Console to PC Emulation

[bkd69]

What everyone else said, more or less.

The math works out to something like this:
PC powerful enough to run current gen console emulators:
$3500
Gaming PC + current gen consoles:
$1500 PC
$250 Wii
$300 360
$400 PS3
---------
$2450

 

[GloatingSwine]

If you think about it, an xbox 360 is exactly like a budget, poorly built pc

Only if you don't think about it for very long. The CPU mainboard architecture of the Xbox 360 is completely different to that of a PC. (The CPU is a PowerPC, not an x86 for a start)

Generally, to emulate any given processor, you need to be running the emulator on a processor at least three to five times as fast. Even the intel Core i7 is only as fast as the Xbox CPU, and only has one more core.

In another ten to fifteen years you might see a working Xbox 360 emulator.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Well I was just trolling there, but it could work in theory though.

I guess to open the xbox without screwing it up, you would have to carve the plastic casing LOL.

Well if you're the kind of guy up for modifying a PC case you're the kind of guy up for cutting through some meagre plastic!

 

[antipunt]

The issue with console emulation is that not only does the PC have to emulate the CPU, it has to emulate EVERYTHING exactly as the console managed it.

One example you mention is the original xBox. Unlike what you may think the xBox is increadibly hard to emulate because it uses a different (and larger) number of values in its application package launchers than windows (or something similar to that), thus windows struggles to read them (struggles = doesn't at all).

The PS2 emulators that have arrived recently suse 100% of a core 2 e6600 because the thing needs to emulate the Emotion Engine, graphics engine and so forth all on the CPU.

Even today, it is not as clear cut. The closest thing to an emulated 360 game I can think of is GTAIV, which uses 3 CPU cores when it has them to almost max capacity but leaves a forth on its own. This pretty much matches the 360. However because all the games are tuned specifically for the 360 on that console, you need a mother of a graphics card and alot of ram to run it at xbox-quality graphics (known as medium on the settings).

GTAIV is a performance hog and that was emulated using the source code of the game. Emulating a console means it has to run the source code from as many games as possible. Not easy.

What he said. =P

And yeah, emulation isn't illegal. You just need to burn an iso from your real game and also dump bios from your real ps2.

My main point is: I would dare say that emulation is DEAD post Ps2 emulator. Being a member of their forum (and a chronic user), I can testify that the pcsx2 is far from perfect even now. Running a game 'perfectly' akin to the Super nintendo emulator or playstation emulator, etc. is impossible even now for the ps2. There are always some sort of graphical glitches (varying from game to game) and even worse, massive slowdowns (sometimes sporadic throughout the game).

And think, how OLD is the ps2. And this is the furthest we've come. My point isn't to criticize the devs; its to say just how FRACKIN hard emulation is.

To emulate a ps2 'well', you need ideally around a 3.0ghz C2D, or better yet, an 8400 overclocked to 3.6-4.2 ghz, and even that won't perfect the emulator.

Imagine if we'll ever get to xbox....we'll have to do xbox and gamecube before the xbox360 and wii...

 

[Danny Ocean]

Well I was just trolling there, but it could work in theory though.

I guess to open the xbox without screwing it up, you would have to carve the plastic casing LOL.

Well if you're the kind of guy up for modifying a PC case you're the kind of guy up for cutting through some meagre plastic!

We could go ahead and request red-ringed 360's to sacrifice in the name of science (and exploratory surgery).

You know that isn't a bad idea. I could use broken ones for measurements before getting a working one in.

What's best is that I could run them at the same time if I had two monitors. 360 could be on speakers, and PC on headphones, with no slow-down to either of them.

Main issue is heat, though. I could try one of those immersion cooled projects. Convection ftw!

Well, guys, Xbox are basically PC's. All you need to do is find the command prompt and hack it.

No, not really. Read the rest of the thread.

 

[new_age_reject]

Personally I never even try to emulate beyond the PS1.
Atm, we have (almost) perfectly working emulators for pretty much every console up to PS1 and some of the greatest games were created for past generations.
Unfortunately due to the fact that the games need more and more specialised hardware to run them, I don't think we will be getting any stable xbox emulators any time soon.

 

[Nivag the Owl]

Everybody is wrong. The reason it's so hard is because as people get better at hacking, software developers make a stronger level of data encryption to protect against it. The only way people will ever have a long-term encryptian bypass is to solve the Reimann hypothesis.

 

[blueye]

I'd say the number one thing keeping it from happening is the legal issue. There was a software released back in the PS1 era that actually allowed you to play PS1 games on your PC. You inserted the PS1 disk into your computer and everything. I remember seeing it in Best Buy.

I can't remember what the software was called, but I remember there was a legal firestorm over it. Eventually the product was deemed to be legal, but the company that developed it had lost so much money in legal fees due to Sony's lawsuits that they eventually filed for bankruptcy.

Does anyone else remember what it was called? It's driving me crazy.

This what ya meant?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_117/2295-Best-Little-Emulator-Ever-Made

 

[antipunt]

Everybody is wrong. The reason it's so hard is because as people get better at hacking, software developers make a stronger level of data encryption to protect against it. The only way people will ever have a long-term encryptian bypass is to solve the Reimann hypothesis.

you're kidding.......right?...

 

[runtheplacered]

Everybody is wrong. The reason it's so hard is because as people get better at hacking, software developers make a stronger level of data encryption to protect against it. The only way people will ever have a long-term encryptian bypass is to solve the Reimann hypothesis.

you're kidding.......right?...

I have a feeling he wasn't, sadly.

 

[Ace of Spades]

I can't even get PC games to work on PC half the time.

 

[Ago Iterum]

And Wii homebrews are awesome, wish I had the money to make the Wiimote work with my computer T_T

I'd be fine with a Wiimote that worked at all.

Wiimotes work fine if you tune it properly and get rid of any extraneous infrared sources near your TV, not really a complaint

Not if you chuck it through your TV. Then they're both buggered.

I cleverly managed to step around this problem, by not chucking it through my TV.

 

[Nivag the Owl]

Everybody is wrong. The reason it's so hard is because as people get better at hacking, software developers make a stronger level of data encryption to protect against it. The only way people will ever have a long-term encryptian bypass is to solve the Reimann hypothesis.

you're kidding.......right?...

I have a feeling he wasn't, sadly.

Ok woah, woah, woah, I was kidding. Don't make me out to be an idiot > Though it has become apparent that nobody will get the referance.