Making a (kid and wife) friendly htpc experience?
1mon 5d ago by anarchist.nexus/u/curbstickle in emulation@sh.itjust.works
Hey folks, welcoming some input here on options for a smooth experience.
I have an htpc going with a simple launcher for jellyfin, edu gaming, etc, navigable with the 8bitdo controllers I have connected. What I'd really like to do is some emulation, right now I'm looking at:
- Nintendo: NES, GB, GBA, DS, 3DS, N64, maybe GC & wii but I haven't tried it
- Sony: PS1, PS2, Vita, would go with PS3 but I don't quite have the performance on that little box for it...
- Sega: Genesis, GameGear, maybe others
Probably some more, but we'll leave it there for now.
What I'd like as an end goal:
- Filtered library based on user (my kids aren't at an age where I'm going to be cool with them playing Mortal Kombat)
- Local client to run it, romM is really cool but 3DS is a non-starter unfortunately
- Preferably a single tool to showcase all the roms and make for an easy start experience
Also any thoughts on controllers are welcomed! I have a couple of 8bitdo ultimates, a few random ds3's and knockoffs, NES style 8bitdo from years ago. N64 gaming I haven't had a great experience with, and I think a dance mat, maybe a guitar hero type guitar would be fun. Feel free to make a recommendation on a controller for a specific use, even one I haven't mentioned!
TL;DR: Whats your htpc emulation setup?
I use steam ROM manager to add my games directly, and launch them from steam big picture. This doesn't really work if you need to lock down game access unfortunately, but maybe it's a lead that can get you headed in the right direction.
I've also used ES-DE which is more like a standalone launcher, but I think the same caveats will apply around filtered user profiles.
If I need to, I can always separate out the games by rating (eh, and personal takes on the appropriate ratings) into different shares off my NAS I suppose. Duplicates db, but not the end of the world, and I don't get the impression there is anything out there with user-based controls...
ES-DE looks pretty interesting, going to check it out, thanks!
I see what you mean with es-de being limiting...
I'm going to start with a kids-only setup and go from there, maybe I can get away with swapping the es-settings.xml around.