Nvidia Shield Thread

1440 x 810 is the dumbest resolution ever, though. I know it's 16:9, but 810p? what

I'm almost glad the resolution is so strange; it makes me feel better about just buying a Shield less than a month ago...at least 720p is normal.
 
Arpeggio23 said:
1440 x 810 is the dumbest resolution ever, though. I know it's 16:9, but 810p? what

I'm almost glad the resolution is so strange; it makes me feel better about just buying a Shield less than a month ago...at least 720p is normal.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wish they would've gone for 1080p with a larger screen (smaller bezels or something).
 
I'm really hoping for a better form factor than the first one. I know it's probably comfortable, but man is it ugly. I actually want something like a Wii U pad only smaller all the way around. Doesn't have to be Vita sized though, they can add some bulk to make it easier to hold for long durations.
 
mapla said:
Taking into account that the GPU clock will be likely 500 MHz at least we can expect a handled PS3:

Screen%20Shot%202014-01-06%20at%206.18.35%20AM_575px.png


http://www.anandtech.com/show/7622/nvidia-tegra-k1/3

With a GPU clock of 950 MHz it achieves 365 GFlops. Yeah, it has less bandwitch but is awesome.

However, if someone want to use it to GameStream I don't think it will be better than the original Shield.

Right now the Android market can't take advantage of this power. In fact, the original Shield has more power than any app could use, am i right? I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

You're 100% correct. It really is amazing that Shield 2 will have this sort of computational power in such a small package, but with android it's a bit like getting all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Why can't Nvidia work with Intel to bring this sort of GPU performance to x86 windows tablets? Or better yet, bring Windows to Shield 2!

I want an x86 Shield, damn it.
 
PensOwl said:
I don't have anything to back it up, but I would think that that Intel's mobile graphics solutions would outperform even the K1
Click to expand...

I do not. All I've seen from Intel so far is disappointing results in the graphics department.


I for one am hoping that the K1 comes with proper documentation(please) so we can start removing all the proprietary fingerprints.
 
Got my Shield, got it rooted, and finally started getting into some stuff.

I've tried streaming a few games through Steam, but the controller just immediately goes berserk (like I'm just permanently holding down on the dpad or something). Any ideas? When I'm remotely choosing my game in Steam big picture, I can control it just fine.

Edit: I'm streaming normally through Geforce Experience or w/e and have a 660.
 
PensOwl said:
I don't have anything to back it up, but I would think that that Intel's mobile graphics solutions would outperform even the K1
Click to expand...

You're right, Intel has got the exceptionally fast Iris Pro 5200 packaged with their latest quad core laptop CPUs, and it's faster than K1.

The trouble is, we're talking about a 47 watt TDP chip, an exponential increase over the 2 Watt TDP K1.

In the tablet space, Intel is crawling along with the under-performing HD Bay Trail Graphics, which can't hold a candle to shield, let alone Nvidia's K1. What they do have over Nvidia is strong CPU performance and legacy Windows support.
 
lordchompy said:
You're 100% correct. It really is amazing that Shield 2 will have this sort of computational power in such a small package, but with android it's a bit like getting all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Why can't Nvidia work with Intel to bring this sort of GPU performance to x86 windows tablets? Or better yet, bring Windows to Shield 2!

I want an x86 Shield, damn it.
Click to expand...

I think it only depends on Intel. Of course Nvidia has better GPUs but in order to get a low power comsuption (to use it in portable devices like mobile phones or this consoles) they had had to use ARM.

Someone could think about saying the Razer Edge Pro, x86 architecture, i7, Steam Games, awesome. But obviously pricey and big.

The solution IMO is the Atom series, current Bay Trail, the next Cherry Trail, etc. An architecture that allows us to use Android and x86 programs in the same device. I bought an Asus Transformer T100 for my father and is awesome, good battery life, as useful as a real laptop, tablet mode, etc Is not as powerful as the best ARM choices but it's Intel, you know? I guess it depends on time.

I'm saying this thiking on handled consoles or tablets, for mobile phones ARM will be the choice to go for a long time as far as I know.
 
I can hear it when I am playing GTA sometimes or when I am in a warm environment. Barely audible unless you put your ear to it. I like the new device smell that comes from the exhaust.
 
Games that aren't available in the default streaming view don't really work too well. I tried Amazing Spider-man and only the triggers and analog sticks register. In others, the gamepad just flat out doesn't work.
 
