why do emu's use zilmar spec

**conkerman** · April 23rd, 2002, 08:57

ok, i've been around since when uhle was released, and then nemu, 1964, tr, daedalus, pj64, all of them - and i have had a question on my mind for a while -
why do most emu's go by zilmar spec?
i know nemu has its own, but the others use zilmar's. i know zilmar has a vast knowledge of n64 and is a learned man in terms of the n64. but why?
having looked at his spec source files, i still cant figure it out. does he pose a logical way to emulate the n64 in his spec? does he define some things that all plugins should have defined in them only? any emu author's / plugin's voice would be nice. i'm sure a lot of people wonder this too
conkerman

**zilmar** · April 23rd, 2002, 11:20

there are many reasons ....
- It allows testing to be done easier to be able to see where problems lie, in plugins or emu. If there was not multiple plugins to choose from it would be hard to tell if it was a gfx or core problem.
- Some plugins work better on other people systems, giving end user better flexabilty.
- Allows a way of people working together to produce a great product with out to many cooks type thing (eg Azimers great audio plugin being used by a lot of emus for hle audio)
- Allows people to be able to contribute easier with out having to write a complete emulator before hand. (Nrages controller plugin)
- Means emulators can do more, in a less amount of time.
- quicker to see results

- general methods would be the same (or very similiar) with or with out plugins ..
- Common plugin specs idea has been around a long time before they were ever public .. trwin and corn were planning to use a version of them .. but people pissed off contra before he could release a version using an earlier version of the spec .. then he was never heard of again which was a shame .. since it would be nice for low end systems to be able to use his gfx code now .. which might have proserved his work more.

**The Khan Artist** · April 23rd, 2002, 18:04

Originally posted by zilmar
- Common plugin specs idea has been around a long time before they were ever public .. trwin and corn were planning to use a version of them .. but people pissed off contra before he could release a version using an earlier version of the spec .. then he was never heard of again which was a shame .. since it would be nice for low end systems to be able to use his gfx code now .. which might have proserved his work more.

Wow, quite interesting. Lamers. Bleh. Some people just don't understand.

**sk8bloke22** · April 23rd, 2002, 19:22

i think we are really begining to see the benefits of the plugin system. now that so many ppl are working on gfx plugins, theres so much more choice, etc, etc.

**Smiff** · April 23rd, 2002, 23:11

yes i think he was asking why *your* specs rather than anyone else's (rather than 'why have a common plugin spec' which I think most people accept as _obviously_ the right way to go). I think some of the reason is that Zilmar just went ahead and did it (with examples and some communication) rather than faffing about saying he might do it (again, not mentioning any names). Other point is that far sighted people will realise you should still have a plugin system even if you don't have any choice (plus it gives you cross compatibility within releases of the same emu).

**EddyB43** · May 10th, 2002, 21:45

Also, think about it like this. If we didn't have generic plugin specifications, we would be reliant upon the emulator author or author's friend to code graphics/sound for each emulator, it would take a lot longer for advancement to occur.

For example, we wouldn't be able to tell how advanced Apollo's core is if all we had to use was Azimer's own early in development graphics plugin.

Let alone 1964, that emu doesn't have it's own suitable graphics plugin for it's work on Paper Mario/Perfect Dark etc.

Just my two pence...

**conkerman** · May 11th, 2002, 05:25

but then again, other emu's. like nes, snes, gen, gbc/gba never used plugins. i know that they arent as superior and complex, but most emu's before n64 didnt use plugins and still dont, and they have almost 100% compatability. i dunno, just playing devil's advocate
conkerman

**zilmar** · May 11th, 2002, 06:55

Other emus are not necessarily as complicated. N64 emus are also using HLE which makes them different how other emus work. Plugins system work great cause it means you have a further level of modulation, which is the main benefit with in the emu. You can run old version and new together. I felt it would be idea to be able to have compatibility with other emus and had been pushing common specs for years before pj64 was ever released, it took a long time to come out, and the fruits of that are really being seen now with how much life there is in the plugin development. As say psx and n64 are much more 3d gfx then you are also dealing with PC hardware a lot differently, and in such some ways of programming gfx makes a lot of difference, so this is where plugin make life great for the end user. It is a shame contra's gfx code never became a plugin, as this would have been great for some of the low end video cards with still functionality of some of the current cores.

Another reason plugins work better in current system then old ones is the way the games are programmed, in older systems there is a lot more done by hand and extremely high integration with the internal system. With things like the n64 they are using libraries and programmed in high level languages like C.

**Smiff** · May 11th, 2002, 07:38

yah i'm not quite clear on how lle gfx fits with the current PJ plugin structure. zil?

**pj64er** · May 15th, 2002, 02:39

i dont consider myself an expert, but i think u just turn off "send Dlist to graphics plugin" in RSP plugin, just like for audio.

Thread: why do emu's use zilmar spec

Thread Tools

Display

why do emu's use zilmar spec

Posting Permissions