Dreamcast Emulators?

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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Martin » Thu Jul 03, 2014 6:16 pm

And you, old bean!

I would play it on Dreamcast, but I no longer have one. From what I remember, I went through a few of them and it was the most unreliable console I ever had. I sold all my DC games and stuff a while back. I don't really fancy laying out on another copy of Shenmue II, then trying to find a Dreamcast in good condition.

So I decided to try this emulator lark. I'm optimistic, as the GameCube emulator seems to run lovely on my machine. Dreamcast should be fine. Currently, I only have both the 'Mues, and both Power Stone games. Anything else I should get which wasn't ported to everything else? Maybe Crazy Taxi 2?

Edit: Giorgio, I can confirm that the torrent I pointed you towards definitely contains full rips of both games. I played half an hour on both games, and no minor NPC dialogue or anything seemed to be missing. I spoke to almost everyone, just to be sure!
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Esppiral » Fri Jul 04, 2014 7:29 am

For speed NullDc
For Accuracy, hell... Demul.

Maybe I'll post some screenshots later to show how bad the emulation is on NullDC and how accurate is on Demul, it came at a cost, Demul is a very demanding emulator.

Sadly most Dreamcast emulators require a very little powerful CPU ( even cell phones are able to emulate it) but the emulator is far beyond of how the actual hardware render the games.

Most people who never played on a real Dreamcast don't know what are they missing, sure, NullDC allows for higher resolutions and widescreen hacks, but the amount of glitches on textures, transparencies and shadows don't really show how those games really look like on an actual Dreamcast.

Edit, ok this is a little Nulldc vs Demul.


Left, NullDC, Right Demul.

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While neither emulator is 100% accurate to the Dreamcast hardware, Demul is clearly the winner. so If you have a powerfull enougth PC, it is the best choice.
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Fenix » Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:40 am

As I used to say. Demul is actually the best emulator.

You can even play at 1080 with internal resolution x6 witch is awesome (and ultra computer is required, lol)
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby BlueMue » Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:49 am

I used Demul for the footage of Shenmue and Shenmue II I recorded for my videos and people actually think it's the real thing. But yeah it's really demanding and slowdowns may occur when a lot of transparency is going on.
Even on my machine, even though it doesn't really give CPU and GPU that much load at all.
And if I go higher then 4X internal resolution it crashes immediately.

There is still a looooot of optimising to do in terms of performance and DSP emulation is still not all that good but graphics are indeed 99% perfect.
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby MiTT3NZ » Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:24 am

Demul's the best for playing, nullDC's the best for modding. Chankast was always pretty wank.
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Esppiral » Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:59 am

BlueMue wrote: I used Demul for the footage of Shenmue and Shenmue II I recorded for my videos and people actually think it's the real thing.


It is the only emulator able to reproduce the native mipmaps present on most DC tittles, I mean look at this.

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If nobody tells me this is an emulator screenshot i'd think its captured directly from a Dreamcast, other emulators simply apply a trilinear filter or Aniso, but if you are looking for a true Dreamcast experience or just want to show how Dreamcast games look like, ( without artificial enhancements and/or emulation glitches) Demul is a joy.

It also is able to emulate some advanced features of the PVR like bump mapping,

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or reflections.

The "Real menu" looks exactly as it does on the Dreamcast, NullDc just screws the whole screen.

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It is compatible with most Wince games, like Half Life or Sega Rally.

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and a bucnh of arcade boards like Naomi and Naomi 2

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Virtua Fighter 4 on Dreamcast T_T

I know most of this talk isn't related to shenmue specifically , but to the Dreamcast instead, but most people ( me included) who love Shenmue also loves the Dreamcast and SEGA :heart:


Sorry for my english :oops:

Esppiral has received a thanks from: Martin
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Martin » Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:47 pm

Yeah, Demul does seem better overall. There are a couple instances where null comes out on top in your first comparison, like on pic #5 where Demul has a weird bush behind Ryo, but nullDC doesn't. I think there's room for both approaches. Demul goes for hardware accuracy, at the expense of performance, whereas null goes for the high-level approach with a plugin architecture with an eye firmly on performance, at the expense of compatibility.

Could I run Demul?
Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB

I'd hazard a guess at "no" lol!
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Fenix » Mon Jul 07, 2014 4:16 am

MiTT3NZ wrote: Demul's the best for playing, nullDC's the best for modding. Chankast was always pretty wank.


Exactly.
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Fenix » Mon Jul 07, 2014 4:18 am

Martin wrote: Yeah, Demul does seem better overall. There are a couple instances where null comes out on top in your first comparison, like on pic #5 where Demul has a weird bush behind Ryo, but nullDC doesn't. I think there's room for both approaches. Demul goes for hardware accuracy, at the expense of performance, whereas null goes for the high-level approach with a plugin architecture with an eye firmly on performance, at the expense of compatibility.

Could I run Demul?
Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB

I'd hazard a guess at "no" lol!


I run Demul with a Core 2 Duo with a 512MB Gfroce G210M but only at Dreamcast resolution with x1 internal resolution so yes, you shouldn't have any problem.

Oh, and one more thing funny with Demul. The emulator also works with Atomizwave and Naomi.
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Martin » Mon Jul 07, 2014 9:41 am

Nice, I'll try Demul. I'd just like to say thanks again to masterchen for his Shenmue nullDC fixes. I haven't played either 'Mue in years. Got them the other night, and vanilla null was crashing before I got out of the Hazuki Residence. Since having Chen's version of the emulator, I have not experienced a single crash, and have been able to play the best game ever made again, only this time in 1080p. I'm almost at the end of the first disc. I can't tell you how magical it feels to play Shenmue again! With the emulator, I almost feel like I'm playing the HD re-release we never got.

Thanks masterchen!!
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby BlueMue » Tue Aug 12, 2014 1:50 pm

Been using the nullDC that's patched for Shenmue II just for fun. Still love that extra geometry option for widescreen.
You know, 16:9 is just for beginners. How about playing Shenmue II in 36:9?

Image
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Yokosuka » Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:59 am

Can't wait for rediscover Shenmue (and Skies of Arcadia) in 1080p :heart: I just bought a FX8329 with a 270X (HD 7870 equivalent) which are ok components nowadays.

Previously, I was looking for a vga cable but it was going too expensive as a hdmi adapter was needed for my non-vga TV. Shenmue VGA will be the next step.

Too bad that the Esppiral's comparison screens have disappeared btw. :sad:
Last edited by Yokosuka on Mon Aug 18, 2014 2:14 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby Yokosuka » Mon Aug 18, 2014 2:04 am

BlueMue wrote: Been using the nullDC that's patched for Shenmue II just for fun. Still love that extra geometry option for widescreen.
You know, 16:9 is just for beginners. How about playing Shenmue II in 36:9?

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Or this :
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Just imagine Ryo's back in Hong Kong streets on that.
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby speterson2814 » Sun Jul 05, 2015 6:45 pm

Hey, I am a bit new to the emulator scene. I have DeMul and I have Shenmue up and running with my controller of choice, but everytime I boot it up, the sound is horrible. Not just quality, it is choppy and sounds like there is a he problem. I tried reinstalling the game and it did that same thing. Any help?
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Re: Dreamcast Emulators?

Postby edgecrusher01 » Mon Jul 06, 2015 4:52 pm

Is there a working emulator of Shenmue for Mac?
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