Can I skin FCEUltra?

[Dastan]

'Cuz I don't really lke the red! I mean is my favorite colour, but I don't like how it looks, just like an old LaunchELF (not UlaunchELF)!

EDIT: I posted here cuz there isn't any FCEUltra forum!

[dlanor]

'Cuz I don't really lke the red! I mean is my favorite colour, but I don't like how it looks, just like an old LaunchELF (not UlaunchELF)!

EDIT: I posted here cuz there isn't any FCEUltra forum!
Yes, FCEUltra can be skinned, and it is done in ways closely related to uLE, since much of the code used for it was 'donated' by uLE, and then modified by ragnarok2040.

The big problem is that the skinning is not supported by the internal config menus of FCEU, so you'll have to do it by editing the CNF files yourself. But since they use the same CNF parsing methods as uLE, this is easily done in a normal text editor.

I'm attaching a ZIP containing a setup I've used myself. This contains the FCEUMM folder you should copy to the MC (backup your own first if it contains anything you want to keep), as well as a small skin art collection (also useful for other stuff than FCEU) which is intended for your USB drive.

As configured the FCEUltra.cnf refers to the skin.cnf which in turn refers to two picture files named ancients_legacy_640x480.jpg (main background) and DCyan.png (menu background).

All of that can be modified as you please, as long as the paths are correct. And you should remember to adapt the TextColor setting in the skin.cnf, to give a suitable contrast to the background picture. It works fine as configured, but with a different background picture the TextColor may need tweaking.

Best regards: dlanor

[vsub]

What I'm doing wrong?
I just edit the skin.cnf to point the two images that I choose to my mc0:/FCEUMM/ folder and place two pictures from the folder(one jpg and one png)there but nothing's happen?

BGTexture = mc0:/FCEUMM/ANCIENTS.JPG
BGMenu = mc0:/FCEUMM/DCYAN.PNG

[JNABK]

It might be the version of FCEUltra your using, ragnarok2040 has mentioned that he has not fixed the configurations for skins and also some other configurations dont even work.

Try using the 0.9.3 version, it will allow a skin to display, but you cant use any configuration changes from default it it will only crash the app.

Heres the thread FCEUltra for PS2 (http://psx-scene.com/forums/ps2-homebrew-dev-emu-scene/51658-fceultra-for-ps2-a.html) , its not a lot of pages, but should help explain some things.

[vsub]

It might be the version of FCEUltra your using, ragnarok2040 has mentioned that he has not fixed the configurations for skins and also some other configurations dont even work.

Try using the 0.9.3 version, it will allow a skin to display, but you cant use any configuration changes from default it it will only crash the app.

Heres the thread FCEUltra for PS2 (http://psx-scene.com/forums/ps2-homebrew-dev-emu-scene/51658-fceultra-for-ps2-a.html) , its not a lot of pages, but should help explain some things.

I have 0.90i and tried 0.9.3 too but no skin again and 0.9.3 crashes A LOT more than 0.90i(when I tried to save my settings,when I tried to exit to BOOT.ELF and when I tried to load a game).I'm staying with 0.90i for now

[JNABK]

Yea, thats the downside to using a skin with 0.9.3, you cant save anything. Then it works ok with the skin, but if you try saving any configurations, it will crash and blackscreen on next boot up or restart.

Well im sure the new version will be coming out soon, ragnarok2040 has been making good progress and giving reports on it, he seems close to a release. :)

[vsub]

Yea, thats the downside to using a skin with 0.9.3, you cant save anything. Then it works ok with the skin, but if you try saving any configurations, it will crash and blackscreen on next boot up or restart.

Well im sure the new version will be coming out soon, ragnarok2040 has been making good progress and giving reports on it, he seems close to a release. :)

I think almost every game that I tried was working without problems and the only problem that I've encounter(it's known problem)is the skipping sound if I use NTSC for emulation.I hope on the next version this will be fixed too

[JNABK]

Well i got the impression that the first set of betas of FCEUltra were just half assed ports with some bug fixes just to make it useable.

