ZSNES Looks Terrible!

[Berret]

The visual appearance of zsnes should be kept the same even after the rewrite, just to spite playstation generation crybabies, or douchebags who want to make some sort of fashion statement with their desktop.

I grew up on SNES myself, so while this wouldn't apply to me you do have a decent point

Either it's not possible or it's too time consuming.

I really think that's the issue. Assembly is a little less welcoming, in my very small experience.

It does save it for most Windows in XP, you just have to hold CONTROL down while closing the window/application to save the size. In Vista and newer it does away with the need to hold CTRL.

Thanks for the tip - I'm still on XP here.

Ugh, there's a reason separate files and folders went out of style with Windows 3.1. We can argue preferences and <insert random person's name here>'s Laws of UI design, but the fact that no modern OS has done this for the last fifteen years is a good indication of majority opinion on the matter.

Why all this comparison to Windows in the first place? Since when is the Windows GUI our standard? It isn't mine.

In all honesty, my quam is not that 'the interface doesn't function' or that 'it's too standalone', and it's certainly not about making it look more like Windows. I'd just like to see ZSNES take another step in the right direction, like they have been this whole time, and the existing (sweener2001, I am aware ) rewrite can be this change. Keep it outside nativity to Windows, certainly, but let's definitely be open to the options available to us with current graphical technology. Granted, it's not like we have a 3d team with us to completely modernize the look (...do we?...don't worry I'm not suggesting we go 3d), but there are a lot more possibilities for 2.0 than keeping the current schema that we have about the old look because it can work (which, I agree, it certainly can), but a new basis for the interface can work more efficiently, for us and for the coders, right? I won't speak for you guys but I imagine this is true.

I do think going as far as saying that the current GUI is a "design failure" is overdoing it, because I really appreciate the retro style and the steps it has already been through since the beginning of zsnes. *retro comparison screenshots here* It does not take too much brain power, especially from someone who grew up on DOS-based systems, the Nintendo, and eventually Windows 3.11, to get right through the current GUI and make it fast and functional for our own uses, but who are we making this program for? Just ourselves?

Limited audiences still appreciate the SNES's timeless games, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to broaden the horizons of this program. (Without taking away the option to return to the retro theme)

[Gil_Hamilton]

That blaming a stylized GUI for a COMMON design failure is disingenuous.

It's not a design failure, it's a design limitation. A 256x224 resolution window doesn't offer enough space to show long strings of text without putting scrollbars everywhere, and the scrollbars eat space themselves. What is this Windows equivalent you're talking about? The load box is it's own resizeable window, it isn't confined by the display area of the program.

And, secret passwords excepted, it ALWAYS opens at 15 rows tall in the file selector window and 36 characters wide in the file name box.

You're saying that you should have to resize a window every time you open something?

Or you could keep your file names under 36 characters, which is HARDLY an irrational limit for an SNES game collection.

No, I'm not manually truncating game titles on my end.

There are very few games where the first 36 characters do not convey meaningful information, and most of those are because of a bunch of leading text that most people do not really consider part of the game name(Kaite Tukuttue Asoberu Dezaemon? I've always seen it just referred to as Dezaemon).

Though you're still intentionally confusing the issue by throwing a restriction tied to THIS SPECIFIC IMPLEMENTATION as an example of a reason NO NON-STANDARD IMPLEMENTATION can work.

If they could create separate, resizeable windows, why haven't they already? Either it's not possible or it's too time consuming. I could care less if a PS2 emulator wouldn't have space problems, that has nothing to do with anything.[/quote]
Because it's not possible in THIS SPECIFIC IMPLEMENTATION of a non-standard GUI.

A. 23 characters is HARDLY a handicap.

You want modern operating systems to impose a 23 character limit on all files? How can you seriously suggest that would be enough?

Because personal experience tells me that the first 23 characters are almost always all I'll need.

Except that the Standard Windows File Load Box penalizes me by including directories in that list, because it doesn't have a separate directory view, while ZSNES GUI does.

First of all, why would a rom directory have lots of folders within it?

