Emulation how-to

Hello. I'm looking for a volunteer to write an article for newbies that need to know how to get started with NES Emulation. The article should cover at least a couple emulators, the concept of NES ROMs, etc. I get a lot of Emails daily with people asking this same question, and I'd love to be able to simply point them to an URL. The person who writes the best article, IMO, will receive full credit on . I reserve the right to edit the article to add appropriate links, format it for The NES Files, correct any spelling/grammar, etc. I will also reward the best submission with a few NES carts from my dupes(I'll post a list later). Free shipping to the USA/Canada(these are NTSC carts). Please post your submissions here. Thanks.

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Derek

I could cover the Mac side of things, I haven't got enough access to a PC to do a full how-to though...

Sounds good. If I combine a few different articles, I'll give appropriate credit and send each of the contributors a few carts. Thanks.

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Derek

I've got what I feel is an accurate how-to for the Mac covering two emulators, the process and idea of emulation, and a paragraph on the DreamCast as well, should I just post it in the thread, or would you rather I email it to you?

Feel free to post a general post on Emulation here in this forum. Thanks.

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Derek

it's quite a long article (10 or 11 paragraphs), but if you want it to be posted...

ShadowXMetalshred's Nes Emulation Guide: The very Basics

Ok, to first get started with Emulation you need to learn the terminology.

Emulator- This is basically a program that mimics a specific system. (For example, a Nes emulator mimics the Nes systems sound graphics ext.)

Rom- These are the games. They are usually exactly like the original games. They are played by opening them through the emulator. (Example: A Super Mario Bros. Rom is an exact copy of Super Mario Bros. that you can play through your emulator.)

-EMULATORS-

There are several emulators on the Net for you to choose from, and it is all your personal choice as to which one you use, even though some are more advanced and have more feature than others. Suggestions for Nes emulators are: "Nester" "Nesterj" And "NNnesterJ" These emulators seem to works the most flawlessly. An Excellent site to get Emulators at is : .

-ROMS-
There is a large debate over the legal issues of ROM use, but this is not meant to discuss that. It is just easier to find a site yourself that has NES ROMs. Just go to any Search engine and type in "NES ROMs' or something similar.

-USAGE-
First download the Emulator of your choice. Save it to your desktop, and extract the files into a new folder labeled "Nes Emulators and Roms" (this is not nessisary, but just for organization) Then find a rom of your choice and extract the rom file to that same folder which you extracted your emulator to. Now, open your emulator. Find the command "Load Rom" (The location of this command varies from emulator to emulator, but usually its in the first drop down menu) Once you find the "load Rom" command, select the rom you want to play to load. Providing that you got a good (Non Corrupted) rom, It should start to play just like a Nes!

-OTHER STUFF-

Setting controlls- This command would be in the options or preferences menu. You can set whatever keyboard buttons you want to control or (if your emulator supports it) You can use a joystick or controller if you have one installed.

Save States- Most emulators support this option. Basically it saves your game exactly where you are. This is usefull for games that naturally dont have save support. (Many didnt back in the nes era.)

I'll continue this as I think of more

Here's something that I threw together really fast. I haven't included any links yet. I just wanted to show the method of which I would do this. It's for Windows, seeing as how I have never messed with a Mac. I threw it on my schools site for now, just to see if you like the approach. It's by no means finished, but just a quick beginning so I could get it up.

Here is the link.

Just the tip of the iceberg...

heh, that was pretty fast

What I would like to do is have it step-by-step for each similar option for most emulators, and also have the option for each emulator indivdually. I think it would work pretty well.

Some quick people on this board!

I've updated my how-to with links to download the four emulators that I'm starting with and covering how to save/ load state in each emulator.

only minutes ago did i stumble upon this wonderful technology...however, i can't get it to work for me. i downloaded nesterj and Little Nemo Dream Master (FAVORITE childhood nintendo game), but when i opened it up with nesterj, it just played sort of like a demo. i couldn't control it myself. why would that be? any assistance would be greatly appreciated! feel free to contact me on aim: somecallmelarky

It was one of two things:

1. you got a demo NES ROM thing

2. you didn't configure the controls and it (like many games do) showed the game being played if you didnt respond after awhile at the title screen

Did you check your contoller settings in the Options menu... make sure you have them set the way you like (and that you're pushing the right buttons ) If that doesn't work, then my next question would be where did you get the game at? The NES ROM might not be compatible with NNnesterj.

I forgot to take Daynum's suggestion of making this thread a sticky of Emulation How-To. Very good suggestion! If any one has any questions of some emus, point them to this thread. There are some good tips on this page. There you go!