Why does playing old games on an emulator feel so soulless compared to real hardware? Even if the emulation is 100% accurate, there's still something deeply unsatisfying about playing these games on some chinese made flat lcd monitor with fake refresh rate specs, running on a taiwanese made computer and an os full of advertising and telemetry that's constantly spying on you, pushing propaganda, and trying to sell something to you, with a modern cheap feeling plastic controller made of parts that disintegrate after a few months.Meanwhile, when I sit in from of an old crt monitor with a physical cartridge or disk and the real hardware in my hands, I feel none of that dissatisfaction. Has anyone studied the psychology behind all of this?
>>10868223*in front of
>>10868223I understand that people want to play on real hardware on a CRT. It feels more authentic and fun.
>>10868223First of all, you can plug your computer into a CRT. You can also plug OG controllers into a CRT (albeit with some input lag since it requires USB interface instead of serial)Second of all, even if people on here will tell you all of this doesn't really matter, your brain will still subconsciously understand that something is wrong. Sometimes I think about using CRTs in the sense that it just *feels* right. It's more correct. And it does also feel more correct to use real hardware, because you know there's a real object with the actual inner workings doing that stuff there. Inversely, there's shit that some people think is a deal breaker that doesn't fuck me up really. I have a Panasonic Superflat that definitely has red push and some underlying processing bullshit even on s-video but it doesn't really matter when playing a game.
>>10868247*****OG controllers into a PC
>>10868223It starts with "n" and ends with "stalgia".Also the feeling that old game belongs togehter with appropriate old hardware.
>>10868250I don't think that's it. I think it has to do with the general state of modern hardware and software and how everything is purposely designed to be shitty to make more money now. Just using modern versions of Windows is a deeply infuriating and depressing activity. Playing on real hardware avoids having to get anywhere near that shit.
>>10868257>Just using modern versions of Windows is a deeply infuriating and depressing activityWell no not really. I appreciate how modern Windows just works while if you used Windows 3.1 or 98 you wouldn't like it very much. The BSOD every 5 minutes was great fun.
Motion blur is soul
Nah, OP is right. I've done the test, listen I've used a Mister, connected to a TV, it's close... Super close. But there is literally nothing like using original hardware on a CRT. I've done it back to back, there is something that's lost in translation and unless you've done it you won't understand it. It's beyond nostalgia, probably something unable to be measured or analyzed at this point in history. But truly there is nothing more soulless and terrible than playing a game on a flat screen retroarch. I genuinely feel bad for people that have this as their only avenue.
>>10868261At least Windows 3.1 didn't try to shove gay sex propaganda in my face every time I started up my computer.
>>10868223>Why does playing old games on an emulator feel so soulless compared to real hardware?Because you are an autistic vinyl record hipster faggot
>>10868269well i tried some SNES games with my Flash cart I got recently and Tiny Toon Adventures looks gorgeous on hardware+CRT, so lush and vibrant. i can't say I liked Civilization as much; that game was clearly meant for a PC monitor and a TV is too low-res for it.
>>10868223Because part of you feels silly for owning a crt and another part of you is trying to justify your right to own real hardware. The solution to this conflict is to accept that there is nothing wrong with owning your consoles, cartridges, and old tvs. I suspect someone in your life made fun of you, yes? It's okay OP don't listen to them, play the games how you want to.
>>10868269Those nostalgia goggles are thick as hell
>>10868247>First of all, you can plug your computer into a CRT.I got treated like a maniac in a Radioshack back in the day for telling them I wanted to do that.
>>10868223it's ok anon, you don't have to feel bad about yourself for paying 3 digits for a dogshit Sanyo CRT. No need to feel bad about yourself by throwing shade to others.
>>10868269now this is mental illness
>>10868326I own a 32” trinitron, tons of consoles(soft and hard modded), everdrives, odes, original games, a few boot legs, and I still emulate on a projector mostly, sometimes on a flat screen but only if I’m in bed. I don’t feel like I’m “missing out” but I do have deep nostalgia for crt and real consoles. It’s a different feeling for sure, but I still enjoy emulating, especially arcade games. Shits cash playing shmups on a wall, everyone needs to try it.
