ZSNES is no longer in active development.

[paulguy]

If productivity was their goal, they'd do away with all the transitions and animations.

[grinvader]

The next version of zsnes will have a start menu with multiple branching options that flare out when the mouse goes over them, just to satisfy your Windows 95 nostalgia.

Nah, it will have:

Code: Select all

START
 ├─ J-j-jam it in
 │ -----------------
 ├─ Blow on connector
 ├─ Rubbing alcohol q-tip
 └─ Sell on E-bay

[Truth Unknown]

If productivity was their goal, they'd do away with all the transitions and animations.

They are all entirely optional, but on by default.

[Gil_Hamilton]

The next version of zsnes will have a start menu with multiple branching options that flare out when the mouse goes over them, just to satisfy your Windows 95 nostalgia.

Nah, it will have:

Code: Select all

START
 ├─ Make toast
 │ -----------------
 ├─ J-j-jam it in
 │ -----------------
 ├─ Blow on connector
 ├─ Rubbing alcohol q-tip
 └─ Sell on E-bay

[grinvader]

Toast is what happens to your cart when you jam it in after midnight.



you don't want to know what water does to it, either

[Yuber]

I do know about the key shortcuts in Win8, but isn't that basically like a dumbed down DOS prompt? I never use apps but when they're opened, you have to grab them with the mouse and drag them to the bottom of the screen to close them, which just strikes me as stupid and very unintuitive. Since I'm not tech savvy I'm not going to claim that the start menu is fantastic or anything, but I really only use my PC for internet and emulation so multi-tasking isn't something I do much. I'll concede the point that it does get ridiculous if you have a lot of programs installed, but for a casual user like me who just uses a PC for basic internet and emulation related stuff, the classic shell program is perfect. Plus if I need to use the charms bar for some reason it's still there.

More on topic, one of my favorite things about ZSNES specifically is the high-res mode 7 option. I haven't used 9x for long so if there's something similar(the blend high-res images setting looks kinda shitty and causes more sound crackling) I'm not aware of it. The HRES mode 7 blends really well with the 4x setting I always used and made SNES games look pretty good even on a 1080p monitor. In 9x I have all of the HRES settings disabled to reduce the sound crackling bug, and since I use hq 4x it doesn't make much of a difference even in games like Seiken Densetsu 3 that utilize a higher res. The crackling seems to be an issue with 9x itself since even without any graphical or sound enhancements it still occurs in bass-heavy games like SF2. At least Chrono Trigger isn't buggy in 9x and it's one of the few games that run better in 9x due to the accurate sound.

[Gil_Hamilton]

I do know about the key shortcuts in Win8, but isn't that basically like a dumbed down DOS prompt?

No? It's actually pretty fundamentally opposed to command-line functionality.
My point was that the drama about having to maneuver your cursor down to the corner and CLICK ON A BUTTON OH THE HUMANITY in Win8 is is... true for every Windows product since 1995.

I never use apps

I'm just gonna leave this here.

[Yuber]

Dude, I admitted I'm not at all tech savvy so I don't really get why you want to argue with me about Win8 so much. A LOT of people agree with me on this and when I said I don't use apps I was talking about the specific phone-like programs that go full screen that you have to drag to the bottom of the screen to close, which is very annoying compared to more traditional applications that just allow you to X them out, and I usually just use a mouse rather than hotkeys. I assume the sarcasm wasn't meant maliciously but you knew exactly what I was talking about.

MS may have tried to fix a lot of problems with their more tradition operating systems, but my basic point is that Win8 is a mess for both desktops and touch screens, and who the hell really owns a Windows-based tablet anyway? I certainly don't know anyone who does, and Win8 comes off as a response to Apple's recent success. If Microsoft really wants to go the touch screen style route, I think they should've at least created a version of Win8 optimized specifically for desktop and laptop computers as well as another version optimized for tablets and phones. It's just a jumbled mess without Classic Shell imo; WinXP was my personal favorite since ALL of my favorite emus ran perfectly on it even with a shitty graphics card.

Basically, I'd like MS to just do their own thing instead of trying to partially emulate apple products/touch screens in general. It's just not very well suited for a simple desktop computer although I have gotten much more used to it with Classic Shell since it gives me the option of using both the old start menu and the new full screen layout. For some reason NeorageX runs better on Win8 than it did on my old Win7 computer, and I love that old emu because MAME and FBA have some slowdown in games like The Last Blade 1 and 2 and certain supers in the KOF series.

