HoneyBunch360
Member
I had the exact same experience as you. Fortunately my previous landlord is a nice guy and delivered it to me today.
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GCW Zero - new retrogaming open source handheld!
- Thread starter Vitacat
- Start date
I had the exact same experience as you. Fortunately my previous landlord is a nice guy and delivered it to me today.
bishopcruz
Member
Anyone have any PCE/TG16 emulators they recommend? I'd prefer it if they had CD support.
Temper works pretty well. You have to copy the folder inside that zip to somewhere in your Zero's internal memory or SD card, then you can press select in the Zero's main menu to create a shortcut to Temper's .dge file which you can then run. To run CD games you put syscard3.pce in Temper's syscard folder. It has scaling and button remapping options in a menu you can access by moving the slider down (which is a bit odd). It lacks vsync though, so while the games I've tried seem to be technically running at 60 fps, it stutters enough that it feels like 30 fps to me.
bishopcruz
Member
Well, Ys V doesn't work well on either of the SNES Emus. THe screen is nonstop flickering on Pocketsnes and the music is horrible along with the game being slow as shit on Snes9x kinda a shame as I was looking forward to better SNES emulation. Still haven't tried PCe. Is there a CPS1/2 EMU, a NeoGeo one?
I prefer SNES9x4D since it has a fullscreen scaling option in its menu (select+start) and it's compatible with more games. I just gave it a test with Ys V and got it to run at a locked 60fps in the field I was at by changing the sound rate in the menu. It seems the act of changing the sound rate fixes it somehow. So every time I booted the game it would run at something like 30fps and have crackly sound until I went into the menu and changed the sound rate to something different, then changed it back to 48000, which sounds the cleanest. The framerate will still drop sometimes in the town I'm at which has a sandstorm effect and in the field I get flickers every few seconds. Gave PocketSNES a try with that game and it seems nearly perfect sound wise for that game, but wow, it flickers constantly when you are moving.
Several sound effects are still off in many games even at 48000 in either emulator too, so they're definitely not perfect. SNES9x4D saves settings per game so I have to go in and up the sound rate, turn on transparency and turn on fullscreen for each one.
FBA is quite good. It ran nearly every CPS2 and Neo Geo game I threw at it perfectly. Irem games, CPS3 and some Psikyo games don't run very well though. You can get into the menu for that one with L+R+Start, and into BIOS menus with L+R+Select. It lacks a fullscreen scaling option to correct aspect ratios. Fighting games are nearly unplayable with the Zero's dpad. It's just really hard to do any kind of down-forward, down-back or circular motions on mine, it's really stiff. At least I haven't had any issues with it sticking yet.
bishopcruz
Member
Ok, yeah, thanks. It works better now, but the full screen bleed from the transparency is distracting as all get out. Any way to get rid of that wo turning it off completely and having it look worse?
I'll give it a shot. Portable Garou would be keen.
Not that I know of.
That was one of the two Neo Geo games that I couldn't get to work. The other being Metal Slug 3. It's possible it needs older ROMs than mine, which work in the latest MAME. But it just dumps me back to ROM selection after the green boot screen instead of telling me there's a missing file, so I'm not sure. If you have the same problem you might be able to get those two to run in the stand alone Neo Geo emulator gngeo, though it's emulation supposedly isn't quite as good as FBA.
thesurfshop19
Member
Mine finally arrived yesterday. While the setup was a bit more confusing than I'm used to, I'm actually quite pleased with the end result. Perhaps it was worth the wait, or perhaps I'm just happy that it actually came?
Well European consoles still have not been sent. Could have ordered at thinkgeek.com and would have received it before my Kickstarter one ... hilarious.
He also released numbers now, and if you take the numbers then quite honestly, he's been fooling us for months ...
Post from Sep 14, 2013
Today
From a total of ~1600 backers. I wonder what he has been doing all this time.
He also released numbers now, and if you take the numbers then quite honestly, he's been fooling us for months ...
Post from Sep 14, 2013
Today
From a total of ~1600 backers. I wonder what he has been doing all this time.
zephervack
Member
Finally got my console yesterday!!!!
