Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[Nutmeg]

What's the selling point here?

He is explaining things poorly perhaps because he doesn't quite understand but basically what he is enamored with is using the combination of decompilation and API wrappers or polyfilling as the basis for native-PC ports (e.g. the Majora's Mask project he cites is exactly that).

 

[Rincewind]

What's the selling point here?

He is explaining things poorly perhaps because he doesn't quite understand but basically what he is enamored with is using the combination of decompilation and API wrappers or polyfilling as the basis for native-PC ports (e.g. the Majora's Mask project he cites is exactly that).

Ok, cool.

I still don't get it what the fuss is about. From https://github.com/Mr-Wiseguy/N64Recomp:

N64: Recompiled is a tool to statically recompile N64 binaries into C code that can be compiled for any platform. This can be used for ports or tools as well as for simulating behaviors significantly faster than interpreters or dynamic recompilation can. More widely, it can be used in any context where you want to run some part of an N64 binary in a standalone environment.

Significantly faster how? Numbers, stats, or it didn't happen.

I'm very skeptical about the approach, and I have a feeling he's not doing honest apples to apples comparisons when he claims these huge JIT vs static recompilation differences.

I also find the prospect of distributing recompiled stuff instead of the actual bit perfect game dumps that you can run in a proper emulator also a bit depressing (I'm viewing this from a preservation angle).

 

[Nutmeg]

I also find the prospect of distributing recompiled stuff instead of the actual bit perfect game dumps that you can run in a proper emulator is also a bit depressing.

Think of these as akin to source ports for PC games (e.g. eduke32 or DarkPlaces), which is essentially what these projects are. Both source ports and actual emulation and things in between have their place.

 

[Hirato]

Seems obvious in retrospect

I'm not entirely sure if it's so simple and it's just a coincedence that nobody thought of that before

People have.

There are many issues however, one being "Self-modifying code" which is fairly typical of SNES/N64 era games.
This is a writeup from an attempt someone made back in 2013.
https://andrewkelley.me/post/jamulator.html


EDIT As an aside, RPCS3's primary means of functioning is by recompiling the code into native x86_64 code, albeit by still executing everything within a virtual environment it controls and dictates.

 

[Rincewind]

EDIT As an aside, RPCS3's primary means of functioning is by recompiling the code into native x86_64 code, albeit by still executing everything within a virtual environment it controls and dictates.

Yeah, and again, certain kinds of optimisations that are possible in dynamic recompilers (JITs) are impossible or extremely hard in static compilers/recompilers. Hence my skepticism for the approach.

Plus yeah, all sorts of weird low level tricks throw a spanner in the works. Plus the practicality angle, this is not a very good approach with home computer emulators, but can work with consoles where you just have a fixed static set of ROM files.

WinUAE, Basilisk II, DOSBox, etc. have had dynamic recompilers for ages.

We have separate x86_64, ARM, and PPC dynamic recompilers in DOSBox Staging, for instance

 

[Nifft Batuff]

The important thing is to make Nintendo butthurt.

 

[Odoryuk]

The important thing is to make Nintendo butthurt.

Do they even have the means to stop people emulating their old games they don't make money from when people emulate their newest games earlier than people play them on actual Switch console?

 

[Hirato]

EDIT As an aside, RPCS3's primary means of functioning is by recompiling the code into native x86_64 code, albeit by still executing everything within a virtual environment it controls and dictates.

Yeah, and again, certain kinds of optimisations that are possible in dynamic recompilers (JITs) are impossible or extremely hard in static compilers/recompilers. Hence my skepticism for the approach.

I was more just using it as an example where the static compilation method has been used to good success (likely due to a lack of nasty low level tricks being common).
Dynamic recompilation is by far the more compatible method, and that was the conclusion of that writeup from 2013.

 

[Rincewind]

Ok, I got it now what it is. It's not well-suited for general purpose emulators, but basically for making ports. Yeah, kinda cool, it's a narrow specialiastion of a general purpose emulator.

But yeah, once the program starts using self-modfying code or loads code dynamically, you'll need to introduce an interpreter anyway and/or some form of JIT (or get rid of the self-modifying code).

 

[Baron Dupek]

Looks like PS1+PSP and even PS2 emulation power is coming to PS4 and PS5.
Gentlemen - PS5 haz games. Soon... a mere fraction of PS2 library would be massive boost for the dessert that you can see behind the Mike

is this the cure for Sony fanboys seething recently more than usual? Does it remove biterness and bring joy to live again?

music time!

 

[flyingjohn]

Meh, Sony Emulation efforts are doghsit and copyright bullshit will make sure nothing of value gets added. Unlike Nintendo who owns their own IP's, Sony has to beg third parties for permission to put stuff on digital stores.

