Multiple Emulator Launcher

majax79

New member
Hello,

I'm looking for a multiple emulator launcher with a nice GUI. Options to launch NES and SNES emulator a must.

Any advice?
 

FatTrucker

Abusus non tollit usum
Free: Mamewah, Mala

Shareware: GameEx, Maximus

All great, all work with any emulator. Mamewah is the hardest to set up and Maximus is probably the easiest.

Try them out then make your choice.

Pics are of Mamewah on my PC setup for Snes (with zsnes) and NES (with Nestopia).

snes1.jpg


nes1g.jpg
 
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majax79

New member
Cool, thanks for the information. I'll give em a try.

One quick question. Do you know of any program or software that can download and associate box art/instruction manuals with .nes roms? Basically, what UberNES does but without the emulator.

I personally use FCEUX. I never liked Nestopia.
 

FatTrucker

Abusus non tollit usum
Not download and associate automatically no. You can get all the consoles screenshot and boxart packs from www.localarcade.com/screenshotarchive, then use a Front-End like the one's listed above to stick it all together.

The packs at screenshot archive are all in goodtools format [romname](!)(U) etc, like most game roms. So long as the romname and associated artwork name is the same the front-ends will display the correct pics with the correct games once you tell the front-end which folders to look in for the artwork.

Others like Gamebase, and OfflineList have downloadable packs from the main Front-End sites tailored specifically to work with that front-end.

Hope that helps.

FCEUX will work just as well with any FE. Any emulator that supports launching from the commandline (just about all of them) will be fine to launch with a front-end like the ones above.
 
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majax79

New member
Thanks for all the information. It'll take me a day or so to figure it all out I'm sure.

I've been working on a list of all Licensed NES games released in the US. I've come up with 677. I'm sticking with that number, lol.

It would be cool to be able to individually set a ico file with each NES file in Windows XP but that seems pretty impossible. I'm going to google and pray that I can find a tutorial for Mamewah.

I've heard of MAME many years ago but never really knew what it was about.
 
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FatTrucker

Abusus non tollit usum
No worries. Mamewah is .ini driven (the others are all set up with windows style menus) if you get stuck, feel free to give me a shout.
 

majax79

New member
Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with a windows styled one. Which one do you think has the most modern GUI?
 

FatTrucker

Abusus non tollit usum
GameEx is more modern and media player-esque. Maximus looks and feels more like a slick, commercial product. Other than the fact Maximus is shareware (you have to pay for the full featured version) its probably all round the best FE about at the moment.

I prefer to use Mamewah because of its back end configurability.
 

majax79

New member
Well, I think I'm back at square one.

I guess I was looking more for a emulator manager. However, I think it would be quicker if I just left FCEUX, Snes9x, and zdoom on their own.

I'm a minimalist anyways. I used that bold_fortune slimming down Windows XP just to make sure I only have files I absolutely need.

Thanks for all the advice though. Hopefully in the future there will be simpler programs with cleaner interfaces. I don't want an arcade emulator though.

Take care.
 

majax79

New member
Hello,

Yeah, that's more what I was thinking of. I'm planning on downloading/editing a .dat file so that only US games licensed by Nintendo are listed. I'm basically just looking to verify my ROMs are good and to have box art displayed. I think ROMcenter is the best based on that criteria.

Is ROMcenter and OfflineList the best of the emulator managers?

Thanks for all your help.
 
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FatTrucker

Abusus non tollit usum
Offline List is .Dat based and will do everything you want to do in terms of rom and emulator management and listing the games by version/nationality etc, I'm pretty sure it also auto updates itself with screenshot packs too, although I've not looked at it for a while.

RomCenter is more of a specific rom management tool like ClrMamePro, so use that one to verify your roms and Offline List to display, manage and launch them.
 
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majax79

New member
Thanks for the information.

I'm working with ROMCenter again. These programs are so freaking complicated and often without proper instructions or tutorials.
 

ulaoulao

Controller Man
Staff member
you may want to define "with a nice GUI" but for the most part there are 3 types of front ends.

Emulator specific
emulator front environment
emulator front manager

If you really think you need a manager try this. May take some getting use to but its very adaptable. This is not the actual QP site but its where most of the active users are and downloads.. You will want the updates...
 

majax79

New member
Hello ulaoulao,

The link doesn't work. It gives me a 404 error.

By nice GUI, I mean something that doesn't look like it was made 15 years ago.

I'm looking for something like a database manager. I have all the NES and SNES roms. I'd like to be able to select a game, and see the box art of the game, perhaps along with the storyline. I already have emulators for both NES and SNES that I would like to use.
 
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ulaoulao

Controller Man
Staff member
there was an 'i' at the end link fixed.

By nice GUI, I mean something that doesn't look like it was made 15 years ago.
I like QP's gui, its simple and to the point. And its customizable to a point.

I'm looking for something like a database manager. I have all the NES and SNES roms. I'd like to be able to select a game, and see the box art of the game, perhaps along with the storyline. I already have emulators for both NES and SNES that I would like to use.
- Then ,, this is what you want. There is a media panel , and my self and one other have made a sheen shot pack to match the goodmerge sets. You can add other media and videos.
 
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majax79

New member
Just wrapping up this thread to. I got my problem solved using RomCenter. Thanks to all that helped.
 
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