Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[flyingjohn]

The reason you can't do what you want easily is because the tomb raider unfinished business iso is literally the original tomb raider ISO modified.
The checksum will always be Tomb raider 1 because that is how the calculations work for Duckstation and most emulators.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The reason you can't do what you want easily is because the tomb raider unfinished business iso is literally the original tomb raider ISO modified.
The checksum will always be Tomb raider 1 because that is how the calculations work for Duckstation and most emulators.

Yes, i figured that, and that goes for all the hacked and undubbed roms as well.

That's why i thought maybe i could do multiple setups of DuckStation but it seems i can't do that either, as i can't find a download to a portable version.

So i'm doomed to having to move files in and out of the main folder if i want to try different versions or playing expansions like Unfinished Business. That's annoying.

Another annoyance is that it seems i cannot have custom settings for each individual game, or at least for some of the settings. I tried using the suggested aspect ratios from that NeoFag thead for all the Tomb Raider games, 366:240 for 1-2 and 384:240 for 3-5 but i can only do it globally, so i gotta remember to use those custom settings if i ever decide to play those games and then switch back for other games. Again, annoying, as i don't even know how many games have this aspect ratio issue.

 

[Erisㅤ]

RetroArch is cumbersome at first but once you configure it properly, it becomes preferable to having several standalone emus. I got to admit some of its quirks are obtuse nonetheless.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I just got a chuckle imagining people who think Retroarch is "cumbersome" or "complex" trying to play games at the end of the DOS era that required 618kb base RAM, while requiring audio drivers loaded in memory as well (i.e. WC2) back in the day.

"Oh no, Memmaker doesn't work! How CUMBERSOME"
"Oh no, I bought Falcon 3.0 and it DOESN'T WORK! I have to MANUALLY EDIT config.sys and autoexec.bat, while understanding load order and memory blocks, what a TRAVESTY"

The filtering would have been glorious. Come to think of it, DOS extenders were the start of the decline.

 

[spekkio]

I still remember a friend of mine editing autoexec.bat and config.sys manually each time we wanted to play Doom. Sadly, we were too dumb at this time to just rename original files to .bak, copy them, edit fucking once, use, rename to .dm after and use two sets of files back and forth. Noooo. We had to edit the files line by line every time, feeling like real haxxors. Good times.

 

[spekkio]

Re: Retroarch

Sorry, but I can't take people complaining that "I pressed X like in VGS back in 2000, but nothing awesome happened -> software is shit!!!1!" seriously. RA has fantastic UI, but one created 100% with gamepad in mind + you're supposed to spend some time configuring it + disable shit you don't use.

Teh horror:

 

[Morenatsu.]

Sorry, since when were we ever using DOS through some retarded controller UI obfuscation bullshit full of crap I don't need? Why the fuck would I ever waste my time setting up that shit when I can just get an emulator that already works exactly as it should, and has a native Windows GUI and loads games by opening them through Explorer like every other program used to before everyone got brain damage and decided shitty custom interfaces were the future? Fuck all of you. Stop supporting shit software.

 

[Don Peste]

Skyrim's UI is the gold standard.

 

[spekkio]

when I can just get an emulator that already works exactly as it should, and has a native Windows GUI and loads games by opening them through Explorer like every other program used to.

If you're not on Windows, you can't. And RA being multiplatform (Linux, Mac, consoles, raspberry) is probably main reason for its "main" UI being made with gamepad in mind.

Still trying to figure out how to the change the ID on the disk so i can put modded CHDs along side original ones without the emulator thinking it's the same disk (thus sharing save states, cover arts etc)

(game) has the same ID as the main game. If i put it inside my game folder under DuckStation, it's read as the main game and it will just use the same save states, memory slots and cover. I just want this thing to sit as a separate disc with its own unique saves and cover. Same for versions of games that have patches in them, undubs etc.

