CDRs on future Dreamcasts? Posted by
TheGypsy @ 23:09
Rumors about this have been floating around for a while now, but I did not want to post anything until I had some sort of confirmation. Today I received confirmation from two seperate reliable sources that new Dreamcasts will soon be released that do not allow CDRs to be bootable -- including the Utopia Boot Disc and self-booting apps.
Exactly when this will occur, I do not know -- but I am told that it will likely be in time for the Christmas season. Therefore, if you want to be able to boot things like Boob!boy, DCMP3, Ghetto Pong, and other hobbyist projects, be sure to have one of the "older/current" Dreamcasts. I assume that most of you reading this already do -- but still wanted to mention it in case we have any future DC buyers out there.
- John...
Oops... Boob!boy controls... Posted by
TheGypsy @ 20:37
If you are trying to use Boob!boy and it seems like your controllers are dead -- you probably have more than one control pad plugged into your Dreamcast. Due to a minor bug, Boob!boy will normally use the controller in the HIGHEST numbered port -- which is probably the opposite of what you might expect. So, if Boob!boy seems unresponsive to your controller presses, try using the highest-port controller instead (or, even better, unplug the other control pads).
Thanks to cabledude and Snood for doing some quick testing on that for me.
- John...
Sunday, October 15, 2000
New Boob!boy Beta! Posted by
TheGypsy @ 2:17
Someone... Anyone... Please! Release SOMETHING besides an EMU for DC! Arg! Give me something worthy to report! :(
In any case, in local Boob news... A new version of CyRUS64's Boob!boy has materialized. You can read the info here. A few excerpts from that indicate these changes:
Controller fixes: - "down" works! :) - switched to D-pad control - holding a button down works (i.e. Mario jumps properly/higher now)
Other fixes/changes: - Files can have the ".gb" extension now -- no renaming required. - ROM images now must be in a directoty named "ROMs" -- not the root!
No emulator core changes have been made -- so games that worked last version should still work fine now. Games that didn't work before still won't work now (unless it was just a controller problem that made them unplayable).
As before, you'll need to get both of these files to burn: boobboy.zip burn.zip
Again, the release notes and instructions for burning and usage are here. Remember that you must burn as Mode 1 if you plan to boot with a boot disc.
- John...
P.S. Please do NOT email me with burn problems or Boob!boy usage problems! If you have a burn problem, try posting in the Boob Forum and see if you can find an answer there. If you have Boob!boy usage problems, suggestions, comments, bug reports, or anything else related to Boob!boy, then either post in the forum or send an email to CyRUS64 since it is his project!
Thursday, October 12, 2000
Gleam! Release... Posted by
TheGypsy @ 23:35
Well, since there is no other news to share, I guess I'll have to announce (two days late again) yet another emulator release. Gleam! (a NES emulator) has been updated and the new version is available for download. Check the Gleam! site for details.
- John...
Monday, October 9, 2000
EMU Releases... Posted by
TheGypsy @ 17:52
Well, those that know me know that I'm really NOT into EMUs. To be honest, I think you should just go buy the original hardware. But, in any case, to prevent people from continuing to email me about the latest EMU releases and since CyRUS would probably post the information if he was around, I guess I'll mention them here:
DreamSNES v0.9 was released on 07-Oct. It is based on Snes9X and does not include any Sega or Microsoft libraries. In other words, it is a legal, non-SDK release. DreamSNES was created by Marcus Comstedt, Peter Bortas, and Per Hedbor. Great job, guys!
In other news, Sintendo v0.02 has also been released. From what I hear, a minor fix has made it much more playable now. Check the site for the latest information.
Please remember that these are NOT Boob releases! Do not write to me to ask any questions about them! If you have problems getting them to work, burn, or anything else -- go ask them or, at least, someone besides me!
