Emulation for Buddies Rev 1.2

	Emulation for Buddies - The /aceg/ emulation guide
	Revision 1.2

	/// What is this? ///

	This is an emulation guide focused on emulating the Ace Combat series.
	It covers EVERY game, so Ctrl+F the appropriate emu, see the table of contents.
	You don't need to read all of it.

	Emulation allows you to play console games on PC, whether by replicating the experience that can be had with the original system or by tweaking it to your liking (graphical tweaks, control scheme changes, etc).

	Why use this guide instead of just going with your gut?
	Simply because, while an emulator like ePSXe might work well, others like pSX are riddled with issues and others, such as PCSXR, are better. However, why settle for a good experience when you can get the best one possible, for no additional cost? That's this guide's aim.

	Each emulator is broken down in a requirements section, self explanatory, a section aiming to get the games to run as they did on the original hardware and then a section about tweaking the experience.
	While the settings presented in this guide are tailored to the various AC games, they should still be usable for other titles, with little to no tweaking.

	/// QUICK TROUBLESHOOTING ///

	1) Check that you have the latest build of the emulator (no, really.)
		-PCSX2: Make sure you're using the 'Development' builds, there hasn't been a 'Stable' one since 2016
		-Retroarch: In the Main Menu, scroll down to the Online Updater, go into the Core Updater and select the Beetle PSX HW core to update it
		-Citra: Make sure you're using the Canary builds (until they rebrand those again)
	2) Check your renderer!
		-PCSX2: Use Direct3D 11 for AC04 and OpenGL for AC5 and ACZ
		-Retroarch: Use the Vulkan renderer (check that emulator's section)
	3) Check the Emulation Status section to check if it's not just one of the current issues with the emulator (screenshots coming soon)
	4) Apply the guide's settings, they're the baseline for thread troubleshooting

	At this point you might as well report the issue on the thread, the following steps are for going the extra mile to help out the guide.
	5) Change settings one by one, putting the rest back to baseline before changing the next
	6) Change settings by groups if you want to experiment further

	If you have any emulation issue that isn't covered by this guide, ask the thread after having followed the steps above. SOP is posting a screencap of your settings and, if possible, a screencap of the issue you're having.
	Here's an example: https://imgur.com/a/Nz20U03
	Expect the guide to be updated shortly after a solution is given.

	<< MISSION UPDATE >>
	This guide is missing some information. Head to the allied support section to see where you might be able to contribute.

	/// Table of Contents ///

	-Emulation status of the games [EmS]
	-Emulators [Em1~9]
		-Arcade: MAME [Em1]
		-PSX: Retroarch's Beetle PSX HW Core [Em2]
		-PS2: PCSX2 [Em3]
		-PSP: PPSSPP [Em4]
		-GBA: mGBA [Em5]
		-Wii: Dolphin [Em6]
		-3DS: Citra [Em7]
		-X360: Xenia [Em8]
		-Java: KEmulator [Em9]
	-FAQ [Que]
	-Allied support [AlS]
	-Changelog [Chg]

	/// How does the Ace Combat series emulate? /// [EmS]

--- Air Combat (Arcade)
	[Tested on MAME 0.185, rom aircomb]
	Runs, but the HUD is obscured by terrain geometry ingame, which hinders playability.

--- Air Combat 22 (Arcade)
	[Tested on MAME 0.185, rom airco22b]
	Runs, but with sound issues and the pedal bindings appear to have issues.

--- Air Combat (PSX)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat 2 (PSX)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (PSX)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies / Distant Thunder (PS2)
	Playable with graphical issues in hardware mode. Emulates perfectly in software mode.
	-Dark translucid overlay over the player fighter in Direct3D 11 (Hardware) renderer, doesn't happen for some, is opaque in OpenGL
	-Missing explosion effects in hardware renderer
	-Missing clouds in hardware renderer
	-Hardware renderers have graphic glitches in certain missions. In D3D11, it's a doubling of the image, while in OpenGL it's a distorted zoom into the frame. Other missions have an offset blurred duplicate image of the fighter.

--- Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War / Squadron Leader (PS2/PS4)
	Emulates perfectly besides missing clouds in hardware renderer.
	The PS4 version is just a port with a higher native resolution. There are reportedly graphical tweaks in some places, mostly cameos of post-AC5 lore and AI tweaks.

--- Ace Combat Advance (GBA)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (PS2)
	Emulates perfectly besides missing clouds in hardware renderer.
	-That being said, there is an issue with the MPBM's explosion effect, which reportedly exists in the original hardware too.

--- Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (PSP)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (X360/XBOne)
	[Tested on the Vulkan build, DX12 notes supported by videos]
	Playable, but riddled with shader effect glitches, BGM is glitched, hangar is a graphical mess. The first two issues are present in multiple games emulated by Xenia. The hangar graphics aren't bugged in the DX12 build and the shader effects aren't as fucked, but the terrain textures don't work properly.
	It appears that DLC isn't currently supported.
	It's available on XBOne via backwards compatibility.

--- Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces (Wii)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion (iOS)
	There are no iOS emulators.

--- Ace Combat: Joint Assault (PSP)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (PS3/X360/PC)
	There is no point in emulating this game since it has a PC port. Not that you'd want to play this garbage anyway.
	It's no longer available for purchase on Steam, but if you're going to don the VFA-103 livery to play this piece of shit, you might as well get the PC port rather than either console version, considering it's got the DLC built-in. Which, given this is the only game with the Shinden II in it besides Infinity, are the only reason to boot this shit.

--- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy / 3D Cross Rumble (3DS)
	[Last tested on Citra Canary 1220]
	Emulates pretty much perfectly in the Canary builds but has performance issues. HLE mode now produces BGM properly.

