Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

(07-29-2011, 08:14 AM)DarzgL Wrote: [ -> ]"program converter" ? It just doesn't exist.

quite a few language to language source code convertors if that counts or a .bat to .exe quite a few of them to if that also counts?

I wasn't talking about this. For example, do you know any program that can turn a Windows DirectX game into a ready-to-use Linux OpenGL game ? Don't say me Wine or Crossover, because they don't do this.

(07-29-2011, 06:36 PM)DarzgL Wrote: [ -> ]I wasn't talking about this. For example, do you know any program that can turn a Windows DirectX game into a ready-to-use Linux OpenGL game ? Don't say me Wine or Crossover, because they don't do this.

Actually, that's exactly what they do...

Nope, WINE emulates the Windows DirectX Commands and translates them into....

Wait a minute...

(07-29-2011, 07:06 PM)neobrain Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-29-2011, 06:36 PM)DarzgL Wrote: [ -> ]I wasn't talking about this. For example, do you know any program that can turn a Windows DirectX game into a ready-to-use Linux OpenGL game ? Don't say me Wine or Crossover, because they don't do this.

Actually, that's exactly what they do...

Not really. They don't turn a .exe into a Linux executable. I mean, these are not programs that "process" Windows programs for a few hours, outputting a Linux executable that you can use on any Linux system. You see what I mean ?

Ever heard of Winelib? That thing only works when compiling from source, but internally Wine auto-translates the .exe into a linux binary BEFORE actually running it. With some knowledge you could easily hack Wine to output that binary instead of running it. Duh!

(Disclaimer: I was involved in Wine development some years ago.)

(07-29-2011, 07:52 PM)DarzgL Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-29-2011, 07:06 PM)neobrain Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-29-2011, 06:36 PM)DarzgL Wrote: [ -> ]I wasn't talking about this. For example, do you know any program that can turn a Windows DirectX game into a ready-to-use Linux OpenGL game ? Don't say me Wine or Crossover, because they don't do this.

Actually, that's exactly what they do...

Not really. They don't turn a .exe into a Linux executable. I mean, these are not programs that "process" Windows programs for a few hours, outputting a Linux executable that you can use on any Linux system. You see what I mean ?

They may not do that but they DO temporarily change the code into something that CAN be executed. What do you think would happen if we dumped every line of processed code into the same file structure? It may not be natively executable, but it will at least make emulation a lot faster. Think of it as a pre-optimization of the code.

(07-29-2011, 08:31 PM)neobrain Wrote: [ -> ]Ever heard of Winelib? That thing only works when compiling from source, but internally Wine auto-translates the .exe into a linux binary BEFORE actually running it. With some knowledge you could easily hack Wine to output that binary instead of running it. Duh!

(Disclaimer: I was involved in Wine development some years ago.)

Ah ! I didn't stand a chance Anyway, I don't know much about Wine... I only know it isn't an emulator

@Unkind : AFAIK the GC has some hardware that doesn't exist in a PC (for example, its processor is a PowerPC, while most PC's processors today are based on x86). I don't know how a "program translator" could deal with this (well Dolphin does, but it analyzes each frame, doesn't it ?)

(07-29-2011, 09:00 AM)UnkindStudent Wrote: [ -> ]I thought that was what an emulator was, it interprets the code of a game and temporarily changes it into something the cpu can execute correctly.

Yeah but not in the way you are thinking, that definition is far too vague. We are, in fact, emulating the console hardware. That means its functions are executed by the software, which is executed by your computer. It isn't a converter. The conversion you talk about is just the consequence of what is done.

(07-30-2011, 12:58 AM)Runo Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-29-2011, 09:00 AM)UnkindStudent Wrote: [ -> ]I thought that was what an emulator was, it interprets the code of a game and temporarily changes it into something the cpu can execute correctly.

Yeah but not in the way you are thinking, that definition is far too vague. We are, in fact, emulating the console hardware. That means its functions are executed by the software, which is executed by your computer. It isn't a converter. The conversion you talk about is just the consequence of what is done.

So why do we have to have the program use valuable resources WHILE trying to play a game where it could just crunch its numbers before and allow your computer to focus on executing the code that has been "pre processed. The source code for dolphin, as with most programs, calls for different actions based on properties of the code being executed. By doing this optimization, dolphin will save time by not having to determine what to do.