PCEngineFans.com - The PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Community Forum
NEC TG-16/TE/TurboDuo => TG-16/TE/TurboDuo Discussion => Topic started by: Joe Redifer on August 26, 2007, 01:20:35 PM
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I want a Turbo emulator that will play CD games (that's not Magic Engine) and allow me to take screen caps as well as joypad support. I will be using Windows XP for this fanstastical task. I'll be comparing Exiles between the Turbo and the Genesis. Yes yes, I know the Sega version will automatically win by a giant margin in every category since it has the Sega logo when it is powered up, but let's let people think I am being fair and unbiased. I need the emulators for screen grabs since people will think I am a washed-up hack if I took pictures of my TV screen. How unprofessional! How EGM-Glory-Days! Nobody wants that.
So which emulator is recommended, and what is the current version?
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Mednafen (http://mednafen.sourceforge.net/) .
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Thanks. I hate having to use an Xbox 360 controller for this, but it's the only thing I have with a USB connector. It makes the Genesis Exile extremely difficult as I'm sure it will with the Turbo version. Why does Microsoft only make shitty controllers? I hope all of Redmond catches on fire.
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Doesn't work. Doesn't even launch. I double-clicked it and it added some folders such as snaps, cheats, etc but that's all it would do. I am using Windows XP service pack 2.
Alright seriously. Anybody know of any WORKING emulators that meet my description provided in my first post?
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Yeah, I can't get Mednafen to run either. I was trying to use it in OSX using the NekoLauncher front end. No result at all. Its just one of those programs that is probably great but won't actually run for most people.
What is your problem with Magic Engine? Its been a while since I used it, but I seem to remember it being extremely good. I mean, it actually runs. That's a big bonus, IMO.
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LOL, yeah. My problem is that Magic Engine costs $$$ that I don't want to pay. I don't recall being able to get it to capture screenshots very well, though I'm sure it can. Also I don't think Magic Engine screen caps are in he game's native resolution.
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Joe you need this-
http://lhsp.s206.xrea.com/works/frontend.html
that's a front end. To play a CD though you'll have to make an iso or bin/cue of it first, then load it. I don't know how you play a CD just by putting it in your computer drive like Magic engine does, although I know you can.
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Nodtveidt or probably Keranu should be able to tell you how to get Mednafen to run properly.
It will work for anyone, but it's a real f*cking pain. You need to run it with a bunch of command line options IIRC.
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Interesting. Why would anyone even dare to make such an emulator that's such a PITA? It would seem to be a big waste of time.
GUTS, I'll try that out, but they sure missed the boat if they didn't allow for direct running of inserted CDs.
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Yeah, that frontend might eliminate the need for command line options.
When you actually get it running, Mednafen is by far the best emulator for Hu6280 hardware.
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The frontend doesn't really do anything. There are no options to input command lines anywhere. Command lines are gay. I wonder if the programmers have upgraded from DOS. They probably don't even understand the concept of a GUI. And again, I bet they have glasses and/or ponytails.
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LOL, yeah. My problem is that Magic Engine costs $$$ that I don't want to pay. I don't recall being able to get it to capture screenshots very well, though I'm sure it can. Also I don't think Magic Engine screen caps are in he game's native resolution.
Last time I used it, Magic Engine ran %100 for free but with a time limit. To get around the time limit just save your state, and then immediately reload it and the timer resets. I think this can be done with two buttons. The author himself this trick on his web page years ago. I assume it still works.
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Hmmmm... Magic Engine on the Mac OS doesn't seem to let you load states. I also can't find where it's saving the pictures. They're nowhere.
Edit: Nevermind... application support > Magic Engine. Now I just need to figure out how to load the save state. The newest version of Magic Engine does not seem to run CD games very well, though. The first town works fine, but the dramatic cinema anime manga displays do not.
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Actually, Mednafen was originally developed for Linux, then ported to Windows. However, when ported they definitely should have included a GUI :) Most Linux users are used to a command line, most Windows users are not.