--- Ace Combat: Northern Wings (Java Cellphones)
	Emulates perfectly.

--- Ace Combat Infinity (PS3)
	Due to the game requiring a connection to Bandai Namco's servers on startup, it can't be emulated.

---Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PS4/Xbone/PC)
	Due to there being a PC port, there is no point in emulating this game, not that there are emulators for those consoles.

	/// Emulators ///

	--- MAME --- [Em1]

	MAME is THE arcade emulator.
	https://www.mamedev.org/release.html

	- Requirements -

	MAME will run on any computer. It has builds for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and OS X. It's official requirements are:
	-Intel Core series CPU or equivalent, at least 2.0 GHz
	-32-bit OS (Vista SP1 or later on Windows, 10.9 or later on Mac, has 64-bit builds)
	-4 GB RAM
	-DirectX 9.0c for Windows
	-A Direct3D, or OpenGL capable graphics card
	-Any DirectSound capable sound card/onboard audio

	- Running the games -

	MAME is fairly plug-and-play. You just need to place your roms (aircomb and/or airco22b) in the "rom" folder in your MAME folder
	To set up your controls, once you have booted the game, press Tab and go to Input (this Machine). Button 1 is for guns and 2 is for missiles in both games. Note that buttons 3 through 6 have no function in Air Combat afaik.

	- Going further -

	Unfortunately MAME doesn't offer settings that would allow us to tweak the games to our liking. The functions of the dip switches for both games is currently unknown, except the Service Mode switch in Air Combat 22.
	This switch allows you enable free play or change the amount of coins needed to play (Coin Options), change the game mode, difficulty level, toggle the sound in the demo and high score settings (Game Options) and see various tests, of which the most interesting one is the I/O test, which shows the malfunction in the pedal, "VOLUME3".

	--- Retroarch's Beetle PSX HW --- [Em2]

	Retroarch is a frontend for various emulators and some retro game engines. Each engine/emulator is refered to as a "core". The core that interests us is the Beetle PSX HW, which is a fork of Beetle PSX, itself a fork of Mednafen's Playstation emulator.
	https://www.retroarch.com/index.php?page=platforms

	- Requirements -

	Just about any modern computer should be able to run this.

	- Running the games -

	First of all, you need to download the Beetle PSX HW core and have the BIOS files ready.
	You can get them here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/s11dvh2snfrmy29/PS1_BIOS.zip
	There are three folders in that file. Rename "ps-30j.bin" to	"scph5500.bin", "ps-30a.bin" to "scph5501.bin" and "ps-30e.bin" to "scph5502.bin". Retroarch will automatically switch to the correct one according to the game region.
	In your Retroarch folder, place your BIOS files in the "system" folder. Create it if there isn't one already.
	Now run Retroarch. In the Main Menu, select "Load Core", "Download Core..." and select "Sony - PlayStation (Beetle PSX HW)" in the list.
	Afterwards, check "Load Core" again and select the newly-installed core.
	You now need to get your games in the library. Head right to "Import content" and select "Scan Directory". Navigate to the folder where your ISOs are and select <Scan This Directory>. The games will then appear in a list to the right.
	Before running them, keep in mind that games have per-game configurations, which means they can have settings unique to them.

	First up, after loading the core, head to "Settings", then "Drivers". Set the video driver to Vulkan. Still under "Settings", under "Input" and "Input User 1 Binds", you can set the general gamepad settings for all cores. Don't mind the "RetroPad" Device Type for now and make sure the Analog to Digital Type is set to None.

	We can now move on to "ingame" configuration. Head to the game list and pick the game you want to run, followed by "Run" and the appropriate Core.
	If at this point you encounter a black screen, press F1 and select "Run". It should only happen on the first time the emulator boots.
	Once it's running, press F1 or the Home button of your controller.
	Start by scrolling down to "Options" to enable "Skip BIOS". Then head to "Controls". If you are playing Air Combat, you want the controller to be set to "PlayStation Controller", otherwise set it to "DualShock". After the change, a message will appear. If it says the sticks are OFF, head to the previous menu, scroll up to "Options" and set the "DualShock Analog button toggle" to the other position.

	And there you have it, PSX games running like they did on hardware.

	- Going further -

	Before we talk about settings, make sure you have the best version of the games. AC3 has a japanese release and a western release which are both worth playing, consult the thread for opinions, but the PAL release is objectively inferior to the NTSC release. Avoid it.
	http://useatoday.blogspot.com/2014/10/ac3e-jp-x-pal-x-us.html
	It is to be noted that game speed is tied to the framerate, and the NTSC framerate is 30 FPS, while the PAL one is 25 FPS, making the games slightly slower.

	Another point to bring up is the 'deadcopy' save for the japanese release of AC3. It was included in the AppenDisk, an extra materials disk that was bundled with the OST. The save is a 100% save with the Night Raven, Aurora and Geopelia available in the simulator mode, which isn't possible through gameplay alone.
	Start by getting the save file, it's available on Gamefaqs and some other websites, and the memcard management utility below:
	https://www.aldostools.org/memmanager.html
	If it asks you for a dll file, download it
	Navigate to the "saves" folder in the Retroarch folder. The AC3 .srm file is a memcard file specific to the game. Using the memcard manager, simply add the deadcopy save to the card.

	Now for the settings of the F1/Home menu. First of all, there is a "Save Game-options file" option. Select that once you've done messing with a game's settings to ensure that they won't be overwritten while changing settings for another game.