Is it normal that the power button doesnt put the console to sleep???
I push the switch upwards and it turns on, press it again and it does nothing, doesnt put the console to sleep, or shut down, nothing.
If I press and hold it for a bit, the screen turns off but the Green LED stays on, and from there the GCW wont turn on no matter what, I need to press the reset button.
Any ideas?
Is it normal that the power button doesnt put the console to sleep???
I push the switch upwards and it turns on, press it again and it does nothing, doesnt put the console to sleep, or shut down, nothing.
If I press and hold it for a bit, the screen turns off but the Green LED stays on, and from there the GCW wont turn on no matter what, I need to press the reset button.
Any ideas?
postcognition
Member
If you take what he's been saying at face value, the numbers discrepancy is partially due to the failure of a fulfillment agency he hired. And the whole customs issue. Tons of delays and confusion, hardware kickstarters are kind of scary.
As for sleep mode, I believe it is a feature that has not been implemented yet. The quick start guide is a good resource to see how to use the features it does have. There are some very useful shortcuts with the power button.
http://wiki.surkow.com/Quick_Start_Guide
As for sleep mode, I believe it is a feature that has not been implemented yet. The quick start guide is a good resource to see how to use the features it does have. There are some very useful shortcuts with the power button.
http://wiki.surkow.com/Quick_Start_Guide
Sleep mode isn't functional yet due to not all hardware waking up from sleep mode. This will have to be addressed first.
zephervack
Member
Thank you, I should read more documentation on this thing, cant wait to actually see some software running, the sole reason I bought this was to play Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3 without lag and perfect sound, I hope I can actually do that.
postcognition
Member
While I have not tried those specific games, I think that shouldn't be a problem. Transfer the PocketSNES .opk file to your device and turn on transparency, and it should work well.
zephervack
Member
Thanks for the tip, I will give it a try.
$135
I finally decided to try greasing the sides of my dpad with some dielectric grease I have, which is supposed to be safe for electronics. It fixed the scraping issue I was having, I can now do fighting game motions consistently and moving diagonally in RPGs, spaceship shooters or anything else works perfectly.
I don't really have any other major issues with the hardware. My Y button sometimes catches on the edge of the casing if my thumb comes down on it diagonally, but that's only an issue if I use it as one of my main action buttons. I could probably fix that with some grease too, but I usually map that button to menu stuff like many SNES games do so it's not much of an issue.
Now it'll be fun to watch as existing software improves and new stuff comes out.
I don't really have any other major issues with the hardware. My Y button sometimes catches on the edge of the casing if my thumb comes down on it diagonally, but that's only an issue if I use it as one of my main action buttons. I could probably fix that with some grease too, but I usually map that button to menu stuff like many SNES games do so it's not much of an issue.
Now it'll be fun to watch as existing software improves and new stuff comes out.
zephervack
Member
in SNES emus, is there any way to map the analog stick or button combinations to SAVE STATE, LOAD STATE or other settings like that?
Sell it on Ebay. Got $180 for mine last week. I probably could have easily got $200.
Yup. I don't think they were in stock on Think Geek when I sold it though, though I haven't checked in the past week. If they are in stock then he may not be able to get $180 for it.
zephervack
Member
postcognition
Member
I believe pressing L R and left on the dpad to save and right on the dpad to load in pocketsnes is a shortcut for temporary save states.
FBA has had some nice updates. Vsync has been added for perfect scrolling, a custom interface is now baked in and Garou and Metal Slug 3 work now. If you are upgrading from an older release, you can press select and edit FBA from the main menu to remove your default ROM directory, which will make it so you can use the emulator's interface (which you need to be able to turn on vsync).
Before I turn to eBay, I'll do $150 plus shipping for the full, brand new Kickstarter bundle. Includes bunch of cables, hard case, tshirt, etc. PM me with an offer!
Noisepurge
Member
There's been some good work on PocketSNES, bringing the core emulation up to SNES9x 1.43. A fullscreen scaler has been added, sound is much improved and more games work, like X2 and X3.
