An open challenge for coders

[James]

Because thats not emulation is and hacking an emulator is wrong

Edited October 21, 2004 by James

[sammaz]

well , i dont know if its true but we may get the sources to ZINC when it goes final....that would maybe satisfy your appetite for dank 3d arcde games...and maybe i could see it running on a 733MHz machine we all know so well....

[Dooz]

Because thats not emulation is and hacking an emulator is wrong

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How is that not emulation? Is emulation not getting a program on your computer to run like another system would?

 

As for hacking emulators, that's really up to your own code of morals. Personally, if I made an emulator, and someone hacked it to make it better, I'd congratulate them. Next time I'll just have to make a better one the first time.

 

There's nothing wrong with correcting other people's mistakes. It's just that people let their pride get in the way (And I do belive that is the situation).

[Gryph]

Most most serious programmers have a code of honor and don't do that each other unless it's open source.

[Dooz]

Code of honor? Having something you didn't do right improved is dishonorable?

[James]

You just dont get it. If you had code your own program You would not be saying stuff like that.It takes many hours to create program and code for it I find Nebula pretty good as it is

 

People make these programs for free and it does give you the right. to complain or hack it Just because there is something you do not like about it

 

Come back when you have coded a new emulator so then we can complain and hack it.because we do not like what you have created.

Edited October 21, 2004 by James

[Agozer]

I have no problem with emulator hacking, if:

 

1) The whole project has been inactive for quite some time

2) The emulator is still used by a number of people, despite of 1)

3) The emulator if missing "important" code that should be in there without question, but the developers never got around to make the changes.

 

Take EGCG NeoRAGEx for example. This "hack"has made NeoRAGEx ´by adding features that the original version lacked.

 

I agree thought that hacking emulators that are still in development (and closed source) just to get more games working or to make more image filters available and such isn't the way to go.

[James]

Did you know some forums and sites do not alow you talk about NRX simply because it is old and is hacked.If you do you will get banned.

 

Anyway I have not seen not extra in NRX other than new games supported

Edited October 21, 2004 by James

[Agozer]

Did you know some forums and sites do not alow you talk about NRX simply because it is old and is hacked.If you do you will get banned.

 

Anyway I have not seen not extra in NRX other than new games supported

No, I didn't know that. I have no use for such forums that wouldn't let me talk about NeoRAGEx.

 

Secondly, EGCG NRX isn't just filled with modified code to get new games working, there are other new features and fixes too.

[James]

So what are the features and fixes ?

[Agozer]

Memory card emulation, Neo-Geo banking methods, some sound core fixes, support for bin files (and the removal of cart dump support, I haven't tested the emu with the bin files myself), general romset loading fixes.

 

I'm sure there's more, but I can't remember them right now.

[Xeon]

every group in humanity has its own code of honor: lawyers, enforcers, soldiers, marketing people, corporates and hell, even thieves has them.

 

as for the reason of not open-sourcing, there are a lot of factors that gets to it, shallow to deep. one would be because the programming style just plain obfuscated but is actually good after compiling (lack of comments, etc). maybe it contains copyrighted material that the programmer dont want to show to everybody. there are others but well never know, really.

 

Dooz, try to at least view things from another perspective and you may just understand what the earlier replies are saying all along.

[Swithin]

Aw crap, I started this, I'm going to have to jump in.

 

1) The morality of hacking emulators is attached to our individual notions of respecting an author's rights and/or playing outside the rules. The primary reason not to hack an emulator is out of respect for its author, IMHO. Some people think hacking an emu is A-O-K because, in their minds, they're "improving" upon something already good. Goodness all around, yeehaw. Others (myself included) feel if the author doesn't want it done, and you like the emu enough to use it, then you should also respect the author's wishes - but, like a lot of people, I feel this protection ends when an author declares a project dead or effectively kills it of neglect. People will have an opinion on this based on their ingrained morality, this is such a fundamental topic (respecting someone else's clay while they're still playing with it) that I don't think you can argue anyone into or out of either camp. The ones who are for hacking emus are the ones who "improved" your clay-phoenix in pre-school. The ones who are against are the ones who let you make it yourself, even if they felt the beak was too "globby". Not something you can argue out of a person, really.

 

2) Where the hell did this debate pop out of again? I wasn't even talking about hacking Nebula, I was talking about brewing up a simple DLL or two for private use, and also requiring they be sent off to El Semi for approval / as an offering. Damn.

Edited October 21, 2004 by Swithin

[Agozer]

Heh. Conversations drift, that's all.

[alexis]

i dunno this thread is already too long and i am not willing to read it, anyway elsemi is spanish i dunno, in which language did yuou write to him? Anyway if you want to mail him in spanish i can translate it for you, as lons as you don`t rush me