	The most basic enhancement is increasing the resolution. Just choose an integrer to multiply the native resolution of the game by. 4x is good enough for 1080p in my experience, but you can turn it up to 8x for some SSA. Whatever you use, keep in mind that the benefits of SSAA cap at twice the display resolution, so even for 4K 32x is excessive and pointless.
	You could also enable texture filtering, but for those that have taste, "nearest" is the setting that doesn't muddy everything on the screen, effectively a "disabled" setting.

	In the same menu, there is also an option called "Increase CD Loading speed". This allows you to reduce the loading times for games since the CD read speed is emulated. Setting it to 6x should be enough to make loading screens painless.

	If you prefer controlling your speed with the triggers, simply swap the bumper and trigger bindings under "Controls".
	Make sure to hit "Save Game Remap File" afterwards to avoid messing with the controls in other games.

	If you'd rather play in a 16:9 aspect ratio, there is a Widescreen hack available. It works fairly well, but it has some downsides to keep in mind. First of all, while all the 3D elements are properly rendered, it's not just 4:3 stretched out, but the HUD and other sprites will be stretched. Another minor issue is that due to how the terrain is rendered, some sections at the edge of the screen might not be rendered.

	If you are familiar with how the PSX renders games, you might be aware of the low accuracy of it's polygons. This results in polygons that are warped, straight lines becoming wavy, jittery polygons and other artifacts.
	This core has a series of settings that fix this. Under "Options", set "PGXP operation mode" to "memory+GPU" and both "PGXP vertex cache" and "PGXP perspective correct texture" to On.
	There are some caveats. Certain HUD elements or text screens might end up warped or have textures shuffled around due to the hack misinterpreting them. The severity of the issues is generally minor but varies from run to run, and can be fixed by disabling the hacks for those screens.

	One last trick Retroarch has is it's shader support. In the same menu as "Options" and "Controls", there is a "Shaders" submenu.
	In order to use a shader, select "Load Shader Preset", then, since we are using Vulkan, shaders have to be in "slang" format, so the shaders we have available are in the "shaders_slang" folder. Navigate the folders and select whichever shader you want to use. Keep in mind that most of these shaders work better at low resolutions, but best results are only assured at native.
	In order to disable shaders, in the "Shaders" menu scroll down to "Shader Passes", set that to 0 and hit "Apply changes" at the top of the list.
	If you are looking for CRT emulation, my personal picks are the CRT Royale family if you have a 1080p or higher monitor (for technical reasons, given the "subpixel" elements this shader emulates), or the Hyllian family for the rest. Just remember to place yourself at a certain distance from the screen so the emulated shadow mask and other elements blur together properly.

	WARNING: Depending on the pixel response time of your monitor, some of the more dynamic shaders (CRT chiefly) that cause repetitive shifts in the screen can sometimes cause what is called "image persistence" in LCDs, which is related to ghosting.
	https://www.blurbusters.com/faq/lcd-overdrive-artifacts/
	If your monitor looks like the Electrosphere is seeping through it, don't panic. It's temprorary. To get the LCD to return to a relaxed state, you can simply turn off the monitor for a while or display a monochrome image (e.g. about:blank and pressing F11) for a while too. Amusingly enough, a screensaver will also allow the screen to reset. This can take anywhere from 5 min to a day to fix, but doesn't happen systematically after shader usage.

	--- PCSX2 --- [Em3]

	PCSX2 is a PS2 emulator for Windows, Linux and OS X.
	https://pcsx2.net/download/development/dev-windows.html (Windows builds)
	https://launchpad.net/~pcsx2-team/+archive/ubuntu/pcsx2-daily (Linux builds)

	- Requirements -

	The Holy Trinity is one of the most demanding titles PCSX2 can emulate.
	The only official requirement that is truly relevant in this case is the 2 GB RAM figure.
	For hardware mode rendering (explained below), you want at least a GeForce 840M equivalent to run the games at native resolution (448p internal resolution for ACZ). For 720p, 2x resolution is a must (896p), 3x is preferable for 1080p (1344p) and 5x is what you'd want for 4K (2240p). A GTX 1060 3GB can net you 60 FPS up to 4x, while a GTX 1070 will get you all the way up to 6x.
	Software mode is extremely demanding. It is recommended that you play in HUD (not cockpit) view since that is the least demanding view. A clock speed of 3.20 GHz is recommended for that, but if you want to use any of the other views, a clock speed of at least 3.60 GHz is required for 60 FPS, but some headroom should avoid frame drops.

	You can check how your CPU or GPU compare to the hardware mentionned here via this page:
	https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/

	- Running the games -

	First of all, you need a PS2 BIOS. Get them at the link below and place them in the "bios" folder in the folder in which you extracted PCSX2. You will select the BIOS you want to use later.
	http://www.mediafire.com/download/edp636rbtb77hk7/PS2_BIOS.zip
	Now run PCSX2. It will display a first time configuration if you have never used PCSX2 before. If you have, you can follow along by going to "Config" and "Plugin/BIOS Selector". Press next after selecting your language.
	First up is the plugin selector screen. Each build comes with the latest plugins available at the time, so don't stress over whether they are up to date. The first plugin is the GS, or graphics, plugin. Set that to the one with a long name and the label [GSdx32-AVX2] or, failing that, [GSdx32-AVX]. The PAD plugin, for binding inputs, should only have one option, [Lilypad]. SPU2 controls the sound and you should only have [Spu2-X] available. The CDVD plugin should be [cdvdGigaherz] and is only there to enable you to play from a PS2 disk. The other three plugins are irrelevant and should be left to the dummy "null" plugins.

