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Hi all! This month starts a series of articles on bsnes, a cross-platform Super Nintendo emulator that aims for maximum accuracy with no hacks or cheats, focusing on clean code. According to the project homepage (http://byuu.org/bsnes), this comes with an additional computational strain. They say that Bsnes requires at least a Core 2 Duo or an AMD Phenom processor to run smoothly. In this issue, bsnes installation (v. 0.84), ROM downloading and cleaning, and basic features of bsnes are discussed on Ubuntu Oneiric 11.10 32-bit. A certain familiarity with emulation is assumed, but you also can pick up this knowledge along the way. The goal of these articles is to get the games running well with minimal non-necessary technical overhead. Bsnes installation: a workaround with .deb files As I was searching the web for bsnes installation tutorials, I came up short with a single good one. Instead of compiling the source code and delving into techie stuff, I present a workaround with .deb files that is both easy to implement and works like a charm. bsnes version 0.84 is used since it will be included in Precise 12.04 LTS.
Salut à tous! Ce mois-ci commence une série d'articles sur bsnes, un émulateur multi-plateforme Super Nintendo qui veut avoir une précision maximale sans piratage et sans tricherie, en se concentrant sur un code propre. Selon le site internet du projet (http://byuu.org/bsnes), cela implique une contrainte de calcul supplémentaire. Ils disent que Bsnes nécessite au moins un processeur Core 2 Duo ou un processeur AMD Phenom pour fonctionner avec fluidité.
Dans ce numéro, l'installation de Bsnes (v 0.84), le téléchargement et le nettoyage de ROM, et les caractéristiques de base de Bsnes sont décrits pour Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric 32 bits. Une certaine familiarité avec l'émulation est supposée, mais vous pouvez aussi ramasser ces connaissances le long du parcours. Le but de ces articles est de se faire bien fonctionner les jeux avec un minimum de surplus technique, qui n'est pas nécessaire.
L'installation de Bsnes: une solution de contournement avec des fichiers .deb
Comme je cherchais sur le Web des didacticiels d'installation de bsnes, je me suis retrouvé avec un seul qui est bon. Au lieu de compiler le code source et fouiller dans des considérations technophiles, je présente une solution de contournement avec des fichiers .deb qui est à la fois facile à mettre en œuvre et fonctionne comme un charme. La version 0.84 de bsnes est utilisée, car il sera inclus dans la 12.04 LTS Precise.
To begin with, you should have a few developer tools installed. If not, paste the following into a terminal window. Give your password when prompted. sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc-4.6 g++-4.6 libgtk2.0-dev libqt4-dev sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2-dev libpulse-dev libopenal-dev libao-dev libxv-dev Next, open Firefox and go to Ubuntu Updates for Bsnes (http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/package/core/precise/universe/base/bsnes). Select and download the 32-bit .deb package (assuming you have a 32-bit system) and navigate into your Downloads folder. Install bsnes with: sudo dpkg -i bsnes_0.084-1_i386.deb If all goes well, you should now be able to run bsnes from Unity Dash by typing “bsnes” and selecting the application. Once bsnes is running, you can select between Cartridge, Settings and Tools from the top panel. Now, let’s take a look on where to download ROMs and how to “purify” them.
Pour commencer, vous devriez avoir quelques outils de développement installés. Si ce n'est pas le cas, collez ce qui suit dans une fenêtre de terminal. Donnez votre mot de passe lorsque vous y êtes invité.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc-4.6 g++-4.6 libgtk2.0-dev libqt4-dev
sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2-dev libpulse-dev libopenal-dev libao-dev libxv-dev
Ensuite, ouvrez Firefox et allez dans Mises à jour Ubuntu pour Bsnes (http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/package/core/precise/universe/base/bsnes). Sélectionnez et téléchargez le paquet .deb 32-bit (en supposant que vous avez un système 32-bit) et naviguez dans votre dossier Téléchargements. Installez Bsnes avec:
sudo dpkg -i bsnes_0.084-1_i386.deb
Si tout va bien, vous devriez maintenant être en mesure d'exécuter bsnes par Unity-Dash en tapant «bsnes» et en sélectionnant l'application. Une fois bsnes lancé, vous pouvez choisir entre Cartridge (cartouche), Settings (paramètres) et Tools (outils) dans la barre supérieure. Maintenant, nous allons jeter un coup d'oeil sur où télécharger les ROMs et comment les «purifier».
Downloading ROMs & ROM Cleaning While there are plenty of sites to get ROMs, keep in mind that you must delete the files after 24 hours if you do not own the original cartridges. In case you want to keep playing, there are plenty of originals available on eBay and similar web auctions. After downloading, the ROMs must be “cleaned” of additional copier header information (for a more accurate explanation, refer to bsnes user guide (http://byuu.org/bsnes/user-guide). Unlike some mainstream emulators, bsnes doesn’t support compressed (.zip) or Super Magicom (.smc) files. Before playing games, we need to use snespurify, an utility included with bsnes installation. Open Unity Dash and type “snespurify” and select the application. Choose the folder you wish to scan for ROMs (most likely Downloads if you got the ROMs from the web) and click “Correct”. It should take only a couple of seconds to reconfigure the files. Once the process is finished, you can choose a game to play from the bsnes Cartridge menu.