 

[spekkio]

BROs, it looks like DOSBox Staging got updated to 0.81.1 in May. Which somehow wasn't reported by Rincewind (AFAIK).

Release notes:

https://www.dosbox-staging.org/releases/release-notes/0.81.1/

 

[Rincewind]

Noted spekkio, and I've made a correction.

 

[n0wh3r3]

I want to recommend to you fellow forum members Tear Ring Saga (PSX). For those who have no idea of what that is: story heavy SRPG that I personally found to be more enjoyable than Fire Emblem. I would love to see a modern-day game of this, since it also had a sequel on PS2.

 

[Endemic]

I want to recommend to you fellow forum members Tear Ring Saga (PSX). For those who have no idea of what that is: story heavy SRPG that I personally found to be more enjoyable than Fire Emblem. I would love to see a modern-day game of this, since it also had a sequel on PS2.

I presume you mean something with a AA/AAA budget, since Vestaria Saga already exists.

 

[n0wh3r3]

I want to recommend to you fellow forum members Tear Ring Saga (PSX). For those who have no idea of what that is: story heavy SRPG that I personally found to be more enjoyable than Fire Emblem. I would love to see a modern-day game of this, since it also had a sequel on PS2.

I presume you mean something with a AA/AAA budget, since Vestaria Saga already exists.

I've already got my Vestaria fix. It would be nice to have something similar on Switch.

 

[Endemic]

Unicorn Overlord seems to the closest thing on the Switch as of now. Metaphor: ReFantazio could be good, but it'll probably be a Switch 2 port if it does make it onto Nintendo hardware.

 

[Puukko]

Sometimes things just don't work out. I played a good few hours of Jet Set Radio Future on xemu, to test out the emulator and chill with the game. It was smooth sailing until the first cop cutscene in Rokkaku-dai Heights, where I got past the cutscene, put the game on pause, and returned to find it had crashed, after which every attempt to get past that cutscene would result in a crash. Emulator settings, purging shaders, earlier builds, even nuking GPU drivers. I guess the one thing I could try is a completely different PC (which means moving the entire hard drive image - can't really just extract save files to another emulator either, like CXBX-Reloaded) but if this can happen once, it can happen again.

 

[flyingjohn]

Sometimes things just don't work out.

Xbox emulators are simply cursed.

 

[Baron Dupek]

If for some reasons someone is dealing with early PS3 games requiring DualShock pads - here's workaround for people who don't want to spend bucks on a pad. Source - RPCS3 Discord

It is possible to emulate the SIXAXIS feature (motion controls) available on Playstation controllers with Xbox controllers as well as with KBM.
The following steps show you how to do it on Xbox controllers:
Download DualShock4-emulator then extract the contents to a folder.
Install ViGEmBus. After launching ViGEmBus if it has updates available be sure to install them.
Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2017 or newer.
Run DS4Emulator.exe. You have to keep this tool running in the background.
Right click your game in RPCS3's window -> Create Custom Gamepad Configuration -> Select Dualshock 4 handler on the top left -> Save.
You can now emulate SIXAXIS in the game using the D-Pad buttons on your Xbox controller.

https://github.com/ZeptoBST/DualShock4-emulator/releases
https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus/releases
https://learn.microsoft.com/pl-pl/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

 

[Nifft Batuff]

It is a while that I started seeing in the auto-update of PCSX2 implementations/fixes about "box downsampling". I assume that is similar to the "downsampling" option already present in DuckStation, but I am still not able to find it among the options in PCSX2 nightly. Have anyone tried it?

 

[Arthandas]

Is there any way to emulate button pressure on pcsx2 with a DS4 pad? There's a "pressure modifier" button in the controller config but it does jack shit. I'm playing MGS2 and I'm trying to set it up so I can holster the weapon without shooting, which should be done by slowly releasing the square button.

EDIT: Ok, I figured it out, I was changing the pressure of the modifier key itself while you need to leave it alone and change it in the controller settings tab.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well, this is some bullshit fucking news for https://www.romhacking.net/

Legendary ROM hacking site shutting down after almost 20 years​

I wonder how long before nothing works in the archive?

Site after site after site. Big corpo think that makes their shit attractive?

Fuck off corpo mother fuckers.

I mean some mod sites suck ass too so, FUCK!

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Well, this is some bullshit fucking news for https://www.romhacking.net/

Legendary ROM hacking site shutting down after almost 20 years​

I wonder how long before nothing works in the archive?

Site after site after site. Big corpo think that makes their shit attractive?

Fuck off corpo mother fuckers.

I mean some mod sites suck ass too so, FUCK!

This is not big corpo. This is just the ordinary brain rot.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Yeah this is just drama

GideonZhi posted some stuff in Twitter explaining the view from the opposite side, but Gideon is also involved in some drama in the past so not sure how reliable his account is

In the end of the day it's just a massive loss for the community.