Selling (mostly) up for MiSTer - I feel like a traitor.

[wakka]

I'm running it on a Mac I'm afraid.

I don't really think you can integrate a MiSTER with a PC or a Pi, they're separate devices.

Not too sure about the Pi as I'm not really too knowledgeable about those. Probably best to setup a dedicated Windows machine as your emu box I'd say. There are various frontends you can get, too, but I'm really no expert I'm afraid!

EDIT: BTW, you should link us to your Ebay profile. You can put it in here too:

https://bordersdown.net/forums/101-Ebay-links-%28Gaming-only%29

[speedlolita]

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole you could look into RetroNAS to serve ROMs to your MiSTer and another device.

Regarding fees I would look out for a final value fee discount weekend (these are every 2 weeks, the last one was the weekend just gone). This will knock 70% off of your final value fee which helps quite a bit.

[Max P.]

Yes, cheers - I do always wait for the discount weekends, only way to cope with the ever rising fees...grrrr

I have not been around the scene for years (or on here sorry to say) but so many old names I remember still on here.

I'll look into the DC thing - it's one machine that has so many stand out games for me and was (in my era at least) the only true 'arcade perfect' console - alongside MVS of course.

I'm selling up here, only 50 odd items at present as it will take me a while but games and systems to list for all the main systems as per my first post. I will be adding stuff gradually each weekend.

Obviously on there I'm looking for top dollar - needs must I'm afraid but if anyone is after anything please let me know and obviously I will try and help out as much as possible 'outside' the bay...

brig-wolff on eBay

[wakka]

The other option for stuff you can’t play on MiSTER is to use original hardware but with optical drive emulators. Obviates the risk of laser failure and gives you access to the entire library from an SD card.

The Terraonion MODE, for example, can be installed into either a DC or Saturn and costs 200 euros plus shipping and tax:

https://terraonion.com/en/producto/terraonion-mode/

[Escape-To-88]

Yep, tough decision but early retirement, down sizing and the honest fact that all my stuff has pretty much been in storage for the best part of 20 years only seeing the light of day every five years or so I can be bothered to faff around with boxes/cables/CRTs if lucky.

Plus all the other factors - I won't lie the games have been a great investment - many current prices are nuts. I had no idea that the younger generation would desire this old stuff that much, it has to peak sometime?

I have faith in my brick like SNES and (IMHO best design console ever - PC Engine) to go on and on but the Saturn, PSX, DC are more fragile of course - but really for the sale of just one desirable MVS game I can fund a brand new MiSTer and play them all with 32" of TATE'able monitor and no hardware worries - it's hard to ignore as much as I love the whole pleasure of handling and owning original hardware.

Like many here I guess, I started with the arcades circa '79 and started import gaming in earnest with the MD then SFC, Gameboy, PCE, PSX, Saturn, N64 and finishing with the DC around 2000 finally getting into NG MVS a few years later. So, amassed a large collection over all those years BITD when you could for little money and when many games were a few £'s used, I can remember buying used Saturn or SFC games from Japan when they were sometimes maybe $1 each! Crazy now - even my humble boxed mint original Gameboy seems worth £150 and a copy of Mr Do! I got for it 30 years ago is nudging £200...

Ironic when I just found this old topic I started 15 years ago: https://bordersdown.net/threads/7650...ing?highlight=

So, I have to start the mammoth task of shifting far too much stuff but I've ordered the MiSTer bits and will see. I'll have to keep the SNES and a few games and the PC Engine - can't bear to sell that beautiful lump and the best game storage format ever, oh and no Dreamcast on Mister - as for selling off an MVS collection that took so much effort....argghh....giving up on hardware is like a big chunk of yourself disappearing.

How about fellow oldies on here?

Bloody hell forgotten I replied your original thread. If we only knew then etc...

[Brad]

Just sold my MiSTeR setup. It was awesome but I never used it.

[speedlolita]

Just sold my MiSTeR setup. It was awesome but I never used it.

Same situation for me.

[Max P.]

Good to get some balance, why was it not for you both?

[Baseley09]

Real games for life. Mister is a cool all in one solution though I do have a smirk when I read some exciting new core is out that has run fine on pc emulation for the last 20 years.

At the end of the day it's not real it's a taster. But what is real, maybe life is a simulation just like mister.

[dataDave]

I spent 24 years chasing lag-free input and never got there. Outside of messing around with Anbernic/Miyoo Chinese handhelds on the side I’m never wasting another minute on software emulation ever again. 90% of gaming time was spent in the settings trying to balance shaders and latency before giving up in a huff and having a wank instead. Then wishing I had the means to obtain a CRT before building my collection back from nothing.

