Emulator machine, what OS?

[Panja]

I have purchased a Zotac ID91 with 8GB of ram and a Samsung EVO 840 SSD.

Going to use it as a dedicated emulator machine for my living room.

Will be installing the following emulators: ES (Nestopia), SNES (snes9x), PSX (ePSXe), Sega Megadrive, Master System (Kega Fusion).

As frontend probably going to go with GameEx (v14), that's why I signed up here.

GameEx looks awesome and probably does everything I want. Need to register a full version though.

At the moment I don't know which OS to pick. Windows 7 or 8.1 (x64).

Which one would be best for a dedicated emulator machine and why?

Thanks in advance!

[Tom Speirs]

I have no problem recommending windows 8.1 for GameEx or PinballX. All my development work for the products is done on Windows 8.1 so its almost guaranteed to work although some more obscure emulators can be a pain. Generally speaking everything runs better and faster on 8.1 over 7.

[Panja]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the fast answer!

I noticed I have placed the topic in the wrong forum (support PinballX instead of support GameEx).

Can you move it for me? Sorry for the inconvenience.

I must admit booting times (I have disabled MS fastboot, don't like it) are awesome on 8.1.

My TV takes longer to boot up than the machine itself.

My I noticed Instant Sheller is not available on Win 8.1? Is that correct?

I would like my dedicated emulator machine to boot up GameEx instantly without any "desktop experience"...

[Tom Speirs]

Instant sheller does work on both 8.1 and 7 but it does not hide everything. I know you can hack windows 7 and do it manually. Not sure about 8.1. Ive created a box with 8.1 and instant sheller. I used one user account to shell GameEx and one to access the desktop.

You have to specifically hack windows files to do it which instant sheller does not do.

Based on experience I wouldn't bother doing it though. Once GameEx is loaded nobody would know and Its a real pain when you want to change something or do an update of windows or gameex.

You can see how fast windows 8.1 loads so does it matter if people see its windows for a few seconds. It will save you a lot of headache.

[Panja]

Ok, thanks for the info. What does it NOT hide than?

Will have to look into both OS'es and Instant Sheller. Virtual Machines to the rescue.

Also if I want to change the menu structure, for instance on the front page of GameEx I want to have a direct link to NES and SNES emulators instead of going to Emulated Games and than choose NES or SNES, that can be done with GameEx after registering right?

And change the menu order, for instance NES emulator 1st row, SNES on the 2nd row and most played games on the 3rd row.

[Tom Speirs]

It does not hide the boot sequence and user login and shutdown. It does all the other stuff such as disable system sounds and hide the mouse and obviously change the shell, so after bootup you wont see the desktop.

Correct on the menus.

[Panja]

Wicked, thanks for all the info!

[uberpubert69]

A few emulators don't like 8.1. There's a problem with Fusion for instance where your FPS is stuck at 30 instead of 60 because of some Direct Draw issues. Same for FCEUltra. Also the plugins menu and the custom menu windows stretch out inside itself that you can't see a few things properly. Windows 7 don't have these issues.

[Tom Speirs]

Thanks for stepping in. Just goes to show I don't actually play as much as I should with the emulators. There are no issues with GameEx though or any of the configuration utilities including plugins and custom menus. If there are I have never seen them

[Panja]

A few emulators don't like 8.1. There's a problem with Fusion for instance where your FPS is stuck at 30 instead of 60 because of some Direct Draw issues. Same for FCEUltra. Also the plugins menu and the custom menu windows stretch out inside itself that you can't see a few things properly. Windows 7 don't have these issues.

I heard of those problems under Win8.1

It can be fixed though as per: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/post.php?topic=99477&post=1202630

But def. something to think about when choosing my OS. Thanks!

[uberpubert69]

Thanks for stepping in. Just goes to show I don't actually play as much as I should with the emulators. There are no issues with GameEx though or any of the configuration utilities including plugins and custom menus. If there are I have never seen them

np man. Yeah everything works in 8.1 but like I said there is a sizing issue with the window for some plugins and the custom menu window. Like when you try to choose the logo you want 90% of the drop box is off screen even when maximized.

I heard of those problems under Win8.1

It can be fixed though as per: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/post.php?topic=99477&post=1202630

But def. something to think about when choosing my OS. Thanks!

Yeah I know its able to be fixed, but imo the fact it needs fixing is very shady to me. What else needs fixing that I don't know about? The average user might not know the difference in behavior of how something runs on 8.1 compared to 7 unless you know by experience or research beforehand. I personally just changed to Windows 7 from 8.1. My HDD died and I had to grab a spare I had and reinstall windows and everything back onto it. I grew used to 8.1 but I'm so glad I went back to 7. START MENU!!!!!

[Panja]

True!

Yeah I know its able to be fixed, but imo the fact it needs fixing is very shady to me. What else needs fixing that I don't know about?

True!

Still in doubt but this is a big favour for Win 7 indeed.

[Tom Speirs]

Every OS since Vista has some issues with DirectDraw. GameEx used to use it. I think the fix in the link is valid, safe and worth pursuing. Its a Microsoft supplied fix. Windows 8.1 is a more stable and faster operating system then 7. I always use ClassicShell and put the start menu back in. I never use the Metro interface.

However, since you have an SSD and enough RAM, speed is not an issue, so you might be better with 7.

[uberpubert69]

Yeah I use the classic shell too, but again the fact that anything needs fixing makes me not want it. 8.1 is god awful without the classic start menu. and I've personally had no problems with Direct Draw on 7. Man the metro interface was implemented so crappy. I have noticed some things are a bit faster on windows 8.1 but not much faster.

[Tom Speirs]

Just wanted to point out that is not in fact a fix or a patch. Its just enabling a feature.

Microsoft disabled that feature as it didn't work properly in any OS since Vista. To provide a better user experience they simply "disabled" the feature in Windows 8. Its not broken its disabled as like I said it didn't work right since Vista.

I tend to recommend windows 8 more for PinballX rather than GameEx as it uses HD videos all the time and they load up so much quicker under 8.

[Adultery]

Hey Uber, which Plugins are causing issues with the window sizing? I'm finally on 8.1 and i would like to take a look at them if they're mine.

[Shermo]

Even on high end gaming rigs 8.1 runs more things better then 7. I have no issues with 7 has served me well but with DX12 around the corner and 7 having 0 support for it time to move on

[Panja]

But will DX12 actually be any use for emulators? Will they benefit? Of is it just for the new PC games?

I will only be playing emulator games...

[Tom Speirs]

Yeah, for an emulator machine its not required. Like I said windows 7 will be fine for you in your case. Although I prefer to stick with the latest and greatest. ie Windows 8.1

[uberpubert69]

Hey Uber, which Plugins are causing issues with the window sizing? I'm finally on 8.1 and i would like to take a look at them if they're mine.

I don't recall as I'm not on 8.1 anymore but if you look through them I'm sure you'll see them. I think all of them had sizing issues on 8.1 but that might have been because I had my DPI increased. Text on my tv is way too damn small lol.