Sega Model 3 Emulator (Supermodel)

I just got a new PC gamepad, and now Model 2/Nebula is much better to play! As for Supermodel/Model 3, I'm using Supermodel UI, and setting the joystick mapping is TERRIBLE!!!!!!! TERRIBLE!!!!! Because it does not auto-detect/set when you hit a button, so I have to scroll the list to figure out what button I want to set it for. Intolerable!

 

Yeah it's pretty awful, still better than editing a cfg file manually or operating command line. The author(s) is concentrating on making the thing run better rather than the bells and whistles at the moment. I managed to get my Rumblepad 2 and 360 pad working properly but it took about half an hour to get things right.

I've only just discovered that you can emulate a 3D controller on SSF for Sega Saturn. I may have to buy a 3D Saturn controller based on this because Daytona & Sega Rally are like different games with analogue controls!

 

I ran to Target and got a Logitech F310 USB gamepad, which was $25. My hands are big, and it's still too big for me, but both emulators recognize the Left and right trigger buttons as the Z-axis, so I can use those for Gas and Brake. The control on Le Mans 24 is horrible, but SCUD Race, Daytona, others run really well.

 

When are you going to take my advice and buy a FFB wheel? Stop messing around with those cheap gamepads and use a MAN's instrument to play your Model 3 racers.

 

I plan on installing a Windows partition on my Macbook Pro just so I can run Supermodel and a few other games. It'll be cool to see what it looks like on the Retina display. I think it ought to be able to run Supermodel, but maybe not at the highest resolution (2560x1600).

 

I've got a driving force GT wheel, though I seldom use it on emulators because it's a pain in the arse to drag out and setup (I've got it on a custom built wooden stand - VERY heavy). Sometimes you just want to plug a pad in and have a blast on some arcade classics. I would recommend using a wheel at least once, but if you haven't got a permanent spot for a steering wheel (not all of us have the luxury of space) it's awkward and impractical to use one every time, better to at least have a pad to go on.

I think that's definitely worth a go just for the colours alone! What spec is your laptop? because if it has a decent amount of ram and 2 or more cores with a half decent graphics chip (which it should due to the needed display resolution and colour clarity) then you should be able to run it at that resolution with a passable frame rate (40-50).

I'd also recommend:

Nebula Model 2 Emulator (v1.0):
http://nebula.emulatronia.com/
Plays almost all Model 2 games pretty much perfectly.

MAME (everyone knows this one):
http://mamedev.org/
Now runs Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing and a few other model one games brilliantly. Virtua racing is near perfect, while Virtua Fighter still has some graphics bugs but plays well. There are also some great System 32 games on there as well like Rad Mobile.

 

I used a wheel for years and years when I did non-stop Sim-racing on PC, but stopped. Like Xeauron says, it's too much of a pain to drag out of the box, hook up, clamp to the desk, etc. I have been considering this Thrustmaster wheel that is an all in one piece, and seems to be pretty easy to setup and put away.

http://www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/products/ferrari-vibration-gt-cockpit-458-italia-edition

 

Well, I don't actually have it yet, but I will very soon. It's the middle-tier 13" Macbook Pro: 2.4Ghz dual-core i5 Haswell processor, 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3, 256GB PCIe-based SSD, Intel Iris graphics, etc. The real question mark is the graphics. Iris is an integrated chip, but it's supposedly higher-performance than their other integrated GPUs. It should be good enough for the majority of what I need to do with the machine, but I'm not sure if it'll be passable for gaming. I'm spoiled with my 780, so anything less than 60fps in Supermodel isn't really acceptable. Even my 560 Ti was capable of running Supermodel at that speed, so I expect the MBP will be able to as well. But we'll just see. It'll be able to run the Model 2 emulator for sure, though.

I expect my desktop, which is a beast of a machine, will remain my primary computer. The Macbook Pro is for when I need a portable computer, like when I want to do web browsing elsewhere in the house, or when I go on a trip. Stuff like that. Also, I've found it's generally good to have at least 2 computers; just in case one has problems, then you still have a backup.

