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Modern computing architectures tend to be very similar. They use a process called high level emulation(HLE) where API calls to the emulated kernel, subsystems,
by meibo 5y ago
Modern computing architectures tend to be very similar. They use a process called high level emulation(HLE) where API calls to the emulated kernel, subsystems, graphics driver are basically "translated" to the host system, which allows for the high speeds and relative accuracy that lets games run beautifully. In the end, the only "traditional" emulation you'd be seeing is the CPU for the switch, which is a 64bit ARM CPU, and translated into x86 via a JIT.
If you think about wine and dxvk, it's pretty much the same concept, without the need to emulate a CPU.
On the contrary, Higan uses low level emulation(LLE), wherein the actual hardware of the system is emulated as faithfully as possible, which is very CPU intensive.
- udbhavs 5y agoAn interesting result of this is some emulators like PPSSPP or Dolphin can run several heavy games near flawlessly at this point yet they still can't emulate the system's UI or home screen because they use low level OS syscalls that games don't need. RPCS3, a PS3 emulator recently managed to boot into the cross media bar after a lot of work (https://www.pcgamesn.com/emulation/ps3-emulator-rpcs3-xmb https://www.pcgamesn.com/emulation/ps3-emulator-rpcs3-xmb)
- indolering 5y agoThe Dolphin can run the Wii menu fine now [1]. Indeed, every game in the Dolphin compatibility database is rated as playable with only minor glitches ... except one: an N64 title that uses a custom emulator. The title itself works fine when the binary is extracted and run on an N64, it's some low level weirdness that does not. But yeah, the progress reports are now mostly fixes for very low level stuff like emulating a specific hardware cache just right or matching the /exact/ semantics of AMR64 floating point for certain titles. [1]:https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Wii_Menu#Keyboard_Is_Not_Completely_Displayed https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Wii_Menu#Keyboa...