Saturday, November 19, 2011

Getting Started with RetroArch

Update (4/23/2012): SSNES has changed its name to reflect its versatility beyond SNES emulation. The new name is RetroArch and this article has been updated to reflect the change.

RetroArch is a multi-platform multi-emulator with support for some really cool, unique features, including extensive shader and filter support, real-time rewind, lossless video dumping, advanced "lagless" netplay, and more. Unlike many other emulators, RetroArch is under rapid and active development and receives new features on a regular basis. However, all of these esoteric options and capabilities can be daunting to new users, so this guide will cover the basics. The instructions are primarily geared toward Windows users, but the configuration information is essentially the same on any platform.

So, first off: RetroArch is all about modularity, so we need to download a couple of initial modules, namely the RetroArch executable and its helper libraries. To get started, go to the RetroArch homepage and download the RetroArch full package that suits your system (the 'x86' build will work on all machines, while the x64 build will only work in 64-bit versions of Windows; get the x86 version if you don't know which is appropriate for you). The slim package contains the absolute minimum required for bare, no-frills emulation, while the full package is prepared to utilize RetroArch's many advanced features.

Once your download finishes, extract the zip file, navigate to the extracted RetroArch folder and look for retroarch-phoenix.exe. This is the graphical user interface (GUI) module that will help us get RetroArch set up and configured. Double-click it and you should see a window that looks like this:
Along the upper edge of the window, open the RetroArch menu and select Update RetroArch:
It should open a window that looks like this:
You can use this tool to automatically download updates for RetroArch, its helper libraries and any/all of the various emulation cores. First off, you'll need to select which flavor of RetroArch you're using--x86 or x64 (aka x86_64)--by clicking on the appropriate bubble next to CPU.
Then, click on the button labeled Check version. This will search for updates to RetroArch and/or its helper libraries and populate the list of available emulation cores:
After that, click on the bubble labeled Redist and then the button that says Download RetroArch. This will fetch any updated RetroArch executables, as well as fresh copies of all of the helper libraries (you can update RetroArch without the helper libraries by using the Full button instead of Redist).

At this point, you can also automatically download any of the cores in the list by double-clicking on its entry. After the download finishes, it will ask if you want to use the core. Whether you do or not is okay, as we'll be specifying our desired core in just a few seconds anyway.

Once you're done downloading cores (you can come back to this menu and download more cores at any time), close the Updater window and return to the main window, where we'll need to configure some options.

Starting from the top, the Normal ROM path is where you select the ROM you want to play. It will not hide inappropriate files, so make sure you pick the right one for the system you wish to emulate ;)

Next, we need to tell RetroArch where to store and load its settings, via the RetroArch config file path. Click Open, and then navigate to your RetroArch folder and choose the file named retroarch.cfg. Likewise, for RetroArch path, click Open, navigate to the same folder and select retroarch.exe.
Finally, the Emulator core path lets us select which emulation core we wish to use. So, click Open, navigate to the RetroArch folder and look for your desired core that you downloaded from the Updater, such as gambatte-0.5wip1-x86_64.dll in my case. RetroArch can be paired with any emulator core that conforms to the libretro API specification, including but not limited to the original libretro (previously known as libsnes) derived from byuu's bsnes.

At this point, simple emulation should be functional, so go ahead and try it by clicking on the big button labeled Start RetroArch. If it works, congratulations! You're ready to play. Check out the advanced configuration options to learn about filters/shaders, netplay, rewind support and more.

If it doesn't work, click on the File menu at the top of the window and select Show log. This will give you some information on why it failed. If you seek help at the RetroArch forums or in the RetroArch IRC channel, be sure to have this information handy, as it will help others solve your problem.


If you would like to explore some of RetroArch's more advanced features, check out this guide.

For Linux Users

If you're using a Debian-based distro, such as Ubuntu or Mint, you can use my PPA repo, where I package a number of emulators, including RetroArch and all flavors of libretro. To install RetroArch, open Synaptic Package Manager and add ppa:hunter-kaller/ppa to your software sources. You can then install any of the packages through your normal installation procedure of choice.