OD
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The frontend doesn't really do anything. There are no options to input command lines anywhere. Command lines are gay. I wonder if the programmers have upgraded from DOS. They probably don't even understand the concept of a GUI. And again, I bet they have glasses and/or ponytails.
Please... your not a programmer, so quit talking out your ass. If you're too afraid to use a command line interface, then use Ootake(free) or ME($$).
Mednafen isn't a DOS app, it's a console app of which its source is portable and compilable for many OS systems including MAC and Linux boxes. It's also an extremely easy console app to use. If you want to run CD games, you need to open the mednafen.cfg file, locate the "pce.cdbios" string and change is to "pce.cdbios c:\pce\roms\syscard.pce" or whatever path *and* system card rom you're using. You can also setup the window and fullscreen res options in this file.
Once that's done, you can load CD games from the command prompt with: mednafen -loadcd pce. If you're using ISO/CUE/WAV sets, then: mednafen <filename>.cue. You can also drag and drop CUE files onto the mednafen executable file as well as other roms.
In the emulator: alt+enter switches between fullscreen and window mode, alt+a steps through the game one frame at a time and alt+r returns back to running normal, F9 saves snapshots to the snap directory, F5/F7 is savestate and loadstate, F10 is a hard reset. To configure a gamepad press alt+shift+1 and it will bring up the gamepad subscreen at the bottom. If you mess up, press alt+shft+1 to cancel and then again to re-enter. You can press F1 for help it you forget the keys.
Btw, two of the more recent Genesis emulators scale the 256x224 games mode to 320x224. That sucks when you're trying to get an acurate pixel capture. Some of the older ones don't do this. I use DGEN for when I need to rip lower res gfx or disable layers by priority (no other emu does this). Oh, and DGEN is a windows GUI app.
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Please... your not a programmer, so quit talking out your ass.
I'm not talking out of my ass, but the developers are programming out of theirs. This app is made for programmers, not for people to actually use and enjoy. People who like command lines usually forget that we lower-than-scum non-programmers like to use their fruits of labor as well.
Anyway, thanks for the tips. I'll give 'em a try.
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When I type that command line, Windows cannot locate mednafed. If I use the frontend, the System Card loads, but the only thing that happens when I press start is the "Just a Moment" screen comes u, but the inserted CD never loads. There also seems to be no way for the program to recognize my Xbox 360 controller. I can type in what keyboard keys I want it to use, but hell if I know how Windows deals with joysticks. A person could become very popular by making a usable version of this emulator for real people.
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LOL, yeah. My problem is that Magic Engine costs $$$ that I don't want to pay. I don't recall being able to get it to capture screenshots very well, though I'm sure it can. Also I don't think Magic Engine screen caps are in he game's native resolution.
ME is fantastic for screen caps. Set the capture button to whatever you'd like and you can take captures quick and easy and they'll be displayed in their correct resolution (even past the standard 256x224). ME is my favorite emulator for taking screenshots.
I was sooo pissed when I first tried setting up Mednafen too! I'm still not completely pleased with my results since I can't figure out how to set the correct pixel aspect ratio (don't worry, the screenshots come out in there native resolution), but overall it's a nice accurate emulator. If you give it enough patience, you'll finally be able to run a game and it feels great :) .
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Yeah, I noticed that about the screen caps. As long as they're fine, then that's cool. But I can only capture the System Card screen. I'm sure I can get HuCards to run, but that's not what I want to do and I also don't want to use the keyboard. I'll try downloading Windows MagicEngine and see if it pleases me, but again I don't want to pay for it. I rarely use emulators except when doing screen grabs.
EDIT: The Windows version of Magic Engine is even worse than the Mac version! God I hate Windows with such a passion.
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Don you have access to a modded Xbox? Mednafen on Xbox has an awesome GUI and loads discs from the xbox's dvd drive, plus it runs nearly every PCE game flawlessly.
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That's right, I forgot about those Xbox emulators. Obviously my Xbox is modded since I want to get some worth out of the thing. And those emulators even offer screen caps as well. Everything is taken care of. Thanks guys!
