General Emulation Discussion

Inviere · 29-04-2018 6:08pm #1

Hopefully it's ok with the mods to create this thread, but I figured, without a dedicated chat thread for emulation, the topic never stands much chance of standing out on its own here. Most everything emulation related gets lost in the ether of the normal chat thread, and it's very hard to find good info in it that comes up from time to time. So maybe this might work?

Anyway, to kick things off, some recent emulation related news:

Retroarch 1.7.2 has been released - this would seem an important release as it features some fancy new tech called Runahead Latency Reduction. This promises better latency than the real hardware! More info here - https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-7-2-released/

Yuzu, a Switch emulator, boots it's first Switch exclusive, 1-2-Switch:

The N64 iQue roms have finally been dumped, almost 15 years later! There are some exclusive bug fixes and features in these roms apparently - https://twitter.com/chinesenintendo/status/989011050430279680

CiDeRmAn · 29-04-2018 6:12pm

This thread is fine, once it's primary goal is the art of emulation, but I'd prefer it not to become a hub for current console piracy tbh.
To be clear, having a Switch emu running is interesting, linking or sharing Switch dumps is not allowed.

Otherwise it's all good ...

I wonder if it's time to consider a forum name change.....

CiDeRmAn · 29-04-2018 6:14pm

And, on another note, that iQue business is great news, seeing as it's impossible to obtain content for the format any more.
Might be worth picking one up, if it's possible to load them only original hardware.
Can only be a matter of time before N64 titles proper can be used...

Inviere · 29-04-2018 6:15pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

This thread is fine, once it's primary goal is the art of emulation, but I'd prefer it not to become a hub for current console piracy tbh.
To be clear, having a Switch emu running is interesting, linking or sharing Switch dumps is not allowed.

Otherwise it's all good ...

Cheers Cidey, indeed, piracy & linking to copyright protected stuff is a no go, goes without saying

I think it could be good for keeping up to date with things, helping with configs, & all other manner of helpful things. Emulation can be as simple or as complex as you like it to be, so it can definitely help to have a single place to seek such help.

I wonder if it's time to consider a forum name change.....

CiDeRmAn · 29-04-2018 11:05pm

I'd like to more of the PSP running on a Vita malarkey.
I'd be even more interested in the PSP in the Vita running PS games!
Plenty of storage to hold my favourite PS games, like Raiden Project and Gradius Gaiden.

Tom Mann Centuria · 29-04-2018 11:15pm

Why not have console modding given a bit of life by renaming that forum Emulation and Console Modding. It's pretty well screwed otherwise.

Inviere · 30-04-2018 3:09pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I'd like to more of the PSP running on a Vita malarkey.
I'd be even more interested in the PSP in the Vita running PS games!
Plenty of storage to hold my favourite PS games, like Raiden Project and Gradius Gaiden.

I'm due to give my Vita TV the modding treatment over the summer (my Vita is already exploited, though I must update to the latest version too), it's pretty much exactly the same as a Vita. I could do a write up on it, & post here if there's any interest? Obviously it's be boards-friendly et al

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Why not have console modding given a bit of life by renaming that forum Emulation and Console Modding. It's pretty well screwed otherwise.

The only console modding going on these days is the likes of the Switch exploit, the recent PS4 fw4.55 exploit, basically all modern/current gen stuff. A&R would seem to cover modding of any retro machine, so I say go the whole hog & rebrand the Console Modding forum as the Emulation forum! For anything at all to happen though, I suppose it'd be good to show evidence that emulation discussion can be active and boards-friendly. As it stands, it doesn't stand out as it all gets lost within other dedicated threads.

sugarman wrote: »

PSP still has to be the best handheld emulation device around in terms of both ability and price.

