BSNES -> Higan v092 Released

[Rydian]

Higan (the artist program formerly known as Prince BSNES) is a multi-system (NES, SNES, GB, GBC, and GBA with DS upcoming) emulator that has been updated/released. BSNES (now the SNES core of Higan) is famous for being the only SNES emulator that plays every game to completion

The first official release of higan has been posted. higan is the new name for bsnes, and it continues with the latter's version numbering.

Note that as of now, bsnes still exists. It's a module distributed inside of higan. bsnes is now specific to my SNES emulator.

Due to last minute changes to the emulator interface, and missing support in ananke, I wasn't able to include Cydrak's Nintendo DS emulator dasShiny in this build, but I hope to do so in the next release.

While BSNES was previously split into 32-bit and 64-bit versions with the 32-bit one being less accurate but faster and the 64-bit version being more accurate but slower, Higan takes a different route. There's both a 32-bit and 64-bit distribution, and both are split into three profiles (accuracy, balanced, and performance). The "performance" build should make users on older hardware happy, as it's reported to run Zelda 3 multiple times full speed on an Intel Atom, while still being more accurate than any other SNES emulator.

Do note that when you attempt to run games, you first need to choose the "Import Game" option in the file menu. This will take your standard-format ROM and convert it to the format the emulator needs, after which it will show up in the normal library menus.

Source

Download

 

[EthanObi]

I still will use BSNES V63 because Super gameboy actually WORKS on it.

 

[the_randomizer]

I still will use BSNES V63 because Super gameboy actually WORKS on it.

That and it doesn't have issues with audio crackling (IIRC, Bsnes 073 is considered the fastest as far as overall speed is concerned). Too bad I can't get Higan's 64-bit performance profile to run without said crackling on a Core i7 2670QM when boosted to 3.1 GHz, but I do get very smooth video.

Spoiler

I'd rather not get into the gritty details as to why I don't want to use Byuu's emulators

 

[Rydian]

inb4 at least three more posts in this thread from ^ about disliking byuu/bsnes.

Mean we've already got two in the first page, without ^ even being addressed by another forum memver yet.

 

[pokefloote]

Eh, one person choosing not to use this for one reason or another doesn't change anything.
I, for one, am happy that this option exists. Having a lot of things in one is handy.

 

[the_randomizer]

Eh, one person choosing not to use this for one reason or another doesn't change anything.
I, for one, am happy that this option exists. Having a lot of things in one is handy.

I don't plan on convincing people not to use it, as having multiple emulators in one is quite convenient, I just don't like the ROM importation method, it's a real PITA in my opinion.

 

[Rydian]

I don't plan on convincing people not to use it, as having multiple emulators in one is quite convenient, I just don't like the ROM importation method, it's a real PITA in my opinion.

Thankfully Higan has it built-in now, instead of needing to run a separate program manually. It seems not very useful for normal ROMs, but for other things (addon carts, satellaview or whatever, sufami turbo, etc.) it's best as not every game out there is the whole "ROM+SRAM" thing most emulators were built to manage.

Thankfully Nintendo stopped using the whole addon hardware stuff after the SNES, so we don't have to deal with "special-chip games" on the DS or anything like that.

 

[PolloDiablo]

never heard of this one.
"multi-system (NES, SNES, GB, GBC, and GBA with DS upcoming)"
how good it compares to nestopia, snes9x, vba-m and the others?

EDIT: nvm... I just realized that you need a 43452345-core nuclear powered computer to run this thing

 

[the_randomizer]

Thankfully Higan has it built-in now, instead of needing to run a separate program manually. It seems not very useful for normal ROMs, but for other things (addon carts, satellaview or whatever, sufami turbo, etc.) it's best as not every game out there is the whole "ROM+SRAM" thing most emulators were built to manage.

Thankfully Nintendo stopped using the whole addon hardware stuff after the SNES, so we don't have to deal with "special-chip games" on the DS or anything like that.

For special chip games, you still need the BIOS files for the Cx4, S-DD1, SA-1, etc, but, uh, I already managed to obtain said files. Any suggestions on the audio crackling on the performance profile? If I can get rid of that, I just might use it. I have a Core i7 for crying out loud.

never heard of this one.
"multi-system (NES, SNES, GB, GBC, and GBA with DS upcoming)"
how good it compares to nestopia, snes9x, vba-m and the others?

You'll need a beefy CPU to run those emulators due to being more accurate.

