School me on emulators

McClintoc

McClintoc

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Since the NES Classic release yesterday was a charlie foxtrot, I want to build an emulator. What all do I need and how do I got about getting all the games?

I already have an HTPC with a dual-core processor, 4GB RAM, SSD and an HD video card. Will that work? Would I just need the emulator software, the games and some USB control pads?

I've never messed with emulators so this all new to me.
 
basically you already know what to do. Emulators are a touchy subject here due to the rules.
 
I believe that some of the newer emulators can utilize DX12. So if you happen to have a chip with more cores, the emulator can utilize them. Of course your dual core will be fine. Just giving you some options if you had something laying around the house or a really cheap unlocked Xeon on Ebay that can be OC'd. ;)
 
McClintoc said:
What all do I need and how do I got about getting all the games?
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All I can say is good luck on getting them legally.

Legal methods involve owning the game already, then finding software and hardware (in the case of cartridge systems) to get the roms.

Illegal methods cannot be discussed in the forum. ;):sneaky:

As a fellow gentlemen of GenMay, I trust you understand.:pompous:
 
Tazman2 said:
Expensive and running a possible "free" emulator to do what it does... waste of money!
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To each their own.

I personally love it, putting in a cartridge, playing with a NES controller. Playing from my couch. Pure nostalgia.

Plus, it's legal.
 
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McClintoc said:
Since the NES Classic release yesterday was a charlie foxtrot, I want to build an emulator. What all do I need and how do I got about getting all the games?

I already have an HTPC with a dual-core processor, 4GB RAM, SSD and an HD video card. Will that work? Would I just need the emulator software, the games and some USB control pads?

I've never messed with emulators so this all new to me.
Click to expand...
Basically. You do have to do some tweaking to get everything they way you like, though. PlayStation and Nintendo 64 emulators require a selection of plugins to emulate the hardware subsystems.

I like BizHawk for GBA, and consoles older than PlayStation.

ePSXe with Pete's plugins is still the standard for PlayStation, in my opinion.

I still like 1964 for Nintendo 64, but plugin selection is highly dependent on the game. Project64 is a standalone contained emulator not requiring plugins, but the newer versions don't provide accurate emulation (it renders and processes as fast as possible).

There is no choice but PCSX2 for PlayStation 2. It comes with everything you need to play games "out of the box" with the exception of needing a BIOS. This one is highly dependent on your CPU when it comes to performance. That said, it ran perfectly for me a decade ago on a Core 2 QX6700 at 2.93 GHz.

There is also no choice but Dolphin for Gamecube and Wii. It works much like PCSX2, but it has become more dependent on your video card in the past few years (which is a good thing).

As far as acquiring games, that can't be talked about here. You're on your own, there. For PS1 and PS2 games you can simply make a 1:1 rip from the discs you own, which is what I did with my own library, but you need a BIOS image. Everything else is more complicated and either requires specialized equipment or illegal means (including BIOS images).

I just use my Xbox ONE controller to play, but there are repro USB controllers or USB adapters you can buy to make the experience more authentic.
 
Emulators have come a long way in the last few years. To the point that they're no longer buggy as hell and are often vastly superior to running the original hardware if you have the juice to push them. Most can at least do 1 to 1 versions with average hardware. Nestopia, Project64, ePSXe, Final Burn Alpha (for arcade games), and Dolphin have served me very well. Newer versions of Dolphin are like playing a 4K version of the Wii with (real) surround sound.
 
Domingo said:
Emulators have come a long way in the last few years. To the point that they're no longer buggy as hell and are often vastly superior to running the original hardware if you have the juice to push them. Most can at least do 1 to 1 versions with average hardware. Nestopia, Project64, ePSXe, Final Burn Alpha (for arcade games), and Dolphin have served me very well. Newer versions of Dolphin are like playing a 4K version of the Wii with (real) surround sound.
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yup, I have a wii in my living room and for any games that don't require the motion controller (smash bro's mario kart ect.) I use dolphin and xbox 360 controllers instead of my actual wii because it looks and sounds way better than using the wii.
 
Just a heads up. All these found ends, fancy videos, and graphics you see for browsing games...

They are cool as shit BUT...

BUT..

They take hours, days, months, if not for ever to setup and get working they way you see it in the videos. You will spend more time setting up the front end and then messing with it then actually playing the games.
 
At one time I think most emulators really were a colossal pain in the ass, but things are much easier now. MAME can be a hassle, but the various stand-alone EMUs have very straightforward options with things like resolution, AA, sound output, etc. More often than not you can just rock the defaults if you're feeling lazy. The Xbox 360 and One pads are pretty universal for anything that doesn't require a Wii-Mote.
They're certainly not for the console crowd, but they're not much more challenging to use than most PC games.
 
Remember that it is illegal to download emulator packages via torrent downloads that include all of the necessary BIOSes and ROMs to get started. This is not legal and is discouraged on this forum.
 
People were talking about alternatives in the later pages of the NES Classic thread here if you didn't see it.

https://hardforum.com/threads/nintendo-classic.1916925/

One of these would do the trick, assuming you don't care so much about how you get roms for it....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J4HTOS...JON5TWN&coliid=I8FZMB06LCNOF&tag=hardfocom-20

And the page for the custom front end it runs...

https://retropie.org.uk/

At the moment, its the hot ticket item since the NES Classic is out of stock everywhere.
 
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If you've waited this long to replay old NES games i'd say it's pretty easy to just wait until the NES classic becomes readily available in a few months.

And I'd point out it's very likely Nintendo will heavily push virtual console titles and being able to play older games on their Switch.
 
As insanely popular as the Classic has been, I have to imagine Nintendo will probably keep making more items like that. A Classic 2 with SDcard ROM packs could be huge.
 
I got the Vilros Raspberry Pi 3 kit and I am trying to put some ROMs on the 32GB SD card that came with the kit. I have the ROMs on my PC and am trying to transfer them to the SD card. However, when I plug the SD card into my PC it shows up as boot drive and my PC says it's only 60MB and about 32MB are taken up with Raspberry Pi files. Why is the SD card showing up so tiny on my PC and how do I get it to show as 32GB so I can put my ROMs on it?
 
McClintoc said:
I got the Vilros Raspberry Pi 3 kit and I am trying to put some ROMs on the 32GB SD card that came with the kit. I have the ROMs on my PC and am trying to transfer them to the SD card. However, when I plug the SD card into my PC it shows up as boot drive and my PC says it's only 60MB and about 32MB are taken up with Raspberry Pi files. Why is the SD card showing up so tiny on my PC and how do I get it to show as 32GB so I can put my ROMs on it?
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I see you decided to dive into the deep end rather than learn to doggy paddle in the shallows first using Windows emulators. You are one brave soul. :cool:

The way it images, it actually creates multiple partitions on the card. The 60MB is a boot partition formatted in Win32, which Windows can read. All you are looking at is key operating system files. The other 30GB is in a partition format that only Linux can read. Because of that, you are going to connect to the Pi after it's booted up and on your network. You will then copy the files over the net.

Here is a great tutorial video. You might want to load it on youtube so you can read his description and links to all the other software you will use.


 
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