Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[spekkio]

^
I can't stand "mindless" combat recently, so brawlers (Dragon Crown, Drakengard) and 95% of jrpgs are a no. I mean what's the point of playing n-th FF clone with ATB system, trash mobs and random encounters, when you can (re)play something like BoF5 or n-th Fire Emblem. Same with the brawlers, when there are games with actually fun and "tactical" combat (Majin, PoP).

#old

 

[flyingjohn]

^
I can't stand "mindless" combat recently, so brawlers (Dragon Crown, Drakengard) and 95% of jrpgs are a no. I mean what's the point of playing n-th FF clone with ATB system, trash mobs and random encounters, when you can (re)play something like BoF5 or n-th Fire Emblem. Same with the brawlers, when there are games with actually fun and "tactical" combat (Majin, PoP).

#old

Well then let me recommend shit.
3 dot game heroes is a zelda clone if you like that,no jrpg shit.
Dragon quest builders is somewhat interesting for a jrpg(minecraft meets dragon quest)
There is always super robot taisen(although it is piss easy).Fire emblem with gundams.
The only other thing worth looking into are the random drpg's and earlier disgaea titles. But i have a feeling disgaea is not to your tastes.

 

[spekkio]

disgaea

Gave up on Disgaea 1 after about 1-2 hours. Formula executed totally wrong a.k.a. Japtactical for autists. But recently my "skip" to "play to completion" ratio is like 10:1 if not more, so there's that.

• shitty, convoluted UI - pass,
• unskipabble FMVs - pass,
• more than 3 critical, yet easily avoidable with an iota of skill design flaws - hard pass,
• digital chicks without decent T&A - total pass.

And so on...

 

[CyberWhale]

Yuzu updates are really great, but they really need to add the internal resolution upscaling option as soon as possible. I don't want to play games on (sub) 720p.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Next are the msx variations.

I may have mentioned this before, but, include multiple machines. You'll understand what I mean when you start looking stuff up, but the gist is, while the system has multiple straight upgrades, some games don't necessarily work better on later machines. I know at least one game, if you have a floppy disk drive, will not start unless you hold down the CTRL key. At that point, I found it easier to just have one machine that runs without a floppy drive. Might not even affect any games you put into the compilation, but some games are tricky, to say the least.

 

[flyingjohn]

Next are the msx variations.

I may have mentioned this before, but, include multiple machines. You'll understand what I mean when you start looking stuff up, but the gist is, while the system has multiple straight upgrades, some games don't necessarily work better on later machines. I know at least one game, if you have a floppy disk drive, will not start unless you hold down the CTRL key. At that point, I found it easier to just have one machine that runs without a floppy drive. Might not even affect any games you put into the compilation, but some games are tricky, to say the least.

I am gonna include very single machine bios that is available so you can pick your poison.
Probably gonna hand pick the most known variations.

 

[tet666]

Yuzu updates are really great, but they really need to add the internal resolution upscaling option as soon as possible. I don't want to play games on (sub) 720p.

This and nvdec (pre-recorded video files) + audio emulation are my biggest gripes with yuzu and why i have not really played games on it so far, most games i'm interested in like FE3H have tons of anime cutscenes and they look like complete shit with stuttery and asynchronous audio.
Ryujinx on the other hand has great nvdec and audio emulation and a resolution scaler but performance is often way worse and it also has terrible annoying shader stutters which makes actually playing games just not a very fun experience it really needs a vulkan backend and async shader compilation.

 

[flyingjohn]

Continuing my collection with the msx/2/2+/turbo:
https://mega.nz/file/9PBmmRwA#SEjziLZds4DvPaWFz7-Hz-VhwnIF2TFL_3wBuybsqHw

What does this pack include:
Open and blue msx emu.Open msx is more recent.
Retroarch bluemsx with firmware.(incomplete)
-msx firmware.Included all machines possible.
*NOTES:
-BLUEMSX WEBSITE RIP OF MACHINES(THIS IS NOT INCLUDED IN STANDARD EMU DONWLOAD)
-OPENMSX SYSTEMROMS
-TOSEC FIRMWARE(VARIOUS STUFF MIXED IN IT)
USE WHATEVER YOU WANT,DON'T JUST COPY PASTE,TOO MUCH MACHINES.
INCLUDED A SMALL LIST OF MOST POPULAR HARDWARE.*

-Anything mentioning dos/windows in the os/utilities files.
Have no idea if it is necessary but ain't gonna risk it.
-Various notes.

