Best app to stream games from PC to iPAD?

[Perene]

As I explained here:
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-no-sound-while-streaming-emulator-from-pc-to-ipad

I am currently using this app to stream contents from my PC to my iPAD Pro 9.7

https://itunes.apple.com/app/microsoft-remote-desktop/id714464092?mt=8

So far I discovered that ZSNES doesn't work with this method (it returns some error related to Direct3D). BSnes (another Super NES emulator) does, but it's clumsy and I have no idea if this is the best option for the job. With this app I can't switch between games like I do with Dolphin, I always have to use my PC to switch between games.

For GameCube Dolphin works with no issues at all, and I may even switch between games using the app, I only have to press alt + F4 to stop the current emulation. The settings I used are described in that thread.

For BSNES I had to turn off the option "Synchronize video".

As for PlayStation 1, I can use ePSXe with no issues. Haven't checked other emulators besides MAME, which doesn't work at all this way, we always get a black screen with no sound. The error is similar to the one from ZSNES.

Is this the best app there is for this job?

I was planning on doing the following:

- Buy the last version from the PS4 controller, DS4
- Buy a random USB adapter, to enable bluetooth in my PC
- Stream these games from the PC to the iPAD.

The only downside is these two buttons, but they don't annoy me that much:
https://goo.gl/NBUIkO

Any thoughts? I haven't checked all possible emulators for use with this app.

P.S. I only use this app for this job, I don't need it to stream anything else. For videos (for example) I use nPlayer or Infuse.

 

[Jasra_]

You can try using an app called duet, which mirrors your pc or mac to the iPad, however it only runs over lightning cable tho.
I managed to get pretty smooth gameplay from my PS4 using remote play.

 

[Perene]

You can try using an app called duet, which mirrors your pc or mac to the iPad, however it only runs over lightning cable tho.
I managed to get pretty smooth gameplay from my PS4 using remote play.

That's not what I intended, because I was planning on buying a Bluetooth controller (DS4), too... If I have to plug the iPAD to any machine that would defeat this idea, to begin with.

And here are more tests:

- PCSX2 (PlayStation 2 emulator): works fine, but with one issue still not solved. Read more here:
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Emu-suggestions?pid=550565#pid550565

- Fusion 3.64. Emulator for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (and 32X), GameGear, MasterSystem and Sega-CD. I have only tried Genesis roms, but since it's the same emulator I see no reason for being different with other systems.

It does not work if you send the emulator to fullscreen while using the iPAD app. It says it is unable to set display mode. And if the emulator is already in fullscreen it won't appear that way in the app.

The only solution is to use the standard pinch-in and pinch-out gestures in your iPAD, to zoom the emulator. It works quite well that way, and there is audio.

P.S. Fusion won't work at all in the window mode for the iPAD if you don't change it (for Windows 10 users, at least) to use the 16-bit color display mode. To do this check this tip (properties, settings - Reduced color mode):

http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...o-16-bit-color-depth-options.html#post3508007

- Nintendo 64: I tested Project64. Also cannot be used in fullscreen mode. Set windowed resolution (in graphics configuration) to 1152x864. Also turn off the option "Enter fullscreen mode while loading a rom". The window won't fill the entire screen, so you may pinch to zoom in or leave it that way, it's better than nothing.

- Atari - All emulators I tried don't work with this app.

- Saturn: The SSF emulator closes automatically if we try to stream anything.

- Dreamcast: Only tried DEMUL and the game Resident Evil 2. Also doesn't work with the fullscreen mode. We need to do the same thing we did with Fusion/N64. Set Config > Video > Window resolution (in the PC, not while using the app) to lower values (ex: 640x480) to do the pinch properly.

It's even worse to adjust the screen, but it works and with sound. This is not the main DC emulator, I haven't managed to make the others (Chankast, NullDC) work so far. This game has weird issues with the sound only before starting. It would be useful if someone already tested others for this functionality.

