PS4 Emulation is now a reality, sorta....

[Master Disaster]

Preface: I Shouldn't need to say this but just in case, this is a very early WIP piece of software, you're not going to be playing Spiderman, God Of War or Ghosts any time soon.

Quote

As always, you should temper your expectations. While these emulators can run some games, they will NOT allow you to play God of War or Uncharted 4 on PC. I mean, even the best PS3 emulator, RPCS3, cannot run its most demanding games on PC yet.

 

I've been keeping an eye of a few PS4 emulators (Orbital & GPCS4) and until recently they were all pretty much proof of concept, they could "boot" the firmware to various levels and even run basic homebrew plus boot a few commercials to title screen.

Quote

Spine is not the only PS4 emulator that is currently under development. The first Playstation 4 emulator we reported on was Orbital. From what we know, Orbital cannot run any commercial game. However, another PS4 emulator, GPCS4, can actually launch and run some games.

 

A few days ago, Spine released a new build and has gotten very remarkable progress, not only can the emulator now boot commercial software, a few games have been marked as semi playable with some graphics or sound issues.

 

A few caveats however, Spine is Linux exclusive and is totally command line driven, it has no UI. It also REQUIRES the player to own a fully hacked PS4 console and requires the user to dump their own firmware from their device, it has no website, no forums and AFAICT, no help or manuals available. You wanna try this out then you're on your own.

 

If you can fulfil all these requirements however you can now play Sonic Mania (as well as a few other titles) on a PC.

 

Quote

In case you aren’t aware of, Spine is a Playstation 4 emulator for Linux. This emulator can launch numerous commercial PS4 games, and according to its compatibility list, it can run approximately 35% of the 1000 tested games

Source - https://www.dsogaming.com/news/latest-build-of-the-playstation-4-emulator-spine-is-available-for-download/

Source 2 -

 

Until I saw SOG cover this I had no idea this emulator even existed, I was watching both Orbital & GPCS4 but had never heard of Spine. Pretty crazy how it seemingly came from nowhere.

 

If anyone has the means to test this out I'd be interested in hearing results, I do own a PS4 and I run Linux but my PS4 Pro is on FW8.00 which is currently unhackable.

[Kadzo]

Now hold on i don`t get something. Why would you go to such lengths to have a fully hacked PS4 so you can emulate that game on PC? I get it if you don`t have a PS4 and don`t want one, but if you have one already why just don`t you play there? 

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Kadzo said:

Now hold on i don`t get something. Why would you go to such lengths to have a fully hacked PS4 so you can emulate that game on PC? I get it if you don`t have a PS4 and don`t want one, but if you have one already why just don`t you play there? 

It's for legal reasons. You can't legally upload the console firmware or games so you have to dump them from the ps4 yourself. That is why the ps4 is needed.

 

If you have a ps4 play on the ps4. Emulators have always been their own thing and these are full development builds so you are going to need to do a lot to get em going.

[Kadzo]

12 minutes ago, jaslion said:

It's for legal reasons. You can't legally upload the console firmware or games so you have to dump them from the ps4 yourself. That is why the ps4 is needed.

 

If you have a ps4 play on the ps4. Emulators have always been their own thing and these are full development builds so you are going to need to do a lot to get em going.

I get the legal reasons, technically emulators are piracy and all. So far as i can see this is a thing for people that like to tinker with stuff and software, outside of that i don`t get the point.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Kadzo said:

I get the legal reasons, technically emulators are piracy and all. So far as i can see this is a thing for people that like to tinker with stuff and software, outside of that i don`t get the point.

The point is to get a good working emulator later down the line.

 

Emulators have been proven over and over to not be piracy but original pieces of software. (the ones that don't use firmware of the consoles).

[Kisai]

55 minutes ago, jaslion said:

The point is to get a good working emulator later down the line.

 

Emulators have been proven over and over to not be piracy but original pieces of software. (the ones that don't use firmware of the consoles).

If an emulator requires a console BIOS/ROM to operate, it's only intended for Piracy. End point.

