Playing visual novels via QEMU on Pyra

[Avalonhaze]

I realise that performance for QEMU is generally pants but do we think it could manage Visual Novels because I read a lot of them.

 

[elw3]

1. And why would they need qemu? Seeing that most novel engines are multiarch i dont get the questisn.
2. Its not that they need a lot of cpu power.

 

[Avalonhaze]

I should probably have hung a disclaimer on this that my knowledge in this area is a bit limited. I'm a recent convert to Linux in general. I suppose the correct question might have been that if you wanted to play a windows x86 visual novel on an arm device like this (or at least try), how would you go about it.

 

[lukey]

Yes.

 

[ptitSeb]

First, I would use box86 instead of qemu if x86 is absolutly needed.
Second, most VN use RenPY engine, wich should just run natively on the Pyra.

 

[Avalonhaze]

Thanks for the input guys, I've heard about Box86 I'll take a look

 

[Letalis Sonus]

Second, most VN use RenPY engine, wich should just run natively on the Pyra.

If they didn't screw up their file names. Many programs that use a platform-independent engine but never considered actively supporting Linux don't run perfectly because they didn't bother to use the correct capitalization of file names within the code, which requires a lot of fiddling with symlinks to get things to work as intended (renaming won't do, because multiple file references in the code with differing capitalization is a thing as well).

 

[wismerhill]

If they didn't screw up their file names. Many programs that use a platform-independent engine but never considered actively supporting Linux don't run perfectly because they didn't bother to use the correct capitalization of file names within the code, which requires a lot of fiddling with symlinks to get things to work as intended (renaming won't do, because multiple file references in the code with differing capitalization is a thing as well).

With a recent kernel, you can use the casefold feature to have an ext4 filesystem which matches files ignoring case. I can even be enabled on a per directory basis.

See https://www.collabora.com/news-and-...inux-kernel-case-insensitive-feature-in-ext4/

 

[elvissteinjr]

1. And why would they need qemu? Seeing that most novel engines are multiarch i dont get the questisn.

Second, most VN use RenPY engine, wich should just run natively on the Pyra.

These are fairly bold claims. I wouldn't go as far as to say this solves everything. Ren'Py is very rarely used for VNs of Japanese origin. Sometimes they do port the game over to it during localization, but more often than not this is not the case.
I'm not too deep into the VN scene either, but VNDB is very good source to look that kind data up. I'd go as far as to say that Ren'Py is very popular in the English speaking space, but the title count is inflated by mostly not-so-remarkable games. That's just a personal opinion though.

There are also other engine re-creations of course, but compatibility with games has to be checked first. Sometimes these things do a little more than just display text with static images these days. There might even be custom code or plugins in some. It's just not end of all with the open source engines, that's what I'm trying to say.
PSP had a bunch of notable titles. Emulating that might also be an option instead.

 

[Avalonhaze]

PSP had a bunch of notable titles. Emulating that might also be an option instead.

Yep this is how I played Clannad ;-)

 

[God Ginrai]

First, I would use box86 instead of qemu if x86 is absolutly needed.

What about things with only Windows versions, like Fate/Stay Night or Utawarerumono? I don't believe either of those use engines that are ported to ARM, so we would need some sort of x86 compatibility layer as well as a Windows compatibility layer.

-God Ginrai

 

[ptitSeb]

What about things with only Windows versions, like Fate/Stay Night or Utawarerumono? I don't believe either of those use engines that are ported to ARM, so we would need some sort of x86 compatibility layer as well as a Windows compatibility layer.

-God Ginrai

Well, use box86+wine then. I don't think I have any of this game, so I cannot try.

 

[levi]

Ooh, is box86+wine working now then? I don't think I've noticed that news yet, if it has been posted here or anywhere else I read. I assume you've tested it in other games, just no visual novel games.

 

[ptitSeb]

Ooh, is box86+wine working now then? I don't think I've noticed that news yet, if it has been posted here or anywhere else I read. I assume you've tested it in other games, just no visual novel games.

Yep, working, for some time now... I tested in numerous games, but OpenGL is the most limiting factor here, especialy when using D3D games. OpenGL games works fine (like Deus Ex or MDK2 for example).

 

[Avalonhaze]

You're pretty amazing Seb

 

[God Ginrai]

Yep, working, for some time now... I tested in numerous games, but OpenGL is the most limiting factor here, especialy when using D3D games. OpenGL games works fine (like Deus Ex or MDK2 for example).

That's great news. I made that post specifically because I didn't think WINE worked w/ box86 yet, so it's good to know that there may be an avenue yet.

-God Ginrai

 

[Avalonhaze]

What about things with only Windows versions, like Fate/Stay Night or Utawarerumono?

Tbh the various fan incarnations of Fate/Stay Night have gotten a bit ridiculous, they're bloated with bugs that make playing them under windows 10 hard enough at times. Really wish Type-Moon would just make an official translation.