Community The Emulation Thread - When That PC Port Just Ain't Happening

[Futaleufu]

Can anyone with some better understanding of CS explain what kind of magic this is?

I have a dual monitor setup, vert 144 Hz Gsync and hori 60 Hz non-Gsync. I have Retroarch setup to support VRR and when I play, say, Raiden Fighters Jet on primary display, it changes the refresh rate on my Gsync screen to 53 Hz, gameplay is smooth, etc.

Just for a lark, I tried playing it on the non-Gsync one, and it also outputs at 53 Hz (according to Retroarch OSD info), I don't see any tearing and the background scrolling is smooth.

Any idea why is this even working? By all accounts it shouldn't work. Is this Windows Compositor doing some black magic? Is this just something that seems to work, but comes at expense of severe input lag or something else? Are my old man eyes not seeing the tearing when it's vertical? Or is my computer just cursed?

Try the Sunset Riders intro, the part where all 4 heroes are shown in a panning shot. In a CRT it's a perfecly smooth scene, it should also be in a monitor with Gsync/Freesync, anything else you'll see stuttering/tearing.

I just remembered there was a MAME variant where, for high speed VRR/gsync/freesync monitors (120+), it would add a blank screen between each shown frame so it would emulate the flicker effect of a CRT, the result was perfect smooth scrolling.

 

[low-G]

Can anyone with some better understanding of CS explain what kind of magic this is?

I have a dual monitor setup, vert 144 Hz Gsync and hori 60 Hz non-Gsync. I have Retroarch setup to support VRR and when I play, say, Raiden Fighters Jet on primary display, it changes the refresh rate on my Gsync screen to 53 Hz, gameplay is smooth, etc.

Just for a lark, I tried playing it on the non-Gsync one, and it also outputs at 53 Hz (according to Retroarch OSD info), I don't see any tearing and the background scrolling is smooth.

Any idea why is this even working? By all accounts it shouldn't work. Is this Windows Compositor doing some black magic? Is this just something that seems to work, but comes at expense of severe input lag or something else? Are my old man eyes not seeing the tearing when it's vertical? Or is my computer just cursed?

Did you happen to leave out that your 60Hz non-Gsync monitor is a CRT?

Maybe Retroarch OSD is no good? Try RSS. Maybe you actually have vsync on? I know Raiden Fighters series looked perfectly smooth on non-Gsync non-CRT displays I used before... maybe it was actually running at 60Hz for a slight speedup in my case??

 

[Alextended]

 

[Li Kao]

I need to free my small SSD, and thus change my Retroarch drive. Can I do that easily without losing my config ?

 

[Parsnip]

An Open-Source PS2 Emulator

PCSX2 is a free, multi-platform and open-source Playstation 2 emulator which supports over 98% of the original PS2 library. Download the latest version or read up on our most recent development progress.

pcsx2.net

Seems like there's some life in PCSX2 this year, hopefully it continues.

 

[texhnolyze]

Good stuff. Hopefully I don't have to use it next year when Nocturne is confirmed not coming to PC. Then I might play it on PCSX2 if so.. Hopefully the copies are still easy enough to obtain.

 

[Durante]

By then you could probably also play the Switch version (with higher resolution/framerate than native).

I'd be surprised if it doesn't come to PC though (but probably not immediately).

 

[Knurek]

By then you could probably also play the Switch version (with higher resolution/framerate than native).

I'd be surprised if it doesn't come to PC though (but probably not immediately).

He obviously meant the superior Digital Devil Saga games.

 

[Parsnip]

Looking at some of the changes in the PCSX2 logs, it seems like there's some concerted effort to clean up the codebase a bit, remove cruft and stuff. Also looking at the people in the comments, it seems like there are some new folks doing stuff too, at least new since I last looked. Cool.

 

[Alextended]

RetroArch 1.9.0 released! – Libretro

I still have some general weirdness like having to text edit the config manually to set shaders to true or the global config just won't apply and they're turned off every app/game launch. Additionally, now my Fighting Commander is not recognized as just an Xbox 360 pad but specifically as a Fighting Commander that gets a "not configured, using fallback" message every launch. That "fallback' seems to be just the same as before so it's alright at the moment.

