Game emulation in MythTV requires a MythGame plugin, which might be installed automatically, or it can be installed through the control center. It adds a new Games section in the MythTV main menu and in Settings.
I've tried several NES emulators, but I've liked fceux and Mednafen the most.
Fceux
Fceux wors fine, but I didn't find a way to quit it using only the gamepad. So I configured qjoypad so that one button in my gamepad is same as pressing esc key on keyboard. That helps a lot.For mythgame to launch first the qjoypad and then emulator, I wrote a little script:
#!/bin/sh -e
# Script to launch FCEUX with correct settings
# First, sets qjoypad bindings, i.e. bottom triggers
# quit the emulator (or what ever is defined)
# then runs fceux, and finally changes qjoypad layout back
# Update qjoypad joystick lists and select FCEUX
qjoypad --update FCEUX
# Run fceux
fceux -fullscreen 1 "$1"
# Back to default mapping mode
qjoypad --update "MythTV"
I named it run-fceux, and in mythgame config, I call "run-fceux %s" and it works fine. Fceux has crashed on me some times, and it seems to have some minor issues every now and then. Otherwise it's fine.
Mednafen
Just today I tried Mednafen and already like it better than fceux. Only problem was getting the gamepads to work, but in the end it was easy:
- Start mednafen from command line, e.g. "mednafen /path/to/rom.nes"
- Press alt+shift+1 and you're asked to press every gamepad 1 button in order, up, down, left etc. You can bind many keys to do the same thing, when you're ready, press the same key twice.
- Press alt+shift+2 and do the same thing for second gamepad.
- If you want quit button in your gamepad(s), press F2, then ESC. Now you can press all different quit keys you want. Finish with double ESCs so keyboard will function as before.
- Done. Easy, huh?
I wrote similar script as before to get rid of my gamepad bindings for MythTV, and the command line to launch mednafen is following:
mednafen -nes.stretch 1 -fs 1 -vdriver 0 "$1"
