Some *bad* things about NesterDC SE that should be addressed

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Post by Captain Skyhawk »

I really don't understand that people do like NesterDC S.E., but not the way it needs to be created. Scherzo tried to bring us the full NES experience and he did that with a program that makes a fully customable disk for every single user out there. The end result is the best looking emulator ever seen, with all the rings and bells. Just what we all wanted. This construction is really genious and the end user never needs to do anything manual. Just look at the files of a created NesterDC S.E. disk: how in the world could an average user create this manually? We could not ask for something that easily custom made and the end product so good looking, without using a construction like this. If you really have that much problems with it, just use NesterDC 7.1/6.0 for you NES needs.

Also notice the emulator part is really good. The things we are missing, only applies to the menu etc. We could also help Scherzo with his work, by providing the extra missing content like covers, manuals etc. And if you look at the files in your PC with a plain text editor you probally can find out how to correct and add the "missing" features. This way could help each other and giving Scherzo his deserved rest, instead of asking so much after a first release. Really the hardest thing is done, now we can make NesterDC S.E. perfect, Scherzo's excellent programming techniques provided us with all the tools for doing so.
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Post by gnomes »

I love this emulator... It did however crash on me once when I tried to view the manual for Adventure Island.

I'm not going to request any features because it is clear the amount of work that went into it already and there would be a topic just for those if sherzo wanted ideas.

But I do wonder why the black area around NES carts wasn't made transparent.

Also, for controller setup, if I want to assign quick save/quick load to buttons naturally I'd end up swapping out the autofire buttons. But if I don't assign autofire to any button by default it is always on.
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Post by Sir Savant »

My one complaint about this emulator is that it does not take out the garbage. :wink:

Really though, stop complaining. It is not like this is a forum just for NesterDC SE. There are like 5 nesterdc se topics around here, and I know the older ones will be bumped soon. Stop complaining and just play!

I think there is a modem driver for the dreamcast, I just forgot where it was mentioned. I think it might have been mentioned in another NDC SE topic or in the topic about maracas (both in this forum). Can't be bothered to look.

Expect a nice, new "skin" for NesterDC SE for Christmas everyone! :wink:
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Post by BlackAura »

gnomes wrote:But I do wonder why the black area around NES carts wasn't made transparent.
Because they're JPEGs, which can not contain transparency information.
Savant wrote:Expect a nice, new "skin" for NesterDC SE for Christmas everyone! :wink:
On that note, has anyone seen how much you can customize the look of the emulator? Virtually the entire menu system is written in JavaScript (all those .js files), and can be modified pretty much any way you want to.
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Post by gnomes »

Hmm this intrigues me (the menu's).

But what if the jpegs were mass converted to gif or png?
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Post by Sir Savant »

Which is what I am looking at, BlackAura. I also think someone else pointed that out and started on a "skin" as well.
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Post by BlackAura »

gnomes wrote:But what if the jpegs were mass converted to gif or png?
They'd become larger, use more disk space, take longer to download, and still wouldn't have any transparency unless someone hand-edited them to add the transparency information.
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Post by gnomes »

I am fairly positive a marco or batch converter could convert them and add the transparency with minimal human interference.

Ditto for file sizes, though. Without the actual image to test with for all I know it could be anywhere from 1kb to 100kb in difference.
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Post by BlackAura »

gnomes wrote:I am fairly positive a marco or batch converter could convert them and add the transparency with minimal human interference.

Ditto for file sizes, though. Without the actual image to test with for all I know it could be anywhere from 1kb to 100kb in difference.
For 24-bit PNGs (without transparency), the files become approximately four times larger. 32-bit PNGs (required for transparency), that'd get larger still. PNGs do not compress anywhere near as well as JPEGs.

That still doesn't allow you to easily add the transparency. Each cart scan has different transparent areas, sometimes just the corners, and other times a border around the entire cartridge, possibly with bits cut out of the cartridge itself. You can't just flood-fill the area either - the background colour is generally black, but sometimes grey, and sometimes the cartridge label has large areas of black that you don't want to be made transparent.

