SentaiBrad

We did this testing a long time ago, extensively. a SATA3, USB3 or SSD is sufficient and as long as the RAM Cache is kept appropriate to the the amount of system RAM you have that should also be fine.

It used to be that once you hit 5k in your library it would automatically start to slow down, we proved this. However, recently XML splitting has occured and caching has gotten a whole hell of a lot better, so it's murkier now. Don't get me wrong, better hardware all the way around will help period, but to what extent. The hardware requirements still sit with CPU with HDD and RAM about even in some respects. If you turn off RAM Caching for example, Hard Drive usage shoots up. The biggest spikes come from the cache generally speaking, but at a certain point between the code and the CPU a faster hard drive wont neceserilly make a huge difference if the hard drive is moving faster than the software can chug through code. I could be wrong, but I've talked to Jason about LaunchBox for over 2 years now, so I should (Hope) have my facts correct.

I would test with my LB install, but it's currently over 100GB. I honestly don't want to pair it down to about 28GB. A faster hard drive will help with caching as you may suspect, but at a certain level it won't do much more. If you're on something super slow and go to an SSD or a decent USB3 drive, you would probably see a decent performance increase in certain loading, however it does come down to CPU in the end. We don't really utilize the GPU because that is actually very hard to do (we both agree that would be awesome, but he's mentioned several times how difficult that is), and things are loaded in to RAM from your hard drive as needed, so the worse these are, technically speaking you will see worse performance. However, an SSD to an M.2 or RAM Disks, yea,you may not see as big of a performance increase because at a certain point it was already fast enough. Also, a big test is instead of copying your install then emptying it, install a brand new copy in to an untouched folder and move a completely blank and fresh install, then test an install as big as you possible can have. In the end too, Jason does code the program alone. Kirsten and myself help him with everything else we can, but in nature is limited due to our skill set. I try and help him literally as much as I possibly can. Performance took a bit of a back seat for some of the big features that have recently been published, it's just a cycle. After some more performance, I believe up next is some Database improvement. I want to help him outfit it as best as we can, but probably after Retropalooza next weekend.

Yea well...

Doesn't work how? As in nothing happens? Could be the BIOS are wrong, or the game is a bad rip (the second one happens a lot). Make sure the BIOS are named exactly right for RetroArch as well.

Yea, I would have to agree, that CPU is your weak link so to speak. 16GB of RAM is nice, but companies just cram RAM in to drive up prices, except that RAM is not the end all be all solution. For over 2 decades everyone always says "stick more ram in it", but that's not the only thing to look at, there are a ton of factors. BUS Speed, Speed of ram, cpu speed, age of the cpu, the cpu socket, the gpu and it's bus speed, all that sort of stuff. Since you are buying a laptop, things will be limited of course. An 850M (ignore the integrated portion since you'll never want to ever use that, ever) is alright, but I believe a bit older. A 900M series would be preferable. On this machine, if it's over clockable (which I wouldn't suggest if you are not PC Savvy, nor would I suggest this for most laptops even) then maybe you can bump that up to 2.5Ghz (nothing crazy since Laptops are not known for ventilation and heat dispersal). That is a reletively newer CPU (not the newest) though, and it is an i7, not an i5 or i3 (a lot of laptops come with the former), so you do have the benefit in that area. I do know that Dreamcast can run on a lot of the newer phones, but that emulator is highly optimized and being worked on daily, where the Dreamcast emulation on PC has mostly stagnated, so to make up for those shortcomings a more powerful PC is required than you would expect. I think, given the right settings combination for PCSX2 or Dolphin, that you could get those to run fairly decently actually. You might need to apply the more heavy handed speed hacks and tricks, and you wont be able to (most likely) increase their internal resolution, but they should be able to run for some games. RetroArch will be a really nice package, and most of that will be able to run, even Saturn given a bit more time. There are emulators that will take way more power than you might assume. Like Monkus said, Bnes Accuracy takes about a 3Ghz CPU, but Bsnes Balanced should be ok for the computer. You might be able to even apply some decent shaders to it. What ever you decide to do, please make sure that you have 30-90 days to be able to return the computer back to where ever it is you are buying it, just in case it can't live up to what you need it to do. You didn't provide price, but given a decent amount then you might be better off building a PC and piece mealing parts for it over time, unless this is a really good deal in which case you may not be able to pass up the sale. Day one, use Driver Booster from IOBit to get all of your drivers updated, update all the software (Windows 10 updates), and run something like IOBit Advanced System Care to get the PC as lean and mean as you possibly can (I use this software daily, and it's fixed a lot of issues clients had with their PC's in the past, so it is very much well worth the time and even the money). Once you're all updated, set up and ready to go, start messing around with some of the more demanding emulators. PCSX2, Dolphin (There is a Dolphin fork that can run on weaker machines if the need were there), PPSSPP, Desmume (Or it's fork), and NullDC / Demul.