It all works for most of my stuff just as before, but I can't get it to configure right in Flycast where I have the Commander set as gamepad 2 and even though I change the inputs properly button R2 keeps acting as R (I want it empty) and L2 can't work as R no matter what I change. I use the Commander's top switch set to the right in order to have all different inputs for Saturn (and not only) stuff you see, so I need to set L1 and L2 to the physical L3 and R3 and also set R1 and R2 to the physical L1 and L2, the switch changes them up in this manner. That's the only way to not get duplicate inputs with this gamepad (R1 and R2 are both on the face buttons and on their normal shoulder positioning by default). It just seems a bit screwed up in Flycast now even though I set it properly in Beetle PSX.

Still, it's alright if it doesn't mess up elsewhere, I don't really play multiplayer and only mapped it as a just in case. I guess we just won't play Dreamcast stuff if it occurs, it wouldn't be ideal without an analog stick on the Commander anyway. Also since 1.8.9 I can't find the setting for all users to have control of the menu.

 

[Kvik]

So uh, did anyone get a RetroArch Steam beta key?

 

[Li Kao]

Someone on the Internet told me I need to play Ace Combat. Somebody else already said I needed to play Armored Core.
I'm just lost about where to begin playing.

 

[Valdien]

Someone on the Internet told me I need to play Ace Combat. Somebody else already said I needed to play Armored Core.
I'm just lost about where to begin playing.

I recommend playing Ace Combat. You can safely start with any entry after 3. AC 4, 5 & Zero is generally considered the "holy trinity" among the AC community. They're all standalone stories, so you don't know need to catch up on anything plot-wise, except for a couple of terminologies and countries.

I'd highly suggest you start with the latest entry, AC7. It's a great game, and was my GOTY back in 2019. I've played through the game 3 times since it's release. Excellent soundtrack & sound design. Watching an aircraft blow up so close to the screen never gets old. It's like crack.

It also offers a friendlier control scheme geared towards newcomers that might not feel comfortable using the standard flight control, however, it does take away a lot of mobility.

 

[Knurek]

And if you want to play earlier entries, there's a fanpatch for Ace Combat 3 that backports the entire story that was removed when the game hit the States.

 

[Acidote]

So uh, did anyone get a RetroArch Steam beta key?

Just saw this, and I did.

 

[Kvik]

Just saw this, and I did.

Question: Is the Steam build uploading the entire \saves\ directory to Steam Cloud or just the savegames for the official cores only?

 

[Acidote]

Question: Is the Steam build uploading the entire \saves\ directory to Steam Cloud or just the savegames for the official cores only?

Since the last update, the whole directory. But only if you don't change default directories. The main config file and save states are uploaded too.

 

[Li Kao]

Question that doesn't have a place here time !
Sorry, don't know where to ask

If I buy FF7 or 8 on Steam, in order to play them with retranslation mod (at least in 7 case). How can I add scan lines ?
Make it HD, give it all the HD you want, FF7 poly count is just no. I need my CRT emulation.

 

[Knurek]

Question that doesn't have a place here time !
Sorry, don't know where to ask

If I buy FF7 or 8 on Steam, in order to play them with retranslation mod (at least in 7 case). How can I add scan lines ?
Make it HD, give it all the HD you want, FF7 poly count is just no. I need my CRT emulation.

You can inject CRT shaders with either ReShade, Durante 's GeDoSaTo for DX9 games or by using Special K to chain-inject ReShade, here's how it looked for me with Cosmic Star Heroine:

 

[Li Kao]

It looked good

 

[Kvik]

Since the last update, the whole directory. But only if you don't change default directories. The main config file and save states are uploaded too.

Thanks! It sounds good! I'll be sure to keep an eye on the next beta keys giveaway, then.

 

[Valdien]

An Open-Source PS2 Emulator

PCSX2 is a free, multi-platform and open-source Playstation 2 emulator which supports over 98% of the original PS2 library. Download the latest version or read up on our most recent development progress.

pcsx2.net

Experimental 64-Bit Recompiler support added. Not available in the nightly builds yet, but anyone willing to try can build it themselves.

 

[Alextended]

A RetroArch Steam key. Signed up to get it and test the Steam release but figured I prefer it outside Steam regardless so, here ya go.

You need to react to this post in order to see this content.

 

[didamangi]

A RetroArch Steam key. Signed up to get it and test the Steam release but figured I prefer it outside Steam regardless so, here ya go.
[Hidden content]

Thx a bunch!

 

[Alextended]

Dang, PCSX2 core incoming.

 

[Parsnip]

Cool. Very curious about it in general. This and the main PCSX2 work on code clean ups, refactoring etc is making me happy.

I need to go and read the github bounty thread.

edit: Well it wasn't much a read after all.

