An emulator for each system

[Colorman3605]

After having problems with my hard disk, now I find myself reorganizing my launchbox again. With this I took the opportunity to update all the emulators and everything related to the LB. But by updating the emulators and realizing how obsolete some of these were or the emulation itself left something to be desired I would like to list the systems for which I could not find the emulator that satisfied me. So I ask for your help to find the best emulator. P.S. some emulators themselves work perfectly but maybe it's just a matter of settings I can't find.
In this moment the main emulator I'm trying to update is the SEGA Master System. I am using higan as it is the only emulator that removes the left side black bar on the screen. Is there any other emulator that does the same thing? I tried the retroarch with the various libs but nothing (maybe I'm wrong).
Although with the other emulators (I'm updating them when I have time, so I'm going very calmly) I'm well under way, I hope someone can give me suggestions for having the best emulator for each system based on their experience.
Thanks!

[bundangdon]

49 minutes ago, Colorman3605 said:

After having problems with my hard disk, now I find myself reorganizing my launchbox again. With this I took the opportunity to update all the emulators and everything related to the LB. But by updating the emulators and realizing how obsolete some of these were or the emulation itself left something to be desired I would like to list the systems for which I could not find the emulator that satisfied me. So I ask for your help to find the best emulator. P.S. some emulators themselves work perfectly but maybe it's just a matter of settings I can't find.
In this moment the main emulator I'm trying to update is the SEGA Master System. I am using higan as it is the only emulator that removes the left side black bar on the screen. Is there any other emulator that does the same thing? I tried the retroarch with the various libs but nothing (maybe I'm wrong).
Although with the other emulators (I'm updating them when I have time, so I'm going very calmly) I'm well under way, I hope someone can give me suggestions for having the best emulator for each system based on their experience.
Thanks!

Never get tired of seeing/hearing this question Certainly the answers you get about "Which is the best emulator" will be somewhat subjective while some will get nearly unanimous answers from users out there. For example, here are the more obvious choices:
Nintendo Gamecube/Wii - Dolphin

Nintendo Wii U - Cemu

Sony PlayStation 2 - PCSX2

Sony PlayStation 3 - RPCS3

Sony PSP - PPSSPP

Nintendo DS - MelonDS (Desmume is also a great choice)

Nintendo 3DS - Citra

Arcade (General) - MAME

Atari 2600 - Stella (standalone or retroarch core)

 

The rest are somewhat subjective, depending on people's tastes, preferences, system requirements, etc. but in most cases Retroarch will cover all your needs, while MAME will cover a lot of the other systems out there (consoles, computers, handhelds, etc.) Hope this helps!

 

 

 

 

 

[fromlostdays]

I never get tired of this question either as I usually wind up learning something!

I haven't done a head count, but you can emulate a silly number of systems between just Retroarch and Mame. My suggestion would be to set those two up for all systems you can. (It's always good to have a backup, as most emulators aren't 100 percent compatible.) Then, as you play test you'll find issues like what you mentioned about with Master System. At that point, Google will become your friend and you can google the exact issue and may find a better emulator (although the above post puts out a pretty comprehensive list). 

When you run into an issue with Retroarch, you should always check the core options. I'm not familiar enough with MAster System to know for sure, but there may be an option to fix your problem there.

Based on my experience, the only systems I don't use a core for where available in Retroarch are:

PS2 (PCSX2)

PSP (PPSSPP)

Gamecube/Wii (Dolphin) I haven't tested extensively but I find I can ramp up the resolution higher in the standalone before my FPS drops. I think in general retroarch cores are more resource intensive than their standalone counter parts.

3DS (Citra) Again, not a lot of testing, but I just figure Citra is newish and updated all the time, the core is bound to lag behind. 

Everything else I emulate in either retroarch or Mame with the exception of some REAL old computer systems (think acorn electron) that I find work better in their standalones. 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by fromlostdays

[damageinc86]

I use mednafen for a bunch of systems, it just works.  Love it.  For most others it is retroarch.  Dolphin of course, and ppsspp or whatever it is, citra, cemu.

[Colorman3605]

Thanks for the answers but now I ask you a suggestion for the SEGA systems especially the master system for the problem of the black coffin on the left side and the mega drive that has different resolutions inside the same game and the various emulators pass from a resolution to the other or enlarging / shrinking the image and inserting black bars on the screen (eg Castlevania bloodlines).
Thanks!

[zugswang]

9 hours ago, Colorman3605 said:

Thanks for the answers but now I ask you a suggestion for the SEGA systems especially the master system for the problem of the black coffin on the left side and the mega drive that has different resolutions inside the same game and the various emulators pass from a resolution to the other or enlarging / shrinking the image and inserting black bars on the screen (eg Castlevania bloodlines).
Thanks!

For Sega Master System , just use custom resolutions in RA to get rid of black border on the left of the screen.

[bundangdon]

14 hours ago, Colorman3605 said:

Thanks for the answers but now I ask you a suggestion for the SEGA systems especially the master system for the problem of the black coffin on the left side and the mega drive that has different resolutions inside the same game and the various emulators pass from a resolution to the other or enlarging / shrinking the image and inserting black bars on the screen (eg Castlevania bloodlines).
Thanks!

