Homebrew When do you use VC?

[Birdonwheels]

I know in the past VC was the way to go for any of the older systems, but in 2021 we have some really fantastic emulators for the classic 2d consoles, but also n64 and PSX. I was recommended SNESGX RX for SNES but found SNESGX TX to be a bit better because of the turbo button being removed. So far it's fantastic for CRT gaming w/ doublestrike turned on.

For nes, PCE, and genesis I use wiimednafen because i like the minimalistic ui. And I feel it's more stable than Genesis plus GX. I haven't tried too many n64 and psx games yet. I either want to get one of those when prices go down on used games or when i figure out how to hook my modern nvidia pc up to the crt.

What emulators do you use? Do you use VC? If so, when do you and when do you not?

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello.

First I have chosen "I don't, I use a seperate device",so,using nothing emulated on the Wii is not correct so I changed my Vote to "other".

Because I like to play GameCube Games on the Wii,it is some Kind of "VC".

The other emulated Systems will played on the PC,Original XBox and Nintendo New3DS XL/DSi.
And I am not a Fan of Retroarch....still not...but that is an other Story.

Thank you.

 

[Maeson]

Even if I bought a fair amount of VC games, and I got many, many hours of entertainment out of it in the past, nowadays the only times I use VC is for Nintendo 64 releases and maybe some Neo Geo and Arcade games. Everything else is better emulated for a variety of reasons. I guess the closest answer would be "Homebrew for 2D and VC for 3D", but even then is not exact.

I have little reason to keep using my VC games for older systems because through the use of emulators you have access to many settings, features and possibilities that simply do not exist with VC. I personally use RetroArch-SS for almost everything. A properly set core in RetroArch-SS is fantastic, often giving me a cleaner picture quality than other emulators.

The only thing I use WiiMednafen for is for Virtual Boy, and only because the VB core in Retro-Arch has always been severely flawed. I have not tried the Mega Drive emulator on it because I never had the need. I do not know what to say about you thinking that Genplus GX is less stable, maybe you tried an old or buggy release, maybe bad settings?

Genplus GX is such a great Sega multi-system emulator that eke-eke made that in fact people wanted it to be backported to PC because it was far better than many options on that platform, and the way currently people can use it there is through a RetroArch port. And it has been constantly updated through all these years, the last update was back in December.

mGBA is also fantastic and I use the standalone version over any other GBA emulator. I also have he RX emulators ready if needed, although I mostly use them for Light Gun games and maybe other less basic things.

For PS1 and N64, it is hit and miss, with some games working really well, while others don't. That's why I kept the N64 VC releases handy... Although because I have a PS2 I do not feel like using WiiSXR all that often.

 

[Birdonwheels]

Even if I bought a fair amount of VC games, and I got many, many hours of entertainment out of it in the past, nowadays the only times I use VC is for Nintendo 64 releases and maybe some Neo Geo and Arcade games. Everything else is better emulated for a variety of reasons. I guess the closest answer would be "Homebrew for 2D and VC for 3D", but even then is not exact.

I have little reason to keep using my VC games for older systems because through the use of emulators you have access to many settings, features and possibilities that simply do not exist with VC. I personally use RetroArch-SS for almost everything. A properly set core in RetroArch-SS is fantastic, often giving me a cleaner picture quality than other emulators.

The only thing I use WiiMednafen for is for Virtual Boy, and only because the VB core in Retro-Arch has always been severely flawed. I have not tried the Mega Drive emulator on it because I never had the need. I do not know what to say about you thinking that Genplus GX is less stable, maybe you tried an old or buggy release, maybe bad settings?

Genplus GX is such a great Sega multi-system emulator that eke-eke made that in fact people wanted it to be backported to PC because it was far better than many options on that platform, and the way currently people can use it there is through a RetroArch port. And it has been constantly updated through all these years, the last update was back in December.

mGBA is also fantastic and I use the standalone version over any other GBA emulator. I also have he RX emulators ready if needed, although I mostly use them for Light Gun games and maybe other less basic things.

For PS1 and N64, it is hit and miss, with some games working really well, while others don't. That's why I kept the N64 VC releases handy... Although because I have a PS2 I do not feel like using WiiSXR all that often.