 

Bleem did not require Playstation firmware while ALL other emulators did at the time, and thus that became the legal test for it. It has, and has always been that you can not copy the firmware (which is software after all) and redistribute it.

 

A lot of early generations of emulators also require firmware/bios dumps, and even high-accuracy emulators of 16-bit consoles like the SNES require the firmware dumps of the expansion chips to actually emulate it accurately.

 

Everyone who throws out the "homebrew" argument can never name any homebrew software that they need the emulator for, let alone modifying their console to play, or the flash copier for.

 

In recent years, there have been "randomizer" mods for a few SNES games that reasonably operate under the same legal justification, you still need to dump the rom yourself and modify the rom yourself, just like with translation patches. Anyone under the age of 30 likely has no way of acquiring an original SNES and the cart (most carts on eBay are counterfeit (repro) flash carts, and not legit) so you can safely bet anyone playing a translated game on an emulator, almost certainly stole it.

 

Like Nintendo, despite it's overreach and anti-consumer heavy-handed message, has always been correct about it. People primarily use emulators for piracy, and that's just the nature of what is going to happen if you don't produce that console and it's software in perpetuity and at a price point that people can afford. Console games in 1990 were 49.99, now they're 79.99. Game consoles were $99, now they're $499

 

There's also a large culture component that exists regarding Japanese games that doesn't exist in the west, and that's PC games are usually weak and for adults in Japan. A "gamer PC" in Japan or Korea is basically a non-thing. Nobody has that much space to dedicate to gaming.

 

Which is why emulators are often thought of as way to get rid of the physical games and the physical consoles once they're no longer available. Which brings up a problem.

 

Digital games are married to the console. If you sell the console, the games are also gone.

 

Hence the problem with the Wii/WiiU/PS3/PS4/Xbox360/XboxOne emulators is that you need to get the digital games off the physical units before their firmware gets patched. You can't simply plug in your external drive from the console into the PC.

 

But what if you could? So that's what the prospect of this generation of emulators is about... hopefully.

 

Given how impossible it's been to get a PS5, it it continues for another 2 years, those game developers might have their arms twisted into releasing all their PS4/PS5 dual releases of games for the PC rather then have their lunch eaten by emulators.

[Lightwreather]

2 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

it has no website, no forums and AFAICT, no help or manuals available.

I'm out

Documentation is really important to me

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

If an emulator requires a console BIOS/ROM to operate, it's only intended for Piracy. End point.

 

Bleem did not require Playstation firmware while ALL other emulators did at the time, and thus that became the legal test for it. It has, and has always been that you can not copy the firmware (which is software after all) and redistribute it.

 

A lot of early generations of emulators also require firmware/bios dumps, and even high-accuracy emulators of 16-bit consoles like the SNES require the firmware dumps of the expansion chips to actually emulate it accurately.

 

Everyone who throws out the "homebrew" argument can never name any homebrew software that they need the emulator for, let alone modifying their console to play, or the flash copier for.

 

In recent years, there have been "randomizer" mods for a few SNES games that reasonably operate under the same legal justification, you still need to dump the rom yourself and modify the rom yourself, just like with translation patches. Anyone under the age of 30 likely has no way of acquiring an original SNES and the cart (most carts on eBay are counterfeit (repro) flash carts, and not legit) so you can safely bet anyone playing a translated game on an emulator, almost certainly stole it.

 

Like Nintendo, despite it's overreach and anti-consumer heavy-handed message, has always been correct about it. People primarily use emulators for piracy, and that's just the nature of what is going to happen if you don't produce that console and it's software in perpetuity and at a price point that people can afford. Console games in 1990 were 49.99, now they're 79.99. Game consoles were $99, now they're $499

 

There's also a large culture component that exists regarding Japanese games that doesn't exist in the west, and that's PC games are usually weak and for adults in Japan. A "gamer PC" in Japan or Korea is basically a non-thing. Nobody has that much space to dedicate to gaming.

 

Which is why emulators are often thought of as way to get rid of the physical games and the physical consoles once they're no longer available. Which brings up a problem.

