[Feautre Request] CHD support for Mednafen Saturn

General Development
#1

Recently, someone made a patch for SSF to allow usage of CHD files instead of a virtual disk drive.

The CHD format has several advantages for the user over bin/cue files

  1. As the name “Compressed Hunks of Data” implies, all the games I’ve tested are smaller in CHD than in bin/cue.
  2. An entire disc can be stored in a single file, instead of the minimum of two for a bin/cue.
  3. As these CHDs were created by the MESS/MAME project, a database of these CHD files already exists (although I have found a tool to create a CHD from a bin/cue, if users don’t want to redownload anything.)

Overall, I think CHD support would be a great addition to Mednafen Saturn, or any of the other CD based systems (excluding Reicast, which already has CHD support). In addition, some limited testing has shown that Playstation CHDs are smaller than their PBP counterparts.

Considering that Retroarch is an emulator for Android just as much as it is for an emulator for desktops, I think that adding support for CHDs would greatly aid those who wanted to play multiple Saturn (or other CD console) games on their phone with limited storage.

#2

is there a bounty system for Retroarch, I would pour some monies to CHD support for PSX, Saturn etc.

#3

We’re working on getting a bounty system set up via our Patreon account but the details are still in-progress. This could be a good one to add to the list, though.

#4

It would be perfect for systems like Saturn and others, I wonder if there’s a batch to make hundreds of isos (or bins) CHDs like we have for Dreamcast, when and if the cores start supporting this compression.

#5

Compression for disc systems is always a good thing as the file size adds up quick.