Luke Usher
@lukeusher.bsky.social
270 followers 450 following 14 posts
Retro-Gamer. Cat Lover. Developer of Emulators (Cxbx-Reloaded, ares) and Insignia
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Reposted by Luke Usher
insignia.live
We appreciate we've not announced anything in quite some time, so we'd like to share our current development progress.
Our main focus has been getting EA's online services working so we can restore Xbox Live functionality in EA titles. Here's where things stand right now: (1/6)
lukeusher.bsky.social
It should be!

GFWL didn't die; only the marketplace (and some of the DRM which MK doesn't use) did

The Steam version still works using GFWL, including matchmaking, even on Windows 11, although nobody else is playing...
lukeusher.bsky.social
I may have a problem (Why stop at just Bug!?)
A screenshot of the 1996 port of Comix Zone working on Windows 11.
lukeusher.bsky.social
Today we have released ares v146. This release is significant because it introduces emulation for the Pioneer LaserActive, which has never been emulated successfully in the past.

Read more at ares-emu.net/news/ares-v1...
Get ares at ares-emu.net
lukeusher.bsky.social
Bug!er Up has been updated to fix some issues with incorrect audio track playback in Bug Too!

That's what happens when you decide to add support for an entire second game at the last hour, heh.

Live and learn.
lukeusher.bsky.social
The code is rushed/messy, and it's not quite as polished as something I would usually share, but it works on my machine, and that's good enough for now.
lukeusher.bsky.social
For absolutely no real reason whatsoever, I spent the weekend creating a patch for Bug! and Bug Too! to run on modern Windows

Bug!er Up fixes Windows 11 compatibility; adds support for XInput controllers, removes the CD-ROM requirement and allows custom soundtracks.

github.com/LukeUsher/bu...
lukeusher.bsky.social
MegaLD support in ares has been brewing for a while; I built a skeleton that could run the bios a long while back; Nemesis then took over and fixed the rest, and did an excellent job too!

This will be upstreamed after we’ve ironed out some details; the dump format used is not final and may change.
experimentt.bsky.social
First screenshots of the first ever Pioneer LaserActive emulator, courtesy of Nemesis running as part of Ares. Major preservation milestone right here.
lukeusher.bsky.social
Other libretro-compatible frontends include Kodi Game, Bizhawk, kretro and no doubt others.

Alternative emulator abstractions *unrelated* to libretro include node (cross platform but used only by ares/higan), OpenEmu (macOS only), Delta (iOS only), I'm sure there must also be others out there.
lukeusher.bsky.social
You can view libretro as the overall project.

RetroArch started as an example frontend and reference implementation of libretro, but is now the de facto standard.

Most emulators with libretro cores were ported and are maintained by the same individuals who work on RetroArch.
lukeusher.bsky.social
It’s essentially a completely different product that shares the same concepts; the entire thing had to be rebuilt for cross platform support.

Unfortunately I’ve just never been able to vibe with it since the transition; it just feels clunky to me.

But hey, you can build console games now!
lukeusher.bsky.social
And it's here! ares v142 has been released with support for SETA Aleck 64, and more great changes, get it from ares-emu.net

Release notes: ares-emu.net/news/ares-v1...
lukeusher.bsky.social
Nintendo 64-based Aleck 64 arcade system emulation, is coming soon to ares!
lukeusher.bsky.social
Nintendo 64-based Aleck 64 arcade system emulation, is coming soon to ares!
lukeusher.bsky.social
grain are good for speed, I’m paying for 300 but often hit double that, it’s symmetric too

But they refuse to give you credentials to access the router, if you want to change settings support have to do it for you; it’s behind cgnat, and has no ipv6, and no static ip unless business class.
lukeusher.bsky.social
If you’re dedicated enough, nothing stops you auditing and updating the codebase without changing functionality… php8 port when?