The State of Emulation topic

[third_strike]

Depends what you expect from GroovyMAME, if it's for a CRT setup, then nVidia is a bad pick because they're not compatible with CRT_Emudriver, and the latter is only for AMD cards.

With nVidia cards you can use Groovy but not at any refresh rate you'd wish, you'll be limited to a small number fixed custom modes, something like 10 modes, on which all games will lock on to, producing an approximately 99% refresh speed accuracy.
(assuming your version of the nVidia drivers let you create custom resolutions)
Moreover that will be at a fixed native resolution for either a LCD (if that lcd supports non-60Hz refresh rates) or a simple PC CRT.
You could eventually get 15Khz output the old way using Soft15Khz, but it's a really obsolete method I don't recommend.

Much simpler is to get an AMD card with an analogue VGA or DVI-I output (the 'I' is crucial), there are many from the old Radeaon HD series to the later 'R' series that feature those.

I Would use it whit a pc CRT.
Still bad choice?

[orange808]

Depends what you expect from GroovyMAME, if it's for a CRT setup, then nVidia is a bad pick because they're not compatible with CRT_Emudriver, and the latter is only for AMD cards.

With nVidia cards you can use Groovy but not at any refresh rate you'd wish, you'll be limited to a small number fixed custom modes, something like 10 modes, on which all games will lock on to, producing an approximately 99% refresh speed accuracy.
(assuming your version of the nVidia drivers let you create custom resolutions)
Moreover that will be at a fixed native resolution for either a LCD (if that lcd supports non-60Hz refresh rates) or a simple PC CRT.
You could eventually get 15Khz output the old way using Soft15Khz, but it's a really obsolete method I don't recommend.

Much simpler is to get an AMD card with an analogue VGA or DVI-I output (the 'I' is crucial), there are many from the old Radeaon HD series to the later 'R' series that feature those.

I Would use it whit a pc CRT.
Still bad choice?

It's fine, unless you're extremely picky. If you get a good monitor, it's going to be very pretty.

No display lag and CRT motion resolution. Think of it as a midrange solution. You're still blowing plasma (Yeah, I said it. Plasma kinda sucks.), LCD, and OLED out of the water.

If it's a good monitor with low hours (and good color), a PC CRT and GroovyMAME can be a very good affordable solution.

[Xyga]

To get the proper framerates you might still need an AMD though (or with the nVidia you might get the alternative limited fixed modes method working). Resolution-wise I read somewhere you can use some sort of doubled '120Hz 240p' with the proper crt ranges and modes if your monitor supports it, but that it kills the smoothness or something, and well, the scanlines will look super thicc. Better stick to +/-60Hz and apply fake scanlines instead.

Anyway using GroovyMAME over a single 60Hz mode is like using only half of its features and benefits, you're bound to that and forced to play games more or less sped-up or triplebuffered (the latter disable lag reduction and isn't smooth), even if you can control which games are influenced or not with the 'sync_refresh_tolerance' setting it still kinda sucks, I mean it'd be too bad to have a CRT and Groovy, and not use that combo to its better potential, IMO.

[orange808]

Xyga is 100% correct.

But, to be fair, I was referencing using line doubled mode and native refresh rates. No exotic video modes.

If you are short on money and you can find a good PC monitor for free (they are out there), then you're getting a lot of performance for very little. It just depends on how far you want to take it.

[Xyga]

Oh I mentioned that because if the monitor supports '120Hz 240p' (need at least SVGA iirc) I think it's possible to try software BFI along. never tried that myself but I think it's not woth the trouble on a crt anyway. :p

There several different ways to use Groovy, each giving access to more or less features/benefits, and with different levels of complexity/learning curve.
Like;
GM with 60Hz lcd or pc crt (only setting the monitor type)
GM with 60Hz lcd or pc crt, +using lag and smoothness management settings (frame_delay, sync_refresh_tolerance, vsync_offset)
GM with lcd that supports custom modes (some older monitors or several current ViewSonic), using about 10 modes like 54, 55, 56, etc created with the AMD or nVidia control panel or CRU to sync on, producing 99% refresh accuracy
GM with pc crt and similar to above
GM with freesync/gsync lcd setup (not sure if without issues)
GM with 120+Hz lcd (optional software BFI)
GM with pc crt able to handle '120Hz 240p' (optional software BFI)
GM with lcd that supports custom modes, AMD discrete gpu and CRT_Emudriver, 100% refresh accuracy
GM with 15khz crt, AMD discrete gpu w/ only digital out and super resolutions (need something like a working HDMI>VGA converter, still experimental)
GM with 15khz crt, AMD APU with mobo/bios able to output 15khz (hazardous/still experimental)
GM with 15khz crt, AMD discrete gpu w/ VGA or DVI-I and CRT_Emudriver (the full experience)

And I'm sure I'm missing some.

nVidia cards are not completely useless, But it's noticeable that the best are only accessible with an AMD gpu and CRT_Emudriver.

[third_strike]

That is may PC monitor:
https://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-s ... 21-series/
I have two this things.
I am sold please just say me a graphic card model and I will buy it.
Thanks!

