[OT] Emulators Running on PSP

[David R Hilgendorf]

Hey Tom et. al. I have been super busy setting up and playing my 8-bit and 16-bit console emulators on my PSP! It's totally distracted me from my GameEx/MAME cab. I need to get GameEx 4.06 installed and running. I guess you have slowed down some with the releases as well lately.

I apologize if I made it seem that i was dissatisfied in any way with GameEx in regards to performance. I was just struggling to see why I had vastly different utilization numbers across the various systems I had installed GameEx on. As long as it works well in my MAME cab (the 850mhz one) I am not to concerned about the other systems. I am overall very satisfied with the program and I am still using it as my exclusive front-end. Now can you port it to PSP? (jk)

If any of you are interested in running GG,SMS,GEN,GBC,NES,SNES,TG16,MSX,NGPC,etc on your PSP take a look at www.psp-hacks.com or www.psphacker.com for more information. Truly an amazing step forward for portable gaming...

-Dave

[Tom Speirs]

Hey Tom et. al.  I have been super busy setting up and playing my 8-bit and 16-bit console emulators on my PSP!  It's totally distracted me from my GameEx/MAME cab.  I need to get GameEx 4.06 installed and running.  I guess you have slowed down some with the releases as well lately. 

I apologize if I made it seem that i was dissatisfied in any way with GameEx in regards to performance.  I was just struggling to see why I had vastly different utilization numbers across the various systems I had installed GameEx on.  As long as it works well in my MAME cab (the 850mhz one) I am not to concerned about the other systems.  I am overall very satisfied with the program and I am still using it as my exclusive front-end.  Now can you port it to PSP? (jk)

If any of you are interested in running GG,SMS,GEN,GBC,NES,SNES,TG16,MSX,NGPC,etc on your PSP take a look at www.psp-hacks.com or www.psphacker.com for more information.  Truly an amazing step forward for portable gaming...

-Dave

That's interesting stuff Dave. Excuse my ignorance but is any kind of modding needed on the PSP to do this?

What's involved in terms of getting the stuff on to it?

Cheers,

Tom.

[David R Hilgendorf]

There is no modding required provided you have the retail installed bios 1.50 (do not upgrade to a newer version via the PSP utilities). There is an exploit in the bios that allows unsigned software to run and all you have to do is copy the necessary files over to your memory card.

I have created a 32MB emulator zip file that includes the most common emulators and a few sample roms that should fit onto the small pro duo card that was included with every new PSP in the USA. Tom you can PM me if you would like a copy. Unfortunately I can't make it available to the public as it would violate the license agreements for the various emulators, but it is easy to find out more information on how to do this by reading the websites listed above. They even have emulator packages like mine for download without the ROMS in them.

Very cool exploit for a very cool and very powerful portable system.

[night]

There is no modding required provided you have the retail installed bios 1.50 (do not upgrade to a newer version via the PSP utilities).  There is an exploit in the bios that allows unsigned software to run and all you have to do is copy the necessary files over to your memory card.

I have created a 32MB emulator zip file that includes the most common emulators and  a few sample roms that should fit onto the small pro duo card that was included with every new PSP in the USA.  Tom you can PM me if you would like a copy. Unfortunately I can't make it available to the public as it would violate the license agreements for the various emulators, but it is easy to find out more information on how to do this by reading the websites listed above.  They even have emulator packages like mine for download without the ROMS in them.

Very cool exploit for a very cool and very powerful portable system.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hehe well for my case its nothing of interest i have a mobile capable of emulating alot but never liked the fact the screens are so small i prefer a big screen other stuff gives me a headache and doubt i ever wanna buy those small handhelds as long the display are that small

[David R Hilgendorf]

Well the PSP is 480x272 pixels, if you haven't seen it in action, it's far from small. It is actually a higher resolution than every classic console and most arcade games. Thus the emulators either take up a fraction of the PSP screen, or have to be "stretched" to fit.

I can't argue with the fact that most emulation looks superb, often superior, on an arcade monitor, however there is also something to be said for being able to play all your classics on the go... Besides low res games look great on smaller screens imho, less pixelization and jaggies. It's very hard for me to play NES games on a TV or my projector anymore because they look like crap, but they look pretty good on the PSP. SNES and Genesis games get a whole new life in portability, just ask any Sega Nomad or GameBoy Advance owner.

[night]

Well the PSP is 480x272 pixels, if you haven't seen it in action, it's far from small.  It is actually a higher resolution than every classic console and most arcade games. Thus the emulators either take up a fraction of the PSP screen, or have to be "stretched" to fit.