My conclusion (having tested just a few systems so far) is that only a very limited number of them can be properly streamed, this is more complicated than I thought. For example, someone adjusted the game METAL GEAR SOLID (1998) for modern PCs. While this is a PC game, it doesn't allow for any adjustment (at least I am not seeing any), so it only works in fullscreen mode, and it doesn't work with this app. At best you see the window cut by half and you can't drag it. Also the image is poor even this way, meaning that it is designed to be used in a PC without this being enabled at all.

I wonder if using a Virtual Machine can solve these problems...

 

[Perene]

More details:

- GameBoy/Color - Tested with the emulator BGB. It doesn't work AT ALL when I try to stream. I can only hear the sound, but nothing I do in the game itself is broadcasted, the screen remains white and if I am hearing the same sound over and over, that means it is frozen in the iPAD.

Perhaps there's some specific config that would make it work, but I doubt it.

- NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) - 1985

I only tested the emulator FCEUX. As you can see from this picture:

http://i.imgur.com/BgctMo0.png

The game runs while using this app, but without filling the screen. We may change a setting in Windows to hide the taskbar, but if we attempt to use the emulator in fullscreen mode (at least here with these settings) it will become painfully slow. Game has sound and doesn't appear to have any problems in window mode (which almost fills the screen).

- Super NES - I said BSNES should be used (no fullscreen mode and clumsy/far from ideal in this scenario), however the best (and so far only) emulator that can send any game to fullscreen mode while using Microsoft Remote Desktop (the iPAD app) is SNES9X.

I managed to make it work, but not without configuring these for the controller first:

http://www.snes9x.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12753

The only way to make it work was to edit the file snes9x.conf

In this part:

[Controls\Win]
Joypad1:Enabled = TRUE
Joypad1:Up = (J0)POV Up
Joypad1: Down = (J0)POV Down
Joypad1:Left = (J0)POV Left
Joypad1:Right = (J0)POV Right
Joypad1:A = (J0)Button 1
Joypad1:B = (J0)Button 2
Joypad1:Y = (J0)Button 3
Joypad1:X = (J0)Button 0
Joypad1:L = (J0)Button 6
Joypad1:R = (J0)Button 7
Joypad1:Start = (J0)Button 9
Joypad1:Select = (J0)Button 8
Joypad1:Left+Up = (J0)POV Up Left
Joypad1:Right+Up = (J0)POV Up Right
Joypad1:Right+Down = (J0)POV Dn Right
Joypad1:Left+Down = (J0)POV Dn Left

- 3DO (emulator: 4DO). It ran in fullscreen mode, yet I think it isn't working properly.

P.S. The BIOS panafz10.bin (it can be found with others) is required prior to run any game.

For example, while using the app I noticed slowdowns. Also a game isn't working even though Virtual CloneDrive mounted the ISO. When I try to run using the app it says "failed to load" (Need for Speed).

In the PC the same game works.

I only tested another ISO (besides NFS), from the game "Road Rash", and in the first attempts I noticed the sound wasn't 100% smooth. In my last try it was, but only I think after I closed the emulator and opened/tried to run using the app first (and not doing in the PC and only after this establishing a connection with the iOS app). I also think it has the same problem described for PS2 (and fixed for GameCube), if we try to run a 2nd game/time using the app it will have no audio.

Overall unfortunately only a few games and programs are working properly, most of them are not.

P.S. Tried just now a PC game, PES 5 (released in 2005). The game freezes when I run the app. You can hear the audio, but it has stopped at that moment, too. I guess that means PC games won't work at all.

I checked the Oracle Virtual Machine and running Windows XP I was able to stream Stella, the Atari 2600 emulator. However I have to zoom the image and I believe one will get in trouble or at least had so much things to adjust that it won't be worth it. I haven't checked with recent Windows versions, or other OS. Could be worth trying, though.

It's also possible that either the USB Gamepad won't work (at least I couldn't make it work for MAME yet) or there could be some lag in this method.

 

[pacorob]

Interesting topic although I wonder if the use of these emulators and games can be discussed here (as far as copyright in concerned). So do I understand correctly that you have your controller still connected to your laptop/desktop and not connected with your iPad I suppose?