I can't believe we are talking about another Shield. My experience with the device as it's intended use, for streaming games from my PC, has been pretty damn miserable. It's just a constant, unfulfilling circle of tweaking and internet searching to get the thing to do anything I want it to. Granted I haven't attempted to stream any recent games lately, so maybe they finally fixed the persistent frame freezes I was experiencing.

My latest annoyance with it is an hour of two trying to get out of home streaming to work. It seemed like it would be worth a look, but I have yet to get it to function for me. I'm sure it's something to do with routers on my end.

That aside, I just spent an hour trying to stream an adventure game (Blackwell Legacy) because I assumed even if the stream hiccuped I'd still be fine given the nature of the game. Of course I was instead greeted by another issue where the gamepad as mouse support just doesn't work right. In every other instance the right stick moves the cursor and the right stick button clicks the mouse. Yet, the only way to get it to function that way in this game is if I hold down start to bring up the touch keyboard and other functions. For some reason, with this obtrusive onscreen interface blocking my gamescreen the stick functions exactly as I'd like! Yet once I hide that thing it does not, and the touch screen controls barely work as well. Tapping for mouse clicks is like a 1 in 20 affair.

Yes, I'm rambling because I'm yet again annoyed and pissed at this $2-$300 piece of crap!
 
My streaming experience has been pretty good. I couldn't figure out how to get non xinput or even certain xinput games working, but after poking at it for a while and utilizing a combination of xpadder and a Steam wrapper that was created by a user, I've got everything working now. As far as streaming quality, it has been perfect for me with my 660 and a dual-band network.

As for emulation, I've been happy with it. Having one device play everything from NES-Dreamcast (no Saturn :( ) and being able to stream PS2 is great.

My only issue with my Shield is that the build quality is horrible, so I've requested a replacement. The left analog stick grinds like crazy (and makes a loud noise), and the right half of the case creaks when pressed.

Also, I think it is heavy and ugly as sin, but that is beside the point :)
 
I also had to send for a replacement from Amazon for a stuck pixel. In my short time playing around with the system I really love it though. Screen is beautiful, controls are solid, everything is clean and speedy and I'm really happy overall, especially after my GCW Zero experience. Drastic, Reicast and PPSSPP all worked great and while Retroarch took me awhile to wrap my head around I think I have almost everything set up and running (except PCE CD which I just can't seem to get working). I also bought the Christian Whitehead Sonic remakes and JSR so I can play them with a controller finally.

This is my first Android device and first experience with Retroarch so I had a few questions if anyone could help?

1. Like I mentioned earlier I just can't seem to get PCE CD running in Retroarch. I know Mednafan PCE needs the syscard3.pce bios but it just doesn't run. Should I rename it? Stick it somewhere other than the bios folder on my SD card I directed everything to in the settings? I got FDS, PS1 and Mega CD running with no problem, but I'm having major issues here. Do I need a different bios or something, this one worked fine for Temper before (renaming it to .bin)? Does the bios folder need to be on internal memory?

2. This might be dumb but is it possible to save systems settings in Retroarch per core? I disabled global settings but it still doesn't seem to do it from the Android menu, is it something I need to do in RGUI? It'd be nice not to have to change all my shaders and whatnot everytime I play a different system.

3. I tried using OpenMSX since that's what I was using on my Zero but it's sort of a disaster here with ugly non-removable button overlays and I can't seem to get the proper menu onscreen to insert cart files. I also have no idea how to get machine files in the proper folders so I could run disk games. Is there a better MSX emulator for Shield anyone suggests? fMSX or MSX.emu?

4. Speaking of system and app files and folders, I take it there's no way to browse them directly on the Shield and I'd need to do that from my Mac? Any suggestions on the simplist way to go about that for organizing the internal memory?

5. My unit seemed to run Android 4.2 out of the box and I'm happy with that as it avoids the permissions issues that 4.4 brought but is there any way for me to easily update to 4.3? I know 4.3 brought some major performance improvements with N64 emulation specifically as well improving sound latency in general so I'm definitely interested in updating to that if it's an easy process. Otherwise I'll probably just wait until Retroarch updates to account for the permissions access so I can still play my CPS and Neo stuff.

Thanks for any help guys!
 
spacemonkeynation said:
I can't believe we are talking about another Shield. My experience with the device as it's intended use, for streaming games from my PC, has been pretty damn miserable. It's just a constant, unfulfilling circle of tweaking and internet searching to get the thing to do anything I want it to. Granted I haven't attempted to stream any recent games lately, so maybe they finally fixed the persistent frame freezes I was experiencing.