MAME(mame plus xt for me as well as mameui64) and FBA generally run NG games perfectly with the best visual enhancements and sound settings, but the Last Blade series has a little slowdown in certain areas like Lee Rekka's stage and the rival fight before the boss; I've watched youtube playthroughs of LB1-2 and they had the same issues so it's a bug in the emulation itself, not my computer. Kawaks has the same problem.

edit: grammar
other edits: clarifying some stuff

[Gil_Hamilton]

Dude, I admitted I'm not at all tech savvy so I don't really get why you want to argue with me about Win8 so much.

Because I can, and I long since got tired of people shitcanning everything anyone does different just by virtue of it being different.
I tried Windows 8, I saw nothing truly horrifying, but nothing that would compel me to upgrade either.

The interface was different. That's about it. The noise on the internet was a lot of fuss over not very much, and basically came down to change is bad, objective evaluation is for losers.
Everything got shuffled around again, but that happens with every new version of Windows.


My biggest annoyance with the product was the handling of Windows Live IDs, or whatever they call it now(why do they rebrand their online services every six months? Who knows.).
MS seems to really dislike the idea that I may have more than one account with them, so I can't, say, sign into Messenger with one account and XBox Live with another. Not unless they changed something later.

A LOT of people agree with me on this

And a lot of people disagree with you, too. The best way to describe Windows 8 is "divisive."
And a lot of people are dumb either way.



As far as my favorite version of Windows, it was Windows 2000.
It assumed I knew what I was doing, and stayed the fuck out of my way. XP assumed I was an idiot and needed a hand.
If I wanted to delete c:\winnt\system32 because I was drunk with power, well, that was my prerogative. The machine would never tell me I had no permission to fuck with files on my own computer.
I'd say 95 if it weren't for the NT codebase being so much better.

All that said, I've never felt the interface was "just right", and certainly not to the point where I'd actively pursue using the old interface when I upgraded.
I did dabble with alternative shells around the turn of the century. I had a bitchin' LiteStep setup for a while. Eventually it was just too much effort to maintain it, and then development died. Seems active again... I'm almost tempted... almost.

[Truth Unknown]

... specific phone-like programs that go full screen that you have to drag to the bottom of the screen to close, which is very annoying compared to more traditional applications that just allow you to X them out ...

The "apps" found in Windows 8 are optional to use, the only required full-screen interface is the "PC Settings" and most of what's in there might be bypassed by other methods. Unless you are on an ARM based system, then the apps are the only means. Also most apps I've seen on Apple or Android don't all offer a nice X button, most of the time you have to return to the main menu, or when they don't exit be forced to use a Task Ending App/Interface. So that universal quit gesture is great when using these "apps".

MS may have tried to fix a lot of problems with their more tradition operating systems, but my basic point is that Win8 is a mess for both desktops and touch screens, ...

It's not a mess, awkward definitely and most likely will improve.

... and who the hell really owns a Windows-based tablet anyway? I certainly don't know anyone who does, and Win8 comes off as a response to Apple's recent success.

I've wanted a Tablet PC since they started showing up in the early 2000s with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, alas now they are much more affordable when I'm now broke.

Basically, I'd like MS to just do their own thing instead of trying to partially emulate apple products/touch screens in general.

Tablet's and touch-screens are not unique to Apple (granted you said partially) and certainly Mircrosoft has been at it for a good damn while making it a thing in the first place.

For some reason NeorageX runs better on Win8 than it did on my old Win7 computer, ...

What? A newer version of an operating system has been improved since it's last? News to me!


Personally, I love the fact I sprang the the 40 dollar upgrade to my PC, it's certainly been a nice operation system. Granted there are many things I miss, but I can live with the alternatives out there that solve that.

I want to make a point too, Windows 8 was made by people who put time and hard work into it. Just as ZSNES is a wonderful collection of contributions of many people but on a much smaller and more open scale. So to not give some time to understand what they have done and imply your opinions like fact is just ignorance. I'm no better sometimes but in the end I try to correct those mistakes.

[Yuber]

My main point is that Classic Shell improves Win8 drastically since it doesn't disable the charms bar and gives you the option of using both the new layout and the old start menu. I'm also not passing my opinions over as fact; they're just my personal opinions and experiences. I will admit Win8 is very fast in general and I'll give it that. I never had a Vista computer and just went from XP to 7, but on others' computers with Vista I found it to be overly bloated/animated and slow as all hell, but that could've also been based on their PC specs. I prefer 8 over Vista by far, and other than having problems with Directx 7 and under along with the ZSNES emulator, 8 has generally better compatibility with all the other emus I use. I was even able to somewhat run Callus95 in it, although I never tried it in 7 so I'm not sure if it ran. MAME is no problem with Direct3d 9, including the extended additions with HQ3xbold in the more advanced CPS2 games; I use Finalburn Alpha for CPS3.

