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Post by Sonnington on May 29, 2020 17:04:51 GMT
I see there's a hot new ODE that's hit the market recently. It's very enticing since it loads bin/cue files. The compatibility list is pretty impressive so far, but they only load the game and play it for a few minutes. Does anyone have any experience with this? 8bitmods.com/blog/fenrir-compatibility-list-redump/ |
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marley
Novice
Joined: June 2015
Posts: 49 
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Post by marley on Jun 1, 2020 15:08:26 GMT
Don't own one or any ODE but the Fenrir was hyped for it being far less expensive than Phoebe and Rhea. I guess it's the tried and tested "you get what you paid for" case here.
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Post by Tongara on Jun 2, 2020 20:11:29 GMT
I guess it's the tried and tested "you get what you paid for" case here. Based on what, sorry? |
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Post by zyrobs on Jun 2, 2020 21:47:28 GMT
I guess it's the tried and tested "you get what you paid for" case here. Based on what, sorry? Fenrir costs less and works with less games. I think the only thing it has over Rhea is that it can load bin/cue without needing to convert it first. Not sure if it's any cheaper - I've seen it scalped on ebay for 300€ already. |
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Post by Tongara on Jun 3, 2020 8:33:48 GMT
Fenrir costs less and works with less games. I think the only thing it has over Rhea is that it can load bin/cue without needing to convert it first. Not sure if it's any cheaper - I've seen it scalped on ebay for 300€ already. Right, I was just under the impression that since it's the first revision that updates would happen to fix the issues as time went along, so I just found the quote odd in this moment. If it were a year on and nothing, then I could understand it 100%, and will reserve judgement myself until that point. And yeah, while initially cheaper, they were fast bought up and are being resold for stupid prices. It's a shame, but not sure how they didn't see this coming? At least it seems that the next be coming sooner rather than later. I'm still looking at the Satiator myself. |
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Post by zyrobs on Jun 3, 2020 13:06:26 GMT
Newer firmware did improve compatibility according to the changelogs, and it may end up becoming fully compatible over time. But AS OF NOW, it remains less compatible than Rhea.
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Post by Tongara on Jun 3, 2020 15:46:19 GMT
Yes, I understand that. haha
I just didn't find what I quoted to be an appropriate label/remark yet was all. Interested to see how this progresses, regardless.
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Post by Sonnington on Jun 3, 2020 17:25:14 GMT
It's not that much cheaper, is it? My Rhea was like, 130-140 iirc. The Fenrir is 120.
They also say if you get the trurip versions of the games most non-functioning games will work. Of course, they only tested the games for a few minutes.
The Satiator eh? Now that's something else. Since it's a plugin and not an ODE, would this decrease load times and perhaps fix some of the slowdown in games like SotN?
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Post by zyrobs on Jun 4, 2020 1:08:23 GMT
No, game slowdowns are down to coding. You'd need to custom rewrite the game.
Decreasing load time may be possible since it isn't getting data through the CD connector, but pumping it straight into memory. But I doubt it can be done without compatibility issues and a lot of firmware work. On the up side, like all ODEs, the Satiator too will have zero seek times, so games will load a bit faster. Something like the third of a second it takes for the CD drive pickup to move from one end of the disc (audio tracks) back to the data segment, but this IS very noticeable in games with a lot of seeking. Digital Pinball loads the audio tracks notably sooner, loading time in Virtua Fighter 2 when continuing is nearly nil, and so on.
However since the Satiator takes a more complex route to emulate the drive (doing it in software), it has likely lower compatibility. There are compatibility lists online somewhere... I didn't have time to test my unit, I've been busy all year.
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Post by Sonnington on Jun 4, 2020 6:26:59 GMT
In that case, what's the upside to the Satiator vs a real ODE? Just being able to have it installed while also having a real optical drive for disks if you want?
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Post by zyrobs on Jun 4, 2020 12:22:57 GMT
With Satiator you should have access to the SD Card on a software level, although someone will need to code in functions to take advantage of that. For example, using it as backup space for your save games. No one coded such a function yet, but it has that ability in theory.
It's also plug and play on all machines, without needing disassembly. And all of it's code is open source.
The author is also taking his time to get proper manufacturing done so there won't be a shortage of devices, unlike for the ODEs.
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