My latest annoyance with it is an hour of two trying to get out of home streaming to work. It seemed like it would be worth a look, but I have yet to get it to function for me. I'm sure it's something to do with routers on my end.

That aside, I just spent an hour trying to stream an adventure game (Blackwell Legacy) because I assumed even if the stream hiccuped I'd still be fine given the nature of the game. Of course I was instead greeted by another issue where the gamepad as mouse support just doesn't work right. In every other instance the right stick moves the cursor and the right stick button clicks the mouse. Yet, the only way to get it to function that way in this game is if I hold down start to bring up the touch keyboard and other functions. For some reason, with this obtrusive onscreen interface blocking my gamescreen the stick functions exactly as I'd like! Yet once I hide that thing it does not, and the touch screen controls barely work as well. Tapping for mouse clicks is like a 1 in 20 affair.

Yes, I'm rambling because I'm yet again annoyed and pissed at this $2-$300 piece of crap!
Click to expand...

I feel your pain. I want one of these to root and mess around with, but I wont pay more than $99 to basically be a beta tester.
 
OK, so I finally got out of home streaming working and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. I was able to play my games without much issue even on a crappy low-tier Uverse connection at my parents' place. So I'm happy to say that they've finally worked out the kinks with the PC streaming stuff it seems.
I mean the last time I tried streaming locally in my house I was running into constant frame freezes. I haven't really tried local streaming again yet, but given that the out of home stuff worked better than the local streaming did previously for me I have to assume it's improved across the board. That makes me pretty happy since it was my motivation for buying this thing in the first place. It's just too bad it took this long for them to improve it.
 
Aaannnd I'm pissed again. In home streaming works well quality wise now, but using a wireless 360 pad (by plugging in the wireless gaming adapter thing into a micro USB adapter) is giving me issues. I'm trying to play Batman Arkham Origins in console mode and the Dpad is acting like a mirror of the left analog stick. So I can't select any gadgets! Anyone have any solution for this?

Interestingly enough if I browse the main menu with the analog I get 360 UI button prompts. As soon as I hit a direction on the Dpad it changes the UI prompts at the bottom to keyboard ones. What is going on here? It seems like the dpad is set to the keyboard arrow keys maybe? Damnit Nvidia!!!
 
More updates for anyone that cares about this crap:

So I broke down and bought a Nyko PlayPad Pro because I figured if I'm stuck with this Shield I'm at least going to get some use out of the damn thing rather than waiting around on Nvidia to get their crap together with other controllers.

The PlayPad Pro is the bluetooth controller Nvidia partnered with for this thing so I figured it might work. Going in I knew there had been some similar issues with this pad as those which I was experiencing with the 360 wireless (d-pad issues), but some revisions worked fine and others were able to be fixed with a firmware update.

So I hooked it up and tested it and sure enough the d-pad was acting exactly as the d-pad on the 360 did, and on top of that some other functions were screwed up as well. Pretty odd for a pad that is front and center for the device. So I did the firmware update with my fingers crossed, because apparently some people posting at the Nvidia forums weren't even able to update the Nyko firmware (the solution to that is to snail mail the controller to Nyko to apply the fix!!!). Luckily mine went without a hitch and now it all works as expected. Albeit with a slightly shittier controller than I really wanted to use. On the bright side I snagged the thing for like $15 from GameStop (after using a $5 coupon I had).
 
spacemonkeynation said:
More updates for anyone that cares about this crap:

So I broke down and bought a Nyko PlayPad Pro because I figured if I'm stuck with this Shield I'm at least going to get some use out of the damn thing rather than waiting around on Nvidia to get their crap together with other controllers.

The PlayPad Pro is the bluetooth controller Nvidia partnered with for this thing so I figured it might work. Going in I knew there had been some similar issues with this pad as those which I was experiencing with the 360 wireless (d-pad issues), but some revisions worked fine and others were able to be fixed with a firmware update.

So I hooked it up and tested it and sure enough the d-pad was acting exactly as the d-pad on the 360 did, and on top of that some other functions were screwed up as well. Pretty odd for a pad that is front and center for the device. So I did the firmware update with my fingers crossed, because apparently some people posting at the Nvidia forums weren't even able to update the Nyko firmware (the solution to that is to snail mail the controller to Nyko to apply the fix!!!). Luckily mine went without a hitch and now it all works as expected. Albeit with a slightly shittier controller than I really wanted to use. On the bright side I snagged the thing for like $15 from GameStop (after using a $5 coupon I had).
Click to expand...