Otherwise, configuration is just like in Windows, except your retroarch.cfg file is initially installed to /etc/retroarch.cfg (but can then be copied to and overridden by any retroarch.cfg file located in ~/.config/retroarch/) and the emulation cores install to /usr/lib/.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Watch Sweet November Online For Free Without Downloading No Surveys One of the Best Love Stories Ever

Sweet November is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. The two Actors are opposite Nelson Moss is calculated and travel on career. Sara Deever lives a “live moment” life without a job and free to plan anything for tomorrow. Both Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron give great performances.

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iPad/iPhone/Android Stream

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Watch Keith Online For Free Without Downloading No Surveys

Keith  is one of the best movies I have seen in a long while. It is a simple story of teenage love and loss between Keith and Natalie. It's similar to A Walk to Remember movie. The point of the movie is about living life to its fullest. This movie is definitely one of the movies you can watch over and over and can make you cry at the end.
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Friday, October 28, 2011

Egyptian "Fatta" طريقة فتة الثوم واللحم المصرية

Egyptian "Fatta" فتة الثوم واللحم المصرية

Scroll down for English post
الفتة هي إحدى الأكلات المشهورة في مصر، وهي تعتبر أكلة محببة جداً في المناسبات والأعياد، البعض يأكلها في أول يوم للعيد (عيد الأضحى أو عيد الفطر) حتى أنهم يأكلونها على الإفطار أحياناً والبعض الآخر يأكلها في المناسبات المختلفة مثل العقيقة أو الاحتفال بمولد طفل جديد أو في رمضان أو ولائم الأفراح. الفتة المصرية التقليدية هي عبارة عن طبقات، طبقة من الخبز المحمر يضاف إليه مقدار من مرق اللحم وطبقة الأرز والخل والثوم وصلصلة الطماطم بالثوم، ويضاف على وجهها اللحم المسلوق والمحمر. يختلف نوع اللحم حسب الرغبة أحياناً يتم عملها بلحم بقري أو غنم صافي بدون دهن أو بدهن وأحيان أخرى يتم عملها بالأكارع وتكون حينها أكلة دسمة جداً. تعتبر هذه الأكلة من أسهل الأطباق الرئيسية حيث إنها لا تأخذ الكثير من المجهود لعملها.

الوصفة تكفــي: 2 إلى 3 أشخاص
وقت التحضير: 14 دقيقة
وقت الطهـــــي: 30 دقيقة
"Fatta" is a traditional dish in Egypt, it's so popular and lovely dish in all occasions and Feasts, some people eat it on the first day of Feast (AL-Adha or Al-Fitr), some even eat it for breakfast on the first day of Feast, and some eat it on different occasions like baby shower, Ramadan Iftar, or weddings. Traditional Egyptian Fatta consists of layers of toasted Arabian bread with some beef broth added to it, and a layer of steamed rice with garlic & vinegar and garlic tomato sauce, and then added a layer of boiled meat after adding color to it in the oven. The meat used for this dish can be beef or lamb with or without fat, most people make it with beef shin or feet which makes it really fatty then. This dish is considered one of the easiest main dishes because it doesn't take much time or effort to make.

Serves: 2 to 3 people
Prep. Time: 14 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Click here for the recipe اضغط هنا للوصفة »

Friday, October 14, 2011

Watch The Lion King Online For Free Without Downloading No Surveys The greatest Disney movie ever Made

The Lion King One of the most popular Disney animated movies. The Lion King movie is amazing! I really love this movie never gets old. That movie just takes you somewhere deep. The part in Lion King where mufasa dies has to be the saddest part in ANY movie. Favorite movie of all time.

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Watch The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012) Alternative Stream #3

see-turkeyThe Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012) watch full movie online english no subtitles here.

How to watch 2012 Twilight Breaking Dawn - Part 2 For Free - click on the play icon in the middle of the screen and wait for movie to load. Enjoy the movie.