	Let's configure the plugins. Click configure besides the GS plugin. Set the renderer to "OpenGL (Hardware)". Hardware mode renders using your GPU, which is excellent for performance, and features plenty of improvements such as upscaling.
	For AC04, you want to use "Direct3D 11 (Hardware)" to allow for the black plane fix. However AC04 still has graphical glitches in HW mode (see the emulation status section), so if the the graphical issues bother you, you might want to set the render mode to Software, which is very CPU intensive. The only important setting in that mode is Mipmapping, which should be enabled.
	Back to HW mode, tick "Large Framebuffer", leave "Allow 8-Bit Textures" unticked, set "Mipmapping (Ins)" to "Full (Slow)" and, for OpenGL, "Blending Unit Accuracy" to "High". Tick "Enable HW Hacks" and click on "Advanced Settings and Hacks". Enable the following hacks: "Align Sprite" and set "Round Sprite" to "Half".

	Note that if you are using an AMD GPU, you should set the GS plugin to "DirectX 11 (Hardware)". The reason OpenGL is recommended is that the shading and heat haze effects in DirectX 11 are subdued and self-shading doesn't work.

	Configure your controller as you normally would. The audio plugin shouldn't need any non-standard settings.
	Now hit "Next" and you will be in the BIOS selection window. There is a list. If it's blank, hit refresh after checking that the path below points correctly to the "bios" folder you put your BIOS files in.
	You might wonder what BIOS to pick. The short version is that it's irrelevant for running, so just pick the USA 2.20 BIOS. The region of your BIOS doesn't need to match the game's to run it, as seen when you mod a PS2 to get games from another region to run. Different versions are just bugfixes and exploit patches.
	And you're finished with the first-time setup.

	Due to component video not being mainstream back in the PS2 days and the limited bandwith of composite video, the vast majority of PS2 games are designed to output interlaced video rather than progressive scan video. This effectively means that each frame is divided in multiple "rows", with each "full" frame being displayed as two frames displaying alternating rows. This creates some considerable artifacts, but due to the resolution and the tendency of CRTs to "bleed" colour, it wasn't noticeable.
	Unfortunately, when emulating you are likely using an LCD screen with a progressive translation of this output, causing the artifacts to be noticeable. PCSX2 mitigates this with the interlacing modes, but they all have their issues, such as blurryness, ghosting and a vertical shake.
	It also has the side effect of alleviating the black plane issue that has plagued AC04 for years.
	Fortunately, the Ace Combat series has received patches that disable the interlacing. Get the appropriate files in the link below:
	https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-No-interlacing-codes
	The files are on the second page. Search A32F7CD0 for AC04, 39B574F0 for AC5 and 65729657 for AC0. Note that these only work on the NTSC version of the games.
	Once you have the files, place them in your "cheat" folder and tick "Enable cheats" under "System". Then, under the GS plugin settings, set "Interlacing" to "None".

	IMPORTANT NOTE: The widescreen and no interlacing patches require the games to be rebooted to take effect. No need to reboot the entire emulator, just the ISO, but they will not have an effect during a session.

	Sometimes the sun will be glitched in Hardware mode. In that case, double tap F9. It's the Sofware/Hardware renderer toggle and fixes the issue.

	<< You're cleared for take-off. >>

	- Going further -

	Before we talk about settings, make sure you have the best version of the game. Game speed is tied to the framerate, and the NTSC framerate is 60 FPS, while the PAL one is 50 FPS, making the games slightly slower.
	The main graphical improvement you can give to games in HW mode is increasing the internal resolution of the game. In newer versions these are helpfully labelled with the standard resolution they are similar to. You can implement what is effectively SSAA by selecting a higher resolution than that, but due to the way the antialiasing technique works, it stops gaining in quality at twice the display resolution.
	You can also implement anisotropic filtering to improve the quality of your textures at an angle.

	The widescreen functionality of the Holy Trinity is actually just a horizontal stretching rather than a proper 16:9 rendering. There is, however, a workaround. Start by going to "Config", then "Emulation Settings", then "GS Window" and set the aspect ratio to 16:9. Then go to your PCSX2 folder. There is a zip file named "cheats_ws". Unzip it to a folder named the same. Back on PCSX2, under "System", tick "Enable Widescreen Patches". Make sure that the aspect ratio in the ingame options is set to 16:9 and you're good to go, you now have actual widescreen.
	You might encounter issues in cockpit mode due to the models being designed for 4:3 aspect ratios. If it bothers you, you can disable the widescreen patch for the cockpit mode. This is fairly simple. Open the "cheats_ws" folder and look for the following .pnach files: 39B574F0 for AC5 and 65729657 for AC0. Open them using Wordpad.
	You now need to comment out (disable) the line adjusting the cockpit. To do this add a double slash (//) at the start of the following lines:
	patch=1,EE,00440828,word,43D638F3 for AC5
	patch=1,EE,003FA350,word,43D638F3 for AC0
	e.g.
	//patch=1,EE,00440828,word,43D638F3
	Due to AC04's FOV being controlled by only one variable, it's not possible to adjust it for the cockpit only, but non-extensive testing seems to point there not being any issue.

	If you would rather change SPW with Square and map zoom with Select in AC04, you can simply swap around those two bindings, as well as the usual trigger/shoulder button swap if you prefer that too. Keep in mind that since PCSX2 doesn't support per-game configurations, it is advisable to use the ingame options for AC5 and ACZ to have the same controls as AC04 to avoind having to swap them around.
	You save this controller mapping in the controller configuration window, in the "General" tab, by selecting "Save Bindings". I would advise saving a normal mapping too to make switching between a standard layout and the modified one quickly.

	--- PPSSPP --- [Em4]

	PPSSPP is a PSP emulator for multiple platforms.
	http://www.ppsspp.org/downloads.html

	- Requirements -

	A toaster could run this incredibly high performance emulator.

