Emulation coding is tricky business done by some people that are clearly 100x smarter than I am, and now the Nintendo Switch emulator yuzu devs are just showing off.
In their April 2023 progress report, they talked about a big performance improvement landing thanks to a rewrite of most of their old buffer cache code, plus work in other areas. The result is that you could see up to 87% better performance, although they said for most people it will probably be about 50%.
Just look at these differences (click to enlarge):
They said nothing special is needed to get this boost, you just need to be up to date and set GPU accuracy to "Normal".
Plenty more was mentioned like asynchronous presentation with Vulkan, which is behind a tickbox, because in some cases it might make frametimes less consistent but for a lot of people it might actually make things smoother. It needs more testing for them to be sure where to enable it.
The Linux side of yuzu got some nice improvements too like fixing up the initialization of the Vulkan swapchain on Wayland, making it work better for NVIDIA GPU owners and also a crash with Flatpak was solved too.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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legluondunet 12 May 2023
The gap between today's consoles and working emulators is narrowing. We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale. I don't think it's ethical to publicly release an emulator of a console that's still on sale, in my view, developers should at least wait for the end of life of a console. Nintendo is an innovative company and produces user-friendly games, switch emulators must be costing them a lot of money.
0 Likes
The gap between today's consoles and working emulators is narrowing. We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale. I don't think it's ethical to publicly release an emulator of a console that's still on sale, in my view, developers should at least wait for the end of life of a console. Nintendo is an innovative company and produces user-friendly games, switch emulators must be costing them a lot of money.
Emulators don't cost them anything. Anyone who pirates wasn't going to buy the game to begin with for the most part, nor were they going to buy the console.
To play legally, you both require an actual hackable switch's key and your own dumps from a hacked switch.
Also, Nintendo is one of the most anti-consumer companies to exist in the gaming industry right now.
23 Likes, Who?
The gap between today's consoles and working emulators is narrowing. We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale. I don't think it's ethical to publicly release an emulator of a console that's still on sale, in my view, developers should at least wait for the end of life of a console. Nintendo is an innovative company and produces user-friendly games, switch emulators must be costing them a lot of money.That's only if use the emulator to play pirated games, which is quite the assumption to make.
I see emulators more like when it became possible to play DVD films on PC DVD drives; the movie industry immediately saw this as piracy, but in reality, people just wanted to play their movies where they wanted.
Emulation is the same, it allows people to play their purchased games where it's most convenient for them, with the added bonus of ensuring the games don't become unplayable when the original hardware eventually dies / goes out of production.
Last edited by Cybolic on 12 May 2023 at 4:29 pm UTC
18 Likes, Who?
The gap between today's consoles and working emulators is narrowing. We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale. I don't think it's ethical to publicly release an emulator of a console that's still on sale, in my view, developers should at least wait for the end of life of a console. Nintendo is an innovative company and produces user-friendly games, switch emulators must be costing them a lot of money.I don't see how. My understanding of the business model for consoles is they lose money on the consoles but make it back on the games. If they can make money on the games without having to first sell a loss-leader console, then money-wise there is no downside.
I'm sure Nintendo are still very unhappy about it, but that's because they're Nintendo, not because it loses them money.
11 Likes, Who?
mr-victory 12 May 2023
when it became possible to play DVD films on PC DVD drivesWait, it wasn't possible initially?
0 Likes
The gap between today's consoles and working emulators is narrowing. We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale. I don't think it's ethical to publicly release an emulator of a console that's still on sale, in my view, developers should at least wait for the end of life of a console. Nintendo is an innovative company and produces user-friendly games, switch emulators must be costing them a lot of money.
Emulators don't cost them anything. Anyone who pirates wasn't going to buy the game to begin with for the most part, nor were they going to buy the console.
To play legally, you both require an actual hackable switch's key and your own dumps from a hacked switch.
Also, Nintendo is one of the most anti-consumer companies to exist in the gaming industry right now.
