07-13-2014, 10:04 AM
Sorry about causing this, I just wanted to point out my experience and viewpoint. When Avih mentioned it being easy to uninstall, etc. I had to try it. I have no intention of causing "flame wars" or fights, I think civil discussion, even if it sometimes gets emotionally charged, is fine. If the toolbar is going to be gone, so be it, there are other more pressing issues going forward.
Please don't take anything as an insult, these are just opinions meant to be portrayed in a constructive manner.
1: I've been trying to report issues for this emulator, but doing so is a total pain right now. The information is spread out quite a bit, and every time I mention or report something, I miss some thread, a wiki page, or something that has a work-around or solution. It's frustrating for me, as a user, to have to look around for 15 - 20 minutes trying to find something not knowing if it exists. You really can't expect users to find stuff on the forums without a better search function, and the Wiki/compatibility lists sometimes have DIFFERENT NAMES for games! That makes searching for them a pain.
2: Inaction is a problem. There's rarely any posts on the front page of the website. If the developers are that busy (which is possible) then the project has serious issues. PCSX2 can feel dated for some people because of the lack of posts, informational writing and updates. I feel like Dolphin's website had an identity issue at some point too, but we're working hard on creating better user/developer interaction through blog posts and articles on the main page. The system works nicely, but it has to be updated. When 4 months pass with nothing mentioned... (and while the buildbot was down) it can make the emulator feel like it's dead and drive away interest. Small updates or big updates, keeping the users engaged is always important. Writers don't need to be coders!
3: Plugin Issue reports on the forums. If the plugins are included with the emulator, I think their issues should be considered the same way as regular issues. I have a problem with this, because sometimes graphical issues can be caused by wrong CPU emulation (and I can attest to that in Dolphin) and there's no way to really tell. If all the plugins get it wrong, sure, maybe it's a CPU issue, but maybe all of them get it wrong, too! There's no way to tell.
4: Some streamlined way of testing. Dolphin has these things called fifologs. Fifologs are these magical little files that let me test graphical issues on Dolphin and Console and between backends within a minute. It helps with the above issue of telling CPU problems from GPU problems (If the bug shows up on console, it's a CPU problem since it's using Dolphin's CPU calculation, while if it's gone, it's a GPU emulation problem.) Having that for testing issues is huge, and honestly has helped me with hundreds of possible issues. Without that, testing issues between PCSX2 and Console can take hours (uuuugh.) There are little changes that are really great for testing too; such as having memory card files stored in folders instead of raw files. I can literally drag my Dolphin save file right onto my SD card and import it for GC games with no trouble. I don't even know if PCSX2 itself has the capability to extract saves from its memory cards based on looking it through. The memory card manager doesn't seem to have much functionality. Requiring a third party program just makes things that little bit harder that can deter possible testers.
Please don't take anything as an insult, these are just opinions meant to be portrayed in a constructive manner.
1: I've been trying to report issues for this emulator, but doing so is a total pain right now. The information is spread out quite a bit, and every time I mention or report something, I miss some thread, a wiki page, or something that has a work-around or solution. It's frustrating for me, as a user, to have to look around for 15 - 20 minutes trying to find something not knowing if it exists. You really can't expect users to find stuff on the forums without a better search function, and the Wiki/compatibility lists sometimes have DIFFERENT NAMES for games! That makes searching for them a pain.
2: Inaction is a problem. There's rarely any posts on the front page of the website. If the developers are that busy (which is possible) then the project has serious issues. PCSX2 can feel dated for some people because of the lack of posts, informational writing and updates. I feel like Dolphin's website had an identity issue at some point too, but we're working hard on creating better user/developer interaction through blog posts and articles on the main page. The system works nicely, but it has to be updated. When 4 months pass with nothing mentioned... (and while the buildbot was down) it can make the emulator feel like it's dead and drive away interest. Small updates or big updates, keeping the users engaged is always important. Writers don't need to be coders!
3: Plugin Issue reports on the forums. If the plugins are included with the emulator, I think their issues should be considered the same way as regular issues. I have a problem with this, because sometimes graphical issues can be caused by wrong CPU emulation (and I can attest to that in Dolphin) and there's no way to really tell. If all the plugins get it wrong, sure, maybe it's a CPU issue, but maybe all of them get it wrong, too! There's no way to tell.
4: Some streamlined way of testing. Dolphin has these things called fifologs. Fifologs are these magical little files that let me test graphical issues on Dolphin and Console and between backends within a minute. It helps with the above issue of telling CPU problems from GPU problems (If the bug shows up on console, it's a CPU problem since it's using Dolphin's CPU calculation, while if it's gone, it's a GPU emulation problem.) Having that for testing issues is huge, and honestly has helped me with hundreds of possible issues. Without that, testing issues between PCSX2 and Console can take hours (uuuugh.) There are little changes that are really great for testing too; such as having memory card files stored in folders instead of raw files. I can literally drag my Dolphin save file right onto my SD card and import it for GC games with no trouble. I don't even know if PCSX2 itself has the capability to extract saves from its memory cards based on looking it through. The memory card manager doesn't seem to have much functionality. Requiring a third party program just makes things that little bit harder that can deter possible testers.