We moved back to Europe and I finally started to make that happen, only to require expensive RGB amp mods and such (if they were even still available, or shippable to my location). That’s on top of trying to find consoles in decent enough condition that weren’t being punted for insane prices. It’s my main hobby I thought, so okay… But then there’s all the cabling and dusting required to keep things tip-top, so to mitigate that things end up in drawers/boxes and I’m left thinking WTF is the point to all this?

The only reason I’ve not sold off our PSOne and SFC is because the boy likes the real games, funnily enough. That, and I got ****all for our PCE w/ EverDrive. I do regret selling that despite the jailbars and Mr. Fusion-style RGB board.

[speedlolita]

Good to get some balance, why was it not for you both?

I think it was just a case of choice paralysis. Even with a curated list of ROMs there was so many platforms on offer that I wasn't really sure where to start. I think the MiSTer project is great for people who want good quality emulation without the headaches of real hardware. Deciding that hardware emulation is that much better than software emulation is up to the individual. I have all of the systems that I'm nostalgic for with EverDrive and ODE, SCART leads and my Trinitron and I think that's enough.

[phillv85]

My collection hit critical mass and last year we decided that instead of moving house we’d renovate our current one. I had to make a decision and decided that selling my arcade gear was the way forward and I could keep a good chunk of the console stuff. Most of it has now gone, although we’ve managed to keep my Neo Geo wooden cab and integrate it into the house. 4 candy cabs are sold or have deals in place and a couple of hundred games are gone. Part of me was sad to see it go, I know for sure without a lottery win I’ll never get those games back, particularly the ten or so CAVE PCB’s I had. On the other hand I got good money for the stuff, my house is much nicer and my wife is happier with them not there.

It’s a weird thing getting rid of stuff like that, it almost becomes part of your identity in a way which was why my wife actually wanted to keep one of the cabinets. I don’t really miss playing the stuff, weirdly I miss owning it more than playing and that very rarely happens.

I’ve not sought out a solution to play the games that are gone in their arcade form. I bought some of console versions of games I didn’t already have when the PCB’s sold but it’s just a part of my hobby I’ve put behind me now. I’ve still got more games than I could ever finish and am forever adding to my console collection so I think I’m probably going to be satisfied with that now.

[Max P.]

I think it was just a case of choice paralysis. Even with a curated list of ROMs there was so many platforms on offer that I wasn't really sure where to start.

I totally thought that would be it. And it is a fear - I guess you have to somehow be super disciplined - I've already made a list of what I'd get which is basically the exact copy of what I own for real on all those systems plus a few arcade games of course from the classic era and a few shooters/fighters. What I don't plan to do is just download the 'bulk pack' of 'every game for every system' - it's like the multi cart Gameboy or 48 in 1 vertical Jamma things, I ended up dipping and and out of random things and then just leaving it on Tetris as ever.

BITD of course was best, you could afford maybe one game a week or I mainly rented a game a week from Colin at Megaware and literally played Mario Kart or Zelda solid for 7 days then moved onto the next game...

[puts on old git hat for small rant] After mention of Redream I checked out YT and even then people seem to begrudge paying $5 to the developer for a few perks. $5 for FFS! Seems so many of the younger generations now feel 'entitled' to have whatever endless list of software for absolutely nothing. Someone has to pay the developers wages. OK, maybe a little cheeky seeing as I'm (mostly) looking to move to 'free' ROM's but like all of us here I think after 40 + years a consumer of videogames and goodness knows how many £thousands in purchases we have at least made our fair contribution to the industry.

[wakka]

Oh yeah, you just have to tune out the people complaining about stuff like that. It's bonkers. You can't even get a Happy Meal for the cost of Redream.

[dataDave]

I love having every game for every console under every region stored within The Vault™ (a well organised 128GB Micro SD jammed with EverDrive folders which has not left the MiSTer once since initial setup), as well as folders for translations, improvements, and hacks. I make my own '0_Favourites' folder where games I would actually own the carts for go. I rarely dip into the other folders unless I hear about a hidden gem somewhere.

In terms of choice paralysis I think that mostly comes down to most games not being very good to begin with, regardless of era. If you bounce off of Final Fantasy VI after a couple of hours (or under) maybe that game just isn't for you. Me, personally, I'm 25 hours in after never playing it before. The same went for Super Metroid back in 2010 when I originally played that under Wii VC emulation. I'm near the end of another SOTN run. Almost at 96 exits with SMW, etc etc.

Edit: Genuinely great games, of which there are dozens of, hold your attention no matter how you're playing them. There's little effort or discipline required. It's a shame that the hundreds of good games get ignored or skimmed over after 5 minutes of play. When there's a £60 (and over) price of entry attached this doesn't happen, unless of course you're oil rich or something - then when you have near to complete collections of libraries at hand you end up in the exact same state of choice paralysis as you would with an SD full of ROMs.