	- Running the games -

	Start by going into "Settings" on the right hand side of the window. You will start off in the "Graphics" tab. Start by setting the backend to Vulkan, the Mode to "Buffered rendering" and making sure "Simulate block transfer effects" is ticked while "Software rendering" isn't.
	Frameskipping should be Off, tick "Prevent FPS from exceeding 60".
	Under "Performance", tick "VSync" if you experience screen tearing later on, but it shouldn't be necessary with the FPS limited to 60. Tick "Hardware transform" and "Software skinning", leave the rest unticked and set "Spline/Bezier curves quality" to "High". Under "Texture scaling", set it to Off. Under "Texture filtering", set "Screen scaling filter" to "Nearest".
	You don't need to touch anything under the "Audio" tab, so head over to the "Controls" tab and do a simple mapping of the buttons. We'll get to adapting it later.
	Under "System", set "I/O timing method" to "Host" under "Emulation" and tick "Save path in My Documents" under "General".

	Now for something that is a little bit different. Even though it's not the case for ACX and ACJA, some games require different configurations. To protect your settings from being accidentally modified, it's time to introduce per-game configurations. In the list of games available, right click ACX or ACJA and, on the screen that has come up, which you can also bring up ingame by pressing Esc, click on "Create game config". Create a game configuration for both games.

	- Going further -

	Note that since both games have their own configurations, you'll have to set these settings twice, once for each, in their configurations, not in the general settings.
	The resoultion increase setting is under "Performance" in the "Graphics" tab. The internal resolution is displayed when you run a game or change the setting, so pick the resolution you want that way.
	Under "Texture filtering", set "Anisotropic filtering" to 2x or more if you wish.
	Now for the controls. As you might know, the rudder is on the D-pad. I'd suggest starting off by mapping the D-Pad to the right stick, since that will give that stick full control over the rudder and trimming. Now, depending on your preference, map R and L to the triggers or the shoulder buttons, and D-Pad Left and Right to the other ones.

	One of the nicest features of PPSSPP is the support for texture packs. The best one is Ostrich's:
	https://superostrich.xyz/
	First of all, head to your "My Documents" folder, then PPSSPP/memstick/PSP/. There, create a TEXTURES folder and, inside, two folders, one for ACX and ACJA. The folder names are as follows:
		ACX		ACJA
	US	ULUS10176	ULUS10511
	JP	ULJS00086	NPJH50263
	EU	UCES00423	ULES01408
	Simply place the contents of the texture packs there. The extra textures on the website are used by overwriting one of the four existing textures in the folder. You can't have more than four liveries at once.
	Now you have to enable the texture replacement option. Under the "Tools" tab, go in "Developper tools", then under "Texture replacement", tick "Replace textures".

	--- mGBA --- [Em5]

	A Game Boy emulator with support for Color and Advance games. It's available on Windows, OS X, Linux and some consoles.
	https://mgba.io/downloads.html (I recommend scrolling down to "Development downloads")

	- Requirements -

	Just about any modern computer should be able to run this.
	Their website states that Windows Vista or newer is required.

	- Running the game -

	Just load the .gba file with the emulator. The out-of-the-box settings are enough.
	Controls are set up by going to "Tools">"Settings...", then going to the "Controllers" tab. Multiple inputs can be bound to a single button.

	- Going further -

	There isn't much you can do to a GBA game, but you can increase the size of the window under "Audio/Video">"Frame size" and picking a scale you like. I'd suggest keeping "Lock aspect ratio" ticked and the FPS target to 60 or Native.
	Bilinear filtering is a terrible idea in most cases, particularly in sprite-based systems. Unless you want the myopia experience, don't turn it on.

	There are various shaders available, the notable default ones being the following:
	AGB and AGS, which attempt to simulate most effects of the original and SP hardware, including slight refractions, and require at least a x2 scale to work. As a reminder, the original GBA lacked a backlit screen and thus AGB might look a bit dark.
	GBA Color, which aims to simulate the original GBA's screen characteristics in terms of colour. However tends to look excessively desaturated on most screens, I think AGB and AGS do a better job overall. Wii U has a similar effect, based on said console's VC, but subtler if you want the desaturation without the rest of effects AGB and AGS have.
	Fish and XBR are some hideous belkery. Soften is bilinear filtering but still pixely, which is still belkan as fuck.
	There's a few filters which are pointless because they fail to look like anything the original hardware had or their effects look weird by themselves: LCD, motion blur, pixelate (which forces integrer scaling if you're not scaling with integrers), scanlines, VBA pixelate (which simulates an effect from another emulator) and vignette.

	--- Dolphin --- [Em6]

	Dolphin is an emulator for both the Gamecube and the Wii, available for 64 bit OS.
	https://dolphin-emu.org/download/

	- Requirements -

	The official requirements are as follows:
	-a 64 bit OS (Windows 7 SP1 and up, Linux, macOS 10.10 and up)
	-a four core processor (Dolphin doesn't use more cores than that)
	-a GPU with DirectX11.1 and OpenGL 4.4 support
	-2 GB or more RAM

	It should be noted that Sky Crawlers is more demanding than most of Dolphin's library. Please refer to the PCSX2 requirements for general guidelines, since there isn't enough information to tailor requirements for SC in particular.

