Emulators VS actual hardware

[Foxi4]

wrong, games depending on VI will cause weird sound effects, or broken music, or de-sync.

for such there's just the real hardware, or an insanely fast comp

So... not wrong, because it can clearly be achieved by software means. ;O;

 

[Zeliga]

I only play on emulators to try games out before I buy them on ebay.

 

[tbgtbg]

Component – Same quality as RGB and quite commonly supported by displays across Australia and America. Unfortunately only 5th gen (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube) consoles and onwards support it. Great quality.

If you go up to 480p or HD resolutions (which admittedly not all games in that gen supported, and often in European versions even less supported it) component would be better quality, not the same, since RGB doesn't go that high.

The Mega Drive 1 has nice sounding audio, but a shitty Sony CXA 1145 video encoder. On top of that the system outputs RF and RGB.
...
You could choose a model two Mega drive. It has a good quality Sony CXA 1645 video encoder, but still needs modding to support composite and s-video.

I don't know where you got the idea that the Genesis doesn't support composite, but it's 100% wrong. All models support composite, no modding needed. S-video does need a mod, that is true.

 

[Coto]

So... not wrong, because it can clearly be achieved by software means. ;O;

Dream with your 100% accurate sega saturn, someday it may happen ;o;

meanwhile, i was reading delroth pdfs (along r4300i interpreter), and the software solutions at hand are extremely demanding..

I may have a vague idea how to take timer interrupts from CPU, GPU and audio, and sync them in one thread (event occur), rather the known method from VI retrace.

 

[Foxi4]

Dream with your 100% accurate sega saturn, someday it may happen ;o;

Here's for hoping it'll happen before I'm on my deathbed... then again, I don't have a reason to desire one - I have a Saturn. ;O;

 

[the_raging_snorlax]

I don't know where you got the idea that the Genesis doesn't support composite, but it's 100% wrong. All models support composite, no modding needed. S-video does need a mod, that is true.

I have two Mega Drive 1's at home. They support RF and RGB only. There would not be Youtube videos explaining how to do a composite mod if the system already supported it.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

I kind of sit in both camps on this one, I like to collect the old games and manuals and magazines as a collector. As a pure gamer yes a Wii with emulation is just loads more convenient for me. So my solution? I do both

No need to unpack 20 boxes find and untangle cables, find a spare power outlet (LOL good luck with that one...) ok ok find something that can be unplugged while I play the machine... plus as was mentioned in the OP emulation is really really good on the Wii.

Cheat codes is the one area where having actual hardware is still best. GameGenie or GameShark codes work best on the actual hardware. I have found the emulators are hit and miss on codes. Some work fine and some do not seem to do anything at all.

One final plus side for emulation.... No power glove or Uforce or Activator.... lol

 

[tbgtbg]

I have two Mega Drive 1's at home. They support RF and RGB only. There would not be Youtube videos explaining how to do a composite mod if the system already supported it.

Yeah, well, I have a Genesis 1 and a Genesis 2 and both are completely unmodded and both support composite.

I'm not sitting through a 15 min video, but I'd wager that this "composite" mod is just to add composite jacks to the system, so you can use regular RCA cables instead of Sega's A/V cables.

If you have the Sega cables, you can use composite without any mods. This is a fact.



Model 1 uses a different cable than model 2, but the same cable as a Master System.

 

[Thomas83Lin]

Yes it supports composite and mono sound through the Din plug. looking at pin outs anyways. I modded mine for both Comp and S-video. no special cables needed

 

[Foxi4]

The Model 1 Genesis has an RF plug and an 8-pin plug for Composite video, RGB and Mono audio with Stereo audio available from the front headphone jack, the Model 2 on the other hand has a RF plug and a 9-pin plug for Composite/RGB and Stereo sound.

Here's the plug pin-outs:

To squeeze out S-Video out of a Genesis, modifications are required because S-Video uses Chroma and Luma, not Red/Green/Blue or Composite. As such, you have to extract those signals from the graphics chip itself as they are not provided on the standard plug.

RF - typical radio frequency plug for old televisions, video and audio jumbled together
Composite - yellow plug for video, colours composited together, separate plugs for audio
Component - three separate plugs for YPbPr (Luma, Difference between Luma and Blue, Difference between Luma and Red) with additional plugs for audio
S-Video - one four-pin plug with Chroma, Luma, C-Ground and Y-Ground
RGB - 21-pin SCART connector, colours are separate

 

[Plstic]

I only use one emulator and that's GroovyMAME because Arcade PCBs are waaaay to expensive. Plus I have it hooked up to a Sony PVM because groovy mame supports the real aspect ratios of the games.

