Retro games and emulation - Discuss retro shit in case you're stuck in the past or a hipster

Got the Retroid Pocket Classic Handheld. Like it. Maybe a bit much in power and price for its intended use {approx. PS1 and lower} but I like the "inherent-implied" limitation of it. Had been curious about the Chinese handhelds and decided to go with one I felt did its particular job well, well-enough, rather than an all-rounder. Been enjoying catching up with the emulation space, been a long time for me. Exploring available ROM hacks has been fun too. Playing Tetris Rosy Retrospection {DX} on it- I think my mom would've liked it, she used to take my gameboy all the time for Tetris.
 
Got in to playing some 3DS games I missed on PC and wanted to share this.

3DS emulator Citra shut down a year ago and eventually reemerged as Azahar, a supposedly legal 3DS emulator which doesn't support common encrypted 3DS backup formats.
Azahar-plus is a fork which renables encrypted backups.

I've Attached a diff of the first AzaharPlus commit which restores the encrypted backup loading features
Code: 
git diff --patch 5ade69f5f4561dc0e9de504f45f04b96e7151f02 3e64dc0c8ccc3d87b6f851069e841422448fdc15 > AzaharPlus_restorefeatues.patch.txt
No reason to use this diff file unless Nintendo takes down the github and all the forks.

 

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MongolianMongoose said:
Got in to playing some 3DS games I missed on PC and wanted to share this.

3DS emulator Citra shut down a year ago and eventually reemerged as Azahar, a supposedly legal 3DS emulator which doesn't support common encrypted 3DS backup formats.
Azahar-plus is a fork which renables encrypted backups.

I've Attached a diff of the first AzaharPlus commit which restores the encrypted backup loading features
Code: 
git diff --patch 5ade69f5f4561dc0e9de504f45f04b96e7151f02 3e64dc0c8ccc3d87b6f851069e841422448fdc15 > AzaharPlus_restorefeatues.patch.txt
No reason to use this diff file unless Nintendo takes down the github and all the forks.

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Citra wasn’t shut down for anything illegal about it specifically, all repos owned by the main Yuzu devs were shut down which happened to include Citra, hence why none of the forks were ever targeted.

Supporting encrypted formats is nice, and I don’t mean to undermine that, but it’s really not necessary when online roms and the main dumping format are typically unencrypted anyway.
 
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Two Dollars said:
Supporting encrypted formats is nice, and I don’t mean to undermine that, but it’s really not necessary when online roms and the main dumping format are typically unencrypted anyway.
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DLC and update data isn't usually uploaded in decrypted formats as far as I've found, and the most convenient site for finding absolutely everything 3DS has all their stuff in encrypted .cia, so supporting encrypted formats seems pretty helpful to me.
 
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Retarded Weeb said:
DLC and update data isn't usually uploaded in decrypted formats as far as I've found, and the most convenient site for finding absolutely everything 3DS has all their stuff in encrypted .cia, so supporting encrypted formats seems pretty helpful to me.
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It is helpful, but it also raises the possibility of legal issues, hence the reluctance to support encrypted files in emulators.
 
Herman Throwaway said:
It is helpful, but it also raises the possibility of legal issues, hence the reluctance to support encrypted files in emulators.
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Yes, obviously. But no one really cared until the Yuzu team got sued and the circumvention of DRM was brought out as a vector of a legal attack against them. That doesn't mean every emulator that can decrypt encrypted game dumps (which is a lot of them) is suddenly more at risk than before, the Yuzu team stupidly got caught doing other shit and Nintendo would specifically want to target emulation of current games. But in any case, it's not really the point, if the Azahar team wants to stay away from the legal grey area just in case and leave it up to some other people to maintain a fork with the capability then they're free to do so, I was only saying that it makes sense for that team to want to maintain that fork since the capability does have uses.
 
Retarded Weeb said:
Yes, obviously. But no one really cared until the Yuzu team got sued and the circumvention of DRM was brought out as a vector of a legal attack against them. That doesn't mean every emulator that can decrypt encrypted game dumps (which is a lot of them) is suddenly more at risk than before, the Yuzu team stupidly got caught doing other shit and Nintendo would specifically want to target emulation of current games. But in any case, it's not really the point, if the Azahar team wants to stay away from the legal grey area just in case and leave it up to some other people to maintain a fork with the capability then they're free to do so, I was only saying that it makes sense for that team to want to maintain that fork since the capability does have uses.
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Absolutely.

A great option would always be to have a sterile official project that allows for branches developed by others to allow for the more grey aspects to be incorporated.
The best option would be a modular approach so that encrypted file support can be handled by totally separate teams from the main project.
 
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Lone Wandering Courier said:
How do you softmod a PS2 slim with an iffy laser? Ps2 games kinda read but movies don't read at all, so using a burned disc won't work.
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Should be the same as a fat, in that regard. You just need to get FMCB on the memory card. If it can read an AR Max or Codebreaker, you should be okay, use that to install it.

