News:

Printed Amstrad Addict magazine announced, check it out here!

Main Menu

Recommended emulator for Windows 10

Started by Jonathan, 14:25, 30 September 20

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Jonathan

I downloaded WinAPE and it seems to work fine, but is there an emulator which is currently considered to be the best for Windows 10?


Ideally I would look into this in detail myself, but I'm in a bit of a rush with this and other things... I hope to find some time to browse the wiki and the forum soon though.


I vaguely remember using Caprice, many years ago.


Thanks in advance.

reidrac

This is my favourite: https://www.retrovirtualmachine.org/en/

I can't tell you about "the best", although I think RVM2 emulation is pretty good (?).

WinAPE also emulates the plus range; should be OK in Windows 10?
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick and Hyperdrive for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

norecess464

#2
I use a mix of 2 emulators.

I really do enjoy RVM with its shader-based rendition that simulates a TV monitor, and which also features a good overall emulation quality.

In parallel, I still use WinAPE for development / debugging, because I did not see a better emulator on PC yet for that purpose.

The very best emulator of Amstrad machines (in term of emulation accuracy) remains ACE from @OffseT ; unfortunately it only runs on AmigaOS / Haiku for now, so only few people can use it. http://ace.cpcscene.net/en:introduction
My personal website: https://norecess.cpcscene.net
My current project is Sonic GX, a remake of Sonic the Hedgehog for the awesome Amstrad GX-4000 game console!

tjohnson


roudoudou

#4
CPCEC from CngSoft is lightweight and had several huge improvements lately

also CPCEmuPower from Megachur is accurate and very easy to use
Both emulators are able to emulate CPC and Plus models
And looking forward new sugarbox version (multi-OS, debug interface with Visual Studio Code)
My pronouns are RASM and ACE

eto

What I like a lot about RVM is that if you switch to fullscreen, it feels like you sit in front of the CPC. The shaders make it so "real".


It was also helpful that you can easily transfer files between the PC and your disk images, especially for Basic development. But other emulators might have that feature also.

Jonathan

I have just downloaded RVM at your suggestion and it is great - especially the screen, and disc-drive noise and speed emulation!


Thanks all.

XeNoMoRPH

#7
Quote from: Jonathan on 23:34, 30 September 20
I have just downloaded RVM at your suggestion and it is great - especially the screen, and disc-drive noise and speed emulation!


Thanks all.
fantastic choice, check out the new features that the emuladord will have:

https://youtu.be/G9nrUecfi9Y

your amstrad news source in spanish language : https://auamstrad.es

norecess464

#8
... but not everything is great with RVM.
Keep in mind it's closed source.

So basically it's the same problem than WinAPE ; one day -- it will be deprecated (new OS, new CPU..) and we will probably have to deal with that.
For that specific reason (disclaimer: my opinion btw), new-comers like the emulators mentioned above by @roudoudou , that favor an open-source approach, are more than welcome.
My personal website: https://norecess.cpcscene.net
My current project is Sonic GX, a remake of Sonic the Hedgehog for the awesome Amstrad GX-4000 game console!

robcfg

#9
And as much as I like it, it has a dreadful input delay.


It's absolutely impossible to play Pinball Dreams on it as it takes a second to react.

Jonathan

That's interesting. I tried WinAPE and RVM on a BASIC worm game and found RVM more responsive to key presses. Horses for courses I guess!

mahlemiut

I find RVM's input lag is largely gone if you can disable your OS's UI compositor.  (Might be difficult on Win10, maybe going fullscreen might help?  I don't use Windows :P )
- Barry Rodewald

Carnivius

I like RVM and Caprice Forever
I don't like Winape because it STILL does not support the d-pad on my controller, forcing me instead to have to use the thumbsticks and analog sticks are totally wrong for games based around a digital joystick.  Only times I use it are for checking out Plus features.  Which isn't often. 

Caprice Forever is nice and quick to use and does have nice control configuration.

RVM is great especially the CRT style filter which is completely configurable too. Not had any issues with Pinball Dreams on it so not sure what why some folk experience input lag. Plays fine for me.
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

PaddyC13

Hi Folks,

Is WinAPE effectively dead?  I have downloaded it and it runs on Windows 10 apart from fullscreen failing?

Many thanks

Paddy
UK


norecess464

Quote from: PaddyC13 on 13:47, 08 June 21
Is WinAPE effectively dead?

I would not say "dead" but from all evidence, in an inactive state for the moment.
My personal website: https://norecess.cpcscene.net
My current project is Sonic GX, a remake of Sonic the Hedgehog for the awesome Amstrad GX-4000 game console!