 

Digital games are married to the console. If you sell the console, the games are also gone.

 

Hence the problem with the Wii/WiiU/PS3/PS4/Xbox360/XboxOne emulators is that you need to get the digital games off the physical units before their firmware gets patched. You can't simply plug in your external drive from the console into the PC.

 

But what if you could? So that's what the prospect of this generation of emulators is about... hopefully.

 

Given how impossible it's been to get a PS5, it it continues for another 2 years, those game developers might have their arms twisted into releasing all their PS4/PS5 dual releases of games for the PC rather then have their lunch eaten by emulators.

Oh yeah I am fully aware emulators are primarily used for piracy and that's ok. The people doing it weren't going to buy the games anyway so in the end no sale lost.

 

I'm all for emulation especially with games that are abandonware or got re-released but in a worse state than before.

 

The emulators themselves are still totally legal as they on their own don't violate anything only when they are loaded up with the firmware are they no longer in the gray zone.

 

As for the homebrew thing funnily enough I legit homebrewed my wii with the only intention to have it play dvds and to this day that still is all the homebrew that is on it :p.

 

I've always had the stance of no options available ok sure go pirate away you weren't going to buy any way. Yes I have a couple things out there that I KNOW were pirated but I don't consider that lost revenue because those people were never going to buy them.

 

I'm even more so for it when it is for preserving things that otherwise would be lost so I'm all for the dumping of games and whatnot. Someone always will do it and you can't stop them.

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

If an emulator requires a console BIOS/ROM to operate, it's only intended for Piracy. End point.

MAME? PCem? PCSX2? RPCS3?

 

The emulator needing a BIOS ROM to operate has no bearing on its legality what so ever. As long as the emulator code has no original code from the hardware its legal.

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

 

Bleem did not require Playstation firmware while ALL other emulators did at the time, and thus that became the legal test for it. It has, and has always been that you can not copy the firmware (which is software after all) and redistribute it.

You cannot distribute the copyrighted firmware with your original code but again, developing an Emulator that requires the original firmware is not illegal and nor is someone who owns the hardware dumping their own copy of it.

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

 

A lot of early generations of emulators also require firmware/bios dumps, and even high-accuracy emulators of 16-bit consoles like the SNES require the firmware dumps of the expansion chips to actually emulate it accurately.

Yep and yet all of those emulators still exist despite Nintendo being the most lawsuit happy company in the gaming industry.

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

 

Everyone who throws out the "homebrew" argument can never name any homebrew software that they need the emulator for, let alone modifying their console to play, or the flash copier for.

Homebrew? Nah, Emulators are important for game preservation. Without these tools literally thousands of pieces of software would have disappeared forever and as consoles get more and more online dependant this trend is going to get worse and worse.

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

 

In recent years, there have been "randomizer" mods for a few SNES games that reasonably operate under the same legal justification, you still need to dump the rom yourself and modify the rom yourself, just like with translation patches. Anyone under the age of 30 likely has no way of acquiring an original SNES and the cart (most carts on eBay are counterfeit (repro) flash carts, and not legit) so you can safely bet anyone playing a translated game on an emulator, almost certainly stole it.

Piracy is not stealing since you're not removing anything from someone else possession. Aside from that point, you're argument here is a dangerous one. Lots of motor vehicles are used to commit crimes every single day, does that mean we should stop making new ones because a small subset of users use them for something they shouldn't?

 

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating for piracy here but arguing emulation doesn't have a valid reason to exist is wrong.

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

 

Like Nintendo, despite it's overreach and anti-consumer heavy-handed message, has always been correct about it. People primarily use emulators for piracy, and that's just the nature of what is going to happen if you don't produce that console and it's software in perpetuity and at a price point that people can afford. Console games in 1990 were 49.99, now they're 79.99. Game consoles were $99, now they're $499

Got any evidence these 2 things are in any way linked? I won't hold my breath.

 

Numerous studies have all reached the same conclusion, piracy is an access problem and the vast majority of people pirate because they cannot access the product in other ways. Those that pirate because its free would never have bought the game anyway.