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I didn't even know there was an OSX version of Magic Engine...
Anyway, about command lines and front ends. Although Joe Redifer is being his usual a$$hole self about this, he is, at the same time, absolutely correct. Why any command line interface exists anywhere in life is beyond me. Its just...staggering to think that a person would write something as complex as an emulator, something I have only the vaguest understanding of, and the clothe it in a pretentious layer of L337-ness like a command line interface so that %99 of the world will never even be able to use it. WTF is the point in this? A front-end is barely more difficult to make than a functional web page. The program is %99 done, just do the last little bit so that it will actually work.
I don't have to be a programmer to know that not having a GUI is f*cking stupid. I don't know anything about the world of high rolling corporate finance, but I'm sure that the Ford Motor Company is run by a bunch of very well educated retards if it just keeps losing money and laying off people for decades in a row. Something is wrong. I don't know what it is, but the evidence is clear.
The idea that I'm a dumb-ass because I don't like having a readme open at the same time as a program, alt-tab-ing over and over because I need to refer to it every single time I do any single thing, or because I can't remember how to spell a word that isn't actually a word, or because I forgot the exact string syntax I need, is, frankly, a bunch of crap.
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Although Joe Redifer is being his usual a$$hole self about this
I prefer "overly abrasive prick", thankyew. :dance:
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I didn't even know there was an OSX version of Magic Engine...
Anyway, about command lines and front ends. Although Joe Redifer is being his usual a$$hole self about this, he is, at the same time, absolutely correct. Why any command line interface exists anywhere in life is beyond me. Its just...staggering to think that a person would write something as complex as an emulator, something I have only the vaguest understanding of, and the clothe it in a pretentious layer of L337-ness like a command line interface so that %99 of the world will never even be able to use it. WTF is the point in this? A front-end is barely more difficult to make than a functional web page. The program is %99 done, just do the last little bit so that it will actually work.
I don't have to be a programmer to know that not having a GUI is f*cking stupid. I don't know anything about the world of high rolling corporate finance, but I'm sure that the Ford Motor Company is run by a bunch of very well educated retards if it just keeps losing money and laying off people for decades in a row. Something is wrong. I don't know what it is, but the evidence is clear.
The idea that I'm a dumb-ass because I don't like having a readme open at the same time as a program, alt-tab-ing over and over because I need to refer to it every single time I do any single thing, or because I can't remember how to spell a word that isn't actually a word, or because I forgot the exact string syntax I need, is, frankly, a bunch of crap.
You guys are probably around my age (31) so you should've grown up around a command prompt? Did you use a MAC all your life?
There are a lot of people that are not programmers that used the command prompt. If you can't be bothered to take the time to learn to use it, then you can't be bothered to take the time to learn to use it. Simple as that, not it's "crap" or "WTF!" or "not having a GUI is f*cking stupid". You don't like, don't use it. There are alternatives. There's no need to bash people who can and do use it. It's not the programmers duty to cater to windoz or MAC zealots.
It's funny, there are even hackers that won't use mednafen and other apps because they're command line based. Instead, they'll use a inferior app or nothing at all ( or by hand - hex editor). That! just blows my f*cking mind. This newer generation is hopeless, I swear. It's the age of GUI and bloat-ware.
Joe, how are going to get the screen shots off the xbox?
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FTP
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Yes, I used plenty of command line on my P.E.T., and my C64, and my 8088 machines. I've also loaded programs from analog audio cassettes. That shit is over. There is no logical, practical reason to use command line. It requires memorization, perfect syntax, and a pre-existing knowledge of all the program's commands (or a lot of alt-tabing) since discovering features is...pretty much totally impossible. In a GUI-based app you can find stuff by just poking around, in a command line app...well, I suppose you could find stuff by just randomly typing stuff into it, but I don't see how.
