For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on the side art in Perler fuse beads. I got my Niece Amanda and my wife to help me. It's still a work in progress, but I like it so far.
I've been asked by a couple of people how my set up works. It's not easy, but it plays out like a jigsaw puzzle. Getting so many game emulators to work under one environment and to get them to act seamlessly is quite a trick.
To begin with, you need a central control program. This is where Hyperspin comes into play. It's freeware and can be found here: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/ . It's highly recommended that you create a free account there as it gives you access to the forums where you can locate tips and tricks as well as ask for help.
You will need the following:
Hyperspin
Hyperpin (if you want to include virtual pinball machines).
Hypertheme (to edit and create new themes for each game console / game.
Hyperlaunch (This creates a universal control for each emulator that you use. You can also use pre-written scripts for each emulator that is supported. make sure you get at least version 2.0 as this simplifies how each emulator is handled).
* I highly recommend reading the wiki, especially about Hyperlaunch as this will save you a lot of heartache. They also have video tutorials on how to get started.
Now, here are the individual emulators that I'm using so far. Always make sure you use the latest version you can get.
Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (arcade games):
MAME: http://mamedev.org/
Note: This is the reason that Hyperspin initally exists. This emulator works extremely easy with the hyperspin front-end. Each game can be configured to your controller as well as doing so globally across all the game roms you have.
Atari 2600:
Stella http://stella.sourceforge.net/
Note: One of the easiest to set up. Very straightforward.
Super Nintendo:
Z-Snes http://www.zsnes.com/
Note: Also very easy to work with, but the configuration for emulation setting hotkeys are very particular. If you use an Arcade-X Solo, you will have to disable all of the hotkeys that you don't need, as it uses keyboard presses rather than Joystick functions.
Sega Genesis:
Fusion http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/genesis/fusion.html
Note: This one was a dog to work with in terms of exiting the emulator. A lot of people had trouble with it. Otherwise, it's a top-notch emulator.
Laserdisc games (Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, etc.)
Daphne http://www.daphne-emu.com/site3/index_hi.php
Note: This is a very good emulator. However, the agreement they have with Digital Leisure is that you must own the DVDs of the Don Bluth games. I also had trouble getting it to recognize Dragon's Lair II. Very configurable keyboard-wise, but for some reason I had to edit the .cfg file by hand as the program wasn't writing to it properly.
This one isn't a game console, but I wanted to use my arcade cabinet as a jukebox.
DWJukebox http://dwjukebox.com/
Note: Very easy to work with, though I have had a few crashes out of nowhere. Other than that, it works just fine.
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Now, these are the emulators I'm using with which I'm still having trouble:
Nintendo Entertainment System:
Nestopia http://nestopia.sourceforge.net/
Note: Works really well. The only trouble I'm having with it is that when you select a game from the main wheel, you have to make another key press in order for the game to actually start. Haven't figured this out yet. Ditto with Fceux http://fceux.com/web/home.html .
Nintendo 64:
Project64 http://www.pj64-emu.com/
Note: Works just fine, however I'm still having trouble getting it to exit.
Vectrex:
ParaJVE http://vectrex-emu.blogspot.com/
Note: As the manufacturer release all of the games into the public domain, this emulator actually contains all of the game carts in the emulator itself, so you don't need to download the game rom files individually. This one works really well, but I'm still trying to figure out how to launch the game without using the onboard navigation.
Pinball machines:
Virtual Pinball: http://www.vpforums.org/
PinMAME: http://www.pinmame.com/
Note: You need both of these programs to play pinball and getting them to cooperate with hyperspin is still beyond me. There is also Future Pinball http://www.futurepinball.com/ which works better, however will only work properly on your system if your monitor is turned to portrait mode. Meant for full-on pinball cabinets.
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Now, some of the issues I'm still having so far:
Response delay: When you hit the selection button for some games in a particular console (Sega Genesis for example), there's a time delay and if you have an impatient player or if you're not sure it detected the button press, the selection button may be hit a few more times, ending up with multiple instances of the emulator running at the same time which tends to completely mess up the game play. What I need to enable is a key press trap (meaning allowing one key press of the selection buton and allowing no more), along with a "Please wait" screen to at least let you know that the press was detected. This is especially true for the laserdisc games which have a long start up time (about 30 seconds) before the game is playable.
Universal volume control: I'd like to have a background program running that controls the volume for everything, from Hyperspin to the jukebox program to the games themselves.
Windows XP needs to be more transparent: It's not really a problem per se, but I'd like the arcade cabinet to be more seamless.
Autorecovery: If there's a crash in a program, I'd like a background program to detect this and basically click on OK for those annoying crash windows. That way I don't have to plug in a keyboard to fix something.
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My hardware is as follows:
Shuttle SK43G minitower with an Intel processor running about 1.2 Ghz.
512 Mb RAM
30 Gb hard drive (divided into three logical drives. C for Windows, D for Laserdisc games and E for everything else).
Geforce 8400 PCI video card.
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