RetroCopy is an emulator
What exactly is an emulator? It probably seems strange the first time you hear about an emulator. How exactly do you replicate hardware in software? Game consoles let you use them by interacting with the controllers, you plugged in a game and you saw and heard the output on your television.
The original software/games were stored on cartridges or disks, these can be copied to your PC as a file using special backup devices. Once the file is on your computer all you need is a program which takes that data and displays it like the real system does. That is what an emulator does.
The CPU(s) of the game systems read the data from the cartridge just like an emulator reads the data from the file. Based on what is in the file the emulator performs the same operations as a real machine, it then outputs these operations to your monitor and speakers.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Where do I get games to run on RetroCopy?
Unless you already own the game it is illegal in most regions to download commercial games. Search engines can be used to find games that you own and free games that homebrew authors have developed. Please ensure you respect the copyright holders of any commercial software.
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What are RetroCopy's system requirements.
RetroCopy will currently run on Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Win7. You will need an OpenGL compliant video card and at least 512MB of RAM. Dualcore/Quadcore processors are recommended as RetroCopy will take advantage of them.
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What systems does RetroCopy emulate?
Check the homepage and download page to see the supported systems.
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How long did RetroCopy take to develop?
The GUI of RetroCopy has been in development for over 3 years, the emulator aspects are a culmination of over 13 years experience contributing to the emulator scene.
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How is RetroCopy programmed?
Most of RetroCopy is written in C++, with some in C. Care was taken to ensure compatibility with both 32bit (Intel x86) and 64bit (AMD x64) processors. RetroCopy utilizes TinyXML, SDL for it's input system and parts of the BOOST library for it's GUI and threading/filesystem. OpenGL is the current display API used, and platform specific sound libraries are used (DirectSound).
Not all emulators are the same
Most emulators make sacrifices, usually to increase the speed at which the emulator runs. If a game console had a CPU which ran at 100Mhz then you might think a computer which runs at 1000MHz should easily run it. This is not the case though so emulator authors usually write less accurate emulators so that they are easier to run on slower computers.
An emulator will usually take 20-100 cycles per emulated cycle. This means you will need a machine which is roughly twenty to one hundred times faster than the real machine.
RetroCopy is an extremely accurate emulator, it currently emulates the Sega Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System at the system cycle level. Which is as accurate as you need to be. Most emulators today are instruction accurate, which is usually accurate down to about 5-10 cycles. RetroCopy being cycle accurate means it is accurate down to every cycle, the smallest interval possible.
The downside to being so accurate is you need a faster machine to be able to run it. RetroCopy uses about 30-50 cycles to emulate one cycle making it the fastest cycle accurate emulator currently available.
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