As a final reminder for those that continue to email me about it... I am not a Boob Member. I decided long ago to remain independent when it comes to DC development and declined to join Boob when I was invited to do so. I am a friend of CyRUS, however, and have therefore offered to help out a bit with the site while he is away at University. I also used Boob as my release location for GypPlay. Note that GypPlay, however, is NOT a Boob release.
- John...
Tuesday, October 3, 2000
Boob!boy notes... Posted by
TheGypsy @ 2:35
In CyRUS's rush to get Boob!boy out the door, he missed a few points that seem to be giving people some problems, so I'll mention them here.
First, be sure to burn as Mode 1/CDROM and NOT Mode 2/XA. Otherwise, the boot disc will not load Boob!boy.
Second, depending on when you downloaded the burn.zip file, it may have everything in a subdirectory named "burn". You need to make sure that you do NOT burn a directory named "burn" onto your disc. In other words, your final disc should contain various files in the root -- along with a WinCE directory also in the root which contains various WinCE support files. You then also put your game images in the root.
Also, for those interested, you can do multisession discs and add more ROMs later. Just remember to do Mode 1/CDROM when you first start, choose multisession, and don't finalize/close the disc, of course.
Have fun!
mmm Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:07
Here it is, but before you get too excited i'd advise you to read the boob!boy readme file which can be found here. Don't expect anything great but if you are interested in dc emulation/development it's sort of worth checking out... i have so many ideas for improvements and i know how to do them but sadly i'm out of time :-( Boob!boy will be back in full development asap
The files needed to use Boob!boy can be downloaded here and here.
Monday, October 2, 2000
Boob!boy Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 12:37
Public release tonight... be sure to be in #boob on efnet from Midnight GMT
Sunday, October 1, 2000
Beta3 Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 19:04
Boob!boy beta3 went out last night, and i've had pretty good feedback from it... as for the controllers, i'm thinking about using the digital pad as this would work better imo than the analogue stick, which is causing some problems at the moment. hopefully ill be sending out beta3b tonight for beta testers! *Update*: I've also removed the border so that all games now run full screen, which adds to the atmosphere when playing imo... in future releases you'll be able to choose if you want the borders on or off, but only super gameboy games really use them anyway.
Saturday, September 30, 2000
Boob!boy Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 13:57
I am still working hard on Boob!boy, and the controller bugs are taking a while to fix because they only occur when using the dreamcast controller, not on the keyboard or n64 controller! However I have made some other advancements:
Added support for dreamcast keyboard. Added fixes to the menu selection which could cause the selection cursor to dissappear off the screen. The gui is now pretty much complete for the first release. Added a Loading Screen, a pic of which can be found below: The cool gameboy cartridge was done by Lowlife...
Private Beta3 should be going out tonight, as long as i have time to sort it all out before then!
Friday, September 29, 2000
Selfbooting GypPlay Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 23:25
Here is a slightly modified ip.bin, done by TheGypsy, so that you can make GypPlay selfbooting... to use it just overwrite the existing ip.bin file and follow the normal self-booting instructions. The file can be downloaded here.
Boob!boy Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:09
just a quick note to say that i implemented some frames per second code, and after testing it out on the dreamcast, i have found that black&white gameboy games run at about 38fps and colour games at about 18/19fps, and this is with no frame skip, so it shouldnt be too hard to get it up and running properly... as many people have said, the beauty of emulators on a console is that the author can work hard to get it running at a certain speed and knows that everyone who uses will have it running at the same speed! *UPDATE*- got it running a bit faster via a simple trick but my main concentration is the controller bug, which doesnt occur on the pc keyboard or when using the n64 controller (via the adaptoid) but only on the dc controller!
Also a couple of people have designed new websites for Boob! and this is all much appreciated... basically ill probably just throw up one of the news designs every now and again!
Thursday, September 28, 2000
Mailing list... Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 23:56
I've added a mailing list, which can be subscribed to if you scroll down to the bottom of the page!