>>10868282You are a bigot, why do you hate scat fetish, anon? Do you have a poop-phobie? People enjoy getting smeared with shit, whats the problem?
tacticity, next thread
>>10868223>Why does playing old games on an emulator feel so soulless compared to real hardware?It doesn't for me. I grew up playing video games and playing them on an emulator's exactly the same. Maybe for some people the ritual of putting the cart in and fiddling with the TV added to it, but for me the fun was just playing the games.
>>10868282Imagine being this butthurt over /pol/tard shit and not even bothering to install Linuxngmi
>>10868302anything other than original hardware on a CRT is more so a simulacra of retro gaming than actual retro gaming. So many things in our modern world are just that: a simulacra of something real. I'm sick of that kind of shit, I want the real thing. I dont own any retro games other than some ps1 and ps2 stuff, but I find myself wanting a small, heavily curated collection of my favorite stuff. i do have to shout out emulation for helping me try a bunch of classic stuff so i know what i like and, therefore, what to buy, though.
>>10868223it doesn't
It felt fine emulating on official hardware (Wii, Wii u, 3ds...etc)
>>10868223> 100% accurateImternal accuracy is not the same as physically realized accuracy. pc hardware prevents that accuracy from being able to manifest in the real world.
>>10868223ConsumerismYou get that dopamine rush from having something physical in your hands
>>10870041>pc hardware prevents that accuracy from being able to manifest in the real world.You can emulate bare metal hardware if you have a powerful enough computer.The limit of how low you can go though is immeasurable, probably quantum effects and beyond.
>>10870178You completly misunderstood what I am saying. It does not matter how powerful your cpu is, even if you emulated the game at the quantum level, it would still not be accurate as the computers input/output hardware is the limiting factor.
>>10868282huh I'm on stock 11 and I don't get any of that shit. probably region-based.
>>10868223>Why does playing old games on an emulator feel so soulless compared to real hardware?It doesn't.
It's just the flatpanels not being up to task and the setup just being more of a hassle. People don't value this but when all you do is open the game disc in, put the game in and play, that has real value.Meanwhile on emulator, make sure right controller is plugged (assuming you don't just use Dualsense for everything), make sure it's mapped correctly, make sure it's sending signal to a CRT if you're using onegame still ends up having minor bugs because the game isn't 100% compatible yet
>>10868223Because you're obsessed with ownership. Let go of it and become free. I feel zero difference, because I am interested in playing games, not the idea of owning them.
I need you guys to start making PC on CRT threads because I've never done it and I've started looking into buying an ancient Radeon 6800 because it has S-Video out because apparently that's the good shit and that's a whole fucking rabbithole I don't want to go on
>>10872268>68004800*
>>10872268gpu native s-video out is always 480i. You want any old card that is compatible with CRTEmudriver, then convert to your video of choice with VGA2NTSC.
>>10872318So this is the actual thing that you're all doing to run emulators on CRT?I just find it hilarious that you all have a Radeon from 2007 in your PCs if that's actually the case
>>10868250Its not even nostalgiaDo zoomers know about audiophile self hypnosis
>>10868269>>10868223>>10868246>>10869153>been playing all the classic consoles since covid>set up is a laptop running retroarch hdmi'd to a 60 inch 1080p flat screen using an 8bitdo blue tooth controller which I also use with my phone to play old game boy/game gear games >have fun, get fully invested in the games>some gatekeeping nostalgia fag on 4chins says I'm wrong for doing so and am not actually having fun lollmao
>>10872880you can be fine with simulacra, you can even enjoy it. doesnt change the fact that it's still a copy of something real. the modus operandi of our modern times: fake bullshit.
>>10872929All video games are fake. It's the nature of the medium.
>>10872982analog tv, analog hardware, OEM controller are the truth.
I bought an overpriced piece of plastic because I thought I could make a profit and now I need to convince people that the game in my piece of plastic is better than the *identical* copy they can get for free: the thread.
>>10868223Why do obvious zoomers keep trying to use the word "soulless" incorrectly? It's like you got blasted on this board in the past as soulless and now you pathologically jsut keep attempting to repeat the same word hoping you'll score a point back at your aggressors.
>>10873012I'm sorry you feel that way
>>10868326>t. lifelong emufagThe people who never experienced these games in their original context will tell you that any emulator running on any device is fine for getting the full experience, because they literally don’t know any better.