 

[the_raging_snorlax]

Yeah, well, I have a Genesis 1 and a Genesis 2 and both are completely unmodded and both support composite.

I'm not sitting through a 15 min video, but I'd wager that this "composite" mod is just to add composite jacks to the system, so you can use regular RCA cables instead of Sega's A/V cables.

If you have the Sega cables, you can use composite without any mods. This is a fact.



Model 1 uses a different cable than model 2, but the same cable as a Master System.

It seems I was wrong. I had no idea these cables exist. I thought the sega AV jack was for RGB only which I can't use so I never gave it much attention. The mod I linked to adds a composite jack to the system just as you guessed.

 

[garbanzox]

This thread has got me thinking about ditching my consoles and going back to emulation. Does anyone know a good place where I can sell some gently used EverDrive flash carts?

 

[the_randomizer]

This thread has got me thinking about ditching my consoles and going back to emulation. Does anyone know a good place where I can sell some gently used EverDrive flash carts?

You can always sell them to me Maybe the Snes one I don't want to pay the $100 or whatever the full price for the Snes flashcart is.

 

[Dhampir]

I enjoy playing on the real hardware when it's around, but emulation is so convenient and I've been involved in the scene for so many years that it's just the way I prefer to game now.

 

[the_randomizer]

BSNES has already changed name to Higan and also supports GB, GBC, GBA and NES along with SNES.

I couldn't say if it emulates all of those with maximum accuracy, but I would assume it does.

Snes is spot on, the other emulators aren't fully cycle-accurate; you're better off getting standalone emulators for the other consoles emulated in Higan, not to mention you need BIOS files for the other systems and special chips, which I don't agree with. The system requirements for the other emulated systems is a bit uh, exorbitant.

 

[Fishaman P]

project 64 emulates quite well all the games played on it

You and I need to have a talk in that alley over there.

 

[Chary]

I much prefer the original console for playing a game. Although, emulating has nice benefits, such as Dolphin's up scaling, or being able to use save states. It's a matter of preference at this point.

 

[trumpet-205]

Accuracy is vital, though it can be costly for performance and requirements if too much emphasis is on cycle accuracy, there must be a balance IMHO Bsnes is an example of what not to do, no Snes emulator should require a Core 2 Duo or Core i3 to achieve full speed with Super FX, S-DD1, etc emulation.

Higan (formerly) bsnes, can achieve full speed on accuracy profile on post-2010 good desktop hardware. Many people haven't upgraded their PC in a long time, or use laptop instead.

Also, Higan served two purposes: to emulate system 100% accurately and to serve as an accurate documention of system inner working. Higan itself is literally SNES's version of Gray's Anatomy. Recently byuu also achieved cycle accuracy of GB/GBC PPU on his own (older bsnes version byuu borrowed codes from Gambatte). If you are an accuracy nerd know that Higan didn't go all the way with accuracy. it could technically go with circuit accuracy. No longer emulating system, you are emulating circuits.

If you want balance, use Snes9x. It is pretty good; even DSP core is written by byuu.

 

[the_randomizer]

Higan (formerly) bsnes, can achieve full speed on accuracy profile on post-2010 good desktop hardware. Many people haven't upgraded their PC in a long time, or use laptop instead.

Also, Higan served two purposes: to emulate system 100% accurately and to serve as an accurate documention of system inner working. Higan itself is literally SNES's version of Gray's Anatomy. Recently byuu also achieved cycle accuracy of GB/GBC PPU on his own (older bsnes version byuu borrowed codes from Gambatte). If you are an accuracy nerd know that Higan didn't go all the way with accuracy. it could technically go with circuit accuracy. No longer emulating system, you are emulating circuits.

If you want balance, use Snes9x. It is pretty good; even DSP core is written by byuu.

I'm actually biased towards Snes9x because, yes, I do care about accuracy, especially in the audio department, but what I don't like is the fact I hear my CPU fan kicking up audibly when I run Higan, it worries me just how much of the Core i5 it's using. But I also like balanced performance as well. All the games I run work on Snes9x perfectly as far as I can tell, and I love the Wii port on RetroArch, no frame skipping whatsoever. The S-SMP/DSP core was written by Blargg and Byuu, which I believe is cycle accurate and spot on with the real Snes hardware, Squaresoft games sound especially immaculate to my sensitive ears I don't mind accuracy, but, I have my limits to the accuracy<->performance balance I mean, my system can run it just fine, I just don't know how much strain it's putting on the CPU is all. Snes9x isn't as resource-intensive. Genesis Plus GX is also very accurate, even past Kega Fusion, it's my favorite Genesis/Megadrive emulator.