GUNHED

One of the most comprehensive and accurate Emulators is JavaCPC. It comes with lots of great tools too.
For quick work I use Caprice, great disc interface. Also WinCPC is great for debugging.
http://futureos.de --> Get the revolutionary FutureOS (Update: 2023.11.30)
http://futureos.cpc-live.com/files/LambdaSpeak_RSX_by_TFM.zip --> Get the RSX-ROM for LambdaSpeak :-) (Updated: 2021.12.26)

PaddyC13

#16
Quote from: norecess on 14:35, 09 June 21
I would not say "dead" but from all evidence, in an inactive state for the moment.

That is a real shame as it seems to be a great emulator.  Sadly, full screen mode no longer seems to work on Windows 10 64-Bit.

Kind regards

Paddy
UK

PaddyC13

Quote from: GUNHED on 15:46, 09 June 21
One of the most comprehensive and accurate Emulators is JavaCPC. It comes with lots of great tools too.
For quick work I use Caprice, great disc interface. Also WinCPC is great for debugging.

Thanks @GUNHED - I will take a look at this emulators.

BTW, is there a project within the CPC world similar to the ZX Spectrum Next?

Kind regards

Paddy
UK

PaddyC13

#18
Had a quick look at JavaCPC - very feature rich but feels somewhat unstable on my own PC (I am running the 64-bit version).

Some features which would be good...

1. Documentation.  Cannot find any detailed information unless I am missing something?

2. More control over the Turbo modes.  It seems you can either have Z80 Turbo (which I am assuming removes contention?) and Full Turbo which is unusable on a modern PC.  It would be great if you could specify 2x, 3x speed etc.

3. Keyboard.  Why do most emulators go for matching the original physical layout?  It seems far more logical to me for keypresses on the host system's keyboard are translated to those on the Amstrad?  I tried out the Atari ST emulator STEEM SSE yesterday and it does exactly this which is so much easier to use IMHO.

Many thanks

Paddy
UK

eto

Quote from: PaddyC13 on 12:12, 10 June 21Why do most emulators go for matching the original physical layout? 

I guess because the games used specific keys for the control and that usually doesn't work anymore if you are using the PC layout. And emulation of games is probably 95% of the usage of any CPC emulator.





PaddyC13

Just tried Caprice and wow, this is at the other end of the spectrum!

Really like it, easy to configure via a text file and it addresses my previous two points i.e. you can set the speed to x2 etc.  Also, the keyboard can be mapped directly to the PC keyboard.

The only issue I have come across so far is that if you set scr_style to 7 (TV x2) then in full screen the text looks great in MODE 0 and 1.  Unfortunately, if you switch to  MODE 2 (80 columns) then it becomes illegible.

Many thanks

Paddy
UK









PaddyC13

Quote from: eto on 12:37, 10 June 21
I guess because the games used specific keys for the control and that usually doesn't work anymore if you are using the PC layout. And emulation of games is probably 95% of the usage of any CPC emulator.

Hi @eto

That makes sense, it would be good to have the option to change though.

Kind regards

Paddy
UK

PaddyC13

#22
Hi Folks,

Been playing around with Caprice32 a wee bit more.  Really like this emulator although I need to work out how to handle disks etc.  For now, I have been working through the keyboard remapping and found a couple of issues in the supplied keymap_uk_win.map file.

I made a copy of the file so I could edit it and make some changes to the original.  I also reformatted so that my poor brain could better understand what was going on.  Basically, I found that three keys needed changing to correctly map the PC keyboard.  Below is a copy of the amended file with my compliments - no copyright etc. intended or inferred.

;)