Because it's so much easier to find a game when you have them sorted into categories than if you have thousands of games in a single directory?

Or you can just start typing the file name, which works in both the existing ZSNES GUI AND a Standard Windows File Load box. And actually works BETTER in ZSNES GUI than the Standard Windows File Load Box.

Faster, yes, but if I can get away with not pecking a bunch of shit, I'm usually going to keep my hand on the mouse and gamepad.

Oh, watch out! We've got mister THREE-HANDS here! The future of evolution is coming for us!

This is purely an aesthetics argument, and it's plainly clear from a number of active, thriving products that an appropriately-themed GUI in no way hinders functionality.

If it's an aesthetics issue, then custom GUIs still suck, because then each program has its own predetermined theme and users can't make them all match to some central theme that they want. Yeah, really great having a program that's orange, next to one that's blue, next to one that's pink. It effectively makes every computer's theme "fruit loops".

And yet, more and more applications are doing it.
It's been the standard among entertainment applications for years. And now it's moving into productivity applications.





Side-note: ZSNES' GUI is HTPC-friendly.
Standard Windows File Load Box is not.

[byuu]

Side-note: ZSNES' GUI is HTPC-friendly.
Standard Windows File Load Box is not.

Man, I could go on for years with all the shit OSes themselves should implement: promote gamepads to actual input devices, map all gamepad D-pads to the arrow keys, and buttons to enter. And for god's sake, make gamepad input reset the screensaver counter.

[I.S.T.]

Side-note: ZSNES' GUI is HTPC-friendly.
Standard Windows File Load Box is not.

Man, I could go on for years with all the shit OSes themselves should implement: promote gamepads to actual input devices, map all gamepad D-pads to the arrow keys, and buttons to enter. And for god's sake, make gamepad input reset the screensaver counter.

You and many others!

[kode54]

map all gamepad D-pads to the arrow keys, and buttons to enter.

For goodness' sake, man! Don't forget to map something to the escape key! Getting stuck inside a menu or dialog without a keyboard is no fun.

[adventure_of_link]

map all gamepad D-pads to the arrow keys, and buttons to enter.

For goodness' sake, man! Don't forget to map something to the escape key! Getting stuck inside a menu or dialog without a keyboard is no fun.

Let's go one step further and make OS installs use a game pad as well!

[Gil_Hamilton]

Side-note: ZSNES' GUI is HTPC-friendly.
Standard Windows File Load Box is not.

Man, I could go on for years with all the shit OSes themselves should implement: promote gamepads to actual input devices, map all gamepad D-pads to the arrow keys, and buttons to enter. And for god's sake, make gamepad input reset the screensaver counter.

Hell yes! And map X and Y to the mouse!
(An analog stick makes a surprisingly functional cursor control with the proper speed settings.)


Why keyboard mappers are still 3rd-party apps is beyond me.


It'd help if PC games were more prone to supporting joysticks and gamepads natively, too.
But then, that's a market that believes you should play Contra with a keyboard and mouse...

[alyxx]

It'd help if PC games were more prone to supporting joysticks and gamepads natively, too.
But then, that's a market that believes you should play Contra with a keyboard and mouse...

I still prefer a gamepad.

[Gil_Hamilton]

It'd help if PC games were more prone to supporting joysticks and gamepads natively, too.
But then, that's a market that believes you should play Contra with a keyboard and mouse...

I still prefer a gamepad.

Believe me, I'm no keyboard/mouse advocate.
(In point of fact, I don't even HAVE a mouse on this computer. I blaspheme with a trackball!)

[Agozer]

It'd help if PC games were more prone to supporting joysticks and gamepads natively, too.
But then, that's a market that believes you should play Contra with a keyboard and mouse...

I still prefer a gamepad.

Believe me, I'm no keyboard/mouse advocate.
(In point of fact, I don't even HAVE a mouse on this computer. I blaspheme with a trackball!)

You anarchist, you.

[Johan_H]

Contra with a keyboard and mouse.

Is this a reference to something particular, because it sounds completely insane?

[grinvader]

...
I'm gonna do a little comparison here for the few who need it.