You really can't do much with a command line anyway since its a one dimensional input scheme. Computer's do great things for us these days. They are used to plan a shuttle mission for NASA, edit a photo, remove cancer with lasers, monitor a cars engine performance, create music, blah blah blah, and honestly using a command line for any of that stuff is pretty much impossible, or at least so impractical as to be never achieved.
I know people who champion the command line interface. I also know people who collect guns, and lift a lot of weights. Both of these people complain about this "generation", and honestly they are the real zealots. I'm not trying to prove anything, I'm just trying to get work/play done on a computer and if I can do it by clicking on a box, rather than searching for some shit to type into a box, that's the way its going to be done.
Now that I think about it, the reason so many underground apps use a command line is obvious; the authors of such programs are championing a dead cause in the only way they know how. I mean, you just can't do anything like Photoshop with a command line. Its just impossible. However, it is possible to run vintage ROMs that way, so they neuter their programs to prove what spoiled zealots we are. Its a shame because I really would like to try Mednafen, but after f*cking with it for 40 minutes or so I just gave up.
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I'm perfectly comfortable with a command-line myself, but I'm rather techy and that's the only way I can do most of my work (telnet, ssh, Linux, etc.) but I see where Joe and gang are coming from. In the world of Windows, it's rather silly to have the command-line program and a separate front-end. I'm with them here - Mednafen for Windows *should* come with a GUI.
OD
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Actually I grew up drawing complex pictures on Apple-based computers by typing line by line. I create web pages by typing pure HTML in a bare-bones text editor. Something passed back and forth between programmers during development certainly doesn't need a GUI, but once something is released to the general public, it should have one. Granted, many emulators never even get up to version 1 and they have "beta" attached to them frequently. Personally I don't care what hackers use. They are of little importance. I don't group them with programmers. Command line is not hard to learn, but I don't want to have to learn the specifics of each program since they will all undoubtedly have different options and whatnot. If I am trying to create something like a web page, then it is fine because I feel I have more control with less bloated code. But for something just to use? GUI is best.
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They probably don't even understand the concept of a GUI. And again, I bet they have glasses and/or ponytails.
Chances are very good that the author of Mednafen has a ponytail, 'cause she's a girl. :mrgreen:
But I do agree 100% with Joe; command-line-only programs are not only a thing of the past, but a vile thing of the past. Of course, the fact that Mednafen is a portable emulator across different platforms makes its console-onlyness understandable, but look at iNES for an example of an emu that's been ported to many platforms but has kept its excellent GUI on all of them.
And it isn't a matter of DOS folks being more macho than wimpy Mac-OS tit-clutchers... think about your modern word processor, like Word, with its myriad menus that while complicated, are easy to get around and figure out for beginners. Then think back if you can to the WordStar days, when you had to print out the key-command list and pin it to your wall and keep going back to it; or print out the function-key shortcuts, laminate the sheet, and tape it above your function keys. Remember those days? I don't want to go back to them...
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I love command line :) .
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I didn't even know there was an OSX version of Magic Engine...
Anyway, about command lines and front ends. Although Joe Redifer is being his usual a$$hole self about this, he is, at the same time, absolutely correct. Why any command line interface exists anywhere in life is beyond me. Its just...staggering to think that a person would write something as complex as an emulator, something I have only the vaguest understanding of, and the clothe it in a pretentious layer of L337-ness like a command line interface so that %99 of the world will never even be able to use it. WTF is the point in this? A front-end is barely more difficult to make than a functional web page. The program is %99 done, just do the last little bit so that it will actually work.
I don't have to be a programmer to know that not having a GUI is f*cking stupid. I don't know anything about the world of high rolling corporate finance, but I'm sure that the Ford Motor Company is run by a bunch of very well educated retards if it just keeps losing money and laying off people for decades in a row. Something is wrong. I don't know what it is, but the evidence is clear.
The idea that I'm a dumb-ass because I don't like having a readme open at the same time as a program, alt-tab-ing over and over because I need to refer to it every single time I do any single thing, or because I can't remember how to spell a word that isn't actually a word, or because I forgot the exact string syntax I need, is, frankly, a bunch of crap.