Yeah just tried it out and works very well, seems to have solved the problems with ys 5
zephervack
Member
FINALLY had some time to play with the Zero, I actually considered selling this thing since I feel like im getting my needs met with my nVidia Shield, but I decided to give it a try and damn, im actually very happy and impressed so far, so glad I didnt sell it.
I actually havent played hours with it, only game I have played is Donkey Kong Country for SNES, this is actually the one reason that made me get the Zero, something portable where I could play my favorite SNES roms, something that the PSP simply cannot do at a reasonable speed.
So I booted DKC hoping for the worse and it runs amazing so far, played half an hour, just speed running through the levels and the FPS seems to stay at above 60 all the time.
Here is a pic and gif, sorry for the quality, the lightning isnt the best here.
Im very happy with my purchase now, it almost feels like an original Game Boy Advance that plays demanding SNES games almost perfectly.
The controls are weird though, they are too "loose", there is barely any feedback but its not so bad that its detrimental to the experience, at least in platform games.
its for sure the smallest device I own that can play Donkey Kong Country without issues and its hard to say but I think the audio is better than in Android devices like the Shield.
Now here is hoping it runs Super Metroid without issues as well.
Also, big thanks to the developer of PocketSNES, its amazing!
I actually havent played hours with it, only game I have played is Donkey Kong Country for SNES, this is actually the one reason that made me get the Zero, something portable where I could play my favorite SNES roms, something that the PSP simply cannot do at a reasonable speed.
So I booted DKC hoping for the worse and it runs amazing so far, played half an hour, just speed running through the levels and the FPS seems to stay at above 60 all the time.
Here is a pic and gif, sorry for the quality, the lightning isnt the best here.
Im very happy with my purchase now, it almost feels like an original Game Boy Advance that plays demanding SNES games almost perfectly.
The controls are weird though, they are too "loose", there is barely any feedback but its not so bad that its detrimental to the experience, at least in platform games.
its for sure the smallest device I own that can play Donkey Kong Country without issues and its hard to say but I think the audio is better than in Android devices like the Shield.
Now here is hoping it runs Super Metroid without issues as well.
Also, big thanks to the developer of PocketSNES, its amazing!
zephervack
Member
Yesterday I experimented a bit more with it, Super Metroid with zero lag, also loaded some Doom Wads with Chocolate Doom GCWZero port and it runs amazing.
But the most impressive thing was seeing Quake 2 running, it looked really damn good and clean, too bad the controls are almost unplayable, cant seem to map the stick to control movement like in modern FPS, impressive demo though.
But the most impressive thing was seeing Quake 2 running, it looked really damn good and clean, too bad the controls are almost unplayable, cant seem to map the stick to control movement like in modern FPS, impressive demo though.
So does anyone have experience in fixing sticky buttons themselves? Seems like people over at dingoonity are either getting ignored or banned so I'd rather not post there or e-mail Justin.
My d-pad is a bit squeaky when pressing down, but more troublesome is the A button sticking and staying in the pressed position from time to time. I figure I could sand it down a bit, but some have advised not to open the unit.
EDIT: Ugh, I guess I'll get some silicone grease and hope that works. I don't think I want to deal with soldering if I manage to dislodge any of the wires.
My d-pad is a bit squeaky when pressing down, but more troublesome is the A button sticking and staying in the pressed position from time to time. I figure I could sand it down a bit, but some have advised not to open the unit.
EDIT: Ugh, I guess I'll get some silicone grease and hope that works. I don't think I want to deal with soldering if I manage to dislodge any of the wires.
Haven't had any problem myself, but yea, people seem to suggest that just a minimal amount of silicone grease works good.
btw, we've banned very few people from Dingoonity, and that's mostly people writing in very offensive language or flaming other members, so I don't think you have to worry
zephervack
Member
Incredible, BTW, do you know where I need to put my Quake 2 files to play the whole thing, it seems the opk I got is only a demo version.
You need to move "baseq2" (all pak files must be lowercase) inside the "/media/data/local/home/.quake2" directory.
zephervack
Member
Thank you, cant wait to try it.
wondermega
Member
all is quiet on this front for awhile. I kinda want one - is there anyone "happy" with it (who hasn't had to do some mods to get it into a satisfying state?)