If not, you'll probably need a memcard with FMCB already installed or something, I think. I think I used a Codebreaker, the first time. I just used regular 8mb card I kept safe after that, if I need it again.
 
Enter The Pooptrain said:
I am continuously assblasted by untranslated ps1 horror games. Twilight Syndrome has a spanish patch but no english?!
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Don't underestimate Spanish translators. They're more hardworking than English ones by a country mile and generally have the same if not more fan translated games, VNs, and anime out there than us.
 
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JustSomeDong said:
Should be the same as a fat, in that regard. You just need to get FMCB on the memory card. If it can read an AR Max or Codebreaker, you should be okay, use that to install it.

If not, you'll probably need a memcard with FMCB already installed or something, I think. I think I used a Codebreaker, the first time. I just used regular 8mb card I kept safe after that, if I need it again.
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Would it be cheaper to get a codebreaker or a memory card with FMCB on it?
 
Lone Wandering Courier said:
Would it be cheaper to get a codebreaker or a memory card with FMCB on it?
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I'm honestly not sure. I've seen cards offered for less than $20, before, but that was back when I was more active in the scene. Check psx-place or ps2-home forums? psxscene seems to be defunct (fuck im getting old), or id say check there, too. I've seen people sell them, but I'm about a decade out of date. And I have no idea what a breaker or armax would cost nowadays. I'd think they'd start to become a little rare. Looking at ebay, a codebreaker is probably going to run you at least 50 bucks.

Its a rainy day and im off work, stoned and bored. I'll look around and post back.

Edit: Amazon has fmcb cards up to 64mb for under $15. Caveat emptor with 3rd party cards, always. I've personally found it doesn't like 3rd party memcards, myself. But maybe they're better nowadays? I just use 8mb sony cards and vmcs now, I only play 3 or 4 games anymore, so space isnt an issue.
 
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I dismissed all of those cheap retro handhelds ever since they've become popular. My fiance recently got one as a gift, though (Miyoo Mini Plus) and after like a week I got jealous and so I got one for myself. I wanted something a little more powerful so I got the Anbernic RG406V. I ran some tests (display, controls, etc.) and the only problem so far is my IEMs picking up electrical interference form the RGB so I turned it off, which I was gonna do anyways. Otherwise and I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality for a piece of (relatively) cheap Chinesium. Gonna flash GammaOS Next because fuck Google and fuuuuck Baidu telemetry.
 
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The Cheese Aisle said:
I dismissed all of those cheap retro handhelds ever since they've become popular. My fiance recently got one as a gift, though (Miyoo Mini Plus) and after like a week I got jealous and so I got one for myself. I wanted something a little more powerful so I got the Anbernic RG406V. I ran some tests (display, controls, etc.) and the only problem so far is my IEMs picking up electrical interference form the RGB so I turned it off, which I was gonna do anyways. Otherwise and I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality for a piece of (relatively) cheap Chinesium. Gonna flash GammaOS Next because fuck Google and fuuuuck Baidu telemetry.
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They're a bit of a crapshoot. I too have a Miyoo Mini Plus and it's a real nice little piece of hardware. However, some others I have bought over the years haven't been as good. I have an RG300X and while it feels and looks nice, the software available leaves something to be desired. I bought an Odroid-Go Ultra on sale and that thing is just a piece of absolute fucking trash. An Anbernic Arc- S was my latest device. That one is OK, but it seems none of the custom firmwares work well with its battery(indicator is always wrong) and none of them have the six button layout mapped by default, so you may as well not have the two extra buttons. I should probably just drop a few hundred dollars and get something really nice like a Retroid.
 
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All these post about the PS2 convinced me to hook mine up again. Found out there's a way to use PS3/PS4 controllers wired or wirelessly with generic Bluetooth adapters. 8)
[How To] Use PS2 OPL Bluetooth With PS3/PS4 Controllers
 
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I got a free trial of prime, so a memory card with freemcboot came today. I don't know if it's because of my flashdrive or I misremember how games used to run, but I do notice some sluggishness. Still, it is an improvement over being unable to play games at all. The picture is very iffy and kind of dark but I still had some fun testing hot pursuit 2 and midnight club 2.
 
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Lone Wandering Courier said:
I got a free trial of prime, so a memory card with freemcboot came today. I don't know if it's because of my flashdrive or I misremember how games used to run, but I do notice some sluggishness. Still, it is an improvement over being unable to play games at all. The picture is very iffy and kind of dark but I still had some fun testing hot pursuit 2 and midnight club 2.
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Its mostly the flash drive. USB1 is slooooowwwww. Grab a phat if you get the chance. Or at least a moddable slim. You may have one, actually. Some of the earlier models of the slim can still use a hard drive, with some work.
 
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