RA does this by default. Settings, quicksaves, memory cards (if you want) for each game go into separate files / directories. See here:

Quicksaves for FFT (Final Fantasy Tactics (U).cue / .bin) go into /states/CORE_NAME/ directory, using filename.state# naming format. It's the same for "memory cards", as long as you disable shared memcards in core's settings (I have shared memcards enabled):

Another annoyance is that it seems i cannot have custom settings for each individual game, or at least for some of the settings.

When it comes to core's (emulator's) options, in RA you can either just go with core-specific (my case - didn't change anything for FFT), directory-specific or game-specific:

So every game (every cd image / rom) can have its own settings.

"Controls settings" work in similar way - if you want, you can set up specific ones per-game:

For example, my "core remap" settings for Beetle PSX look like this:

I have L2 L3 R2 R3 & right analog disabled. Why? Well, L2 & R2 is used for changing quicksave slots, L3 & R3 for making / loading quicksaves, and right analog for additional 4 things if necessary.

In case of FFT (game remap file has higher priority than the "core" remap file, so it's being used instead of it):

right analogue's "up" is used as L2 ("zoom" in game), and "down" as R2 ("change perspective").

OFC when the game actually uses all buttons / axes, I switch to different settings and do all the quicksaving via keyboard.



BTW, if you don't like the default "gamepad-centric" GUI, you can switch to the WIMP desktop UI:



Should work after pressing F5, if not, you're missing some files. Use "Online Updater" -> "Update Assets".

So, RA does everything you want, and more, you just have to learn how to use it. Like with everything.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

All right, is there a way to make RetroArch somehow mark the occupied slots in the savestate list? Currently I'm playing through multiple games and it's a pain remembering which slot I saved to for each game last time - I have to pick a random slot far enough from the first one and try and load it, and it there isn't anything yet, I try the previous one, etc, until I finally find the most recent savestate, which I initally looked for. Also it would be helpful to have previews for savestates and be able to see the date and time of their creation. Looks like a fairly basic feature that should've been implemented long time ago, so maybe it's already there and I'm just missing something.

Also, how can I set a custom button combination to invoke the RetroArch menu when in game? There's a fixed list of available combinations to choose from, but sometimes none of them is suitable for the specific game I'm playing, as pressing these buttons can inadvertently cause in-game actions such as pausing/unpausing the game, making characters act, skipping cut-scenes etc.

 

[spekkio]

Is there a way to make RetroArch somehow mark the occupied slots in the savestate list

Not that I know of, and I even looked through the .cfg entries for such thing.

That's probably the only thing I would like to have in RA. Emu remembering quicksave's slot per game or per core. Esp. that it should be indeed p. easy to do. But I think that's just another case of #savescummersshaming.

previews for savestates and be able to see the date and time of their creation

I'm p. sure RA has it, I just disabled it ages ago 'cuz it was making tons of thumbnails and other shit with each quicksave.

Edit:

Also, how can I set a custom button combination to invoke the RetroArch menu when in game?

I just use right analogue's "left" for RA menu and "right" for Fast Forward. What's wrong with using "Escape", btw?

 

[v1rus]

RetroArchs UI seems like an occult page out of Necronomicon that you need to decipher, until it just clicks. And thats coming from someone who did have a PS3, and played a decent amount of vidya on it, messing around its own OS - and RAs UI is obviously based on PS XMB.

First, RAs UI cant be used with mouse and keyboard. It just cant. And thats fine, hell, its even good - I cant imagine using mouse and keyboard with any of the emulators/consoles I use RA for. Thus, the UI does its job quite well - when you are lying in your bed (the way most console games should be played IMHO), and need to mess around something without getting up, you can open up UI and do whatever you need just perfectly.

It does have its obscurities and annoyances (once again, configuring gamepads (IIRC there are two different kind of gamepad configurations - core specific, and "global" ones, and those sorta work different, its always a fucking PITA)) but those are the price of an extensive and extremely modular program. IMHO, when all is said and done, RA is really worth it, once you get across the initial barrier and the thing starts clicking.

And cmon gents, this is the codex, we are supposed to like gatekeeping to cool, complex stuff

 

[Morenatsu.]

If you're not on Windows, you can't.

