Saturn.emu, besides it’s rather generic name also runs this game on Android quite well, just like on PC, as this emulator uses mednafen’s code.
Retroarch Beetle Saturn runs just as good on Snapdragon 865 (compared them). Seems it pushes the CPU a lot, it starts solid 60 fps and after a minute or two it throttles and drops to 48-54 fps. Definitely needs a performance optimisation like a dynarec or something. That chip supposed to be a monster for emulation, it does mostly solid Nintendo switch and 3DS or PS2
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I’m not 100% sure, but I’d guess it’s due to CPU governor, or how the emulator handles/conflicts with high and variable screen refresh rates. It’s definitely not thermal throttling. What I mostly notice are a few stutters that would mostly be solved if it supported loading the ISO/CHD to the RAM. Yes, some optimization is needed as long as some Android quirks.
Other than that, though, I’m surprised how these portable devices have such powerful CPUs, I couldn’t believe Saturn and PS2 ran that well and the POCO Pad is a mid range device not even focused on heavy gaming. It’s a general purpose tablet.
What hardware is this?
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The SAROO IDE is a sega saturn cartridge to load cd dumps on actual sega saturn hardware, so the answer is most likely some kind of mod containing sega saturn hardware and probably fpga ?
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More or less meaningful in Japan where Saturn was popular and had most exclusives (in Japanese language too), not much use in USA/Europe. It’s catalogue in US/EU is mostly arcade/PS1 ports that can be played on these and a handful of worthy exclusive games like Panzer Dragoon etc. Can’t justify the cost in USA/Europe, while you could run Saturn emu on a good phone.
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Well, fpga can play other systems too, but you could also buy a steam deck or rog ally at that price tag. It’s only really worth of interest for people who care about accurate input lag.
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So, I just tried ymir v0.2.0-dev and I’m already impressed. Having been following Saturn emulation since the late 00’s, it’s the very first time I genuinely feel it doesn’t suffer from the crippling input lag any other attempt has.
I tried Street Fighter Zero 3, Courier Crisis and Sonic R. While in beta, these games didn’t run full speed, except SFZ3 that runs great probably because it’s totally 2D. Now, remember I have an old i7-2600 at 3.8ghz. Still, the amount of options, like caching disc image to RAM and speeding up the CD reading up to 10x, and again, the very responsive controls, I can finally say I’m very optimistic about Saturn emulation.
Remember when Duckstation came seemingly out of the blue? I’m getting the same feeling with Ymir!
No kidding, the responsive controls alone makes it worth a look, but it offers so much more in such an early state.
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Only don’t expect some RA core of it, i talked about it some time ago and the response (after i was shot down like a pig lol) was like RA is a bunch of criminals that steal code etc lmao. Like they thief Duckstation and loads of crap like that, which is nonsense as the code was GPL. Also some other crap that RA makes money out of other people’s code which again is nonsense, that twinaphex once bullied that bsnes author and more and more.
Got tied and dragged behind the chariot pretty badly lol like i was some member of crime synergy LMAO
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Do you mean it has lower input lag than real hardware ?
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I remember that negativity about Retroarch, particularly in Reddit emulation section. Social media and mods need such posters to generate clicks and rage and make money. One reason I stopped taking part there as it does not encourage discussions with the downvote/upvote system.
Though Clowndemu at least made a MD core that also supports widescreen.
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That’s elitist coders thinking big about themselves, they want more fame and recognition (and money in some cases) and feel like Retroarch taking their share of it. Which is nonsense, especially for Saturn that it’s library is very weak and mostly covered by MAME and PS1. Even if no Saturn emulator existed at all most people wouldn’t really care.
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Unfortunately, I don’t have a real Saturn anymore, I’d love to give it a try and compare. It was also a typo, I meant “attempts”, as any other Saturn emulator suffers from very noticeable input lag. My current display is only 60hz, so I’m pretty sure that a 120hz or higher TV will give even better results. In its current state, it’s already very good, you should try and see.
I didn’t know that, this is unfortunate, isn’t it? People are still into that nonsense, aren’t they?
As previously mentioned, the theoretical minimum input lag on saturn is 2 frames for 2D and 3 frames for 3D, that’s if the game was correctly optimized for saturn’s smpc, which is not a given (especially for games that were ported from another platform). I measured input lag on beetle saturn several years ago after someone mentioned it had lower input lag than kronos, and it seemed to be 3 frames on average, which was already pretty low compared to real hardware.
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While not scientific, I can feel the controls in SFZ3, in FBNeo, I need to set runahead or preemptive frames to 2 or 3, same in Swanstation when playing that version. The simple Final Fight combo from Guy as shown in this video is very difficult to do with input lag, I’d say that it’s probably at least one frame behind the examples I gave above with runahead 3.
Still, my current setup is an old TV at 60hz and a 2011 CPU, i7-2600 at 3.8ghz.
I’m not really nuts about input lag like I was many years ago, but since you seem to care, I feel inclined to share my personal experience with you and whoever wants to read.
Although there are many technical and intrincated reasons for input latency to happen, you really don’t need to know much of that, just the very basic fact: everything in your setup adds input lag. Namely: the emulator used, your operational system (plus background processes), your controller (or keyboard/mouse), the connection (wired/wireless) and its subtype (USB, serial, SNAC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 2.4G band), your screen… All of them add a small amount of latency, which sum results in the final perceivable lag. Each step may add a significant value by itself; or a value small by itself, but significant in numbers; or something so tiny that it’s completely dismissible.
In the end, on what are you focusing? Perhaps you’re too keen on the emulator itself, and though it could be improved, it’s already on a scale of diminished returns. Meanwhile, there might be other components on your setup that weren’t touched yet, and could give you a huge latency reduction with little effort from your part. When advising people, I always suggest starting with your television/monitor. CRTs may be the gold standard, but that doesn’t mean all LCD screens should be lumped together. There’s an immense difference between many of them; usually, newer is better, and gaming-related internal functions on the model are positive differentials. It’s also important to output at the exact resolution of the screen, as you wouldn’t want for its internal scaler to kick in, for its quality and speed is way inferior to what your computer can provide.
Basically, keep your eyes opens for any other component of your setup that you didn’t give much thought yet. See if you can squeeze something more out of them.
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Well, the thread is about Saturn and getting dynarec to Beetle Saturn, so we’re talking about and comparing emulators for the system since this thread started. Now, lets upfront rule out what you’re suggesting here, my PC doesn’t suffer from any noticeable input lag, if I play a native PC game, or if I play PS1 games, specially using Swanstation’s internal runahead feature.
What we are really talking about here is how Saturn emulation, specifically, always suffered from input lag, from SSF (closed source and basically Windows only) to Yabause, Mednafen (the latter being much better, but still has very noticeable lag).
You might have heard about the horrid input lag the Saturn Tribute series on the switch. It’s true, and yes, it gets in the way.
It’s not that one decides to be bothered by input lag, specially those who owned and played the real thing for many years. It’s that, when it’s there, it’s there and it spoils the experience.
I mostly fix my car myself and I know when something is not right, I go and check, replace parts or what needs to be done, there’s also lag in acceleration when the spark plugs needs replacement, it’s not that I can just ignore and live with it. It just will never feel right, it’s not that it bothers someone or those who notice it’s not right that they are nuts about it, it’s just plain wrong.
Steznek seems to be bit of a Sook/Winger when something happens he does not like
Just look at him saying he will stop Supporting Linux because people where asking how to Install it Properly
So he just decided he stop supporting Linux
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