"Anyone who pirates wasn't going to buy the game to begin with" That depends if the pirate is an ethical pirate one that downloads the game and plays it to see if it is worth buying and if it is a good game they buy it
IMHO the AAA game industry's actions make people pirate the games not having demos to test the game or the DRM being so S**t the pirates get the better experience or the cost of the games selling a digital game at the same price as a physical copy of the game or closing down the digital shops
Last edited by MadWolf on 12 May 2023 at 5:30 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Wait, it wasn't possible initially?At first it was only possible with special player software. Only after the crappy DRM was “broken” the quality of the players increased.
9 Likes, Who?
benstor214 12 May 2023
1. Emulation does not equal piracy.
2. Actual studies show the vast majority of people who pirate would have never bought a legal copy. To say „But there are SOME that would have!“ is just stating irrelevant facts on the global scale.
3. The sole reason that there is already a well working emulator for the Nintendo Switch is that the first models could be easily hacked because of a vulnerability in the TEGRA chip.
Last edited by benstor214 on 12 May 2023 at 5:47 pm UTC
2. Actual studies show the vast majority of people who pirate would have never bought a legal copy. To say „But there are SOME that would have!“ is just stating irrelevant facts on the global scale.
3. The sole reason that there is already a well working emulator for the Nintendo Switch is that the first models could be easily hacked because of a vulnerability in the TEGRA chip.
Last edited by benstor214 on 12 May 2023 at 5:47 pm UTC
14 Likes, Who?
The gap between today's consoles and working emulators is narrowing. We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale. I don't think it's ethical to publicly release an emulator of a console that's still on sale, in my view, developers should at least wait for the end of life of a console. Nintendo is an innovative company and produces user-friendly games, switch emulators must be costing them a lot of money.
Lol, most people that make games don't sell hardware, and most hardware makers don't make games, and running software on arbitrary platforms is completely normal for everyone else but shitty console companies. Competing with them on hardware for running their games is all well and good, and should be incentivized - people should make more switch-compatible devices and compatibility tools.
The idea that being able to play software on some "non-authorized" platform is costing them money is ludicrous. Maybe they are failing to earn some money that they expected or wanted, but that wasn't already theirs, that they weren't entitled to or guaranteed to get. And if their earnings depend on manipulative, controlling tactics to make people buy hardware they don't need and that they can't control, enforcing restrictions that go beyond the laws and make technology shittier and more wasteful, then I'm be more than happy to see them earn nothing. A well-deserved "loss".
Again, this has nothing to do with piracy. Piracy exists just the same for PC games that don't need emulators. It is bad enough that they make it somewhat difficult for people with perfectly legitimate copies to transfer their games between devices, but there is no ground for going after emulators at all - the emulator violates no copyright, period.
7 Likes, Who?
We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale.Not true, it happened with the N64 (UltraHLE), the GBA (NO$GBA) and the DS (Desmume). Citra was running most 3DS games about half way through that console's sales period so you could say that one counts too. This isn't a new phenomenon.
15 Likes, Who?
psycho_driver 12 May 2023
We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale.Not true, it happened with the N64 (UltraHLE), the GBA (NO$GBA) and the DS (Desmume). Citra was running most 3DS games about half way through that console's sales period so you could say that one counts too. This isn't a new phenomenon.
If I'm not remembering incorrectly Dolphin was already working pretty damn good in 2010-2011 which was very much in the wheelhouse of Nintendo's product cycle for the Wii.
Ethical discussion about emulation aside, this performance bump is really impressive for a project that's been out there for as long as yuzu now. Kudos to the devs.
8 Likes, Who?
when it became possible to play DVD films on PC DVD drivesWait, it wasn't possible initially?
Yes but also no. For more info you can read about DeCSS. Basically Windows (and over on the Apple side, MacOS) DVD players paid for a license from the DVD Copy Association, so they could play DVDs on computers. But for obvious reasons that left out other OSes such as linux, bsd, etc. DeCSS leveled that playing field.