-Txt Faq's from gamefaq.
-Rpg/strategy games with simulation games about management. Also included are action/adventure games with rpg elements.
-Translation and romhacks.

Next are the nec-pc variations.

 

[flyingjohn]

Finishing my collection with the nec pc 88/va:
https://mega.nz/file/MXhGWZJA#qysj8NwF_OHPYZgZd0Vd4TldlykIalszzv8YCMoBGoo

What does this pack include:
-Various emulators.Xm8 and epc-88 are recomendded.
Included various other emulators and forks.
Retroarch quasi88 core with firmware.Outdated.

-pc 88 firmware/os.
-Various notes.

-Txt Faq's from gamefaq.
-Rpg/strategy games with simulation games about managagment.Also included are action/adventure games with rpg
elements.
-Translation and romhacks.

BONUS:
Nec pc-98.
Obviously,this pack will include only emu stuff considering the size of the library.
https://mega.nz/file/cKxWDZ4Q#-n0Zj-QVlAtby0GYZdHavEg3EEYVXDBq3WDYisYFbLA
Retroarch version of neko project II/kai with firmware:
https://mega.nz/file/4ep0VJxI#AvK-FPRWcESUcunWxTdivCuAhTBf44HF2R-wFyrbU8A

-Included neko project II,neko project 21 with forks ,anex86 and epc98.Use neko project 21.
-Pc98 firmware/os.Various disk conversion tools and freedos stuff.
-Translation and romhacks from romhacking.
-Txt Faq's from gamefaq.

For a bonus i am including the combined japanese emu collection project some guy is updating frequently:
https://mega.nz/file/ATwg0KSa#NRtnc0dduNFODA3c7r5tdIvAbg-Ul8td_FPim8ofqLY

And that is it for my collection.Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.

 

[flyingjohn]

Anybody here collected shining force central romhacks?
So much dead or non functioning links.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

All dead?

 

[flyingjohn]

All dead?

Not all,but most links have dead box.com stuff or just straight dead links.
The top ones have new links/romhacking.net,but that is a small amount of what is lost.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I haven't been there in ages so i might be in the wrong ballpark entirely: https://forums.shiningforcecentral.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13147

And yeah, seems missing links but some might be amended. I guess a whole list needs to be archived and check thr forums/inquire/and maybe even wayback machine if it has anything.

 

[flyingjohn]

So,what is the big deal with chd and waw/other audio formats?
I just converted my sega cd library which had everything from mp3 to waw and everything works fine in genesis plus/picodrive.
Why are people giving so much warning about not using chd tools to just convert these files?
The game boots and audio works,don't see the issue.

 

[Puukko]

God damn, RDR is something else.

Now I know if I really wanted to play this and have the smoothest experience then playing it on Xenia at native res would be the way to go, but I'm not in that much of a hurry. At that point I'd just dust off my ol PS3 and play my actual copy. I just didn't expect it to be this brutal still.

 

[lightbane]

After the PS3 gen, will future emulators bother to do anything with PS4/5 and the XBOX equivalent? The current gen barely has any game worth checking that is not on Switch and/or PC already.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

After the PS3 gen, will future emulators bother to do anything with PS4/5 and the XBOX equivalent? The current gen barely has any game worth checking that is not on Switch and/or PC already.

You can emulate the remasters of the remasters.

 

[deuxhero]

After the PS3 gen, will future emulators bother to do anything with PS4/5 and the XBOX equivalent? The current gen barely has any game worth checking that is not on Switch and/or PC already.

PS4 has Gravity Rush 2, and the playable version of Gundam Breaker 3 (Vita one can't keep an acceptable framerate), Dragon's Crown Pro (surprised it hasn't been ported), Nipponese version of 13 Sentinels (because the translated version is terrible), and maybe Toaru Majutsu no Virtual-On (If my experience with the PSP Gundam vs. is any indication, playing the portable version on a big screen sucks due to the camera and given its been delisted I don't see a PC port coming anytime soon) and maybe a few more 4/Vita only titles.
Xbone? Prob not.

 

[flyingjohn]

I have officially joined the cult of retroarch because of one simple thing,chd support.
Shame bout how some cores are just not up to standalones(saturn beetle is the biggest culprit).
Fuck it,my obscure roommate terrorizing Saturn sim still works in kronos.

 

[Duraframe300]

I have officially joined the cult of retroarch because of one simple thing,chd support.
Shame bout how some cores are just not up to standalones(saturn beetle is the biggest culprit).
Fuck it,my obscure roommate terrorizing Saturn sim still works in kronos.

