NES/SNES emulator on a big screen

[Homerboy]

Hmm this reminds me I need to get an emulator launching off my XBMC machine.

 

[Homerboy]

OH HELL YES
http://lifehacker.com/5523672/turn-your-xbmc-media-center-into-a-video-game-console

 

[slag]

I dug up one of the Xbox 1 controllers and found a 20 foot USB cord. Now I just need to perform the surgery tonight and I should be playing games on the tv in no time. I realize this thread has gone off on a tangent in talking about controllers, but I'm glad it did. Thanks everyone.

 

[Grooveriding]

I use an emulator on my modded PS3

http://psx-scene.com/forums/f6/snes9x-ps3-4-4-4-fw-1-92-fw-3-15-fw-3-41-cfw-3-55-released-75378/

Granted you need to install a custom firmware to make this work, but it's a very nice implementation.

It is still up in the air as to whether or not Sony is going take the use of custom firmware as grounds to ban your console from PSN though, so probably not the best avenue yet.

 

[slag]

Finally got my controller made and had to search for Windows 7 64 bit drivers. Found them and they work great. I played some Zelda fullscreen last night and it was fun. I'll take a picture or video and show you guys the setup. I'm also really thinking about trying XBMC again and ditching WMC7. I think the game integration and movie integration could really be a cool thing and its just something else I'll need to learn.

 

[Homerboy]

Finally got my controller made and had to search for Windows 7 64 bit drivers. Found them and they work great. I played some Zelda fullscreen last night and it was fun. I'll take a picture or video and show you guys the setup. I'm also really thinking about trying XBMC again and ditching WMC7. I think the game integration and movie integration could really be a cool thing and its just something else I'll need to learn.

if you want to try out XBMC just install XBMC LIVE to a USB stick and boot from that. It wont change your HDD at all so you can test it out all you want and not modify your current set up. I'm telling you though, you will NOT go back to WMC7... XBMC trumps them all.

 

[juiio]

Also ZSNES or snes9x have pretty much always been the premier SNES emulators

Depends on what you're looking for. If you are looking for the most accurate SNES emulator, it is easily BSNES. Even the ZSNES and SNES9x authors would tell you the same. Due to how low-level the emulation is, it requires a much beefier machine than SNES9x or ZSNES, but I'd wager that most people on Anandtech easily qualify. Also, the user interface isn't the friendliest, but if the best emulation is the most important thing to you, then it is the only choice.

 

[juiio]

For a controller, I just use a wired Xbox 360 controller. It has worked with every game (emulator or otherwise) on which I have tried it.

 

[lord_emperor]

Depends on what you're looking for. If you are looking for the most accurate SNES emulator, it is easily BSNES. Even the ZSNES and SNES9x authors would tell you the same. Due to how low-level the emulation is, it requires a much beefier machine than SNES9x or ZSNES, but I'd wager that most people on Anandtech easily qualify. Also, the user interface isn't the friendliest, but if the best emulation is the most important thing to you, then it is the only choice.

What's the advantage in "accurate emulation" over the other emulators?

 

[Throckmorton]

Depends on what you're looking for. If you are looking for the most accurate SNES emulator, it is easily BSNES. Even the ZSNES and SNES9x authors would tell you the same. Due to how low-level the emulation is, it requires a much beefier machine than SNES9x or ZSNES, but I'd wager that most people on Anandtech easily qualify. Also, the user interface isn't the friendliest, but if the best emulation is the most important thing to you, then it is the only choice.

How is it more accurate? What's the difference?

 

[juiio]

BSNES emulates at a lower level and seeks to accurately emulate the hardware so that everything just works right. This results in much better timing. ZSNES and SNES9x have game-specific hacks for when things don't work right, to varying success.

People get into a few of the differences in the first few pages of this thread. Basically anything that requires really precise timing will be better on BSNES. Symptoms on other emulators vary from minor things that might not be noticeable without familiarity with the real game on real hardware (sound differences, Triforce spinning at the wrong speed on Zelda, etc) to outright failures (SMRPG hangs).

 

[Throckmorton]

The good thing about Project 64 is you can run Nintendo 64 games at any res, without stretching. Pretty awesome playing Mario 64 in 1920x1080.

It looks like you have stretched images to fit your wide screen though. Are you using a different emulator?

 

[ImpulsE69]

Am I in the minority that prefers the PS controllers to the Xbox controllers? I never could stand them. Maybe its because the PS crontrollers are a natural progression from the old nes/snes ones which I loved.

 

[MentalIlness]

The good thing about Project 64 is you can run Nintendo 64 games at any res, without stretching. Pretty awesome playing Mario 64 in 1920x1080.

It looks like you have stretched images to fit your wide screen though. Are you using a different emulator?

Nope. Using Project 64

 

[Emultra]

I'm using a Saitek PS2700 gamepad for my PC. It has the best d-pad I've ever tried, and that's important for emulation.

