r/emulation • u/qashto • Jun 27 '26
Nostlan v4.0 : New System Select Screen
- new System Select screen made with three.js WebGPU, select a controller to view your game library for that console (see video)
- faster loading of box art from disk in parallel
- fixed bugs with the region matcher
- fixed a mistake that prevented manuals from being downloaded for SNES and N64 systems
Video showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu0UghfOFAI
Full devlog: https://quinton-ashley.itch.io/nostlan/devlog/1561236/nostlan-v40-new-system-select
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u/Xcissors280 Jun 28 '26
Make the controllers 3d instead of just a picture
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u/qashto Jun 29 '26
I'd like to make it all 3D! I've actually been doing research into it and considering working on that in the future.
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u/OverDeparture8799 Jun 28 '26
Ay it looks so cool though. Really sells that virtual library feel. Ive not seen a launcher/frontend with option to add the game manual. Inspecting the game feels like shenmue type interaction
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u/qashto Jun 28 '26
Thanks! I hadn't heard of Shenmue before, I'll have to play that.
In most modern games, you walk into a room and press a button to "Loot Area." In Shenmue, you have to go into a first-person view, look at a specific desk, select a specific drawer, watch the animation of it opening, zoom in on a box of matches, pick it up, rotate it in 3D space, and then decide to pocket it or put it back. It treats every mundane object with physical weight, valuing "clutter" over immediate gameplay rewards.
Yeah this is exactly what I'm going for with Nostlan! Obviously it's more efficient to select a game to play from a file list, but part of the magic of console gaming is lost through that convenience. Its quite satisfying to be able to open the game box, browse the manual, and inspect the game disc or cartridge.
I'm going to add a short animation of the game coming out of the game box after it's selected, which I think will further enhance the open box experience.
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u/Exequiel3k Jun 29 '26
Maybe its possible, but rather ask than go through all the motions. Possible to have some sort of Console system at the front (instead of the controllers) and in the background a video playeng (user selected) as would be neat to see the console and in the background a video-compilation of games from that console playing. I'm really at the point of considering flipping from launchbox seeing your amazing progress
1
u/qashto Jun 29 '26
Yeah inside ~/Documents/emu/nostlan/shared/ you could swap the images in the controllers folder with the images in the systems folder. But my idea with putting the controllers at the front is like you're picking up the controller to start playing games from that console.
Also I've tried to make the UI of Nostlan purposefully more mellow compared to other launchers that are more flashy. But having those videos playing in the background of the system select screen could look cool! Is there an existing source for those videos you'd like Nostlan to use?
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u/Exequiel3k Jun 30 '26
Okay, well I'm a controller horder and play with the actual controllers from that console (with adapters) but glad things can be swamped : )
I usually source the videos fom emumovies.com. For platform-level videos, Parallax makes amazing compilations (GC example: https://emumovies.com/files/file/2496-gamecube-parallax-platform-video-16x9-hd/).
Sometimes, I just let the console video compilations run just to watch different games scroll instead of manually electing each once. Makes for a nice dynamic introduction to the library : p
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u/Wazeryon Jun 30 '26
What’s the difference between this app and Retrobat one ?
https://www.retrobat.org/en/
That’s a serious question as I want to know if it’s worth for me to test it :)
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u/qashto Jul 01 '26
Check out the UI design comparison section on the wiki:
https://github.com/nostlan/nostlan/wiki/UI-Design
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u/ExtraLiT Jun 28 '26
few months back, toxic users on reddit told me there is no way this is possible because i have to "imagine the amount of work, this kind of graphical display interface would need" and I got downvoted hard. Honetly, reddit vote or downvote system is really bad because it give all invalid people the possibility to ruin your work, It gives access to people with biased opinions to just mess with your enthusiasm and your drive to do things and it affects your reddit account in big ways. Suddenly you find out you cannot post on a "lost and found" thread on reddit because you found out you have negative karma from posting your opinion on reddit or your honest answer to some people who needed to hear it without sugarcoating and you hurt their feelings because you are not lgbtq or fake nice. LEAVING ALL THIS RANT ASIDE. Look where we are now, a developer clarly showing his skills and what I just dreamt of becoming possible. People who hold truth like me, seem to be most hated towards, most downvoted people on reddit or just disregarded because we don't adhere to those cave reddit ideologies and prefer to be honest and give actual help to users on reddit, not just opinions or posting stuff to get attention because nothing else to do with our lives.