You guys are probably around my age (31) so you should've grown up around a command prompt? Did you use a MAC all your life?
I'm 30 years old. I first got online with a Saturn Netlink and got my first computer around 2000. It came with Windows 98.
There were computers at my schools growing up that allowed us to type, but thats about it. Between grades 3 - 12, there were maybe four times we got to use them. My elementary school had one Apple IIgs, which I got to try King's Quest on once or twice.
In grade 8 I took "Typewriting 8".
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I had to use command line often on my Tandy 1000 back in the day so I could boot up DOS games.
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I had to use command line to run pear pc. I would like to learn more, but I don't know where to go to :-k
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I started using computers in the '80s with my parents Kaypro 4. For those who aren't familiar with something that oldschool, it was very popular "portable" (it weighed like 40 pounds) computer produced in the early 80's by a now-defunct company. It ran an operating system called CP/M which was sort of a precursor to DOS although the two existed side by side for a couple years before DOS became the OS of choice. The CPU was the almighty Z-80! This was all cutting edge technology in 1985.
The point I want to make is that everything everyone is complaining about here is totally valid. This isn't 1985 anymore, it's 2007. Command lines aren't used to interact with the OS in 2007, GUIs are. In 1985 anyone who used a computer knew how to operate from a command line. The same can't be said today. People like Black Tiger and also anyone in a younger generation don't know shit about a command line. I do, but that's only because I started using computers in 1985 and GUIs didn't exist outside a few very small novelty markets (the archaic Macintosh Plus hadn't even been released yet, the Apple II was still Apple's top selling machine). But just because I know how to use an obsolete interface doesn't mean I think modern programs should be designed to utilize it.
The argument that Mednafen is a multi-platform app is irrelevant. GUIs exist for virtually every OS in 2007, certainly every OS that Mednafen has been ported to. X Windows/X11/what-have-you has existed for probably around 20 years or more. Nobody should be releasing command line applications/utilities to the general public in 2007, save perhaps for "root-level" system utilities used by system and network administrators. And even that is debatable at this point. Especially ones that take 346 precise command line arguments to function properly.
Coding a simple GUI would be the easiest part of programming an emulator. Assuming that everyone who will be using your program not only knows about, but is eager to use the command line is not a very logical assumption these days.
Personally, I will probably not ever do much with Mednafen unless someone gets with the program and writes a modern interface for it. It's just too big of a f*cking hassle.
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I don't think anyone cares, but here goes:
School is where I spent the most time using computers back in the day.
My grade school gave the "older" PET computers to the fifth-graders, which is where I was introduced to computers. "Lemonade Stand" was the best thing, I loved it. I don't remember many of the other games... but there was an unlicensed "E.T." math game where you extended / retracted ET's head in order to eat the correct answer to math equations. It was actually a pretty awesome arcade / action game, at least by edutainment standards circa 1984. I think it was the class' favorite game.
All of the Commodore PET software = cassettes and had long load times.
In 6th grade we were graced with a C-64 and we were finally allowed to play some games purely for entertainment (i.e. Epyx Winter Games). Plus, lots of my friends had C-64 and games. :)
Middle School: Apple II
High School: IIgs (woo hoo, 3 1/2" floppies! Cutting-edge technology!)
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I don't think anyone cares, but here goes:
Actually, seeing what everyone used to use is quite interesting to me. :)
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My school district was too poor to afford "real" Apple IIs so we had those f*cking lame Franklin clones. I think they sold those for one year in, like, 1984 before Apple filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement and put them out of business.
I think our district must have been the only one in the country like that. Everyone I've ever spoken with since then had actual Apple IIs in the classroom.
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I started using computers in the '80s with my parents Kaypro 4. For those who aren't familiar with something that oldschool, it was very popular "portable" (it weighed like 40 pounds) computer produced in the early 80's by a now-defunct company. It ran an operating system called CP/M which was sort of a precursor to DOS although the two existed side by side for a couple years before DOS became the OS of choice. The CPU was the almighty Z-80! This was all cutting edge technology in 1985.