When I stated that I'm not tech savvy at all that was meant to imply that some of my opinions are ignorant, but that seemed to get looked over. I'd rather not argue just for the sake of arguing, and if you like some of the stuff I don't like about Win8 I'm not gonna try to shut your opinions down. I do agree about forcing you to use 1 account though, although I cancelled my Xbox LIVE membership 2 years ago due to me not being interested in newer games at all and being able to play all the old arcade games through emulation, including online. As far as the Xbox 360 goes, I also hate having to be online to play a lot(if not all, I forgot) of the old arcade games on there making them worthless once the system stops being supported.

The whole pre-order bonuses and DLC are also annoying for modern systems since it just means they took out content(or locked it on the disc) of the game and are making you pay for it. Considering the games are $60 and we're in a minor depression, I find that inexcusable. I also think if you talk to me we'll find more things we agree on than we disagree on, so no need for shit to get contentious.

EDIT: Forgot to add that the main reason I liked XP(went from 98 to XP, skipped 2000 due to having my 98 comp for a long time) is because it ran every single emulator I used flawlessly without any compatibility issues, and for tech illiterate people like me a more user friendly OS was nice to have. I'll give Win8 GENERAL user friendliness since as a whole it's easy as shit to use, but I would've liked it more if something like classic shell was default along with the new system; I think it would've been less divisive that way since both start and the new fullscreen system would've both been included. I'll concede your point about limiting your LIVE accounts though; that sucks. I also like the compatibility options for older programs since it's helped me a couple times with emus.

[sweener2001]

Geez, you like to type.

And I'm not hating Windows 8 much at all. Faster and smoother than 7 on my 5 year old laptop. It's not that different at all.

The Citrix Receiver "app" is nice. I prefer the Modern take exactly because it is fullscreen.

[Yuber]

Yeah I know I'm long winded; I haven't posted on a forum in a LONG time and have way too much shit to say. I guess being fullscreen gives it the advantage of being able to display more shit at once, but I've been using Windows for so long that the start menu is second nature, and the compatibility issues I've had seem to be because it's 64-bit Windows, not Win8 in particular. You have exactly the opposite opinion when it comes to the FS menu since to me it's troublesome because I don't have a lot of stuff installed and start works better for my setup.

Getting off Win8 and back to video games, I'm pretty concerned about the way the industry has been behaving with all the incomplete betas/DLC scams etc, and nonsense like that just seems to be getting worse. That's one of the many reasons I'm still sticking to SNES games and older stuff in general through emulation/old consoles. It was only about 5-6 years ago when you would actually get a complete game that doesn't force you to pay to unlock shit already on the disc or some ridiculous online pass. Big developers just love to scapegoat used game sales as an excuse for generic/buggy games and bad business practices. Day 1 DLC= $60 demo.

[odditude]

DLC etc

we've noticed. doesn't really belong in this particular thread - unless you're afraid v2 is going to charge for butar.

[Gil_Hamilton]

DLC etc

we've noticed. doesn't really belong in this particular thread - unless you're afraid v2 is going to charge for butar.

Probably gonna charge ten thousand monies for it, too.

[grinvader]

tsk tsk

one meeeeeelion monies

[adventure_of_link]

tsk tsk

one meeeeeelion monies

but in which currency standard?

[odditude]

tsk tsk

one meeeeeelion monies

but in which currency standard?

ALL OF TEH MONIES

[Yuber]

Alright, I'll try to stop going off topic unless someone asks me a question about that shit or something. How far along is the remade ZSNES at this moment? 9x is a great emulator with a few sound bugs but since ZSNES was my 1st emulator in 98 I absolutely love the interface. Will the interface/GUI be completely different or will it maintain the look of 1.51? You mentioned a different savestate formula so I'm curious if the entire interface at least superficially will change.

You've hinted many many times at being ridiculously busy in your lives so I'm guessing it'll be years before this comes out; hope I'm wrong but definitely looking forward to it.

[grinvader]

Alright, I'll try to stop going off topic unless someone asks me a question about that shit or something.

Don't worry about it, going offtopic just happens around here. Must be the water or smth.

How far along is the remade ZSNES at this moment?

About seventeen-twelve furlongs. The imperial kind.

I absolutely love the interface. Will the interface/GUI be completely different or will it maintain the look of 1.51?

The goal is to bring it to modern UI grade, in short completely different. However, modern UIs can be skinned, so given enough crazy, it could end up a decent look-alike.

