Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[Puukko]

In all fairness RDR was released right in the middle of that ugly brown period, my screenshot is with Reshade as well. You definitely want to touch up games from that period if you can.

 

[Puukko]

Heads up, the save data altering update to ryujinx went live again. Last time it was pulled due to reports of fucked saves. I would assume they've fixed it, but backup just in case.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

 

[Puukko]

I had never heard of this and according to GBAtemp it's using stolen code which seems to be the theme with these Android emulators. Chinese to boot.

Still, from a technical standpoint that is impressive. I've got an SD 865/8GB phone which seems just about capable but I've got intention of running such suspicious software on it.

 

[flyingjohn]

Downloaded fresh pcsx2 cvn,can't start because of a bunch or errors about missing dll.
I guess pcsx2 for windows 7 is over.
Can anybody try running new pcsx2 builds on windows 7?
Edit:Anybody have a somewhat final version of 1.6
Found it,the last version before they fucked up windows 7 support with two exe bullshit:
https://www.emucr.com/2021/06/pcsx2-git-20210630.html

 

[Don Peste]

Quick question, can you use custom shaders on Duckstation (Android)? I see there's a "shaders" folder, but no idea how this works.

 

[deuxhero]

Is there a modern set of instructions for PrimeHack? All I can find are years old or literally over half an hour long.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I recommend playing Metroid Prime 1 and 2 with a regular controller pad. The game was designed with it in mind, and the clunkiness adds to the atmosphere.

 

[deuxhero]

Already played them, just want keyboard and mouse for replay.

I've since figured it out. The instructions are on the wiki section of primehack's git (as opposed to a readme). You'll also want to check Immediately Present XFB in the graphics, use Vulkan as the renderer, and add a blank portable.txt file to primehack's directory (to keep its settings distinct from mainline Dolphin's)

edit: Prime 1 is way shorter than I remember it being. Got the Thermal Visor and saved, load screen shows 28% in 3.5 hours. I remember the artifact quest at the end is blatant padding making you walk back and forth everywhere, but I wonder if I'll even need 20 hours for this.

 

[spekkio]

BROs, some good news for the DOSfags (assuming there are still some of them left alive?).

I've got an itch for some space combat and decided to check TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM on Win10. It's a real bitch to set up properly (not really), but it works damn fine.

1) Daum's DOSBox (adds quicksaves, MT-32 emulation, Direct3D output, Glide support and more - go with the build from 26.01.2014 beacuse it's the last good one) works great. Maybe except the output window, which is p. small in "pure dos":

It looks like on Win10 window mode requires you to "force" the scalers:

But this will also make everything "pixelated":

So it's best to just stick to Normal 2x / 3x / 4x (not forced) scalers and use full screen (alt+tab). Glorious 640x480 like God intended:

I've tested different Outputs, and all of them work p. much the same (scalers won't work in windowed mode, until forced).

Anyway, game looks like this on Nvidia GPU, 1920x1080 resolution, scaling set to "aspect ratio" + "perform scaling on GPU":

With these DosBox settings:

fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface

And following scalers:

a) Normal 2x

Output is 640x480, so in full screen I get slightly blurry graphics (which I like) + black bars not only up & down (visible on screenshot), but also left & right.

b) Normal 3x

Output is 1176x664, graphics in full screen are more "crisp & pixelated", black bars still visible (up/down & left/right).

c) Normal 4x

Output is now 1280x800, graphics are even more "crisp", no black bars up/down finally (graphics fill the entire screen, except left/right area OFC - 4:3 aspect ratio).

When you go 3D, VESA kicks in, so it's glorious 640x480, no matter what scaler you choose:

And that's all when it comes to "emulating the game". But there's more.

Since my trusty DualShock 2 is a little bit loose after all these years (TBH it's probably looser than Lana Rhoades' anus), without adding some deadzone (and sadly I can't do it via gamepad drivers) my poor spacecraft is drifting a bit.