Can someone tell me why the f**k a Core i7 can't emulate without audio issues?

 

[Rydian]

For special chip games, you still need the BIOS files for the Cx4, S-DD1, SA-1, etc, but, uh, I already managed to obtain said files. Any suggestions on the audio crackling on the performance profile? If I can get rid of that, I just might use it. I have a Core i7 for crying out loud.

Yeah I grabbed a copy somewhere as well, since that actually fixes various AI/UI bugs in games.

I don't actually use BSNES/Higan except for testing stuff... haven't done much emulation on the PC in ages.

 

[the_randomizer]

Yeah I grabbed a copy somewhere as well, since that actually fixes various AI/UI bugs in games.

I don't actually use BSNES/Higan except for testing stuff... haven't done much emulation on the PC in ages.

Right, I use Snes9x despite not being 100% accurate, as the only things I care about are stability and SPC700 emulation. Zsnes I avoid like the plague due to the bad audio. Bsnes/Higan I'd use were it not for the aforementioned crackling audio issues.

I don't like the fact that Byuu is defiling Snes9x for 1.54.

 

[Rydian]

^ - There's one more, final one to go!

EDIT: nvm... I just realized that you need a 32-core nuclear powered computer to run this thing

My Q8400 is 2.5 years old and seems to run stuff just fine on the performance build.

 

[Celice]

The internet is a wondrous place, where individuals will shoot down projects simply because of the person behind them, or because they don't align with what the program is intended for--all negatives, such as performance hogs, included.

There's no need to burn the lawns of others you don't agree with. Just stay on your side with your choice of emulators.

 

[the_randomizer]

never heard of this one.
"multi-system (NES, SNES, GB, GBC, and GBA with DS upcoming)"
how good it compares to nestopia, snes9x, vba-m and the others?

EDIT: nvm... I just realized that you need a 32-core nuclear powered computer to run this thing

You got it wrong, you need a 64-core CPU to run it.

Spoiler

Seriously, I can't get the emulator's stupid f***ing performance core to run without audio skipping. The speed itself is fine as I get 60 fps on the Snes-side of things. But seriously, what was Byuu toking when he wrote the ROM loading part of the GUI? Trying to do something different =/= being better

Specs:
CPU - Core i7 2670QM 2.2 GHz (3.1 GHz when Turbo Boost kicks in)
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2
RAM - 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM PC2 10600/ 1333MHz
GPU - nVidia GT555M 1 GB GDDR5
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Nope. Not powerful enough to run Higan 0.92. Too bad for me.

But hey, prove me wrong people, prove me wrong.

 

[Rydian]

Using SD3 (english 1.01 patch) as a test, I'm not seeing any audio skipping, unless it's pretty rare (like every few minutes).

Also No$GBA and other programs did the whole "add to library, then browse from library" thing, and Dolphin wants you to set the ISO directory so it loads up the extra data about them, etc. That said, SNES games aren't just a chip for the ROM and a chip for the SRAM, they're whole PCBs that can have extra processors on them. The existing ROM format is not well-suited to this (it's not standard at all as well, you could have five .smc files that use five different formats) and needed a change, so that's the change he did since other people didn't want anything to do with it.

 

[jimmyemunoz]

I went on byuu forums and asked about the horrible speed issues and I was banned, by the next day! Dude is a prick! There you go Rydian...I took the bait on the last free pass.
For reference, my computer is a year old and HiLAME's audio crackles, video stutters, and I'm running an AMD Phenom Triple Core 2.3 GHz processor. I think it's the coder...

 

[Celice]

I went on byuu forums and asked about the horrible speed issues and I was banned, by the next day! Dude is a prick!.

Were you a prick in how you asked? Care to share your post? Most bans aren't so pathetically handed out, unless warranted by likewise behaviour

 

[Heran Bago]

This thread is sad and you guys can't be happy.

 

[KazoWAR]

Does this include bios?! I thought that was illegal? I tried testing Super Mario RPG, it didn't run at full speed on my machine. I tested Super Mario world after and it was perfectly fine. Then I test Pokemon Crystal and it was insanely glitched. also I can't get gba to work. no idea where to put the bios it wants.

 

[jimmyemunoz]

Were you a prick in how you asked? Care to share your post? Most bans aren't so pathetically handed out, unless warranted by likewise behaviour

I'd quote it if I could but obviously that's not possible. I would say I didn't cross a line that would constitute a ban. Some people, and in this case byuu, are touchy about their creations....