Why were the higan (Super Famicom accuracy) core abandoned?

[RokkumanX]

Hi!

This isn’t a request thread (I got the core thankfully, the last build ever I think) and to be honest nothing have been remotely close to the stability for me when it comes to Super Famicom emulation as when using this core.

Standalone versions of ares, higan and bsnes seems to have this long standing trend of always be broken one way or the other for me whenever I decide to give them a new round which leads me back to this core.

Maybe abandoned was the wrong term I was after but since I lack the full story of why it’s not around anymore that’s what I ended up using.

It’s not distributed in the buildbot and it’s near damn impossible to find any form of working link to the core these days and even though I have the core I still try to find it just for fun.

The core is perfect for what I use it for and honestly I wished that more cores were just like it, simple, basic core options, plugin a Super Famicom adapter and a genuine controller and just enjoy.

To bad it never got anymore updates or the appreciation it deserved.

[hunterk]

It’s been completely superseded by bsnes (no modifiers) core, which can be made as accurate (and slightly more accurate, in fact, but it’s hair-splitting) via core options while being faster and having more user-friendly features.

[DaveTheMan1985]

What Core Options would make it Accurate?

[RealNC]

Look at the descriptions of the options. They tell you if they affect accuracy.

[DaveTheMan1985]

@RealNC

Look at the descriptions of the options. They tell you if they affect accuracy

Okay @RealNC I will do that

[Dante]

Also is bsnes the best Super Game Boy emulator at the moment or should we try other ones like gambatte and mgba?

[hunterk]

bsnes and mesen-s are the only ones that will do all of the stuff. the GB/C emus just fake it with HLE, which is fine but it can’t do anything that depends on the actual SNES hardware, like extra sounds and graphics.

[Arviel]

While on the topic, does BSNES support cheats?

[hunterk]

No, the older v094 forks do, though.

[RokkumanX]

Thank you absolute legend for your explanation, at least I got some closure on this.

Even though bsnes have superseeded the higan core, it’s very unlikely I’ll ever replace it.

I’m not even going to bother with the standalones anymore and I will cherish this core till the end!

[Xunkar]

What does (bsnes) have over (bsnes 2014 accuracy) please?

[Cyber]

@RokkumanX

higan

I’ve also noticed on a few occasions the newest BSNES core crashing or refusing to launch after adjust some of the core options.

This is one reason I’ve continued to use the Higan core.

What CRT Shader Presets do you use with the Higan core by the way?

[RokkumanX]

Hi @Cyber and thank you for posting, I’m sorry for my late reply by the way!

I actually don’t use any shader presets at all for higan, I used to use some kind of NTSC shader a couple of years back but now I only use the built in Bilinear filter from RetroArch which gives the image a small blur.

I’m gonna stick to my word on this one, the higan core is absolutely rock solid and it’s here to stay.

[Cyber]

@RokkumanX

I actually don’t use any shader presets at all for higan, I used to use some kind of NTSC shader a couple of years back but now I only use the built in Bilinear filter from RetroArch which gives the image a small blur.

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[RokkumanX]

Get a load of this clown —> " The last reply to this topic was almost 2 years ago, are you sure you want to continue this old conversation?"

YES, do you mind, I do want to continue this old conversation!

Anyway, yes I’m coming back to this to tell you that I’m still using this core as my primary Super Famicom / Super Nintendo emulator after all this time.

There is no problems emulating anything and the core is still working strong on the latest RetroArch version.

I mean this deserves an applause really, which core have had this kind of stability in RetroArch ever?

And yet I have to tell you that the core is literally wiped off the source of the internet and is no where to be found anymore.

If you still got the core, cherish it, higan was nears baby and me keeping this core is like honoring his memory somehow.

To think things will never be the same again.

[thingsiplay]

Hi RokkumanX. I find your appreciation of this wonderful mans work fascinating (no, I’m not Vulcan and it’s not meant sarcastic). I have a question, but don’t take this as being disrespectful of any kind or so, it’s just having a good conversation.