Huh I'll have to look into Retroarch-ss. I found build back from November I could try out, still learning how to compile wii source. I'm glad that genplus gx isn't broke. it could be my sd/usb actually. The problem i had was returning to the homebrew menu/system menu where it'd crash the system when I went to do so. If you're saying it works i'll change out my version for a new one and game on it.

I really want a retroarch like system on the wii personally. It just makes it easier for me to pass over to others and have them pick it up. Speaking of Retroarch on the wii, with the standard 1.9v of Retroarch I have trouble with arcade emulation but that could be a user error. Thank you for the thorough breakdown of what you use for each system. I hope the wii scene keeps on kicking.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Hello.

First I have chosen "I don't, I use a seperate device",so,using nothing emulated on the Wii is not correct so I changed my Vote to "other".

Because I like to play GameCube Games on the Wii,it is some Kind of "VC".

The other emulated Systems will played on the PC,Original XBox and Nintendo New3DS XL/DSi.
And I am not a Fan of Retroarch....still not...but that is an other Story.

Thank you.

You know what, you're right. Especially with nintendont right? The OG Xbox is so good for emulation too. I was very surprised when i tried it out for the first time. I like it for light gun games cause the only gun i have is for my xbox.

 

[Maeson]

I stopped using "official" builds of RetroArch since I found out Retro Arch-SS, which you can download from this link and it's updated by SuperrSonic himself, no need to compile:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qxaagqu9f3q2tdy/RA-HEXAECO.7z/file

I personally never had Genplus GX give me a crash, but if that worries you, you can just use the Genplus GX version inside RetroArch-SS which works fantastically too. Once you have it set up in a way you like it is honestly great, and it has some really neat features, like the Fceumm core having a way to overclock NES games to reduce or eliminate slowdown.

I would pass my configuration files but I changed them to play at 240p to uspcale it later with an OSSC, so it might not be very useful as many TVs don't have support for it anymore but I can help with aspect ratios and such for 480p.

Nintendont is fantastic, not only is a great way to have many of my games accessible with one click, it works great, it has a lot of features and it improves the frame rate of GC games which I still find wild, I could not ask for much more.

I never had an original Xbox so I have no idea how the homebrew scene is on it. I'd think about getting one because it has some interesting games, but... It is way too big, and I have no space for more.

 

[Alexander1970]

I stopped using "official" builds of RetroArch since I found out Retro Arch-SS, which you can download from this link and it's updated by SuperrSonic himself, no need to compile:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qxaagqu9f3q2tdy/RA-HEXAECO.7z/file

Thank you.

I will give it a try,maybe it heals my Retroarch "Phobia".....

 

[djwyman]

Well for me it is a bit all over the place for most of my emulation I use my raspberry pi 3b+ that is made to look like a super famicom with the exception of Sega systems(SMS to 32x) for that I have my hacked gen mini, PlayStation I use my hacked PS3, GameCube and Wii my Wii or Wii U(though that is not really emulation since the Wii and Wii U are beefed up game cubes) with a few n64 games on VC, and NES/SNES light gun(the rest on the pi) games are through emulators on wii. handheld emulation is all done on my n2ds with the exception of psp which up until recently was done on an actual psp(the screen recently died). If all of those places can't play what I want I have my PC to do anything else like maybe sega saturn or some of the newer arcade stuff.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

VC is mostly useless nowadays.
Limited library, big filesizes, little space on real nand, risk of bricks...
Only reason to prefer it over emulation is a few N64 games and some obscure vc arcade released only for japan like Starblade (impossible to emulate on mame).

 

[Birdonwheels]

I stopped using "official" builds of RetroArch since I found out Retro Arch-SS, which you can download from this link and it's updated by SuperrSonic himself, no need to compile:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qxaagqu9f3q2tdy/RA-HEXAECO.7z/file

I personally never had Genplus GX give me a crash, but if that worries you, you can just use the Genplus GX version inside RetroArch-SS which works fantastically too. Once you have it set up in a way you like it is honestly great, and it has some really neat features, like the Fceumm core having a way to overclock NES games to reduce or eliminate slowdown.

I would pass my configuration files but I changed them to play at 240p to uspcale it later with an OSSC, so it might not be very useful as many TVs don't have support for it anymore but I can help with aspect ratios and such for 480p.

