Can I run a DreamCast CD on PC.

[ahmer]

hello...

Have you guys already playing DreamCast games on your cab.I just
want to know that is there a way to play a dreamcast CD by putting in CD-rom or using an ISO image.

Is there a Popuar Console Emulator. Just like VGS and Epsxe for a Playstation.

[elvis]

http://www.google.com/search?q=dreamcast+emulator

[darthbane2k]

http://www.google.com/search?q=dreamcast+emulator

We KNOW the emus exist, but I think the question is HOW WELL DO THEY RUN?
I have asked this question many many times on this forum and I never get a response. Whats the big deal??!
All I want to run is virtua fighter, daytona, powerstone and streetfighter 3

[Goz]

http://www.google.com/search?q=dreamcast+emulator

HOW WELL DO THEY RUN?
I have asked this question many many times on this forum and I never get a response. Whats the big deal??!

It's most likely the attitude.

With that a side here is your answer:

The only partially working emulator is Chankast. I say partially, because I have not found any games that run reliably and without graphically glitches that render the game unenjoyable.

Simple solution: buy a $20 dreamcast and add it to the cab. You wont have to worry about stability and the games will look great. If you look through the console section of BYOAC there are many threads about adding one to a cab. Search is your friend. Searching this board with the string of Dreamcast + Emulator will also reveal a number of threads that ask this same question, albeit more politely.

A Dreamcast in a cab is a beautiful thing...

-Goz

[darthbane2k]

http://www.google.com/search?q=dreamcast+emulator

HOW WELL DO THEY RUN?
I have asked this question many many times on this forum and I never get a response. Whats the big deal??!

It's most likely the attitude.

With that a side here is your answer:

The only partially working emulator is Chankast. I say partially, because I have not found any games that run reliably and without graphically glitches that render the game unenjoyable.

Simple solution: buy a $20 dreamcast and add it to the cab. You wont have to worry about stability and the games will look great. If you look through the console section of BYOAC there are many threads about adding one to a cab. Search is your friend. Searching this board with the string of Dreamcast + Emulator will also reveal a number of threads that ask this same question, albeit more politely.

A Dreamcast in a cab is a beautiful thing...

-Goz

What attitude? Im not sure how you Gozarians interpret things but its not like im asking for ROMS or anything, just asking how an emulator performs.. I've asked this question across 4 different threads now and I never get an answer.

As for a Dreamcast in a cab being beautiful.. speak for yourself, personally I think changing CDs on a console within a cab defeats the purpose of a cabinet, thats why I wanted to go down the emu route. However you say its not that good, can it at least run streetfighter 3? (We're talking 2D graphics here!!)

[Goz]

Simple answer on SF3 is NO.


It's not as simple as you'd think. But then again if you understood all that goes into emulation you'd already know the answer. Dreamcast and NAOMI emulation is pretty far away from happening. In emulation you are creating virtual machines to run the game in question. While the DC CPU is a RISC based 200Mhz system its architecture is actually pretty complex. That is why a lot of the current games you see in arcades today generating revenue are based on the same core technology (NAOMI). Games like 'Virtua Fighter 4, Marvel vs Capcom 2, SF3 Third Strike, Guilty Gear, Ikaruga, Border Down, Inital D, etc.....) are all using slightly more advanced versions of the hardware used in the Dreamcast.

I happen to own an extensive NAOMI collection and have all the direct ports of the games on the Dreamcast and there is very little difference in game play.

I'm not trying to convince you to put a DC in your cab, but rather stating that if you truly want SF3 Third Strike in there it will have to be by either using the legit arcade hardware or by putting a console in the cab and the best version of that game is on the Dreamcast.

Good luck on whatever you do...

-Goz

[darthbane2k]

Simple answer on SF3 is NO.