Some basic settings It is unlikely that bsnes runs perfectly “out of the box”. There are many settings to be customized and we will take a closer look at them in the next issue. However, here are some tips to get the basic functionality right. Keep in mind that some settings are machine- and game-specific, so adjust the program as you see fit. All settings that are not mentioned should be left as default. Settings → Configuration → Audio: Frequency 44.1kHz, Latency: 40 ms, Resamp. Hermite Settings → Configuration → Advanced: Video OpenGL, Audio PulseAudioSimple Settings → Configuration → Input → Snes: Cont. port (define your controls) One of the great things is that you can modify graphics settings without restarting the ROM. This speeds up things considerably, because you see the effect right away. Experiment with different Video Filters and Shaders if you want to put your machine to the test. Filters, especially, require lots of resources. Introducing an USB gamepad was easy from the Input settings: it worked straight out of the box. Once, my settings disappeared and I had to reconfigure the controller, but there have been no problems since.
First Impressions I tested bsnes with: Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country, Lufia 2, Super Mario All-Stars, Final Fantasy 6 and Mega Man X. As a gamer with more than 200 hours of zsnes (http://www.zsnes.com) experience, I must confess that bsnes does a much better job when it comes to accuracy and quality of emulation. However, this comes at a hefty computational price. On my desktop (E6750 Core 2 Duo, 4 GB DDR2, GeForce 8800 GTS, 320 MB and 1 TB HDD) there is still a noticeable slow-down. I might consider upgrading the graphics card, although I’m not completely sure whether it’s causing the problem. More information If you wish to know more, grab the next issue of FCM when it comes out next month. Meanwhile, I encourage you to visit the bsnes homepage (http://byuu.org/bsnes). Developer Byuu has written a great deal of in-depth information on snes emulation as well as other software-related topics. In the next issue, I focus on more advanced bsnes settings and tell how to edit the configuration files manually using a text editor.
With the recent plethora of RPGs released for the major consoles, I can’t help but get a little envious and anxious for an in-depth role playing game for Linux. Luckily for us Ubuntu gamers, the developers at Kot-In-Action are working on an exciting first-person RPG called Tomes of Mephistopheles (ToM). The game is currently in alpha, and you can help fund the development and buy the full, DRM-free game at the official Kot website (http://tom.kot-in-action.com) or through Desura. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Alexander Zubov, co-creator of ToM as well as the 2010 hit series, Steel Storm. Alexander was gracious enough to share some details on his new project and some thoughts on what’s in store for Kot-in-Action in the near future.
When and how did you get started with Kot-in-Action Creative Artel? Kot-in-Action Creative Artel was founded in 2008, prior to the QuakeExpo 2008 virtual event. I learned about the DarkPlaces game engine years prior to the event, and I wanted to make a standalone game using it. The role of art director and all-round artist was a natural choice as I come from an art and graphic design background. I began working on my first game titled Prophecy: Return of the Blademaster, and soon I realized I needed a coder to help me with the project. No one wanted to help me as the project was in pre-production stage at that time. Seeing that help was not coming, I rolled up my sleeves and got to coding the game myself. The project was doing great and I wanted to display it at Quake Expo. However, I really wanted for it to shine, so to speak, and I asked for help once again. This time around, one of the most prominent coders in the Quake modding community, Clay “daemon” Cameron, offered his skills to help out Prophecy. Kot-in-Action team was formed, and the prototype of the game was put together in just 3 weeks prior to Quake Expo. The reception of Prophecy by the Quake modding community was warm, and we decided to turn it into a commercial game. Although we had some experience in modding, making a full commercial game was a whole different story. Prophecy required a lot of art assets. Since we didn't really know our potential, we decided to come up with a game of smaller scale. Steel Storm was born and the rest is history.
Tell us all about Tomes of Mephistopheles. Tomes of Mephistopheles is designed to be a first-person action-RPG dungeon crawler with randomly generated worlds and dungeons. It will have fast-paced fluid combat (inspired by such old school games as Hexen/Heretic), a multitude of medieval and magical weapons, and an in-depth custom spell system (not something you see in many RPG games). Players will be exploring vast dungeons in search of the ancient Tomes. On his (her) way, the player will fight a variety of monsters, look for items/gear/weapons, discover secrets, solve quests, improve his (her) skills, develop new spells, and master new weapons. Players will be able to craft gear, weapons, and spells, and use dug-out cavities as a shelter / safe house. Dungeons and other structures are destructible via a multitude of means, and connect with a surface or outdoor over-world which connects to multiple other dungeons. Dungeons can also connect to each other, and if a connection does not exist, the player can dig his way through. The surface and dungeon areas will have towns and/or encampments with structures, NPCs, and various creatures to interact with. Not only that, but characters will not be limited to a single world. Players can generate new dungeons and continue building up their character, or take that character online to another player's world and partake in player vs player combat, cooperative questing, or possibly even help build some kind of structure depending on what the owner of the server allows.
What are some upcoming, post-alpha features to look out for? We are planing to add more architectural details so the dungeon won't look so empty. Player progress saving and dungeon saving are on their way. Multiplayer. More enemies, gear, and weapons. Multifloor dungeons. These features are due in the nearest future. What have you learned from creating Steel Storm that you've incorporated into creating ToM? Release early and iterate. No localization support (everyone knows English to a certain degree, and coordinating translations of constantly changing and improving text is a huge overhead). No Mac support until release (we don't have Macs, and, while the engine runs on Mac, testing without having a Mac handy has proven to be a disaster). Use social media as much as possible. Reuse the resources. Will there be future installments/episodes (ala Steel Storm) or DLC? Most likely we will have DLC, pre-built characters, and some unique gear and gadgets, after the game is released. It's too early to talk about future installments, although the potential is there.
Can you tell us about your plans after ToM is released? Any new games or focusing on DLC? We already have Steel Storm 2 in development, along with ToM, so I think we are pretty much set for the mid-range foreseeable future. Thanks again to Alexander Zubov for participating. For more information on Tomes of Mephistopheles, you can visit http://tom.kot-in-action.com for more screen shots, videos, and game updates.