	- Running the game -

	Using Dolphin is fairly straightforward. When first starting the emulator, you will be asked to select the folder where your games are. If Dolphin doesn't ask you about it, click on "Config", head to the "Paths" tab and select "Add...".
	In the "General" tab, make sure that "Enable Dual Core" is ticked and the "CPU Emulation Engine" is set to "JIT Recompiler". Note that Sky Crawlers requires single core emulation to avoid crashes, but the emulator automatically overwrites that setting with the per-game configuration.
	Under "Audio", check whether the "DSP Emulation Engine" is set to "DSP HLE Emulation" or not, and whether the Audio Backend is XAudio2.
	Under "Wii", tick "Use PAL60 Mode" if you're using a PAL game, untick "Enable Screen Saver", set the Aspect Ratio to 16:9.

	Quickly hop over to "Graphics". I recommend setting the Backend to "Vulkan". Then head to "Controllers". A quirk Sky Crawlers has is that if you map both a Wiimote and a Gamecube controller, as you would normally do for this emulator, both inputs will be enabled, leading to some control issues.
	I recommend setting the Wiimotes to "None" and setting a "Standard Controller" in the Gamecube controllers. Click "Configure" and map your controller. The default control scheme isn't great and can't be tweaked ingame, see the next section for how to make it play more like an AC game.

	- Going further -

	Now for the usual graphics settings. The internal resolution options are helpfully labelled, just pick the one you want. If you experience screen tearing and your performance is good (aka 60 FPS most of the time), enable V-sync, otherwise avoid doing so since it causes a noticeable drop in performance.
	I recommend setting Anisotropic Filtering to x2, but disabling AA. It's of course up to you how you want those settings.
	The rest of the settings in the window should be left untouched.

	Remapping the controls for SC can improve the experience considerably. Note I'll be using 360 controller buttons to indicate the convoluted remappings and I'll explain what the buttons do so you may adjust it to your liking. First of all, map B to Back and A; since it's both the Map and Cancel button.
	Map Z to R3; it's the maneuver button, so placing it on the maneuver selection stick makes sense.
	Map D-Pad Up to both the D-Pad Up and Y. This is the View button; you can move the camera around with the right stick by keeping it pressed.
	Map D-Pad Left and Right to their counterparts on the D-Pad and the appropriate shoulder buttons. These are the rudder controls, so switch the triggers and shoulders around if you wish.

	--- Citra --- [Em7]

	Citra is a 3DS emulator.
	https://citra-emu.org/download/
	Here's the ongoing "chinese build" branch, in case the main branch stops loading missions down the line, which should have been fixed around Canary 1134:
	https://valentinvanelslande.github.io/citra/downloads

	- Requirements -

	The only real requirement is that you need a 64-bit OS (Windows 7, Linux, macOS 10.13) and a GPU compatible with OpenGL 3.3

	- Running the game -

	I recommend using the Canary Builds over the Nightly ones. If your performance isn't good, try using the chinese builds since they use hacks to lower the requirements at the cost of accuracy.

	First of all, you need a NAND dump. This is like a BIOS in so far as the emulator requires it to run games. Citra's website has a guide on dumping your own from that 3DS you definitely own:
	https://citra-emu.org/wiki/dumping-system-archives-and-the-shared-fonts-from-a-3ds-console/
	https://citra-emu.org/wiki/user-directory/
	Or you could just procure it through alternate means, Citra can't tell.
	http://www.mediafire.com/file/sd1i5cum5djrp15/user.zip
	After running Citra once (just let it start up), enter %appdata% in your explorer address bar. You should find yourself in the Roaming folder. This is where Citra keeps the save data, configuration files, etc. Head into the "Citra" folder and place the contents of the "user" zip there.

	Under the "Emulation" header, click on "Configure..." then head to the "System" section. Set the various settings in the "System" tab found there to your liking, then head to the "Audio" tab. Set the output engine to "cubeb", "sdl2" doesn't work properly, and tick "Enable audio stretching".
	On to the "Graphics" section. Make sure "Limit Speed Percent" is ticked and set to 100%. "Enable Hardware Renderer", "Enable Hardware Shader", "Accurate Geometry Shader" and "Enable Shader JIT" must be ticked too.
	The "Controls" section allows you to map your input. Map the "Circle pad" and "C-stick" (Left and Right sticks respectively) by using the "Set Analog Stick" button, doing it input by input will result in a digital input at discrete 45º angles. Note that binding the triggers of a 360 controller is currently buggy because they are read as a single axis or as two axises in negative values. The workaround for this seems to be to hold the trigger, press the mapping button and then release it.

	Now you have to load the decrypted .3ds or .cia file in the emulator. Real-time decryption of a would slow down the emulator to a crawl, hence the need to install the .cia before using it. Only the .3ds method has been tested for this guide, but the .cia version should work.

	From ACAHL's main menu, head to the OPTIONS, then to "Button Config". There, set your controls to "Classic", since "Normal" is the Novice mode, leave the buttons on "Type-A", set the pitch as you prefer and either leave the Maneuvers ON or turn them OFF.
	Under "Display", you can pick the usual Meters/Imperial and HUD settings, but there is also a "Target Distance" setting, the options being "Graphics" and "Value". The latter is how it works in every AC game, but the former is a weird symbolic system. I'd suggest setting it to "Value".
	The calibration setting should be avoided unless something is clearly wrong, since it can be buggy.

	PROTIP: The touchscreen is a boresight that can go anywhere on the screen.

	- Going further -

	The main enhancement Citra provides is changing the internal resolution. In my experience, this has little to no impact on the performance of the emulator. Note that the resolution figures indicated besides the multipliers are for the upper screen's resolution, so depending on the screen layout you use the resolution might be overkill. For example, with the default screen layout on a 1080p screen, the upper screen isn't even 540p tall, so there isn't much of a point in going abouve 3x Native.

