NOTICE: Squarepusher's Older Emulator Ports

[RazorX]

im quite happy to have an all in one emulator but im still waiting for a dreamcast or gamecube emulator lol

[vaalir]

i STILL haven't tried retroarch only installed rogero 4.21 when it came then havent even booted the ps3 since....
ill wait until we see where all this new keystuff is getting us, then i'll get back into zelda on the ps3 <3

[lithium210]

Does retroarch delete the rom after its extracted and youre done playing? I dont want the rom taking up space if the zip is also going to be there.

[STLcardsWS]

Does retroarch delete the rom after its extracted and youre done playing? I dont want the rom taking up space if the zip is also going to be there.

Well yes if you have Cache portion enabled on multiMAN (dev_hdd1) then it will.

Zip Support

For Each Core (except for Final Burn Alpha, (FBA zips play directly)

There are three modes -

EXTRACT ZIP TO CURRENT DIR: When you press 'X' on a ZIP file in the File Browser, its contents will be extracted to the current directory. From there, you can load the ROM and play.

EXTRACT ZIP TO CURRENT DIR AND LOAD FIRST FILE: When you press 'X' on a ZIP file in the File Browser, its contents will be extracted to the current directory. The first ROM that was extracted from the ZIP file that is a ROM will be loaded automatically.

EXTRACT ZIP TO CACHE DIR: When you press 'X' on a ZIP file in the File Browser, its contents will be extracted to the /dev_hdd1/ partition. From there, you can load the ROM and play.
WARNING: Savestates and SRAM files that have been created by loading ROMs from the cache dir this way will be removed after RetroArch has been closed.

[PatrickBatman]

Thats not the only problems they cause.

[lithium210]

Well yes if you have Cache portion enabled on multiMAN (dev_hdd1) then it will.

nm, read that a future version of retroarch will allow full zip support. so it'll extract the zip to the main folder and after youre done playing it'll remove it. Copying to cache doesnt keep saves.

[cupcakesally]

I have to respectfully disagree here. I did try retroarch and while I mostly liked it, it unfortunately screwed up on one of the most important things to me: neogeo games. The old, re-signed version of fbanext, however, plays them all just fine and dandy. I'm sorry but that's a deal breaker to me; I'm sticking with the old one for my neogeo stuffs.

[STLcardsWS]

And i will respectfully disagree and here's why:

Neo Geo works fine in fact much better on RetroArch.

To make NEO-GEO work you most likely need to update your ROMS, They use the MAME Romset 0.145 and you most likely need an updated BIOS. Look for neogeo.zip that is 1,404KB in size. There are many neogeo bios out there but they are old and outdated and will not work.

Once you get everything updated You will see how much better Neo Geo is on RetroArch.


It is like comparing these phones:

Attachment 39372


for RetroArch info and help check this thread

[cunhak9]

is RetroArch better then Mednafen?

[cupcakesally]

I understand the point you're trying to make, but here's mine: I have a set of neogeo roms that I spent a good amount of time and effort to collect. They work in every other emulator I have just fine. They work in the old fbanext just fine. The only place they do not work is in retroarch. So the solution you're offering me is to go out an re-collect all my roms, as well as the bios, in a manner that retroarch likes and just use it anyway? Call me lazy if you will but that seems an awful lot to ask of me when I know the roms work in all the other emus I use(and the older fbanext). Suppose the new roms don't work in my other emus...now I have 2 sets of the same roms I have to keep up with. I don't think that's reasonable so we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one I'm afraid. But that's just my personal preference, and I get that it's a trade off(e.g. I don't get all the enhancements, etc. that retro offers and if the old fbanext goes tits up then that's just tough luck for me cause the devs ain't gonna help).
I do appreciate the info though. Should I ever decide to give it another whirl one day, now I'll know where to start, so thanks for that.

[JOshISPoser]

for the most part. the only thing is that mednafen can load zips and you don't need to change cores. oh, and it's got virtualboy support

you could try just using the new bios for neogeo. that might get some games to work.

[Goku1992]

Well this may sound strange but when I used to have CFW all the emulators that was released pre 2010 - Jan 2011 worked fine without the need of RetroArch.

Once thing I want to add is most of the emulators such as Neo-geo / FBA don't really look well on a HDTV because the quality is very poor even in 1080p

I am just too accustomed to me PSP which it looks amazing on it with the smaller screen.

