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?

  • 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.