What do you look for in an emulator?

[Martin]

I've just created a poll system for Emulation64, it's based on vBulletin as most of the things around here. So, here's the first poll:

What do you look for in an emulator? (what is the most important feature of a good emulator?)

 

[Acorn]

Yay, I got the first vote

I think compat is the most important - doesn't do much good to have a blazing fast emu with netplay and an easy to use interface if it doesn't run anything. Actually, I think an emu like that is called a fake normally *grin* if you take it to the extreme.

I think the progress made with Icarus is amazing, even if its not fast it does run stuff.

 

[Clements]

I look for accuracy and compatability above all else when selecting emulators.

 

[Martin]

Hmm...didn't work on front page. Will fix this later.

I'll move the poll to talk of the town for now.

 

[Doomulation]

Compability, of course!

 

[mightyrocket]

Speed is important too. It should be awesome if there was a Corn with a better compatibility.

Edit: doesn't this belong to General N64 emulation?

 

[alexa999]

Speed!!! Thats why I use Corn, if only it was more compatible.*sigh*:doh:

 

[tooie]

most people are saying compatibility .... now compatibility is important to a point .. but say you have one emu that runs 50% of the games .. and one that runs 90% .. the one that runs 50% runs the games you like .. does that mean most likely you will automaticly go with the one that runs the 90% .. even if you would never run those games ?

 

[Stezo2k]

speed here too else i'd still be stuck with a crappy PIII 733mhz :n64:

corns gr8, and yes the compatibility can be increased, i just wish contraSF would continue with it, i mean look how UltraHLE is improving compatibility, its way better than the original :blush:

 

[pj64er]

what a nub, i did the exact same poll a few months ago, why dont you search the forums before you post...nub!

:happy:


I voted for speed...just because the emulator can RUN the game, doesnt mean its fast enough to PLAY. yes compat is required before speed, but without speed, you cant get enjoyment outta it.

 

[nephalim]

Compatibility then ease of use.

Most decent emulators won't have speed issues on any halfway decent PC. When next-gen emulation roles around, the tide will probably change.

 

[Lizard Blade]

Looks like I'm to first person to vote on, and post about, Netplay. Netplay takes an emulator above and beyond the origonal capacity of a game, allowing you to play with (or against) people all over the world. I certainly find myself using PJ64k more than any other N64 emulator.

 

[The Khan Artist]

The thing I look for most in an emulator is public availability of the source code. :linux:

 

[Smiff]

most people are saying compatibility .... now compatibility is important to a point .. but say you have one emu that runs 50% of the games .. and one that runs 90% .. the one that runs 50% runs the games you like .. does that mean most likely you will automaticly go with the one that runs the 90% .. even if you would never run those games ?

Just to throw a cat amoung the pigeons, I would take the one that runs my 50% well! Assuming of course it runs them much *better* than the 90% one. Otherwise i'd take the more compatible one just in case. But most N64 games are crap, right. The catch is that the more compatible the emu, the better it tends to be at everything... that's how it seems (stability is a particular point). Probably because authors who are good at compatibility tend to be just *good* overall? - i dunno. The reverse definately isn't true... you can have the nicest design in the world but a core not worth jack won't save you.

So er what am i saying - unless anyone made an emu like that (really good at running half the games), it's all hypothetical (and don't say uHLE, that's ok at running about 5% of games).

 

[Smiff]

The thing I look for most in an emulator is the source code. :linux:

ah that's where your going wrong.. you won't find the source code inside the emulator.. it's usually next to it on their homepage.

(boom boom!)

 

[Smiff]

well either i killed the conversation :term: or you're awestruck by my supreme wit :teehee:

 

[ScottJC]

Nah i just think they fell asleep while you were talking.

 

[Smiff]

Can't be that. Is this supposed to be a serious discussion or just Martin testing somethign?

2 sides to this:
1 - people who think speed doesn't matter 'cos they have a fast PC and it runs the games at 60FPS.
2 - people who think speed is important, maybe they have slow PC, they like running games really fast, or they don't like the emu taking all their CPU time.


Sayargh i apologise profusely if this is boring to you.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Accuracy and compatibility are the only things I look for.

I prefer things nice and clean, not quick and dirty.

 

[DuDe]

What do you look for in an emulator?

I'm looking for teh romzz. Gibz allromz.zip plz. Gotta leech them all!