Extending beyond GC and Wii? Possibly Add Gameboy and Ds emu

[2mustange]

Excuse me if this has been answered or has been overstated.
I did use search to see if i could find what i was looking for but nothing seemed to apparent in various threads for what i was looking for.
Didn't want to post this into Feature Request due to it might being something that has been talked over before.

It is clear to me that out of any emulator that dolphin has a very handy community and not only that but also talented.

To my point. I don't see why dolphin couldn't go beyond GC and wii and have more console emulations.
I am talking about Gameboy series and the DS series of emulation.

It seems Dolphin would be great for this

But i do realize there might be other reasons behind this not happening.

Just want to reach out the the developers and ask:
Is there a reason why Dolphin hasn't added a gameboy and Ds emulator?

*I know there is other programs out there for this but i like simplicity and if i only had to use one program, Dolphin, then i would be one happy gamer...kind of why i chose steam over origin for everything

[Anti-Ultimate]

Dolphin isn't a universal emulator, and the devs can't code using magic.
You know, since GC and Wii are based on the same architecture, adding wii emulation was pretty easy.

However, now there's the Gameboy. It's a completely different architecture, and since the devs can't just copy the code from other emulators (They probably won't get permissions), they have to write the entire code by themselves, which would be kinda time-wasting since there are already many great emulators out there.
Just use Desume and Visual Boy Advance and you'll be fine.

Anyways, Dolphin was done, because there's no GC/Wii Emulator yet, the same reason for (almost) every emulator created out there.

[Shonumi]

The code would be a nightmare to maintain. You might also run into the problem that in doing too much, the developers are spread too thin and can't accomplish anything. Even though there are plenty of open-source emulators, it's not that the devs can't copy the code, they just can't copy and paste it into Dolphin. Dolphin has it's own framework for achieving what it does, and other emulators have theirs, you'd have to reconcile those differences. Probably the biggest factor against incorporating other systems to emulate is a lack of interest/desire.

[2mustange]

Yeah that all makes sense. I figured that adding another platform would make it harder for the developers to maintain dolphin.

I'm fine with using other programs. the idea of making dolphin more though, intrigued me so i was just wondering why it hasn't been done.

[BrandeX]

You can make a menu launcher for yourself, and it would kind of "feel" like one program.

[RachelB]

(07-27-2012, 01:29 AM)2mustange Wrote: I'm fine with using other programs. the idea of making dolphin more though, intrigued me so i was just wondering why it hasn't been done.

Because there's no reason to. It doesn't even make sense. Combining a million different emulators into dolphin would just be needlessly complicated.

Quote:since the devs can't just copy the code from other emulators (They probably won't get permissions)

They don't need permission to take code from open source projects, so long as they don't violate the license.

[Echoes]

As redundant as it is, you can go all Inception and run emulators like Wii64 and Snes9x GX with Dolphin. Performance wasn't actually that bad.

That's probably as close as Dolphin will ever get to emulating anything other than GCN and Wii.

[KHRZ]

Writing the Wii emulation along with GC was easy, and probably wouldn't be achieved in many years by an independent emulator. All the Wii development probably slowed the fixing for GC game issues, but the gain was Wii emuation. Adding DS/Gameboy emulation on the other hand wouldn't gain anything that isn't already done by other emulators.

[2mustange]

(07-29-2012, 11:09 PM)KHRZ Wrote: Writing the Wii emulation along with GC was easy, and probably wouldn't be achieved in many years by an independent emulator. All the Wii development probably slowed the fixing for GC game issues, but the gain was Wii emuation. Adding DS/Gameboy emulation on the other hand wouldn't gain anything that isn't already done by other emulators.

There is gain from it, think about it adding for instance N64 to dolphin would make all Nintendo household platforms in one program, makes things clutter free.
Of course you can think there isnt a practical use if there is a program that can do that on its own.
In a way, i am thinking of Dolphin in an innovative convenient thought process. having all of Nintendo's platforms into one program. Well organized and well kept, I feel like it keeps the emulator community closer. Just my two cents on it.

[MayImilae]

Quote:There is gain from it, think about it adding for instance N64 to dolphin would make all Nintendo household platforms in one program, makes things clutter free.

"Clutter free" on your desktop perhaps, but certainly not in the code! Besides, Dolphin already supports NES games, SNES games, and N64 games. Virtual Console ftw. If you really want one emulator for all the Nintendo platforms, Dolphin already has alot of possibilities.