So weird, so if you plug your Xbox 360 controller back in, would that work as well?

Anyone knows if DS3 on a Rooted Shield has the same problem?
 
From everything I've read around the net (mostly at the Shield official forums) this affects all the popular external controllers, even if they are wired. The D-Pads will not function properly. Literally everything else will work normally, but the d-pads will be mismapped.

Rooted and using mapping software would probably circumvent the issues, but I hear about horrible other issues going that route.
 
How is it to use the Nvidia Shield as a gaming laptop alternative? I've been really considering getting a gaming laptop, but they are way more expensive and weaker than gaming desktops, so I think I'm gonna get a desktop instead and CyberPowerPC's current desktop deals seem really good (unfortunately, I have no knowledge on building my own desktop). When I go to friend's houses or away how well does the PC streaming work? Would it be better to wait for Nvidia Shield 2 (any news on the release date)? How well does streaming PC games to a TV from the Nvidia Shield work? Does it return it to 1080p and whatever framerate it can handle then, or does it stay at 720p but upscale to 1080p? On a side note, can you stream Android games as well?
 
jakomocha said:
How is it to use the Nvidia Shield as a gaming laptop alternative? I've been really considering getting a gaming laptop, but they are way more expensive and weaker than gaming desktops, so I think I'm gonna get a desktop instead and CyberPowerPC's current desktop deals seem really good (unfortunately, I have no knowledge on building my own desktop). When I go to friend's houses or away how well does the PC streaming work? Would it be better to wait for Nvidia Shield 2 (any news on the release date)? How well does streaming PC games to a TV from the Nvidia Shield work? Does it return it to 1080p and whatever framerate it can handle then, or does it stay at 720p but upscale to 1080p? On a side note, can you stream Android games as well?
Click to expand...

Right now the Shield only outputs 720p @ 30fps (might be wrong about the frame rate, as there is an option to select 60/30/auto in advanced settings) if it's on a wifi network. Quality wise it's pretty great if you ask me. I do encounter random audio hiccups/buzzes on occasion and the rare frame jitter. It's a rare enough occurrence now that I wouldn't really consider it a big negative factor.

Pre-update I was getting very frequent hiccups in gameplay that rendered it unplayable on my home network. Post update I'm able to stream from my house to another wifi location miles away with completely playable experiences. YMMV of course-you'll need a fast upload on the main PC and a moderately quick download rate on the viewing/playing end. I believe the minimum recommended speeds are 5Mbps up and down.

I haven't kept up with Shield 2 developments at all, other than being surprised it was even happening. In my opinion, unless you're doing tons of gaming outside of your home, I would definitely recommend going the gaming PC tower route. It will give you a lot more bang for your buck than a gaming laptop would and offer the ability for easy expansion years later. You could potentially save a lot on the Shield itself if you build your own PC and find a bundled GPU deal. If the Shield 2 has a release date and you can wait on that I would probably suggest that. The current Shield is great, but I've felt more like a beta tester the entire time I've owned it. Much of that is due to Shield software development issues, though, as the hardware is pretty great.

I'm not sure what you mean by streaming Android games. The Shield is an Android device, so you can just download those titles from the Google Play store.

You should also know that a dual band wireless router is pretty much required for in home wifi streaming, and a hardlined ethernet connection is highly recommended from the gaming PC to the router.
 
jakomocha said:
How is it to use the Nvidia Shield as a gaming laptop alternative? I've been really considering getting a gaming laptop, but they are way more expensive and weaker than gaming desktops, so I think I'm gonna get a desktop instead and CyberPowerPC's current desktop deals seem really good (unfortunately, I have no knowledge on building my own desktop). When I go to friend's houses or away how well does the PC streaming work? Would it be better to wait for Nvidia Shield 2 (any news on the release date)? How well does streaming PC games to a TV from the Nvidia Shield work? Does it return it to 1080p and whatever framerate it can handle then, or does it stay at 720p but upscale to 1080p? On a side note, can you stream Android games as well?
Click to expand...

For the Hotel question and streaming, I wouldnt consider that an option, even if you have crazy good upload speeds at home, It wouldnt be viable unless the hotel is very close by.

Once you get too far you would have to rely on Android games/emulators, which isnt bad at all, some good options there.
 
Anyone using eXPSe, the playstation emulator?

Bought it the other day, and I've noticed that even though it runs at 60fps easily, scrolling is a bit choppy.

For example, watch scrolling in SOTN.

Is there some setting I need to change to make it smooth?
 
Vitacat said:
Anyone using eXPSe, the playstation emulator?