 

Yeah I know what you mean, I've got a Samsung laptop with a Core i5 25-something CPU (quite decent actually) with a GT520 MX chip in it which is about PS3 level graphics (not great) 6GB ram which plays Supermodel with AA at 1080 60fps so I imagine Iris integrated chip should make mincemeat out of this emu. I use mine for work when I'm away from home and it gets on quite well with all my needed programs, and most games I run on there at modest settings. Though when gaming the fan kicks up to full speed constantly and it does sound loud.

I've also got a power tower with a 680 in there (not upgraded to the 780 as the jump in performance isn't big enough to warrant it). Though I will be interested to see what nvidia do next year for their 800 (Maxwell) series cards.

 

I think at the very least it ought to be able to handle any Source game in WQHD, which alone will be pretty cool. Most of them have Mac ports, so I won't even need to install Windows to play them.

 

The thing I love about Supermodel, is that it allows me to relive those glory days of playing Model 3 racing games in the arcade. I can't tell you how much I've always wanted to play Daytona 2 and Super GT at home. This is like a dream come true, as those are two of my favorite racing games of all time(besides Ridge Racers 2).

There's nothing like being able to play Super Gt and Daytona 2 at home on the big screen with a high quality force feedback steering wheel, high end pedals and a true H-gated stick shifter. Bart and Nik are simply awesome. The fact that you can run the games on only a mid-range PC at full speed is mind boggling! If they ever get online network multiplayer working it's going to be NIRVANA!

 

I think Supermodel can be compiled for OS X.

 

Yes it can, but as far as I'm aware there's no frontend for OS X - so you have to do everything using Terminal, which is a bit of a pain. Also, I don't know of any precompiled versions of the latest revisions.

 

Installed Supermodel on my MBP the other day, and it actually runs really well, even at the highest resolution (2560x1600). Oddly, Half Life 2 doesn't run very well at that resolution. It's strange, I would have expected the exact opposite. I had to install a separate Windows partition for gaming purposes.

 

I can't wait for the day that the Sega Rally 2 seizure inducing bugs are fixed!

Such an awesome game. Can't bring myself to play that shoddy Dreamcast port again (even with the fake 60fps fix).

 

Finally got it running on my PC...my life is complete! Even set up the Dual Shock 3. Wow so much fun, the only problem is Virtua Fighter 3 is buggy =(

Also, just come across this...super cool.

 

The controls can also be setup with the command line which is a lot easier, the UI is not written by the guys that develops the core emu.

Got to command line, in the root directory of the exe just type supermodel -config-inputs
This will let you set each control by pressing the button, and is the only way to configure your steering wheel settings correctly.

If you want to play Sega Rally 2, then you will need to create and load your own shader file.

This is not as hard as it sounds.
Go to the source file repository and get the latest shader and vertex files, currently this is from build 271.

http://sourceforge.net/p/model3emu/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/Src/Graphics/Shaders/

Download the fragment.GLSL and save it to your Supermodel emu folder.

Open it up and scroll to the bottom.

// Apply fog under the control of fog factor setting from polygon header
fragColor.rgb = mix(gl_Fog.color.rgb, fragColor.rgb, fsFogFactor);
First you want to tweak the fog effects so the backgrounds display. Edit this line to this

// Apply fog under the control of fog factor setting from polygon header
fragColor.rgb = mix(gl_Fog.color.rgb, fragColor.rgb, max(fsFogFactor,0.1));
This sets the fog factor to never be 0, and hence wont obscure the background completely.

2nd, you need to tweak the texture settings to remove some bad effects, this is because all the polygons and textures and not perfetced emulated and understood how the Real3D engine works,

// If contour texture and not discarded, force alpha to 1.0 because will later be modified by polygon translucency
if (fsTexFormat < 0.5) // contour (T1RGB5) texture
fragColor.a = 1.0;

This line needs to be changed, its near the bottom a few lines up from the fog section.

We change it to the below, this just tells the shader to set the transparency to 0, so these effects don.t show, You only need these to make Sega Rally 2 playable on the latest release, This will have adverse effects in other games. If you use it in Star Wars trilogy you'll lose all the explosion effects. But makes Sega Rally Playable! ..

// If contour texture and not discarded, force alpha to 1.0 because will later be modified by polygon translucency
if (fsTexFormat < 0.5) // contour (T1RGB5) texture
fragColor.a = 1.0;

if (fsTexFormat == 7.0) // contour (T1RGB5) texture
fragColor.a = 0.0;