From technical point of the emulators and cores, the newest Bsnes should be “better” than Higan. I know the legacy of Higan, but developers did not stop working on what the great Near left us. Are you using the older core because of being personally attached to all its surrounding history? I understand that, but from technical point, there shouldn’t be any reason to, right? One good reason I can think of is the compatibility of existing save files in example, although I don’t know if they are compatible with the other cores.

After your message I looked up if could find old compiled version in the RetroArch buildbot. Unfortunately the oldest ones v.1.9.1 with the complete cores package to download does not include Higan anymore. But the source code for the standalone and for the RetroArch core is still up a mirror of it are up in Github. I leave here a few links:

• The unofficial higan repository on RetroArch: https://github.com/libretro/higan
• Latest active official repository: https://github.com/higan-emu/higan
• Fork on byuu’s old account: https://github.com/byuu/higan

Out of curiosity I wonder if its possible to build Higan for RetroArch now.

Edit: So I found an archived core package of RetroArch v1.8.9 from 202007 for Windows. In it is higan_sfc_balanced_libretro.dll and higan_sfc_libretro.dll . But don’t want to link it here, because I am not sure if that is a) legally correct and second b) if those files are manipulated in any way.

[RokkumanX]

Thank you very much for your kind words!

To answer your question we’ll have to travel back two years in time to this specific thread in fact and I have to quote myself:

Standalone versions of ares, higan and bsnes seems to have this long standing trend of always be broken one way or the other for me whenever I decide to give them a new round which leads me back to this core.

While newer ----> better, it is unfortunately not always the case and that quote still rings true even today 2024.

I can’t seem to break this core no matter what I throw at it and the save states work perfectly fine without crashes (I know various instances of bsnes have been very finicky about breaking save states in one way or another)

1. It plays my entire Super Famicom/Super Nintendo collection which consists of ~ 50 games or so.
2. It plays them accurately, almost no need to change anything (the core only consists of 4 core options anyway)
3. If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it and that certainly holds true for this core.

Also this core doesn’t have the annoyances that the standalone version of higan did with the “game” folders instead of just loading a .sfc file.

I appreciate you taking the time researching finding the core, however I really doubt anyone cares at this point and people have since long moved away to other projects.

I will NEVER delete this core and if it breaks in future versions of RetroArch I will be really sad.

Fun fact: the .info file of this core is still included in RetroArch, I don’t see any reason to why since it’s DEAD.

[thingsiplay]

I noticed the core files too. Another mildly funny fact is, that the documentation is still up too at https://docs.libretro.com/library/higan_accuracy/ . I guess its just leftover work to be cleaned up. If the core breaks for you in future RetroArch versions, you could still use an older version of RetroArch itself in a separate folder. So make your backups carefully.

I completely forgot that Higan did this annoying things with splitting up into folders. It was actually the reason I did not use it, now that you mention it. Another great plus for RetroArch, although I have to take the plus away as its no longer available.^^ With the breakage, I understand that. Especially when it comes to save states. If you are fully happy with it, then I don’t see any “need” to change to a different core too.

I personally hold the arcade emulator cores in an older version, preventing them from updating. You can mark cores in RetroArch as locked at Settings > Core > Manage Cores > “$CORE_NAME” and then enable “Lock Installed Core”. And there is a “Backup Core” function too. In your case it won’t help much, but because of breakage reasons with updates I keep the older version at the moment.

[RokkumanX]

Hehehe my gaming computer is 100% offline at all times so I never have to worry about annoying updates.

I usually reinstall every 6-12 months and update everything in one sweep (I make a software disc in .ISO format using Burnaware Free) which I then use for installation once I re-installed Windows.

It basically includes everything I need (Drivers, Consoles/Emulators, Software (3rd Party and Microsoft), Tools etc.)

Everything I do is customized entirely to my liking. These days I mainly focus on consoles/emulator updates for newer generation consoles that really benefit from being updated like GameCube/Wii/Wii U/Switch/3DS/PS2/PS3/PSP etc.

I rarely have to touch anything else and to think of it my higan core is the second oldest emulator that I use with Dolphin 4.0-315 Triforce Branch being the oldest from 2014 and higan 2020.

[c9f5fdda06]

Near, who made bsnes and higan, said they thought SNES9x was accurate and that these more accurate emus were for fringe cases; preservation reasons.