The point I want to make is that everything everyone is complaining about here is totally valid. This isn't 1985 anymore, it's 2007. Command lines aren't used to interact with the OS in 2007, GUIs are. In 1985 anyone who used a computer knew how to operate from a command line. The same can't be said today. People like Black Tiger and also anyone in a younger generation don't know shit about a command line. I do, but that's only because I started using computers in 1985 and GUIs didn't exist outside a few very small novelty markets (the archaic Macintosh Plus hadn't even been released yet, the Apple II was still Apple's top selling machine). But just because I know how to use an obsolete interface doesn't mean I think modern programs should be designed to utilize it.
The argument that Mednafen is a multi-platform app is irrelevant. GUIs exist for virtually every OS in 2007, certainly every OS that Mednafen has been ported to. X Windows/X11/what-have-you has existed for probably around 20 years or more. Nobody should be releasing command line applications/utilities to the general public in 2007, save perhaps for "root-level" system utilities used by system and network administrators. And even that is debatable at this point. Especially ones that take 346 precise command line arguments to function properly.
Coding a simple GUI would be the easiest part of programming an emulator. Assuming that everyone who will be using your program not only knows about, but is eager to use the command line is not a very logical assumption these days.
Personally, I will probably not ever do much with Mednafen unless someone gets with the program and writes a modern interface for it. It's just too big of a f*cking hassle.
You used CP/M? That's classic :D
(to no one specific or to most - whatever fits)
If people don't want to use mednafen because it doesn't have a GUI - their loss. She didn't write for GUI huggers. She wrote it for linux and made the source cross compatible. She only offers the win32 binary as a courtesy for windows users. If someone wants to make a GUI for it or a frontend (separate program) then so be it, but it's not her responsibility or duty to provide it when all the necessary requirements to run the emulator are there.
Anyone realized MAME is the same way? The official MAME team doesn't put out the platform specific builds like MAME32 (which I sure is what you guys run for PC). It's not the authors/team responsibility to create the GUI package for each platform, they leave that up to other people who want to add such features (such as MAME32 guys). Mednafen is no different. You want a GUI for mednafen or other open source GUI-less apps, go solicit some windows or mac programmers.
And on the other side of the argument, the command line shell isn't archaic or dead, it's just an alternate interface to an operating systems (Apple happens to hide it for its OS, but it's there) and application. It has a purpose and a function. It may not serve the needs for most, but saying it's stupid or invalid or only leet programmers use it, or in this day and age all apps should be GUI drive, it just ignorant. Not everyone program needs dynamic interface of a GUI system. I'm sure as hell not going to go out of my way to setup a GUI for a general app that doesn't need it. Why would I want the overhead of opening an app, going to "file", "open", find the file, enter in my parameters in the appropriate boxes - when I could just type "insert somefile.ext sourcefile.ext $9000" or "extract_script source.iso dest.txt $1E0800" or whatever. I'm usually using multiple apps in the same directory I'm working in. And when I'm not in the command prompt, dragging and dropping onto a batch file works just fine.
Also, for you guys who don't run mednafen because it's console app... I don't even enter in the command prompt mode to run my games with it. I've associated mednafen with the file types that I want to run with it. I just double click the CUE file for the CD game I want to run and it runs. Same with roms - pce, gb, nes, ws (wonder swan / color), etc. Mednafen has a config file that holds all the settings. There's no need to run the emulator with the same option commands everytime. I already have the gampad, scanline, res, and such setup. Nothing else to do but run the game. So for me, I see no need for a GUI with it. It's not like it's a web browser or word processor.
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I wonder what drugs this chick was on when she named the damn thing.
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probably mdma, all chicks like e :wink:
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If people don't want to use mednafen because it doesn't have a GUI - their loss. She didn't write for GUI huggers.
Translation: "GUI huggers"="users".
Anyone realized MAME is the same way?