 

There is, as far as we can tell, no known link between piracy and lost sales. Some studies indicate the opposite might be true.

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

 

There's also a large culture component that exists regarding Japanese games that doesn't exist in the west, and that's PC games are usually weak and for adults in Japan. A "gamer PC" in Japan or Korea is basically a non-thing. Nobody has that much space to dedicate to gaming.

 

Which is why emulators are often thought of as way to get rid of the physical games and the physical consoles once they're no longer available. Which brings up a problem.

 

Digital games are married to the console. If you sell the console, the games are also gone.

 

Hence the problem with the Wii/WiiU/PS3/PS4/Xbox360/XboxOne emulators is that you need to get the digital games off the physical units before their firmware gets patched. You can't simply plug in your external drive from the console into the PC.

 

But what if you could? So that's what the prospect of this generation of emulators is about... hopefully.

 

Given how impossible it's been to get a PS5, it it continues for another 2 years, those game developers might have their arms twisted into releasing all their PS4/PS5 dual releases of games for the PC rather then have their lunch eaten by emulators.

Again, I'd love to see any evidence the existence of emulation and/or piracy is affecting sales in any way.

[Kisai]

6 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

MAME? PCem? PCSX2? RPCS3?

 

The emulator needing a BIOS ROM to operate has no bearing on its legality what so ever. As long as the emulator code has no original code from the hardware its legal.

And yet, when the emulator "requires" a firmware, you often find it distributed with the emulator on websites that also distribute pirate copies.  GO FIGURE.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

 

Yep and yet all of those emulators still exist despite Nintendo being the most lawsuit happy company in the gaming industry.

Homebrew?

I bet you can't even name a single piece of homebrew either.

 

Nintendo uses emulators on the Switch, they have not, ever, recompiled SNES games and such to work on the Switch, and the NES/SNES mini's were nothing more than crappy linux-based emulator boxes with a driver to use the controllers.

 

6 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

 

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating for piracy here but arguing emulation doesn't have a valid reason to exist is wrong.

And that's just what you read into the post. I'm not saying emulators are bad, I'm saying that they are often produced entirely to play pirated games, because they could absolutely make it so that it would only play games the user uses, but then the OSS nature of it would just have it stripped out anyway.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Got any evidence these 2 things are in any way linked?

40+ years of software piracy exists, and nothing ever changes my dude. You can look at Electronic Arts reverse engineering Sega's carts so they could produce cheaper games as the first example of why console manufacturers view everything as potentially a piracy driver. There have been copier devices for every console ever made. The internet only made it faster and easier to steal things, and emulators made it so you never had to buy the console either. 

 

6 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

 

Numerous studies have all reached the same conclusion, piracy is an access problem and the vast majority of people pirate because they cannot access the product in other ways. Those that pirate because its free would never have bought the game anyway.

 

"I can not afford the product" is synonymous with "I won't buy the product at any price", two wrongs don't make a right. The big corps may view it as lost sales, but what it really is, is lost opportunities to keep selling. By removing backwards compatibility and not selling the games in perpetuity, they are in fact leaving money on the table, and losing their legal argument of "it's piracy", you can't steal something that isn't available at ANY price.

 

Secondary sales exist, but just because you don't want to pay 660,000 for an unopened copy of SMB1, doesn't mean you needed that SMB1 copy. Most non-pirate/counterfeit/repro carts on ebay are around $100. But good luck getting a working NES.

 

6 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

There is, as far as we can tell, no known link between piracy and lost sales. Some studies indicate the opposite might be true.

Again, I'd love to see any evidence the existence of emulation and/or piracy is affecting sales in any way.

That's the thing, studies are mostly just non-conclusive because the corporations don't release numbers on individual product sales over the entire life of the product, reprints, and re-releases on later consoles/platforms. 

 

What we do know, is that "licensed" products, simply vanish, sometimes forever if they weren't very good games in the first place. It took GOG a decade to rerelease a bunch of Star Trek games that are 20 years old. If you wanted to play those games over the last two decades you had to still have a Windows 98 machine to play them until DOSBOX came along.

