[NES Emulator] vNESLight

[voluptuary]

Icon if you want

 

[Leapo]

Not really sure what an arcade cabinet has to do with a NES emulator

 

[voluptuary]

Not really sure what an arcade cabinet has to do with a NES emulator

Generic game related = no IP worries.

 

[Leapo]

Generic game related = no IP worries.

The patents on the actual NES hardware have long-since expired. There are a number of perfectly legal NES clones being produced today (clones of the gamepads, clones of the actual console, etc).

Many of these legitimate clones even rip off the look of the original hardware, like so:

There shouldn't be any IP issues using imagery depicting the NES hardware.

 

[Nudua]

The patents on the actual NES hardware have long-since expired. There are a number of perfectly legal NES clones being produced today (clones of the gamepads, clones of the actual console, etc).

Many of these legitimate clones even rip off the look of the original hardware, like so:

There shouldn't be any IP issues using imagery depicting the NES hardware.

Well I'm pretty sure Nintendo can find a way to extend the copyright/trademark, it says on their website that games etc are under copyright for 75 years. I just don't want to go through the same bullshit that Sonic's Jewels has to due to a silly little thing like that.

Another funny thing;

Why do you people always have to steal others names for your apps?????

http://vampent.com/

Please stop using vNes name.

I wasn't even aware there was another emulator named vNes, besides the one I ported originally from.

Apparently he immediately disabled his account after leaving that msg, so here's my reply.

My emulator is called vNESLight and is in no way shape or form affiliated with Vampent's vNes and unless u have copyright over the name vNESLight I will not change it. Really mature nick name as well ;<

 

[Leapo]

Yes, the games are protected for 75 years under copyright law, but the patents on the hardware expired in two batches (one in 2003, the other in 2005).

Nintendo can't do anything about NES clones now, even if they wanted to. They can only sue based on still-current intellectual property like videogame characters (so removing Mario from the vNESLight logo is probably a good idea).

 

[Nudua]

Yes, the games are protected for 75 years under copyright law, but the patents on the hardware expired in two batches (one in 2003, the other in 2005).

Nintendo can't do anything about NES clones now, even if they wanted to. They can only sue based on still-current intellectual property like videogame characters (so removing Mario from the vNESLight logo is probably a good idea).

Ah I see.


Might as well do a status update.
*Sound is better after moving back to the UI thread. (no more tiny choppiness)
*Optimized the performance by about 20%, still not completely happy with the performance /w sound on 1st gen, still thinking about things to do.
*Pinnable tiles /w thumbnail of game and accent color. (it does check if u've unpinned as well)
*Simplified the frame skipping
*Completed the Jumplist for all the games, works very similarly to the native app list with groups and sticky headers.
*Added a progress window when adding games, shows complete status for download/extracting and adding. I'll also add a retry button if it fails to download file(s). Works with SkyDrive and via url.
*Context menu pops up faster.

Things to do:
*Create the details page for the games, so u can manage the individual games. Tapping a game will still directly start the game, might do a option to go to the details page first
*Still some save state issues with certain games.
*Not quite sure what to do with the first section of the app, I just have a set of recently played tiles atm. (taking suggestions) The app is now using the panorama control instead of pivot for the main page.
*Lots of GUI polish and minor things.
*Thinking of adding a pseudo interlaced video mode option, just afraid it might look terrible and give people seizures. Would help with 1st gen perf. tho.

 

[NebZoNe]

sorry but i wonder if i missed something because i copied some ziped .nes files into IsoStor\roms and no games are loaded when i start the app...

I use v0.6 sideloaded, games copied with power tool, full unlocked rom...

 

[Nudua]

sorry but i wonder if i missed something because i copied some ziped .nes files into IsoStor\roms and no games are loaded when i start the app...

I use v0.6 sideloaded, games copied with power tool, full unlocked rom...

You can only copy .nes files into the roms folder. zip/rar is only supported via web or nesgames.zip inside the xap.

 

[NebZoNe]

Hi,
i tried to copy .nes files into \roms but nothing happened (it's the first thing i tested if i remember)
in fact the only (offline) way i am able to have it loading roms is to replace your .zip by mine in \install...isn't it weird?


Edit : hahahaha I'm so happy to play excite bike again!!! 25 years since last play... suddenly feel kind of old... :] Works really good THX

 

[Nudua]

Hi,
i tried to copy .nes files into \roms but nothing happened (it's the first thing i tested if i remember)
in fact the only (offline) way i am able to have it loading roms is to replace your .zip by mine in \install...isn't it weird?


Edit : hahahaha I'm so happy to play excite bike again!!! 25 years since last play... suddenly feel kind of old... :] Works really good THX

Well it only checks for new games when u start the app up and it says in the first post that u can replace the nesgames.zip to add your own games. (It was the first way people could add games). But anyway glad it works, will be easier in the next version with SkyDrive integration.

 

[Nudua]

Received another interesting mail from the policy team.

Unfortunately we were not able to provide additional detail as the discussion related to Emulators was pending our Legal department.

Emulators will be allowed. This could possible change at some point, however I received no indication that this is the case.

Windows Phone Policy Team

\o/

I hope it stays so for W8/WP8 since it would be huge considering the native access.

Solved my issues with save states, I've also properly implemented multiple saves states and it's fast to switch between them.