Nintendont is fantastic, not only is a great way to have many of my games accessible with one click, it works great, it has a lot of features and it improves the frame rate of GC games which I still find wild, I could not ask for much more.

I never had an original Xbox so I have no idea how the homebrew scene is on it. I'd think about getting one because it has some interesting games, but... It is way too big, and I have no space for more.

That works fantastic! Thanks for the tip, I finally have csp2 on the wii! Would those settings be good for 240p on a 480i crt TV? I think mine looks pretty good at the moment but I'm not sure what to set trap filter to.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Using Virtual console?

Homebrew emulators are the saviors. The virtual console emulators are fine, but with the edits to reduce brightness for epilepsy and just lacking features that emulators older than that have. Is impossible not to use homebrew emulators. Scaling options, fast forward options, ALL GAMES AVAILABLE. Wait what's snes rx tx whatever?

I only know the ones callled GX. Snes9x GX, fceu GX VBA GX, and the best one with GX in the name... F-ZERO GX Genesis plus GX (Because it has a good looking GUI.)

Now if someone knows of any good Turbo Duo exclusive games to try (Besides bonk gate of thunder lord of thunder or castlevania), then maybe I'll actually play that emulator.

 

[JuanMena]

Hm. Interesting question.

I used to have a SONY CRT TV a year ago but ran into some problems and ultimately died. The TV was from 2003, so I guess that was expected.
I think the display plays a big role in Retrogaming here. So all I needed was really stand-alone emulators like SNES9X GX, FCEGEUX ULTRA, VBAGX, etc.
After my TV died, I began to use Retroarch and it was mostly thanks to noimp's work on NEOGEO and CPS3, so I used Retroarch mostly for KOF and SF games.

Later found that Retroarch 9.0 added Video Filter support (different from Overlays) and I "ported" PC's Retroarch overlays to Wii's.
Got an AV 2 VGA signal converter and I've been playing Retroarch on LCD with video filters and overlay support for quite some time now.

As for Virtual Console... have you noticed how much a simple NES game weights?
It weights at least 20 times more than a simple ROM... so of course, Virtual Console for a limited retro library is a big no for me... except on N64.

I think the N64 library on Virtual Console is fine, but it could've been definitely better. So for instance, playing Mario Party 3 via Not64 is nice. But I'd rather play Mario Party 2 via Virtual Console.

In short:

Retroarch:

• ATARI 2600
• NES
• SNES
• GAME BOY
• GAME BOY COLOR
• GAME BOY ADVANCE
• SEGA GENESIS / SEGA MEGADRIVE / SEGA 1000
• TURBOGRAFX / SUPERGRAFX / PC ENGINE
• VIRTUAL BOY
• CAVE STORY
• DOOM 1 / 2 / 3
• NEO GEO
• CPS1
• CPS2
• CPS3
  
• MAME 2000
• MAME 2003

N64:

• Virtual Console
• Not64

I've never been able to load PS1 games so I don't know here.

Gamecube:

• NINTENDON'T
• Original Discs I own

 

[Deleted User]

I've been meaning to fix my Wii since it bricked after an Update, but COVID-19 has delayed that.
Still, I know it's a simple fix that Toy Stores near me can do, so nothing is lost.

My Wii is set up to play all Console Games on Homebrew Emulators which I last updated around 2014, so they may be out of date as would be my knowledge of the latest developments on Homebrew.

I only installed the Official Virtual Consoles, which had the NeoGeo emulation I didn't have on my Emulators.
That said, I'd probably check back here after I un-brick my Wii and learn up on what I can upgrade and do better for my Homebrew.

 

[Maeson]

That works fantastic! Thanks for the tip, I finally have csp2 on the wii! Would those settings be good for 240p on a 480i crt TV? I think mine looks pretty good at the moment but I'm not sure what to set trap filter to.

Well, if you're happy with your setup stay with it! I personally set mine to have things like 8:7 aspect ratio on systems like NES or SNES, which make them look quite a bit better than the standard 4:3 stretched form I played back in the past.

I could share you a couple of config files to let you try.

Using Virtual console?
Wait what's snes rx tx whatever?

I only know the ones callled GX. Snes9x GX, fceu GX VBA GX, and the best one with GX in the name... F-ZERO GX Genesis plus GX (Because it has a good looking GUI.)