In terms of price, you're spot on, PSP all the way. For ability though, the Vita blows the PSP away for emulation & even for PSP stuff.

megaten · 30-04-2018 3:48pm

Inviere wrote: »

Retroarch 1.7.2 has been released - this would seem an important release as it features some fancy new tech called Runahead Latency Reduction. This promises better latency than the real hardware! More info here - https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-7-2-released/

This sounds like it will be great for android. I'm not sure if modern version of the OS still have the same problem but I remember latency being a big problem with emulators on earlier version of android.

CiDeRmAn · 30-04-2018 11:10pm

My Vita TV is little more than a TxK device, so anything to make it more useful would be great!

Inviere · 01-05-2018 4:05pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

My Vita TV is little more than a TxK device, so anything to make it more useful would be great!

What firmware is it on?

CiDeRmAn · 02-05-2018 6:46am

Inviere wrote: »

What firmware is it on?

I haven't a clue, why?

Inviere · 02-05-2018 5:52pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I haven't a clue, why?

Higher than 3.60 and...

^^ at least for the moment anyway.

Tom Mann Centuria · 06-05-2018 12:08am

My son gave me his vita, unfortunately it's on the latest firmware. All I've read says there is no prospect of it getting hacked, is this still what those itk think? Haven't really delved into emulation on my psp now that's modded, must correct that.

Incidentally I love planes, trains and automobiles, John Candy and Steve Martin did so many great films, especially in the 80s.

megaten · 06-05-2018 10:50am

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

My son gave me his vita, unfortunately it's on the latest firmware. All I've read says there is no prospect of it getting hacked, is this still what those itk think? Haven't really delved into emulation on my psp now that's modded, must correct that.

Incidentally I love planes, trains and automobiles, John Candy and Steve Martin did so many great films, especially in the 80s.

There's an exploit for the firmware directly below the most recent but it hasn't been released. So I don't think there's absolutely no hope.

Inviere · 06-05-2018 5:07pm

megaten wrote: »

There's an exploit for the firmware directly below the most recent but it hasn't been released. So I don't think there's absolutely no hope.

I think though that for that to work, you will have to have upgraded to that firmware from an exploited 3.60. I think. In other words, it’s not a cold exploit, it requires you to have had modded firmware in the first place.

CiDeRmAn · 06-05-2018 8:34pm

Well, I checked my Vita and it's at least than 3.6, the PS TV is the second afaik.

Inviere · 10-05-2018 9:21am

Nice video Retroarch's new Runahead Latency Reduction feature.

TL - DR is input lag seems to have been completely eliminated, and is adjustable per game. Will try it out & report back!

Inviere · 10-05-2018 10:01am

Inviere wrote: »

Will try it out & report back!

Short answer - wow, incredible. I can play Super Mario World again, and not be rubbish at it!!! It really makes a huge difference to games where input lag bogs controls down.

Long answer - as above, but there are some errors in the tutorial video apparently.

Firstly, when you have the game paused & are figuring out how many frames you need to account for, you need to choose one less than your result. Ie, if you have the game paused, press jump, and press 'k' three times before you see the jump animation, then you need to set the runahead number to '2'. Secondly, I got some sound distortion when using the feature, so you need to turn on 'second instance' in the runahead settings to resolve that.

Chuffed with this, it's a huge, huge improvement.

Retr0gamer · 10-05-2018 10:04am

I'm guessing it works like the lag compensation in Guitar Hero?

Hellrazer · 18-05-2018 7:14pm

Heres a question.

I have one of these I was thinking of making into just a pure emulation machine.
https://www.zotac.com/vg/product/mini_pcs/id11

Atom d510,Nvidia Ion gpu 2 gb ddr.500Gb hard drive.
Its running windows 10 at the minute.
Whats the best front end to use in windows?
Not looking to emulate everything but snes genesis etc.Its runs them really well but Id like to be able to set it to boot up straight into the front end and just use a controller to control everything

Thanks

super_furry · 18-05-2018 9:07pm

I've always been a fan of Launchbox myself. https://www.launchbox-app.com

Hellrazer · 20-05-2018 11:56pm

super_furry wrote: »

I've always been a fan of Launchbox myself. https://www.launchbox-app.com

Thanks for that.Just spent the day setting it all up.
So far Ive Snes , Neo geo ,N64 and Mame linked through Launchbox and all working fine so far..
Great little program. Going to have to buy the premium for the bigscreen version now!!