For NES I prefer NEStopia. Very nice compatibility and customizability.

 

[slag]

I'm using a Saitek PS2700 gamepad for my PC. It has the best d-pad I've ever tried, and that's important for emulation.

For NES I prefer NEStopia. Very nice compatibility and customizability.

I'm using Jnes right now and it works out of the box. Just set up the controller in about 20 seconds and boom, run it. Looks great fullscreen as well.

 

[juiio]

What's the advantage in "accurate emulation" over the other emulators?

Bumping an old thread, but byuu wrote an article about accuracy that does a good job of explaining some problems and showing some examples.

http://byuu.org/bsnes/accuracy

 

[Castiel]

This thread makes me want to play Mortal Kombat II

 

[Barfo]

Am I in the minority that prefers the PS controllers to the Xbox controllers? I never could stand them. Maybe its because the PS crontrollers are a natural progression from the old nes/snes ones which I loved.

I love my PS2 controller for emulators and XBOX pad for newer stuff. Mostly console ports.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

I'm using Jnes and a $10 Logitec USB gamepad. Runs great even on an older Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop.

Gens+ is a good emulator for SegaCD/Genesis games.

 

[fatpat268]

I use an actual SNES controller for emulators... but the one I use is pretty heavily modified.

It was originally a stock SNES controller, but I converted it to usb with a retrousb kit, and there is also a mini usb hub hardwired to a 4gb flash drive inside. I keep the emulator, roms, and saves on the flash drive so I can hop from computer to computer with it.

Here's a picture of the internals and my semi crappy soldering and hot glue job. It works though.

 

[Born2bwire]

Am I in the minority that prefers the PS controllers to the Xbox controllers? I never could stand them. Maybe its because the PS crontrollers are a natural progression from the old nes/snes ones which I loved.

No, I use a PS3 Sixaxis myself for the same reason. This way, the primary left hand pad is the D-pad, not the analog stick. The only problem is that it is not instantly compatible with Windows like the Xbox360 controller. Instead, I have to use MotioninJoy to get it working. But once I got it working, it works perfectly. I can use it to emulate a PS1 controller for NES or SNES, or a PS2 or a full PS3 controller. I can even emulate an Xbox360 controller so that I can use it in PC games like Dead Space or Batman Arkham Asylum.

The only problem is that the MotioninJoy software is terrible. First, it takes over your bluetooth and you have to connect the via USB to a specific port. If you want to use the bluetooth or switch the USB port, you need to open the program and rollback the drivers but this seems to have varying degrees of success. I also just had trouble getting the damn thing working and setup. As long as it doesn't break, and since I do not need to use the bluetooth for anything, it works wonderfully.

Hmmmm... bSNES seems interesting. I might download the source and compile me a version or just try their executable. The thing about the SNES is that sometimes games actually had slowdowns or other bugs. I'm not too sure if they are as exaggerated as they are on the SNES9x. For example, in Super Castlevania IV there is a room that is spinning thanks to Mode 7 graphics. But in SNES9x, there is a constant slowdown in that room that I cannot imagine would have been allowed to occur with the actual game in real hardware. It's not a problem of CPU power on my end but maybe the emulator is just exaggerating it.

EDIT: Dear God, this thing maxes out my core. Rather annoying to have the fans running that loud. Hmmmm... maybe I will go through the trouble of compiling it using my Intel compilers.

 

[Born2bwire]

Ok, I know that this takes some power to run properly but this is ridiculous. I've got an i7 Q740 CPU and an Nvidia GTX460M. Granted this is a laptop but it was top of the line back in September when I bought it and my simulations don't fair too unfavorably compared to our group's workstation. But bsnes still can't seem to run properly. If I do not have anything else running taking up a core I can get 60 fps but the audio constantly has static. The only time it doesn't is if I use the GDI graphics driver but even then the motion seems to be a bit jumpy despite the claimed framerate. I still can't figure out how to get it into fullscreen, it seems like it should but I can't figure it out. And the picture looks unnecessarily dark. Even adjusting the gamma doesn't seem to make it quite right. I could just be used to the softened picture of SNES9x. Either way, meh. I'm going back to SNES9x.

 

[juiio]

If I do not have anything else running taking up a core I can get 60 fps but the audio constantly has static.

Lower the input frequency setting on the audio tab.

I still can't figure out how to get it into fullscreen, it seems like it should but I can't figure it out.

Alt-enter.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I use an actual SNES controller for emulators... but the one I use is pretty heavily modified.

It was originally a stock SNES controller, but I converted it to usb with a retrousb kit, and there is also a mini usb hub hardwired to a 4gb flash drive inside. I keep the emulator, roms, and saves on the flash drive so I can hop from computer to computer with it.

That's awesome. Don't supose there's a step by step guide for doing something like that.