Beginning Some Work On Emu Wiki's


Kumaki

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I'm starting working on some wiki-style write-ups on a number of emus.


The way I'm doing this is to write about each SYSTEM emulated, and mention each - if there is more than one - emulator that does that system.


I'll be talking about usability, friendliness, functionality...some of this will be a bit subjective, I suppose, however will try to keep it as objective as I can.


To that end, I'm asking for a little help...I'm going to start by writing about SEGA Genesis emulation. If anyone would like, please PM me about any games you have found that DO NOT work on SEGA emulation...let me know the game and the emu....or any games you have to tweak to make them work, and what tweak are you doing?


Also, if you have any subjective impressions about the emu in general, please share them with me, and I will try to incorporate them into the work.


I'm doing this because our Wiki pages are fairly out of date, and this will be, for me, a small way in which I can give back to this community since my own coding skills are very limited.
 
How about merging this into the Pandorawiki? That way it will be easy to find and at the same time everybody who wants can chime in?
 
I plan on it, when I've finished the basic thing.


The problem is...the pages are right now so out-of-date I have thought it is best to just start from scratch.


The idea is to get a certain amount of content in there so that a basic format is established...then put it on the Pandora Wiki, so that folks can then update it, etc.


I'm going for a certain level of consistency among all the pages, so I want to establish a sort of basic format first.


This is sort of my way of giving back to this community, since I can't actually code my way out of a paper bag.
 
Here is what I have come up with for SEGA Genesis...


SEGA Genesis (Mega Drive)


SEGA Genesis (known as Mega Drive in Japan, Europe and Australia) was a 16-bit video game console produced by SEGA, and released in 1988 (Japan) 1989 (North America) and 1990 (Europe, Australia) and was the successor to SEGA Master System...and was backward-compatible with that unit when the separately-sold Power Base Converter was installed.


Emulators


Pico Drive 1.80


Ported by Notaz, Pico Drive 1.80 not only emulates Genesis, but also Master System, Sega CD, and Sega 32X. It has a full 5 out of 5 stars rating on Repo. Subjectively, the reasons for this are obvious...from the functionality of the emulator to the user-friendliness of controls, and the compatibility, Pico Drive 1.80 is definitely a superior piece of work.


Adding to the superiority of the work, this file contains an extensive “readme” file which details how to get various things to work, which adds to the overall user-friendliness.


I have personally only used this for emulation of Genesis and Master System.


Basic Controls


While in-game, the SELECT button takes you to the menu, which allows you to Save/Load savestates, Reset Game, Load a new game, Change Options, Configure Controls, or Exit the Emulator. Within each option, the SELECT button takes you back to the first menu...so it is very user-friendly.


Save States


There are up to ten slots available for save states, to load one, you can highlight it and load it...each different savestate shows a screenshot. You can only select from used slots, no need to scroll through all the unused slots.


Options


Here you can set the following:


Save slot – this honestly does not matter, you can pick your Save Slot in Savestates.


Frameskip – recommended setting is Auto. One can select also 0-16.


Region – I'm not sure this matters, default is Auto: US, EU, JP


Show FPS – by default this is “OFF” and probably should stay that way, as showing the FPS would interfere with gameplay...however, if you were not sure of your FPS rate, you could check it by turning this ON.


Enable Sound – by default this is ON, but could be turned OFF, in which case you get no sound.


Sound Quality – by default this is set at 44100 Hz Stereo. I don't see why you'd want to change it, but you can.


Confirm Savestate – set to “writes” by default, this controls when you load or save savestates, if it will give you a message letting you know the savestate was saved or loaded. If set to “writes” it only gives confirmation message on saving. I personally set this to “Both” The other option is “loads” but why you would NOT want confirmation of a save is beyond me.


Display Options – here you can change scale and a few other settings if you like. Default setting of 2x2, 3x2 seems to work nicely.


Mega CD options – you can set those here.


32X options – you can set those here


Advanced options – there are a bunch of settings you can play with here, but I have never found any need or reason to fool with the defaults.


With all other above mentioned options, you can set them globally, or apply them to the currently loaded game only. There is also an option to restore defaults, in case you hopelessly mess something up.


You can also configure controls on this emulator, and save the settings globally...or for the loaded game only.


In-game controls are easy-to-use, and are, as noted above, configurable on either a global, or game-by-game basis. Additionally, in-game the ENTER button acts as a PAUSE.


File Formatting


Genesis files are normally .SMD files


Master System files are normally .SMS files


SEGA CD files can be formatted in a number of ways, it is best to refer to the “readme” for more information.


Known Issues/Compatibility Problems


None.
 
Nice work! Are you going to release it in that form?


I think details like emulator controls are better presented in tables or factsheets like Yoshi's one.
 
Well, this is a starting point.


This is why I'm posting it here, to get some community input.


What I want to establish is a good, user-friendly format that can then be used to write all the wiki's that will follow.


Then they can be put onto the Pandora Wiki, and all users could update them, following that same format...and make them into sort of living documents that would help us all out going forward.


Perhaps it could even lead to some collaboration on various controls in emu's...I'm a proponent of having ALL emu's have a emergency-kill key combo...one which isn't likely to get pressed during emu operation, for example, I like PanMAME's Function+Q that gets you to a kill menu.


This would prevent a bunch of newbies from getting "panic" when they can't kill an emu.


At any rate, your suggestions are appreciated. Can you post me a link to Yoshi's, so I can see that format, and perhaps try to incorporate it?
 
I just would change one litle thing in this very well written text:


SEGA Mega Drive (GENESIS)


SEGA Mega Drive (known as Genesis in USA) was a 16-bit video game console produced by SEGA, and released in 1988 (Japan) 1989 (North America) and 1990 (Europe, Australia) and was the successor to SEGA Master System...and was backward-compatible with that unit when the separately-sold Power Base Converter was installed...


:D
 
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I just would change one litle thing in this very well written text:


SEGA Mega Drive (GENESIS)


SEGA Mega Drive (known as Genesis in USA) was a 16-bit video game console produced by SEGA, and released in 1988 (Japan) 1989 (North America) and 1990 (Europe, Australia) and was the successor to SEGA Master System...and was backward-compatible with that unit when the separately-sold Power Base Converter was installed...


:D

OK.


Forgive me for playing the Ugly American...and putting Genesis before Mega-Drive. :p
 
Herzog Zwei has a bug under PicoDrive, the main sprite is not displayed.
 
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OK.


Forgive me for playing the Ugly American...and putting Genesis before Mega-Drive. :p
It's just because the japanese Original's Console name was "Megadrive" and was kept mostly around the world. Nintendo usualy changed the name of their Consoles outside of Japan so in this case we could write "Nintendo NES, known as Famicom in Japan" or something like that. :)


But I'm not sure about "PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16" because I guess this was never official released here in Europe, at least not here in Germany.
 
There was a company named sodipeng (SOciété de DIstribution de la Pc ENGine) here in France, but not affiliated to NEC.
 
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Thanks for info. I will have to work more on this, but, for now, I am shutting down operations here in preparation for Hurricane Sandy, which is projected to come right over our heads here in PA tomorrow evening....and this is NOT NORMAL for PA. At any rate, I expect a power outage, and the resulting loos of the Internet sometime in the next 24 hours, so I will start more serious work on this once the storm passes.
 
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