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Handheld Hyperspin Build?


underthesky00

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Is it possible to create a handheld setup that can run Hyperspin? The closest I've seen is streaming Hyperspin to the Nvidia Shield Portable via Nvidia's GameStream. I've spent the week tweaking my HTPC and Nvidia Shield Portable to talk to each other and I have Hyperspin steaming on my Shield now but there's just enough lag that it makes some games annoying (Super Mario on the NES for example). I'd love to have a portable Hyperspin system but is it even possible and has anyone ever attempted it? I've seen small builds but nothing handheld with built in controller and screen setup. Any ideas out there?

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I very much doubt there are any handheld consoles capable of running HyperSpin at the moment but who knows what the future may bring? Along with the Shield there have been a number of Android based devices with built in gaming controls released in recent years (mainly by Chinese companies such as JXD and GPD, but also Archos) but now that Windows tablets are becoming more powerful and affordable thanks to Intel's Atom and Core M processors, maybe there will be a shift over to Windows handheld consoles at some point.

I'm actually planning to buy a Windows 2-in-1 (a tablet plus attachable keyboard), probably an Asus T100 Chi when they are available in the UK. It will be interesting to see whether a quad core Atom Z3775 is up to the task of running HyperSpin and some emulators.

If anyone's already got a decent Windows tablet, let's see what you can get to work on it!

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I very much doubt there are any handheld consoles capable of running HyperSpin at the moment but who knows what the future may bring? Along with the Shield there have been a number of Android based devices with built in gaming controls released in recent years (mainly by Chinese companies such as JXD and GPD, but also Archos) but now that Windows tablets are becoming more powerful and affordable thanks to Intel's Atom and Core M processors, maybe there will be a shift over to Windows handheld consoles at some point.

I'm actually planning to buy a Windows 2-in-1 (a tablet plus attachable keyboard), probably an Asus T100 Chi when they are available in the UK. It will be interesting to see whether a quad core Atom Z3775 is up to the task of running HyperSpin and some emulators.

If anyone's already got a decent Windows tablet, let's see what you can get to work on it!

I wonder how the Dell Venue 8 would fair? Intel Atom Z3740D Processor (2MB Cache, up to 1.8GHz Quad-Core) 2 GB RAM Memory. They have a 32gb and 64gb variant and it has a Micro SD slot so you could easily add another 64gb. I wonder how much space you need to have MAME and all systems up to the 16 bit era (ROMS, Hyperspin themes, videos, etc). I guess I could sit and try and figure that out.

You could then pair the tablet with a clip on controller like this: http://www.amazon.com/Controller-Portable-Bluetooth-Smartphone-TabletTablet/dp/B00MTI15J6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428365479&sr=8-1&keywords=tablet+gamepad

It looks like you can also hook the tablet up to an HDTV. So not only could you play on the device when your on the go, but you could hook it up to a TV, along with an Xbox Controller Receiver, and play on a bigger screen with Xbox controllers. Sounds like a win to me.

I wouldn't mind picking up the tablet and testing it out but I'd like to have some sort of idea as to whether or not this could work with Windows 8 and an Atom processor.

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Did some quick numbers and with most all the cart based systems (Ataris, Lynx, Game Boys, NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Gear, couple others), and MAME ROMS that don't use a folder like Area 51 and Gauntlet Legends, I get right under 50 gigs. The media (themes, images, videos) for all those systems comes to 42.9 gigs. So just under 100 gigs gets you all of that. I didn't include any CD based systems, the N64, Nintendo DS, or PSP in those numbers. I imagine you could add in the N64 and it would be another 10-15 gigs but I have a dedicated N64 with a flash cart so I don't care to play those games on the go. So a 128 gig SD card would do the trick but the prices on those are still pretty high compared to the rest. Another thought was maybe getting an OTG cable that converts the mini USB to full sized and using a USB flash drive. It looks like the 128's are $30-45 which is much cheaper than the SD card. I actually saw a 256 on Amazon for around $75 so that could easily add more of the higher end systems into the mix if someone wanted to go that route.

Ultimately, I'm not sure I want to invest the time and money into this project right now. I think this time next year there might be some better options for Windows Tablets that could make the experience better. If I end up with some free time, I may try and dive into this now but I wanted to get the ideas out there at least in case anyone has a Windows tablet and wants to tinker around. It would be pretty cool to see!

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  • 4 weeks later...

A Surface 2 and 3 can run PC games pretty decently so I can't imagine Hyperspin would be any problem for it at all. Plus if I remember right you can sync 360 (and maybe X1) controller right to a Surface out of the box.

