I've gotten N64 to work via the Retroarch[www.libretro.com] core. PJ64 was a little iffy.

So far I've gotten the following to work over the Link:

Commodore 64 (CCS64)
NES (Retroarch / Bnes Core)
SNES (Retroarch / SNES9x Core)
N64 (Retroarch / Mupen64 Core)
Gamecube (Dolphin)
Wii (Dolphin)
Genesis (Retroarch / Genesis Plus GX Core)
Sega CD (Retroarch / Genesis Plus GX Core)
Sega Dreamcast (Demul; and nullDC to some extent but Demul is far superior anyway)
Playstation (Retroarch / Mednafen Core; ePSXe works as well)
Playstation 2 (PCSX2)
GBA (Retroarch / VBA Next Core)
PSP (PPSSPP; Retroarch has a PPSSPP core but I've found it's a little buggier and performance isn't quite as good as standalone PPSSPP which works fine over Link anyway)
CPS1 (Retroarch / FBA Core)
CPS2 (Retroarch / FBA Core)
Neo Geo (Retroarch / FBA Core)
(other) Arcade (Retroarch / MAME Core)

Sega Saturn is about the only thing giving me much trouble. SSF is the only Saturn emulator worth a crap (Yabause is a joke) and while it works fine on my host PC, it seems to cause issues for the Link which I've yet to resolve.

There's a lot of tweaking involved for each of these and some involve special launch commands so that they load properly. ePSXe needs -nogui and -loadbin as launch commands in order to launch directly into a specific game, for example. Things like PCSX2 needs to have the log window disabled so that it doesn't steal the Link's focus and ruin performance. I've been working on this stuff for about a month now haha.

I have everything setup in a front end called Big Box (the premium version of Launch Box[www.launchbox-app.com]). It's basically like XBMC/Kodi but for emulators. I have it setup as a non-steam app on the host and launch it on the Link like any other game. It looks sweet on the living room TV :D

My one major suggestion is to look into Retroarch. It has a bit of a learning curve and there are definitely some things about it that I think are a bit on the obtuse side, but once you get beyond the initial hurdle it's fantastic and works great with the Link once you've got everything setup properly.

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

I've gotten N64 to work via the Retroarch[www.libretro.com] core. PJ64 was a little iffy.

So far I've gotten the following to work over the Link:

Commodore 64 (CCS64)
NES (Retroarch / Bnes Core)
SNES (Retroarch / SNES9x Core)
N64 (Retroarch / Mupen64 Core)
Gamecube (Dolphin)
Wii (Dolphin)
Genesis (Retroarch / Genesis Plus GX Core)
Sega CD (Retroarch / Genesis Plus GX Core)
Sega Dreamcast (Demul; and nullDC to some extent but Demul is far superior anyway)
Playstation (Retroarch / Mednafen Core; ePSXe works as well)
Playstation 2 (PCSX2)
GBA (Retroarch / VBA Next Core)
PSP (PPSSPP; Retroarch has a PPSSPP core but I've found it's a little buggier and performance isn't quite as good as standalone PPSSPP which works fine over Link anyway)
CPS1 (Retroarch / FBA Core)
CPS2 (Retroarch / FBA Core)
Neo Geo (Retroarch / FBA Core)
(other) Arcade (Retroarch / MAME Core)

Sega Saturn is about the only thing giving me much trouble. SSF is the only Saturn emulator worth a crap (Yabause is a joke) and while it works fine on my host PC, it seems to cause issues for the Link which I've yet to resolve.

There's a lot of tweaking involved for each of these and some involve special launch commands so that they load properly. ePSXe needs -nogui and -loadbin as launch commands in order to launch directly into a specific game, for example. Things like PCSX2 needs to have the log window disabled so that it doesn't steal the Link's focus and ruin performance. I've been working on this stuff for about a month now haha.

I have everything setup in a front end called Big Box (the premium version of Launch Box[www.launchbox-app.com]). It's basically like XBMC/Kodi but for emulators. I have it setup as a non-steam app on the host and launch it on the Link like any other game. It looks sweet on the living room TV :D

My one major suggestion is to look into Retroarch. It has a bit of a learning curve and there are definitely some things about it that I think are a bit on the obtuse side, but once you get beyond the initial hurdle it's fantastic and works great with the Link once you've got everything setup properly.

Thanks! That worked perfectly! I use retroarch on mobile all the time so i was fine. =)

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Thanks! That worked perfectly! I use retroarch on mobile all the time so i was fine. =)

Glad to help! Retroarch works great with the Link in general. There are a few platforms that aren't in Retroarch (like DC and PS2) and some that the native app works better than the Retroarch core (like PPSSPP) but Retroarch will cover most of your bases and those that it doesn't generally work fine through Link natively (except for SSF, and I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is there, I just need to work on it).

It probably sounds weird but emulators were the primary reason I was interested in picking up a Steam Link in the first place. The fact that it plays my normal steam library is just kindof a bonus for me haha.

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Thanks! That worked perfectly! I use retroarch on mobile all the time so i was fine. =)

Glad to help! Retroarch works great with the Link in general. There are a few platforms that aren't in Retroarch (like DC and PS2) and some that the native app works better than the Retroarch core (like PPSSPP) but Retroarch will cover most of your bases and those that it doesn't generally work fine through Link natively (except for SSF, and I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is there, I just need to work on it).