Boob!boy Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 13:34
I thought I might aswell announce this now because i am extremely pleased by the way all Boob! supporters (Boob!ers as some people have coined them!) have acted over the past few weeks... you guys have been extremely patient, and Boob! is now in a nice state of being a development site only! Anyway, a public release of Boob!boy will be occurring before I leave for university next tuesday whatever state i manage to get it in before that date... (obviously it will be a working one!)
Also, it seems like we will shortly be joined by a new updater, since Boob! reports on all dc emulation / development stuff, and this person will help out greatly!
We are in need for new developers / webpage designers / updaters etc... anything that YOU feel YOU could do to help would be much appreciated!
Kinda bad news from the gleam camp... Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 13:13
The site, which can be found here, was updated with this info, "Wow, its been a while since the last update.. Sorry, I havn't been working too much on it lately, but I have reasons: Because of the PSX2 launch in October, my manager where I work has gone to nashville for a company meeting, which basically has left 2 people running our store, so I've been working a LOT... And considering school started monday, and I finally fell for a girl this saturday, I've had really no free time... I'm kinda working on it, I'm kinda not.. Sorry, but it might actually be a while before I release anything :("
Still this is completely understandable, and we'll all still eagerly await any future releases! (The damn playstation2 pile of s**t.)
Wednesday, September 27, 2000
Snes9x - Ngine Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 23:48
Tubooboo has just got Snes9x working with Ngine... here are some exclusive pics of it in action:
Looks like Tubooboo has almost won the race for Snes games on the dreamcast... at the moment it is incorporated and working in Ngine, he just needs to make sure it works on the DC aswell! For more info about the Ngine project and the Snes9x port, visit the ngine homepage here. You can also find some more pics of it in action at our Emulators page.
boobboy Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 16:18
"It seems to be alot faster and the controller seems to work a little better" was the feedback i got from a beta tester regarding the 2nd beta of boobboy...
New layout / gfx Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 15:37
I must say a big thank you to triplesix for redesigning the Boob! website... i hope you all like it! Feel free to go visit his own site, which can be found here, although its not dreamcast related. Be sure to click refresh to make sure you see the site as it should now be seen!
Tuesday, September 26, 2000
update Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 23:50
I had the first bit of time to do some work on Boob!boy today for a while, and after a bit of chatting with Tubooboo, who noticed that one of the functions was looking a bit suspect, I looked at it again and realised that i had been making it do the same line of code 57334 times, completely unnecessarily! I tested this version out on the dreamcast and it seems to be running Super Mario Land full speed, but on the other hand Who Wants to be a millionaire ran very slowly... although this was burnt to a 2nd session :-). I don't see why this should make any difference, since the roms are obviously loaded into memory anyway. Also, there are a few controller bugs that i've got to fix aswell that have been discovered... expect more progress soon!
Monday, September 25, 2000
Self-booting tool Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 17:11
Here is a nice tool to allow you to make your wince apps selfbooting... this was coded by Chossy. You can get the tool here
boobboy beta Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 17:04
This is a quote from the current beta tester of Boob!boy: "this is by far the best emulator out there. great work my friend"... steady on, but still its encouraging feedback, and makes me want to get the speed up and running properly! Anyhow, I thought i would explain why there is only 1 beta tester at present. Since this is the first beta release, i decided to start off by only sending it to one person, but future beta releases will be expanded, culminating in an eventual public release. (hopefully soon) The current beta tester, who will remain unnamed, a while ago extremely kindly sent me some free cdrs, without which Boob!boy would never have existed. Therefore I would like to publicly thank him for his support!
Sunday, September 24, 2000
Updates... Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 23:26
Sorry about the lack of updates, but i have had a power cut and no telephone line for the last day or so! sadly, from now on, i am also very busy in the real world, but will still code whenever i get a chance... I've sent off a first beta of boobboy to a beta tester, and expect some feedback soon... only drawbacks are that i havent done the speed stuff i mentioned a while ago and sound isn't working. If i fix some of the problems, i may well release a version to the public soon... Remember to click refresh, since we are changing servers in the near future and you may end up viewing old news!