You couldn't get much more portable than that. Like underthesky00 said, memory would probably be the only issue.

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Made this for me and other android emulation enthusiasts, not phones. Phones can't handle PSP and Dolphin emulators. But will fix compatibility issues and add support eventually but focus is on features, performance, and stability. Will shift focus to driver issues and other OS's once things settle.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I've read reports from emulator devs saying how Android is an awful platform for emulation. This post by Exophase (DraStic's dev) is the most recent. In my own experience with Android RetroArch on a Nexus 7 2013 tablet, there was noticeable input/display lag when playing with a wired Saturn USB pad.

 

x86 based Windows 8 devices seem like a better bet for quality portable emulation. With Win10 coming out there'll be more options for those too.

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Unless this is an extremely elaborate (and belated) April Fool's joke, it's pretty amazing news! Well done reznnate!

I've got two Android handheld consoles with built-in controls (an Archos GamePad 2 and a GPD G5A) so I hope this won't be exclusive to the Shield. I've tried the Gamesome front end but it's not really working yet and I'd love to use HyperSpin instead.

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I've read reports from emulator devs saying how Android is an awful platform for emulation. This post by Exophase (DraStic's dev) is the most recent. In my own experience with Android RetroArch on a Nexus 7 2013 tablet, there was noticeable input/display lag when playing with a wired Saturn USB pad.

 

Indeed, when considering the entire Android ecosystem of low-end phones, tablets, various manufacturers, old versions of Android not being updated, etc... it's a mess, if your goal is to support all of the thousands of different phones and tablets.    For this reason, many emulation developers focus on newer, high-end devices but even then, variance across drivers, power-management and peripheral support can cause headaches.

 

Many emu authors optimize for Shield so this is partly my reason for initial focus/development.   They also have good support for external hard-drives and sdcards.

I borrowed a friend's Nexus9 and the Hyperspin app runs great on it.   The PROBLEM is the tablet doesn't apparently work well with external media (might be fixed with root ?)

This severely limits things given the limited internal storage.

 

Reznnate

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Those will run the full Hyperspin  ;)

 

Yeah, it's cool to see these new tablets that can run all the same stuff my desktop can. Well, whatever their CPU's can handle anyways. Ideally I'd like something that can handle BSNES balanced and Mednafen PSX with hard sync 1 or 0 through RetroArch. I don't think the Venue Pro 8 or HP Stream 7 are up to that task. Maybe the Surface 3, but it's a bit pricey.

 

Many emu authors optimize for Shield so this is partly my reason for initial focus/development.   They also have good support for external hard-drives and sdcards.

 

I've heard the Shield does fare better than other Android devices. I've thought about grabbing one a few times, but I have a GCW Zero which works well enough for me for now. There's no noticable audio or input lag in any emulators I've tried, it has a decent DPad after greasing it a bit, and it fits in my pocket. It's just not very powerful; it has to make due with speed optimized emulators for GBA and SNES. Which can be a bit glitchy with certain games. NES is pretty good with FCEU. TG16 has off colors and slightly off pitch sound with Temper, but it seems the system could handle Mednafen's PCE_Fast if someone ever finishes a port of it. Gambatte is on there, but it's missing button remapping and IPU screen scaling. There's a really good port of Genesis Plus GX on it, so Sega 8-16 bit stuff is perfect.

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One of the main reasons we started this Android app project was to replace the PC in my mame cab. So I want fast hardware that can run new emulators. Also, I rarely have more than a few minutes for a quick game or two so I rarely bothered to turn it on. With Android, it is always on, doesn't kill my electricity bill, and wakes instantly when I want to play a game. Works great but I needed a proper GUI.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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this is amazing i also have an android tablet and its got  a nice big screen will a motrolla tablet be able to run this as well or only the newer generation type if so its deffintely worth the money i hope this project takes off my sincere regards relic 

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My old Xperia SP runs Nintendo DS, PSP and Dreamcast with Drastic, PPSSPP and Reicast respectively at 60 fps, we already have Dolphin for Android, I know this latter will take some time to run at decent speeds, but I assure that Android is an amazing and promising emulation environment.

 

Please, if you need testers with this, let me know, I rooted my phone and I have lots of emulators running fine on it.

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This is... really exciting news... How well do you think this would work on an Odroid C1 or U3? I've been toying with the idea of building my own streambox using Android. Knowing I could possibly bring Hyperspin along for the ride is... a really exciting prospect to say the least. :D

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