I would say to watch the Mednafen Saturn tutorial on the channel, but this deals with RetroArch. It's the best method for Sega Saturn games.

Name: LaunchBox Big Box Bartop Arcade LEDBlinky Demo Category: Demos Date Added: 2016-09-18 Submitter: SentaiBrad Here's a demo of the new LaunchBox Big Box bartop in action! We called Keith up at Monster Arcades and he told us how to fix the bezel in a heartbeat; it just needed re-seated. We also demo the brand new LEDBlinky implementation in the latest betas. The bartop arcade was built by Monster Arcades and we can't recommend them enough: http://www.monsterarcades.com/ LaunchBox: https://www.launchbox-app.com/ Our Forums: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/launchboxapp Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/launchboxapp Our Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/jasondavidcarr LaunchBox Big Box Bartop Arcade LEDBlinky Demo

Name: LaunchBox 6.9 Released! - 2016/09/16 - LaunchBox News and Updates Category: News and Entertainment Date Added: 2016-09-18 Submitter: SentaiBrad Check out this week's LaunchBox news from Kirsten detailing the LaunchBox 6.9 release! LEDBlinky: http://www.ledblinky.net/ledblinky.htm Voice Recognition Demo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiGXuLgcO_s Attract Mode Demo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CdQ7Sn9IKM Retropalooza: http://retropalooza.com/ EmuMovies Poll: http://emumovies.com/forums/topic/10423-emumovies-front-end-poll-16/ LaunchBox: https://www.launchbox-app.com/ Our Forums: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/launchboxapp Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/launchboxapp Our Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/jasondavidcarr LaunchBox 6.9 Released! - 2016/09/16 - LaunchBox News and Updates

Name: Emulating the Sega Saturn (v2) - LaunchBox Tutorials Category: Tutorials Date Added: 2016-09-18 Submitter: SentaiBrad Today's tutorial is an updated tutorial from our last Saturn tutorial. Since then, Saturn emulation has taken a huge leap forward in play-ablity and ease-ablity. If you were frustrated at Saturn emulation in the past or watched the previous tutorial and thought emulation here wasn't good enough yet, give this one a watch and see how much better it is now! LaunchBox: https://www.launchbox-app.com/ RetroArch: http://buildbot.libretro.com/ Our Forums: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/launchboxapp Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/launchboxapp Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/LaunchBox# Jason Streams: https://www.twitch.tv/jasondavidcarr Brad's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SentaiBrad Emulating the Sega Saturn (v2) - LaunchBox Tutorials

Name: Retro Style Spotlight - 9-13-16 - RetroArch, Star Cruiser, NeoGeo Flash Cart, Rev Limit, Crash B. Category: News and Entertainment Date Added: 2016-09-18 Submitter: SentaiBrad In today's edition of Retro Style Spotlight, I talk about last weeks tutorial about RetroArch and it's info files that many don't know exist. The info files hold tons of information for each core and how it can help you to get them to run. The notable news stories are about the newly translated Mega Drive game called Star Cruiser. The game is a cross between Phantasy Star, Elite and of all things Star Fox. We also have a user by the name of Darksoft creating Neo Geo AES and MVS Flash carts for the very expensive system. Lastly, there has been an N64 game uncovered from a company that went belly up, and the game was thought to have been lost. Rev Limit is a 90's racing game that was also rumored for the Nintendo 64DD add-on system. This month in gaming is about the critically acclaimed Crash Bandicoot for the Sony PlayStation. Is anyone else curious as to what the enhanced remake will look like? RetroArch Tutorial: http://bit.ly/2crWFaG Star Cruiser RomHacking.net: http://bit.ly/2ck4z31 Star Cruiser RetroCollect: http://bit.ly/2ch6lHC Neo Geo Flash Cart: http://bit.ly/2c5cFfd RetroGameTV Twitter: http://bit.ly/2ch5NkX Rev Limit Video: http://bit.ly/2cVjx3y Crash Bandicoot: http://bit.ly/2c6ZY8B LaunchBox: https://www.launchbox-app.com/ Our Forums: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/launchboxapp Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/launchboxapp Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/LaunchBox# Jason Streams: https://www.twitch.tv/jasondavidcarr Brad's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SentaiBrad Retro Style Spotlight - 9-13-16 - RetroArch, Star Cruiser, NeoGeo Flash Cart, Rev Limit, Crash B.