Just out of curiosity, I tried all of the available Retroarch cores with some Sega Master System games and now I understand what you mean. No matter what kind of custom resolutions I set, each game has some weird stuff going on where the title screen is fine and lines up perfectly with my custom resolutions, but as soon as the game starts, the screen is suddenly smashed into a weird widescreen-blackbox effect. Does anyone out there know how to set this system up and keep a constant/set resolution in the video options within Retroarch?

Edit: Never mind! I realized that some games look like that by design, although the resolutions do vary slightly from game to game. The only real way to solve this issue is to save the custom resolutions by overriding the options for each game, which is somewhat a hassle to do, but better than nothing I suppose.

Edited November 5, 2019 by bundangdon

[Colorman3605]

I am using the higan for the master system and the problem seems to be solved but honestly I have not had time yet to check if I delete the black portion on the top left of the screen or on both sides of the game. I will check as soon as possible besides trying the mednafen that I have not yet tried. Thanks!

[zugswang]

21 hours ago, bundangdon said:

Just out of curiosity, I tried all of the available Retroarch cores with some Sega Master System games and now I understand what you mean. No matter what kind of custom resolutions I set, each game has some weird stuff going on where the title screen is fine and lines up perfectly with my custom resolutions, but as soon as the game starts, the screen is suddenly smashed into a weird widescreen-blackbox effect. Does anyone out there know how to set this system up and keep a constant/set resolution in the video options within Retroarch?

Edit: Never mind! I realized that some games look like that by design, although the resolutions do vary slightly from game to game. The only real way to solve this issue is to save the custom resolutions by overriding the options for each game, which is somewhat a hassle to do, but better than nothing I suppose.

Best thing to do is create another RetroArch (e.g. RetroArch Sega Master System) for just Sega Master System using the pico core.

Then you can set the actual core override for Sega Master System rather than every individual game.

[Colorman3605]

The idea is interesting. I would like to try but how should I proceed?

[zugswang]

33 minutes ago, Colorman3605 said:

The idea is interesting. I would like to try but how should I proceed?

Just copy and paste your current RetroArch info into another folder called for example (RetroArchSMS)

You need everything except all the cores (just the picodrive core)

Then when you use the custom resolution, save it as core override, rather than per game.

You can do this, as Sega Master System is the only system using the Pico core.

[Wally]

Dual RetroArch installations is handy.

I have one RetroArch using the Vulkan driver and another one for GL.

I know that latest RetroArch changes video driver on core launch but I wont be using it.

The dual RetroArch except from enabling you to run the remaining cores that demand OpenGL inside Launchbox while using the better Vulkan for the rest, it helps you with situations like the e.g the Atari800 core. You cannot have it running both Atari 800 AND Atari 5200 on the same RetroArch (at least without having to go through configurations just to launch a game).

I am trying to stick with RetroArch and going to dedicated emulators only if there is no core available.

[zugswang]

2 minutes ago, Wally said:

Dual RetroArch installations is handy.

I have one RetroArch using the Vulkan driver and another one for GL.

I know that latest RetroArch changes video driver on core launch but I wont be using it.

The dual RetroArch except from enabling you to run the remaining cores that demand OpenGL inside Launchbox while using the better Vulkan for the rest, it helps you with situations like the e.g the Atari800 core. You cannot have it running both Atari 800 AND Atari 5200 on the same RetroArch (at least without having to go through configurations just to launch a game).

I am trying to stick with RetroArch and going to dedicated emulators only if there is no core available.

This option I mentioned is to allow him to change the pico core resolution for SMS

If he changes it on RA it will mess up other systems that use that core.

Actually, I have about 5 different RA setups, very handy as you say.

Edited November 6, 2019 by cataclysm67

[neil9000]

You can "save content override" to just save a override for a system when the core provides multi system support. That will basically only apply the override when a game from that specific folder is loaded, so any game from the master system folder would use that override, while game gear and megadrive would not use the override as the games are loaded from different folders. 

[Wally]

You can overide the Directory so since the SMS are in a different folder, it wont affect the rest platforms that Pico isused for

[neil9000]

1 minute ago, Wally said:

You can overide the Directory so since the SMS are in a different folder, it wont affect the rest platforms that Pico isused for

 

27 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

You can "save content override" to just save a override for a system when the core provides multi system support. That will basically only apply the override when a game from that specific folder is loaded, so any game from the master system folder would use that override, while game gear and megadrive would not use the override as the games are loaded from different folders. 

 

[Chris Kant]

8 hours ago, cataclysm67 said:

Just copy and paste your current RetroArch info into another folder called for example (RetroArchSMS)

You need everything except all the cores (just the picodrive core)

Then when you use the custom resolution, save it as core override, rather than per game.

You can do this, as Sega Master System is the only system using the Pico core.

instead of a full retroarch setup I misuse the core splitter and have 3 or 4 of the same core with small different naming. so I can use a PICO for SMS etc. very helpful for me for Mesen Famicom Disk and Mesen Famicom + NES

 

 

[Colorman3605]

Ok, I tried ... but can the black bar on the left side be eliminated or is there no core to do this?

[zugswang]

7 minutes ago, Colorman3605 said:

Ok, I tried ... but can the black bar on the left side be eliminated or is there no core to do this?

tried what ? copying entire RA or core splitter ?

Edited November 7, 2019 by cataclysm67

[Colorman3605]

Problem solved. The problem is that I was wrong in the video options. Now everything is ok!