Friday, September 22, 2000
Boob!boy update... Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:08
A busy week, but i managed to do a bit of coding on and off:
Bad news: I spent a fair amount of time at the beginning of the week trying to find the problem that is causing the dreamcast to crash when sound is enabled... but still no luck! I'll get there eventually.
Good news: Although directinput has been previously working there were a lot of problems with it and in-game support was very buggy and temperamental... The directinput stuff has been redesigned and the following has been improved:- in the menus, i have added some timing sensitivity code so that, whereas previously you would move the keyboard/analog stick and the page number or game selected would move 10 pages/games or more and it would thus be quite an effort to select which game to play, i have now added in code and calibrated it to a suitable level so that the page or game selected will change at a suitable rate! In-game controller support has been re-done so that it is much more responsive... to do this, rather than using up my v.limited supply of cdrs, i added in code so that i could test the analogue stick support using my nintendo 64 controller on the pc, and when everything was thus working right, i tested it on the dreamcast! hence pc adaptoid support (www.wishtech.com if u dont know what this) has been added...
my next step is to get speed suitably adjusted so that it runs at the same speed as a real gameboy. sound will still be worked on but its not the sort of thing that one can persist at for long periods... itll be on and off bug finding!
Here are a couple of pics of some new games running in the emulator and there are 3 more in the screenshots page. I have also updated the progress page.
Austin Powers - Oh behave!
Gameboy Basic (just in case you don't trust my programming skills)
Thursday, September 21, 2000
snes9x port by tubooboo Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 13:33
tubooboo has begun work on the port of snes9x which is going to be incorporated into ngine... he has already got it to compile, but not link yet. you may be aware that sin is also working on a port of snes9x, called sintendo. These are seperate projects, and the race is now on, to see who will get snes games running on the dc first!
Tuesday, September 19, 2000
Time for a BIG announcement... Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 13:52
You might have wondered what one of the other original coders of boob has been up to... well here's what: A new emulation project is currently underway for your Dreamcast. Actually, it is a bit bigger than that. The project is called ngine, and is sort of a multiplatform environment for rendering 2D screens. It is easiest to be understood as taking DirectDraw one step further, as by providing rendering to target operating systems/platforms as opposed to different hardware on the same platform (like DirectDraw does for Windows). The system currently supports GFX, File I/O, Input, and Memory management functionality and is coded by tUbOobOo in C++. Current display / File / etc plugins are already available for Windows32, WindowsCE, WindowsCE for Dreamcast, and soon Linux. The first big project utilizing ngine will be a SNES9x port for the Dreamcast. Want to learn more / try ngine for your own development? You can visit the seperate ngine homepage for more information... We'll be updating here whenever significant progress is made.
MP3 player Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 10:27
The wraggster informed that a new version of the Mp3 player has been released... This is what is new in version 1.1:
Playlist/.m3u file support File browser(subdirs) Play/Stop/Next/Prev/Shuffle New gfx by Aeg2K, bigger fonts Noise/bitrate/samplerate bugs fixed
speed Posted by
CyRUS64 @ 0:41
thanks to a tip from Tubooboo (who is working hard on a project himself at the moment) i think i've solved all Dreamcast Speed issues. Sure enough, as soon as i changed all unsigned 16-bit integers with 32-bit ones, the pc version began to run at the same speed as the dc version previously was! i just hope that when i have time to test this on the dc, vice-versa will be true! (it will be) that means that from now on speed should not be an issue... as for the dreaded sound, the code is there but something is going on that the dc doesnt like much and causes it to crash still. i will hopefully get it sorted out soon. i said that there would be a prize for the 300,000th visitor but suspiciously 2 people have claimed it! Could both those people email me again with details of the isp used and the time at which they were apparently the 300,000th visitor?