You mentioned a different savestate formula so I'm curious if the entire interface at least superficially will change.

Not sure why one would lead to the other but yeah.

You've hinted many many times at being ridiculously busy in your lives so I'm guessing it'll be years before this comes out; hope I'm wrong but definitely looking forward to it.

Hey, realism ! I like you already. You should stick around. :)

[Yuber]

Appreciate the friendliness; I'm not used to it on the net considering the last forum I posted on was Something Awful in 06-09 if I remember right. I didn't get trolled like a lot of other members, but pretty much the only friendly forum back then was the Let's Play forum. I think SA started the whole LP trend and I absolutely love those, although I have no idea what the forums are like now and all the net drama there was really annoying although it didn't concern me personally. I saw a LOT of people literally get stalked around the net due to SA forum drama which is just creepy and plain fucking retarded.

Speaking of LPs, I've noticed that Super Ghouls n Ghosts runs a bit faster on ZSNES than 9x, although that game has a shit ton of slowdown on a real SNES too. I can beat the Genesis and World arcade Ghouls, but not being able to shoot up & down plus the slowdown and stiff double jumping gets my ass handed to me every time in SGNG. Even in the 1st stage, the part where you have to dodge those fire carts and those spiky popping demon buttzits always nails me. Those fucking speedotwink gargoyle bastards are 10 times harder in SGNG because of not being able to shoot up/down unless I have the bow with the homing device in green/gold armor. Guess I need to have it burned into my brain like the arcade Ghouls; it's unbelievably hard and to feel like I really beat it I have to beat it on professional without save states.

The main games that seem to run better on 9x are RPGs like Chrono Trigger, FF4 & 6 ,and Seiken Densetsu 3 is about equal. In FF4 for example, the text boxes aren't slightly bugged like in ZSNES. There are no sound crackling bugs that I know of in ZSNES but CT's sound is emulated flawlessly in 9x. Hopefully if the new ZSNES comes out in the next few years, it'll have at least equal sound accuracy compared to 9x without all the crackling. Z is better visually because of the high res mode 7 option which is flat out cool. Regardless of the interface, I hope it's ridiculously fast like 1.51. The sound bugs in 9x seem inherent to the emulator itself rather than my system; it's a very common problem and my hearing is incredibly good/sensitive so I even notice it in LPs and such.

didn't even intend for this post to be so long

[paulguy]

Using snes9x-gtk in linux, I do get crackling too at first sometimes (along with the game running at roughly 32000/48000 speed, for obvious reasons), but if I go in to preferences and toggle the output sample rate to another rate and back, clicking OK and going back to the preferences dialog each time, the crackling and slowdown go away, though it can sometimes take a couple tries. Might be something to try. Not sure what the issue is there, or if it's related to your problem.

Not sure if this is quite the thread I should be bringing up snes9x troubleshooting, though. :p

[Gil_Hamilton]

Appreciate the friendliness;

Heh. ZBoard, friendly.
That's funny.

Speaking of LPs, I've noticed that Super Ghouls n Ghosts runs a bit faster on ZSNES than 9x, although that game has a shit ton of slowdown on a real SNES too.

Yeah. ZSNES is actually significantly faster than the hardware. Whether this is an issue or not depends on what you're playing and often whether you prefer a faithful experience or a "remixed" one with less slowdown.

Z is better visually because of the high res mode 7 option which is flat out cool.

As cool as it is, it's likely to go if they focus on accurate emulation.

Regardless of the interface, I hope it's ridiculously fast like 1.51.

Yes. SNES needs another emulator that is both fast and accurate.
Also, since ZSNES remains the most popular SNES emulator after 6 years of inactivity, it needs an update to bring it in line with the modern era.

SNES9x needs to recover their home page and start updating it so they don't look even deader than ZSNES, but that's another story. I guarantee that most people think the last update to that was 1.5 back in '06.

[grinvader]

Blergh, edited instead of quoted.

As cool as it is, it's likely to go if they focus on accurate emulation.

Don't worry about it too much, losing features has never been the Zstaple. Accuracy can coexist with plenty of things.
Compared to the really hard problems, that one isn't too hard to work out decently.

[sc0tt10]

as far as sound problems go in 1.51, I have only ever encountered them on my Eee 901 running LM14, the cure that worked for me was to change the sound driver used (can't think if I ended up using alsa or sdl) and turning off stereo sound.
I hope I get to see ZSNES 2 eventually, been an active user of it for going on 4 years now, were it not for the crashes that occur when I play DeJap's Star Ocean translation, I can honestly say, after trying out both Snes9x and bsnes, that in my opinion it is the best emulator for the SNES out there.