The nature of emulation (techies, please advise)

[Rorschach]

Can someone please help me understand a few things about emulation?

For instance, I wonder why a system as powerful as my x3i can't run most Sega Genesis roms at perfect speed... I assume it isn't a hardware issue, so is it Morphgear? I mean, is the emulator I'm using huge factor?

And GBA games... even on a rpg like Golden Sun, I often get 20-something fps, and screen flicker on my main character that makes him look like the invisible man.

Is it just the nature of emulation? Because I have Rayman for ppc... I have Rayman for my GBA... and I have the Rayman GBA rom.

PPC Rayman is graphically better than GBA Rayman -- I know much of this is due to the resolution of my ppc vs. my gba. However, the sprites are even bigger, and everything appears to animate more fluidly.

And of course, when I run the GBA Rayman through Morphgear, I get dropped frames like crazy.

Any tech savvy member wanna help me understand the nature of emulation? Not that I'm unhappy with my Axim. Heck, if I knew this was a portable emulator before I bought it, I would've gotten it that much sooner.

[Raynne413]

Well, for the Rayman question, that is because Rayman for the PPC was programed specifically for the PPC hardware, whereas Rayman for the GBA is different. The program you are using to emulate the GBA is having to "pretend" to be a GBA, so it doesn't work quite as well.

[cageyjames]

Remember also that your Axim is doing things in the background even if you have all your programs closed. Unlike the GBA, WM 2003 runs lots of stuff in the background.

[deftech]

Originally posted by cageyjames
Remember also that your Axim is doing things in the background even if you have all your programs closed. Unlike the GBA, WM 2003 runs lots of stuff in the background.

That, and also the fact that all of these GBA/SNES/etc PocketPC applications are emulators for the corresponding game system. Therefore, the X-Scale processor in the PocketPC is having to run the WM2003 operating system and also run the emulator software.....and on top of this, the emulator software is having to "pretend" to be a different system with a different processor, different graphics chip, different memory, etc. So there is a whole lot of stuff going on back there.

[Rorschach]

Ok, the light bulb is starting to flicker... I'm assuming (for you mac users out there), it's like running Windows apps through VirtualPC on your Mac? Because I've tried VirtualPC, and it's a horrible experience

[deftech]

Hehe.....very good comparison to VirtualPC. I think you've got a grasp on everything now.

[Tom61]

As far as emulation speed is concerned, the less simular in design the emulated system to the system doing the emulation and the more complex the emulated system, the more power that it requires to be emulated.

The Sega Genesis had two processors (one for sound, one for most other stuff), a custom sound chip, so this is fairly complex to emulate.

The Game Boy Advance has a simular processor to the Axim (both Arm based), but the graphics hardware is very complex and almost nothing like the Axim's.

As mentioned above, the overhead of other running tasks hurts speed to, so make sure to close everything you can before starting an emulator.

Ok, the light bulb is starting to flicker... I'm assuming (for you mac users out there), it's like running Windows apps through VirtualPC on your Mac? Because I've tried VirtualPC, and it's a horrible experience

That's because the PC is nearly the most complex consumer computer system ever. You have to emulate so many different parts at the same time that it has to run a crawling pace. With an optimised emulator I can barely emulate a 486 33 on my 1.3GHz Athlon XP.

[Rorschach]

Very informative, Tom. Thanks for the 411.

[AximPhreak]

just goes to prove the old saying...

if you want a gameboy, get a gameboy.

[Rorschach]

Originally posted by AximPhreak
just goes to prove the old saying...

if you want a gameboy, get a gameboy.

Errr, yeah. Very profound, AximPhreak... thanks...

It's nice when people feel they can contribute something helpful to a thread.

But in reply to your post, people "get" certain things for certain reasons. If they want to purchase a pda for games, that's their prerogative. While I personally don't touch Gameboy roms on my pda, I wouldn't fault someone who does. The next time you see a 6oz. portable emulator that let's me play games from just about every classic game system, let me know.

[AximPhreak]

*goes to circuit city and looks at X3i*

letting you know...

btw rorsarch if it would emulate at full speed I would have no complaints, but I have a hard time playing Super Mario thinking I'm playing Max Payne in bullet time. That is what I was referring to.

flamers...

[Rorschach]

lol, why are you instigating Aximfreak? Flamers? You're the one who posted in the thread solely to make a sarcastic remark.

You're facetious comment is directed to EVERYONE that uses an emulator to play games... who's flaming now?

Please keep this from becoming a flame war as those are not allowed on these boards. Have a lovely day.

[AximPhreak]

uhhh... no.

The flamers part was directed not at everyone who uses an emulator, but at everyone who thinks up comments like "I wrote a "REVIEW". I'll help you understand this concept." to say to others... and follows up with "happy new year!".

I personally experiment with emulators and (God, are you listening?) one day hope to wake up and find an Xbox emulator on my axim that runs Halo at 100%.

my sole problem with them is their outstanding GBA performance (5-9 fps, last time I checked).

And it's AximPhreak...

[Rorschach]

Unlike you, I'll respect the rules of the forum and not continue the bickering... I'm starting to feel like my brother's kids here.

And it's Rorschach, not rorsarch... group hug!