78 replies to this topic

[DaveC]

Most of the basic port stuff is done and works fine for a first release, it's just being held back because I'm working on netplay, and Pandora's wifi is pretty flaky and giving me headaches.

That sounds good. Only 150 MHz and running fullspeed, wow.

Holding it up for netplay? Is that something anyone will really use? Pandoras are rare and I would think it even rarer to get two in the same room that want to play 2-player PC-engine games. Could there maybe be a release sooner, then one with better netplay later? That way 99.9% of users could enjoy it sooner. Network managers in the background just cause annoying pauses and stutters and many are disabling that to avoid this now anyway. Just a thought.

Looking forward to it.

[torpor]

I haven't tried it yet, but I think I need to better handle the bad wifi.

I'm working on multiplayer code/framework for my Pandora apps and during onboard testing I have found better wifi uptime if I carefully select channels first and somehow prevent the driver from going to sleep (i.e. ping -c somehost in the background) .. NetManager blows at quite a few things, in the meantime to patch things up you have to sort of keep the driver exercised, lest it blow down.

[almatuk]

Thanks for a great job. Plays parasol stars a treat which caused the other Hugo random control problems.

[Exophase]

Thanks zx-81, I will try this later today.

That sounds good. Only 150 MHz and running fullspeed, wow.

Shouldn't surprise you very much, GP2X could often do that too. This is, afterall, not a Wiz.

Holding it up for netplay? Is that something anyone will really use? Pandoras are rare and I would think it even rarer to get two in the same room that want to play 2-player PC-engine games. Could there maybe be a release sooner, then one with better netplay later? That way 99.9% of users could enjoy it sooner. Network managers in the background just cause annoying pauses and stutters and many are disabling that to avoid this now anyway. Just a thought.

I'm not noticing any pauses or stutters when playing normally.. maybe your experiences will be different from mine, and I'm sure you'll tell me if that's the case.

I actually think netplay will be more popular than you do. Understand, it's not meant for two people to play in the same room, it's meant for people to play over the internet. PC-Engine actually has a large library of good multiplayer games (although my netplay will only support 2 player, at least for the time being). I also intend for people to eventually be able to play against not just other Pandora users, but users of iPhone, Android phones, Wiz if the support is ever there..

I'll release it w/o the netplay if I end up not getting it in a state I'm happy with. But for right now I'm trying my best to improve it. I like my releases to be substantial and not half done; with the Hu-Go ports out I think everyone can bear to wait a little longer.

I'm working on multiplayer code/framework for my Pandora apps and during onboard testing I have found better wifi uptime if I carefully select channels first and somehow prevent the driver from going to sleep (i.e. ping -c somehost in the background) .. NetManager blows at quite a few things, in the meantime to patch things up you have to sort of keep the driver exercised, lest it blow down.

Interesting advice. Has Pandora maybe found a new wifi driver developer? ;D I'm sending out packet data every frame, so I expect that should be keeping it active.. but I'm getting locked up sometimes for a really long time. I think the packets might be getting lost altogether, and from what I'm aware the TCP RTO is reeeaally looong on Linux (by default). Is it maybe possible to change this on a per-application basis?

Anyway I'll stop polluting zx-81's release thread ^^ By all means PM me if you want to talk about interesting things, heh.

Edited by Exophase, 28 June 2010 - 10:00 PM.

[zx-81]

Thanks zx-81, I will try this later today.

Unfortunatelly it works fine on my Linux FC, but it doesn't work on my ubuntu 9.10 netbook (device name 'usb0' doesn't exist, and the pandora is not recognized ...). So i just can't help you more.

[craigix]

Nice work - looks like I can finally put my "awful" port to rest! Unless anyone's particularly attached to it, I'd suggest this version replace the existing one on the archive and app store.

I'm curious to know how you fixed the grumbling sound (assuming you even had that problem in the first place).

Interesting idea for an appstore feature 'This emulator is dead, it's only here for historic reasons - please download this alt emulator instead!'.

[Prometheus]

Craig, please add that - I suspect it could become incredibly handy in times to come.

[craigix]

Craig, please add that - I suspect it could become incredibly handy in times to come.

It's on the list!

[SomeGuy99]

Oh god yeah. Don't end up like DCemu, where I can never figure out which are the decent emulators, and which are the unoptimised first ports.

[craigix]

It's done. Just add the text 'this emulator is dead' to your app description to kill it.

Steves Hugo emu is the first app to die.

[Esn]

Wouldn't it be easy to tell which one is the "best" emulator - just by comparing the upload dates?

[DaveC]

I'm not noticing any pauses or stutters when playing normally.. maybe your experiences will be different from mine, and I'm sure you'll tell me if that's the case.

Actually I probably won't be able to tell you as I would never use the netplay feature I am not perpetually near a wifi hotspot like everyone else seems to be for some reason, actually super rare for me to be near one.

I actually think netplay will be more popular than you do. Understand, it's not meant for two people to play in the same room, it's meant for people to play over the internet. PC-Engine actually has a large library of good multiplayer games (although my netplay will only support 2 player, at least for the time being). I also intend for people to eventually be able to play against not just other Pandora users, but users of iPhone, Android phones, Wiz if the support is ever there..

Yeah no way to know for sure. I would just guess if people are netgaming they would probably be doing WoW, battlefield XXXXVII or those other things and not playing Bomberman. I sure could be wrong though.

I'll release it w/o the netplay if I end up not getting it in a state I'm happy with. But for right now I'm trying my best to improve it. I like my releases to be substantial and not half done; with the Hu-Go ports out I think everyone can bear to wait a little longer.

Well except many of us play the CD titles which HuGo won't do and it is not fullspeed either. I wouldn't think of something that had just the same features of the GP2X/Wiz ports to be half done really. I guess you want to make your entry with a bang on the Pandora with another feature which is understandable. My choice in that area would probably to have made it compatible with more of the actual games such as Supergrafx and Arcade card support etc. Although I don't know how much work that would be, must be a real pain though as no emu seems to support those. That would have probably got more use than netplay but again who knows, and it is not my choice so I wait. I still have a Wiz

[Exophase]

Well except many of us play the CD titles which HuGo won't do and it is not fullspeed either. I wouldn't think of something that had just the same features of the GP2X/Wiz ports to be half done really. I guess you want to make your entry with a bang on the Pandora with another feature which is understandable. My choice in that area would probably to have made it compatible with more of the actual games such as Supergrafx and Arcade card support etc. Although I don't know how much work that would be, must be a real pain though as no emu seems to support those. That would have probably got more use than netplay but again who knows, and it is not my choice so I wait. I still have a Wiz

It already has arcade card support...

[Wolfsclaw]

Lying in bed playing bomberman online > sitting on table with loud PC playing battflefield XXXXXVIII~ while back hurts

So count me in for netplay.

If there's any chance for a master server listing all current servers and if that'd be accessible via the emu itself, that would make things EXTREMELY convenient and surely a huge success. "type in ip address" would work as well, but it would be a pain in the butt to having to always find open servers / people with too much free time.
Nevertheless, i'm really excited here

Edited by Wolfsclaw, 29 June 2010 - 05:18 AM.

[jaycee900]

Wouldn't it be easy to tell which one is the "best" emulator - just by comparing the upload dates?

No, just dcemu out, people start new emulators for systems that already have them using their own code or hacked code, but not always better than established ones that people have chosen because they are better, plus some emulators are faster and some are more compatible, steves Hugo port was neither and he's letting It lie