I can't argue with the fact that most emulation looks superb, often superior, on an arcade monitor, however there is also something to be said for being able to play all your classics on the go...  Besides low res games look great on smaller screens imho, less pixelization and jaggies.  It's very hard for me to play NES games on a TV or my projector anymore because they look like crap, but they look pretty good on the PSP.  SNES and Genesis games get a whole new life in portability, just ask any Sega Nomad or GameBoy Advance owner.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

it wasent meant as an attack on psp just not my taste i understand the persons there likes to have the change to play old games on the move in the train/park or where some have to wait they can play but still to small for me ....

its just not me tho im looking forward to see the ps3 arrive even thats not a take a go machine

[djrobx]

If you have BIOS 1.50, don't you need to do the memory card swap trick? How is the quality of the emulators?

*Edit* Scratch that, I see the new hack. I tried the NES emulator and it works fantastic! That so rocks!

It's very hard for me to play NES games on a TV or my projector anymore because they look like crap, but they look pretty good on the PSP

Have you tried FCEU with the HQ2X mode enabled? It really works wonders for big displays.

-- Rob

[David R Hilgendorf]

Yeah, on my projector I tend to run some kind of filter over every 8-bit and 16-bit emulator, though I still don't think it helps the NES much You really can't make much improvement when there isn't much to start with. I don't even play Atari 2600 games anymore, too painful on the eyes/ears/brain haha. NES is getting close to that level for me too.

The no-swap hack is very cool, I recommend these emulators (at 333mhz speed):

Genesis - PSPGenesis .13 (Very Good) needs zip support, save states, screen stretch

SNES - ua_snes9x .03a (Very Good) Frameskip 2, sound 11khz or off, no stretch

NES - NesterJ 1.06 (Excellent) WOW!

GameBoy Color - RIN 1.26 (Excellent) not a big fan of this system

TurboGrafx/PC Engine - PCEP v0.7 (Excellent) no SuperGrafx or CD yet

Sega Master System/GameGear - SMS PSP V0.4 (Excellent) needs screen stretch

MSX - fMSX 0.61 (jury is out) Difficult to configure: I got it to load Snatcher title screen, can't get any farther, never had an MSX, no good documentation

AVOID:

Mame - SLOW and supports almost nothing yet, can't wait for this one to develop

GBA - SLOW, supports only a single ROM, can't wait for this one to develop

Haven't tried:

NeoGeo CD - seems like too much work, and no sound support

NeoGeo Pocket - was never a fan of this system

Wonderswan - was never a fan of this system

Also noteworthy:

Doom/DoomII port - very good stuff, I burned out on these 10 years ago though.

Beats of Rage - too bad it takes up 60MB

What I am waiting for?

Quake2/Duke3D

Wireless multiplayer on the console emulators

Full speed GBA, SNES and Genesis emulation (it will happen)

FinalBurn or Kawaks for CPS2 and NeoGeo goodness

MAME - I'd be happy if they just got the major hit 8/16-bit systems through the early 90's working (Atari, Sega, Taito, Namco, Midway, etc). I wouldn't want the whole thing ported anyway, it's become bloated the last few years.

But I am totally happy with the 6 working emulators mentioned above...

[djrobx]

It's totally distracted me from my GameEx/MAME cab

Yeah ... and now you've got me going off on the same tangent. Nice! Great rundown.

Suggestion: Try uoSnes9x y15. They finally fixed the frameskip. Set the value a high number (3 or more) and turn auto on. It renders as many frames as it can at a stable pace, no more music speed ups and slowdowns. Tends to do about 30fps on average with 22khz sound. Very ncie.

I haven't tried Doom yet, but I don't want to touch it because I've just gotten back into playing the updated OpenGL Doom, and I know it would be a pitiful experience in comparison. I can't wait for them to figure out how to get the 3d aspects of the PSP working, so they can do proper Doom and Descent ports! Mmm, PSPDescent....

You really can't make much improvement when there isn't much to start with.

It's funny because on my 50" setup, the HQ2X filter with NES looks fantastic, probably better than even the SNES. NES has just as much resolution as SNES, just with fewer colors. HQ2X was designed for cartoon-ish graphics so it works better on games with smaller palettes. HQ2X is not like 2xSAI or the others. If you haven't tried an emulator with that particular filter, you should give it a shot.

I don't even play Atari 2600 games anymore, too painful on the eyes/ears/brain haha. NES is getting close to that level for me too.

LOL, on a projector setup I imagine some Atari 2600 sprites have pixels bigger than some people's television sets.

[David R Hilgendorf]

okay next time I happen to pop into an xbox or arcade version of NES emu I will try the HQ2X filters. Thanks for the recommendation. Maybe they can add it to the PSP, that would be sweet too.

BTW I got MSX Metal Gear rom to load and play, I was surprised it is completely different from the NES version, in fact it might be better. I still have no idea how to get Snatcher past the title screen however I always thought MSX looked like crap, and it does, but I recently discovered that MSX2 and MSX2+ games look maybe a little better than even a NES....

UPDATE: I looked at the HQ2X filter on the FCEU Xbox emulator, and I must say it's pretty impressive when enabled with Anisotropic filtering. Takes away all the jaggies without reducing any of the image quality. It still looks like a NES game, but would make them playable on a projector (where I tested it)