It's not as simple as you'd think. But then again if you understood all that goes into emulation you'd already know the answer. Dreamcast and NAOMI emulation is pretty far away from happening. In emulation you are creating virtual machines to run the game in question. While the DC CPU is a RISC based 200Mhz system its architecture is actually pretty complex. That is why a lot of the current games you see in arcades today generating revenue are based on the same core technology (NAOMI). Games like 'Virtua Fighter 4, Marvel vs Capcom 2, SF3 Third Strike, Guilty Gear, Ikaruga, Border Down, Inital D, etc.....) are all using slightly more advanced versions of the hardware used in the Dreamcast.

I happen to own an extensive NAOMI collection and have all the direct ports of the games on the Dreamcast and there is very little difference in game play.

I'm not trying to convince you to put a DC in your cab, but rather stating that if you truly want SF3 Third Strike in there it will have to be by either using the legit arcade hardware or by putting a console in the cab and the best version of that game is on the Dreamcast.

Good luck on whatever you do...

-Goz

Thanks for the extensive info.. much appreciated.

I do actually own a Dreamcast with several games including SF3 - thing is I would like the convience of having that game in particular, run off my cab without changing discs...

So out of curiousity, what games ARE people running sucessfully on their cabs using the DC emulator?

[Goz]

You are supposed to be able to use a 2Ghz system and play games. Ironically there is no comprised list of playable games that I know of. I have been able to play some games, but they all experienced graphical glitches and or crashes (on a 3Ghz system). There are forums specifically dedicated to DC emulation. Perhaps you can find a list online.

I have 2 cabs with DC's in them and I rotate games on a bi-weekly basis. Since all of the games are arcade perfect and in some cases are better on the DC since you can PAUSE. I don't find myself swapping disks all that often. This plus the multi game disks like the CAPCOM fighters multi game disk and the SHMUPS disks. There is really  very little swapping.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like Chankast has had any updates in the past year or so, so perfect emulation is probably even further off than anyone would like.

-Goz

[headkaze]

Check out the Chankast Compatibility List.

You can use my utility called Chankast Launch to automatically mount images and run Chankast full screen.

You cannot simply create an image from your games, they need to be "self booting". You can use a utility called "self boot" which will convert them over. It's available here. Use the default extraction directory or there are problems.

[Scott84]

Chankast hasnt been updated? Is the project dead from its original authors?

[Goz]

From looking at the linked compatibility list a couple of posts up in the thread. It looks like all if not most games are unplayable due to glitches (graphics, sound, or half screen) as mentioned previously.

[elvis]

We KNOW the emus exist, but I think the question is HOW WELL DO THEY RUN?
I have asked this question many many times on this forum and I never get a response. Whats the big deal??!
All I want to run is virtua fighter, daytona, powerstone and streetfighter 3

Chankast is a free (cost) download.  Download it and try for yourself.  It costs nothing more than your time.

When exactly did people develop this fear of trying things for themselves?  Back when I was a lad, if I wanted to find out how well an emulator worked on my machine, I downloaded the thing and tried it.  Back then there were no message boards to ask those sorts of things on.

</old fart>

[Grasshopper]

We KNOW the emus exist, but I think the question is HOW WELL DO THEY RUN?
I have asked this question many many times on this forum and I never get a response. Whats the big deal??!
All I want to run is virtua fighter, daytona, powerstone and streetfighter 3

Chankast is a free (cost) download.  Download it and try for yourself.  It costs nothing more than your time.

When exactly did people develop this fear of trying things for themselves?  Back when I was a lad, if I wanted to find out how well an emulator worked on my machine, I downloaded the thing and tried it.  Back then there were no message boards to ask those sorts of things on.

</old fart>

I agree with you up to a point. But with Chankast it's not quite that simple though. For a start AFAIK Chankast only runs on XP which many people still don't have. Also my understanding is that GDROM disks cannot be read on a normal PC CD drive (can someone verify this?) so presumably you have to obtain "backup" disks of games in order to run them using Chankast.

Basically setting up Chankast is not a five minute job and I can understand someone wanting to know other people's experiences first before potentially wasting hours setting up a program that may prove to be unacceptably buggy/slow.

One question I have about Chankast is whether it comes with an image of the Dreamcast's ROM or whether you have to obtain that separately?

[Goz]

You have to obtain the ROM fo the DC separately.