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ZSNES Portable 1.51 Pre-Release 1 (Testers Needed)

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John T. Haller
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ZSNES Portable 1.51 Pre-Release 1 (Testers Needed)

I've posted a test release of ZSNES Portable. ZSNES is the best SNES/Super Famicom emulator out there and the portable version is configured to automatically support ROMs, game saves, etc within its own directory. Settings, game saves, etc are kept in the Data directory (for easy backup) and ROMs and graphics are kept in the App directory. You can just take your existing SNES ROMs and drop them into ZSNESPortable\App\roms and they'll work. The launcher sets up the proper paths for ZSNES on each launch. It'll even double-check that the PC you're running on has the proper DirectX install (it requires 8.1 and up).

Please give it a try and post feedback.

Download ZSNES Portable 1.51 Pre-Release 1
(may take a few minutes to hit the download servers)

Thanks,
John

ROMS Note: There are demo and homebrew game ROMs floating around various places on the net that are completely legal to download and play. Use of ROMs of commercial games is illegal (except in a couple countries). If you own the game it may be legal or illegal depending on where you are. But hosting and downloading of them is usually illegal. We're not getting into a discussion of it here, though. If you post a note asking where to get ROMs, you will be banned. Do *NOT* ask where to get ROMs.

Zach Thibeau
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Looks Good

Looks really well done no errors so far Wink Loads Roms very well in the Rom folder located in App\Roms and the save states in the proper save folder. All I can say is well done
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Gamer239
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where do you get the roms?

where do you get the roms?

John T. Haller
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Not Here

If you're looking for illegal ROMs, do not ask here or at the ZSNES site. If this is what you are looking for, you'll be banned.

There are a few legal homebrew ROMs and other things you can find:
http://www.gameasylum.com/demoscene.html

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Gamer239
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i did not know that they

i did not know that they where illegal. i was only looking for a legit response so that i could test the emulator. Again, i am not looking for illegal roms.

The MAZZTer
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Don't worry dude noone is

Don't worry dude noone is going to come and sue your pants off just because you asked for roms, lol. Smile

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Patrick Patience
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Works Fine.

Complex launcher eh. :|

Umm, only text error I found was the second line of text in the launcher for the website directs to PokerTHPortable

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The MAZZTer
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Nice

The only problem I have is you can't modify the ROM path. ZSNESPortable keeps resetting it. This is very annoying, as I already had several emulators on my drive and I liked to keep all my ROMs grouped together in subfolders of a root folder.

My solution to make ZSNES portable was to use relative paths in the config file. That worked fine for me if I recall... although the file browser keeps resetting the ROMPath to an absolute path, the rest work fine as relative ones.

Ex:

ROMPath="F:\\ROM Images\\Super Nintendo\\"
; Save states & SRAMs, snapshots, SPCs
SRAMPath="SAVES\\"
SnapPath="SNAPSHOTS\\"
SPCPath="..\\..\\..\\ROM IMAGES\\SUPER NINTENDO\\"
; BIOS/base carts (BS-X, Sufami Turbo, Same Game & SD Gundam G-Next)
BSXPath=""
STPath=""
SGPath=""
GNextPath=""
; SPC7110 graphic packs
FEOEZPath=""
SJNSPath=""
MDHPath=""
SPL4Path=""

I'll be using your solution since it's got a pretty splash screen Wink but it would be great if ZSNESPortable would let you change the path. Maybe you could build an alternate launcher EXE that allows that path to change. I tried to make my own but it's been awhile since I did NSIS and I didn't feel like figuring out how to break down $EXEDIR into a drive letter.

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ormus7577
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Just started a launcher for ZNES a few days ago ;-)

Guess I can drop that one...

But shouldn't the rom folder be in the data folder? The app folder should contain all files of the application, everything that is need to run it. Roms itself are data.

At least that's what I was thinking when doing the VisualBoyAdvance Portable...

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John T. Haller
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Plugins

I thought about it a lot... but ROMs are more akin to plugins than data. Remember, data will be backed up when the user selects to backup their data directories. Would you want MBs or GBs worth of ROMs as a part of that backup?

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ormus7577
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Exactly my thoughts...

But I've answered the question with yes and therefore moved the rom folder to /data Wink

Maybe it's a good idea, to have an ApplicationData Folder for all those roms/saves/office documents/etc. under Documents? I mean, Windows has one like this and it's not the worst part of it...

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The MAZZTer
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A program is less portable

A program is less portable if you have to move more than one folder around. The current setup is fine IMO.

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Dijaboro
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first try

- downloaded
- installed
- copied roms to roms folder
- start app
- load rom
- played game -> everything ok

TStodden
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1.51 working OK... 1.337 works better

ZSNES is working fairly well, but there's just a few issues that I'd like to note.

* SNES games with the FX Chip do not properly run in 1.51 -- This is a KNOWN ISSUE (including the non-portable version)
* Some games have minor graphical bugs, which is mostly cosmetic -- It occurs in the non-portable version
* No online gaming support -- This is a KNOWN ISSUE (as it was removed in the newer version)

I'd suggest making ZSNES v1.337 portable over 1.51 myself since such issues don't exist, but it doesn't support USB controllers.

The only suggestion is to move the ROM folder into the "Data" folder, just to make it easier to locate where to place the ROMs you want.

Other than that, it's pretty much ready for an official release!

~TStodden

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The MAZZTer
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I didn't realize the netplay

I didn't realize the netplay issue existed. [Edit: Ah, the netplay is still there, just always grayed out. That's probably why.]

Online gaming sucks anyways, since the only way it's really been done is to send control presses, but then the games get out of sync almost immediately. There needs to be some netcode that syncs memory states of two roms somehow. Depending on the specific game used this could be feasible.

