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MAC Emulators

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by man traic, Apr 11, 2009.

  1. I tend to use a PC Desktop most of the time but when im on the move/ feeling lazy I use my Mac laptop (OSX) which is loaded with CD WAV rips/ DJ software/ Audio editing software

    I like to play old games but really find OSX Emus very poor.

    GEnesis + = nice emu but it wont map to joypads unless you use emulator enhancer (EVERY Mac emu seems to need this third party app- whats up with that?) Other problems with this is limited support for savestates (Savestates created on other emus that are fine sharing between other emus don't work here: It uses its own proprietary format. Emulation is way off in some cases (Jungle Strike, the intros play oddly, and the beta version doesnt play at all, SOR1/2/3 The sounds are not quite right, Smash TV is fucked, etc etc), No way to change territory (If youve got a US specific rom like RVT: Beta youre FUCKED - Emulation is stuck on Japanese), no support for GG/ PAR codes.

    GENerator = Same as above - is it the same emulator under a different name?

    DGen = Doesnt run on newer macs

    SMS Plus = Emulator Enhancer has a frustrating habit of nagging for funds every time you turn it on and demanding you can the emulator for the new version if it goes past a certain date, and heres the rub: The latest version of EE demands a later version of SMS+ Then actually exists - so the emulator wont run - at all

    Theres a couple of others for older macs also
    Does anyone know of any good Mac emus im missing? or know a workaround for this EE/ SMS+ situation (And btw rollback on EE isnt viable I don't think, as itll conflict with Genesis +)

    Thx
     
  2. Alan

    Alan

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    I use Genesis Plus and Kega Fusion.

    Never had any real problems with Genesis Plus, however I do remember the odd game that gives it sound problems. Oh and it lacks sram support. Kega Fusion seems to be too cpu heavy normally sets the fan off on my macbook.

    But sadly like you pointed out, emulators for us seem to all lack something. :(
     
  3. Sik

    Sik

    Sik is pronounced as "seek", not as "sick". Tech Member
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    OK, I was looking info on that "Emulator Enhancer" thing. How the hell did that thing even got popular? o_O And who the hell convinced emulator developers to actually make use of that thing? I mean, why can't they just actually implement the things in the emulator themselves? The best of all: EE isn't free, you have to pay for it >_>'

    Something smells bad here...
     
  4. Lostgame

    Lostgame

    producer/turnablist. homebrew dev. cosplayer. Oldbie
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    Emulator Enhancer is completely free - if you don't pay for it, it displays a little message when you start the emulator saying 'I put time and money into making these emulators, please pay for emulator enhancer so I can keep doing it' kinda thing, which can easily be hacked away.

    Since we're all pirating ROMs anyways, what's the matter with hacking away the dialog? Most of (if not all) the emus for Mac I use work fine. And as far as like N64, etc, they work fine in WINE, so it's no big deal. Of course there's no emulators for Mac - windows has had years of intel processors behind them, up until a few years ago, (when Macs pretty much had no popularity anyways) it would've taken a complete emulator rewrite to make them Mac compatible because of the PowerPC processors. And since as soon as they went intel, there was technology for virtualization and boot camp and shit, the developers don't see a point.
     
  5. Sik

    Sik

    Sik is pronounced as "seek", not as "sick". Tech Member
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    Still doesn't explain why can't emulators just provide that support built-in. I mean, the support Emulator Enhancer provides is pretty much common stuff for emulators in other platforms...
     
  6. Sappharad

    Sappharad

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    The only one that uses Emulator Enhancer is Richard Bannister, the guy who wrote it.
    He ported like 40 emulators to Mac OS X, which gives the illusion that lots of them support it while actually it's just his. It's his way of trying to profit off his work, since he can't legally charge for other people's emulator.

    Anyway, Kega Fusion is the only SMS/GG/MD/SegaCD/32x emulator that I use on Mac OS X now, why use anything else?
     
  7. Hey everyone

    Kega Fusion works fine - Used to be my favourite on the PC

    Never knew it was ported to Mac - google searches for 'Mac Emulator Genesis' etc never threw it up for some reason

    thanks once again
     
  8. Phos

    Phos

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    The Mac port is pretty recent, at least in emulator time.
     
  9. Lostgame

    Lostgame

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    I can't find Kega Fusion anywhere...I want a 32x emulator for mac...pretty please?
     
  10. Shibunoa

    Shibunoa

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    Haha... Emulator Enhancer, I had a bad experience with it when I used OSx86.

    The interesting fact is that while most emulators Bannister ported are actually open source, he was allowed by some emulator authors to close their own work up.
    This is just a stupid make-money scheme, both for Bannister (those things are made to look like they're free) and for the emulator authors who permit that, whom I think get a percentage off sales of Emulator Enhancer. Otherwise, it just doesn't cut it for me. Why would you allow someone to profit off your work and even more, closing it up?

    Also, Emulator Enhancer had a spyware-like protection some time ago. Your best bet is to find different emulators to the ones Bannister "ported", which is hard, as he pretty much polluted the whole OS X emulator landscape.

    At least, the version of PCSX I was using was completely unencumbered by stupidities such as EE.
    Also, there are other versions of the same emulators he ported, which are completely open source ports.

    So, what's the moral at the end? Many people do lack decency, and this obviously includes some emulator authors who are people as much as us.
    I mean, why should one pay for the OS X port with very basic features (fullscreen and joystick, I think that maybe even Gameboy 68000 supported them), when otherwise all other ports are fully free? It probably has to do with the scheme I was talking about above.
    It has also worked because you are supposed to pay everything on the OS X platform, even for the only decent native N64 emulator (SixtyForce64).
    That is different because the guy at least doesn't pretend he's giving you free stuff, although I don't see any market for a N64 emulator.
    At least it isn't another iteration of Bannister's crap.

    So I think people will have to learn how to use the source, and do their own ports, against people who want to profit on users of a given
    operating system only because they think they can get along with it.
     
  11. Nibble

    Nibble

    Oldbie
    Looks like the official site is down for some reason.

    Download mirror here:
    http://www.vg-network.com/kega-fusion-macos/

    Intel Macs only.
     
  12. Ollie

    Ollie

    DIGGY DIGGY HOLE Member
    This is why you should never get a Mac. =P

    Anyway, I would have said that go with Generator but I'm guessing Kega kicked it off the top spot. =P
     
  13. AamirM

    AamirM

    Tech Member
    No they don't. >_>
     
  14. Lostgame

    Lostgame

    producer/turnablist. homebrew dev. cosplayer. Oldbie
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    Okay...or could it just be that he has actually spent a decent amount of time porting a shitload of emus to Mac OS when nobody else cared? Seriously, that guy has about 30 emulators he's ported to the platform. He's made no effort to lock down the emulators, the small nag screen that shows up can easily be disabled through the simplest of hacking.

    Emulator Enhancer has no time limit, has *never* included spyware of any sort, or anything close, (I don't know what the fuck you're thinking) and has no limitations.

    Is a small nag screen that can be easily hacked away really that bad? Fucking chill the hell out, seriously.