Interesting article on emulators

[Prophet]

This article describes some of the challenges/complexity required to perfectly emulate hardware game systems and how even modest or old hardware can require a lot of processing power to emulate perfectly. It seemed like it would be worth reading for some folks who are intermittently curious about what/if/when the pandora will emulate something in particular.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Hot damn, thanks for that! I'd also like to add that this article is in relatively plain English, and you don't need to be Exophase to understand it.

 

[bzar]

Thanks! Awesome read and good insight

 

[Nintendo]

Awesome! Needs to be stickied somewhere!

 

[Coldbird]

This was a very interesting read.


Sadly we are in no position to be picky with our portable hardware.

 

[fusion_power]

After reading the article I only can say: F**k accuracy! Just give me speed! :lol:


..or asking Nintendo to make straight ports of these games for Pandora I bet each N64 Game could run with 500MHz or less perfectly if it would be a dedicated Pandora game...


seriously, this article scared me to death...

Honestly, even with all of the issues listed above, we've only scratched the surface of accurate emulation. Take the case of DICE, the digital integrated circuit emulator. Here is an emulator that works at the transistor level for absolutely perfect recreation of the very first video games ever created. To run Pong at about 5-10fps, DICE requires a 3GHz processor. Yes, you read that right: no computer processor at this time that can run Pong at the circuit level at full speed. It's not that DICE is a slow program; indeed, it is very well optimized. It's that there is enormous overhead to simulating every last transitor propagation delay.

PONG 5-10FPS... 3GHz!!!!!! :blink: *faints*

 

[Poem58]

Wow, reading that bit about Pong makes N64 emulation on Pandora seem like an absolute Fraking miracle of epic angelic proportions. OF course you may not need to be that exacting. But to think these emulators have been allowing us to play games using techniques that are not exacting begins to boggle ones thoughts.


Oh, and let me add to the Dev's out there. While these emulators may not be looked at as "accurate" by some, most of us I believe are quite happy as long as the colors, sound and aspect is correct and the speed is playably normal. To me I could care less if mathematically it's not precise or if something is emulated around a hack or something. If it works, it works, and I am eternally grateful to those who spend their time to allow me to enjoy these games as I remember them.

 

[god_at_hell]

If you find this interesting ... there are some other articles by byuu on his webpage:

 

[Blue Protoman]

I do think that in the next 30 years or so, accuracy should become a higher concern. So long as less accurate, but faster emulators still exist, I'm game.

 

[Poem58]

I do think that in the next 30 years or so, accuracy should become a higher concern. So long as less accurate, but faster emulators still exist, I'm game.

That's kinda what the article alludes too. He does mention when 32 bit goes unsupported like 16 bit already has in Windows, we will lose a lot of the current emulators. So I guess it does make sense now that there are pretty good emulators for many systems, to start focusing on accuracy and being able to adapt them better when future technologies change. I suppose it will be nice someday when someone ports an emulator, to not have to have them tell you to check the original's compatibility list, as if they become more accurate, then that shouldn't be an issue much.


I to this day am still in awe of just what emulation has accomplished so far. Software to trick software into running on something else, like the original system would.


Pure Fraking Magic!

 

[god_at_hell]

Furthermore, speed is not so big an issue on the PC. So very accurate emulators for old systems like SNES and NES are feasable and i think a very good idea. There is simply no need for emulation errors and not working games due to inaccuracy on the PC. On weaker platforms like mobile devices that's another thing ... this even byuu admits.

 

[Nintendo]

After reading the article I only can say: F**k accuracy! Just give me speed! :lol:


..or asking Nintendo to make straight ports of these games for Pandora I bet each N64 Game could run with 500MHz or less perfectly if it would be a dedicated Pandora game...


seriously, this article scared me to death...

Honestly, even with all of the issues listed above, we've only scratched the surface of accurate emulation. Take the case of DICE, the digital integrated circuit emulator. Here is an emulator that works at the transistor level for absolutely perfect recreation of the very first video games ever created. To run Pong at about 5-10fps, DICE requires a 3GHz processor. Yes, you read that right: no computer processor at this time that can run Pong at the circuit level at full speed. It's not that DICE is a slow program; indeed, it is very well optimized. It's that there is enormous overhead to simulating every last transitor propagation delay.

PONG 5-10FPS... 3GHz!!!!!! :blink: *faints*

All I want is perfect speed and PERFECT sound.