Any DAPHNE experts on here?

[LeedsFan]

I'll try to be as clear and concise as possible with this, but I just can't get any games to work with Daphne at all. Firstly, here is my setup:   Windows XP Home, DVD2Daph Version 3.0 *RC1*, Daphne v0.99.6.  I believe these are the latest versions of the software.

I have bought DVD-Video versions of Dragons Lair and Space Ace seperately. These are the ones with a yellow star on the front stating "DVD-Video XBox* & PS2** Compatible".  I  know the old version of DVD2Daph would not support these particular versions of DL and SA.... but the blurb with version 3.0 says that ALL versions of DL anid SA are now supported.

I've managed to configure my set up correctly (I think!).  I've got my roms unzipped in their own sub-directory in the ROMS folder. I've got the video files placed in their own sub-directory in an mpegs folder I made myself. I placed the framefiles in the framefiles folder.... these framefiles were made by DVD2Daph on conversion from the original DVDs. The only thing I had to do was edit the top line from  .\  to  C:\Daphne\mpegs\gamename  to point to the relevant mpeg subfolder. I then configured each game in Daphne before starting, selecting my player type as "Virtual LDP (MPEG/Ogg)" and pointing to my framefile by using the "Browse" button.

However, when I start Space Ace I get a message "Press any key to parse your video files etc". Then I get short glimpses from particular scenes in the game repeating over and over. This goes on for ages and the game never starts.  When I try to play Dragons Lair I get the same parse video message but on pressing any key it lasts for about 2 seconds before giving a Windows error screen "Daphne.exe encountered a problem and needs to close".  I only get this error with DL not Space Ace, but neither game will start.

Just for the record.... the number of  files I have in my Dragons Lair mpeg folder after conversion is exactly 197 (not counting readme and fileframe texts) and for Space Ace the number is 455. This may help if someone can point to any possible missing files. They are all .VOB and .VOB.ogg files except for the very first two files in the list which are named "sa-slates".

I've read loads of posts on the Daphne forum and my own research has got me this far. But I can go no further without requesting help from you guys. Oh by the way... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

[lucindrea]

sounds to me that your in calabrate mode ( look here http://www.daphne-emu.com/disc2mpeg.php scroll down to the calabrite section ) .. in the vdlp section , double check that you havent got seektest box checked. The "Press any key to parse your video files"  tells me you have that box checked.

[LeedsFan]

.......double check that you havent got seektest box checked. The "Press any key to parse your video files"

[lucindrea]

ok then lets try this ..

can you acctully play the mpegs in the dir? i think dvd2daph calls em mv2's , doesnt matter , media player should still be able to play them no matter what they were named .. ( simple fact is you really do not need dvd2daph , you can just rip the vobs into mpegs and use 1 big mpeg with the correct frame file and be fine , but dvd2daph just makes it a bit eaiser )

the game creates a dat file also ( i think it's a dat file , whatever file is NOT an mpg or ogg , heh ) .. thats what it's making when it's parcing the file ... try renameing that and re-trying the program , if the dat was created from the dvd2daph and not the launcher it'self that my be the problem.

also try it WITH the seektest checked off , then at least you can see if the video loads and on top of that you can double check that your frame file is correct.

[LeedsFan]

Thanks for the help mate. 

I've taken a closer look at the files created by DVD2Daph.  It seems each section of mpeg video has a DAT file and a .OGG file to accompany it. So there are three files for each section. I can play the mpeg files but NOT in Windows media player!  Windows media player will open up as if it's about to play.... but then just sits there. If I use Realplayer then it works.

Do you have DL and SA working on your system? If so can you check that you have the same number of files as I have in your video/mpeg folder? Easiest way is to go to delete the files and then Windows will ask you "Are you sure you wish to delete xxx no. of files to the recycle bin?"   Then just say no.

I have a feeling that DVD2Daph has not converted everything properly. It's the only thing I can think of.

[lucindrea]

i have 3 files ( ogg , mv2 , dat ) but i used a compleatly differnt method to get the mepg from the dvd so it's kinda mute point ...

i pmed ya some instructs on getting 1 big mpeg from the dvd , it's basicly the manual way of doing it insted of the automatic way dvd2daph does , but you do have a bit more control over the files.

[Jakobud]

As I recall when I setup Daphne on my machine (ages ago), when you ran a game for the first time, it did sit there and go through some sort of setup or something that automatically checks all the video and audio files or something.  It literally took like 10 minutes or something.  For some reason I remember seeing some (very) slowly moving red progress bar across the bottom of the screen.  Just be patient.

[Howard_Casto]

This man speaks the truth, initial parsing of the mpegs can take forever.  Also keep in mind that the bootups to space ace and dragon's lair are about 30 seconds to a minute and a half, depending upon certain factors and rom revisions.

[LeedsFan]

This man speaks the truth, initial parsing of the mpegs can take forever.

[clanggedin]

How fast is your CPU? I recall it taking a while to setup all of the Mpegs on my 2.4ghz computer when I ran it the first time. I suggest starting it up and letting it run all night. THat way you will give it ample time to parse the files.