So I had to crank this shit up by creating a virtual joystick using vJoy + UJR:

OFC you need:

joysticktype=4axis_2

in dosbox.conf to use "virtual" joystick (#2) instead of real gamepad (#1).

And since I really love the "auto-release" option of RB-Joy (button gets pressed only once, even if you keep it pressed, which is different than how "real" keyboard works - sends continuous input), instead of using DosBox's input mapper to map gamepad buttons / axes as keyboard inputs:

I've mapped all the shit I wanted via RB-Joy (aka program with probably the worst UI ever):

Last version is from 2007, works like a charm on Win10 (except shitty scaling OFC) and still beats Joy2Key when it comes to functionality.

My gamepad mapping for TIE Fighter:

left analog stick: analog joystick (ship's direction) [DosBox input]
triangle: x (firing settings)
square: w (weapon settings)
circle: (roll) [DosBox input]
cross: (fire) [DosBox input]
L1: r (target nearest enemy)
L2: y (previous target)
L3: i (toggle target boxes)
R1: s (shield settings)
R2: t (next target)
R3: enter (match speed of target)
Select: shift+a (assign target to wingmen)
Start: p (pause)
d-pad up: ' (select next component)
d-pad down: . (cockpit on/off)
d-pad left: f9 (laser recharge rate)
d-pad right: f10 (shield recharge rate)
right a-stick up: ; (shield energy to lasers)
right a-stick down: ' (laser energy to shields)
right a-stick left: - (decrease throttle)
right a-stick right: + (increase throttle)

So, all 16 buttons and 4 axes used. Can you beat that, joystick-fags?

Still, I have to use 4 "emulators" simultaneously to play one old game...



More autism (+ info on all these programs) here.

Now you can go back to posting news about Yuzu & Ryujinx.

Spoiler

newfags

 

[flyingjohn]

Daum's DOSBox (adds quicksaves, MT-32 emulation, Direct3D output, Glide support and more - go with the build from 26.01.2014

You mean DOSBox SVN Daum 20140125?
Also,hasn't daum svn been dead for years?
Everybody nowadays seems to be using dosbox-x or staging.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I've been resisting moving on from Daum for ages, but this year I've finally moved on to Dosbox-X. It's not as convenient (still have to do more .ini tweaking than Daum, which has more direct options togglable via GUI), but it's better. The MT-32 emulation especially is significantly better (I guess they never stopped perfecting MUNT). It also has pixel-perfect scaling via OpenGL, if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[spekkio]

Ohshit I see Dosbox-X finally has quicksaves. Maybe it's indeed time to migrate to it.

Well, nothing like a nice cup of testing.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Out of curiosity, did the game already detect the controller originally? I've had this weird issue over the years where I want to use my joystick with a flight or space sim, and while it connects to the computer fine, it makes DOSbox lose its damn mind some way or another. Its been consistent across every system I've used for some bizarre reason.

 

[spekkio]

Out of curiosity, did the game already detect the controller originally?

Yup. As always.

I've had this weird issue over the years where I want to use my joystick with a flight or space sim, and while it connects to the computer fine, it makes DOSbox lose its damn mind some way or another. Its been consistent across every system I've used for some bizarre reason.

If you're talking about the same joystick, then maybe DosBox hates it for some reason. Maybe try some other setting in dosbox.conf, like "fcs" or "ch":

# joysticktype: Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
#               2axis (supports two joysticks),
#               4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),
#               4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),
#               fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
#               none disables joystick emulation.
#               auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
#               (Remember to reset dosbox's mapperfile if you saved it earlier)
#               Possible values: auto, 2axis, 4axis, 4axis_2, fcs, ch, none.

 

[Latro]

In other news, Japan has released a report on foreigner deaths in their country that confirms Byuu hoaxed his suicide (it was 0, lol)

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

If you're talking about the same joystick, then maybe DosBox hates it for some reason. Maybe try some other setting in dosbox.conf, like "fcs" or "ch":

I've had a couple over the years, but the last time I tried the one I currently have, it was always moving, like it had no deadzone. Curiously, I checked just now and its solved...I just need to manually have DOSbox register each axis as a joystick one. Weird. Did it always have that functionality and I've just now noticed it or is it new?

