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Update Log v1.8.x

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Quinton Ashley edited this page Apr 12, 2020 · 20 revisions

Nostlan is an open source high quality front-end launcher for video game emulators! Available on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Systems supported: Arcade, DS, GBA, 3DS, PS2, PS3, SNES, Switch, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360. Emulators supported: bsnes, Cemu, Citra, Dolphin, DeSmuME, MAME, melonDS, mGBA, PCSX2, RPCS3, Ryujinx, Xenia, and Yuzu.

Download Nostlan and if you enjoy the app please make a donation, any amount is appreciated. Support the development of Nostlan on patreon to gain access to premium features!

This update log covers changes made in v1.8.x. Unfamiliar with Nostlan? Read about its features and look at screenshots on the readme page.

Update Summary for v1.8.x

Emulators

  • SNES game lib support with bsnes as the default emulator (on macOS and Linux use bsnes-hd)
  • Support for alternate emulators! DS games can be played with melonDS (default) or DeSmuME.
  • running Yuzu without a game will run the maintenancetool updater

User Experience

  • Open box menu added for Wii U and Switch
  • the readme page was way too long, I broke it up into wiki pages. I've put a good amount of effort into documenting Nostlan on the wiki. I hope you find it helpful!
  • mouse hides automatically when using a controller, reappears when moved
  • fixed scroll stuttering by completely replacing the old scrolling mechanics with a better method for achieving the same aesthetic results
  • improved error checking
  • Unidentified games and games with no cover art will now be shown with handwritten labels that can be edited! Older versions of Nostlan ignored them.
  • More intuitive UI labelling. On the game library view, clicking "Sys", short for systems, will open a submenu where you can choose to load another system's game library. Clicking "Play" starts the emulator with the game that the cursor is on. Clicking "Emu", short for emulator(s), will start the emulator without a game so you can update the emulator, setup controllers, etc. In previous versions the labels on the library view were "Power", "Reset", and "Open" just like on a GameCube which aesthetically looked cool but it's just a terrible way to label the functions of those buttons and I should've changed it sooner.
  • Precise Nintendo Switch game identification! Nostlan uses yuzu-cmd.exe to identify your games using its 16 hex digit title id.
  • Precise SNES game identification! Nostlan uses icarus.exe to identify SNES games.
  • When the user selects a box from the game library menu, the box select menu used to just zoom in on one game box. Now it zooms in on the whole library. You can scroll and move the cursor to other games in this zoomed in state.

Development

  • updated open source license to GNU GPLv3
  • contro-ui (my controller ui framework) now uses hierarchal submenus, replaced a lot of bodge code

Coming Soon

Emulators

  • Ryujinx support (alt Switch emulator that can run 32bit games)
  • PSP game lib support with PPSSPP as the default emulator
  • snes9x support (alt SNES emulator)
  • Dreamcast game lib support with Redream as the default emulator

User Experience

  • users will be able to manually identify games that could not be automatically identified from Nostlan's game databases and then Nostlan will load cover art for that game
  • users will be able to identify game mods (not found in Nostlan's game database), they'll use the cover art of the original game with a label sticker describing the mod
  • precise Wii/Gamecube/VC game identification using Dolphin.exe and robotjs to get the game id values directly from the main ui's game table
  • when an emulator app is not found Nostlan will prompt the user for the location of the app or if Nostlan should download and install it automatically

Supporting Multiple Emulators per System

When users launch a game, a menu will appear prompting users to choose which emulator they want to play the game with!

When you load this update Nostlan will attempt to reorganize the default paths to your emulators and games. This update breaks compatibility with all older versions of Nostlan. The folders for game images and user game list files have been moved into their respective system folder in emu.

Example of what the OPTIONAL default Nostlan file structure looks like on Windows. As always, you can edit emulator app and game library locations in your user preferences file. For more info read Setting up Nostlan.

📁 emu (root folder can have any name)
├─┬ 📁 nostlan
│ └── 📁 themes
├─┬ 📁 arcade
│ └─┬ 📁 mame
│   ├─┬ 📁 roms
│   │ ├── 💿 1942.zip
│   │ └── 💿 spang.zip
│   └── 🎮 mame64.exe
├─┬ 📁 ds
│ ├─┬ 📁 melonds
│ │ └── 🎮 melonDS.exe
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│   ├── 💿 Mario & Luigi - Partners in Time.nds
│   └── 💿 Mario & Luigi - Partners in Time.sav
├─┬ 📁 gba
│ ├─┬ 📁 mgba
│ │ └── 🎮 mGBA.exe
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│   ├── 💿 Mario & Luigi - Superstar Saga.gba
│   └── 💿 Mario & Luigi - Superstar Saga.sav
├─┬ 📁 n3ds
│ ├─┬ 📁 citra
│ │ └─┬ 📁 nightly-mingw
│ │   └── 🎮 citra-qt.exe
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│   └── 💿 Super Mario 3D Land.3ds
├─┬ 📁 ps2
│ ├─┬ 📁 pcsx2
│ │ └── 🎮 pcsx2.exe
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│   └── 💿 Bully.iso
├─┬ 📁 ps3
│ └─┬ 📁 rpcs3
│   ├─┬ 📁 dev_hdd0
│   │ └─┬ 📁 game
│   │   ├── 💿 BLES00760/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN
│   │   └── 💿 BLUS30591/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN
│   └── 🎮 rpcs3.exe
├─┬ 📁 snes
│ ├─┬ 📁 bsnes
│ │ └── 🎮 bsnes.exe
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│   └── 💿 Super Mario World.sfc
├─┬ 📁 switch
│ ├── 📁 yuzu
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│ 	└── 💿 Super Mario Odyssey.xci
├─┬ 📁 wii
│ ├─┬ 📁 dolphin
│ │ ├── 📁 User
│ │ ├── 📄 portable.txt
│ │ └── 🎮 Dolphin.exe
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│   ├── 💿 Super Mario Sunshine.gcz
│   ├── 💿 Super Smash Bros Melee.iso
│   └── 💿 sm64.wad
├─┬ 📁 wiiu
│ ├─┬ 📁 cemu
│ │ └── 🎮 Cemu.exe
│ └─┬ 📁 games
│   └── 💿 Mario Kart 8/code/Turbo.rpx
└─┬ 📁 xbox360
  ├─┬ 📁 xenia
  │ └── 🎮 xenia.exe
  └─┬ 📁 games
    ├── 💿 Halo 4 (disc a).iso
    └── 💿 Halo 4 (disc b).iso

Let me know what you think about Nostlan

Nostlan is an experimental project but I want to make it intuitive and useful for the general public! If something is wrong with the app or if you have any questions please email me mailto:[email protected] or write up an issue report on Github. What do you think of the premium features I have planned?

Premium Features

Support the development of Nostlan on Patreon to gain access to these premium features!

  • backup/sync all your save data to the cloud or local storage device
  • custom ui theme-ing (coming soon)

Features that might be offered in the future:

  • support for your PC game libraries! (Origin, Steam, Epic Games, etc.)
  • auto-install emulators

Support Nostlan on Patreon 🤝

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