Talking is nice. Or writing, in our case. Detail.

So we have a work of art. Except it's really, really old and has major, obvious wtf in it.
Ladies and gentlemen (lol, as if), we have the tower of pisa.

Those who can already see where the comparison is going, skip ahead to the pizza to congratulate yourself. Those who don't, pay attention.

Over it's rather long history, many people thought that the tower was really nice, but would be like, waaay nicer if it was, you know, vertical.
Like all those other towers. Yeah.
Except, it's obvious there's just no sane way to pull it. Might as well just, you know, take a couple snapshots, buy souvenirs, get wasted at a bar, and then go back home.

Why ? Because it's kinda easy to tell that the tower shifted due to the huge weight and crappy foundation works. The best reinforcement works ever made only prevented further movement. Fixing the whole mess would demand some hugeass thing that isn't worth it in the end.
Some dudes even imagined a twin sister leaning the other way, and bridges between the two.

Anyway, I digress. tl;dr: Yak yak yak yak nothing gets done. Ever. And people pay to see it.

Back to the issue: it's old, it's crappy, and it bothers us almost twice as it does you.
Talking doesn't help any.



Save our time and some whales along the way: whine elsewhere.
You can also save your own time by not whining at all. Incredible !





The pizza was here, but you're too slow and the smart kids wolfed it down already.
Sucker.

[Berret]

Fixing the whole mess would demand some hugeass thing that isn't worth it in the end.

...rewrite? ...

[Gil_Hamilton]

Contra with a keyboard and mouse.

Is this a reference to something particular, because it sounds completely insane?

Were I cool and hip, it could've been a reference to the old DOS shooter Abuse.

But I'm not, so it's just an example of PC gamer dumbassery. I'm fairly sure there's a good portion of them that think this would be a good idea.
Hell, I've seen people asking to map emulator gamepad controls to mice before.
Because Megaman would be SO much better if you had to do the lift+drop move a million times a stage.

[grinvader]

...rewrite? ...:)

*facefootsole*
We know. WE KNOW. WE KNOW.
We knew before anyone else even wondered, and we'll still know after everyone's stopped caring.


And we're not gonna do it any faster because you happen to also know.

Because Megaman would be SO much better if you had to do the lift+drop move a million times a stage.

Trackball !

[Gil_Hamilton]

...rewrite? ...

Because Megaman would be SO much better if you had to do the lift+drop move a million times a stage.

Trackball !

Hell yes.
Still not great for Megaman, though.
...
And PC gamers will lynch you for suggesting it.

[chriswyatt]

I've always been fond of the ZSNES GUI.

[doktor_kris]

But then, that's a market that believes you should play Contra with a keyboard and mouse...

Frankly, that's a market they can keep for themselves IMO.

[Awakened]

If there was a Contra made to control like Soldat, I would play it.

[Johan_H]

If there was a Contra made to control like Soldat, I would play it.

You might want to try the aforementioned Abuse.
I want a good, co-operative multiplayer game like that to exist.

[I_am_dumb]

I've been playing roms with Zsnes since the Win '98 days. I like playing my roms on the TV using Svideo out, and if you have a good enough controller, you can set it up so you can navigate the Gui with it. I use L1 / R1 as page up and page down, and start as "enter." I like picking a rom this way, because I don't have to get up and actually look on my comp.

[odditude]

thread necromancy much?

[grinvader]

Yeah, but given the username I'm willing to see if it's a bug or a feature.

if you see what i mean ¬_¬

[odditude]

Outlook not so good

[nightwolf5903]

I tried zsnes for the first time last week after using snes9x for a long time.
and i have to say this , ZSNES is AMAZING!. Who cares about the UI?. What matters is the fact that its emulation of SNES is CLOSE to PERFECT!.

All the games that I tried worked amazingly well and 99 percent like the real thing. My two gamepads work perfectly(Logitech rumblepad 2 wireless and Genius Maxfire blaze corded) and the sound was much louder than what i got in SNES.

Thank you guys for making this and not charging anything for it.Keep up the great work!

(PS:where can i donate?)