Emulating is suffering

[Anonymous No.963374]

Am I a worthless idiot or is emulating pure frustration?
I can only make 20% of the games work and more than half of those will have something wrong with them.
Is there a guide to make emulating a smoother experience that I should read?
I face many problems from games simply not starting up, to having to stop the game prematurely because an area just decides it won't load, to broken graphics that destroy the atmosphere or simply make it impossible to play.

[Anonymous No.963396]

>>963374
Your CPU probably sucks.
The newer epsxe versions have great playability on the vast majority of the PSX library. Even my phone runs epsxe well.

[Anonymous No.963402]

>>963374
http://emulation-general.wikia.com/wiki/Emulation_General_Wiki
This should help immensely.

[Anonymous No.963412]

From the icon, I'm guessing you're trying to emulate PS1 using ePSXe.

Stop that this instance, read >>963402, and use a better emulator.

[Anonymous No.963418]

>>963412

I've never had any issues with ePSXe..

[Anonymous No.963420]

>>963412
epsxe and retroarch's psx core have very little difference in functionality.

[Anonymous No.963428]

>>963396
>CPU
laptop I bought two years ago, how bad can it be
and the epsxe I downloaded literally 2 weeks or so because I had to format recently
>>963402
thanks will look into it

[Anonymous No.963431]

>>963418
Good for you.

>>963420
Except one requires dicking around with plugins, and one doesn't.

[Anonymous No.963436]

>>963431

Calm down.

[Anonymous No.963442]

>>963439

Thanks.

[Anonymous No.963439]

>>963436
Will do, champ.

[Anonymous No.963447]

>>963431
Damn, having to select a plugin from a drop-down menu for the 3% of the PSX's total library that stock openGL doesn't work for?
That seems like torturous labor.

[Anonymous No.963448]

>>963420

Mednafen PSX is much more accurate than ePSXe (or PCSX-R for that matter), especially in regards to sound. That increased accuracy to the PSX hardware results in less emulation glitches but also higher system requirements. XEBRA is the only other emulator that is of comparable accuracy.

[Anonymous No.963449]

>>963447

That's not how it is and you know it. A lot of games require special hacks for certain effects to work right or not crash. The user should just be able to load a game and play without having to fuck around with shitty hackfest plugins.

[Anonymous No.963451]

>>963374
you may be a worthless idiot, but if that's the case so am i because i came to /vr/ to bitch about emulation actually.

it's fucking hell and i hate it.

[Anonymous No.963452]

>>963374
You'd do well to name a particular game that didn't work for you.

Most emulators today are easy to use and run most games.

[Anonymous No.963467]

With a properly configured Mednafen, the only issue you will ever have is with shitty ISO rips from sites like CoolROM that don't set up CUE sheets or do so poorly, or compressed ECM images like those found on Emuparadise.

[Anonymous No.963490]

>>963452
All crash games worked perfectly.

Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone at some point had some rooms behind bookcases that when I entered the screen went black and nothing happened. I shrugged it off because it wasn't the part of the main progression even though it annoyed me cause I am a completionist. But, a few minutes of gameplay later I reach the transfiguration class and after McGonagal speaks to me the screen goes black again and I can't progress, this time with no alternative. I also noticed the faces are more distorted than I remember from the PS1 game but I didn't really mind that.

FFvii had black squares everywhere except the world map.

FFviii worked great except for the lunar base after or before the cinematic with the lunar cry where the game would freeze completely (except for the sound). For some reason it fixed itself after a few days and I could finish the game normally.

Rayman games won't start, I load the image and the screen just goes black.

Digimon Rumble arena had fucked up graphics that were all over the place. Unplayable.
Medievil worked okay I think.

Spyro looked like shit but maybe that's just how it is, this one I didn't actually play back in the day on a console.

>inb4 you downloaded shit games

[Anonymous No.963494]

>>963467
>properly configured
please go into detail

[Anonymous No.963504]

>>963494
As in having RetroArch, the Mednafen PSX core, and the SCPH550X series of BIOS in the RetroArch system directory. Once all that is in place, you don't need to touch anything anymore.

[Anonymous No.963507]

>>963504
Well, unless the games have shitty CUE sheets, in which case you have to fix them and make sure they're pointing to the correct BIN/ISO/IMG file.

[Anonymous No.963508]

>>963494

That pretty much just means "have scph5501.bin/scph5502.bin/scph5500.bin where Mednafen can find it". Most of the settings it has are just gamepad and visual settings.

[Anonymous No.963529]

Urm, I downloaded mednafen and unzipped, how do I start it? I don't seen an application.

[Anonymous No.963540]

>>963529
really anon?