It probably sounds weird but emulators were the primary reason I was interested in picking up a Steam Link in the first place. The fact that it plays my normal steam library is just kindof a bonus for me haha.

Thanks! One other question. I just got big box and it's not seeing the steam controller unless I map it as a keyboard. If I do that it carries over to my game and is impossible to play. :(

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Thanks! One other question. I just got big box and it's not seeing the steam controller unless I map it as a keyboard. If I do that it carries over to my game and is impossible to play. :(

Yeah that's something I've reported over at their forums[www.launchbox-app.com]. I am 99% certain that it's because of that Big Box splash screen that pops up when you first launch it. I think it's stealing focus (much like games that use a launcher window) and the Link doesn't know where to send the inputs. For the moment I'm controlling it with a wireless keyboard which works - once the emulators are launched that way the controller works just fine with them.

The creator for LB/BB is really cool and very responsive. He said he's going to try to implement an option to disable the splash very soon.

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Thanks! One other question. I just got big box and it's not seeing the steam controller unless I map it as a keyboard. If I do that it carries over to my game and is impossible to play. :(

Yeah that's something I've reported over at their forums[www.launchbox-app.com]. I am 99% certain that it's because of that Big Box splash screen that pops up when you first launch it. I think it's stealing focus (much like games that use a launcher window) and the Link doesn't know where to send the inputs. For the moment I'm controlling it with a wireless keyboard which works - once the emulators are launched that way the controller works just fine with them.

The creator for LB/BB is really cool and very responsive. He said he's going to try to implement an option to disable the splash very soon.

Oh I just said something too. Lol. Okay sounds good. i can use my mouse for now. Thanks! =)

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Thanks! One other question. I just got big box and it's not seeing the steam controller unless I map it as a keyboard. If I do that it carries over to my game and is impossible to play. :(

Yeah that's something I've reported over at their forums[www.launchbox-app.com]. I am 99% certain that it's because of that Big Box splash screen that pops up when you first launch it. I think it's stealing focus (much like games that use a launcher window) and the Link doesn't know where to send the inputs. For the moment I'm controlling it with a wireless keyboard which works - once the emulators are launched that way the controller works just fine with them.

The creator for LB/BB is really cool and very responsive. He said he's going to try to implement an option to disable the splash very soon.

Just so you know if you turn off the steam overlay the controls will work.

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Just so you know if you turn off the steam overlay the controls will work.

Seriously? I would swear I had tried that though...

I'll definitely check that out when I get home! Thanks for the tip!

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Just so you know if you turn off the steam overlay the controls will work.

Seriously? I would swear I had tried that though...

I'll definitely check that out when I get home! Thanks for the tip!

I spoke too soon. It breaks controller support for the games. Argh.

Originally posted by Failrunner:

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

Seriously? I would swear I had tried that though...

I'll definitely check that out when I get home! Thanks for the tip!

I spoke too soon. It breaks controller support for the games. Argh.

What kind of controller are you using? I'm using a wireless 360 controller + usb dongle. The Big Box UI doesn't respond to it, but it does work with wireless keyboard/mouse and once a game is launched the 360 controller works just fine in the emulator itself. I've just got it setup as the normal controller, not like keyboard mode or anything.

I'm pretty sure I already have the Steam overlay disabled, that's why I was surprised. I'll have to double check though.

Like I said, I'm almost positive that it's a focus issue that's being caused by the splash screen that pops up before Big Box actually launches.

EDIT: Another thing that supports that theory is that if you load up something like Notepad for example on the Link so that you can get to your desktop, and then launch Big Box directly from that, the controller inputs actually work in Big Box. The problem with that is that it's going to use the awful desktop encoder and give you terrible performance...

I'm using the steam controller. I have the 360 one too. It goes into keyboard and mouse mode when you go to the desktop which is probably why it works in Big box and not the game. I'm using a keyboard to navigate the menus and that's working. The only issue is gamecube gives me a black screen on the link and not the pc unless I just launch the emulator through big picture. I can't wait till all these bugs get ironed out.

Originally posted by Failrunner:

I'm using the steam controller. I have the 360 one too. It goes into keyboard and mouse mode when you go to the desktop which is probably why it works in Big box and not the game. I'm using a keyboard to navigate the menus and that's working. The only issue is gamecube gives me a black screen on the link and not the pc unless I just launch the emulator through big picture. I can't wait till all these bugs get ironed out.

That's weird... I've got Gamecube running just fine on the Link through Dolphin.

My settings in LaunchBox look like this[imgur.com] and my settings in Dolphin look like this[imgur.com] (I think those are default, but I can't remember).

That's what I have too. It works in launchbox but not big box.

Originally posted by Failrunner:

That's what I have too. It works in launchbox but not big box.

Not sure what to tell you other than 360 controller with default settings. Launching Dolphin through Big Box on the Link I was just playing F-Zero GX and Phantasy Star Online.

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

Originally posted by Failrunner:

That's what I have too. It works in launchbox but not big box.

Not sure what to tell you other than 360 controller with default settings. Launching Dolphin through Big Box on the Link I was just playing F-Zero GX and Phantasy Star Online.

Maybe i need to update dolphin. =)