	Under "View", there are three screen layouts which are good for ACAHL: the default one, the side-by-side one and the large screen one. Pick whichever you like, then pick the resolution you want for it. Note that the lower screen will be displayed at the native resolution so it might appear rather small in 1080p and above screens.
	As it has been mentioned with previous emulators, picking a higher resolution than the one that would naturally fit your screen introduces a natural form of AA, SSAA. Remember that due to how that works, there is no point in using more than double the resolution of the screen.

	Regarding controls, by default they are ACX-styled. First order of business, if you prefer having the rudder on the bumpers and the throttle on the triggers, is swapping the R/ZR and L/ZL bindings. Afterwards, unbind the Select button. It's redundant to the Start button. Now you can bind the D-Pad Down (Map) to your controller's select button or the X/Square button, and the D-Pad Up (Weapon selection) to the other. Bind the Y button (Maneuver) wherever you want, just remember where you put it for the menus that need it (customization/tuning for example), I suggest D-Pad Up or Down.

	One of the features added in the Plus version of the game is a set of 12 Nintendo-themed variants of existing aircraft (with a total of 18 liveries and 12 SP tuning parts), featuring altered stats.
	When starting a game, you get the option to unlock "collaboration aircraft", but these are just one of the two liveries for the first six aircraft, without the SP part.
	In order to use an amiibo with Citra, you need a .bin dump of it. Under "File", head to "Amiibo", "Load" and pick the file.
	You can check which amiibo dumps you need for each aircraft at this page:
	https://amiibo.life/games/3ds/ace-combat-assault-horizon-legacy

	--- Xenia --- [Em8]

	An Xbox 360 emulator. It's currently in it's early stages and is Windows only.
	The Vulkan builds are currently lagging behind the DirectX 12 ones.
	http://xenia.jp/ (Click on "Download" on the sidebar to get the latest comit)
	https://ci.appveyor.com/project/benvanik/xenia (Direct3D 12 builds)

	- Requirements -

	The Vulkan builds require Windows 8 or later, a Vulkan compatible GPU and an Intel Sandy Bridge, Haswell or equivalent GPU.
	Due to DirectX 12 requiring Windows 10, that OS is a requirement for the Direct3D 12 builds.
	In terms of performance, the emulator isn't optimized yet but a GTX 1070 should net you 30 FPS in most games. Pretty much every test out there uses a 5.0 GHz CPU, but the load metrics indicate that it's overkill since the emulator appears to rely mostly on the GPU.

	- Running the game -

	First of all, you need the game in either a Games on Demand format (GoD, a folder with various files and folders reminiscent of an installed PC game) or an ISO.
	Here's a guide to ripping your own AC6 copy (Note that you don't actually need Windows 10 for this):
	https://www.reddit.com/r/xenia/wiki/how_to_rip_games
	As an extra step, you can package this GoD folder into an ISO using an utility called God2Iso.
	https://digiex.net/threads/god2iso-xbox-360-games-on-demand-to-cd-image-converter.7115/

	Once that is done, simply run Xenia, go to "File" and "Open", then open the AC6 ISO or, if you are using the GoD format, navigate into the folder and open the "default.xex" file.
	Note that the controller has to be an XInput controller or it will not be recognized by Xenia. Native DS4 support is upcoming, but DS4Windows does the trick already.

	- Going further -

	Xenia currently has no proper settings to speak of, but there still things you can do with it.
	You can uncap the framerate by creating a shortcut and, in it's properties adding the "--vsync=false" argument in the Target field, with a space separating it from the path. This has NOT been tested on AC6 and might have adverse effects. This will NOT improve your performance, so if you can't reach the FPS cap for the game (currently undocumented), there is no point in disabling it.

	DLC on Xenia are currently dummied out but functional. [This has not been verified at the moment, see the Allied support section, but there is footage of Xenia loading DLC for other games]
	You first need the STFS files for the DLC. These are 18 files (10 aircraft packs, 3 Ace of Aces files and 5 MP-related files) that are presented as long strings of alphanumeric characters without a file extension.
	Using Velocity (see the ripping guide), you can open these files to check which DLC they contain exactly by dragging and dropping them in the application window. Right click the files and "Extract All". You need to extract the files to a folder within your Xenia folder: /Xenia/content/[TitleID]/00000002/[Filename]/
	The TitleID for AC6 can be found by running the game and checking the window title. In my case, it's 4E4D07D1, but yours might vary. The [Filename] is a new folder named with the filename of the STFS file. Here is an example path for one of the Aircraft Packs so you know what to expect:
	/Xenia/content/4E4D07D1/00000002/4BE85338F6CB5C7D5B638B8073259A9F32E096514E/

	--- KEmulator --- [Em9]

	A Java mobile phone emulator that apparently has no homepage and tons of shady sites offer. Use this link to remain virus free:
	https://archive.org/details/KEmulatorLitev0.9.8

	- Requirements -

	Probably any computer can run this.

	- Running the game -

	First of all you need to find a jar file for the game. Since mobile is ripe with malware and apparently different versions of the game with different inputs exist, have this:
	https://www.mediafire.com/file/3xxcv4tg8xockeb/AceCombat_Nokia500_E7.jar

	Run KEmulator. Hit the - and + keys until the bar at the bottom of the window displays 100%. Under "View", select "Options".
	The "Device Select" shouldn't matter much, but for reference I use "Nokia 6230".
	It is VERY important that you set the correct resolution. Failing to do so will break the game in a ridiculous amount of ways. It's not just that things are out of the visible screen, it's that the play area is defined by the resolution, making the game unplayable.
	With that said, set it to 360x640.

