Emulator Questions Need Advice

[thegamezmaster]

Hi, wasn't sure where to post so I'll try here. I know nothing about emulators and files. Looking for early 80's consoles like any atari, commodore, colecovision, TG-16 etc. Is there an all in one free program to use for all retro systems? Need real easy to understand, install and use. Thanks for any help or advice.

Edited June 20, 2022 by thegamezmaster

[mr_me]

What computer operating system?

 

I use Stella for the Atari 2600, Altirra for Atari 800/5200, Vice for Commodore 64, and Mameui64 for Colecovision and Atari 7800.  Mameui64 will also do all the arcade games.

 

Commodore 64 and Colecovision emulators will require system rom files (sometimes called bios files) in addition to the game rom files, and not included with the emulator.  They can all be found in rom file collections on archive sites.

 

The emulators are easy enough to use once you have the rom files, but you may or may not find setting up game controllers easy.  And there is an emulator discussion forum section on atariage as well.

Edited June 21, 2022 by mr_me

[thegamezmaster]

40 minutes ago, mr_me said:

What computer operating system?

 

I use Stella for the Atari 2600, Altirra for Atari 800/5200, Vice for Commodore 64, and Mameui64 for Colecovision and Atari 7800.  Mameui64 will also do all the arcade games.

 

Commodore 64 and Colecovision emulators will require system rom files (sometimes called bios files) in addition to the game rom files, and not included with the emulator.  They can all be found in rom file collections on archive sites.

 

The emulators are easy enough to use once you have the rom files, but you may or may not find setting up game controllers easy.  And there is an emulator discussion forum section on atariage as well.

Thanks for the reply and info. I know nothing about these. Are they pretty easy to install on a windows ps and get working? Would help. Guess I Need Emulators For Dummies. lol Thanks!

Edited June 21, 2022 by thegamezmaster

[mr_me]

Yes very easy.  However, you download it and run the executable, rather than go through an install.  If you're stuck, just ask.  You're on your own finding the game rom files, and system rom files if required.

Edited June 21, 2022 by mr_me

[zzip]

For all in one emulators:

 

Mame - This emulates everything but the kitchen sink,  and I wouldn't be shocked if it had a kitchen sink emulator too.  Can be tricky to get working though

 

Retroarch - This gives you a unified front-end that allows you to automatically download emulators (cores) of your choice.   It supports a lot of emulator cores.   Everything is menu driven, so it's pretty easy to use once you know the basics.

 

Now for the games.  Games for emulators are generally called "roms", and since they are copyrighted it's frowned upon to give links,  but you can find roms fairly easily using internet searches.

 

Finally, some emulators require a copy of the console's firmware,  some don't.   These are usually referred to as "system roms".   So you will need to obtain copies of these when needed.   Again these are usually copyrighted but internet searches will help.

Edited June 21, 2022 by zzip

[thegamezmaster]

14 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Yes very easy.  However, you download it and run the executable, rather than go through an install.  If you're stuck, just ask.  You're on your own finding the game rom files, and system rom files if required.

 

8 minutes ago, zzip said:

For all in one emulators:

 

Mame - This emulates everything but the kitchen sink,  and I wouldn't be shocked if it had a kitchen sink emulator too.  Can be tricky to get working though

 

Retroarch - This gives you a unified front-end that allows you to automatically download emulators (cores) of your choice.   It supports a lot of emulator cores.   Everything is menu driven, so it's pretty easy to use once you know the basics.

 

Now for the games.  Games for emulators are generally called "roms", and since they are copyrighted it's frowned upon to give links,  but you can find roms fairly easily using internet searches.

 

Finally, some emulators require a copy of the console's firmware,  some don't.   These are usually referred to as "system roms".   So you will need to obtain copies of these when needed.   Again these are usually copyrighted but internet searches will help.

Thanks to both. So how do I get started besides figuring out which one to use and download it and try to go through set up or what do you suggest. Just want to be able to play some retro video games.

[youxia]

I'd say probably Retroarch. It is kinda infamous  for its seemingly complicated interface, but it's also so popular that I'm sure there are some decent videos or guides for beginners, which will lead you by the setup/operations process step by step. It's also truly all-in-one, so once you learn how to handle it you will have access to nearly all the retro platforms.

 

Individual emulators are great, but often not really that easy to operate - especially the ones for microcomputers. People say it's easy because they have been using them for ages, but beginners are often bewildered by countless options available in them and differnet ways of doing things.

