Nature Boy
08-11-2003, 05:14 PM
Thought I'd share some of my success stories and failures. Emulation on the Pocket PC is *tres* cool IMO. However it doesn't get much press and can be a pain. Here's hoping I help someone new along the path to portable PPC gaming..
FYI: I'm using a Toshiba e740.
MAME CE
The first thing you need to know is that you need MAME .36 ROMs. Not as big a deal as you might think though. Most of the more current ROMs still work quite well *anyway*. What I did was copy a *tonne* of ROMs into a "ROMs" folder under "My Documents", use ActiveSync to get them onto my PPC, and then once you open MAME CE you know immediately which ones *could* work. From there it's a matter of testing 'em.
Unfortunately sound is out of the question. As soon as you enable sound the emulation crawls to a halt. So all of my MAMEing I do sans sound. This includes playing mp3s using Media Player - unless MAME CE is the only thing running you're going to be running slow.
One last thing. For those not in the know, when the "OK" message comes up, just push left then right.
The best games:
- Frogger
- Ms. Pac-Man
I think any game that requires only a controller works best. These are my two favs of course, but Jr. Pac-man and Puck-Man also work (I haven't found working .36 ROMs of those yet though).
Other goodies:
- Bomb Jack (it's a tad on the big side, but it works (and I've always liked this game for some reason)
- Centipede
- DK3
- Galaxian
- Gyruss
- Mario Bros.
- Millipede
- Scramble
- Super Cobra
Centipede/Millipede control kina of poorly IMO. But they're playable. Actually, I've found about 100 games that run, it's finding playable stuff that's the challenge. Asteroids, for example, controls just too poorly. As does Track and Field (imagine trying to hammer on your PPC buttons - and then imagine *me* trying it because I have).
A good experience and definitely worth trying, even without the sound.
PocketVCS
There are two versions available (Google it). Version 1 is preferable I think, but damn if I didn't have a hell of a time trying to set it up.
Everytime I'd try to configure a switch or a controller movement, it would set it as "13". I have no idea what "13" is, but it's obviously a bug of somekind. What I had to do was edit the "PocketVCS.pro" file by hand. Find the game I wanted, and then set the controller settings there. After saving it works perfectly. You *can* use the onscreen controller if you want, but I prefer using the little disc and the buttons.
To find out what the naming conventions are, download the "PocketVCS.pro" file from the website and look for Berzerk. It's one of the few games with controller setting specified (don't ask me why). The only changes I made were to reference the Toshiba PPC (my buttons are 194 - 196, not the number specified in the file). But after doing that everything works perfectly.
As for software, I haven't found one bin yet that wouldn't run. However, much like with MAME, sometimes the controles are a bit unwieldly. I haven't put as much time into *playing* this as I have MAME, but Barnstorming was cool (although I didn't see any birds), as was Circus Atari, Kaboom, Dodge 'em, and Video Pinball, among others. Stuff like Megamania and River Raid plays, although I find the latter a little *too* frustrating to control. Then again, I haven't played around with the responsiveness of my control stick yet. If I find something I'll let ya know.
And yes, the paddle is configurable the same way the joystick is. Again, you can use onscreen controls (slide your styles along if you well), which does work better than for joystick games, but my money is still on the tiny pad.
Summary
You have to remember that you'll never get great control using a PPC. But the games are definitely worth playing, and if you can handle scoring far less than you would on a proper PC, you'll find yourself playing Frogger often to try to crack that PPC high score (mine's 12490).
Comments?
FYI: I'm using a Toshiba e740.
MAME CE
The first thing you need to know is that you need MAME .36 ROMs. Not as big a deal as you might think though. Most of the more current ROMs still work quite well *anyway*. What I did was copy a *tonne* of ROMs into a "ROMs" folder under "My Documents", use ActiveSync to get them onto my PPC, and then once you open MAME CE you know immediately which ones *could* work. From there it's a matter of testing 'em.
Unfortunately sound is out of the question. As soon as you enable sound the emulation crawls to a halt. So all of my MAMEing I do sans sound. This includes playing mp3s using Media Player - unless MAME CE is the only thing running you're going to be running slow.
One last thing. For those not in the know, when the "OK" message comes up, just push left then right.
The best games:
- Frogger
- Ms. Pac-Man
I think any game that requires only a controller works best. These are my two favs of course, but Jr. Pac-man and Puck-Man also work (I haven't found working .36 ROMs of those yet though).
Other goodies:
- Bomb Jack (it's a tad on the big side, but it works (and I've always liked this game for some reason)
- Centipede
- DK3
- Galaxian
- Gyruss
- Mario Bros.
- Millipede
- Scramble
- Super Cobra
Centipede/Millipede control kina of poorly IMO. But they're playable. Actually, I've found about 100 games that run, it's finding playable stuff that's the challenge. Asteroids, for example, controls just too poorly. As does Track and Field (imagine trying to hammer on your PPC buttons - and then imagine *me* trying it because I have).
A good experience and definitely worth trying, even without the sound.
PocketVCS
There are two versions available (Google it). Version 1 is preferable I think, but damn if I didn't have a hell of a time trying to set it up.
Everytime I'd try to configure a switch or a controller movement, it would set it as "13". I have no idea what "13" is, but it's obviously a bug of somekind. What I had to do was edit the "PocketVCS.pro" file by hand. Find the game I wanted, and then set the controller settings there. After saving it works perfectly. You *can* use the onscreen controller if you want, but I prefer using the little disc and the buttons.
To find out what the naming conventions are, download the "PocketVCS.pro" file from the website and look for Berzerk. It's one of the few games with controller setting specified (don't ask me why). The only changes I made were to reference the Toshiba PPC (my buttons are 194 - 196, not the number specified in the file). But after doing that everything works perfectly.
As for software, I haven't found one bin yet that wouldn't run. However, much like with MAME, sometimes the controles are a bit unwieldly. I haven't put as much time into *playing* this as I have MAME, but Barnstorming was cool (although I didn't see any birds), as was Circus Atari, Kaboom, Dodge 'em, and Video Pinball, among others. Stuff like Megamania and River Raid plays, although I find the latter a little *too* frustrating to control. Then again, I haven't played around with the responsiveness of my control stick yet. If I find something I'll let ya know.
And yes, the paddle is configurable the same way the joystick is. Again, you can use onscreen controls (slide your styles along if you well), which does work better than for joystick games, but my money is still on the tiny pad.
Summary
You have to remember that you'll never get great control using a PPC. But the games are definitely worth playing, and if you can handle scoring far less than you would on a proper PC, you'll find yourself playing Frogger often to try to crack that PPC high score (mine's 12490).
Comments?