Wii U emulator: Cemu 1.5.0 public release, Cemu 1.5.1 available on patreon
We recently mentioned Cemu 1.5.0, which was available to patreon supporters of the popular Wii U emulator. Version 1.5.0 has now been released publicly, and you can enjoy the performance improvement that comes with it.
Cemu 1.5.0 brings the following changes, according to the changelog:
- New enhanced controller configuration menu and emulation
- Configure up to 8 players (assuming the game supports it)
- Added Pro Controller and Classic Controller emulation
- Compatible with the original Pro Controller (using mayflash adapter)
- Improved shader emulation and graphic bugfixes
- Improved sound emulation
- Reduced VRAM usage
- Small bugfixes and changes
The Cemu 1.5.0 Wii U emulator has been said to bring huge performance improvements and run some games at full speed on reasonable PC configurations, such as in this video running Mario Kart 8 below. Note that Cemu does not play all Wii U games yet, and is actively being developed.
Meanwhile, Cemu 1.5.1 is already available to the project’s patreon supporters. Cemu 1.5.1 is a minor bug fix release and brings the following changes:
Input: Fixed input for controllers with off-center axes Input: Added axis range scaler (50% to 200%) H264: Fixed a bug in H264DECMemoryRequirement() that could lead to a crash. CPU: Added new instructions to recompiler: ps_mr, ps_sel, ps_l/ps_st type 6, stfdx CPU: Recompiler will now utilize BMI and AVX instruction set to generate faster code (if supported by host CPU) CPU: Fixed a bug in code generated by recompiler for FSUB & FSUBS where the result would incorrectly become -0.0 instead of 0.0 AX: Added API AXSetVoiceSrcRatio() AX: Fixed a bug in voice volume update AX: Increased audio volume AX: Added logging for audio API GX2: Fixed wrong colors for certain texture dump formats GX2: Fixed vertex ordering for special cases when PRIMITIVE_RECTS is used GX2: New implementation for tiling aperature. Still heavily work-in-progress.
Reddit have an interesting FAQ explaining, among other things, why Cemu is not open source. I felt it was an interesting read:
Q: Why is it closed source?
A: “I have a very strong vision on how the future of Cemu should look like. This includes potential contributors with whom I am already in talks with. I believe that for speedy progress, a small team of long-term, dedicated and skilled team members is better than a big team of temporary contributors. Why? Because every contributor first has to acquire the necessary knowledge about the emulated system. More knowledge means more effective emulator development since a lot of time can be saved by 1) fixing bugs faster 2) implementing features correctly on first attempt. For this approach open-source is simply not necessary. In fact, it is easier to get talented developers to join long-term when their name will have more meaning in the credits. I have also considered donation-driven development. It works very well for artists and comic authors, and I see it as a great incentive for emulator development too. But it would be problematic for a open-source project.But of course there are other concerns as well, like development suddenly focusing on a direction which is not favorable to the original intentions of the emulator. Example: Focus on hacky solutions to get games into playable state earlier. I can see this happen in a open-source environment more likely, because piracy can become the main source for development motivation. Another example: Splatoon is moving towards playability fast, but online features are of low priority to avoid people using the emulator to cheat in online-play and ruin the experience for everyone. With open-source code there is no easy way to steer the development focus away.
Needless to say there are personal reasons as well. Like not wanting to lose control over the project and being slightly reluctant to share the code with people who have no respect for the effort and time it took to get this far. Not to mention the 1000 messages I received along the lines of “This emulator is doomed when it doesn’t go open-source”. It makes me want to prove them otherwise. Oh and as I already stated, if development on Cemu gets stuck for a long period of time or if it is abandoned, the source code will be released anyway. I agree with the sentiment that the knowledge should not go to waste.”
Considering that the project is generating more than $2000 a month on patreon alone, I feel the authors are on good track to make it a full-time thing… How does the community feel about this?
Download Cemu 1.5.0 – Wii U emulator
You can download Cemu version 1.5.0 on their official site here.
Source: Cemu.info, via hackinformer
*pop* goes the cherry! 🙂
I’m sorry, but charging people $5/month on Patreon to get the newest version of an EMULATOR is kinda BS….I know it takes a lot of time, skill and effort to make these, but people shouldn’t be charging a monthly fee for an updated emulator. ESPECIALLY considering it is a violation of Nintendo ToS
Trigger
Remember that Nintendo’s ToS is not the law.
These people are not just paying for an updated emulator, they are paying for the work going into it.
When you buy a pizza you don’t only pay for the dough, tomato and cheese, you need to pay for the labor and rent of the place too.
Yes I’m impressed that they get $2000 a month for this, but good for them, they deserve it.
I don’t think you get how patreon works.
Go write an emulator and you may determine how you wish to handle its code and distribution. Give it away free, charge an absurd price, only let your friends have it, give it to girlfriends to show them what an awesome nerd you are, whatever you want. The coders for Cemu get the same privileges.