[Flojomojo]

Another vote for RetroArch. Someone brand new might need a helper guide like this. Once you get the basics, it's easy and fun to use. 

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-retroarch-4771750

[zzip]

16 minutes ago, youxia said:

I'd say probably Retroarch. It is kinda infamous  for its seemingly complicated interface

Yeah on one hand the retroarch interface is very slick,  but on the other it does seem a bit over-complicated.   Feels like they could use a user-interface designer to go over it and make it more intuitive

 

39 minutes ago, thegamezmaster said:

 

Thanks to both. So how do I get started besides figuring out which one to use and download it and try to go through set up or what do you suggest. Just want to be able to play some retro video games.

Youtube is a good place.   I haven't watched these, but if they fall short, there are plenty of other videos that cover it.

 

 

 

 

[mr_me]

29 minutes ago, youxia said:

I'd say probably Retroarch. It is kinda infamous  for its seemingly complicated interface, but it's also so popular that I'm sure there are some decent videos or guides for beginners, which will lead you by the setup/operations process step by step. It's also truly all-in-one, so once you learn how to handle it you will have access to nearly all the retro platforms.

 

Individual emulators are great, but often not really that easy to operate - especially the ones for microcomputers. People say it's easy because they have been using them for ages, but beginners are often bewildered by countless options available in them and differnet ways of doing things.

I rarely use Stella, Vice, Altirra, or Retroarch.  Retroarch is the only one that gives me trouble going back to it.  Non standard controllers from the early eighties are more of a pain to configure in Retroarch.  Even for NES, I'd rather use Mesen than Retroarch.  The dedicated emulators have a real simple interface to load the game rom, not unlike other desktop programs.  Maybe if you want to sit in your living room with a TV and control everything with a game controller you can invest the time learning Retroarch.  Similarly, if you want to play arcade games on a Windows computer, MameUI, makes it real simple.

[youxia]

21 minutes ago, mr_me said:

The dedicated emulators have a real simple interface to load the game rom, not unlike other desktop programs.

You've just proven my point about old experienced users  Do you really think OP is a kind of person who wants to use "Non standard controllers from the early eighties" ? And there is nothing simple about the zillion options in standalone emulators, and you will often need to use them, and then learn again how to do it in other standalone emus.

 

Once you setup Retroarch it's as simple as anything else out there, if not simpler, because you just pick a system/game from a list,  plus you only have to learn it once. And it's as useful on a PC as on a TV.

[mr_me]

I'm not talking about using actual Atari paddles, trackballs, spinners, and colecovision or 5200 keypad controllers.  I'm talking about getting them emulated with a mouse and modern controller/keyboard.  Retroarch has two layers of controller mapping, the emulated core/system controller to the Retroarch controller and then the Retroarch controller to the physical controller.  Retroarch has limitations and it's much more straightforward on the dedicated emulators and Mameui.  Maybe I need to watch some Retroarch youtube tutorials; didn't have to with the other emulators.

Edited June 21, 2022 by mr_me

[Cynicaster]

Coming in from the world of standalone emulators, when I first tried Retroarch several years ago, I was very skeptical of it.  But now, I am absolutely on board with Retroarch.  I think it's pretty damn awesome and I think there is a lot of development muscle behind it, relatively speaking, so it should keep getting better.  I will say that the interface of Retroarch is a bit messy.  Once you know your way around to the different functions you need for your use case, it's not bad, but I can see how it wouldn't be very inviting to a complete newcomer.  

 

I agree that Retroarch is more focused on supporting generic, modern, Dual-Shock-style controllers which makes it awkward (at best) for some older systems that used, for example, numeric keypads on their controllers.  The dedicated/standalone emulators may provide benefits for some of those systems for some users.  I do think strides are being made on some Retroarch cores, though.  For example, the Commodore 64 core in Retroarch (VICE I think?) allows you to press a button to bring up a virtual keyboard on the screen, which enables you to play C64 games with ease from your couch with nothing but a controller.  So great.  Not all cores do this sort of thing, though.   

 

I am a huge fan of emulation and I see benefits to all different approaches.  For "noobs" who are starting from a clean slate and don't really have the time or will to slog through learning how to configure stuff and troubleshoot and all that, then I think one of the best approaches is to use something like RetroPie.  I know OP asked for PC but things like RetroPie with Emulation Station deserve a mention because you can get 95% of the way to emulation autonomy simply by following some basic up-front instructions on how to set up the firmware for the Pi, and then drop some ROM files in the specified folders for the various systems of interest.  From there, the rest is just small tweaks.