Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Play Nintendo 64 on your UMPC

One of my readers, Sean Tan, recently got himself a TabletKiosk EO V7110. So here’s the first thing he did with it…he installed a Nintendo 64 emulator on the machine and played some games!

He has even posted a video of it (albeit without music - come'on Sean!)






I thought it would interest some of you to know how he did this as you might have a cupboard full of old games you might want to dust off! Here is a copy of Sean's email dated 12th April 2007:

Hi Hugo,

I made a video of my eo v7110. It's of me playing the Nintendo 64 game Super Smash Bros using an emulator on the eo. I thought that this may be of interest to some people. It showcases the portable gaming aspect of UMPCs, as I know one of the criticisms of UMPCs is the lack of gaming ability.I chose to make a video like this since most people choose to review the features of the eo v7110 without showing its potential for some fun.

I thought you may want to add it to your blog. Here it is: video

I upgraded my RAM to 1GB today, however, with 512MB the game runs just as fast.Just to let you and your readers know, the emulator (http://www.pj64-emu.com/) runs faster when the AC power is connected. To get the emulator to run at max speed when on a battery, I had to install RightMark CPU Clock Utility (thanks to Ctitanic).

I couldn't get the emulator to run at fast speeds without using RM CPU Clock Utility. You can run the game in fullscreen, which makes the eo look like one large Game Boy, however, it slows it down a bit.

Here are the steps to make the emulator run faster when powered by a battery. You don't have to do this if connected to AC.
  1. Start RightMark CPU Clock Uility
  2. Set Windows Power Scheme to RMClock Power Management
  3. Set RM Clock to Maximal Performance

I then had to configure the emulator to use the PageUp and PageDown keys as controls in the game (ie. Button A and B).

The directional pad on the left of the eo v7110 is already set as default in the game. The middle button is set as Enter.

It's not hard to work out.Of course, the eo v7110 is lacking the buttons to use all of the controls in the game. However, even with just the use of two buttons and the directional pad, the game is still very much playable and fun.

And, that's it! Happy gaming!

[Update 16th April 2007: BTW, I worked out that you don't need to install RightMark CPU Clock Utility to make the eo run at full speed. Just change the normal power profile to Home or Laptop.]

12 comments:

Sean Tan said...

Haha, sorry Hugo. My camera doesn't have sound.

I will probably make another video soon which will show how i use my eo for lectures. I will find a way to add sound

Unknown said...

"It showcases the portable gaming aspect of UMPCs, as I know one of the criticisms of UMPCs is the lack of gaming ability."

Really? I found that surprising. I mean for the latest and greatest of 3D gaming sure, its not possible due to the limitations on the on-board video, but theres video over the net of UMPCs running:

World Of Warcraft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCiNR1SSiwI

F.E.A.R - a fairly recent game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqxmMsYU6PE&eurl=

In fact as a part-time gamer, it was one of the criteria in my choice of the UMPC as a new purchase a few months back.

Personally, I play World Championship Poker on my Q1, as well as a whole selection on Abandonware (eg Starcon2, Masters of Orion). In fact the UMPC is probably the ideal platform to run these on (uses a program called DOSBox to run). I'm also now playing around with the idea of mounting an ISO of my old CD games in order to play without the CD.

Sean Tan said...

Ok, my mistake. I didn't come across many videos of gaming on UMPCs when I was searching around.

But, are you sure those vids aren't fake? I'm surprised that the Q1 can handle FEAR at those speeds.

Hugo Gaston Ortega said...

Hi Sean - I think Audio would have made it more fun for sure. Keeo up the great work.

-->

Hi Eugene,

thanks for the comment. It is great to see us sharing information, especially on a topic that I am not strong on, i.e. Gaming.

Keep me posted on if the YoTube stuff is real or not. BTW, I love your idea of the ISO images and sit them on the HDD. Makes a lotof sense.

Unknown said...

Sean - yeah I was quite surprised at it - albeit the game ran at minimal settings, and it did stutter at times.

That being siad, I cannot confirm or deny the validity of the F.E.A.R video. It is only a demo version, and apparently it was not run from a external HDD or CD/DVD drive.

Hugo - yeah the ISO idea has been bugging me for sometime, because when I travel, I don't necessarily want to carry my CD/DVD case, and emulation would make it a lot easier. This is with respect to the proper copyright issues of course.

Hugo Gaston Ortega said...

HI Eugene,

Thanks for adding to the thread. If we "can" find out the validity of those videos, and in retunr find out the how, then these devices go up a notch on the must-have list don't they?

I think the ISO story is a good one given that optical drives are now shipping less often as standard.

Keep up the great work Eugene and keep me posted on developments.

Unknown said...

Well I found a copy of the F.E.A.R demo and got it to "run" on the Samsung Q1. Its barely playable, although there is a lag between keyboard/mouse movement and response on screen. Given the nature of the game where there would be a lot of quick movements and shooting, I doubt the Q1 (or my model anyway) with 1Gb RAM would be playable (was using minimal settings)

Sean Tan said...

So, I wonder how they got it working well in the video?

Thanks for sharing your experience with FEAR on your Q1 with us.

For me, I will just stick with my Nin64 games :)

Hugo Gaston Ortega said...

Hi Eugene! This is awesome stuff. Can you capture it and place it on YouTube. I think this would be information worth sharing with the masses! Great job mate. (Shame it didn;t work as we all hoped)

Hugo Gaston Ortega said...

Hi Sean,

Maybe you're onto something good with the Nintendo setup. Great job!

Sean Tan said...

It's kind of a distraction when trying to study at uni :D I'm tempted to just 'reward' myself with a quick game of Smash Bros or Mario Kart!

But, what I have found really great about the eo v7110, is that I can transfer my powerpoint lecture slides on to Windows Journal. I can then make extra handwritten notes on the slides. I'm saving the trees and saves me the trouble of printing out the lecture slides prior to lectures as I used to. To me, this has really improved my study.

I see a few people trying to add notes to the slides using ordinary laptops. However, trying to use the mouse and keyboard to add notes quickly is so much harder that using a stylus. I love Tablet PCs now!

@Eugene: Yes, please upload a video of your FEAR experience

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