Dreamcast emulator?

[Lilwolf]

Ok, so Chankast is now out (and pretty !@# cool!)

I'm running many many games at 40fps on a 2.4ghz machine.  

Now I can finally get rid of the idea of putting my dreamcast into my standup cabinet and keep it 24/7 in my sitdown cab.

1) anyone get it running full speed yet?

2) anyone get it running full screen?  

seems like its 95% there for a TON of games... ok I tested 4 so far... and all but one ran perfect.. and the other locked up after 10 minutes of play.  (of course that was jojos and that game would be freakin sweet on a cab... love any fighter where you can play a dog!)

It seems like it might be prefect for a cabinet... and soon!  

[Goz]

I'm unfortunately having issues getting it to run at all. No documentation in English. I was able to figure out the control config and have the .BIN's but unfortunately it doesn't mention anywhere if it needs Daemon tools or another virtual drive package to get it to work.

It just crashes after it tries to init.

-Goz

[Magnet_Eye]

Can you offer some ideas on getting this thing to work? No go for me either.

[CGRemakes]

I was unable to get it to run either, but I only tried Beats of Rage Dreamcast version, because that's all I have.  I speak enough Spanish to understand the instructions in Spanish on their website.  I used Daemon tools, and got it to boot, but unfortunately it froze soon after that.

[Generic Eric]

linkage?

[Goz]

Ok I've tried Daemon tools with NRD and CDi images (soul fighter, DOA2, Sega Bass Fishing, Sonic, Sonic2, Godzilla Generations, SF3, Wetris) all with a crash as soon as the Dreamcast BIOS init screen.

Sure would be sweet to be able to add DC to one of my cabs without actually having to swap CD's. I can just imagine Daemon tools with 50 or so virtual drives.

-Goz

[Goz]

Sorry the link to the emulator:

http://www.chanka.org

-Goz

[Generic Eric]

Thats alright...found it anyway.

I was hoping the site would have a compatiblilty list.  Guess they might not want to release that info though.

[MadEditor]

Here's a compatibility list : http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?t=20609

For those having problems, don't forget you need the DC bios ...

And for testing and compatibility try one of the three .exe given in the package... Some games a require specific one in order to work

With simple words, if you don't have any problems use the normal version, if you have GFX problems use the new GFX version and if you want to run a game made from CAPCOM use the Capcom hack version.

This emu is still at an ALPHA stage so full screen, iso use and other options will come along later....

[Magnet_Eye]

ah, that did it. the DC BIOS. I got a few games going. Gonna have to wait a while until this can be useable in a cab. Hopefully some other way to boot games than Daemon Tools.

[Lilwolf]

Troubles I've seen so far...   For cabs.

1) no Full Screen.... I dont think.

2) no Command Line... I don't think..  (Howard?  Wrapper to launch the init menu?)

3) limited documentation... causing 1 & 2

4) need burned cds or some daemon tools type program to run.  Why annoying?  No simple frontend support.

5) needs XP... and I don't run XP on my cabinet (decided before multi-mouse support for XP existed)

6) Only handles VGA cable.   Would be nice to be able to setup TV / SVid resolutions for games which will not run under VGA mode.

what it DOES have...

AMAZING EMULATION for an alpha release!

Game run GREAT for the power / system ratio.  Many games run at playable speeds on a 2.4ghz machine.  You should be able to buy a machine to run many games full speed.


I see in a year I will have good emulation on my cab!  

[Generic Eric]

Will my act labs gun work with chankast?
hehe
But seriously, will it?

[Goz]

I have the two BIOS files and it was still a no go. I will try redownloading the 2 .BIN files.

-Goz

[shmokes]

Will my act labs gun work with chankast?
hehe
But seriously, will it?

I haven't even looked at this yet and I can say with reasonable certainty, no.  I suspect that is way down the list, considering the early stage of development at this point.

[Lilwolf]

btw, it seems like many people are having troubles running with real cds.

1) you cant use GDROMs... only bootable CDRoms.  So hacks only at this point.

2) many people with cdroms are still having troubles but they can get isos to work.

so start with an iso + daimon tools and go from there.

[Generic Eric]

sorry about the AL gun remark.  I have a lame sense of humor.

Haven't had much time to play around with this yet...

I am running windows2K, and at least the chankast boots up.   Boots up in spanish - me no habla  I can change the langauge, but it still boots in spanish...i haven't played with it for 2 days so I might be able to find the option.
I haven't made any images just yet & it doesn't like to read my games.
I had read that you had to use images, but curiousity drove me to try an actual disc before making any images of my own.

