Should Supermodel emulate Model 1 and 2 games?

[sonic32]

Supermodel is the most sophisticated emulator overall, so much time, love and determination that Bart, Ian, Nik and Spindizi have dedicated to and
Harry..Nuezz (Gui) Almost 10 years of work ..

Merging Model 2 into this Emulator would be astonishing,

Emulation Model 2 is Dead and a lot of work remains, for many years even the official forum (Nebula M2) has not worked.

[the_maq]

Supermodel is the most sophisticated emulator overall, so much time, love and determination that Bart, Ian, Nik and Spindizi have dedicated to and
Harry..Nuezz (Gui) Almost 10 years of work ..

Merging Model 2 into this Emulator would be astonishing,

Emulation Model 2 is Dead and a lot of work remains, for many years even the official forum (Nebula M2) has not worked.

Right on..!!

[njz3]

If you permit, I will interfere in your discussions.

Having support for most of Sega 90' to 2000' 32bits arcade games from model 1/2/3 up to Naomi 2 or multi Naomi, providing 4k rendering, network support for multiplayer, and graphics improvements would make Supermodel the most amazing arcade emulator.

As VirtuaHunter said (and from MAME's authors), MAME goal is to document hardware and emulate perfectly (even at transistor levels!) the hardware. The ability to playing a game is just a side effect. Since CPU frequency is now increasing slowly over the time with Moore's law reaching its end, and even with clever multithreading, we will probably never see all model 3 or Naomi games playable before a very long time.

Linbergh and other more recent hardware can be played very well through Teknoparrot, but there is a huge hole to fill between MAME and Teknoparrot, which is the reason of Supermodel and Nebula Model 2.

Regarding the retrofit of old cabinets with a PC running emulators and Arduinos, I believe that it is already well possible thanks to these dedicated emulators. At least for Model 2/3 games, it is now doable to switch from the original PCB to a PC. What is really missing is the multiplayer network support

I would really enjoy contributing code to supermodel (I am confortable with asm/C/C++), but seems like a lots of knowledge on the hardware is required.

[TheOldDragon]

I'd vote yes for Model 2, but only because there aren't decent* open source Model 2 emulators, and would much prefer Model 3 networking to be finished first...
Model 1 would be nice to have, but MAME's is passable, *Model 2 on MAME* is a very mixed bag.
I love the fact that Supermodel is small and focussed...and I'd prefer it to stay that way. Retroarch and MAME are already there for people who want a one stop shop for everything

[Under Linux] MAME [0222] already does a very decent job of Virtua Racer, including networking. I can have 4 networked/linked instances running simultaneously on PopOS! on a Ryzen 3950X, and a single instance of VR runs at 60 fps on Ubuntu on a Core i5 8259U Intel NUC with no issues.... [and not so well, at 30% frame rate on a Jetson Nano...].

I can also play Model 2 Indy 500 on MAME 0222, with successful networking.... most other Model 2 games do not work though...

Flycast is a great, open source DreamCast and NAOMI emulator. Everything I've tried just works... I think only thing it's missing is NAOMI 2 support [I'm not sure about Hikaru]...
Xemu works for [some] Xbox games, but not yet for Chihiro
TeknoParrot is weird, but has the x86 stuff - i.e. Lindbergh, Europa and RingEdge/Wide - covered [mostly]. In 20 years time MAME will probably get these working properly, and Chihiro, too...


I should clarify that I mostly care about racing / driving games. So, my [totally unworthy] opinion would be [in terms of priority]:
#1 Model 3 - continue to improve, and get networking fully functioning
#2 Model 2 - get it working better than MAME, including networking
#3 Model 1 - get VR and VF working better than MAME
#4: goto #1

[Toshiko]

I definitely like the idea of Model 1 and Model 2 support, if for no other reason than it would make the name of the emulator that much more apt. I wouldn't ask for anything more, but I certainly wouldn't complain if more platforms were emulated as well. Goodness knows there are a lot of blind spots and weak points in 3D arcade hardware emulation.

[Chine2]

Well, now we need a POC

[nuexzz..]

I mean ... in my mind it's like taking down a domain ... I'm sure that understanding the architecture of m1 gives us an idea of ​​how m2 works and then you can decode m3 ... they are made with the same equipment.
(off topic I'm not sure that m2emulator is missing the font) ElSemi gave the font to one of the mame team.

[Bart]

Model 1, 2, and 3 have no commonality. Model 1 was a Sega-designed board (called the "CG Board" when it was released and only re-branded as Model 1 later, I've heard), Model 2 was designed by Real3D with nothing in common with Model 1, and Model 3 is also entirely different.

[Ian]

Model 1 is probably a different beast. But the gpu in the model 2 shares quite a few common ideas with the model 3. Ie the model 2 also has a micro texture function which is a 128x128 texture, and I'm pretty sure it works the same way. But given Lockheed Martin were also involved with the model 2, it's not that surprising.

[Bart]

That's a good point. But all those DSPs And I think color LUTs.