Emulator questions

[rkotm]

Ive been using all kinds of emulators, and very very few seem to have save states that you can activate on the controller (with a controller adapter of course). I know the keyboard can save and load, but i'd rather use a controller button to save, like in ZSNES, save anytime with my PS1 controller (R2 for instance, and load anytime (L2). No NES or Genesis (especially GBA or GB!) have any sort of saving feature for mapping on a joystick.


SECOND question-Any good Commodore 64 emulators that actually let you use a controller?? Ive used WinVice and all the others, and it has joypad support, but it wont work. By the way im using a "3-in-1 PC Joybox" that has PS2, DC, and Saturn support for playing and it works with 95% of the emus ive tried.

THIRD question-Why does MAME (Dos type based GUI version) display games that will not work? Like a big tease? And why does it show random games? I want the full list, not random lists of games i have..agh.

Troubled emu user

[jb143]

THIRD question-Why does MAME (Dos type based GUI version) display games that will not work? Like a big tease? And why does it show random games? I want the full list, not random lists of games i have..agh.

Troubled emu user

It is a bit annoying if you want to look through all the games you have but if you start typing it will narrow things down. So hit A and you'll get a list of all games starting with A.

As far as showing games that dont work...how is it supposed to know that you have a bad ROM? I think it does grey out the games that don't yet run correctly doesn't it?

As far as wanting it to be better...


Contributions are always welcome in the form of testing, technical information, and source code submissions.
http://mamedev.org/devwiki/index.php/Contributing_to_MAME
http://mamedev.org/devwiki/index.php/Submitting_Source_Code

[rkotm]

It is a bit annoying if you want to look through all the games you have but if you start typing it will narrow things down. So hit A and you'll get a list of all games starting with A.

As far as showing games that dont work...how is it supposed to know that you have a bad ROM? I think it does grey out the games that don't yet run correctly doesn't it?

As far as wanting it to be better...

Well, it knows it bad (it will say missing files or something of that nature) and yet it still displays, gets my hopes up for say Mortal Kombat 4 for ever working..I guess its a nitpick detail. Thanks! I didnt know you could do that.

[Cryomancer]

MAMEUI can hide not working games for you, and do various kinds of sorting and searching too.

[BetaWolf47]

Ive been using all kinds of emulators, and very very few seem to have save states that you can activate on the controller (with a controller adapter of course). I know the keyboard can save and load, but i'd rather use a controller button to save, like in ZSNES, save anytime with my PS1 controller (R2 for instance, and load anytime (L2). No NES or Genesis (especially GBA or GB!) have any sort of saving feature for mapping on a joystick.

I'd actually recommend against doing this. You're risking unintentionally hitting the load button and losing progress. It's just like having a PC with the power button right next to the spacebar.

If you must know, Nestopia (NES emulator) lets you do it.

[Berserker]

I'd actually recommend against doing this. You're risking unintentionally hitting the load button and losing progress. It's just like having a PC with the power button right next to the spacebar.

Agreed: putting your save/load state buttons within easy reach is a recipe for disaster, IMO. One of the first things I do when setting up an emulator is to remap the save state button to F12. Since I also think it's a bad idea to have the save/load state buttons next to each other, I remap the load state button to F4 as well, if it's not there already.

Generally you'll want these buttons located in a place that's easy to remember, but which you also have to consciously go out of your way in order to get to. If you absolutely insist on mapping them to a gamepad for whatever reason, I'd suggest putting them on a separate gamepad from the one you're using to play, so that the same effect is achieved.

[rkotm]

I'd actually recommend against doing this. You're risking unintentionally hitting the load button and losing progress. It's just like having a PC with the power button right next to the spacebar.

If you must know, Nestopia (NES emulator) lets you do it.
Well the thing is, it sounds like being extremely cheap, but ive been save/loading along on a pad with the buttons for years, and its more fun to rewind-kinda like prince of persia with the rewind feature, but this time unlimited. I love it! Cant find enough emus that do it and its easy to remember (where buttons are for me..), its part of strategy along (when to save or load) with playing the game. Really hard to explain, but basically i enjoy that feature, but thanks for the NES one!

[jb143]

Can't you just use some kind of keyboard mapper on the control pad? A lot have the option in the included software. Then you could just map whatever the save and load keys are to the buttons of your choice.

[Rickstilwell1]

Can't you just use some kind of keyboard mapper on the control pad? A lot have the option in the included software. Then you could just map whatever the save and load keys are to the buttons of your choice.

The Nyko Airflo controller has this software