Use Kronos for Saturn games in retroarch in general. It's far more developed and supported.

 

[spekkio]

Here's something cool: I booted up SMT Nocturne Chronicle Hardtype - that is, a promotional version that never got released in the west, using a fan translation patch, the hardtype difficulty mod and a fan patch to enable that mod to run on this version of the game. This is very likely the most obscure version of the game to date. All that, and it can still load my old saves for the base Maniax version, with Raidou replacing Dante in my party, should I wish to for some reason.

Yup, to my great surprise, the translation for the Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniax - Chronicles Edition (J) (SLPM-66681) actually converts the game to the (U) version (SLUS-20911). The CRC of the .exe is OFC different (0xB7479F4C), but old saves, and - most importantly - all (?) memory codes work just fine.

So, create a B7479F4C.pnach cheat file, with following lines inside:

// Progressive Scan Mode patch for SMT3 by Altimor

// NOP out old interlaced field switch
patch=1,EE,002AA1B4,word,00000000

// Another field switch here that needs to be NOP'd to prevent
// post processing effects from getting misaligned when entering
// and leaving menus.
patch=1,EE,002ADBE0,word,00000000

// Patch sceGsResetGraph arguments to set 480p
patch=1,EE,002C81D4,word,24110000 // addiu $s1, 0, 0x00
patch=1,EE,002C81D8,word,24120050 // addiu $s2, 0, 0x50
patch=1,EE,002C81DC,word,24020001 // addiu $s3, 0, 0x01

// Motion & Radial Blur codes by sergx12
patch=1,EE,202FC0E4,word,00000000 // 00000001 motion blur off
/patch=1,EE,202FC0E8,word,00000000 // 00000001 radial blur off (not recommended, because it also affects color correction same as aggressive crc hack)

And voila: progressive mode (no shaking) + no motion blur:

My saves from regular (U) edition work, only difference is Raidou replacing Dante:

:fabulous:

 

[v1rus]

What would you bros say, which are hidden/forgotten PSX games? Decided to finish up my collection.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

What would you bros say, which are hidden/forgotten PSX games? Decided to finish up my collection.

Exclusives, or in general?
Hellnight
King's Field
Tecmo's Deception? (no idea if that's in the hidden category or not)

 

[Puukko]

playing it on Xenia at native res would be the way to go, but I'm not in that much of a hurry.

Weird decision considering you went through the trouble of setting up RPCS3, which is not something the average user can just guess his way through. Xenia is beyond retard-friendly (File->Open) and portable too. I finished RDR + Undead DLC a few days ago, perfect performance (+ some fast-forward headroom), bugfree, on a computer slightly less powerful than yours. Don't give up and go for it.

Wait, which emulator did you play it on and at what settings? As I understand it Xenia is the only one that offers playable framerates but only at native res, bumping it up to 2x makes it eat resources like no tomorrow. I've put up with sub par performance with games I've really wanted to play, but I absolutely can't go back to 720p.

I don't think RPCS3 is particularly complicated. Then again, I'm reminded of when I played Peesona 5 and had to manually start and stop threads until it would boot. It was like working with a moody old car that takes a bit of magic to get running every time.

 

[Duraframe300]

I've put up with subpar performance with games I've really wanted to play, but I absolutely can't go back to 720p.

That's fair enough. Of course it doesn't look as sharp as a native 1080p game, but if you're on a retro-friendly forum like the Codex I wonder if it's going to be the hard wall you expect. Xenia is so easy to use that you ought to at least run the first few minutes and see if it actually bothers you so much.

That's not to say you can't improve it. Incidentally it's Xenia that finally pushed me to get a 1440p monitor because of how crisp everything is in the 720p window. Integer scaling is an underappreciated miracle, fullscreen did look significantly better than on my 1080p monitor.

I'm also the kind of people who use Reshade on everything. A sharpening filter on PS3-era textures easily makes them jump a generation or two, and with SMAA the end result was largely clean enough.

Edit: wait, I'm stupid, your screenshot is in 1440p. If you already have a 1440p monitor you definitely ought to try.

First two paragraphs: Hummm, okay I can see your point. Also Integer scaling rocks, true.

Then

I've put up with subpar performance with games I've really wanted to play, but I absolutely can't go back to 720p.

I'm also the kind of people who use Reshade on everything.

That you choose to ruin the picture post-Integer scaling just makes the whole thing worse.