Bought it the other day, and I've noticed that even though it runs at 60fps easily, scrolling is a bit choppy.

For example, watch scrolling in SOTN.

Is there some setting I need to change to make it smooth?
Click to expand...

Speaking of which, I can't get Final Fantasy IX to run at all on the Shield. Get past the title screen, and then nothing. Fpse does the same thing.
 
So I just bought a shield - got a great deal on ebay ($160 brand new sealed) and couldn't pass it up. Next question - what do I need to get the most out of this? I bought it for perfect emulation of snes, genesis, new, gba, etc and as a video player. Any tips?

EDIT - been reading through here and I see some people say they can't get full speed on snes, etc ......WTF I thought this was the kind of emus. I'm going to be pissed if fzero or something else is still lagging. I would also like to know if I can map buttons for non control android games like the new control. Finally - for the stream outside your home feature - I'm assuming you'll need a crazy fast connection both ways for that to work right?
 
delt31 said:
So I just bought a shield - got a great deal on ebay ($160 brand new sealed) and couldn't pass it up. Next question - what do I need to get the most out of this? I bought it for perfect emulation of snes, genesis, new, gba, etc and as a video player. Any tips?

EDIT - been reading through here and I see some people say they can't get full speed on snes, etc ......WTF I thought this was the kind of emus. I'm going to be pissed if fzero or something else is still lagging. I would also like to know if I can map buttons for non control android games like the new control. Finally - for the stream outside your home feature - I'm assuming you'll need ma crazy fast connection both ways for that to work right?
Click to expand...

I'm a recent owner too. I'd recommend not updating to android 4.4 if you don't like fiddling with rooting. It causes slower emulation and in a gist you are in unable to write on on an SD card (aka emulated games can't save).

I'm assuming SNES is difficult to emulate regardless of CPU speed. PSX and GBA work great for me.
 
wanders said:
I'm a recent owner too. I'd recommend not updating to android 4.4 if you don't like fiddling with rooting. It causes slower emulation and in a gist you are in unable to write on on an SD card (aka emulated games can't save).

I'm assuming SNES is difficult to emulate regardless of CPU speed. PSX and GBA work great for me.
Click to expand...

what? I shouldn't update to 4.4 b/c emulation is slower and the SD card doesn't work for emu games? Is this accurate b.c I'm buying it for emu and I just got a 64gb card. Your telling me that card won't work now with the emus? can you explain?

Also what are the benefits of rooting this device? If it's better/faster emu I'm doing it.
 
delt31 said:
So I just bought a shield - got a great deal on ebay ($160 brand new sealed) and couldn't pass it up. Next question - what do I need to get the most out of this? I bought it for perfect emulation of snes, genesis, new, gba, etc and as a video player. Any tips?

EDIT - been reading through here and I see some people say they can't get full speed on snes, etc ......WTF I thought this was the kind of emus. I'm going to be pissed if fzero or something else is still lagging. I would also like to know if I can map buttons for non control android games like the new control. Finally - for the stream outside your home feature - I'm assuming you'll need a crazy fast connection both ways for that to work right?
Click to expand...

For N64 emu, get Mupen64. Get PPSSPP (PSP) and Drastic (DS). Epsxe for PS1 emu. Find snesoid (it's not on the Play, you'll have to find elsewhere). Find all the -oid emulators, they're the best, but like I said, they're not on the Play store, you'll have to try some sites I can't link to here. You can find the -oid emulators pretty easily though.
For video, I like MXPlayer. If you have a Chromecast, then Localcast for streaming videos.
 
I figured out my scrolling issue with ePSXe. I had the video settings set too high, i.e. PSX dithering and 32bit color etc. These things will cause less smoothness. Now everything is smooth.
 
I just bought one a couple of days ago. I'm extremely satisfied.

I have 10 emulators and 200+ retro games loaded on it.

PC Streaming works insanely well over my network and over the internet.

It hooks up to your tv so you can play any PC game at 1080p and 60 fps.

This is the best handheld IMHO. I love it. At $199, it's a steal. Buy it if you're thinking about it.
 
lordchompy said:
You're 100% correct. It really is amazing that Shield 2 will have this sort of computational power in such a small package, but with android it's a bit like getting all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Why can't Nvidia work with Intel to bring this sort of GPU performance to x86 windows tablets? Or better yet, bring Windows to Shield 2!

I want an x86 Shield, damn it.
Click to expand...
A Shield with Windows would be perfect. BPM Steam library angwhere .
 
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