Kind regards

Paddy
UK



# vim: set noexpandtab cc=80:
#
# CPC/Emulator to host keymap
# Line format: CPC_KEY<tab>HOST_KEY<tab>[OPTIONAL_MODIFIER]
# Edit this at your own risk. It is *strongly* advised to back up this
# file before trying to modify it.
#
# ============================================================================
# Change Log
# ----------
#
# Date ID Reason
# ----------- --- ------------------------------------------------------
# 11-Jun-2021 PAC Amended to confirm UK 105 keyboard mappings.
#                       1. Reformatted to make editing easier.
# 2. Old: CPC_HASH / SDLK_BACKSLASH
#    New: CPC_HASH / SDLK_HASH
# 3. Old: CPC_BACKSLASH / SDLK_LESS
#    New: CPC_BACKSLASH / SDLK_BACKSLASH
# 4. Old: CPC_PIPE / SDLK_LESS / MOD_PC_SHIFT
#    New: CPC_PIPE / SDLK_BACKSLASH / MOD_PC_SHIFT
# ============================================================================
#
# Special Keys:
#
# ESC, CLR, DEL
#
CPC_ESC SDLK_ESCAPE
CPC_CLR SDLK_DELETE
CPC_DEL SDLK_BACKSPACE
#
# TAB, RETURN
#
CPC_TAB SDLK_TAB
CPC_RETURN SDLK_RETURN
#
# CAPS LOCK
#
CPC_CAPSLOCK SDLK_CAPSLOCK
#
# LEFT SHIFT, RIGHT SHIFT
#
CPC_LSHIFT SDLK_LSHIFT
CPC_RSHIFT SDLK_RSHIFT
#
# CONTROL, COPY, SPACE, ENTER
#
CPC_CONTROL SDLK_LCTRL
CPC_COPY SDLK_LALT
CPC_SPACE SDLK_SPACE
CPC_ENTER SDLK_KP_ENTER
#
# CURSOR HOME BLOCK, CURSOR END BLOCK
#
CPC_CUR_HOMEBL SDLK_HOME MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_CUR_ENDBL SDLK_END MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# CURSOR HOME LINE, CURSOR END LINE
#
CPC_CUR_HOMELN SDLK_HOME
CPC_CUR_ENDLN SDLK_END
#
# ============================================================================
#
# Keypad:
#
# F0 - F9
#
CPC_F0 SDLK_KP_0
CPC_F1 SDLK_KP_1
CPC_F2 SDLK_KP_2
CPC_F3 SDLK_KP_3
CPC_F4 SDLK_KP_4
CPC_F5 SDLK_KP_5
CPC_F6 SDLK_KP_6
CPC_F7 SDLK_KP_7
CPC_F8 SDLK_KP_8
CPC_F9 SDLK_KP_9
#
# CURSOR UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT
#
CPC_CUR_UP SDLK_UP
CPC_CUR_DOWN SDLK_DOWN
CPC_CUR_LEFT SDLK_LEFT
CPC_CUR_RIGHT SDLK_RIGHT
#
# COPY UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT
#
CPC_CPY_UP SDLK_UP MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_CPY_DOWN SDLK_DOWN MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_CPY_LEFT SDLK_LEFT MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_CPY_RIGHT SDLK_RIGHT MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# PERIOD
#
CPC_FPERIOD SDLK_KP_PERIOD
#
# ============================================================================
#
# Numeric Keys:
#
# 1 - 0
#
CPC_1 SDLK_1
CPC_2 SDLK_2
CPC_3 SDLK_3
CPC_4 SDLK_4
CPC_5 SDLK_5
CPC_6 SDLK_6
CPC_7 SDLK_7
CPC_8 SDLK_8
CPC_9 SDLK_9
CPC_0 SDLK_0
#
# EXCLAMATION, DOUBLE QUOTE, HASH, DOLLAR, PERCENT
#
CPC_EXCLAMATN SDLK_1 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_DBLQUOTE SDLK_2 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_HASH SDLK_HASH
CPC_DOLLAR SDLK_4 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_PERCENT SDLK_5 MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# AMPERSAND, QUOTE, LEFT PARENTHESIS, RIGHT PARENTHESIS, UNDERSCORE
#
CPC_AMPERSAND SDLK_7 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_QUOTE SDLK_QUOTE
CPC_LEFTPAREN SDLK_9 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_RIGHTPAREN SDLK_0 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_UNDERSCORE SDLK_MINUS MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# ============================================================================
#
# Letter Keys:
#
# A - Z
#
CPC_A SDLK_a MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_B SDLK_b MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_C SDLK_c MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_D SDLK_d MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_E SDLK_e MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_F SDLK_f MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_G SDLK_g MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_H SDLK_h MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_I SDLK_i MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_J SDLK_j MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_K SDLK_k MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_L SDLK_l MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_M SDLK_m MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_N SDLK_n MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_O SDLK_o MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_P SDLK_p MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_Q SDLK_q MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_R SDLK_r MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_S SDLK_s MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_T SDLK_t MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_U SDLK_u MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_V SDLK_v MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_W SDLK_w MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_X SDLK_x MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_Y SDLK_y MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_Z SDLK_z MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# a - z
#
CPC_a SDLK_a
CPC_b SDLK_b
CPC_c SDLK_c
CPC_d SDLK_d
CPC_e SDLK_e
CPC_f SDLK_f