It would be could to also play other games that aren't available on iPad but use it like this to still play somewhere else (e.g. on the couch) your favorite games that don't have official apps. I'm still hoping to see games such as Warcraft II, III (nothing like it on iOS, only C&C like games), Twisted Metal, Mario Tennis or MarioKart on iOS.

 

[Perene]

Interesting topic although I wonder if the use of these emulators and games can be discussed here (as far as copyright in concerned). So do I understand correctly that you have your controller still connected to your laptop/desktop and not connected with your iPad I suppose?

It would be could to also play other games that aren't available on iPad but use it like this to still play somewhere else (e.g. on the couch) your favorite games that don't have official apps. I'm still hoping to see games such as Warcraft II, III (nothing like it on iOS, only C&C like games), Twisted Metal, Mario Tennis or MarioKart on iOS.

I don't think there's a problem discussing emulators in Macrumors as long as no links are provided for games, BIOS or similar stuff, or if there aren't any talks about ilegally downloaded contents.

And I am also mentioning the fact that PC games are not working, too.

So you have thousands of games working and even more not able to be played in the same way, not as long as some developer don't create another emulator or modified version of these games that work exactly like Snes9X, for example.

Since the PC is in the same room as the iPAD I may use a bluetooth controller like this one:

If the PC does not have bluetooth you just need an USB adapter, besides following what is said on this link.

What I would suggest is using some sort of tablet stand (TStand is one recommended), then you can play these games with your PC logged off streaming them to your iPAD. The downside is that we still have these two control buttons from the app (they can't be removed from fullscreen) and some possible issue during the stream.

I don't have any hopes of seeing most of these games available to be purchased/made for iOS, and even if they all were, they would be different (for example, not allowing cheat codes to be used) or waste my iPAD available space.

We are talking about games such as those made for GameCube, PSX, PS2 and Wii **... a single game that wastes 1-3 GB. Since I have a 4 TB Hard Drive I only need to send the image to my iPAD properly. Something that unfortunately rarely works fine.

What I would like to do really is not to send the image to my iPAD - instead, to send it to my TV, maybe using my Apple-TV 4, and not through the Airplay method. There's always a delay with this latter method. Then again you can always connect your PC directly to your TV using an HDMI cable.

** I am still doing some research if there's a need for another controller for these games, because Wii perhaps may need an additional one since it uses two settings, one for the standard controller and other for the Wiinote/Nunchuck. I wasn't able to make some Wii games work with both my mouse/keyboard and controller at the same time.


*************

P.S.

A more detailed description:

13) Sony PlayStation

Emulator: ePSXe

Works 100% fine, fullscreen with audio. In the ePSXe settings, use fullscreen mode, and 1360x1024 @ 32 bit.

I am using Pete's OpenGL2 Renderer, and:

Internal X resolution: 2
Internal Y resolution: 3
Stretching: 0
Render mode: 0
Text filtering: 5
High-res textures: 2
Use pixel shader for... (on)
Use fps limit (on)
Auto-detect fps on
FPS limit is set to 200.00

Off-screen drawing: 1
Framebuffer effects: 3
Framebuffer upload: 1

Fullscreen filters:
Screen filtering ON
Shader effects ON, 4 GLSlang smoothing
Flicker-fix border: 0
Shader level: 4

Also ON: MDEC filter, Disable screensaver

Emulator sound: ePSXe SPU Core 2.0.0.

Tip: use alt + F4 + Enter in the iPAD app to close the emulator, and reopen, to change to another game. If you do that there will be audio! This is a perfect example of emulator designed to work perfectly with Microsoft Remote Desktop. Too bad all others fail to follow its example.

 

[Perene]

More updates:

* Dreamcast

- Note: I only tested the GDI (1:1 versions of games), not CDI files (these are lossy versions). Also DEMUL only works if a BIOS is named 1_01d_01.bin and inside compressed file named dc.zip, that should be in the folder /ROMS.