But do you realize that MAME...you know...actually works? If Mednafen had a reliable frontend like MAME this thread wouldn't exists. On a related note, I can only imagine how super fun it would be to configure MAME preferences from a command line...
And on the other side of the argument, the command line shell isn't archaic or dead,
Yeah, just like Latin.
Why would I want the overhead of opening an app, going to "file", "open", find the file, enter in my parameters in the appropriate boxes - when I could just type "insert somefile.ext sourcefile.ext $9000" or "extract_script source.iso dest.txt $1E0800" or whatever.
Did you seriously just type that? WTF does "extract_script source.iso dest.txt $1E0800" mean?
Also, for you guys who don't run mednafen because it's console app... I don't even enter in the command prompt mode to run my games with it. I've associated mednafen with the file types that I want to run with it. I just double click the CUE file for the CD game I want to run and it runs. Same with roms - pce, gb, nes, ws (wonder swan / color), etc. Mednafen has a config file that holds all the settings. There's no need to run the emulator with the same option commands everytime. I already have the gampad, scanline, res, and such setup. Nothing else to do but run the game. So for me, I see no need for a GUI with it. It's not like it's a web browser or word processor.
I don't know. Now it sounds like you are just being a pussy or something. Associating a file type? That sounds like a GUI sympathizer's way of doing things.
Basically when this person wants the userbase of Mednafen to multiply by a factor of ten, she'll put a GUI on it, or work with someone to make a Carbon version of it, or something along those lines. Until then %90 of the people that download it will just delete it a few hours later which is a sad waste, IMO. I'd like to check it out, and so would a lot of others.
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I agree that the author has only the obligation to program what she wants to program, but that doesn't, and shouldn't, curtail our right to ask for a GUI. See, a command line can be great for efficient use for those well-versed in it, but it has a rather low learnability quotient and people who don't use it regularly have increased problems with it. From a usability perspective a command line is an expert-only tool.
Not only that but most Windows users don't know what options a cfg file will accept. How do I know how the cfg files wants me to represent a gamepad button press? And considering half the time the button labels are different from how Windows wants to interpret them, that only complicates things. Furthermore, in today's day of huge hard drives and cluttered file collections with long paths and spaces in path names, trying to open a file from a particular location, particularly one you don't use regularly, is a crap shoot which involves lots of backtracking.
Basically, if you release software to the world and really expect anyone to use it you do have to put in the work to create a usable GUI. If you release it command line only a few people will pick it up but you really exclude a vast potential user base, and having a larger user base is a great way to solicit improvements and get bug reports.
CMD and GUI snobs just need to get over each other and realize there's room in the world for both of us.
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My school district was too poor to afford "real" Apple IIs so we had those f*cking lame Franklin clones. I think they sold those for one year in, like, 1984 before Apple filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement and put them out of business.
I think our district must have been the only one in the country like that. Everyone I've ever spoken with since then had actual Apple IIs in the classroom.
Well, I used a huge Franklin clone quite a bit at a local church. The minister had a genuine Apple in his house and Franklin(s) for the congregation. I remember playing with ELIZA (the well-known psychotherapy thing) and Lode Runner. Lode Runner rules, and the Apple II version still holds its own.
As a young kid, though, I didn't really understand that Franklin was simply an Apple clone. I thought Franklin was an obscure, proprietary system unto itself. Plus, Franklin made those handheld Bibles and Dictionaries, which further confused me.
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Ha! I was going to avoid the mednafan discussion, but all the whiny-ass comments are really annoying.
Mednafen is no different. You want a GUI for mednafen or other open source GUI-less apps, go solicit some windows or mac programmers.
Exactly. Thank you.
All of the whiners complaining about the lack of a GUI for mednafan sound like a bunch of spoiled "gimmee gimmee gimmee" children. Yeah, I'm being overly harsh for dramatic effect, but I really don't understand why folks are placing the blame on all the wrong people. Why blame the author of mednafan for the failings of the greater TG-16 / PC-community.