 

[flyingjohn]

For anybody owning a significant non gdi dreamcast collection here is a nifty tool to convert bin/cue to gdi:
https://github.com/feyris-tan/gdidrop
This is useful because demul only reads gdi if you aren't mounting files.A least in my experience.

 

[flyingjohn]

Speaking of cue files can anybody recommend a good cue mounting software?
Windcemu does not comply and most other options are bundle ware like daemon tools.

 

[spekkio]

^
If you need CD-Audio emulation, AFAIK only Daemon Tools can do this. I've tested couple "replacements" for DT when playing Langrisser PC and had to go back to DT for CD Audio.

Just stick to reasonably old version, DAEMON Tools Lite 4.49.1 (from 2014) worked fine on Win7.

 

[Derringer]

The few disc imaging tools with CCDA audio support are older Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% versions.

 

[flyingjohn]

Both alcohol and daemon new versions seems to be working,but you need the high seas version because all free versions bundle malware.
And for anybody wondering melonds now has a dsi title manager that makes playing dsi games actually viable.
Just be careful about keeping a large amount of games installed,the nand gets easily corruptible if you install 10+games.

 

[spekkio]

BROs, there's been some testing.

Since some fags were shipping DosBox-X & DosBox Staging as modern replacements for ancient Daum's DosBox, I've decided to give these forks a go.

Verdict: If you're a graphicswhore who puts aspect ratio and graphical output being faithful to the original above everything else, stick to Daum's. Explanation below.

All screenshots taken using Greenshot, on following DosBox settings, unless stated otherwise:

fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface

aspect=false
scaler=none

Why "fullresolution"="original" and "output"="surface"? Well, they give IMO the best output (emu uses original game's resolution if possible).
BTW, "hardware" outputs (direct3d, opengl) give p. much the same output in Daum's.

0) "Base" screenshots for later use (comparison with Staging & DosBox-X).

a) DosBox 0.74

Windowed:

Fullscreen:

Summary: everything's fine, "DOS" is rendered at 640x400, going fullscreen switches Windows / Display to 640x480 resolution. How do I know? Well, desktop's icons are all messed up after using DosBox.

b) Daum's DosBox

Windowed:

Fullscreen:

Everything's fine so far, "DOS" is rendered @ 640x400, going fullscreen switches Windows / Display to 640x480 res.

After launching tie.exe, emu switches to 320x200, which can't be displayed properly in fullscreen (Windows cannot into such low res?):

And in windowed, it's super smoll:

The easiest way to fix this is by changing scaler from "None" to "Normal 2x / 3x / 4x" (for differences between them, see my previous post). Fullscreen when using "Normal 2x" scaler:

It's (almost) how the God intended. Emulator switches the system to 640x480 res (black bars left & right not visible on screenshot), scaling image properly both in 2D sections - check the blue square icons:

And 3D sections (check circular radar screens):

Alright, now for the (un)funny part - comparison with the "newshit" forks...

DosBox Staging

https://dosbox-staging.github.io

No quicksaves, no GUI. So it can't replace Daum's for me. Has basic "deadzone" settings for analog joysticks / gamepads, which is nice.

When it comes to displaying graphics properly, it's very close to 0.74 or Daum's.

Windowed:

Fullscreen:

Same as Daum's, Staging cannot into 320x200:

As you can see, it's kinda inferior to Daum's, since when in fullscreen, it renders the graphics in top-left area, instead of the middle.



Despite the warning in the .conf:

Scaling is not performed for output=surface.

scalers work fine, at least when using Nvidia GPU.

Using "scaler"="normal2x" fixes the scaling issues, but the problem with positioning of graphics remains (top instead of center - it's been visible in the screenshot with NC too - black bar at the bottom of the screen):

At least the emu scales the image properly:

And when you switch to 3d (640x480 Vesa instead of 320x240), black bar at the bottom is gone (emu fills the screen vertically):

If only this fork had quicksaves...

