Complexity of Emulating Certain Systems Over Others

[HTBandicoot]

I’m relatively new to emulating. I’m aware there are specific emulators for each console and all of that. However, I’ve found the easiest path to my enjoyment with the least amount of work is OpenEmu on my MacBook. I can literally drag and drop the folder into the app and it works like magic. It also has the cores to numerous consoles included within it.

It is interesting, however, that there is such a big jump of complexity to the PlayStation, for example. It says it has a core included, but it might need something more that I’m not getting? Because Tomb Raider has like 60 bin files or something, when other games usually have one or two files to import for other systems.
Even PSP was super simple to import and play through it.

It’s not that crucial that I find the reasoning for this. I’m just curious and exploring the reaches of what the emulator can do.

 

[Boo Man]

don't forget you will need the BIOS files to emulate PS1 games
you can find them using your favorite search engine
also you can compress all those bin files into a single BIN/CUE set with a tool like CDMage
or use a CHD tool to turn them all into a single CHD file

 

[HTBandicoot]

don't forget you will need the BIOS files to emulate PS1 games
you can find them using your favorite search engine
also you can compress all those bin files into a single BIN/CUE set with a tool like CDMage
or use a CHD tool to turn them all into a single CHD file

Thanks for the pointers! I may look into it further when I have the time.

 

[ATenderLad]

I suppose they all have their complexities, for your specific example of multiple .bin's I believe it has to do with the games being on CD's, that's just how the information is stored. Audio/visual in a .bin, with a .cue text file with timecodes, indicating where on the disc each "track" starts.

(I mean technically they would be in different formats on the disc itself, it's all over my head, but BIN/CUE has become the established archive format for CD game files. Used to be all kinds of stuff, entirely up to whoever was ripping the data and uploading it.)

 

[RageBurner]

As others have said, the initial stumbling block tends to be pre-requisites. Some emulators are pickier than others in this regard; normally disc based systems from the 4th, 5th generations and beyond.
Don't fret, though, shoot whatever questions you might have, and the good folks here will answer.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Like Boo Man says, bios files is important

Other than that, there's some games that requires a different kind of firmware like DSi. Fortunately it is available to download almost everywhere, for example here

And of course most importantly, you need a powerful hardware if you wanted to run it with higher resolution and for big hitters or titles (especially 5th gen and later)

Make sure the hardware isn't too old, you'll need to have one that supports Vulkan because it's what they work with most of the time other than OpenGL or Directx (for some emulators).

Some of these emulators can be demanding so watch out for that

 

[Leifang]

Some systems don't use single ROM files, notably arcade games are usually .zip or .7z archive with series of roms inside, and PlayStation games are on CD, which can be cue+bin, img+ccd+sub, mdf+mds, udf and so on, none of those are a format specific to SONY PlayStation, they are ordinary CD images.

Yeah, these are computer file formats, nothing to do with emulation. I.e. if you download a PC game from archive org, it might have the exact same cue/bin format, but instead of launching it in emulator, you would have to either mount the image in virtual drive or burn it to a CDR. Same with DVD. Never installed Microsoft Office from an .iso?

Also unlike roms, dumping them doesn't need any special hardware, it's as easy as inserting the CD into a disc drive and making an image in something like UltraISO. Anyone with a computer that has a CD-Rom could do that. So we ended up with some people using Nero Burning Rom, others Alcohol 120%, MagicISO, whatever, and got the chaos that comes with PC formats rarely being standartized.

Which formats to use for emulation depends entirely on what formats your emulator supports, i.e. old ePSXe had plugins that used their own compression, and Retroarch is good with .chd images, but .iso or .bin are binary images that are kind of universal...

*** *** ***

If you have a set of .bins, it's because they split the CD tracks, you usually need to use .cue file to launch those, so the game grabs the entirety of the disc (if you launch data track alone, you might be missing music or dialogue), if your image was .mdf , the list file would be .mds, if your image is .img you'd need .ccd, but other formats exist that combine them all into one file too.

Generally, if your game comes in multiple files, look at the smallest one. If you can open it with text editor, and it lists the other files, that's it! That's what you use. For multi-disc games it can get more complicated but .m3u playlists usually work (they are also text-based lists).

In fact, I remember making .ccd or .cue files myself with Notepad. They are plain text files that list all the files the disc gets split into by imaging software. It's easier to see for yourself than explain.

It all depends on game and release, really... the many files problem is mostly specific to PlayStation 1 as you could put the discs into ordinary CD player (or one included on PS1 if you boot it without a disc inserted) and listen to the music starting from track 02.

I like my PlayStation games to be in CHD, unless it's a moddable version I will need uncompressed to modify binary data (i.e. to apply translation hacks)... .chd format is just a compressed binary cue/bin image, and it takes less space but loads slightly longer. There is no quality loss and compression is reversible. There are similar formats like .rvz for Dolphin (Gamecube and Wii)...

Anyway, your can try looking up "PS1 CHD romset" or just "Tomb Raider CHD" and launch that instead, if your emulator supports it... it seems OpenEmu wants you to uncompress back to binary image anyway so ignore what I said above, and instead of tracks, just launch the .cue file.

If it doesn't work, you can open the CUEs with any text editor and see if it points to right files, after all they're just text files that list CD tracks and pregaps, really.