Then get on Windows.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

spekkio somehow 'Save State Thumbnails' is missing from my setup. Maybe that's because I'm on Windows? Dunno.

screenshot

As for the issue with menu toggle combination, on my setup the ESC key doesn't open the menu, somehow. Maybe I've changed some RA setting long time ago, and forgot about it.

 

[spekkio]

I'm on Windows too, so you probably have sth disabled in .cfg.

PROTIP: backup your current retroarch.cfg and check if shit works with default .cfg. If you dare:

 

[v1rus]

Random RA question thats been bugging me - I'm in an eternal struggle against HDD space. Will prolly get another 2-4 TBs external HDD soon enough. My ROM collection keeps growing and growing, and I'd like to have it all in one place.

The thing is - my HUGE RA playlist of up to 6th generation consoles, is currently located on my D drive. All of those games were configured by hand - I prefer placing my own favorite cover, lots of them are translations/hacks/obscure, ETC. I'd def move my whole ROM collection to the new drive... But that'd break the playlist. Is there any way to change the file location of ALL files in the playlist at once? I'd obviously keep the folder structure and naming exactly the same - it would just be E/ROMs/Saturn/whatever instead of D/ROMs/Saturn/whatever.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

spekkio I've solved it, there is a setting Settings -> User Interface -> Show Advanced Settings, which adds the 'Save State Thumbnails' menu entry, along with some others. Now 'Save State Thumbnails' is there in the menu. Though, the thumbnails still don't seem to show up beside the savestates in the list (even if the savestate was made after enabling 'Save State Thumbnails'), as I hoped they would, so unfortunately there's still no indication of which slots are occupied and which are not.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I just got a chuckle imagining people who think Retroarch is "cumbersome" or "complex" trying to play games at the end of the DOS era that required 618kb base RAM, while requiring audio drivers loaded in memory as well (i.e. WC2) back in the day.

"Oh no, Memmaker doesn't work! How CUMBERSOME"
"Oh no, I bought Falcon 3.0 and it DOESN'T WORK! I have to MANUALLY EDIT config.sys and autoexec.bat, while understanding load order and memory blocks, what a TRAVESTY"

The filtering would have been glorious. Come to think of it, DOS extenders were the start of the decline.

I gotta rate this retarded sorry.

The entire purpose of a UI is to make what is cumbersome simple. UI design is an art in itself. There's a reason why certain UIs were universally panned, like the one from Windows 8, or the disaster that was Gnome 3, because their obtuse designs, lack of functionality etc got in the way of people's workflow. And it's not a matter of "simplicity" either, as some autustic retards who think there's some kinda of badge of honor involved in taking five times longer to do the same operation seem to believe, 'cause they feel the difficulty of it makes them L33t h4X0rz. In fact, and this is where your argument fails, is that the vast majority of bad UI designs come from a desire to "simplify" things for the sake of the "average" user (who may or may not be as dumb as the designers assume them to be, and my hunch is that even grandma could probably figure out a well made UI design over some obtuse Fischer Price semplification that locks important options behind five layers of bullshit), which automatically means that it's harder to use for power users as important settings are hidden away behind layers of pointless and obscurely worded fluff.

Now as far as i can see it seems RetroArch was designed with controllers in mind and for people wanting to install the thing on actual consoles. As a PC user, i have no use for such a thing. I have a mouse and i do not need the window to take up the entire screen with giant text and icons since i'm not sitting 10 feet away from the monitor. Maybe RetroArch is good as far as console UI designs go but i'm not on a console.

Now i suppose this is a moot point since it seems there is actually an option for a PC oriented UI and probably my mistake was to use the Steam version where apparently this alternative UI wasn't installed by default. Fair enough, but the inefficiency of the console UI just came as a shock, not the least because i have zero experience with consoles as i never owned one.

 

[flyingjohn]

Random RA question thats been bugging me - I'm in an eternal struggle against HDD space. Will prolly get another 2-4 TBs external HDD soon enough. My ROM collection keeps growing and growing, and I'd like to have it all in one place.