- Emulator: nullDC

I was able to make this one work, finally. It can go fullscreen and with sound. If we open more than one game in the same session it gets muted, too. The sound returns after we quickly restart a connection with the PC.

- Emulator: DEMUL. I used to run Resident Evil 2 (this is perhaps the only emulator capable of doing that, despite the audio issues). It does not fill the screen, you need to apply zoom.

This is how both of them look like:

List compiled today:
http://microsoftremotedesktop.wiki-site.com/index.php/Microsoft_Remote_Desktop

 

[Perene]

More updates:

As you can see, the DEVIL MAY CRY 4 demo (PC) can only run in window mode, and it has audio.

But Assassins Creed (2007) won't work at all. In fullscreen it will crash, and in window mode it has no sound.

I believe most PC games will have the same issues.

And this is how Fusion (Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Sega CD, 32X) looks like in the app:

Now with zoom applied:

And contrary to what I said, the Atari 2600 emulator Stella is fully supported.

Only needs a few adjustments. The same for FCEUX, the NES emulator.

This is what happens when we try to run M.A.M.E.:

PlayStation (ePSXe) running:

PCSX2 (PlayStation 2):

For use with these systems:

- Game Boy
- Game Boy Color
- Game Boy Advance
- Wonderswan
- Wonderswan Color

We need the higan (v102) emulator.

A few screenshots:

higan can also run Game Gear, Master System, Genesis/Mega Drive and PC Engine, the problem is that the games I tested are muted (in the PC) and none of the Genesis games I have here are being recognized. Once these problems are fixed I'll update that wiki page.

There's also the fact that this emulator doesn't have a few options that Fusion has, such as the use of cheat codes.

http://microsoftremotedesktop.wiki-site.com/index.php/Microsoft_Remote_Desktop

P.S. MAME is now supported:

Nintendo DS, too.

 

[Perene]

There's an app that I found today that is sucessfully streaming PC games (emulators don't work properly with it):

https://itunes.apple...d965075144?mt=8

However, there are a few problems:

- The free version has limitations such as medium image quality.

- It keeps rotating my iPAD screen everytime I try to use it, even if I use a setting that disable this behaviour in iOS. So I am forced to use it in a way I really don't want.

- There's a dead pixel in the screen that won't ever leave. It doesn't bother that much, but you know it's always there. Another thing to fix in this app.

Other than that I believe it's working with most PC games.

P.S.

Panasonic 3DO is now fully supported. Check the wiki for more details.

http://microsoftremotedesktop.wiki-site.com/index.php/Microsoft_Remote_Desktop

***********
Update March 2nd:

Atari 2600, 5200/7800
Genesis/Mega Drive
PC Engine
Game Gear

NOW fully supported.

 

[Perene]

I tried using the DS4 (new model, using Bluetooth) controller, plus the Airpods connected to the iPAD Pro 9.7, and this Microsoft Remote Desktop app. First of all, to configure the DS4 controller we need to visit this site:
https://inputmapper.com/

Not DS4Windows.com, which works, but not for all emulators, and lacks some features, since it's discontinued, if I am not mistaken. In the InputMapper website we see "DEPRECIATED" for it.

Unfortunatelly what I feared is now confirmed: there is a serious lag if we try to play any game using this method, rendering the whole thing useless, as some users warned me from the start.

1 second of difference, meaning that I send a command in the DS4 controller, and hear the sound effect in the iPAD a second later. So that means this whole idea does not work and should be avoided.

Another issue I had was with the Airpods, this time using the PC, as explained here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-problems-and-questions.2022574/page-51#post-
24557190

I tested some emulators, such as ePSXe and PCSX2, and we can hear them fine, but SNES9x is one that is muted in the PC, as reported here:
http://www.snes9x.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=6&p=56210&sid=ff6ddda166151b48521ca33fe1446c28#p56210

I still haven't figured out why this emulator has no sound in the PC or why the mere switch of some track mutes everything in MPC or VLC.