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Enjoy watching and Don't forget to leave a comment to let others know that video is working fine.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Using sloth86's Ambient Occlusion Tools in SF4

In the course of making skins for SF4, you might have toggled off an unwanted model, such as Chun Li's spiked bracelets, only to find an unsightly darkening, similar to a shadow, where the object used to be. This darkening is part of what's known as an "ambient occlusion (AO) map," which is used by the game to fake some self-shadowing by the models and thus reduce the amount of shadows your computer needs to draw dynamically to look realistic. However, once the offending model is gone, the AO isn't really appropriate anymore, so we need to do something about it.

For this tutorial, you'll need to download some of sloth86's tools: AOExtractor, AOInject and EMG Swapper, as well as piecemontee's Asset Explorer (aka, SF4Viewer). You'll also need a paint program that can view/edit EPS files, such as Photoshop. UPDATE (6/20/2012): the links for sloth86's tools are dead. You can now get the AO tools here and the EMG Swapper here.

Once you have your tools, open your desired costume file (*.obj.emo) in the Asset Explorer. I'm going to be using Chun Li's default costume (CNL_01.obj.emo):













As you can see in the picture above, I've already toggled off her 'Ring' model, which has left the visible AO darkening on her 'Skin_arm' model, which I intend to fix.

So, next we'll want to select that darkened model, right-click and choose 'raw dump' to get the raw EMG model. Name it something informative with the .emg file extension and click 'save.'

While we're here, take note of which EMG model we're extracting, counting from the top. For me, it's the 10th one. We'll need this information later, so write it down or something.

Next, open the AOExtract tool. You should see a window like this pop up:







In the first field, put in whatever you just saved your dumped model as. In my case, 'skin_arm.emg.' The other options can be left at the default values, unless you just feel like changing them. (Subdividing triangles will make your EPS file look a little nicer, but it takes longer and is unnecessary)

Click 'Extract' and you should end up with a new file, in my case 'new.eps.'

Open your new EPS file in Photoshop and you should see something like this:













Those triangles you see correspond to the triangles used to make the model (just like the UV map, if you're familiar with those). As you can see, some of them are particularly dark, while others are lighter, just like we saw in the Asset Explorer window.

So, using the dropper tool, pick a medium color (we don't want a dark shadow, but we don't want it all bright like a highlight, either). If you're familiar with using hex color values, EFEFEF is a pretty good, generic match.

Once you have your color, you can either use the paint bucket tool to change each triangle by hand, or you can just paint over the whole thing, like I did.

Once you're all finished, we need to 'Save As...' and choose the bitmap (BMP) format, with OS/2 compatibility, 24-bit and no compression.

Next, open the AOInject tool. You should see a window like this:







In the first field, enter the name of your dumped EMG model, in my case, skin_arm.emg. In the second field  enter the name of our modified, blank AO map, in .bmp format. The third field can keep its default value.

Click 'Go' and you should be left with a new EMG model that we can view in the Asset Explorer:











As the pic shows, it's all one uniform gray color, instead of having light and dark areas.

Great!

However, now we need to actually get this unshadowed model back into our character model. For this, we turn to the EMG Swapper tool.


Open it up and you should see a window like this:








In the first field, enter the name of the character model you're working with, in my case, CNL_01.obj.emo. In the second field, enter the number of the model we're replacing (remember the thing we wrote down earlier??), in my case it's number 10. In the third field, enter the name of your modified model (the one we injected the new AO map into), in my case 'blank.emg.' The last field can be left with the default value, unless you want to name it something else.

Click 'Go' and you should be left with a new EMO file, which we can view in the Asset Explorer:













Our model fits right in and doesn't have any messy shadows for nonexistent objects anymore. Mission accomplished!

Unfortunately, you can see that her hands still have darkening, which creates a seam next to our modified object, but using your newly found AO mapping expertise, I'm sure you can fix it on your own. ;-)

That's it. Good luck, share your work and ALWAYS MAKE BACKUPS!

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