named also. To find out what MAME is expecting here, I'll look inside the cdi.xml file (see step 6 in this link to get the file), and search for mention of Zelda's Adventure in there. Voila, after a ctrl-f for Zelda, I find this entry - "Zelda's Adventure (1995)(Philips)(EU)". I'll simply copy this name, and rename my CHD to match. So now I have a CHD file named "Zelda's Adventure (1995)(Philips)(EU).chd", located in the "zeldaadv" folder, which is located under the "cdi" folder, which is located under the "consoles" folder, in the main MAME directory. Phew!

Now, fire up the command prompt, and locate your MAME directory. Type "mame64 -createconfig" and this will generate a mame.ini file for you. Open this ini file, and locate the "rompath roms" line, and change to it read "rompath roms;consoles". Save the ini and quit out of it.

Now we can try run the game. In the command prompt, navigate to your MAME directory, and type the following command, "mame64 cdimono1 -skip_gameinfo zeldaadv", with any luck (!), it'll boot the game for you.

I used the following guides as a basis:
https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/29631-quick-mamemess-philips-cd-i-tutorial-mame-0-172/
https://forums.libretro.com/t/guide-play-non-arcade-systems-with-mame-or-mess/17728

Inviere · 22-10-2018 5:32pm

I've incorporated the above into Launchbox too, so I don't have to bother launching games with the command prompt, they're available at a click through Launchbox. If anyone wants info on how to do it just ask

Inviere · 22-10-2018 6:34pm

Hotel Mario....wow

:D

Retr0gamer · 22-10-2018 7:01pm

Inviere wrote: »

Hotel Mario....wow :D

And it's mostly downhill from there

Skerries · 23-10-2018 11:32am

The Princess is in another hotel

General Emulation Discussion

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