[General Discussion] The Emulation Thread

Discuss anything and everything about Emulators and ROMs here. For starters I'll talk about what emulators I use:
Kega Fusion: All things Sega related. The best Mega Drive/32x/Mega CD emu out there. The pre-Mega Drive emulation isn't bad either.
ZSNES: Fast, runs most SNES games, enough said there...
Nestopia: Fully supports the Famicom Disk System, which can play the true (and Japan only) Super Mario Bros. 2.
Also I have one gripe: for all those who prgram emulators, PLEASE make at least some of your code in i386 assembler. Pure C++ is just too damn slow for all but the fastest PCs. The fact that most NES Emus run slower than Zsnes really pisses me off.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

H2Kaillera: Arcade Games like MAME featuring Online play! Mostly used for King of Fighters and Marvel Vs. Capcom
Neorage X: Lots of NeoGeo fighting goodness with now obscure titles
ZSNES: I also agree with this for my SNES needs. Very reliable.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

NES
FCEU is the one most supported by the emulation community. You name it, it can do it. And with help of Bisqwits' site, it can do rerecording too.

SNES
ZSNES and SNES9X are both well supported. SNES9X is leading a bit with rerecord support, which ZSNES doesn't have yet.

Genesis
GENS - See FCEU section.

GB/GBC/GBA
Visual Boy Advance - Does a great job and there's a hacked version that supports rerecording.

PSX
ePSXe - The premier emulator

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

MAMEoX has to be the best emulator for playing arcade games on your xbox.

There's basically no slowdown, and if there is there's a warning before the game starts if the emulation isn't proper. There's options to change the framerate throttle, the region, the speed of the games, everything. Hell, it has stuff I don't even understand. It's free, so I would definitly try it if you're into alot of arcade games.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Zsnes - The best snes emulator and its compatible with Zbattle to play a friend online but it currently only supports 2 players. Snesx9 supports 4.

ePSXe - Tons of plugins to make it run faster for your computer and it does a much better job at smoothing out the games than what the ps2 does. It also supports Kaillera but its not perfected.

Chankast - I just got this one and I was hesitent on trying it cause I thought no current dreamcast emulator works but if u get ur options right u can get games to run smooth. You may need a fast computer but I've already played Marvel vs Capcom 2 with good results ^_^. No online for this one.

Gens - Havn't tried it much but I was able to play games smoothly although I couldn't get the sound to run right but I was able to play on Netplay with no problem and it supports sega cd.

MAME - My favorite emulator of choice. Tons of roms, no problems during gameplay and just about all the games runs great when playing online. I've played mvc, kof 98-03, samurai showdown, metal slug , and lots of street fighter games on this. It's just so awsome ^_^ I just wish 3d games ran better and newer games were supported, I'd like to play MvC2 online and CvS2. In any case, this is my Arcade emulator of choice.
Did I also mention that this supports 4 players with certain games as long as u have a decent connection

I was speaking idiomatically.

SNES9x and ZSNES- I have both but I usually use SNES9x for playing the games. Mostly for it's 4 player online support

Gens- I can play any Genesis game on this with no slowdown whatsoever. Another Kaillera favorite.

ePSXe- I love the versatility of this emulator. The ability to basically customize every aspect of it really helps for PC's that use difference plug-in's and the like.

Project 64: Only game I've had trouble playing with this is Snowboard Kids 2 where the audio and game don't sync particularly well, and when I "Sync game to audio" I get a framerate slowdown. Other than that this emulator is perfect.

Visual Boy Advance- I have no trouble at all playing any and all GBC/GBA games on this emulator. Waiting for an online multiplayer option that will be the icing on the cake for this emu gem.

How ya doing, buddy?

I want a PS2 emulator. Isn't there one that was almost developed by now?

It would be great to have a PS2 emulator on your computer.

FELIPE NO

Does anyone else use bsnes for SNES emulation? Definately not as polished as any of the emulators that have been around for a long time, but it shows incredible promise. It's built to be as accurate possible to the actual SNES hardware, and it's one of the few emulators that runs Star Ocean properly (ZSNES and SNES9x both have bugs with it)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by soniclover

I want a PS2 emulator. Isn't there one that was almost developed by now?

It would be great to have a PS2 emulator on your computer.

There is currently one under developement here:
http://www.pcsx2.net/

They seem to move forward with large steps.
0.9 seems to be able to play many games in adequate speeds.-

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Vkamicht

Does anyone else use bsnes for SNES emulation? Definately not as polished as any of the emulators that have been around for a long time, but it shows incredible promise. It's built to be as accurate possible to the actual SNES hardware, and it's one of the few emulators that runs Star Ocean properly (ZSNES and SNES9x both have bugs with it)

I would try it, but it would run so damn slow on my 700MHz Athlon. Until bsnes is optimized for i386 processors, I'll lay off until I get a faster PC. Kega Fusion is a great example how an accurate emulator can be fast (it runs at the same speed as Gens). On everything but 32x, I get over 100fps on default settings.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by soniclover

I want a PS2 emulator. Isn't there one that was almost developed by now?

It would be great to have a PS2 emulator on your computer.

Have fun with that. Even the Dreamcast isn't properly emulated yet, most games don't run at full speed. Gamecube emulators "exist" too, but that doesn't mean they're any good. Actually, Gamecube emulators are fuck useless. Unless you have a 5GHz Pentium 4 with a Radeon 9800 graphisc card, you're not going to be able to play them at even 50%.

