Found a bug? Please report it, but remember to follow the bug reporting guidelines.
Missing a sane feature? Let us know!
But please do NOT request ports to other systems.
Many users, new and old alike, have been asking similar questions about ZSNES. Here are the questions and answers, condensed and simplified. For a more thorough expanation of the following, as well as many, many more questions and answers, you should read the ZSNES Documentation, or more specifically, the ZSNES Frequently Asked Questions (found in that link).
Before posting on the ZSNES boards, be sure to read the forum rules here.
The most recent official version of ZSNES is v1.42, found here. However, ipher, one of the ZSNES developers, releases stable builds between official releases to demo new features and bug fixes. You can find these releases, called WIP (work in progress) releases, at Ipher's ZSNES WIP Site. Before reporting a bug or asking a question, be sure you are using the latest WIP release.
For anyone wanting to contribute to the ZSNES project, Aerdan has started the ZSNES Documentation Wiki project. You can find the wiki here. Please only submit useful, accurate information.
ZSNES is a Super Nintento emulator written mostly in x86 assembly (roughly 84%), and a little C. Because of this, ZSNES cannot be ported to any non-x86 compatible operating system or console. A few examples of incompatible operating systems and consoles are as follows:
Sony PSP
Nintendo DS
Mac OS/PPC
Playstation 2
GameCube
Linux or FreeBSD on non-x86 architectures
Your cell phone
N-Gage
Pocket PCs/PalmPilots
Flash
Java
.NET
At the time of this post, ZSNES has been ported to all compatible operating systems and consoles. Any posts requesting new ports of ZSNES will be locked immediately.
For the growing amount of novice Linux users out there, Aerdan has documented how to compile and run the ZSNES source code.
As an ordinary user: tar zxf zsnes142.tar.gz
cd zsnes_1_42/src
./configure --prefix=~/bin
make
make install
~/bin/zsnes
As root (requires root access): tar zxf zsnes142.tar.gz
cd zsnes_1_42/src
./configure
make
make install
zsnes
If you recieve the error "configure: error: expected an absolute directory name for --prefix: ~/bin" while compiling, you must replace ~ with the path to your home directory.
If you would rather install ZSNES using a DEB package, you can find one for version 1.42 here.
This is a guide by Noxious Ninja for all those who are wondering how to convert your ZSNES movie files into something that can be played outside of ZSNES.
Currently, ZSNES does not contain an option to record its output. The next release, however, will enable you to dump ZMVs into raw videos, which you can convert to whatever movie format you like. In the meantime, you can capture video with a utility called Fraps. Fraps version 2.5.0 and up is able to properly capture ZSNES output. The commercial version costs $29.95.
Here are the recommended settings for best results (thanks michael flatley!)
ZSNES:
Auto frame rate - enabled
Max frameskip - 0
Vsync - enabled
Triple buffering - enabled
Resolution: 640x480 or lower
FRAPS:
60 FPS
Full size
If you are having speed problems, make sure Fraps is set to full-size mode and try disabling graphical filters from within ZSNES. You can also try lowering the resolution.
Be warned that movie recording takes a LOT of hard drive space. Fraps doesn't encode the movies into a format such as DivX, and raw video is huge. As an example, I recorded an 18-second demo at 640x480 60 FPS, and it took 150 MB of hard drive space. Make sure you have a lot of space before you begin.
If you don't have want to buy Fraps, the latest version of Snes9x supports AVI output from within the emulator. Unfortunately, it can't open ZMV files.