 

First-party games, like Nintendo's own games, tend to just disappear into the IP holders vault and the corporation never brings it back out. Does that give you the right to pirate it? NO. Are people going to do it? Absolutely.

 

Pirates fall into two categories

1) I want to play/watch/read the thing for free. Which is 99% of pirates, guaranteed. These are people who buy flash carts and "moddable" game consoles with the intent of playing pirated games on them. The PC emulator the holy grail, because they don't need to pay for anything.

 

2) I want to collect everything related to (subject), which are people who go through efforts to find every piece of material related to the subject, even if they do not yet have a way to play/watch/read it. That includes games, tv shows and comics in foreign languages. This class of pirate would be the "preservationist", the ones that would gladly pick up film and video tapes from TV studios, and used computers, hard drives and dev kits from video game companies before they get destroyed.

 

The preservationist pirate, doesn't go after the bootleg copies first, they resort to those when acquiring the intended material is impossible.

 

And people don't like being shown a mirror. So don't confuse my post for "rah rah, piracy bad, emulators are illegal", like some nonsense. I've seen PC emulators grow up, and the pattern is consistent. They're first developed to try and profit off piracy by limiting access to people who are smart enough not to share the fact the emulator and copier devices exist, because they know as soon as it becomes public the console maker will make it harder for them to keep developing it. Be that by cease-and-desists or by actually patching the consoles and devkits so that they won't work anymore.

 

 

 

[Curufinwe_wins]

@Kisai while I think that is fair enough as a general class... with arguably the most successful emulator of all time (Dolphin), I would strongly suggest the primary benefits on that particular console are for 'restoration of no-longer functioning services' and 'increased audio/visual fidelity'.

 

Aka the honest truth is that I have a wii sitting in my basement and everything (I play) that the Wii runs, Dolphin runs MUCH much better, and with significant increases to convenience in other factors (like lets be real save states), or heck online play is back!

 

But they also don't require you to dump any source code (other than provide your own games?) and incessantly avoid touching anything tied to nintendo's own code base. Even to the extent of not allowing their staff to 'look' at any of the leaks over the years to prevent the threat of IP theft.

[leadeater]

6 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

A few caveats however, Spine is Linux exclusive and is totally command line driven, it has no UI. It also REQUIRES the player to own a fully hacked PS4 console and requires the user to dump their own firmware from their device, it has no website, no forums and AFAICT, no help or manuals available. You wanna try this out then you're on your own.

Damn, now that really is jumping in to the deep end, the very deepest of deep ends.

[BondiBlue]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Damn, now that really is jumping in to the deep end, the very deepest of deep ends.

"A few caveats" - proceeds to list rather major caveats. 

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

@Kisai while I think that is fair enough as a general class... with arguably the most successful emulator of all time (Dolphin), I would strongly suggest the primary benefits on that particular console are for 'restoration of no-longer functioning services' and 'increased audio/visual fidelity'.

 

Aka the honest truth is that I have a wii sitting in my basement and everything (I play) that the Wii runs, Dolphin runs MUCH much better, and with significant increases to convenience in other factors (like lets be real save states), or heck online play is back!

I've used epsxe and PCSX2 only for games I actually own. Similar to you I prefer this way because I'm already using my computer and you can increase the graphical quality.

 

Another, very big reason, is that for all the JRPG games I play it's VERY nice to be able to speed the game up from between 2x to 10x and level grind like mad in WAY less time.

 

Also it helps preserve the original console hardware by not having to use it. My original PS1 stopping working from the laser reader burning out so it couldn't read any of the discs anymore. It actually got stolen not long after that when we were on holiday so jokes on them who stole it, it didn't work, HA!. Got a PS2 as replacement too, double HA!

