> Plugin systems used to be a good idea but the only reason they appear to be
> there anymore is an easy cop out for quitters who can't do something themselves.

They are mainly useful for allowing more people to work on closed source emulators. It also allows you to switch between different rendering methods.

> I await the day some author will a nice set of brass balls has the nerve to just
> shovel out of nowhere a big fat N64 (or PSX) emu something title v1.0 that runs
> like 90% of shit on the first try and doesn't use one fucking plugin.

Thats the idea behind the code in MESS. No idea about the compatibility rate, but it will work the same everywhere. It's not finished yet, so no games are playable but you never know what may happen :-)

Unfortunately making it work on every platform in the same way you end up needing a more powerful computer & people don't seem to like that.

smf