Beta testing will begin in the middle of next week (22th), anyone interested in joining the beta can start mailing me at [email protected] with the title "vNESLight 1.0 Beta Testing", just make sure to include the live id mail address if you're sending from another mail. Don't be alarmed if I don't reply to your mail, I'll add everyone to a list. It will happen via the marketplace beta submission, so there is no need for a unlocked phone.

 

[Nudua]

Sorry guys, but I'm postponing the testing until next week. Have a few more things that need to be done before the test, so that's whats holding it back for now.

I've added everyone that has mailed me to a list and I'll sent out a mail to everyone with a marketplace link once the testing begins. (some time next week)

You can still mail me to join the beta and sorry for the delay again.

 

[iHack13]

Thank you Nudua for the effort. Just brilliant. What a genius

Will there be other emulators? Like... PS3 ? Just kiddin.

Of course I am speaking of GameBoy emus.
There were some on old WinMobile and the VisualAdvanced for PC is also open source afaik.

I'd like to see more from you

@Windows Policy Team (in case you read this post)
I (and lots of other ppl in here) have fun downloading awesome apps from the Marketplace the legit way, whether they are free or paid .. doesnt matter.
However if you decide to stop the peace by banning apps like vNESLight and force us to Unlock the guts of our devices, we will of course consider to "jacksparow" a lot of apps
So I hope you dont make a move that you will regret.

 

[Nudua]

Thank you Nudua for the effort. Just brilliant. What a genius

Will there be other emulators? Like... PS3 ? Just kiddin.

Of course I am speaking of GameBoy emus.
There were some on old WinMobile and the VisualAdvanced for PC is also open source afaik.

I'd like to see more from you

@Windows Policy Team (in case you read this post)
I (and lots of other ppl in here) have fun downloading awesome apps from the Marketplace the legit way, whether they are free or paid .. doesnt matter.
However if you decide to stop the peace by banning apps like vNESLight and force us to Unlock the guts of our devices, we will of course consider to "jacksparow" a lot of apps
So I hope you dont make a move that you will regret.

Samuel said he would update Wario's Jewels (The GB emulator) and bring it to the marketplace, but I know he's busy with re-branding his Sega Masters System/Game Gear emulator Sonic's Jewels, now known as BlueTomato. So I'm sure it will happen after that.

PS3 lol, I wouldn't be surprised if the GC/Wii emulator Dolphin turns up on WP8 though. Right now with managed code, there's just too many bottlenecks and limited hardware access. So I don't think it's feasible to do anything above the 8bit generation. It's rumored that the Tango SDK will bring native access, so that would make it easier to port existing emulators. Maybe I'll go for GBA if it does.

 

[iHack13]

Nice! Can't wait for Wario's Jewels

So 8 bit means no PSX emulation (32bit) hmm... I guess no Final Fantasy then.
Does Adreno 200 even manage PSX at all? Like on Android devices with same GPU... I wonder.

edit: huh? pdadb tells me that my Optimus 7 has a Adreno 205 ???!

 

[Nudua]

Nice! Can't wait for Wario's Jewels

So 8 bit means no PSX emulation (32bit) hmm... I guess no Final Fantasy then.
Does Adreno 200 even manage PSX at all? Like on Android devices with same GPU... I wonder.

edit: huh? pdadb tells me that my Optimus 7 has a Adreno 205 ???!

All first gen devices including your Optimus 7 has a Andreno 200, only 2nd gen devices has the 205. The actual rendering runs fairly fast on either devices, it's the managed bottle necks that are making it hard to make anything above the 8bit generation run fast enough.

For instance, to give people an idea of how bad it is to not have the ability to eliminate array bound checks on WP7.

This is vNESLight running on a 2nd gen at 1 frame skip w/ sound. (85% cpu usage)

And this is without any form of rendering. (35% avg)

I'm still getting sorta boned by automatic range checks in the non-rendering code, but it's less severe since it doesn't have to iterate through a 256*240 sized array and more.

PSX,N64,PS2 emulators use dynamic recompilation to more or less modify itself in order to run fast enough. Many parts are also written in Assembly (especially for Android emulators I would imagine), neither are available on WP7.

Obviously if WP8 development is anything like the W8 preview, none of these limitations should be there, since W8 allows for native development and even "unsafe" code in C#. (which can eliminate array bound checks).

 

[iHack13]

Yeah the optimus 7 should have Adreno 200.
However even Qualcomms site has wrong information
https://developer.qualcomm.com/device/lg-optimus-7

They should fix it.

 

[krazyphire]

Samuel said he would update Wario's Jewels (The GB emulator) and bring it to the marketplace, but I know he's busy with re-branding his Sega Masters System/Game Gear emulator Sonic's Jewels, now known as BlueTomato. So I'm sure it will happen after that.

PS3 lol, I wouldn't be surprised if the GC/Wii emulator Dolphin turns up on WP8 though. Right now with managed code, there's just too many bottlenecks and limited hardware access. So I don't think it's feasible to do anything above the 8bit generation. It's rumored that the Tango SDK will bring native access, so that would make it easier to port existing emulators. Maybe I'll go for GBA if it does.

A GBA emulator would be amazing!

 

[Nudua]

Just finishing up the last things before the beta starts, will send out a marketplace link to those who mailed me in a few days most likely.