I don’t think there is a workable way to crosspost discussion posts, if I’m wrong feel free to correct me

Originally posted to !emulation@sh.itjust.works - https://sh.itjust.works/post/60105068

Hey folks, welcoming some input here on options for a smooth experience.

I have an htpc going with a simple launcher for jellyfin, edu gaming, etc, navigable with the 8bitdo controllers I have connected. What I’d really like to do is some emulation, right now I’m looking at:

  • Nintendo: NES, GB, GBA, DS, 3DS, N64, maybe GC & wii but I haven’t tried it
  • Sony: PS1, PS2, Vita, would go with PS3 but I don’t quite have the performance on that little box for it…
  • Sega: Genesis, GameGear, maybe others

Probably some more, but we’ll leave it there for now.

What I’d like as an end goal:

  • Filtered library based on user (my kids aren’t at an age where I’m going to be cool with them playing Mortal Kombat)
  • Local client to run it, romM is really cool but 3DS is a non-starter unfortunately
  • Preferably a single tool to showcase all the roms and make for an easy start experience

Also any thoughts on controllers are welcomed! I have a couple of 8bitdo ultimates, a few random ds3’s and knockoffs, NES style 8bitdo from years ago. N64 gaming I haven’t had a great experience with, and I think a dance mat, maybe a guitar hero type guitar would be fun. Feel free to make a recommendation on a controller for a specific use, even one I haven’t mentioned!

TL;DR: Whats your htpc emulation setup?

  • SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zoneEnglish
    1·
    49 minutes ago

    What I did was this -

    • Lenovo M93P tiny (i7-4785t, 8GB, no GPU: cost $50. I can do upto PS2 at 1.5x, AAA games upto 2014/5 and later indies)
    • Offline (once art scrapped by below etc)
    • Windows 8.1 install (era appropriate, correct drivers, offline, yadda yadda) + ClassicShell
    • Installed Xbox 360 dongle with drivers
    • Installed games I wanted / emulators (eg: Dolphin for Wii and GC, PCSX2 for PS2 etc)
    • Installed Playnite, set it to launch full screen
    • Define scripts / launch conditions (e.g., Getting AntiMicroX to launch when Luanti launches, so that it can be played with controllers instead of keyboard, then shutdown cleanly when return to PlayNite)
    • Replaced Explorer.exe as the default shell in Regedit

    End result: turn on PC, boots into Windows (in about 2 seconds), launches Playnite (which is full controller / couch mode compatible). Additionally, I can fine tune things like EDID (fine grained control of display modes), ReShade (per game sharpening etc effects), to say nothing of the extra Win programs I can run.

    With a bit of skill, you can make games look way better than they have any right to, even on low end hardware. I can dig up some screenshots of Just Cause 2 and FireWatch running in 540p for you if you’d like…you’d be hard pressed to tell it wasn’t much higher resolution (viewed on 75" tv from 8 feet away).

    Reason I did it this way:

    People will tell you Batocera is awesome (and it is) but…there are just some things that run better natively (e.g., Fallout 3 GOG Game of the Year Edition, Just Cause 2 etc). Windows lets you play windows shit natively and the emulation scene (Dolphin, PCSX2 etc) is mature. No need for Wine, Proton blah blah. It just … runs.

    Playnite lets you “hide” games you don’t want the kiddies to run. Once you’re done with it, you can exit and return to desktop - you have normal PC (though if you do the shell replacement I mentioned, you will have to exit, CTRL-ALT-DEL to get task manager, then run explorer.exe. I only set Playnite as default shell because I wanted ZERO flashes or indication this was a normal windows PC on boot; if a small 2-3 second desktop flash doesn’t annoy you, then just set Playnite to launch at start, black screen desktop and go from there. It’s much easier for something that is multi-use). Also, because it’s just a front end, you should in theory just be able to make a shortcut to “Jellyfin.exe” and launch it as needed from Playnite (haven’t explored that myself tho).