Good thing you don’t have to pay for it, then.
Seriously, try programming a current-gen console emulator all by yourself, and see if you don’t end up thinking your work is worth some kind of monetary reward.
If you don’t like it, then don’t download it. Nobody cares what you think. If you care about Nintendo’s ToS so much, go buy a Wii U.. The fact that you are on wololo means, in some shape or form, you are thinking about hacking the console or curious about it.
The fact that the developers are actually trying to make a working emulator and succeeding… deserves the money for their time/work, and not some proof of concept that is just trying to make a quick buck.
You need to realize that the money doesn’t just go to them for a 6 pack of beers and a netflix subscription, it’s actually a form of motivation, feedback, development expenses and ensuring that the developers can put more time towards actually developing the emulator without having to worry about other personal work ties. Nobody is forced to be a Patreon, and if they are a Patreon, it’s because they chose to be. If that’s what makes them happy, that’s their choice. Uploading Nintendo content on Youtube is also against their ToS, but that’s absolutely silly & ridiculous too, so who cares.
An Emulator is not violating the Nintendo ToS. as they do not use Code from Nintendo themself.
You should inform yourself before talking ***.
Not you look like a stupid *** who has no clue what he talks about AND is to grumpy to supoprt someone who does amazing stuff with 5$ per month, while you probably invest 500$ into other video games to jerk your small *** off infront of naked male WoW Characters.
“it is easier to get talented developers to join long-term when their name will have more meaning in the credits.”
This sounds like a solid argument, the next one however: “piracy can become the main source for development motivation. ” it may not be the motivation of development, but you can be damned sure that’s all 90% of the user base does with it, pirate. An often used argument as to why emulators are to exist is the replicating of functionality of an obsolete system. Wii Us and it’s software can still be bought for at least another year, yet this emulator does nothing to help that, in fact it probably worsens it. And this is why emulators should be a no-go until the system reached end of life.
All in all I have to say it’s amazing looking at how quickly this close sourced project makes progress this quickly, but I have to wonder how much it would benefit if it joined hands with some of the geniuses behind dolphin.
I need to remember to become a patreon before the end of the month. This looks golden!
I personally have no problem with them charging for their work and keeping it closed. It’s their time, effort and coding skill that’s gone into building this, they don’t “owe the community” to release it for free if they choose not to. The emulator itself can still be had for free, it’s just the donators that get the releases earlier. The slight monetisation gives the team an incentive to continue putting the hours in to make it better with every release, which is why they’ve been able to get it this far in a shorter space of time. Smaller team, less fragmentation, allows them to keep focus.
Me personally, when I have time I’m going to try it so I can judge whether or not I want to buy a Wii U. Since I’m such a huge Mario Kart fan (I have the SNES/GBA versions on my Vita and the GBA/DS/3DS versions on my 3DS), I’d guess that I’ll love 8 and will buy a real console to play it on. Probably true of a few other titles as well. Kind of a “try before you buy” situation.
Someone should do a patreon for hacking vita, I don’t know if it would be legally possible though…
Sorry for my bad english.
It’s sad but I have to agree. I wonder if it would be as successful as CEMU.
I guess you kids haven’t been around long enough to remember https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleem!
CEMU’s excuse to charge is complete and utter bullcrap. Just look at the success of open source projects such as Dolphin and Citra. These *** couldn’t make money off of exploits since we released them for free, so they decide to go and make a business around emulator development. All code should be open source. Open knowledge and accessibility to the development platform and inner-workings of the system is the reason that drives Comex, Marionumber1, Hykem and myself.
I remember Bleem. I also remember that they would legally have won, but ran out of money and that’s what killed them. Nintendo could play the same game with Cemu but at least there’s precedence here confirming that commercial emulators are legal (which is confirmed by the Wikipedia link you sent).
I do not disagree with your other points though. That’s always the problem with people using knowledge/tools they acquired freely in order to build some commercial solution. Some people are bitter about it, for good or bad reasons. I’ve had my share of bitterness (my open source game Wagic being sold “as is” on some mobile platforms, and more recently this: http://wololo.net/2016/04/27/is-it-ok-to-sell-a-console-hacking-service ). It’s also my experience that people have different approaches in here. Some open source people are the Steve Wozniak of their projects (“it was fun building that thing, I don’t care if other people made billions on my back”), others don’t like the idea that their work is reused in a commercial, closed source shape.
In fairness, EVERY emu, heck every thing, is doomed if it isn’t opensourced. It doesn’t matter how good the program is, how well liked it is, etc. In time, it will fade, or be replaced with an opensource one. The question is, how long. Will it last long enough for it not to matter? Possibly, who knows. I do hope that when/if it is ever dropped it is opensourced, so others can grab the mantle. Though I think that for most closed programs :).
This isn’t to say I begrudge him/her. They can do what they like, it is their code. Do you, as they say.
The only response I have to this is “Project64”.