Why is there no equivalent to OpenEmu for Windows or Linux?

[Nocta]

Hi everyone,

Since I tried OpenEmu on MacOS, I'm stunned to not see anything like that for Windows or Linux. I'm not a developer so I'm pretty sure there are good reasons for it that I don't see but this is IMHO be the best thing that happened to emulation for beginners (with Recalbox for the Rpi but I find the Pi too weak for my tastes).

So OpenEmu is a good plug-n-play frontend where you don't have to choose or configure emulators (but can do it nonetheless if you prefer) and only drag-n-drop games to start playing. Controllers are automatically configured and you can choose from a selection of shaders with just a click.

I guess most of the people here spent enough time fiddling with emulators to be kind of ok with the complexity of this hobby but let's be honest, it's really hard to set things up properly without spending a lot of time reading, making mistakes and learning the hard way.

Having this kind of software on Windows or Linux would open much more options because we would not be limited to Apple hardware and MacOS software.

Why is this not happening?

[Nocta]

Link for info on the project: http://openemu.org/

NB: I know that https://phoenix.vg/ was trying to do what I'm talking about but its development seems to be in Limbo.

[Don]

I've tried OpenEmu and very much like its simplicity and convenience. For Windows, I would highly recommend LaunchBox :) https://www.launchbox-app.com/

You do have to download and configure the emulators on your own, but almost everything else is really easy to set up. You can even drag and drop roms, programs, videos, etc. since it has the ability to launch any program associated with those files

 

[Nocta]

Thank you for your advice Don, I'm actually building a LaunchBox setup and I agree with you that it's as close as it gets to the windows equivalent of OpenEmu.

Yet I would not advise a total beginner to "just use it" with some roms like I would for OpenEmu. It's very good for someone with some knowledge though.

[anabellefernandez]

While there might not have been an exact equivalent to OpenEmu for Windows or Linux at the time of this thread, the emulation community has made significant strides. Several user-friendly emulator frontends have emerged for Windows, such as RetroArch, LaunchBox, and EmulationStation, providing similar plug-n-play experiences.