.7z and Network Support

[Former user]

Original issue 15 created by ibigfire on 2008-11-28T14:21:00.000Z:

Wow, very impressive guys. I love that you've gotten an emulator working
for such a great classic console, on a current gen console. I was just
wondering though, do you plan on adding .7z support or support for loading
ROMs over a network? Just curious... Again, thanks. I really appreciate it.

[Former user]

Comment # 1 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2008-12-01T08:56:11.000Z:

currently, I'm the only one working on this emulator and I don't plan adding support for network loading or 7zip files. Indeed, I don't think these are interesting neither important features to add (you can already load from DVD/SD and have zip support) and have other plans with higher priorities

anyway, the project is opensource and anybody is encouraged to submit code or patches

[Former user]

Comment # 2 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2008-12-01T09:03:09.000Z:

[Former user]

Comment # 3 originally posted by augshow on 2009-01-02T14:08:17.000Z:

Definitely dropping the ball on network support. I personally am a fan of having all my roms and saves in one place on the network so I can play whether I have the tv with the wii accessible or my pc.

I'm a developer myself, although haven't done anything with the wii... maybe I'll download the source and take a look.

[Former user]

Comment # 4 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2009-01-03T17:16:08.000Z:

just look in snes9xgx sourcecode to see how they handled ROM file loading from Samba server, you will need to link with libtinysmb as well but overall, this should not be very complicated

[Former user]

Comment # 5 originally posted by auntieNeo on 2009-04-29T04:36:34.000Z:

I'm planning on writing a patch for adding SMB support, but I'm running into some problems compiling the latest SVN of genplus-gx.

First off, gcc warns that the functions "mem\_open", "mem\_close", and "fatEnableReadAhead" are being implicitly declared, i.e. they're not in the headers. The latest revision of libfat doesn't seem to have the "fatEnableReadAhead" function. What version are you using?

Secondly, I tried to install the latest tremor library using the patch and instructions found here: <http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Compiling\_ScummVM/Wii\#Tremor> but when I tried to link with the resulting .a file (after making a symlink to libvorbisidec.a) ld gives me this: "ld: skipping incompatible /home/auntieneo/software/misc/wii/devkitpro/libogc/lib/wii/libtremor.a when searching for -ltremor" How do I link with this library? Is libvorbisidec.a the wrong file? It's the only library file that was installed.

Sorry if this question is bothersome. I suppose you've made quite a few changes in preparation for the new GUI, so I guess you haven't had a chance to update the wiki to reflect that.

Oh, and I think .7z and SMB support is critical, as ROM collections can get quite large and the largest SD cards supported on the Wii are only 2GB. Just my two cents.

[Former user]

Comment # 6 originally posted by auntieNeo on 2009-04-29T18:02:59.000Z:

Update: I got rid of the "fatEnableReadAhead" warning when I found the libogc version you have posted in the downloads section. I got past the tremor error when I discovered that ld wasn't following the symlink for some reason. Now I'm getting a linker error for undefined reference to "mem\_open" and "mem\_close" in gx\_audio.c. What libraries do these functions belong to and what versions do I need? Thanks.

[Former user]

Comment # 7 originally posted by auntieNeo on 2009-04-29T23:42:01.000Z:

Heh, I got it to work quite easily like you said. It's practically the same as using a FAT device, except I had to connect to the share and use "smb:/" instead of "usb:/" with diropen().

There are some issues though: 1. How should I store the ip/share/username/password information? genplus-gx doesn't seem to use an XML file for configs like snes9x-gx does.

2. How should I display errors?

3. How should I indicate that it is loading the filenames in a directory of a share so the GUI doesn't freeze up? Network loading has way more latency than USB loading.