[KaitouX]

4 hours ago, Kisai said:

Like Nintendo, despite it's overreach and anti-consumer heavy-handed message, has always been correct about it. People primarily use emulators for piracy, and that's just the nature of what is going to happen if you don't produce that console and it's software in perpetuity and at a price point that people can afford. Console games in 1990 were 49.99, now they're 79.99. Game consoles were $99, now they're $499

High-end GPUs used to cost $250, cars used to cost $15,000 on average, houses used to cost $100,000 on average and a gallon of gas was close to $1.

It's almost like inflation is a thing and a spike in product complexity happened in many sectors.

[JZStudios]

4 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

MAME? PCem? PCSX2? RPCS3?

PCSX2 you can actually drop the game disc in your disc drive and play it directly, pretty cool. Wish the other DVD based console emulators let you do that, like Dolphin.

3 hours ago, Kisai said:

And yet, when the emulator "requires" a firmware, you often find it distributed with the emulator on websites that also distribute pirate copies.  GO FIGURE.

Completely false. The emulator sites 100% do not have the BIOS and tell you to get your own. You can pirate them, and in certain cases you can do it to get around region locks on certain games, but none of the emu sites are hosting them.

 

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for OG Xbox emulation. Just want to play older games in progressive rather than interlaced like the PS2.

[WhitetailAni]

22 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

Wish the other DVD based console emulators let you do that, like Dolphin.

I think part of the problem is that GameCube/Wii discs don't read like normal DVDs and IIRC only one or two select LG optical drives can read them.

Perhaps it's possible if optical drives can be told to read and transmit the data bit for bit (not sure if this is how it's done already), but I doubt the Dolphin team cares too much as I believe it's possible to rip Wii games from your PC.

 

I don't use Dolphin for Wii games much though as I have an Wii for that - I use it to test my NSMBW hack. Works great for it.

[Curufinwe_wins]

20 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

I think part of the problem is that GameCube/Wii discs don't read like normal DVDs and IIRC only one or two select LG optical drives can read them.

Perhaps it's possible if optical drives can be told to read and transmit the data bit for bit (not sure if this is how it's done already), but I doubt the Dolphin team cares too much as I believe it's possible to rip Wii games from your PC.

 

I don't use Dolphin for Wii games much though as I have an Wii for that - I use it to test my NSMBW hack. Works great for it.

Yeah, I had to hack my WII in order to use the wii to copy roms onto an SD card. was a huge pain, but once done, I mean man most WII games look so good at 4x+ internal resolution....

 

 

[Master Disaster]

4 hours ago, leadeater said:

Damn, now that really is jumping in to the deep end, the very deepest of deep ends.

I'd say its more like jumping in to the shallow end of a swimming pool without looking at the depth markings first. I believe its actually not that hard to use, I mean SOG got it running by just dragging the binary into term, dragging the iso into term and hitting enter but setting it up, yeah, thats a minefield

 

I'm sure there'll be YT vids on it eventually but the dev is working on it in private, only select people get builds and only certain builds are ever released to the public. That's why the documentation is lacking, its not intended for public use anyway.

 

[CyanideInsanity]

5 hours ago, Kisai said:

And yet, when the emulator "requires" a firmware, you often find it distributed with the emulator on websites that also distribute pirate copies.  GO FIGURE.

 

Yeah, its almost as if clicking "download now" is easier than modding your console, or buying a device to dump a cartridge, or setting up an xbox360 and installing a game to an external usb drive and then decrypting it on your pc, or putting your ps3 disc in your pc bluray drive to make an iso and then decrypt it.

 

Of course it happens, and I'd bet to a with a higher percentage than with native pc gaming, but to say emulators are intended for piracy is ridiculous.

 

BTW Sony actually has the ps3 firmware available on their website. So I guess rpcs3 is "intended for piracy. end point."

[AlexGoesHigh]

3 hours ago, JZStudios said:

PCSX2 you can actually drop the game disc in your disc drive and play it directly, pretty cool. Wish the other DVD based console emulators let you do that, like Dolphin.

Completely false. The emulator sites 100% do not have the BIOS and tell you to get your own. You can pirate them, and in certain cases you can do it to get around region locks on certain games, but none of the emu sites are hosting them.

