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Post by Truth Unknown on Nov 29, 2006 0:59:41 GMT -5
It seems that a lot of software developers give up to easily. XBCD a driver for Xbox controllers, the developer has disappeared for about a year and a half with out notice. Any MAME port that supports Netplay, those developers disappeared without notice. Many others have just halted and left for other software. Whats the deal, is it that hard to say that you cannot work on there software anymore? I understand free time is limited and such, but eventually you can at least say something.
Its kinda sad. Thoughts?
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Post by TheCloudOfSmoke on Nov 29, 2006 1:18:40 GMT -5
I agree completely. I hate it when my favorite software/emulator authors just give up the project without notice. I have no right to complain since I'm getting them for free but what that does is it keeps us anticipated and gives us false hopes on a new releases. A prime example is ePSXe. I still see people asking if there is going to be another version coming out on other forums. To me, it's a dead project. The only reason that people say that it isn't dead is because the devs didn't publicly announce it yet. Just tell us that your'e busy with life or whatever so we can move on. That isn't asking for too much, is it?
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Nov 29, 2006 2:14:14 GMT -5
Well... apparently, the devs of ePSXe have said themselves that it isn't dead, but just being very quietly and slowly worked on. I have yet to see any proof of this though, and I too consider it pretty much a dead project. At least with the Project64 team, there is clear proof that they are steadily working towards the next release. But yes, otherwise... I agree. I'd add more points, but I'm starting to get pretty tired... you guys can tell I've been pretty much on here all day and last night, which of course means I haven't slept in that time...
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Post by patrickp on Nov 29, 2006 8:03:12 GMT -5
I would think it's probably pretty depressing if, after the time you may have spent developing some non-commercial application, you start feeling that you're not getting anywhere and it's all time (and effort and resources) wasted. Since quite a few devs also seem to be fairly private people (our very own pSX Author, for instance), I think this would tend to create situations where they may just feel that disappearing is the best solution if things aren't working out. I guess you have to look at it from their viewpoint.
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Post by Melanogaster on Nov 29, 2006 16:14:21 GMT -5
I find it terribly awful, too. My main example is the SMS emulator FreezeSMS. It would definitely be the best SMS emulator (at least for me) nowadays if Jason Starr (among few other contributors) had continued working on it since the last release (2002). As TheCloudOfSmoke said, I have no right to complain about that, once I'm using it for free. The thing is, FreezeSMS' forums died a long time ago, and I couldn't find any way to contact/find the author(s). His site seems to have no activity for a long period now, and I haven't got any response whatsoever from any e-mail I've sent so far. I didn't want to force him to do anything... I just wanted a few words on why this wonderful project went down all of a sudden.
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Post by TheCloudOfSmoke on Nov 29, 2006 16:42:53 GMT -5
Speaking of SMS emulators, have you tried Kega Fusion Melanogaster? It's a damn good emulator and it plays all of the classic Sega consoles.
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Post by Melanogaster on Nov 29, 2006 17:32:31 GMT -5
Sure... I use it to play Mega Drive/Genesis and 32X games, but I don't like it for playing Master games; I find it's SMS emulation quite unfaithful comparing to the real hardware. I rather use FreezeSMS, MEKA, Dega or the actual console, when the occasion asks for it...
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Post by patrickp on Nov 29, 2006 18:51:50 GMT -5
MEKA's always been my favourite for SMS games. I agree, FreezeSMS looked nice at one point, though.
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Post by Ultima on Nov 29, 2006 20:45:45 GMT -5
I haven't messed with Sega emulation in the longest time, but the last emulator I did use must've been either Kega or MEKA (don't quite remember).
Regarding giving up too easily... I guess it is better if the users are informed, but really, I'd just automatically assume there's a lack of time, or nothing noteworthy has happened, even if the author doesn't write anything. As pointed out, there's always silent progress. There's also always the possibility that the author(s) disappeared from the face of the Earth -- literally. Though unlikely and sad a situation, it's always possible =T
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Nov 29, 2006 21:18:08 GMT -5
I still do Sega emulation... Fusion is my second most favorite emulator. The only reason it isn't on top, is that there is little possibility for graphic enhancement. And with older systems like the Sega Genesis and Sega Master System... you almost *need* graphic enhancement when you're running the game at 3x resolution of the original. I personally was looking forward to the Gens+ project being continued. It looked like it basically took an older version of Gens, and improved much upon it... making it better than Gens and Fusion combined. But... it died shortly after beginning, and I'm still looking every week to see if a new release has been done. Even seemingly dead, it's still one of the top Sega emulators in my opinion.
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Post by TheCloudOfSmoke on Nov 29, 2006 23:38:17 GMT -5
What?! It has the best graphics enhancement feature of any of the old-gen systems emulators because you can add your own plugins instead of the emulator having them pre-built in like most other emulators. Most emulators only give you a limited amount of general render plugins and won't let you add your own. So you're basically stuck with whatever the emulator gives you. If you know where to get the plugins, your'e all set in Kega. Get some from the links below and make a folder named "Plugins" in the same directory as the Kega Fusion executable and put the plugins in there. When you open up Kega, they'll be under Video>Render Plugin. I'm sure that you already know all about this but I just want to make sure in case you didn't because it seems that you never fully utilized Kega's plugin system since you said that "there is little possibility for graphic enhancement." Here is my favorite graphics settings for Kega which I think produces the best results for me for most games: Go to Video and check Scanlines 50%, Filtered, Brighten, and SuperEagle or hq4x. There are 20 in total: www.emutalk.net/other-emulation-discussion/25029-kega-fusion-graphics-filters.html#post248976www.eidolons-inn.net/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=231
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Nov 30, 2006 0:05:00 GMT -5
THANK YOU! That's what I've been needing. I kept forgetting to do a search for the plugins, because the sites I download emulators from don't mention anything about where to get the plugins. I knew everything about how to use them and everything... just never knew where to get the plugins. The main site didn't seem to list any either. Now, to finally go get those plugins...
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Post by TheCloudOfSmoke on Nov 30, 2006 0:16:52 GMT -5
Let me know how they work out for you. It's a pretty damn sweet pack if you ask me. They should have these on the homepage. I don't know why it isn't on there though, it would really help a lot of people out.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Nov 30, 2006 0:24:57 GMT -5
Yeah... umm... Haven't been able to test them. As soon as the emulator started, it froze the computer for about 3 minutes. I waited patiently. Finally it unfroze. Then when I tried loading a game, it froze for about 1-2 minutes... and then finally unfroze. And then... when I tried actually selecting a filter, it froze permanently... had to restart the computer. It worked perfectly fine an hour ago, without the plugins. So... let's see if it works this time.
Edit: Attempt #2... running Shining Force and then turning on a simple hq2x filter... gave me the blue screen of death. ::Sigh::... am I destined to not be able to use these plugins? I'm almost afraid to try the others... lol.
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Post by patrickp on Nov 30, 2006 3:14:16 GMT -5
Haven't tried Kega Fusion, TheCloud - will have to give it a go, despite GM's experience. @gm: it's plugins, m8 - you know you don't like 'em!
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