But bottom line is this is nice while it lasted but it wasn't needed IMO the older ports before this worked as good as this one. Maybe this one offer small tweaks but at the end of the day as long as the game played and saved you were good to go.

/Thread

[STLcardsWS]

@cupcakesally

I can understand that concern and is a valid point. But my notice is about how improved it is as people seem to think its the same emulator in new wrapper and i am trying to educate everyone on the best choice. As i feel many have missed important info. but your point is very valid especially the larger the collection.

As joshisposer stated i would try finding the correct BIOS for RetroArch (its 1404KB in size) and see if that will work with your roms. (just depends on the roms itself)

Now i know there are tools that will update roms. I havent used many of them but in the future i may write a TUT on that one (when i figure out how to use them myself). Seems like it would be needed by some with the same concerns.


But with that said i believe there is much better emulation and shader options for those who upgrade. As well you will always be in line with the PC ports. As when the official PC port of FBA is updated so will RetroArch. not the case with FBAnext as its a dead project.

The official FBA teams has adopted "libretro" that is huge in itself for PS3 users.
So as FBA improves officially PS3 users see the benefits soon after. So FBA will continue to always get better and better.

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@ cunhak9
It hard to say one is better then the other as they dont emulate the same stuff. I use both. I use mednafen for: (as RetroArch dont emulate these)

Virtual Boy
Neo Geo Pocket / Color
NEC PC-FX
Atari 2600
Atari Lynx


The rest I use RetroArch:

because the emulation is much better, and is has continued development as Mednafen on the PS3 is dead. Hasnt seen an update in over a year (We miss you Robo Hobo )

NES
SNES
Gameboy Handelds (GB/GBC/GBA)
FBA
Sega Genesis
Sega Game Gear
Sega Master System
SG-1000 (ony on RetroArch)
SEGA CD (only on RetroArch)

Now RetroArch uses cores from Mednafen (PC port not PS3)
For

Wonderswan / Color
Turbo Grafx 16 / PC-Engine
Turbo GrafX CD / PC-Engine CD
Super Grafx




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@JoshisPoser

Well your right and wrong

Your right sometimes is just needs the updated Bios of neogeo needed (the 1,404KB sized one). In some cases Depends on the roms people have. So it best to find correct BIOS and go from there.

Also zip support is there. FBA directly, other system there are a few options. (see above post) (i may be mistaken but through multiMAN it all works directly, i cant remenber off hand so i could be wrong there)

It would be nice to play them directly as zips but i believe it may come in the future. not sure. But for all the advantages that is minor IMO.

The changing of cores to me is no big deal it adds what 10 seconds or less to the overall process. A trade i will take for vastly improved emulators. (then for people who prefer the older ports this process would be much faster then booting the other standalone emu.)

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@Goku1992

You are wrong in alot of assumptions there.


Just an example take the standalones of genesis plus gx and genesis next. Neither of those will emulate SEGA CD. In RetroArch the geneisis_plus_gx core does and it uses updates from the original genesis_plus_gx from ekeke. Which means the Emulator is always updated and improved. ) So there are many improvements of those ports.

As far as how it looks in HD. That why there are many shader options (Accually with RetroArch you can use two shaders at once) You can achieve a greatly improved looking games through the shaders.


I am confused a bit on this comment:

"But bottom line is this is nice while it lasted but it wasn't needed IMO the older ports before this worked as good as this one. Maybe this one offer small tweaks but at the end of the day as long as the game played and saved you were good to go. "

While it lasted? RetroArch is developing all the time (almost daily) and adding new system that are emulated Small tweaks I'm sorry but you are very wrong in that estimation. There is much more then small tweaks.

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I am just trying to educate everyone as there are many incorrect assumptions of RetroArch and there are not many valid reason to use the older ports. but ultimalty the choice is on the user. Just i want to educate people of RetroArch properly before that choice is made. like i said there are alot of incorrect assumptions.

For people who feel it was not needed or its same thing in a new wrapper. You couldn't be farther from the truth.


People shouldnt resign and distribute old things when it is against the developers wishes and causes more problems then it does in benefiting users. If a users wishes to use the older ports it is their choice but with that said there are tools if they wish to resign them on their own.