CPC_g SDLK_g
CPC_h SDLK_h
CPC_i SDLK_i
CPC_j SDLK_j
CPC_k SDLK_k
CPC_l SDLK_l
CPC_m SDLK_m
CPC_n SDLK_n
CPC_o SDLK_o
CPC_p SDLK_p
CPC_q SDLK_q
CPC_r SDLK_r
CPC_s SDLK_s
CPC_t SDLK_t
CPC_u SDLK_u
CPC_v SDLK_v
CPC_w SDLK_w
CPC_x SDLK_x
CPC_y SDLK_y
CPC_z SDLK_z
#
# ============================================================================
#
# Punctuation Keys:
#
# MINUS, EQUAL, POWER, POUND
#
CPC_MINUS SDLK_MINUS
CPC_EQUAL SDLK_EQUALS
CPC_POWER SDLK_6 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_POUND SDLK_3 MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# AT, PIPE, LEFT BRACKET, LEFT CURLY BRACE
#
CPC_AT SDLK_QUOTE MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_PIPE SDLK_BACKSLASH MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_LBRACKET SDLK_LEFTBRACKET
CPC_LCBRACE SDLK_LEFTBRACKET MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# COLON, ASTERISK, SEMICOLON, PLUS, RIGHT BRACKET, RIGHT CURLY BRACKET
#
CPC_COLON SDLK_SEMICOLON MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_ASTERISK SDLK_8 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_SEMICOLON SDLK_SEMICOLON
CPC_PLUS SDLK_EQUALS MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_RBRACKET SDLK_RIGHTBRACKET
CPC_RCBRACE SDLK_RIGHTBRACKET MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# COMMA, LESS, PERIOD, GREATER, SLASH, QUESTION
#
CPC_COMMA SDLK_COMMA
CPC_LESS SDLK_COMMA MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_PERIOD SDLK_PERIOD
CPC_GREATER SDLK_PERIOD MOD_PC_SHIFT
CPC_SLASH SDLK_SLASH
CPC_QUESTION SDLK_SLASH MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# BACKSLASH, BACKQUOTE
#
CPC_BACKSLASH SDLK_BACKSLASH
CPC_BACKQUOTE SDLK_BACKQUOTE
#
# ============================================================================
#
# Other CPC Keys:
#
CPC_CTRL_a SDLK_a MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_b SDLK_b MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_c SDLK_c MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_d SDLK_d MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_e SDLK_e MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_f SDLK_f MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_g SDLK_g MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_h SDLK_h MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_i SDLK_i MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_j SDLK_j MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_k SDLK_k MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_l SDLK_l MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_m SDLK_m MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_n SDLK_n MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_o SDLK_o MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_p SDLK_p MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_q SDLK_q MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_r SDLK_r MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_s SDLK_s MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_t SDLK_t MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_u SDLK_u MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_v SDLK_v MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_w SDLK_w MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_x SDLK_x MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_y SDLK_y MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_z SDLK_z MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_0 SDLK_0 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_1 SDLK_1 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_2 SDLK_2 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_3 SDLK_3 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_4 SDLK_4 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_5 SDLK_5 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_6 SDLK_6 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_7 SDLK_7 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_8 SDLK_8 MOD_PC_CTRL
CPC_CTRL_9 SDLK_9 MOD_PC_CTRL
#
# ============================================================================
#
# Emulator Keymap:
#
CAP32_DEBUG SDLK_F12
CAP32_PASTE SDLK_F11
CAP32_EXIT SDLK_F10
CAP32_SPEED SDLK_F9
CAP32_FPS SDLK_F8
CAP32_JOY SDLK_F7
CAP32_MF2STOP SDLK_F6
CAP32_RESET SDLK_F5
CAP32_TAPEPLAY SDLK_F4
CAP32_SCRNSHOT SDLK_F3
CAP32_SNAPSHOT SDLK_F3 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CAP32_LD_SNAP SDLK_F4 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CAP32_FULLSCRN SDLK_F2
CAP32_GUI SDLK_F1
CAP32_VKBD SDLK_F1 MOD_PC_SHIFT
CAP32_WAITBREAK SDLK_PAUSE
CAP32_DELAY SDLK_PAUSE MOD_PC_SHIFT
CAP32_DEVTOOLS SDLK_F2 MOD_PC_SHIFT
#
# ============================================================================



andycadley

Is the goal to fix an issue with games etc, or to make typing in BASIC etc easier?


I wonder if a short BASIC program full of KEY DEF definitions might work better. Anything machine code that's scanning the keys directly will get them in the right "logical" position, but anything going via the firmware will get the right symbols.

PaddyC13

Hi @andycadley

Thank you for your response.  Using the key def file I posted above in Caprice32 works perfectly.

Kind regards

Paddy

Powered by SMFPacks Menu Editor Mod