[Anonymous No.963545]

>>963529

I'd use the libretro version with RetroArch

[Anonymous No.963550]

>>963540
I'm sorry I can't computers

[Anonymous No.963554]

>>963550

Then don't bother with emulation, since that requires knowing how to computer in almost all cases.

[Anonymous No.963556]

>>963529
and xebra sucks dick
I mount the image, I run the game, it shows me the sony logo with some broken audio and then stops
yay
FUCK EMULATING

[Anonymous No.963558]

>>963554
Yea my bad, I thought there would be a user-friendly alternative to ebaying all the games I lost since my childhood and buying a TV just so I can use my playstation.
It's a cruel world.

[Anonymous No.963562]

>>963556

from what I have seen, xebra doesn't load cue or ccd files, you need to select the iso, img or bin.

[Anonymous No.963563]

I couldn't give two shits about accuracy, if I wanted that I'd play an actual console. Which one is compatible with the most games in the PSX library?

[Anonymous No.963564]

>>963428
>epsxe
Well there's your problem right there.

[Anonymous No.963569]

>>963490
You should remove your emulator, redownload the newest version of it and all plugins. Save your memory card files if you must.

Your configuration is clearly fucked. Use the out-of-the-box configuration and see if it works. If it does, then adjust settings one by one until you either find the right visuals for you or break the emulator again. This way you'll know which particular plugin setting breaks your game.

Most likely, you're trying to set ridiculous native resolutions and improbable levels of filtering and/or addon shaders. Don't. 2D games should always be played at native resolution and unfiltered (bilinear at best if you really can't get over the low resolution), while 3D should be set to 2x or 3x times the native resolution and not more, and limit your fitlering. PSX had no filtering and the native res was very low. Many games can be broken if run at modern resolutions.

Don't use shaders until you're comfortable with the settings. Or rather, don't use shaders in PSX emulation.

[Anonymous No.963568]

>>963558
Have you tried that ePSXe launcher program? It lets you set different configs for different games and start them from a menu.

[Anonymous No.963571]

>>963563

Mednafen. Accuracy and compatibility go hand in hand. Alternatively XEBRA but that one can be difficult to use and has a very strange interface.

[Anonymous No.963576]

>>963563
Retroarch with the mednafen core

[Anonymous No.963578]

OP is unsure on how to run ePSXe, and you tell him to use Mednafen.

Gentlemen, I'm sorry, but you're all idiots.

[Anonymous No.963587]

>>963578
ePSXe is bad and requires to fiddle around with the plugins for every single game. And even for plugin-based psx emulators PCSXR is better.
Mednafen works "out of the box" and you need to configure anything.
Yes, we are idiots.

[Anonymous No.963590]

>>963563
>don't give a shit about accuracy
>wants compatibility

It's like saying you don't give a shit about gas efficiency but wanting the car that pollutes the least.

[Anonymous No.963598]

>>963563
>I couldn't give two shits about accuracy
>Which is the most compatible

[Anonymous No.963602]

>>963590
Try as we might, it's never going to be as accurate as the hardware itself; but the closer the better, obviously.

But since I'm pretty broke to buy an actual console right now, it'll have to do.

[Anonymous No.963607]

>>963587
>ePSXe is bad and requires to fiddle around with the plugins for every single game.
Wrong. Default settings work for 95% of games.

Again, OP is asking the equivalent of getting a cracked Photoshop, and you're replaying with thee quivalent of installing Arch Linux. Your advice is not helping.

[Anonymous No.963610]

>>963529

http://emulation-general.wikia.com/wiki/RetroArch

Get the "Configured RetroArch for Windows 64-bit (outdated) " package, then update it using RetroArch-Phoenix.exe and going to the RetroArch>Update RetroArch tab.

Then select the .cue of the game you want to run for "Normal ROM path", and the "libretro core path" to point to the Mednafen-PSX libretro .dll and Start RetroArch.

You can also just run retroarch.exe once it's set up and use your gamepad to navigate RGUI and select core and game. That's the way I do it these days.

[Anonymous No.963613]

>>963607
>Default settings work for 95% of games.

[Anonymous No.963616]

>>963613
>>Default settings work for 95% of games.
This basically. As I described in of my earlier posts I've had very little luck.

[Anonymous No.963619]

>>963613
If you don't have anything useful to add, don't post.

[Anonymous No.963628]

>>963607

No, they don't. You will run into all kinds of problems if with the "95% of games" that don't crash immediately. Plugin hell REQUIRE configuration to get optimal game performance, sorry but that's just a simple fact. You will get all kinds of audio and visual glitches even in popular games if you don't configure anything.

