Universal Rom Loader

[Spadoof]

Dear Readers,

I appologized if this has been discussed in another thread (Again searched and didn't find it). I know that I have heard a couple talk about this off the subject (Chip if I remeber correctly), but is their anyone working on a "Universal Rom Loader" (If that is the right termenology). To rephrase myself, a program that will display info about your roms, give pictures, possibly music and when selecting a rom, it will automatically be loaded into a emulator of your choosing. This is pretty much just eyecandy but on the other hand, the one I use for my computer (gamebase) is actually pretty handy. I'm not sure if they are planning to incorperate this into the gui, but I figure I would ask everyone. Thanks for listening.

Spadoof :gp2x

You soon will be mine andora1:

 

[quote]

Basically an explorer with file accosiation and pretty pictures?

 

[D.C.]

Anything that would promote the pandora as a specifc emulator machine will most likely not be available out of the box. But because such features are desired by most people, it will probably be implemented by someone at some stage.

 

[someboddy]

MMMmmm....

If we decide now on a unified command line format for emulators it should be pretty easy to do you idea.

 

[Trip]

Ryo has the most experience in that department from doing Gmenu2X.
Most of the needed code (if not all) is already there

 

[jakshep2]

you mean like windows where you associate a file with a certain program?

 

[imec]

Incorporating something like this would be awesome (especially if you could return to the frontend at the press of a button).

 

[Trip]

you mean like windows where you associate a file with a certain program?

Not really.
The command line lets you start a program using different arguments to get a certain result, then start a file directly within that program..

To start the Zsnes Super Nintendo emulator, you can use something like..
zsnes -s -3 -c mariokart.smc

This would load the emulator and start the Mario Kart rom with sound, triple buffering enabled and in full screen mode
zsnes = the name of the program you want to load,
-s = enables the sound,
-3 = enables triple buffering,
-c = enables full/wide screen,
mariokart.smc = the name of the game that you want to load.

You then make a short cut on your desktop/menu/wherever and put that line in as the shortcuts command.

Here's a list of some of Zsnes's commands. Don't know if these are still used or not?

QUOTE
Usage : zsnes [-d,-f #, ... ] <filename.sfc>
Eg : zsnes -s -r 2 game.sfc

-0 Disable Color 0 modification in 8-bit modes
-1 #/-2 # Select Player 1/2 Input :
0 = None 1 = Keyboard 2 = Joystick 3 = Gamepad
4 = 4Button 5 = 6Button 6 = Sidewinder
-3 Enable triple buffering (disables vsync)
-6 Force 60Hz refresh rate
-7 Disable SPC700 speedhack
-8 Force 8-bit sound
-9 Off by 1 line fix
-c Enable full/wide screen (when available)
-cc Enable small screen (when available)
-dd Disable sound DSP emulation
-f # Enable fixed frame rate [0...9]
-h Force HiROM
-j Disable Mouse (Automatically turns off right mouse click)
-k # Set Volume Level (0 .. 100)
-ks Enable the KitchenSync
-l Force LoROM
-m Disable GUI (Must specify ROM filename)
-mc Exit ZSNES when closing a movie
-n # Enable scanlines (when available)
Where # is: 1 = full, 2 = 25%, 3 = 50%
-om Enable MMX support (when available)
-p # Percentage of instructions to execute [50..120]
-r # Set Sampling Sound Blaster Sampling Rate & Bit :
0 = 8000Hz 1 = 11025Hz 2 = 22050Hz 3 = 44100Hz
4 = 16000Hz 5 = 32000Hz 6 = 48000Hz
-s Enable SPC700/DSP emulation (Sound)
-sa Show all extensions in GUI (*.*)
-sn Enable Snowy GUI Background
-t Force NTSC timing
-u Force PAL timing
-v # Select Video Mode :
0 = 256x224 R WIN 1 = 256x224 R FULL
2 = 512x448 R WIN 3 = 512x448 DR WIN
4 = 640x480 S WIN 5 = 640x480 DS WIN
6 = 640x480 DR FULL 7 = 640x480 DS FULL
8 = 640x480 S FULL 9 = 768x672 R WIN
10 = 768x672 DR WIN 11 = 800x600 S WIN
12 = 800x600 DS WIN 13 = 800x600 S FULL
14 = 800x600 DR FULL 15 = 800x600 DS FULL
16 = 1024x768 S WIN 17 = 1024x768 DS WIN
18 = 1024x768 S FULL 19 = 1024x768 DR FULL
20 = 1024x768 DS FULL 21 = 1024x896 R WIN
22 = 1024x896 DR WIN 23 = 1280x960 S WIN
24 = 1280x960 DS WIN 25 = 1280x960 S FULL
26 = 1280x960 DR FULL 27 = 1280x960 DS FULL
28 = 1280x1024 S WIN 29 = 1280x1024 DS WIN
30 = 1280x1024 S FULL 31 = 1280x1024 DR FULL
32 = 1280x1024 DS FULL
-w Enable vsync (disables triple buffering)
-y Enable Anti-Aliasing
-z Disable Stereo Sound
-zm # Auto load specified movie slot on startup
-zs # Auto load specified save state slot on startup