The code I've written so far isn't very clean, so I won't bother posting a patch just yet. I still have to properly close the share and reconnect when it's closed. I need to put in buttons for the config menu and the load menu, not to mention some textboxes for inputing username/password/etc., but I'm no artist so don't expect button icons. Next week is finals week, so I probably won't get around to that for a while. :)

[Former user]

Comment # 8 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2009-04-30T23:47:44.000Z:

1. you need to add XML file parsing (using libmxml) as well

2. error messages are currently done using the WaitPrompt(char \*message) function

3. wait message are currently done using the ShowAction(char \*message) function

PS: mem\_open and mem\_close are funtions from OGG player, I have updated the current precompiled libogc package I'm using so you can compile the current SVN

However, to be included in the upcoming release, it would also need proper integrations to the new GUI (specific icons, additional config settings, onscreen keyboard...), stuff that I don't have time to implement

About 7z support, I'm quite satisfied with zip compression and don't think space is really a critical issue with USB hdd or SDHC cards now... Also, it encourages people to keep only the ROM files they really need to play, not their entire "collection" or "romset", filled with useless variants and baddumps

That's the main reason why I don't see the need of adding plenty exotic features like this, considering the memory overhead it would require is not worth it (and also, then some other people would want .Jma support, then .rar, etc... and this never ends)

anyway, you are still very welcome to provide patches for 7z support if you really want it

[Former user]

Comment # 9 originally posted by propho on 2009-05-12T06:24:29.000Z:

Would it be possible to post the one with SMB support? I like having all my roms on my hard drive

[Former user]

Comment # 10 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2009-05-12T14:29:19.000Z:

I don't think it's done yet. You will have to wait until it's officialy included, if this is ever done.

[Former user]

Comment # 11 originally posted by propho on 2009-05-12T22:19:58.000Z:

Cool, thanks for the update.. and great work on the emulator =)

[Former user]

Comment # 12 originally posted by poderseguero91 on 2009-05-15T17:50:24.000Z:

Man I just need 7z support so badly.. If only I knew how to code T\_T

[Former user]

Comment # 13 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2009-05-16T15:39:06.000Z:

there is nothing you need so "badly", there are programs out there to convert your 7zip "collection" in regular .zip files

If only you were not so lazy ;-)

[Former user]

Comment # 14 originally posted by auntieNeo on 2009-05-17T00:27:08.000Z:

Um, actually... I'm using a program called unzipfs for Linux to extract my .7z files on my server on the fly. It uses fuse to make it transparent to my samba server. Uh, if you don't know what Linux is, forget about it, because it won't work for Windows. But here's a link where you can get more info:

http://apps.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/fuse/index.php?title=ArchiveFileSystems

Oh, and now that I got life out of my way, I'm going to actually start writing SMB support. Sorry for the wait. :P

[Former user]

Comment # 15 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2009-05-17T18:39:01.000Z:

I can add you as developper or create a branch for you in the SVN repository if you want, just tell me...

[Former user]

Comment # 16 originally posted by propho on 2009-05-20T17:46:38.000Z:

woot =) can't wait for SMB support!

[Former user]

Comment # 17 originally posted by poderseguero91 on 2009-05-24T14:25:35.000Z:

@ comment 13\.

Well i'm asking because i can't find the app you are saying.

[Former user]

Comment # 18 originally posted by propho on 2009-06-16T16:45:39.000Z:

anyone still working on network support?

[Former user]

Comment # 20 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2009-09-21T13:51:49.000Z:

As I said, I've no interest in implementing such features myself and I have not received any patches from anybody.

[Former user]

Comment # 21 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2009-10-22T09:25:20.000Z:

[Former user]

Comment # 22 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2010-05-13T14:24:04.000Z:

[Former user]

Comment # 23 originally posted by pmagnus87 on 2010-11-10T14:11:48.000Z:

Yes, SMB support is very useful, the emulator is excelent but could be better :D

[Former user]

Comment # 24 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2010-11-10T15:35:54.000Z:

I don't think the quality of an emulator is based on the number of options you have to load ROM files, etc.