Come on now, emulation of current generation consoles is pointless.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Elixir

Have fun with that. Even the Dreamcast isn't properly emulated yet, most games don't run at full speed. Gamecube emulators "exist" too, but that doesn't mean they're any good. Actually, Gamecube emulators are fuck useless. Unless you have a 5GHz Pentium 4 with a Radeon 9800 graphisc card, you're not going to be able to play them at even 50%.

Come on now, emulation of current generation consoles is pointless.

Most current generaation Emus probaly could run on a 2GHz PC (not including the 360 of course). The reason most can't is because it takes at least 10 years after a system comes out for emulators for it to mature (and for emu developers to give enough time to optimize the emulator's code). Look at how far ePSXe still has to go to run as well as Kega Fusion, Zsnes, or even Genecyst. Most emulator development doesn't heat up until the system is discontinued (the GBA being a notable exception).

Most amazing jew boots

I have been playing online alot with Mame32k and notice a lot of sound distortion and slowdown of music. I notice it to while not on net play and was wondering if changing the Buffer Size, and or Sample Rate would help with this.

What do they do and what are those two for anyway...

Thanks!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Can someone please tell me if there is a working version of Rage of the Dragons for MAME yet, god.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I actually have the 0.64 version of mame since it was so popular. I never really had any problems with it. So i'm guessing maybe you just need to try a different version or depending on your soundcard you may can to mess around with the sound options till you get it right.

FELIPE NO

Do you suggest going through the sound options through Mame, or my computer, and what options should I pick through and how? Anyone know...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

you should check the options within mame. You might want to try this version:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b6kczk
Its simpler and runs faster. I also have the Filter settings checked in and I'm at 48000 in the sample rate. Give it a shot, hope that works for ya cause I know that it runs well for me.

EDIT: I also tried finding Rage of dragons but rom servers are so slow. But from what I hear you need a hacked version of nebula with some neorage bio or something like that. Not really sure if thats the real case though

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Thanks Shenlon! I will give it a shot.

P.S. What setting is you buffer size, mine is at the default of 120

How ya doing, buddy?

Oh! I just got Rage of the Dragons, but you'll have to settle for Neorage.

Speaking of which, is there like an online client for Neorage or anything? I want to try dying against other people in Power Instinct: Matrimelee, Samurai Showdown V, or Rage of the Dragons as well.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

These are my picks:

MAME:
Too fucking difficult. For some reason, different versions of the program are selective in what games they will play, I'll try again one day though =\

GB/GBA:
Visual Boy Advance, no contest. I've never had problems with the program, and it has a wide assortment of options from how the screen is emulated to actual video/audio recording and screenshots.

SNES:
ZSNES and Snes9x are my choices. While I prefer Snes9x, ZSNES has grown on me. I just don't like ZSNES's GUI very much.

Genesis:
Gens works excellently, and I don't know of any other really good ones

Playstation:
I personally prefer PSXeven, but ePSXe works too.

NES:
Not sure, I have to get a new one.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

These are my picks:

MAME:
Too fucking difficult. For some reason, different versions of the program are selective in what games they will play, I'll try again one day though =\

GB/GBA:
Visual Boy Advance, no contest. I've never had problems with the program, and it has a wide assortment of options from how the screen is emulated to actual video/audio recording and screenshots.

SNES:
ZSNES and Snes9x are my choices. While I prefer Snes9x, ZSNES has grown on me. I just don't like ZSNES's GUI very much.

Genesis:
Gens works excellently, and I don't know of any other really good ones

Playstation:
I personally prefer PSXeven, but ePSXe works too.

NES:
Not sure, I have to get a new one.

For Genesis, do yourself a favor and get Kega Fusion, once you wean yourself off of Gens, you'll wonder why you ever used it in the first place (though it could be because you didn't know about Kega).
As for NES emus, try Nestopia, it plays most games well and has full FDS support (if you play FDS games that is).

I was speaking idiomatically.

No one here using BlueMSX? Or even an MSX emulator for that matter?! Shame too, for many of the best games are on MSX. I suppose the release of Subsistence will rid many of the users of the MSX emulator. (It supports ColecoVision! ya!)
BlueMSX in itself is a fantastic emulator, and no other emulator comes close to the level of quality with its GUI.

Honestly, what beats this?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Shenlon

Chankast - I just got this one and I was hesitent on trying it cause I thought no current dreamcast emulator works but if u get ur options right u can get games to run smooth. You may need a fast computer but I've already played Marvel vs Capcom 2 with good results ^_^. No online for this one.

Yeah, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 runs really smooth in Chankast. It took me a while to find those two files needed to start playing, but I did it. The only problem with it is the sound and the strange old-looking window thing you need to use to configure your joypad/controller. I tried to emulate Ikaruga. Everything went fine with the first level, but when I went underground, the bullets do not appear at screen. It's not a good idea to play a 2D shooter if can't see the bullets...

FELIPE NO

SNES
Zsnes - I've been using it for 6 years now, nuff said. It runs everything, it's fast and it's got a great GUI. Also, it has a good lot of settings and supports online multiplayer.

NES
Fceu - Fast and smooth. NESticle were gross, so I switched. This has been working out fine for me. The joypad support is a little weak in my opinion.

PSX
ePSXe - Feels like the one and only for PSX-emulation. Maybe a little annoying to set upp everything in the beginning.

GBA
Virtualboy Advance - Just like Fceu, fast and smooth, it runs everything gameboy related.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

my emulators:

gba - visual boy advance: the best there is for gba emulation.
gb(c) - bgb. more accurate in sound emulation than vba is.
nes - fce ultra- plays just about everything accurately.
sms - meka is the best here.
n64 - project64.
playstation - epsxe
genesis - kega fusion for sound accuracy, gens for multiplayer.

Jam it back in, in the dark.