Building an emulation set-top box.

[racketboy]

This is a great idea, but never really getting into emulators myself I was wondering were roms for each system can be found. Any tips?

Underground Gamers is my source of choice.

[RadarScope1]

Wow, you really are living the dream.

[fox099]

You need to have a physical copy of the game to use the rom, but underground gamer is the best place fro goodrom sets.

[fumanchu]

If you had actually bothered to read the thread, he no longer wants to use a console for this purpose. He wants to emulate the sega saturn, dreamcast, and a number of other systems. The xbox is not going to cut it. Not by a long shot. Even n64 emulation on the xbox is not up to par. A pc also allows for a lot more customization then you could ever get from a console.

if you had bothered to realise that i was offering an alternative seeing as the xbox runs a lot of systems really well.
n64 emulation on pc still isnt perfect either and still isnt perfect,if you ever bothered to try surreall64xxxb5(newest version) then you will see that a lot of games run relly well.
5 posts in after more than a year.......well thanks for bothering.

[pixelbender]

The new EEE Box with hdmi out and a dedicated graphics card might be worth look at. Cheap and very small. May/may not play Dreamcast though.

[gravitone]

the eee will definitly not run any dreamcast games. even n64 is going to be a close call. severly underpowered intel GMA950 graphics and a lowly intel atom are not up to the job at hand. Im still amazed intel has coupled the atom with such an old chipset with horrible graphics core, and enormous (compared to the CPU) power usage. Hopefully amd will have an answer in the comming year. As for my previous remarks about reading the original post, sorry for my rudeness, I was having a bit of an off day. The xbox is/was a pretty decent system for emulation. But pc hardware has surpassed the xbox in terms of software, price, and performance. Unless you can get an xbox for next to nothing that is. But even my free pentium3 system runs circles around the xbox. And considering HDTV's and lcd monitors with high resolutions, its imperative to have the right output. Component and hdmi work, but preferably DVI or d-sub to support native resolution input. Let the pc videocard do all off the image scaling/processing. Kega fusion for example looks great. Epsxe, project64, nulldc, pcsx2, all look amazing with high resolution outputs. Gamecube emulation has also become viable with high clocked core2duo processors. The new intel i7's will probably provide even more performance then the former. Highres windwaker and twilight princess (currently still without sound) are a real joy to play. Of course as everything in life it comes at a price. A steep price for the moment. But like I said, give it a year and things will look a lot feasible.

[Raz1r]

Get an AMD 4850e (45w), 9400GT/HD4650, and an Antec 380w PSU. A nice mATX board coupled with 2GB of DDR2-800 should do the trick. I recommend Asus, Gigabyte, and DFI, but DFI is aimed towards a Gaming PC market so it's useless here. The WD6400AAKS is still the bang for buck champion in terms of hard drives. I'd make you a build, but I'm kind of busy right now.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid ... Categories

There is all the Sega Saturn USB controllers. They come in a few different colors, I got a classic black one and I like it a lot. win168hk is an excellent seller, extremely fast shipping from Hong Kong.

For PSX/DC get one of those USB converters so you can still use your old controllers. They make one for N64 controllers as well.

[gravitone]

Id go for a pair of wireless 360 controllers and a set of dualshock/snes controllers for games that require a good d-pad. Really depends on your preference I guess. I have never in my life found a controller by any 3rd party manufacturer with a really good dpad.

[elvis]

You need to have a physical copy of the game to use the rom

That is a myth. Currently in the US, Canada and more recently Australia, owning the original physical copy does not grant you the right to have a digital "backup" for use anywhere else.

You can thank the RIAA, MPAA, and Dubbya's push for retarded laws like the DMCA for that bit of idiocy. I'm even more annoyed that silly US laws are now starting to affect the country I live in.

Outside of that small political rant, emulation (particularly of very old games that are no longer for active sale) is what I consider a "victimless crime". More to the point, no individual has yet been prosecuted for playing a handfull of NES games on their PC. As with all things litigation, we small fry are not of interest to the big companies when it comes to the cost:reward ratio of suing the little guys.

[fastbilly1]

The stock eee 1000hd runs N64 games quite well - its just an atom processor on a the stock board and a gma950. Seeing that the new EEE B206 should have a radeon 3400 series card with the same processor it will be able to handle N64, unless you have buggered up your drivers.

Dreamcast is a pipedream, and I dont know if the atom chip has sse2, so Saturn is out - Ill double check that tonight after the IT crowd.