I personally have no use for SMB as I don't like the idea of having my PC always connected to play an emulator on TV. In my opinion, it kinda defeats the purpose of running emulators on Wii. How hard is it to copy your ROM collection on SD or USB ?

Adding useless features like these just increase the memory footprint of the program and reduce the opportunities for more interesting features.

[Former user]

Comment # 25 originally posted by wesjgill on 2011-02-20T22:48:49.000Z:

Wii only supports 2-4GB on an SD card and you want to take up 30-60% of that space on a sega genesis rom collection? Of course SMB support is important. Get over it.

[Former user]

Comment # 26 originally posted by kingofchaos6669 on 2011-02-21T00:26:35.000Z:

Well, it's his project and his decision whether or not to support something. If you want it that bad, then just add it yourself.

[Former user]

Comment # 27 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-02-21T09:42:20.000Z:

\*\*\* RANT TIME (again) \*\*\*

The saddest is that back in earlier days of homebrew, only SD (and not even SDHC) cards were supported and everybody was happy with that, people could play their ROM "collection" just fine and did not complained. Then SMB (or 7zip, NTFS, USB2, cIOS, whatever the hype feature is at that time) support was added in a few projects and suddenly it becomes a "must have" feature for every emulators.

Truth is that some people are simply never satisfied with what is given to them, they just always want more, might it be because they saw it somewhere else (the "it has been done here so why don't you do the same" song) or simply because they are obsessed by novelty or completeness (the "I must get the ultimate version" song). Another category is the "lazy user" who wants the emulator to be as featured as possible so the steps between "downloading romset from torrent" and "playing sonic for 5 minutes" are minimal to him.

Now, as I stated it many times, the ONLY reason I still work on this project is because I'm interested with emulation (and Sega emulation in general). I'm interested in improving the accuracy of the emulator, optimizing code, fix games that does not work properly, make it the closest to the feeling you had when hooking up your old Mega Drive to your TV and generally, adding features that fit with those goals or that that I have an interest in.

I don't care if your "collection", filled with romz that you will even probably never open, comes with 7z files and you are desesperate to loose a few GB by recompressing them, or that you are too cheap to buy a SD card or burn a DVD dedicated to Mega Drive games, or that you won't play this emulator ever again because it doesn't let you connect to your computer for the 2 seconds it takes to load a ROM file.

Seriously, YOU should get over it and start to accept that:

- this is not an important feature in the sense that various other ways are already available for loading ROM files.

- the point of an emulator is to emulate games, not to be the ultimate ROM file manager and the more external libraries you add to it, the less memory you have for more important and interesting things.

- I did not received your last paycheck so I do whatever I want when I feel like. What is sure is that I have zero interest in doing this. Adding 7z or SMB support is very easy, really, it's just a bunch of copypasting and the job is 95% done by the libraries so I'm wondering why anyone hasn't submitted a patch yet.

[Former user]

Comment # 28 originally posted by auntieNeo on 2011-02-21T16:45:41.000Z:

Oh my God. This has gone on too long. Someone do the artwork for a network button and I'll write a patch for this over spring break. I've experimented with it in the past, and really it's just a few calls to the homebrew libs in almost the same way as accessing FAT, and it works fine. There's just a few connection issues I hadn't figured out, and things came up, so I never got around to fixing it. Sorry guys.

If no one does artwork, the buttons will probably be green squares.

And honestly, your rant is 100% correct. The only game I ever play on this emulator is Sonic 2, the only game I ever played as a kid. And the code really is a 95% copy-paste job. I'm sorry you even had to write this rant; I should have submited a patch ages ago. Sorry, everyone. :(

[Former user]

Comment # 29 originally posted by SonicXxRush on 2011-04-24T23:30:36.000Z:

Try this artwork. I opened the Load\_sd.png file in GIMP, then I cleared the main layer in the Load\_sd.png then opened the Load\_smb.png that was already in there as a layer, then scaled that new layer to fit the canvas (they were different sizes). then saved and overwrote the Load\_smb.png forcing the exact same image format as Load\_sd.png so it should work, I'm about to rip my hair off figuring out how to compile so if someone can compile and try it, that would be just great! ;)