Now if someone knows of any good Turbo Duo exclusive games to try (Besides bonk gate of thunder lord of thunder or castlevania), then maybe I'll actually play that emulator.

FceUltra GX and Snes9x GX had "successors" made by Niuus, changing GX to RX. These newer, tweaked versions usually fix, improve or ad features to the older GX emulators. They're basically the most up-to-date versions. That said, Snes9x GX was revived by Bladeoner. Snes9x RX and Snes9x GX have different goals though, the first one puts more focus on performance, the second on more compatibility with games. There's also a third version made by Tanooki, which is what TX stands for, but I haven't tried it.

VBA GX is pretty outdated for GBA games, mGBA is the one to use, it is amazing. It is still great for GB and GBC, though.

PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, while rather obscure outside Japan, was a rather successful system, with many, many good exclusive games (which was the common thing back then, unlike today where everything tries to be everywhere). It also did a great job using its CD-Add on to make good games instead of it being mostly destroyed by western developers trying to make a cheap buck by peddling awful FMV games like what happened to the poor Sega CD.

Here are a few good PC-E/TG-16 games:

[soiler]
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu (Has a lot of differences compared to NES)
New Adventure Island
Gekisha Boy
Blazing Lazers
Coryoon: Child of Dragon
Magical Chase
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Air Zonk
Dragon's Curse (Wonder Boy III)
Neutopia I
Neutopia II (These are Zelda-like adventure games)
[/spoiler]

There are many more, though. It is a pretty sweet little system.

 

[Birdonwheels]

Well for me it is a bit all over the place for most of my emulation I use my raspberry pi 3b+ that is made to look like a super famicom with the exception of Sega systems(SMS to 32x) for that I have my hacked gen mini, PlayStation I use my hacked PS3, GameCube and Wii my Wii or Wii U(though that is not really emulation since the Wii and Wii U are beefed up game cubes) with a few n64 games on VC, and NES/SNES light gun(the rest on the pi) games are through emulators on wii. handheld emulation is all done on my n2ds with the exception of psp which up until recently was done on an actual psp(the screen recently died). If all of those places can't play what I want I have my PC to do anything else like maybe sega saturn or some of the newer arcade stuff.

So many cool devices! I used to be all PC for emulation but now like you I really only do for saturn. Currently trying to find a way to hook up my gaming pc to my crt tv in 240p. Waiting for this little hdmi-to-ypbpr 480i converter box to come in from China that should do the trick. Problem is my gpu might be a biiiitt to new. Looks like I'll be hitting up people for old pc parts.

Well, if you're happy with your setup stay with it! I personally set mine to have things like 8:7 aspect ratio on systems like NES or SNES, which make them look quite a bit better than the standard 4:3 stretched form I played back in the past.

I could share you a couple of config files to let you try.



FceUltra GX and Snes9x GX had "successors" made by Niuus, changing GX to RX. These newer, tweaked versions usually fix, improve or ad features to the older GX emulators. They're basically the most up-to-date versions. That said, Snes9x GX was revived by Bladeoner. Snes9x RX and Snes9x GX have different goals though, the first one puts more focus on performance, the second on more compatibility with games. There's also a third version made by Tanooki, which is what TX stands for, but I haven't tried it.

VBA GX is pretty outdated for GBA games, mGBA is the one to use, it is amazing. It is still great for GB and GBC, though.

PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, while rather obscure outside Japan, was a rather successful system, with many, many good exclusive games (which was the common thing back then, unlike today where everything tries to be everywhere). It also did a great job using its CD-Add on to make good games instead of it being mostly destroyed by western developers trying to make a cheap buck by peddling awful FMV games like what happened to the poor Sega CD.

Here are a few good PC-E/TG-16 games:

[soiler]
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu (Has a lot of differences compared to NES)
New Adventure Island
Gekisha Boy
Blazing Lazers
Coryoon: Child of Dragon
Magical Chase
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Air Zonk
Dragon's Curse (Wonder Boy III)
Neutopia I
Neutopia II (These are Zelda-like adventure games)
[/spoiler]

There are many more, though. It is a pretty sweet little system.