Has anyone else run chanka on win2K?

[iamnaeth]

Question:  Can Chanka take screenshots?

Request: If so, can someone make me some screenshots from Streetfighter III: Double Strike like the one attached?  I can only find this one piece of art and I would like more to vectorize for use on my arcade.  I'm not even sure if other animation like this is in the game?  I'm looking for anything involving (Shin) Akuma, Ryu or Ken.  Thanks!

[Howard_Casto]

Answering questions:  

1.  Yes it does work!  And it's frikkin awesome!!!  You need the PROPER bios and the flash file.  

2.  No original dics don't work UNLESS  you rip the cd using alcohol 120%, make a self-booting iso file and reburn the new copy/mount it.  There are rumors of a hacked toshiba cdrom driver that will allow your pc to see gdrom discs, but no dice yet.  

3.  Demon tools is a waste of time as it only allows 4 virtual drives at a time... use the virtual drive feature of alcohol 120% as it allows an infinate amount of drives and seems to have better luck mounting odd-ball dc rips.  

4.  No it won't run fullscreen, but if you stretch the window after the game starts you can stretch it to a maximized state with absolutely no slowdown.  

5.  Yes a wrapper will be made available by me.  How it will work is you'll mount every single game you have on a virtual drive at once.  There will be a configuration file where you give the iso name followed by the drive letter.  Then you can run via the command line and I can take care of the rest

6.  No, not soon. I'm just now getting caught up with my projects due to last minute family matters and a slight power outtage.   Besides, I'm hoping we will see a new release with some of these features soon, afterall, it's only in the alphas.  

[Generic Eric]

Answering questions:  

2.  No original dics don't work UNLESS  you rip the cd using alcohol 120%, make a self-booting iso file and reburn the new copy/mount it.  There are rumors of a hacked toshiba cdrom driver that will allow your pc to see gdrom discs, but no dice yet.  

Thats handy to know...should save some time.

3.  Demon tools is a waste of time as it only allows 4 virtual drives at a time... use the virtual drive feature of alcohol 120% as it allows an infinate amount of drives and seems to have better luck mounting odd-ball dc rips.  

That is also handy to know...should save some time as well.

Will Chankacast support imports?  Or do I need another bios file?  I only saw one to begin with so I am hoping the answer is no.

[Howard_Casto]

yes and no... some work some don't without region specific bios.  Depends upon how the rip was constructed.  

[Howard_Casto]

Update to answer #6.....

I couldn't wait so I went ahead an wrote a wrapper.  I managed not only to launch different isos via the command line, but I added "fullscreen" support!  It's in early alpha tests, I'll release it sometime this weekend.  

On a related note, it's been an absolute breeze to code a wrapper for this emu.  Why?  Because the chankast team knows how to code in the windows environment PROPERLY.  

Take note other emu developers.  The chankast developers didn't use allegro or some cheap third party library to calculate the screen size, they used the windows api like you are supposed to.  The chankast team didn't use some obscure delphi call to render the window, they used the windows api, again, like you are supposed to.  The chankast team actually checked their menus to make sure all tab stops were in order, the "ok" buttons are set to default, and the menu can be accessed by using alt+key combinations.  They also made sure that the render doesn't crash upon an alt-f4 window termination.  (This one is directed specifically towards you zinc team).  


This is not a rant, I'm just trying to make a point.  Emu developers, if you learn to code in windows correctly us third party guys can expand upon your feature set, thus making less work for both of us.  

Chankast team, if any of you frequent this board, good job!  It's refreshing to see a team step up and code exclusively for xp (the only os any desktop should have on it at this point)  and more importantly, create windows that are compliant to the windows standard.  This makes your emu not only faster, but more stable.  

Ok I'm done.... expect to see the wrapper soon.  

[Mr. Dude]

wow... this thing must be awesome if Howard gives it a good reveiw.  I'll have to check it out as well as the wrapper too.  

[nipsmg]

Just a note:

For all the people who have said "IT doesn't do x", "It should do y", "It doesn't have z".  Just remember, this is nothing more than a functional ALPHA release, and is far from complete.  I personally have to say that I'm EXTREMELY impressed with the functionality of this emulator so far.   For a first release, it's great, almost rivaling UltraHLE when it was released (for that, I was absolutely blown away.. one of the most amazing moments for me in emulation.. that and when they broke slapstick for APB   lol).

I've had problems with *some* games, but some others have worked *nearly* perfectly.  I think the compatibility is amazing for something still in this stage of infancy.

GREAT JOB CHANKAST TEAM!!

--NipsMG