Inviere · 21-05-2018 4:15pm

Hellrazer wrote: »

Going to have to buy the premium for the bigscreen version now!!

Controller support is also premium version if I recall correctly. Very worth it though, & they always have good discounts on Black Friday for when the time comes around.

Never knew the GPD Win2 was this beefy

CiDeRmAn · 21-05-2018 6:12pm

That's insane!

Inviere · 21-05-2018 6:59pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

That's insane!

Then I seen the price, ouch

Inviere · 22-05-2018 5:49pm

Original Xbox emulation has always been a rather neglected, and perhaps un-needed system in terms of emulation. Most of its library was third party, with a handful of 1st party titles seemingly not being enough to attract anyone capable enough to work on its emulation. It's kinda changing of late though, there's been a bit of 'scene' interest in getting original Xbox emulation to the fray. Perhaps it's nostalgia, as some who grew up playing it now possess the skills to emulate it, or perhaps it's just seen as a kind of 'cool' thing to work on. Anyway, it's getting better!

Retr0gamer · 22-05-2018 6:00pm

The Xbox was the least essential system of that generation but there is some absolutely cracking exclusives on the system. Sega had some brilliant games, with Panzer Dragoon Orta being a highlight and the pinnacle of Rail shooters for me. And then Ninja Gaiden Black which is arguably a better character action games than even anything Capcom and Platinum have put out. Playing it now and it's so good it's kind of spoiled the new God of War on me as it's no where near as good.

I think the PS4 is kind of on the same level now as the Xbox was when it's run ended. Lots of third party stuff that was available on PC with a handful of exclusives. The PS4 only recently I feel I could say is worth purchasing but will probably surpass the Xbox by the end of this year and definitely in it's lifetime.

Inviere · 22-05-2018 6:22pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The PS4 only recently I feel I could say is worth purchasing but will probably surpass the Xbox by the end of this year and definitely in it's lifetime.

It's been such a drab generation of consoles this eight generation. Sony have recently stated the PS4 has entered it's end-of-life cycle, and aside from a literal handful of exclusives, there's still no killer reason to own one. The Xbox One is the same (worse even!) in terms of worthwhile exclusives. Similarly, with decent gpu's bottlenecked by utterly gimped cpu's (I'm looking at you Xbox One X & PS4 Pro), we're still, in 2018, gaming for the most part at 30fps. Focus has been on resolution, rather than framerate, which aligns with the sub-par cpu architecture (I know they're APU's but you get my point).

The only thing I'm half excited about PS4 wise is my ESP8266 is en route, and when it arrives, I'll be able to exploit it & mess about with it. By all accounts, the upcoming 5.05 exploit is going to be a timed release, coinciding with Mira, a HEN that'll come with homebrew development tools...so people should be able to finally start coding for the PS4.

Retr0gamer · 22-05-2018 6:47pm

Yeah the One in particular has been so lacking it's the only big console since 2000 that I have no desire to buy. Maybe later I'll get a cheap one but only for the backwards compatibility.

CiDeRmAn · 22-05-2018 11:58pm

Outrun 2 on the Xbox, just sublime and matches the arcade hardware more or less.
It would interesting to see Steel Battalion emulated, with the keyboard and a pair of analogue sticks.
The Xbox also hosted the better version of Metal Arms too, as well as that gonzo mecha game that killed my Xbox Retr0!

Retr0gamer · 23-05-2018 1:14am

You just weren't patriotic enough for Metal Wolf Chaos.

General Emulation Discussion

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