 

[Yousef]

From my experience it largely comes down to options and optimizations, as well as the rig and hardware you use. Ps1 is one of the most straightforward emulation scenes, but ps1 mini emulation is all over the place because it’s not made to accommodate certain TVs. HD TVs more specifically. It feels like you’re playing a real ps1 on an hd tv which can look awful. Meanwhile if you emulate ps1 on your psp, pc, steam deck or phone it can look way better due to more compressed and smoother screens.

 

[Zerpina]

"It is interesting, however, that there is such a big jump of complexity to the PlayStation, for example. It says it has a core included, but it might need something more that I’m not getting?"

Welcome to it. yeah Emulation every system, aside a few handhelds, Require different system Bios/Files ect. a Quick Google will net you the names of at-least. and yeah it's not just the Systems, you're own Hardware plays a lot into it. Sure you might be able to run PS1 fine, but ps2 maybe hit or miss, same with PS3, Dreamcast ect.

The Easiest way i found to Emulate most every system i want is Batocera <google it> their site tells you the Bios you need, with matching MD5 checksum <yes these are important for bios files>
Also tells you where to put said game files and Bios files.

That being said if you have a Spare PC/External HDD to pop it on.

 

[HTBandicoot]

Like Boo Man says, bios files is important

Other than that, there's some games that requires a different kind of firmware like DSi. Fortunately it is available to download almost everywhere, for example here

And of course most importantly, you need a powerful hardware if you wanted to run it with higher resolution and for big hitters or titles (especially 5th gen and later)

Make sure the hardware isn't too old, you'll need to have one that supports Vulkan because it's what they work with most of the time other than OpenGL or Directx (for some emulators).

Some of these emulators can be demanding so watch out for that

Thank you. I appreciate the info and the link as well!

Post automatically merged: Jan 4, 2025

Some systems don't use single ROM files, notably arcade games are usually .zip or .7z archive with series of roms inside, and PlayStation games are on CD, which can be cue+bin, img+ccd+sub, mdf+mds, udf and so on, none of those are a format specific to SONY PlayStation, they are ordinary CD images.

Yeah, these are computer file formats, nothing to do with emulation. I.e. if you download a PC game from archive org, it might have the exact same cue/bin format, but instead of launching it in emulator, you would have to either mount the image in virtual drive or burn it to a CDR. Same with DVD. Never installed Microsoft Office from an .iso?

Also unlike roms, dumping them doesn't need any special hardware, it's as easy as inserting the CD into a disc drive and making an image in something like UltraISO. Anyone with a computer that has a CD-Rom could do that. So we ended up with some people using Nero Burning Rom, others Alcohol 120%, MagicISO, whatever, and got the chaos that comes with PC formats rarely being standartized.

Which formats to use for emulation depends entirely on what formats your emulator supports, i.e. old ePSXe had plugins that used their own compression, and Retroarch is good with .chd images, but .iso or .bin are binary images that are kind of universal...

*** *** ***

If you have a set of .bins, it's because they split the CD tracks, you usually need to use .cue file to launch those, so the game grabs the entirety of the disc (if you launch data track alone, you might be missing music or dialogue), if your image was .mdf , the list file would be .mds, if your image is .img you'd need .ccd, but other formats exist that combine them all into one file too.

Generally, if your game comes in multiple files, look at the smallest one. If you can open it with text editor, and it lists the other files, that's it! That's what you use. For multi-disc games it can get more complicated but .m3u playlists usually work (they are also text-based lists).

In fact, I remember making .ccd or .cue files myself with Notepad. They are plain text files that list all the files the disc gets split into by imaging software. It's easier to see for yourself than explain.

It all depends on game and release, really... the many files problem is mostly specific to PlayStation 1 as you could put the discs into ordinary CD player (or one included on PS1 if you boot it without a disc inserted) and listen to the music starting from track 02.

I like my PlayStation games to be in CHD, unless it's a moddable version I will need uncompressed to modify binary data (i.e. to apply translation hacks)... .chd format is just a compressed binary cue/bin image, and it takes less space but loads slightly longer. There is no quality loss and compression is reversible. There are similar formats like .rvz for Dolphin (Gamecube and Wii)...

Anyway, your can try looking up "PS1 CHD romset" or just "Tomb Raider CHD" and launch that instead, if your emulator supports it... it seems OpenEmu wants you to uncompress back to binary image anyway so ignore what I said above, and instead of tracks, just launch the .cue file.

If it doesn't work, you can open the CUEs with any text editor and see if it points to right files, after all they're just text files that list CD tracks and pregaps, really.

Thanks so much for the detailed information! Some of it seems over my head and too complex, but maybe not haha

 

[Waffles]

Some systems were built specifically to destroy piracy, and we still haven't been able to properly crack their measures and protections, that's why emulation is some cases was nothing more than a pipe dream... Saturn, Jaguar, 3DO and a few other consoles didn't even see a working emulator until decades after the fact (and even then the final result is spotty at best). Hell, the only reason we are able to enjoy PS1 emulation at all was because people were reverse-engineering the hottest gaming console of its time to sell emulators for it.

 

[HTBandicoot]

Welcome to it. yeah Emulation every system, aside a few handhelds, Require different system Bios/Files ect. a Quick Google will net you the names of at-least. and yeah it's not just the Systems, you're own Hardware plays a lot into it. Sure you might be able to run PS1 fine, but ps2 maybe hit or miss, same with PS3, Dreamcast ect.

The Easiest way i found to Emulate most every system i want is Batocera <google it> their site tells you the Bios you need, with matching MD5 checksum <yes these are important for bios files>
Also tells you where to put said game files and Bios files.

That being said if you have a Spare PC/External HDD to pop it on.

Thanks for the information!