[Xyga]

I'm not sure, there are many AMD models, you'll need one from the list under the latest drivers 2.0 beta 15 (Adrenalin 18.5.1 for GCN* cards) either for Windows 7/8 or 10.
http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/v ... php?id=295
Personally I'd go for a mid-range R series (always with at least a VGA or DVI-I out!!! so avoid the RX and Vega if you don't want to bother with adapters) but some users know cheaper-yet-good options.

You might get more enlighted recommendations over at the GroovyMAME forums: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?board=52.0
Do not hesitate to open a thread there to ask anything!
(you will definitely need help the first time to properly set and configure)

[third_strike]

I'm not sure, there are many AMD models, you'll need one from the list under the latest drivers 2.0 beta 15 (Adrenalin 18.5.1 for GCN* cards) either for Windows 7/8 or 10.
http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/v ... php?id=295
Personally I'd go for a mid-range R series (always with at least a VGA or DVI-I out!!! so avoid the RX and Vega if you don't want to bother with adapters) but some users know cheaper-yet-good options.

You might get more enlighted recommendations over at the GroovyMAME forums: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?board=52.0
Do not hesitate to open a thread there to ask anything!
(you will definitely need help the first time to properly set and configure)

Thanks!
i will go with this to test
https://www.gigabyte.com/br/Graphics-Ca ... -rev-11#ov

[Xyga]

This, doesn't really fit here but I don't remember if we had a translated shmups thread, anyway;

Karous (DC) english translation patch: http://segasky.itch.io/karous-eng-translation


off-topic: Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 as well http://www.romhacking.net/translations/4653/

[digitron]

Hey guys, so now that I'm getting settled into Groovymame and got everything running relatively well, someone on the GM forums told me about increasing the frame delay feature for each rom until I start getting frame drops (F11 to show frame drops). It feels good but I'm curious as to what you fellow shumpers are running. I'm running a vertical CRT (RGB modded thanks to Mark on this forum).

[ZellSF]

Not strictly emulation, but dgVoodoo 2.6 has been released adding support D3D9. dgVoodoo 2 is a graphic API wrapper for PC games. It can often help with games that have rendering errors and like emulators allows overriding rendering resolution. Sadly a lot of D3D9 games don't work with resolution overriding, but relevant to this forum, these two seem to work fine:

Raiden III (usually locked to 640x480)
Strania: The Stella Machina (usually locked to 1280x720)

[ZellSF]

Not strictly emulation, but dgVoodoo 2.6 has been released adding support D3D9. dgVoodoo 2 is a graphic API wrapper for PC games. It can often help with games that have rendering errors and like emulators allows overriding rendering resolution. Sadly a lot of D3D9 games don't work with resolution overriding, but relevant to this forum, these two seem to work fine:

Raiden III (usually locked to 640x480)
Strania: The Stella Machina (usually locked to 1280x720)

I also tried the Type X versions of Raiden III & IV with dgVoodoo, both worked, but IV was not fun to get running.

RPSC3 developers are experimenting with various ways of framerate uncapping games, obviously nothing will work universally for all games, but it does sound like some games will work. Long way until RPCS3 will be perfect or I will have a PC capable of running it, but for some reason I never thought 30 FPS games could be unlocked at all and now I'm curious which games will get a massive improvement from this in the future.

Cxbx-Reloaded supports high resolution rendering now, which sounded like fun news until I remembered that none of the games I want to play actually run in the emulator yet.

[WelshMegalodon]

The latest release of bsnes not only features Sameboy integration for quite possibly the most accurate Super Game Boy experience to date, but the feature to end all features - the freaking snow effect from ZSNES.

I literally have no reason to use any other SFC emulator anymore.

[OmegaFlareX]

Didn't bsnes already do FC/NES as well? If so that's a useful piece of software.

[WelshMegalodon]

In celebration of reaching zero issues and zero pull requests on GitHub, I'm releasing bsnes v111 today.

Changelog:

fixed audio crackling in Super Game Boy emulation

[soprano1]

Does anyone know how to assign specific controllers in specific Retro Arch cores? I would like to use my Dual Shock 2 via USB adapter for PSOne and Saturn, and my SF30 for PC Engine/Mega Drive.
Thing is, it only lets me use one or the other, despite using overrides for each core. Besides using another instance of Retro Arch (which is too cumbersome to keep updated and plain stupid), I can't seem to find another solution.
EDIT: After some digging, found a clean, working solution: Had to copy the text from the autoconfig folder of my SF30 cfg file, and paste it on the config/Beetle PCE Fast cfg file, adding a line to assign player 1 with the desired device id. Christ, cumbersome but it works fine without conflicting with my DS2 adapter. Now I can add NeoGeo Pocket and Wonderswan too.

[WelshMegalodon]

That's the thing about RetroArch. The Retropad's existence is based on the assumption that you want one controller for everything.

Does your build support mappings for multiple controllers? It might just be easier to assign universal controls to both and swap them out manually.

[soprano1]

That's the thing about RetroArch. The Retropad's existence is based on the assumption that you want one controller for everything.