Each core does have a system requirement, but RA it's self can run on a lot of things. It runs on my Vita and New 3DS for example. Try a new or later version, change the location of RetroArch?

Well first of all, RTP can encompass a lot of things that doesn't have to do with artwork. Second, just because someone does use RTP, doesn't make it shit. Not only did I get rid of RTP Dependencies anyways because I wanted it to be a smaller 1 time download, I have also since moved to MV. Progress has been honestly slow, but I am still always thinking about it. I was actually debating about streaming development again for it. It worked well last time and people actually helped in some cases.

If I recall, the Mercury variant has the SuperFX Games run at a full 30 or 60 FPS instead of their intended 15? Bsnes Balanced is generally the best, as it doesn't eat up all of your CPU and has perfect compatability. It will sacrifice accuracy for that performance. Accuracy is a bit more accurate, but it requires a 3Ghz-ish CPU, and has the same compatability. You'll just need to play around with systems that have multiple cores to find the one you like.

It might come down to personal taste. You can swap out the name of one core with another core you'd like to test out. The tutorial I linked also teaches users how to add and edit lines in the Associated Platforms list. Double clicking an empty space at the bottom starts a new line, and double clicking the center will edit that box so you can change around what you need. Also, @Zombeaver is using less custom config settings as I am, where I use the -c command to load custom configs for most of my cores. Don't add any -c commands until you've created the custom configs or RetroArch will crash trying to load a config that doesn't exist.

Also, you'll want to plug in the proper core in instead as well, as I am unsure if Jason updated the defaults, and / or you'll need to add new ones.

No I know, but the list of games that can utilize it is fairly decent. The other two peripherals can be substituded with the 3D Pad too.

http://www.segaretro.org/3D_Control_Pad#List_of_supported_games

I was gonna start explaining how to use a shader, but honestly the tutorial will do a better job with the visuals. The link will take you to the spot in the tutorial where I start talking about Configs and Shaders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC4NieHGwbo&feature=youtu.be&list=PL6pTDaHeAz-WMcNURVPU-1xLN_TVpT3FB&t=958 In the tutorial, I talk about the Pixellate shader for 2D games, and while it still works I now use the "Nearest" shader as well. For 3D, I haven't found one that looks quite right, but there are quite a few to mess around with. Right above the Nearest shader is a Bilinear shader, and I would be willing to bet that it would be decent for 3D. Custom configs is also a really good idea, so that way you load shaders and controller setups specifically for that system when you load it. Otherwise, every core uses the default RetroArch.cfg, and if you make a controller or shader change, any core that loads with that config will use those settings. I know I keep repeating myself here: but this is why I made these tutorials.

Yea, N64 is a crap shoot all the way around, but efforts are being made. I love the recent PS1 and N64 updates in RetroArch. They're not really usable yet, but promises of a brighter future.

Someone actually asked about this in another thread: This is how I have everything set up and it is my earnest recommendation for mostly everything. http://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/33264-can-i-get-a-list-please/?do=findComment&comment=202249 For 3D systems that RetroArch emulates, I use PPSSPP instead. Everything else on my list doesn't have an RA counterpart (the later stuff). For PS1 and N64, RetroArch is actually on the forefront on changing them up signifigantly. Saturn has the help of Mednafen now, and the Mednafen cores in RetroArch are all completely equal in RetroArch. In terms of making your games look better, for 2D games I use the Nearest Filter or the Pixellate filter. I personally don't care for the Scanlines. For 3D, I honestly haven't found a super great solution, so it depends on the system.

RetroArch is technically a front end to Libretro, but I utilize RA just for the menu's and otherwise don't utilize RA for much else. Think of RetroArch as the emulator, because it is. It's just powered by Libretro underneath. I made the tutorials for users who don't understand RA, and it's actually not all that difficult. In your case, I would actually say RetroArch is the best solution. Not that stand alone emulators can't work in the situation you need them to be in, because they most usually can, but RA makes controls a lot easier. I would give the Beginner SNES Tutorial a watch and see if it's something you can wrap your head around. There is a bit of a hump there, but once you know it, you know it.

Yea, LaunchBox doesn't utilize the Software name list. Actually though, I've found no reason to do so though. MAME, and potentially Amiga, are the only two that really need their names to be internalized and converted by LB.

The first 6 are extremely achievable in RetroArch with custom configs. Very very easily. Well, ok RetroArch isn't all that easy, however once you understand it, it is. The last one I am unsure. RetroArch, and even some stand alone emulators there, easily support multiple buttons at once. If you want to learn RetroArch easily, try out the tutorials on our channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6pTDaHeAz-WMcNURVPU-1xLN_TVpT3FB