Thanks to accurate, non-plugin emulators we don't have to deal with that shit anymore, the emulator is already using optimal configuration out of the box, all it needs is a BIOS.

[Anonymous No.963632]

>>963619
Sure buddy, go ahead and play epsxe (which is bad to begin with) with the default settings and tell me 19 out of 20 games work right out of the box, sure. And not even the default plugins are good much less their default settings.
Keep pulling those ridiculous numbers out of your ass I'm sure it's all very true if you believe them hard enough

[Anonymous No.963634]

>>963571

Xebra is actually pretty easy to use, I would say the easiest of the bunch. Like in Ootake, most of the technical blabbery on the menus is never used for someone who just wants to play

1. Download a ps1 bios
2. Open Xebra and -File-Open-OS Rom Image and select the bios file
3. -File-Open-CDrom Image and load up your disc image (select the .iso, .bin or .img file you downloaded, if you load the small .cue or .ccd files it will do nothing)
4. -Run- and select one of the 3 methods, 1st is the most precise but more demanding and 3rd is the fastest but there may be glitches, my crappy Atom netbook can work on 2 or 3 depending on the game.

Then you just do steps 3 and 4 to play another game. The other settings you would want to touch are -View-Controller to setup your pad and Width and Height to set the window size. There is no need to mess with video and audio settings out of the box imho.

Also on the Run menu, Open shell and Close shell are used to swap discs, Open shell, load the desired image file, Close shell, just like in a real console.

[Anonymous No.963635]

>>963607
Setting up Mednafen is hardly comparable to installing Arch Linux. The wild hyperbole you're throwing around (source for 95% compatibility with default settings, whatever that means given all the plugins ePSXe can use?) reads to me more like you're more interested in defending your choice of emulator than helping the guy.

[Anonymous No.963638]

>>>/vg/43271164

Emulation questions go here

[Anonymous No.963648]

>>963635
OP needs something that's more easier to sue, not harder to use.

You inferred something wild and longwinded about my supposed emulator choice, but not this? Seriously?

[Anonymous No.963653]

>>963648
How is Mednafen hard to use?

[Anonymous No.963658]

>>963648

RetroArch with Mednafen-PSX is easier to use than ePSXe once you have the right BIOS, and requires no per-game configuration

/thread

[Anonymous No.963657]

>>963648
How is mednafen hard to use, what
Just get retroarch, get the bios, download it's mednafen core, and there it's done. There's no plugins, nothing.
What.

[Anonymous No.963662]

Mednafen doesn't let you switch ISOs in the middle of the game making almost all multi-disc games unplayable.

[Anonymous No.963673]

>>963662
AFAIK only MGS doesn't let you save before swapping disks, but there might be more I believe. They're still trying to figure it out in Retroarch

[Anonymous No.963675]

>>963662

RetroArch supports disc swapping
F1>Disk Options>Disk Append

Mednafen itself does too, you have to use an .m3u playlist with all .cue files for that game.

[Anonymous No.963676]

Can't wait for PSIO to come out since I already own a PS1.

[Anonymous No.963681]

>>963675
Didn't knew it was already implemented. Sweet

[Anonymous No.963684]

>>963634

There are also savestates but are called "Running image" on the File menu.

[Anonymous No.963770]

Can someone recommend a solution for the problem I'm facing with HP1? (screen goes to black between screen transition and I can't continue the game)

[Anonymous No.963854]

>>963770
Change GPU plugins? What plugin are you using?

[Anonymous No.963874]

>>963854
pls m8, I don't know what you're talking about
you mean when I was setting up the emulator? (like that pete something)

[Anonymous No.963916]

>>963874
Yes, when you're setting up the emu. My plugin of choice that offers some semblance of compatibility and speed is 'P.E.Op.S. Soft Driver 1.18'.

[Anonymous No.963950]

>>963770
With ePSXe, try using Pete's D3D plugin for graphics. This plugin offers in-game hotkeys that you can use to change GFX setting mid-game. As I recall, you can access them with the DEL, INS, END, HOME, PageUP and PageDOWN buttons. These helped me with GFX problems that I was having with Dino Crisis 2.

[Anonymous No.964003]

>>963916
Thanks.
>>963950
This is what I'm using and having all these problems.

[Anonymous No.964092]

>>963950
Pete's D3D is a HW accelerated plugin that has problems w/ some games. Legend of Dragoon slideshows during battle transition and Parasite Eve slows down hard core.

[Anonymous No.964101]

>>964092
Tho the only graphical glitches I came across while using Pete's D3D is some missing screens (esp. w/ Logo Splash Screens). I would assume this plugin doesn't like static images for some reason.