However, your FX chip comment is mistaken. I just tested both Starfox and Starfox 2 Beta and neither have any noticeable problems. I would recommend using GoodSNES to verify your ROMs are good. Any specific games you have problems with? I can test them myself and see.

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TStodden
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Could be CERTAIN FX-Chip games

The only game that I play a lot that uses the FX chip is Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World 2, which uses the FX chip for special effects that go beyond the SNES's normal restrictions.

As I said before, it's a known issue for the program.

~TStodden

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John T. Haller
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ROMs in Data vs App directory

Ok, I'll put this up for the interested folks. Do you want ROMs in the Data subdirectory or App? With Data, it'll get backed up when you use PortableApps.com Backup and select Application Data... which may or may not be a good thing... especially if you have tons of ROMs.

I may add a custom path before the final release, too, for folks who don't mind editing an INI.

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millarrp
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Personally, I would prefer

Personally, I would prefer to see the roms stay in the app folder. Since roms are usually larger then the save states and such it would make for smaller backups.

This is just a thought, but how difficult would it be to give the choice during install to have the roms stored in the data or app folder?

John T. Haller
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Prefer Not To

That would increase the complexity of the installer... and I'm trying to simplify and standardize that.

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millarrp
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that's fair

That's fair enough. Simplicity and standardization are usually the better route to go anyways. It's something I wanted to throw out there, see what you thought of the idea

consul
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my vote

is to put roms in the App side, and put the saved games in with the Data. Apps and Roms are easily downloadable from the website one gets them from originally. Or if I thought that PortableApps.com's versions of programs were going to lost because of a server crash, I would have backed them up in the "Complete Backup" in the first place. But no where else is the saved games.

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The MAZZTer
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How about let the user

How about let the user decide? Like I said in another comment, I already keep my roms in X:\ROM Images\Super Nintendo.

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eitje
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newb suggestion...

Because I *am* new, maybe this is a dumb suggestion, but can the ROMs go in the "Other" directory?

Patrick Patience
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Is there...

The possiblity to include one good open-source rom as default, it one exists, so people are not searching for roms when they first get the thing. Because the emulator is no good without the rom really. People would wanna download and be good to go.

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John T. Haller
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Couldn't find one

I looked around a bit and couldn't find anything of value. If you can, please let me know.

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Patrick Patience
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Alright.

I'll spend a bit of time looking around.

Edit: And it certainly is hard...

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The MAZZTer
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Look for a port of some

Look for a port of some released-source game like Wolf3D or Doom or something or Linux or something, and package it with the shareware/demo data files. Something like that would probably be the best homebrew rom examples.

Except that those things would run better natively, heh.

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eitje
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I know I'm late to the game

I know I'm late to the game here, but the are some public domain ROMs available @ Zophar's (a pretty big emu site that I remembered from my old-school days).

see here: http://www.zophar.net/roms.phtml?op=show&type=snes
also, google: "public domain" "super nintendo"

these should all be legal, contributed roms. many have their src included with them, as well. certainly some of the feature demos (colors, mode 7, etc) would be reasonable drop-ins.

ps - nice work! you should post a note over @ the zsnes forums, if you're looking for more testers.

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Thanks,

They all look clean at first glance. And there's Tic Tac Toe that's open source their, might not be a bad one to include.

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OK

John:
Can you do something abaout the reg key:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\DirectInput\ZSNESW.EXE45B7F83600091200
???

Win XP SP2 admin account.

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That appears to be DirectX

That appears to be DirectX internal record keeping stuff. It has no impact on portability.

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It's works correct

The only problem found is to save the paths.... Oo'
But is amazing, I love it!!!! XD

Thanks John!!!

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LOL

everybody knows that everybody only plays *legal* roms ... right? LOLOLOL!!

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ROMS

If u wanna a ROM, try google it ^_^ (I belive it will work right XD)...

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BenMcLean
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Eww ... it has snow

somebody turn off the snow effect before its released stable please. that really eats up memory if you are trying to start it on an older PC. i mean, the snow effect should be turned off by default, and people can turn if on if they want it.

and i want netplay to work!

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If that

It's probably a good idea.

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carlord2
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game loading

for some strangle reason when i loaded Super Mario the emulator freezes...

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Questions: Does the game

Questions:

  • Does the game freeze when you utilize the installed version?
  • Are you maximizing another window? I know when I ever I use FakeNES it has that problem on some computers.

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There is a bad Super Mario

There is a bad Super Mario rom out there that has that issue with a majority of emulators. i would recommend getting a different rom.

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That was my other question-

That was my other question- does it work with a second, non portable (or portable) emulator. I didn't know about a bad rom.

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It works with Vista

I've been going through some of the beta's I've used in the past to see if they work with my Vista Ultimate install, and this one works without problem.

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It works, Why wait?

This emulator works absolutely fine. Every rom Ive used on it runs fine. Why is it listed as an outdated Beta when it should be on the finalized applications page?

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It's not up to current PAF

It's not up to current PAF specifications.

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Without being rude (Im a pc

Without being rude (Im a pc caveman) how hard is it to update the program or is it more a matter of time?

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arinlares
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report...

it's been a while for this post, i think, but it runs perfectly fine.

Hey! Where'd it go?

73h_p0W
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WORKS!!

...anything more to say? Wink

Devo
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Still in development

I have a new version of the launcher updated to the latest specs. If you would like I can send this to you or if you don't mind, I can take over development and release an update.

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actually I've taken over

actually I've taken over development of ZSNESPortable I just haven't released an update due to time, however I should have some time sometime this week.

your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau

73h_p0W
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Well... I've been running the

Well... I've been running the first version posted by John for quite a few months now and had absolutely no problems at all. All settings are saved as supposed and everything is working properly! Wink

I had a lot of fun this summer with it! Biggrin

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