Hope that helps you to understand it a little better

 

[jmetal88]

you mean like windows where you associate a file with a certain program?

Not really.
The command line lets you start a program using different arguments to get a certain result, then start a file directly within that program..

To start the Zsnes Super Nintendo emulator, you can use something like..
zsnes -s -3 -c mariokart.smc

*snip*


I'm pretty sure this thread is about associating files with emulators, not using a command line or making shortcuts...

 

[sindbad]

He has a point. If there is a standard set of command line options, it becomes trivial to make a launcher.

 

[anexanhume]

However trivial, it would be a great feature. That, and touchscreen options for every emulator. In one thread a while back, someone mentioned using the unused black bars on the side (due to 5:3 screen aspect) for icon shortcuts like save states, load roms, etc. Both of those would make me happy

 

[Joppu]

I think certain roms could be accossiated to emulator by rom path eg. "root/emus/nes/roms" would load the rom in nes emu.

 

[jmetal88]

I think certain roms could be accossiated to emulator by rom path eg. "root/emus/nes/roms" would load the rom in nes emu.

Or we could do it by file extension. *Shrugs*

 

[Joppu]

Or we could have zipped roms!

Offtopic, do you think pandora will have "sudo rm -rf /"

 

[Spadoof]

Readers,

I found this picture online of the Universal rom loader that I have on my pc. It would be nice if we could have something like this but maybe with a little touch up. Again this does offer an esay way to keep all your roms organized and it looks really great.

http://www.bu22.com/img/gb.jpg (More or less like any other frontend except you can also switch between systems)

Thanks for your replys,
-Spadoof :gp2x

You soon will be mine andora1:

 

[cb88]

uuurrm ...... can't roms be asociated via mime types? that is how most distros do it now and i think that is what windows uses....

one problem might be that the roms do not have an specifiy rom type but the ISO mine type or .zip mime type so they would end up opening in an archiver or cd burning app....

the directory aproach is probably the best way....

 

[imec]

Or we could have zipped roms!

Offtopic, do you think pandora will have "sudo rm -rf /"

What, for unzipping Hentai? Or am I mistaken about the origins of your signature?

Do most emulators already have their own command sets, or will this have to be a joint project if interest in this type of frontend is realized (file association alone wouldn't be as consolish)?

 

[Joppu]

What, for unzipping Hentai? Or am I mistaken about the origins of your signature?

My signature? Oh yeah you'r right, it's from one flash vid.
But the point is, that i know that many emulators support zips, so how is it possible to launch the righ emulator?

 

[God Ginrai]

But the point is, that i know that many emulators support zips, so how is it possible to launch the righ emulator?

Guess and Check.

-God Ginrai

 

[Chip]

I think Spadoof is asking about a universal frontend like GameEX or MAMEWAH. These have much more functionality than something like Gmenu2X, including features like screencap / artwork slideshows, control layout display, high score lists, etc.

An application like this is certainly possible. Unfortunately it would probably have to be made from scratch as most existing frontends are Windows-specific. I expect (and hope) that someone will take the time to create a full featured frontend for the Pandora eventually, but I'm sure it's not all that high on anybody's list of must-write programs. There are a lot of more important applications that need to be made, and a frontend is more of a convenience / eyecandy thing than a necessity.