Does your build support mappings for multiple controllers? It might just be easier to assign universal controls to both and swap them out manually.

I just finished editing my post, haha.
Thanks for help anyway!

[WelshMegalodon]

higan has had best-in-class WonderSwan emulation for a while, by the way, and byuu recently added what he believes is the most complete Neo Geo Pocket emulation available.

[Udderdude]

Don't know if anyone's pointed this out, but Nvidia released a driver update a few months ago that allows you to reduce the maximum pre-rendered frames from 1 to 0. Yeah, it sends it directly to the screen instead of putting it in any sort of GPU queue. Apparently can lower latency by 10-11ms depending on what's running. But note that this can also cause stuttering and performance drops, too, so use it carefully!

It's called "Ultra" in the control panel. While the previous setting (1 pre-rendered frame) is now "On". And you can set it to 2 or more pre-rendered frames by setting it to "Off". Haven't done any extensive testing, but so far it seems to be working pretty well over here.

Also, MAME 0.217 is adding support for the obscure mechanical arcade game "Cosmo Gang".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xra9NGyt3Ug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltsiUtxLycA

[WelshMegalodon]

Oh, so the bonus stages from Cosmo Gang the Video were based on this. That's pretty neat!

[Xyga]

@Udderdude; sounds A LOT like RA's hard_gpu_sync option, including the potential issues.

Dunno what that does exactly anyway, trying to buffer only a number of scanlines instead of a full frame ? and therefore fitting values have to be re-calculated all the time or something ? well if so I guess that'd be resource-intensive and buggy in cases, yea.

[Udderdude]

Oh, so the bonus stages from Cosmo Gang the Video were based on this. That's pretty neat!

Yeah, that's where it's from. I wonder if it would be possible to make a mechanical simulation out of this game, similar to how Visual Pinball and PinMAME work. There's probably a few more games like this that could benefit from a full mechanical simulation on top of the emulation.

@Udderdude; sounds A LOT like RA's hard_gpu_sync option, including the potential issues.

Dunno what that does exactly anyway, trying to buffer only a number of scanlines instead of a full frame ? and therefore fitting values have to be re-calculated all the time or something ? well if so I guess that'd be resource-intensive and buggy in cases, yea.

I don't think it's doing anything complex involving scanlines or half-frames. Seems like that would be more of a SLI (dual-GPUs) thing. It's just pushing the frame to the screen as soon as it's ready instead of storing it and rendering another frame in advance.

Also, it turns out AMD added a similar option to their own driver awhile back. https://www.techspot.com/article/1879-a ... -anti-lag/

[Xyga]

I'm not saying it has to be complicated, but potentially resource-heavy.

Also I don't think it is possible to 'simply push the frame on the screen' if that feature is intent to keep vsync then there's no way it is avoiding at least a little bit of buffering, which the quoted miliseconds imply.
(the magic is VRR's exclusive, although it is quite simple in the end, and doesn't use vsync)

The description is definitely too similar to hard_gpu_sync, down to the side-effects.
It's kind of the consolation feature for no-VRR poorman's.

I wouldn't be surprised learning later that like for instance the recent cases of integer scaling, and the 'freesync-on-gsync' heist, that this new feature would actually originate from community noise and pressure.
Basically something that could have been ages ago, that crafty devs and users found about recently, and then kinda didn't leave AMD/nVidia any choice but to implement.

I wouldn't be suprised hearing about frame_delay implementation some day as well, a completed version of course.

TL;DR community hacks becoming features.

[Udderdude]

Just noticed something else from 0.217GIT ..

- New Working games: Star Wars Arcade and Wing War

http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/sh ... art=1&vc=1

[WelshMegalodon]

Apparently Ocean Hunter is now playable in recent SVN builds of Supermodel. Has anyone tried it?

[Blinge]

Sigh. What's people's best options for emulating PC-Engine stuff?
Preferably something with any kind of front end cause I don't wanna be fucking around with command lines.. because i don't know what i'm doing.

I just wanted to play Rondo on my PC again.
I'd previously used Retroarch with Mednafen core satisfactorily but now it doesn't work. I tried to fire up Dawn of YS too and that no longer works either.

[M.Knight]

I use Mednafen but on its own, outside of Retroarch. While it doesn't have a front-end, there is no cmd required. Just drag and drop the game on top of the Mednafen exe (without actually moving the file to the folder) to launch it.
I wrote a little tutorial that among other things covers setting up the emulator and get started without issues here if you need help on it : viewtopic.php?t=65968

Before that I used Ootake but it was a bit of a pain, and for CD stuff you had to create virtual drives or burn a CD or something and put it in your physical drive. (WTF)

[WelshMegalodon]

Assuming you've already edited the config file to your liking, you don't even need to know a whole lot about the command line to use Mednafen. It's literally just "cd" to whatever folder has the .exe and then running it with whatever HuCard or CD-ROM2 image you want. Super easy if you keep the folder in C:.

[Blinge]

Ah thanks man. got Mednafen running.. Rondo is working.
But i can't remap the controller. it asks me press buttons to remap but it doesn't seem to stick, then nothing i press does anything to the game.