The one he is working on now, from the updates ive read, its pretty much a brand new NES emu written almost from scratch.

[dlanor]

Well i got the impression that the first set of betas of FCEUltra were just half assed ports with some bug fixes just to make it useable.
That may be true of the very first betas (what program is acceptable at that stage?), but it is definitely not true for later ones.

FCEUltra v0.92 r2 is really an excellent program, fully skinnable, with user-defined in-game pad usage, return-to-uLE capability, and a uLE-related browser with access to MC,USB and HDD. The only limitation preventing it from being released as a non-beta is that some features have no support in the internal configuration menu. So several CNF entries, both for skin.cnf and for FCEUltra.cnf, must be edited 'manually'. But this can be done quite easily, once you know what to do, as both those files are uLE-style CNF files, which can be modified in any normal text editor, like the one of uLE.

This is the last version I know of which is NOT in any way affected by the problems which have plagued newer releases (0.93+)

The one he is working on now, from the updates ive read, its pretty much a brand new NES emu written almost from scratch.
Well, it's hard to say how much it has changed before trying it really. Personally I hope that a lot of features remain as they were in v0.92r2, as I like that version a lot. It just needs fuller support for all features in the configuration menus

But I understand that a lot of his work has been invested in enhancing the libs used for the emulator, so that those improvements can also benefit other projects (including his snes9x project).

Best regards: dlanor

[JNABK]

I had problems with some of the other earlier versions, ranging from configuration to device issues. Only 0.9.3 seemed to work best for me, with the exception you cant use a skin and save configurations without a crash...its either/or, but not both. I havent tried the 0.9.2 r2, but i'll just wait for the next release.

Im sure its going to be top notch.;)

[metehan]

That may be true of the very first betas (what program is acceptable at that stage?), but it is definitely not true for later ones.

FCEUltra v0.92 r2 is really an excellent program, fully skinnable, with user-defined in-game pad usage, return-to-uLE capability, and a uLE-related browser with access to MC,USB and HDD. The only limitation preventing it from being released as a non-beta is that some features have no support in the internal configuration menu. So several CNF entries, both for skin.cnf and for FCEUltra.cnf, must be edited 'manually'. But this can be done quite easily, once you know what to do, as both those files are uLE-style CNF files, which can be modified in any normal text editor, like the one of uLE.

This is the last version I know of which is NOT in any way affected by the problems which have plagued newer releases (0.93+)

Well, it's hard to say how much it has changed before trying it really. Personally I hope that a lot of features remain as they were in v0.92r2, as I like that version a lot. It just needs fuller support for all features in the configuration menus

But I understand that a lot of his work has been invested in enhancing the libs used for the emulator, so that those improvements can also benefit other projects (including his snes9x project).

Best regards: dlanor

can we use analog controller in 0.92 ? i cant ..

[CaptainHIT]

can we use analog controller in 0.92 ? i cant ..

Yes we can. It's working by default.

[metehan]

it's not working by default i tried :chinscrat

strange..

[dlanor]

it's not working by default i tried :chinscrat

strange..
Perhaps there is some misunderstanding here:

The analog controllers work perfectly.
But the analog joysticks are not implemented.
So even with an analog controller, you must use D-pad rather than joystick.


What we really want here is some option to map the analog joysticks (at least the left one) to match the functionality of D-pad buttons and possibly the others as well (on right stick).

So if we push left stick straight up (+/- 22 degrees) then this should have the same effect as pushing the D-pad UP button, while a push up+right at a 45 degree angle (+/- 22 degrees) should have the same effect as pushing both D-pad UP and RIGHT buttons simultaneously, and so on...


But that will probably be implemented in some future version, when ragnarok2040 has finished his current work on PS2SDK lib improvements.

Best regards: dlanor