I didn't know about FceUltra GX for nes, I was using wiimednafen. From what I gather then wiimednafen is a new project so i'm probably better off using fceultra for game time and wiimedna. for testing. Looks like I'll have to get my hands dirty and game it up this weekend. My bro and I will make to go through your PC-E list. We never even knew it existed so it's like finding a brand new turbo charged NES!

I've been meaning to fix my Wii since it bricked after an Update, but COVID-19 has delayed that.
Still, I know it's a simple fix that Toy Stores near me can do, so nothing is lost.

My Wii is set up to play all Console Games on Homebrew Emulators which I last updated around 2014, so they may be out of date as would be my knowledge of the latest developments on Homebrew.

I only installed the Official Virtual Consoles, which had the NeoGeo emulation I didn't have on my Emulators.
That said, I'd probably check back here after I un-brick my Wii and learn up on what I can upgrade and do better for my Homebrew.

Ah. I love messing around with a modded wii. It's almost relaxing. Though back when i was a kiddo I was scared shitless. When you're 13, that's like your holy grail breaking. The only mods that make me anxious funny enough is softmodding original xboxes. The last time I upgraded one of those from 8gb to 1tb sata HDD I was scared I was going to break the HDD. As I was handling it while it was running!

 

[Deleted User]

Ah. I love messing around with a modded wii.

I have to agree; the graphics and aesthetics of the Wii generation are also worth the effort, to this day.

My particular unit I bought in SE Asia, and I followed all the Homebrew Guides available for 2014, which stated Updates were fine.
I did not realise that my brand-new Wii was actually a South Korean import which was automatically Region-Locked with said Update, nor did I realise it was commonplace for the SE Asian region to be flooded with said Korean units.

C'est la vie.

 

[Tetsuo Shima]

DOOM 1 / 2 / 3

Doom 3?
Are you referring to Sigil? I've tried to run it with prboom on standard Retroarch and on RA-HEXAEC0, it can run but there are severe slowdowns that make it not possible to play

 

[JuanMena]

Doom 3?
Are you referring to Sigil? I've tried to run it with prboom on standard Retroarch and on RA-HEXAEC0, it can run but there are severe slowdowns that make it not possible to play

I'm afraid I've been able to load it while testing if thwy indeed loaded. Might be confused/wrong though.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Snes9x RX and Snes9x GX have different goals though, the first one puts more focus on performance, the second on more compatibility with games. There's also a third version made by Tanooki, which is what TX stands for, but I haven't tried it.

This just seems confusing.

PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, while rather obscure outside Japan, was a rather successful system, with many, many good exclusive games (which was the common thing back then, unlike today where everything tries to be everywhere). It also did a great job using its CD-Add on to make good games instead of it being mostly destroyed by western developers trying to make a cheap buck by peddling awful FMV games like what happened to the poor Sega CD.

That is a convincing argument compared to sega cd. I don't know a single FMV based game on that console. (I bearly know any games on the console) Kinda hoping for games that don't fall into the category of "Made by the people who created the console" Or the space shooter games that people always seem to bring up when mentioning this Turbo Duo console. The wonder boy clones, bomber man games, bonk... I'm not saying the games are bad at all, just wanted something that makes it a distinguished console compared to the sega genesis and it's arcade based games, or snes with the fighting/rpg games.

 

[Exidous]

I only use VC for N64. Those games which don't emulate at all otherwise, as well as those (usually multiplayer) games where performance is at a premium and I don't want the slowdown which is more common with the homebrew emulators. The big problem with VC is the Wii's small nand, so if you want to use it you're going to need to use emunand. Here's my list of N64 VC games:

Cruis'n USA
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Mario Golf
Mario Kart 64
Mario Party 2
Mario Tennis
Ogre Battle 64
Paper Mario
Pokemon Snap
Sin and Punishment
Star Fox 64
Super Smash Bros
Yoshi's Story

Here are the emulators I otherwise use:
Not64 (N64)
Retroarch (RA-HEXAECO) SNES9x-next (SNES)
Genplus GX (Genesis/Megadrive)
mGBA (GB/C/A)
Retroarch (RA-HEXAECO) Fceumm (NES)
Wii2600 (Atari 2600)

 

[Salron]

I used to use Wii VC all the time but nowadays considering you can emulate all the games there on PC with the appropriate emulator theres not much reason to, or in the case of N64 games that have a low quality emulator you can just load the WAD files on dolphin to get a quality experience.