Plus, it should go without saying that there is only so much work that a person can do. Time is a limited resource. Also, even if time wasn't limited, the author of mednafan might not have any desire or derive any satisfaction from the front-end, so her time is best spent on the back-end.
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I don't mind using command line progs like mednafen, but I prefer gui because of the convenience factor. I only use emulators to take screen shots and play games I don't own, all the real gaming happens on real hardware 8)
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I bet she (mednafen author) is ugly. Really ugly. That's why she never made a GUI. It's what's on the inside that counts!
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The frontend doesn't really do anything. There are no options to input command lines anywhere. Command lines are gay. I wonder if the programmers have upgraded from DOS. They probably don't even understand the concept of a GUI. And again, I bet they have glasses and/or ponytails.
....string and change is to "pce.cdbios c:\pce\roms\syscard.pce" or whatever path *and* system card rom you're using......
OK..so where do I get the syscard.pce file?
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Our friend Odonadon at turbo2k has them for download
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turbo D thank you much!
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syscard.pce is just the name of my system card bios image. You'll have to look through your rom directory for your version. It'll probably have the number revision 3.01 in the name somewhere.
Maybe Nodt or someone else in the community can/will do a proper frontend. I've got to much on my plate to pick it up (probably Nodt as well).
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I already posted a link to a front end for the stupid thing to run PCE shit, I don't know why people are still bitching.
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Because it still doesn't work.
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I already posted a link to a front end for the stupid thing to run PCE shit, I don't know why people are still bitching.
It worked fine for me, thanks GUTS. :clap:
Unfortunately, it wouldn't run the debug mode Daimakaimura rom. :(
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GUT's front end would run HuCard roms, but who the hell wants to play HuCards? Not a single person on this entire planet! I still could not get it to play a CD game from the drive. It requires the game to be ripped to the hard drive for some homosexual reason.
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GUT's front end would run HuCard roms, but who the hell wants to play HuCards? Not a single person on this entire planet! I still could not get it to play a CD game from the drive. It requires the game to be ripped to the hard drive for some homosexual reason.
I think I remember hearing about how that is the way Mednafen is made. You have to run CD games as BIN/CUE or ISO/CUE sets or something. Or maybe not. I'm not actually providing any useful information here.
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Nodviet made a guide on here a month back, clears everything up on how to run an image.
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Don't want to run an image. Want to run a CD. Well I actually don't need to run anything anymore, but still.
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Mednafen can run PCE CD games from the CD drive. not just CUE setups. Joe, how many CD drives do you have in the PC?
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2
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It works fine unless you're a f*cking retard who should be using a fisher price my first computer.
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do you know someone who owns the "licence to play"? just copy it in your folder and ME will run unlimited. also i believe that the screecaps are in the accurate res.
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do you know someone who owns the "licence to play"? just copy it in your folder and ME will run unlimited. also i believe that the screecaps are in the accurate res.
Or you could just stab some jerk on the street, steal his wallet, and pay for a M.E. key. If nineteen whole dollars is too much, live with the time restriction or use something else.
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Magic Engine's whole time restriction tactics are designed to torture you into buying their key :x. Who would want to pay $20 for an emulator? not me :wink:
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I skimmed some of the thread . . .
Magic Engine does play CD games quite well. If using CD "images," they will need to be mounted on a virtual CD drive. It also takes screen shots in the native PCE resolution. Of course, this is from my use of the Windows version. I've never used the Mac version (because I have a real computer, HA!).
As for command lines, I am not a programmer, but I appreciate their use. I love emulators that use command lines because it makes it easier to use with a separate GUI (not the one bundled with the emu). This is great for those who would like to use a single universal GUI for multiple emulators that were programmed by different groups. I've become much more "computer smart" working with command lines BECAUSE of emulators.
I find it laughable that someone could complain about command lines in a FREE program. If you don't like command lines . . . build your own emulator from the ground up with a GUI and show them "how it should be done."
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I've never used the Mac version (because I have a real computer, HA!).
**slaps forehead**
I've just been totally PWND!!!! #-o