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[Digital Foundry] Xbox Series S: Is It Still An Emulation Powerhouse? Dev Mode Testing + Performance
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
- Retail mode emulation was gutted a few months back by MS so now Dev-mode is the only way
- Setting up Dev mode can take 20~ minutes and there is a one time cost to get a dev mode license on your console.
- Older, SNES era games:
- Perfectly good without any real emulation issues.
- Doesn't mean it's 100% accurate emulation but it's what you would get on a PC.
- Shaders also present but a lot of them don't play very nice.
- DF's biggest gripe is the Xbox controller isn't the best for SNES games
- Early 3D:
- No issues with PS1 games, all run great.
- DF had some issue with N64 at first but sorted it out.
- N64 emulation quality is fine with no real issues
- Handheld emulators also run great, DS games which require 2 screens are an issue obviously.
- PPSSPP runs all tested PSP games great.
- PS2/GC Gen: (no OG Xbox unfortunately)
- Many GC games run without any issue. RE4 has 30 FPS frame pacing. FZero can drop frames for extended periods. Dolphin is CPU limited so you can dial up resolution a lot.
- Retroarch's PCSX2 core sucks, use dedicated XBSX2 emulator
- God of War runs at full 60 FPS at 3x resolution. Same for Ratchet.
- RE4 on PS2 runs without frame pacing issue.
- XBSX2 is the same as running a latest PCSX2 build on PC
- Dreamcast:
- Flycast dedicated emulator tested. Relatively easy for emulation.
- X360 Xenia emulator:
- Can get in-game in a lot of games, SF4 runs between 50~60 FPS
- More demanding titles like Grid and Forza suffer from performance and hitches
- Xenia is fairly unreliable but is being updated frequently however it's more of a curiosity right now
- RPCS3 does not have a UWP app so not test-able.
- Setting up Dev mode can take 20~ minutes and there is a one time cost to get a dev mode license on your console.
- Older, SNES era games:
- Perfectly good without any real emulation issues.
- Doesn't mean it's 100% accurate emulation but it's what you would get on a PC.
- Shaders also present but a lot of them don't play very nice.
- DF's biggest gripe is the Xbox controller isn't the best for SNES games
- Early 3D:
- No issues with PS1 games, all run great.
- DF had some issue with N64 at first but sorted it out.
- N64 emulation quality is fine with no real issues
- Handheld emulators also run great, DS games which require 2 screens are an issue obviously.
- PPSSPP runs all tested PSP games great.
- PS2/GC Gen: (no OG Xbox unfortunately)
- Many GC games run without any issue. RE4 has 30 FPS frame pacing. FZero can drop frames for extended periods. Dolphin is CPU limited so you can dial up resolution a lot.
- Retroarch's PCSX2 core sucks, use dedicated XBSX2 emulator
- God of War runs at full 60 FPS at 3x resolution. Same for Ratchet.
- RE4 on PS2 runs without frame pacing issue.
- XBSX2 is the same as running a latest PCSX2 build on PC
- Dreamcast:
- Flycast dedicated emulator tested. Relatively easy for emulation.
- X360 Xenia emulator:
- Can get in-game in a lot of games, SF4 runs between 50~60 FPS
- More demanding titles like Grid and Forza suffer from performance and hitches
- Xenia is fairly unreliable but is being updated frequently however it's more of a curiosity right now
- RPCS3 does not have a UWP app so not test-able.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Just a couple of notes from myself now:
- Setting up dev mode is not as difficult as Oliver's tone may suggest, it's doable in 10 minutes.
- This is the easiest and simplest to follow guide I have seen so far.
- If you are in the US, you have to pay a one time fee of $20 to get a dev mode license.
- However, just change your region to Argentina or Turkey and you only have to pay $2.
- You do not need to change regions on your console, simply change region when you are registering for dev mode.
And finally, Oliver made no mention of dev mode running any worse than the retail app because even in dev mode the app is treated like retail.
Also, while Retroarch has cores, for both PS2 and GC emulation I would 100% recommend using the stand alone emulators instead of Retroarch.
- Setting up dev mode is not as difficult as Oliver's tone may suggest, it's doable in 10 minutes.
- This is the easiest and simplest to follow guide I have seen so far.
- If you are in the US, you have to pay a one time fee of $20 to get a dev mode license.
- However, just change your region to Argentina or Turkey and you only have to pay $2.
- You do not need to change regions on your console, simply change region when you are registering for dev mode.
And finally, Oliver made no mention of dev mode running any worse than the retail app because even in dev mode the app is treated like retail.
Also, while Retroarch has cores, for both PS2 and GC emulation I would 100% recommend using the stand alone emulators instead of Retroarch.
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LordBlodgett
Member
As an emulation solution It's pretty hard to beat on price for performance, but I do hate having to use Retroarch cores. Some are great, while others are mediocre. The PC I put together for emulation definitely cost more than this though.....
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
For PS2 and GC, the retroarch cores are severely out-dated and buggy.
XBSX2 and the stand-alone Dolphin are MUUUUCH better, faster and more compatible.
SEGAvangelist
Gold Member
Lame they didn't test Saturn games. In my experience a year back, it wasn't too bad.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Microsoft is ok with us doing this, ie they won't ban our consoles?
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Absolutely not. They sell the dev mode license themselves, after that you're just side-loading apps. Not downloading anything from the MS store.
Retail was different because that was people bypassing and sneaking emulator apps on the MS Store itself and using the xbox media capabilities to put screens and videos on the XBL network, that was a no no but it was surprising they let it slide for a couple of years.
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DeepEnigma
Gold Member
When these hit that $99-$150 firesale impulse buy sweet spot, I will pick one up solely to be an emulation box for the TV.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Posting some of my XBSX2 videos. These were made on an SX, aside from the resolution multiplier, SX and SS should be identical as they have the same CPU.
And one last thing DF didn't mention. You can use all the same wide-screen hacks etc like on a PC.
All these videos are games running at 4x to 6x resolution scale with wide-screen hacks applied.
Yep, we give the little guy shit in other aspects, but pound for pound, Series S is likely the best emulation box in the market right now for its entry price.
And one last thing DF didn't mention. You can use all the same wide-screen hacks etc like on a PC.
All these videos are games running at 4x to 6x resolution scale with wide-screen hacks applied.
Yep, we give the little guy shit in other aspects, but pound for pound, Series S is likely the best emulation box in the market right now for its entry price.
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DeepEnigma
Gold Member
I still think it's a boat anchor for third parties and MS this gen for current gen games, but a great emulation box for the price at the moment.
Fake
Member
I remember John saying that Microsoft disable remotely Duckstation or others emulators. He don't even know how Microsoft did because he turn off his wireless router.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Standalone Duckstation is still there but it doesn't get updated because of some dev-drama on their discords.
The Retroarch core is also good enough I guess
For $150 i would definitely buy one maybe $175 if new.
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Sethbacca
Member
100% this. I bought one when it was $200 over the holidays to use 95% of the time for emulation, and the other 5% for some gamepass games. Can't argue with the value.
01011001
Banned
it's not getting updates anymore sadly
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
TBF Duck Station was already in such a good state, you probably don't need updates on it anymore.
I'm keeping an eye on Xenia though, that seems to already be in a much better state than the initial 0.1 version.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Any emulator for Xbox needs to have a UWP version first. That's why no RPCS3 yet either.