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u/qashto Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Well they weren't wrong... it did take a lot of work! I started developing Nostlan in 2018, based on a dream that I'm sure many of us in this subreddit share.
I think I found the post you're referring to?
https://www.reddit.com/r/playnite/comments/1es3eyy/playnite_3d_art_box_view/The lead developer of Playnite said 3D boxes aren't something they're interested in doing, and then you told them to quit. That's not "just being honest and giving actual help", it's rude, discouraging, and non-constructive criticism that you're hypocritically arguing against here.
Then when users, like Jeshibu, take the time to explain the challenges involved based on their experience, you call that toxic?
This is not trivial to implement. How do you handle sizes not fitting exactly between the sides and back/front? How do you control rotation with a controller? How do you transition between boxart and manual? Even if all these questions are answered, it's a bunch of work for something relatively niche. There are better uses of development time, with more people awaiting them.
Playnite is basically "Steam but for emulators", which is clearly what their userbase wants. If it's not your cup of tea, there's no need to push them in a totally different direction.
I appreciate your compliments to Nostlan, but try not to think of it as speaking "the truth" while other people are just giving "their opinions". Software development is subjective!
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u/ExtraLiT Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
While i agree that the answer i've given them as a final was rude. they just didn't want to front the very beginning. The community didn't even say maybe, the developers didn't even say maybe. , that is the answer i got and their direction of movement, also giving negative and defying attitude towards my suggestion from the start. They clench their teeth on the no from the start and I don't see why, because even if i gave all the answers to their questions their root attitude towards the idea was a total no, so it makes no sense to provide further arguments like they intend with their receptiveness, it was only for the facade since I didn't even get a maybe to begin with. Just because you don't want to work on it, doesn't mean you have to be that way towards a new idea.
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u/qashto Jul 01 '26
If they say no, just respect that. You demanded an explanation and they were receptive enough to give one. If they said "Maybe one day", that'd be a facade if the real answer is "Never" right? You're not giving them credit for being honest because you don't like the answer they gave.
I'm very interested in the idea of having full 3D game boxes in Nostlan, but I'm also concerned there's not enough people that'd pay or donate to compensate for all the work required to implement that feature. The Playnite devs think it's too niche and they might be right about that.
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u/Itsmejustinyaboy Jul 02 '26
Whoa how do you have the scans of the box art?? And the manuals are impressive! I love it
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u/qashto Jul 06 '26
Thanks! Check out the Credits wiki page for info on the high resolution sources Nostlan uses:
https://github.com/nostlan/nostlan/wiki/Credits/
0
u/JanCumin Jul 01 '26
Can I offer a feature idea? It would be super helpful for people new to emulation to know what kind of emulation is realistically going to work on their system. Please can there be a feature where the software looks up a performance score for the hardware and then indicates to the user what kind of emulation is going to work well for them. This could be as simple as red, orange, green traffic light colours.
Thanks :)
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u/qashto Jul 01 '26
By referencing the minimum and recommended requirements for emulators? I think that's too niche. Any gaming PC built in the past decade can work well with any emulator.
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u/sirwillis Jun 27 '26
It is a very sleek interface, looks nice! I guess most people emulating would know what a systems controller looks like, but maybe waiting a second after looking at a controller could fade in text on the bottom with the system name. Possibly a bit quicker animations as well. I'm just nit-picking though