 

[Durante]

Switch emulation is really coming along.
After playing BotW at high resolution/FPS on PC and enjoying it a lot I was a bit bummed that I'd probably need to play the sequel on Switch with the constraints that imposes, but it now looks like by the time it releases that might not be an issue at all.

 

[Alextended]

That looks waaay jankier than the 30fps the average implies, yikes.

 

[Durante]

That looks waaay jankier than the 30fps the average implies, yikes.

Yeah, it does. Probably a combination of the game already being janky (in terms of FPS) on the original hardware + emulation jankiness + extra jankines from capturing 30 FPS footage.

 

[SkyStarblaze]

How is BotW on Switch emulator vs CEMU these days?

 

[Durante]

CEMU is still far better for BotW. Better stability and compatibility, far better performance, far more mods/enhancements available.

 

[Knurek]

Yuzu is crash-prone, especially if you're low on RAM.

 

[SkyStarblaze]

Thanks for the heads-up! I'm still amazed at how well the game runs on CEMU after recent performance improvements. I still can't do 4k60 with my GTX 1070 and 8600k but 1440p60 is almost perfectly smooth now,

 

[MegaApple]

You can inject CRT shaders with either ReShade, @Durante 's GeDoSaTo for DX9 games or by using Special K to chain-inject ReShade, here's how it looked for me with Cosmic Star Heroine:

I've never seen anything like this.
I've never used ReShade so I don't know how this is done

 

[Li Kao]

Am I blind or is there no Dolphin core in Retroarch ?

 

[ScreamingTrees]

Am I blind or is there no Dolphin core in Retroarch ?

I think it got lost after the hack. The code is still there but the buildbot doesn't seem to work.

You're much better off using Dolphin standalone anyway. The core was quite a bit outdated and I didn't think it worked very well.

 

[Futaleufu]

Interesting...

 

[sanhora]

 

[Parsnip]

A vid from bsod about that yuzu update as well.


edit: Oh the clip in the tweet is actually from this video.

 

[Li Kao]

Dayum !
I took the occasion offered by the Retroarch Steam Playtest to try Ace Combat 1 and Armored Core 1.
This will be super rough, won't it ?

I mean I can totally ignore the graphics, but these games do not support analog controls. And why is Armored Core 45 fps.

This is a good reminder that I should stop being stupid and wanting to play a series from the beginning. I'm torn. This is rough (again).
Maybe I could rebind the arrow keys to the analog... or where would you start these two series, people ?

 

[Alextended]

 

[gabbo]

Well now, that's quite the thing. I feel like gog and steam releases of DOS titles are going to get really interesting (especially the controller support)

 

[Acidote]

Ooooh, I'm giving that a try for sure.

 

[Alextended]

Well now, that's quite the thing. I feel like gog and steam releases of DOS titles are going to get really interesting (especially the controller support)

You can already remap things to controllers and stuff in dosbox, just seems easier now with the standard RA interface etc. Simplified dosbox basically.

I don't think gog would switch to bundling RetroArch with their dos games instead of dosbox just for one of the cores.

 

[Futaleufu]

You can already remap things to controllers and stuff in dosbox, just seems easier now with the standard RA interface etc. Simplified dosbox basically.

I don't think gog would switch to bundling RetroArch with their dos games instead of dosbox just for one of the cores.

If there is a Windows binary compiled out of this source you can just replace the DOSBox executable in the game folder.

 

[Parsnip]

Lately been thinking about playing through Phantasy Star games starting from the first one on SMS. Seems like Genesis Plus GX is the emulator of choice for both SMS and Mega Drive.

 

[Knurek]

Lately been thinking about playing through Phantasy Star games starting from the first one on SMS. Seems like Genesis Plus GX is the emulator of choice for both SMS and Mega Drive.

You might want to play the first Phantasy Star through Yuzu - the Switch version has great QoL enhancements.

 

[Parsnip]

You might want to play the first Phantasy Star through Yuzu - the Switch version has great QoL enhancements.

Ooh, is that an automap I see. Does it use the original translation?

Why isn't Sega Ages on PC.

 

[MegaApple]

Why isn't Sega Ages on PC.

For real, Sega Ages is one of the best things on 3DS/Switch.
Hopefully shouldn't take much cost to release those.

Lately been thinking about playing through Phantasy Star games starting from the first one on SMS. Seems like Genesis Plus GX is the emulator of choice for both SMS and Mega Drive.

For PSII and PSIII, look out for improvements patches. I heard the grinding on these games is painful.

 

[MegaApple]

What is the best way to emulate Ocarina of Time?

One of the standalone emulators or through a RetroArch Core?