macOS Catalina Support

[MichaelBuckley]

Apple released macOS 10.15 Catalina today, and Snes9x does not run on it.

Earlier this year, I volunteered to update Snes9x for Catalina, but I severely underestimated the amount of work this would require. Every part of the code except the audio code has required large changes, and I have not had enough free time to finish the work before Catalina's launch.

I still plan to finish the work, but it will take time. I plan to release a version with the ability to load games/freeze states, and play with keyboard/joypad as soon as I can. It still may be a few weeks before this release is done. After that, I hope to add multicart, video options, video recording, cheats, and music box back as time allows. I'll prioritize features requested by users if we get any.

Snes9x isn't the only emulator in this boat. Dolphin recently released a statement warning users to delay upgrading to macOS 10.15. https://twitter.com/Dolphin_Emu/status/1180072169339883520

If users ask about the status of Snes9x on Catalina, you can point them to this Github issue.

[pmaddox76]

Thank you Michael for your time and effort. It is appreciated.

[viniciusmaltauro]

Thanks for doing that Michael! I'm an user and I'm looking forward for the update.

[sgreadly]

Just wanted to say thanks too! Looking forward to a 64bit release I'm happy to test for you ^_^

[MichaelBuckley]

@pmaddox76, @viniciusmaltauro, @sgreadly, @viniciusmaltauro, @bryan-lunt, @daaku, @abderrahmane-tj, @sgreadly, @benvp, @marconett, @kethinov, @rchristi, and @johannes87

Thank you all for the encouragement. I have keyboard support, joypad support, and freeze/defrosting working, but I don't yet have UI hooked up properly for them. I'm hoping to get that done in the next week, maybe two weeks, then I'll release a build. The control configuration UI won't be pretty, but it will work, and I think it's more important to release something working.

Notably, it won't yet support any other Snes9x features, nor (probably) mouse, Super Scope and Justifier controls.

One thing that could really help me is hearing from people who use Snes9x on Mac about why they use it instead of (or in addition to) other emulators. It would really help me to prioritize what gets implemented next.

[bryan-lunt]

There are other emulators?

[bearoso]

Yes, OpenEmu and Retroarch can run the Snes9x and bsnes cores, and I think bsnes has a partly working standalone client.

[MichaelBuckley]

The last time I checked, the bsnes Mac UI wasn't working properly, but it's a nightly build, so that may have changed. Higan nightlies have worked for me, but they take considerably more CPU power than Snes9x. https://cirrus-ci.com/github/byuu/higan/master

[viniciusmaltauro]

Michael, I love that the Snes9x is light, simple and reliable. I use a keyboard (and always thinking about getting a joystick and afraid of it to not work). Frost/defrost is the key feature I use and sometimes I use cheating codes (what I wish it were simplier to do do). A big thank you again!

…

On Mon, 4 Nov 2019 at 22:30 Bryan Lunt ***@***.***> wrote: There are other emulators? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#586?email_source=notifications&email_token=ANPQUQFNQXBVI6SZVFV4LLLQSDEDNA5CNFSM4I6KEKH2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEDBJL5Y#issuecomment-549623287>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ANPQUQGNO3LRJAZ2GUHMXSTQSDEDNANCNFSM4I6KEKHQ> .

[kethinov]

Notably, it won't yet support any other Snes9x features, nor (probably) mouse, Super Scope and Justifier controls.

I'm pretty sure mouse support is already broken. I tried to run Mario Paint a month or two ago and it didn't work on the Mac version at all for me.

One thing that could really help me is hearing from people who use Snes9x on Mac about why they use it instead of (or in addition to) other emulators. It would really help me to prioritize what gets implemented next.

I use it to playtest the numerous ROM hacks I've been working on for Secret of Mana since my primary computer right now is a Mac.

Obviously Geiger's Windows version with the SNES debugger is something I have to bust out in a Windows VM every now and then to do any serious reverse engineering, but the Windows version is understandably a bit janky in a VM, so I only really use it for debugging. For actual playtesting, I prefer the buttery smooth performance of the Mac version.

[sgreadly]

I wasn't aware of alternatives, but then again I didn't go out looking for any. To me, snes9x is a choice due to the excellent support, development, and loyalty over the years (since Linux days too). It worked, was easy to use, and lightweight.

[MichaelBuckley]

Obviously Geiger's Windows version with the SNES debugger is something I have to bust out in a Windows VM every now and then to do any serious reverse engineering, but the Windows version is understandably a bit janky in a VM, so I only really use it for debugging. For actual playtesting, I prefer the buttery smooth performance of the Mac version.

I originally decided to check out the Snes9x source code because I wanted to see about adding a debugger to the Mac version, to assist in homebrew development. I can't promise I'll get there, since the Cocoa rewrite is taking much longer than I expected, but maybe someday.

I know there's been talk about a cross-platform UI in some of the other github issues. Maybe if that effort gets off the ground, and it has a debugger, my time would be better spent in the long-term helping with the Mac side of it.

[marconett]

One thing that could really help me is hearing from people who use Snes9x on Mac about why they use it instead of (or in addition to) other emulators. It would really help me to prioritize what gets implemented next.

For me it's just that bsnes and higan eat through my macbook battery when playing while traveling, so I prefer snes9x when I'm on the go.

[johannes87]

One thing that could really help me is hearing from people who use Snes9x on Mac about why they use it instead of (or in addition to) other emulators. It would really help me to prioritize what gets implemented next.

For me it's just that bsnes and higan eat through my macbook battery when playing while traveling, so I prefer snes9x when I'm on the go.

I also feel that Snes9x uses less computing resources. My CPU temparature is lower and my fan keeps quieter in comparison to bsnes. Haven't tried higan.

[MichaelBuckley]

Snes9x.app.zip

Here's a barebones build which works on 10.12 through 10.15. The code for this has all been uploaded to a branch called mac-minimal-changes in my GitHub fork. Please test it out. If no major problems are found, I'll submit a merge request.

A few important notes:

• Support files (freezes and etc.) now need to live in ~/Library/Application Support/Snes9x. Catalina throws up too many warning dialogs if they live elsewhere. If your prefs were set to store those files in /Applications or next to your ROM files, you'll need to move your files.
• The freeze/defrost screen does not scale with the window, and looks small on retina machines.
• The freeze thumbnail bug where it would take a screenshot of the freeze screen still exists, but I know how to fix it in future releases.
• The only video options right now are Smooth and Blocky. Because Apple has deprecated OpenGL, I need to rewrite all the rendering code, so it seemed liek a waste of effort to get the other filters working in OpenGL again.
• The default keybindings now match the Windows port of Snes9x, but it will import your old keybindings.
• Joypad settings are not imported, because the old joypad settings didn't allow you to reverse joypad axes. To help with this, the port will try to fill in reasonable defaults when you configure your joypads.
• Mouse/Super Scope/Justifier don't work. Multitap should work.
• The few games that output 239 lines will get 15 lines cut off.
• Very few settings, and no other features are present.

Please reply to this issue with direct feedback on this build. I'll ahve a blog post in the next few days about the process of porting, and what the plan is going forward.

[MichaelBuckley]

Oh, one more thing. When you first launch on 10.15, it'll throw up a dialog asking for permission for the app to access your keyboard. I'm not sure what's causing that, but I think it might be required for joypad support. I promise the app isn't doing anything evil. It's safe to grant the app keyboard permissions.