Of course, it could be done manually. I wouldn't want to do it though.
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Post by Christuserloeser »

Working with JPGs is hard: They add weird shadows and fragmented colors (I really don't know the proper English expression) to previously 100% straight one-colored areas so that makes auto-batch-replacing the colors with 1 single transparent color pretty hard...
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Post by gnomes »

why does the sound have so much interference while playing a game? the nsf player plays the sound perfectly but in the game there is always a harsh static noise in the background.

or a constant simple 1 tone sound effect constantly repeating itself.
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More on four-player games

Post by nsps »

I'm still loving the emulator. But just for the sake of bug-list compilation, I thought I'd list games that I have confirmed cause malfunctioning four-player control (not that these are great games anyway):

Superspike Volley Ball (V'Ball)
Harlem Globetrotters
Nightmare on Elm Street

I DIDN'T encounter problems with Gauntlet II, M.U.L.E. or Swords & Serpents. I will make an effort to test the other Four Score-compatible games and find out how many have problems. Might all be from one mapper (?).

The problem is that controls 3 and 4 also send instructions to controllers 1 and 2, respectively. 1 and 2 do not influence the other two. Anyone think that this problem is fixable or is the four score's setup messed up to begin with?
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Post by Cid Highwind »

The only game I've encountered problems with is Flight of the Intruder (U), IMO this is the best flightsim on NES (screw topgun) but the radar isn't working. I was hoping this would've been fixed in this version especially since I requested it as well :(

Scherzo, if you make notes of game specific bugs you might fix with a next release, please include this one as well. I'll wait patiently ^^

Other than that, this emu is about perfect :D
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Only two relatively small requests...

Post by ytsejam »

There are actually only two things that i would like to see altered on this already near-perfect emulator:

1) Games in alphabetical order. (Even if you alter the game name) Please...

2) Try to have the title-screen shot for all the main games. Not all 10,000+ of them, but the 400-500 moderately fun NES games. Personally, the title screen is what i prefer to scroll through the games with. I can see how getting box and cart scans for all the main games would be difficult, but title screen captures should be fairly easy.

And i'm sure all this will come with time. In the meantime, excellent work!
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Post by pavelbure »

my only suggestion right now is if a certain game doesent have a screenshot associated with it or no info that a black screen is just shown for when your scrolling through the games. it's easy to skip over a game when viewing the list.
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Most Koei Games Work

Post by CaptTrips »

It is amazing. Scherzo, Thank you. You made most of the illusive (and often expensive) Koei games work with an emulator. Amazing.

Everyone shoud sit down and play the Koei games:

(Fully Working)
Gengis Khan, Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the 3 Kingdoms.

(Working but not saving)
Bandit Kings of Ancient China, Gemfire.

(Not Working)
L'Emperor, Nobunaga's Ambition 2, Uncharted Waters.

I just thought, since no one has yet noted, I would post this.

So thanks Scherzo: Everyone can enjoy these great Koei games now, and even better my Real Collection ought not to depreciate in value:)
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Post by erise »

NesterDC SE works great for me. I noticed that one of my favorite games, Bad News Baseball, doesn't work, however. The ROM works fine in all the RockNES and Nestopia on my Mac, just not in NesterDC (I don't think it worked in NesterDC 6 or 7 either).
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Post by Strapping Scherzo »

erise wrote:NesterDC SE works great for me. I noticed that one of my favorite games, Bad News Baseball, doesn't work, however. The ROM works fine in all the RockNES and Nestopia on my Mac, just not in NesterDC (I don't think it worked in NesterDC 6 or 7 either).
It doesn't work in any Nester whatsoever. Of course it could be fixed, just takes time and effort.
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Post by Syd »

erise wrote:NesterDC SE works great for me. I noticed that one of my favorite games, Bad News Baseball, doesn't work, however. The ROM works fine in all the RockNES and Nestopia on my Mac, just not in NesterDC (I don't think it worked in NesterDC 6 or 7 either).
Meh, why play that when you've got Baseball Stars? :wink:
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Post by pavelbure »

maybe a addition that you may want to add is the ability to add startegy guides, mainly like those found on gamefaqs, that the user can add to the cd and be viewable in game. when building a image, give the user the option of choosing a folder path where the faq or faqs they want added to the cd. add the option to the game menu when pressing left and start for "faqs", the user can choose what he wants and then return to the game. again, great work.

also, i noticed if you start the emulator without a controller plugged in, the emulator hangs up on the 2nd loading screen.
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