The Steam Deck is a fantastic system for indies, AA, AAA and everything in between but it's also great for emulation too. EmuDeck is software that can help automate the entire process of setting emulators up, and a huge new release is out now.
Featuring support for Atari, Genesis/Mega Drive , Sega CD, Sega 32X, PC Engine, NES, Super Nntendo , MAME, FinalBurn Neo, Master System, Game Boy, Neo Geo Pocket, Game Gear, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Sony PSP, Dreamcast, Playstation, Nintendo 64, Wii, GameCube, Wii U, Switch and more there's a lot to love about it!
Highlights of the 2.0 release include:
- Brand new format, now EmuDeck has a GUI to make it even easier to use.
- Quick settings, no need to reinstall to apply customizations.
- Backup your saves to the cloud.
- New Emulators: Vita3K, ScummVM and DooM.
- Performance improvements for all emulators.
- Completely revamped Controllers and Hotkeys.
Since this was my first time diving into it properly, I decided to do a quick video highlighting it:
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Quoting: Purple Library GuySo if this thing is for Emus, does it have a point-and-peck interface?
4 Likes, Who?
Reading the comments and wanted to clear things up:
EmuDeck is just an installer including a set of configuration presets. After the install is finished it is not required to launch the games.
EmuDeck installs one of 2 or both ways to launch games: Either by by creating a "external program" entry in steam per game that launches the emulator with the commandline option to directly load the game and hide the emulator ui. Or by installing EmulationStation witch is just a gui in between that effectifly does the same. After the game is launched both ways don't have anything to do anymore with the actuall running game and tge emulation.
The Emulators themself are installed in their standalone version where a stable flatpack is available or no libretro wraper exists. the other emulators are installed via the retroarch eco system (retroarch itself is installed in the flatpack, not the steam version, as the steam version is still lacking behind)
These emulators are also configured that the retroarch ui is skipped when launching the games. So when the game is running the actual stack on a program level is: emulator -> game or retroarch -> emulator -> game
Last edited by Matombo on 18 October 2022 at 9:24 pm UTC
EmuDeck is just an installer including a set of configuration presets. After the install is finished it is not required to launch the games.
EmuDeck installs one of 2 or both ways to launch games: Either by by creating a "external program" entry in steam per game that launches the emulator with the commandline option to directly load the game and hide the emulator ui. Or by installing EmulationStation witch is just a gui in between that effectifly does the same. After the game is launched both ways don't have anything to do anymore with the actuall running game and tge emulation.
The Emulators themself are installed in their standalone version where a stable flatpack is available or no libretro wraper exists. the other emulators are installed via the retroarch eco system (retroarch itself is installed in the flatpack, not the steam version, as the steam version is still lacking behind)
These emulators are also configured that the retroarch ui is skipped when launching the games. So when the game is running the actual stack on a program level is: emulator -> game or retroarch -> emulator -> game
Last edited by Matombo on 18 October 2022 at 9:24 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
retroarch uses libretro for everything, doesn't it?
libretro is a genious modular architecture for emulation, where emulator engines do only that and other modules take care of the rest
this solves a serious issue with standalone emulators each reinventing the wheel with regards to input, display, rom selection UI, self-updating, cataloguing, etc
and this allows different GUIs/integrations to be built atop the same core functionality
you can find libretro in use on Lutris, GNOME Games and some other multi-cataloguing multi-store wine-setup-facilitating apps... and since a couple years even Kodi picked it up to add a Games section in the media center app
there is also a lot of collaboration between projects using this core and interfacing with eachother
Last edited by Marlock on 19 October 2022 at 12:13 am UTC
libretro is a genious modular architecture for emulation, where emulator engines do only that and other modules take care of the rest
this solves a serious issue with standalone emulators each reinventing the wheel with regards to input, display, rom selection UI, self-updating, cataloguing, etc
and this allows different GUIs/integrations to be built atop the same core functionality
you can find libretro in use on Lutris, GNOME Games and some other multi-cataloguing multi-store wine-setup-facilitating apps... and since a couple years even Kodi picked it up to add a Games section in the media center app
there is also a lot of collaboration between projects using this core and interfacing with eachother
Last edited by Marlock on 19 October 2022 at 12:13 am UTC
2 Likes, Who?
I don't have a Steam Deck (yet - but with my love of portables it's inevitable 
), but it's great to see good emulation solutions popping up for it; Emulation has been the backbone of my gaming on PCs ever since Sony got it into the news and put the spotlight on it back in the late 1990s, so I'll definitely be looking into this once I actually have a Deck.
), but it's great to see good emulation solutions popping up for it; Emulation has been the backbone of my gaming on PCs ever since Sony got it into the news and put the spotlight on it back in the late 1990s, so I'll definitely be looking into this once I actually have a Deck.
1 Likes, Who?
BlackBloodRum Oct 19, 2022
Quoting: PenglingI don't have a Steam Deck (yet - but with my love of portables it's inevitableKeep telling you, you gotta get a steam deck
Quoting: Purple Library GuySo if this thing is for Emus, does it have a point-and-peck interface?Let's hope so!
Last edited by BlackBloodRum on 19 October 2022 at 6:04 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
I even have an idea for a custom boot-video lined up - though that's off-topic here. 
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