	Make sure your NumLock key is on unless you want to deal with the touch controls. 8462 are the directional buttons. Confirming your picks in the menu is done with the numpad's Enter or 5, which also fire your missiles, guns being automatic. Going back in menus is done by hitting F2. 7 (1 on phone numpad layout) is the special maneuver of the plane, usually flares. 1 (7 on phones) calls for your wingmen.

	When you start up the game, you will get the option to configure your sound. You can have it all muted, only have music or only SFX. Such technical achievements.

	/// FAQ /// [Que]

- The requirements section of an emulator doesn't list concrete requirements! What sort of computer do I need for it? -
	Those sections are either lacking in data (e.g. Citra) or it is assumed that any computer that isn't a decade old shouldn't have too much trouble with it (e.g. Retroarch's Beetle PSX HW).

- The sun is glitched in AC04 -
	Double tap F9. It toggles between hardware and software renderers for the same API.

- I don't have an option to turn maneuvers off in ACAHL, wat do? -
- My right stick doesn't work in ACAHL, wat do? -
- I don't have an option to acquire "special collaboration aircraft" when first starting a campaign, wat do? -
- There's no amiibo functionality in ACAHL, wat do? -
	These were added on the "plus" version of ACAHL, it is highly recommended that you get that version rather than the vanilla one.

- My triggers are working in reverse in Citra! -
	Hold the triggers back before clicking the bind button, then release it.

- How can I check whether AC6's DLC is properly installed? -
- AC6's DLC liveries aren't in the hangar, wat do? -
	See the DLC section for Xenia. While this in unconfirmed, it seems that DLCs aren't available before the campaign has been completed once.

- Can AC6's multiplayer mode be emulated? -
	Xenia currently doesn't support netplay or any sort of Xbox Live "emulation" that would allow you to access the MP functionalities.

- Why isn't there a guide on using PPSSPP's netplay features? -
	The prefered method for netplay for PPSSPP is Hamachi. That software, even when it's not running, replaces your connections (visible under the Network and Sharing Center) with it's own, which can lead to a spotty internet connection when your normal adapter's connection is solid.
	Since this can be a major issue and uninstalling Hamachi is the only fix, I've decided that it's not worth it and decided not to include it in the guide. It will remain this way until somebody points me to a better alternative.
	It's bad form to say this in a guide, but google "PPSSPP online tutorial" and use the guides that will pop up.

-The background in the lower half of the screen in ACX is black -
	Tick "Simulated block transfer effects" in the Graphics tab of the settings.

	/// Allied support /// [AlS]

	-GPU performance figures for Glacial Skies in Hardware mode piloting an F-15C.
		Post the following:
		>GPU
		>third person FPS at x1/x2/x3/x4/x5
	-Performance metrics at different resolutions for Sky Crawlers
	-Performance metrics for ACAHL+
	-Testing the .cia version of ACAHL+
	-Recommending joystick and HOTAS control mappings
	-The status of AC6 emulation on the DirectX 12 builds of Xenia
	-Enabling DLC in Xenia
		A cursory search seems to indicate that compiling Xenia with https://github.com/xenia-project/xenia/blob/master/src/xenia/kernel/xam/xam_content.cc#L41 set to 0xFFFFFFFF instead of 0 enables DLC. This is unverified due to the writer of this guide not knowing his way around Github.

	/// Changelog /// [Chg]

	Current version: Rev 1.2
	-Overhauled the table of contents a bit, now the codes for each emu are there rather than buried in the guide
	-Introduced a dedicated quick troubleshooting section
	-Added a sample screenshot for issue reports
	-Added notes regarding the recent ports for AC5 and AC6, minor tweaks elsewhere in the section
	-Removed redundant questions in the FAQ
	-Retroarch moved the "Skip BIOS" option, guide updated

	Future versions:
	Rev 1.3
	-Screenshots of the current issues for the PS2 games for the Emulation Status section

	Previous versions:
	Rev 1.1 - https://pastebin.com/x6BRfkpx [Good job not putting it in the OP, you belkans]
	-Changed the PPSSPP section to address a graphical issue, added it to the FAQ
	-Added information regarding the deadcopy AC3 save
	-Edited the emulation status section
	-Added a warning regarding image persistence
	-Updated CIA compatibility for Citra
	-Added a note on the purpose of the guide
	-Updated AC04 status

	Rev 1.0 - https://pastebin.com/YR304SZu
	-Added a note under PCSX2 for AMD GPU users
	-Updated ACAHL emulation status and Citra section accordingly
	-Minor changes to the Citra section (clarification regarding file format, adding instructions for the user directory, adding a workaround for trigger issues)
	-Noted that ACAH is no longer available on Steam as of 20/12/2018
	-Added information regarding a black screen when first booting Beetle PSX HW
	-Added a note to skip BIOS in Beetle PSX HW
	-Expanded the sections regarding BIOS for PSX and PS2 emulation
	-Updated AC04 emulation status and the PCSX2 section accordingly
	-Moved the interlacing section to "Getting the games to run"
	-Added a section about widescreen hack issues in cockpit view
	-Added a note regarding PPSSPP netplay in the FAQ section
	-Updated ACAHL emulation status (again)

	Rev 0.2 – 05/12/2018 – https://pastebin.com/b7hbHMr4
	-Updated Northern Wings status
	-Added KEmulator section
	-Added quick navigation tags
	-Added alternate bindings for PCSX2
	-Changed "Direct3D 11 (Hardware)" to "OpenGL (Hardware)" on the basis that the latter emulates the shading more accurately.
	-Revised the PCSX2 hacks section
	-Added section about interlacing in PCSX2

	Rev 0.1 – 02/12/2018 – Pastebin expired
	-Initial release