[Former user]

Comment # 30 originally posted by stringmate on 2013-12-12T10:55:22.000Z:

still no patch ? :(

[Former user]

Comment # 31 originally posted by jonveliky on 2014-09-15T04:48:46.000Z:

To be brutally honest, I tend to play the usual games. Some I've beat every time whether it was on the original hardware(ie. Sega Genesis, Game Gear, etc.) or on the Wii/Wii U. But I CAN grasp the realization that having a "complete" collection is never satisfying due to how many .ips patches put on RomHacking or filling up a Micro-SD on whatever cartridge Gamester81 plugged for Everdrive & Stoneage Gamer. But given some circumstances, SMB share WOULD be a novel concept, but it's NOT by demand, but from the creator's choice. ekeeke...I understand what you mean, and asking for it is a burden.

Keep in mind, I do have a 32GB SDHC full of Sega roms(Genesis, SMS, Game Gear), yet limited for space just to put only a couple or so Sega CD games on it(which only work if it's CUE-BIN, but not CUE-ISO+WAV/CUE-ISO+MP3)...I found that out the hard way. I have read about how frustrating it could be if there was a 32X rom support for it, so limitations may be a reason why seeing it paired with the rest hasn't happened. Getting back on topic, SMB share is only useful if it means having limited amount of space on an SD card or if finding out the Homebrew Channel can't support anything higher than 32GB(provided if it's running via USB through a SD reader) or that hardly anyone can afford a 128GB Micro SD or USB External HDD(which you have to consider the budging gamers that rarely afford games, but somehow manage to scrimp for a console that's over 10 to 40 years old).

I have a huge collection of Sega Roms, and would like to run not only 32X(even though this emulator doesn't have the support for it), but also every rom that I haven't played back in my youth. Still, I do tend to play them to see what I'm missing, and with past and future rom hacks aside, this can be helpful for those who are limited in storage. Still...your word over the rest of us. Can't demand gold from a mere curious thought.

Anyway, the point I'm making is that it would be a good idea to add SMB share, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna remiss my actions to still purchase an SD-Card. You got to account for USB Loaders, emulators, homebrew games, media, and so on that can waste up more space than the entire Sega CD's library can allow, yet it exceeds the size of an SD card(32GB). So SMB would help. But that's not mine, nor anyone's call to make but yours, and yours alone. I'm not agreeing, nor disagreeing to everyone, even you eke-eke...but good enough or not, some possibilities can be taken in spurts, and it's to each their own. Simple as that. I may not know how to create an emulator from scratch, but I can do up a Virtual Console wad inject when I have the time. But that's besides the point.

Just saying...it would help, but that's more your call than ours. Sorry for the rant, but unless nobody grasped that large amount of info, the shorter version is "not everything can be done as expected, but it would benefit to those that think of it as a something to try". 32X Support & SMB Share or not, again...not our call but yours. Done ranting.

[Former user]

Comment # 32 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2014-09-15T06:40:30.000Z:

To clear up some misleaded assumptions:
1) SMB would not be that useful for Sega CD because the files are continuously read in real-time so it will dramatically slowdown emulation.
2) Sega CD emulation does NOT only work with cue+bin, iso+wav and iso+ogg are also supported.

The rest of your very long rant could have been summarized in one sentence by "please implement this because some users need it for xxxx personal reason".

If that wasn't clear already, the reason I keep working on this emulator is not to please every end-users out there or to fulfill their needs, I do this exclusively for me and to please myself. Off course, I'm interested in end-users feedback and suggestions and I'm perfectly able to understand your arguments (which are nothing new to me) but I'm simply not interested to add that myself as I think it's perfectly possible to enjoy the emulator without such features without plagguing the emulator with additional libraries and thread processing.