 

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for OG Xbox emulation. Just want to play older games in progressive rather than interlaced like the PS2.

Dolphin can run games from the optical drive, they just have to be backup DVD of the original game, or like mentioned above, have one of the very few DVD drives that can read Wii/GC games because they use the same hardware as consoles drives.

[Kisai]

11 hours ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

@Kisai while I think that is fair enough as a general class... with arguably the most successful emulator of all time (Dolphin), I would strongly suggest the primary benefits on that particular console are for 'restoration of no-longer functioning services' and 'increased audio/visual fidelity'.

 

Aka the honest truth is that I have a wii sitting in my basement and everything (I play) that the Wii runs, Dolphin runs MUCH much better, and with significant increases to convenience in other factors (like lets be real save states), or heck online play is back!

 

But they also don't require you to dump any source code (other than provide your own games?) and incessantly avoid touching anything tied to nintendo's own code base. Even to the extent of not allowing their staff to 'look' at any of the leaks over the years to prevent the threat of IP theft.

Dolphin is honestly one of the most polished emulators out there, being able to play the actual games from the optical drive, given if you have an optical drive. The amount of effort in that emulator to avoid stepping on Nintendo's toes is rather incredible.

 

I have used Dolphin to play the GC/Wii games, even though both my Gamecube and Wii both still work, and still have a CRT. I can't bear to have the CRT plugged in because of the noise from the power circuitry, so everything remains unplugged unless someone else is over and wants to play.

 

"Better visuals" are not an excuse for emulation, in many cases I've seen emulators claim this and the opposite has been true because the person playing the game had no idea what it was supposed to look like. I cringe every time I see games being streamed in the wrong aspect ratio and at the wrong brightness level. This is one of the biggest reasons why Nintendo knows someone is playing a pirated game on youtube and delivers a DMCA smackdown, because the game looks incorrect, exhibits visual artifacts that the real hardware has never had, skips the console GUI, and such. That said, I said it in the previous post about now much Nintendo is heavy handed and anti-consumer, and people streaming pirated/hacked games using emulators do so at great risk.

 

The Playstation emulators have never been as polished as Dolphin.

 

[Kisai]

6 hours ago, CyanideInsanity said:

 

BTW Sony actually has the ps3 firmware available on their website. So I guess rpcs3 is "intended for piracy. end point."

You're not legally permitted to use the PS3 firmware on something that is not a PS3.

https://doc.dl.playstation.net/doc/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_en.html

Quote

2. RESTRICTIONS

You may not lease, rent, sublicense, publish, modify, adapt, or translate any portion of the System Software. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the System Software, or create any derivative works, or otherwise attempt to create System Software source code from its object code. You may not (i) use any unauthorized, illegal, counterfeit, or modified hardware or software in connection with the System Software, including use of tools to bypass, disable, or circumvent any encryption, security, or authentication mechanism for the PS3™ system; (ii) violate any laws, regulations or statutes, or rights of SCE, its affiliated companies, or third parties in connection with your access to or use of the System Software, including the access, use, or distribution of any software or hardware that you know or should have known to be infringing or pirated; (iii) use any hardware or software to cause the System Software to accept or use unauthorized, illegal, or pirated software or hardware; (iv) obtain the System Software in any manner other than through SCE's authorized distribution methods; or (v) exploit the System Software in any manner other than to use it in your PS3™ system in accordance with the accompanying documentation and with authorized software or hardware, including use of the System Software to design, develop, update, or distribute unauthorized software or hardware for use in connection with the PS3™ system for any reason. Without limiting the scope of SCE's remedies, any violation of these restrictions will void the PS3™ system's warranty and affect your ability to obtain warranty services and repair services from SCE or its affiliated companies.

 

[CyanideInsanity]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

You're not legally permitted to use the PS3 firmware on something that is not a PS3.

https://doc.dl.playstation.net/doc/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_en.html

 

Curious, which side of the fence are you on, that this is "technically" breaking rules, or that under no circumstances should anyone be doing this?

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

The Playstation emulators have never been as polished as Dolphin.

Then you've never really used them lol