    PS: Controller-wise: Xbox 360 wireless + dongle for me. 1 $30 dongle can host up to 4 controllers and I already had to controllers :)

    PPS: Can I be honest with you? After all this - the kids decided they just prefer the Wii. I had to laugh. Fine…we’ll use the Wii (even though I replicated everything on the M93p - INCLUDING upscale, making wii controllers etc work in Dolphin, bought a Dolphin bar etc. I even put the fucking wii music as the background in Playnite!). So much work … ignored LOL. Eh, I learned a lot doing it :)

    PPPS: We have a Google chrome cast with TV dongle attached to the TV, so it can stream Jellyfin from the media server just fine. I really recommend those things (not the new one, the old hockey puck style one) or the off-label one you can get now (ONN I think?). Actually, come to think of it, I’m pretty sure Wii can stream JellyFin now in glorious 480p too lol

  • alphakenny1@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    Batocera on spare machine you have running for a really easy nearly turn key experience. Its also pretty good at handling controllers and has an ok wiki Has kodi built in which you cna use jellyfin plugins (i dont like those though) I dont think it does multi user which may not work for parental controls (big beleiver in talking to your kids solving most issues) And no RomM plugin last time i checked maybe has it now.

    Little bit more manual but with nearly the same front end ES-DE. Maybe with emudeck to make it a bit easier to manage. i have this on bazite with steam big picture and ES-DE as a non steam game. Theres also steam rom manager but i havent used that.

    For ease of use and setup and wife kid friendly and just less life stress use batocera. Boot it from an external usb to try it out. If you find it gets some use you could install ES-DE on the main os and manually manange. Or just dual boot forever depends on your tinkering appitite.

    • curbstickle@anarchist.nexusOPEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      (big beleiver in talking to your kids solving most issues)

      There are still age appropriate things. Kids replicate what they see/hear, and there is no reason to make a kid scared because they saw a horror game because they aren’t old enough to comprehend what it is.

      Let’s remember that games run a pretty wide gamut in ages, and what can be discussed with an 11yr old is not the same as what can be discussed with a 4yr old.

      Batocera on spare machine you have running for a really easy nearly turn key experience.

      I ran batocera for a bit, honestly I found it frustrating with a few issues I came across. Its been about 2 years since I used it, so may be worth checking if the same annoyances exist. A good chunk of that was audio detection (whether HDMI, 3.5mm, whatever) for tiny/mini/micro, which is pretty much all I use. Another was how network shares were handled for NFS, can’t remember what annoyed me there though.

      And no RomM plugin last time i checked maybe has it now.

      Nope, still not there. I’m going to end up running separate instances of whatever I end up using.

      Little bit more manual but with nearly the same front end ES-DE.

      This is what I’m trying now, seems a lot more manual. Which is fine as long as I don’t need to rework things every version, I’ll just keep the configs in my repo and be fine with it. Right now my biggest annoyance with it is that the highlighting in the system menus is garbage without the brightness and contrast tweaked to all hell…

      Otherwise seems OK so far, but haven’t really tried any games with it, just loading them up to check that it works.

      Edit: Ah, found the NFS part that annoyed me. From their wiki:

      sharenetwork_nfs# (for most Linux Network File System shares) where # is the number of the share from 0-9 (yes, this does mean you’re limited to only ten shares per type of share, this limit may be changed in the future).

      Looks like its still limited. Unfortunate, but I’ll throw it on a spare box anyway to see if the rest is a better experience than last time.

  • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    3 days ago

    I’ve been interested in doing this same project. I don’t have any ideas yet unfortunately, but I’d also like to hear what others have done.

    • curbstickle@anarchist.nexusOPEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Just to mention for whats on there now, I’m just starting flex-launcher at login per user. I’ve been meaning to try their newer big-launcher, but haven’t gotten around to it.

      Jellyfin, GCompris, and gwenview set to play photos from a predetermined directory are the entries right now. I had Lutris in there with the controller UI set up, but the experience wasn’t great when I last tried it.

      • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        3 days ago

        This looks like exactly what I’ve been looking for! (for Jellyfin at least)

        I’ve been using an old Nvidia Shield, and it just does way too much to be able to hand it over to the kids.

        • curbstickle@anarchist.nexusOPEnglish
          3·
          3 days ago

          I was hoping to make use of Plasma Bigscreen (which may be getting distributed in June with 6.7, we’ll see), but flex-launcher has been my choice for a few years now - dead simple, does exactly what it says on the box, and controller support has worked perfectly in my experience.