Read it here!

https://linktr.ee/retrotorrents

For the longest time we have wondered one thing with ROM sites, why don’t they use torrents? Is is that difficult?

“Hosting torrents is a total PITA. It’s not worth it” - ████

So, we did some research around them and file formats that emulators use like CHD, RVZ and WUX for a few months and may have found a way to preserve retro video games efficiently and perfectly. But truth be told, we don’t know if this idea is perfect or has something missing.

We have looked a bit about shadow libraries, but that will come when the site would be ready to deploy.

Currently, we are just experimenting the data with this, since it’s free for testing.

Overall, we thought that the wake-up call on video game preservation should start sooner, rather than later. Also, thanks for reading this far!

    • Ephraim@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      21·
      3 months ago

      We did…It’s complicated!

      https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/ROM_%26_ISO_sites#BitTorrent

      We have found the torrents from the Reddit user r/1G1R to be a great choice, but some of these collections use a file format that does not work on an emulator. For example, the “1G1R - Redump - Sony - PlayStation” torrent has ROM files stored in a .7z archive (does not work with DuckStation). That is Game Over for those that want to download, play and archive every game at the same time. :(

        • Ephraim@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          2·
          3 months ago

          You are absolutely correct muusemuuse! but when someone downloads a game as a torrent, they should be able to play it without extracting it. This could save space and convert the players into archivists.