>>10868223That was true for me until I got an OLED TV + Retrotink 5X PRO. Now my small CRT collects dust.
>>10873018I have played many PS2 games on an actual PS2 connected to a small 14" CRT through SCART RGB and let me tell you one thing: emulation with upscaling actually makes those games look closer to what they look on a CRT than playing on an actual PS2 with an HDMI adapter. It just does. So your options are:>1. Real PS2 + cheap component cable set/HDMI adapter + cheap LCD TV or monitor (the last of which you probably already have; low cost but pretty shit overall).>2. Real PS2 + real CRT (moderately expensive, very good experience).>3. Emulation device (no cost at all to medium cost depending on what you already have, still pretty good experience).>4. >>10873030 (maybe it's good, I haven't tried it; the fact of the matter is, it's very expensive)Games can be pirated regardless of what you do, so whatever. I don't know why someone would choose 1. over 2. or 3., honestly. 1. is almost always the worst choice. Yet I feel like some people who do 1. still feel themselves superior to people who do 3. for whatever reason.
>>10868223I feel this way about Nintendo 64 and PS2 because those were systems I grew up with. I have no problem playing all 32 bit and below on, say, chinkheld, simply because I didn't grow up with them. However, I can't get past the first few minutes of ANY game on emulator. Emulator to me is a useful tool for testing out games you've never played, and interfacing with save data in ways you normally can't (i.e. cheating), but beyond that it's basically pointless to be into this hobby if you're stuck emulating because of your poverty
>>10873665>playing all 32 bit and belowPS2 is 32-bit.>it's 128-bit because it has SIMD units!Then modern PCs are 256- and in some instances 512-bit. Not sure why manufacturers call their CPUs AMD64 or Intel 64.
>>10873665I prefer to play console games on hardware but retro computer stuff is a dreadfully expensive headache and not worth it so I'd rather just emulate that.
>>10872929If youre playing an snes game you didnt go buy from a store brand new right off the shelf and go play it on your new 20inch 100 pound crt you bought from sears while wearing flannel shirt with long hair and listening to your freshly unwrapped nirvana cassette on your yorx tape deck killing time until you go to see Jurassic Park at the theater with your friends later that night you're having a fake experience.
>>10873837have you seen what they're asking for Amiga hardware? fuck that, UAE sounds cheaper.
>>10874083That's ok, it's not as if there's any Amiga games worth playing anyway.
>>10868223Sounds like a "You" problem.
>>10873018I grew up playing all this shit on real hardware and I still prefer to emulate.The true experience was playing it 30 years ago when it was new and current. Playing it now in any form is already so far removed from the context it was designed to be consumed in that any perception of 'authenticity' is just delusion.
>>10874197Nope, if you still had the real hardware you'd see there's a big difference
>>10874197You're confusing "authentic game experience" with "authentic childhood experience". Authenticity doesn't matter to someone ashamed to openly enjoy retro video games to begin with.
>>10868223What's the difference between HZ and hz?
>>10874024nah, just need the crt and console hardware + OEM controller. you can cope all you want and be a smartass but real hardware is better than emulation
>>10868257You don't need windows if you just run old ass software on emulators anyway.
For old PC games DOSbox is usually fine; only certain early CGA stuff isn't emulated well. The vast majority of games people would want to actually play are VGA stuff and there's no major difference in performance between DOSBox and a real PC of that period.
>>10868223Fucking dumbass doesn't use v-sync.
>>10874197If it’s good enough for you, who am I to argue? It’s not good enough for me.
>>10874690>It’s not good enough for me.Well, gee, then I guess you will always be unhappy. Sucks to be you!
>>10874682As for that early CGA stuff like Digger et al only an actual IBM XT+CGA card will get the proper experience, emulation will not be the same. I've played some of those games on vintage PC gear and trust me when I say DOSBox is just a simulcrae of it. But if you just want to play Colonization or Day of the Tentacle it's fine and you won't gain anything by playing on a period PC from when those games were out.
>>10873010my controller is better than OEM because it has microswitch buttons and hall effect sticks
>>10874721>buzzwordsguaranteed it wont last as long as an oem super nintendo pad. shit is made to break these days. it's just how it is
>>10874761you think a microswitch won't last as long as a membrane?lol
>>10874684but muh latency
I saw a playthrough of Mr. Wino on Youtube recorded off a ZX Spectrum and without ever having touched a real one I know emulation isn't the same as the real thing. The smoothness of the animation alone is a big difference.