9 Likes, Who?
My understanding of the business model for consoles is they lose money on the consoles but make it back on the games.This is the Sony/MS business model where they compete on hardware and sell it at a loss to keep the price down. Nintendo doesn’t take part in the hardware race, so they most probably have been making a profit on Switch hardware from day 1. I’m sure people have written about this.
5 Likes, Who?
when it became possible to play DVD films on PC DVD drivesWait, it wasn't possible initially?
Yes but also no. For more info you can read about DeCSS. Basically Windows (and over on the Apple side, MacOS) DVD players paid for a license from the DVD Copy Association, so they could play DVDs on computers. But for obvious reasons that left out other OSes such as linux, bsd, etc. DeCSS leveled that playing field.
I think initially PCs may have been too slow to play DVDs in software. I had a hardware DVD video decoder for that. It must have been around 97-98?
3 Likes, Who?
If Nintendo released their games on PC, they'd sell like hotcakes. Their brand is so strong, they probably wouldn't even need to go through Steam. It's an untapped goldmine that Nintendo actively chooses to leave on the table. Why the hell would I feel bad for them when people resort to unofficial means? It's the only option they've been provided!
9 Likes, Who?
The gap between today's consoles and working emulators is narrowing. We had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale. I don't think it's ethical to publicly release an emulator of a console that's still on sale, in my view, developers should at least wait for the end of life of a console. Nintendo is an innovative company and produces user-friendly games, switch emulators must be costing them a lot of money.
You must be young because I recall playing PlayStation 1 games on my PC long before the PS2 was out. I had a decent PC so had no interest in getting one but there were a few games I played on my friends PS1 that I loved so I bought Tekken 3, Grand Turismo, and a couple more. If it was not for those early PS1 emulators I never would have bought those games and the Devs would have got zero money from me.
If you are ok with a company holding your saves of many hours hostage behind a pay wall be my guess but don't judge other people because they don't want to be mug.
4 Likes, Who?
To add to the great points already made in this thread, it's also important from a preservation standpoint to be concerned with improving the quality of emulation while the console being emulated is still in the mainstream. The current gen emulators tend to benefit from rapid development, so it's a good thing for the sake of the project to take advantage of that while the hardware is still being sold. The alternative is protecting poor Nintendo from the boogieman that is software piracy and hoping that people still care about emulating the Switch after it's EOL.
5 Likes, Who?
ElectricPrism 13 May 2023
Imagine being a WhiteKnightTM for a multi-billion dollar corporation that has a history of hostility towards gamers who love the products so much they become modders or make fan games.
Also imagine being so hastily judgemental you naively believe everyone who emulates is doing so unlawfully.
I'm sure there are people in this thread who have bought various Nintendo games half a dozen times over the last 30 years. It's not weird at all. Get over it and get off your self righteous high horse making the world a worse place for the rest of us.
If you don't have a literal leg to stand on -- don't just invent theoretical bullshit to simp for an oppressor.
Nintendo, having not released on PC, is obviously xenophobic and tone-deaf to what customers want. Don't be a battered housewife enabling bad behavior.
Also imagine being so hastily judgemental you naively believe everyone who emulates is doing so unlawfully.
I'm sure there are people in this thread who have bought various Nintendo games half a dozen times over the last 30 years. It's not weird at all. Get over it and get off your self righteous high horse making the world a worse place for the rest of us.
If you don't have a literal leg to stand on -- don't just invent theoretical bullshit to simp for an oppressor.
Nintendo, having not released on PC, is obviously xenophobic and tone-deaf to what customers want. Don't be a battered housewife enabling bad behavior.
4 Likes, Who?
If we were talking about GPLed software you'd be whining about how immoral this behavior is. It's the copyright's owner privilige to decide how anything is released. This is true for Free & proprietary software.
If you don't like Nintendo, why are you buying stuff from them & support their "anti-consumer" behavior?
If you don't like Nintendo, why are you buying stuff from them & support their "anti-consumer" behavior?
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