DosBox-X

https://dosbox-x.com

Fantastic first impression. GUI, bazillion options, quicksaves, extended deadzone settings for controllers, Glide emulation... Basically what Daum had and more (deadzone). But there's one "little" problem - scaling in fullscreen...

Windowed:

Fullscreen:

This screenshot may look good, but it's actually just an unscaled window sitting in the middle of the screen. So it's not "full screen", it looks like this:

I've tried different output methods and different scalers, and couldn't force the emu to switch into full screen. The harsh truth is brutal - DosBox-X cannot into "fullresolution"="original". IMO this emu was made with advanced DOS / Windows programs in mind, and not games.

It's clearly stated on the webpage:

Started as a fork of the DOSBox project, it retains compatibility with the wide base of DOS games and DOS gaming DOSBox was designed for. But it is also a platform for running DOS applications, including emulating the environments to run Windows 3.x, 9x and ME and software written for those versions of Windows.

Sadly, you can call me a graphicswhore, but I can't enjoy my DOS games when they look like shit (wrong aspect ratio, pixelation, shitty filters). And unfortunately that's exactly how DosBox-X operates.

It's clear that the "recommended" setting for fullscreen is "desktop". It's not only a default in .conf file, but also the only one for which scaling actually works. At least on "hardware" outputs, since scalers don't work with "output"="surface" (.conf warns you about this). And they don't work indeed:

fullresolution = desktop
output = surface

So, let's try other output methods...

fullresolution = desktop
output = default (it uses direct3d)

fullresolution = desktop
output = openglpp

Slight incline, but pixelated AF.

I've enabled log and noticed, that no matter which option for "fullresolution" you choose (original, manually selected value, desktop), emulator always uses your desktop resolution for rendering:

And it's not my individual problem, since other people were complaining about this exact thing happening on Linux.

As you can see, the best DBX can do is OpenGL perfect, which still looks inferior (sharper & pixelated) to previous emus (which can use scaled "fullresolution" = "original").

It has proper aspect ratio in 2D, but resizes the 3D to "smaller" window than previous emus (notice black bars up & down):

So we end up with inferior 2D (pixelated) and 3D (smaller window). Still, it's the ONLY decent output method for this fork, since using anything else than "OpenGL perfect" gave me AIDS:

fullresolution = desktop
output = default
aspect = false

Wrong AR in 2D (320x200 is 16:10, Dosbox squishes it vertically to 16:9)

Wrong AR in 3D (640x480 is 4:3, Dosbox stretches it horizontally to 16:9)

fullresolution = desktop
output = default
aspect = true

Wrong AR in 2D (320x200 is 16:10, Dosbox squishes it horizontally to 4:3)

This is the correct output.

Proper AR in 3D (640x480 displayed in 4:3).

Tested some other outputs, added scalers, but nothing looks better than "OpenGL perfect". And that's still inferior to how other builds work / look.

Verdict:

- Don't need quicksaves & GUI? Go with Staging.
- Need quicksaves/ GUI? Go with Daum's.
- Need quicksaves, GUI, deadzone, 100 other things, but don't care about graphics looking best / having proper aspect ratio? Go with DB-X.



After doing such a good job, it's time for me to to do something else...

*Edit:

Sadly I was wrong about proper AR in this game.

More info here:

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/screenshot-thread.72409/page-1239#post-7669717

 

[flyingjohn]

I mean,that is cute and all but,if you want to enter the autistic club you are gonna have to try harder.

 

[flyingjohn]

A "new" ps4 emulators has surfaced:
-It is closed source
-It already boots hundreds of games
-It is linux only
-It is not made by a crazy tranny dev
-The only ps4 exclusive that goes ingame is persona 5 royal(Fuck you atlus)
https://wololo.net/2021/09/08/release-spine-ps4-emulator-v-20210901-ps4-emulator-for-linux/