>>10870194How do I get Saudi Arabia windows fuk
>>10872324The very last card thst had a dav was a Nvidia 980.Amd doesn't make video cards. I dunno what this is about
>>10874842what controller do you have? I wanna look it up. if it's a super sick one then maybe it is better
>>10868223Human eye can't be fooled, simple as. CRT and LCD are different technologies.
You might miss certain glitches and other odd behavior on emulation.
>>10868302I collect vinyl records and I'm not even that picky about emulation. >>10868223frankly I only care about the game and the experience that game provides me, the disc, manual, and case are all secondary aspects of that experience to me.That being said, as of right now I would prefer to play original hardware, if I had a emulation box, with original controller adapters, and a CRT with an adapter, I think I would prefer that over loading up my physical games.I think after a while, you start to just not give as much of a shit about the physical stuff, if you're really in it for the long-haul, you realize the actual gameplay experience is much more important than that little extra inch of nostalgia you get from popping the game inside the console. If I'm being real with myself, I basically feel nothing from popping out a disc and placing it in the tray anymore, I did it enough times as a kid to be over it.I used to be really obsessed with getting the complete package (case with manual with disc) until I realized, I really don't even look at the manuals I get with these games, yet I still pay extra for it. Likewise, I tend to just leave a disc in my console until I'm done with that game.Accuracy may sometimes be an issue, but if it's just loading times, or like minor audio glitches, I don't care. The video quality is the most touchy part, as some games look like dogshit on hd TVs/Monitors, like higher end PS2 games and SNES games.
>>10868250"niggerstalgia"?that doesn't make any sense.
>>10872929That cd or cartridge is a copy of the first master too, faggot
>ittCoping buyfags trying to assure themself that they didnt waste money on useless physical media.Meanwhile emulator chads keep enjoying the free and authentic games
>>10868223I mean considering the amount of hilariously slanted detail you went into just to make using something as basic as a fucking computer sound bad, I'd figure it's simply autism.
>>10878008>he doesn't realise his device is physical mediaThe logic of someone that doesn't keep redundant physical backups
>>10878032>backupsjust download them again if needed?
>>10878027He's right about the spyware OS though, if you're stupid enough to use Windows.
>>10878007emufag cope
>>10868282Not even Chrome is as pozzed as Edge.
bump
>>10868223I play my /vr/ tendie games with a gamecube controller on homebrewed wii plugged into a CRTwhere am I in your nostalgia purity ranking?
>>10880462GC controller substracts a little bit of soul, but using homebrew emulator on official hardware makes up for it. I'd say you're a 0.71 below using OG hardware + flash cart on CRT.
>>10868223I know that my computer can run literally anything so seeing some tiny box still able to push what were cutting edge visuals is much cooler to me.
>>10868282Stop searching for gay sex, anon
>>10878042If games are all the data you keep, sure.
>>10868282At least we didn't have your constant gay spam and fear of being a faggot before Russia decided to skullfuck you into uselessness, you complete fruitcake. You foam at the mouth about faggots all day because you dream of a fat cock up your butthole.
>>10868223Its the controller.
>>10868269>It's beyond nostalgia, probably something unable to be measured or analyzed at this point in history.No, it's nostalgia.
>>10881005It's really not. I have zero nostalgia for the gamecube but the games are a lot more compelling when played on the real thing instead of an emulator.
>>10868282>not using classic shell that makes nu-Windows feel like Windows 7
>>10868223You never emulated correctly.
>>10881320Buying windowblinds and making my PC look like windows 98 was probably the best decision I've made. Too bad start11 is inferior to classic shell though
>>10881326Emulators can't overcome the limitations of the display. LCD and OLED suck ass for gaming, and there's no fixing it.
ive played both hardware and emulators and the difference is so minor emulation just wins because its cheaper and easier
>>10868223You should learn to use a computer.
>>10868257You don't have to use Windows to emulate.Windows 10 LTSC exists.
>>10874948Quadro cards are still being made that support 240p analog output.
>>10881461Then use an emulator on a CRT.