The thing is - my HUGE RA playlist of up to 6th generation consoles, is currently located on my D drive. All of those games were configured by hand - I prefer placing my own favorite cover, lots of them are translations/hacks/obscure, ETC. I'd def move my whole ROM collection to the new drive... But that'd break the playlist. Is there any way to change the file location of ALL files in the playlist at once? I'd obviously keep the folder structure and naming exactly the same - it would just be E/ROMs/Saturn/whatever instead of D/ROMs/Saturn/whatever.

Just open the playlist file in the playlist folder in any text editor and replace all mentions of current disk drive to the one you want to.
Notepad ++ works perfectly for that.

 

[v1rus]

Random RA question thats been bugging me - I'm in an eternal struggle against HDD space. Will prolly get another 2-4 TBs external HDD soon enough. My ROM collection keeps growing and growing, and I'd like to have it all in one place.

The thing is - my HUGE RA playlist of up to 6th generation consoles, is currently located on my D drive. All of those games were configured by hand - I prefer placing my own favorite cover, lots of them are translations/hacks/obscure, ETC. I'd def move my whole ROM collection to the new drive... But that'd break the playlist. Is there any way to change the file location of ALL files in the playlist at once? I'd obviously keep the folder structure and naming exactly the same - it would just be E/ROMs/Saturn/whatever instead of D/ROMs/Saturn/whatever.

Just open the playlist file in the playlist folder in any text editor and replace all mentions of current disk drive to the one you want to.
Notepad ++ works perfectly for that.

Tyvm!

 

[Puukko]

Testing AetherSX2 since I'm away for Christmas. It really is just PCSX2 on mobile. The majority of options are there. Requires pretty beefy hardware for the more demanding titles. I'm on a OnePlus 8T (SD 865) and a less demanding title like Wrath of Cortex (the Crash game I had as a kid, so I've got a soft spot for it) seems to be smooth sailing even at 3x resolution. Ace Combat 4 meanwhile is a bit more of a struggle. I grabbed the no interlacing patch and the black cockpit issue seems to have been fixed, but the sun still needs to be fixed once per mission by toggling software mode. Performance is just a bit lacking, mostly chugging in the hangar, with occasional small hiccups during missions. I could try underclocking, or using a PAL ROM for similarly demanding titles since those should be easier to run. Bit odd that these games are still such troublemakers considering they're not that obscure.

Really, the biggest hurdle in all of this has been dealing with Android's file management. Moving files around is a bit of a pain and the emulator also stores its folders in some protected folder that regular file managers can't access. Google's app can, but cannot move files there for some reason. I guess I'll just have to see if I can do it via PC later. Not that HD textures are nearly as nice on a small screen but when has practicality ever beaten curiosity?

 

[Great Deceiver]

Now i suppose this is a moot point since it seems there is actually an option for a PC oriented UI and probably my mistake was to use the Steam version where apparently this alternative UI wasn't installed by default. Fair enough, but the inefficiency of the console UI just came as a shock, not the least because i have zero experience with consoles as i never owned one.

I'm just going to ignore the rest of your supremely butthurt wall of text because there's no point.

I have no idea why they changed the default UI from XMB to Ozone (which I've always thought was terrible) or why they removed the desktop menu functionality from the Steam version (that's retarded) - but more importantly, if you're harping on endlessly about the virtues of standalone programs, why would you want to launch an emulator from Steam?

 

[Lyric Suite]

The fact none of the "F" buttons worked is the reason i uninstalled it in the first place.

 

[flyingjohn]

So i tried the steam version of retroarch.
It immediately boots into full screen and none of the f buttons work.
But then again,the steam version is literally a joke that has more bugs and less cores,so anybody choosing that version is asking for trouble.

 

[spekkio]

the thumbnails still don't seem to show up beside the savestates in the list (even if the savestate was made after enabling 'Save State Thumbnails'), as I hoped they would

Tse Tse Fly
They show up in Quick Menu for sure (#17 created with "save thumbnails" enabled):

But not "ingame", when changing slots via F2 / F4. Not sure if that's enough for you.

Maybe you have some OSD options disabled?