DaedalusDC released - N64 Emulator for the Dreamcast (2 Versions)

[wraggster]

A coder by the name of Simpson474 has ported the Nintendo64 Emulator to the Dreamcast, he has infact released 2 versions of the Emulator, heres the info in full:

http://www.youtube.com/v/1eEUmZtRFME

DIGG THIS

http://digg.com/gaming_news/DaedalusDC_N64_Emu_for_the_Dreamcast


Daedalus for Dreamcast
I have ported two versions of Daedalus to the Dreamcast, mainly to see how the performance would be. Both versions only use the interpreter core of emulator and neither version has support for sound or saving. Both speed and graphics are far from being playable, and I can’t imagine that a N64 emulator can ever run at 25+ FPS on the Dreamcast. This emulator is not completely without optimization, the graphics plug-in for example uses the TA directly to get the maximum speed. However, the CPU core is completely free of optimizations and there is no DynaRec available. It would be a lot of work to implement a working DynaRec core for the Dreamcast and there would be only little RAM left to be used for the DynaRec.

Compiling the emulator
I used gcc 3.4.6 and KOS 1.3.0 for compiling the emulator. The Non-PSP-Version has a makefile made by me (which is not very good) and for the PSP-Version a modified version of the original makefile is used. There are no project files for an IDE included.

Using the emulator
Both emulators are available as scrambled 1st_read.bin and DaedalusDC.elf file. The scrambled file is intended to be burned to a disc (not tested) and the DaedalusDC.elf file can be used with dc-tool and a serial programmer cable. There is no real user interface; the emulator only scans the root directory of the inserted disc. The ROM filenames should have no spaces in them and I recommend using short filenames for the ROMs.

Non-PSP-Version
This is the faster of both versions, but has more limitations. This version only supports ROMs that match into the RAM of the Dreamcast. There are 16 MB RAM available on the Dreamcast. 4 MB are used for storing the N64 RAM. Up to 8 MB are used to store the N64 ROM and the remaining RAM is used for the emulator. The only game that goes ingame with this version seems to be Super Mario 64.

PSP-Version R8
This version gets rid of the 8 MB ROM limitation, but therefore it is even slower than the older version. There are some games that go ingame (Mariokart, Zelda – Ocarina of Time, Rugrats in Paris – The Movie), but there are a lot of graphic glitches. In Zelda – Ocarina of Time for example you only see parts of the GUI ingame after ages of loading.

Further Development
Because I’m sure that this emulator will never run playable, I won’t continue the development. This was just a test for me to see, how the SH4 would perform emulating the N64. I ported the emulator nearly one year ago (as you can see from the PSP-Version R8, currently there is PSP-Version R13 out) and since then I have not worked on this port. Some days ago I found my video that I have captured after the development and thought I could upload it on Youtube. I did not think that someone would be interested in perhaps the slowest emulator on earth.


Download and Give Feedback and Compatability Reports Via Comments

[PSPdemon]

Daedalus for Dreamcast

I have ported two versions of Daedalus to the Dreamcast, mainly to see how the performance
would be. Both versions only use the interpreter core of emulator and neither version has
support for sound or saving. Both speed and graphics are far from being playable, and I can’t
imagine that a N64 emulator can ever run at 25+ FPS on the Dreamcast. This emulator is not
completely without optimization, the graphics plug-in for example uses the TA directly to get
the maximum speed. However, the CPU core is completely free of optimizations and there is
no DynaRec available. It would be a lot of work to implement a working DynaRec core for
the Dreamcast and there would be only little RAM left to be used for the DynaRec.

Compiling the emulator

I used gcc 3.4.6 and KOS 1.3.0 for compiling the emulator. The Non-PSP-Version has a
makefile made by me (which is not very good) and for the PSP-Version a modified version of
the original makefile is used. There are no project files for an IDE included.

Using the emulator

Both emulators are available as scrambled 1st_read.bin and DaedalusDC.elf file. The
scrambled file is intended to be burned to a disc (not tested) and the DaedalusDC.elf file can
be used with dc-tool and a serial programmer cable.

There is no real user interface; the emulator only scans the root directory of the inserted disc.
The ROM filenames should have no spaces in them and I recommend using short filenames
for the ROMs.

Non-PSP-Version

This is the faster of both versions, but has more limitations. This version only supports ROMs
that match into the RAM of the Dreamcast. There are 16 MB RAM available on the
Dreamcast. 4 MB are used for storing the N64 RAM. Up to 8 MB are used to store the N64
ROM and the remaining RAM is used for the emulator. The only game that goes ingame with
this version seems to be Super Mario 64.

PSP-Version R8

This version gets rid of the 8 MB ROM limitation, but therefore it is even slower than the
older version. There are some games that go ingame (Mariokart, Zelda – Ocarina of Time,
Rugrats in Paris – The Movie), but there are a lot of graphic glitches. In Zelda – Ocarina of
Time for example you only see parts of the GUI ingame after ages of loading.

Further Development

Because I’m sure that this emulator will never run playable, I won’t continue the
development. This was just a test for me to see, how the SH4 would perform emulating the
N64. I ported the emulator nearly one year ago (as you can see from the PSP-Version R8,
currently there is PSP-Version R13 out) and since then I have not worked on this port. Some
days ago I found my video that I have captured after the development and thought I could
upload it on Youtube. I did not think that someone would be interested in perhaps the slowest
emulator on earth.

[wraggster]

cheers

[Cap'n 1time]

It doesn't support saving yet he has 63 stars?

[Anonymous D]

maybe it can load saves but not make them

[Maturion]

I have loaded up a mirror for DaedalusDC.

http://www.maturion.de/dreamcast/DaedalusDC.rar

[Elven6]

Nice, this is like a dream come true for all DC fans! I doubt him saying it will never reach above 25 frames, if he optimizes it properly their is no reason we can't get this thing working, if Chui takes a look at it mabye he could port over that on the fly loading thing that he did with the Neo Geo emulator. If the source code for this is released that is.

[SnoopKatt]

Great, it's a huge improvement over that one that would only load the stars demo.

[ron]

I knew it was a great deal !!!!

Thx

[Hawq]

Nice, there's another mirror at EmuHQ (http://www.emuhq.com/idx/63/5157/VisualBoyAdvance-Section/article/DaedalusDC.html) for it now also.

[Christuserloeser]

Great release; I can't wait to see Mario 64 running on my Dreamcast :D

BTW, here are some interesting thoughts by Rand Linden and Ex-Cyber on emulating the N64 on Dreamcast:
http://dcemulation.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=984948#p984948

[ron]

yes, is already proven, i shouldnt know to tell you exactly how many FPS, but this is important.

Not a single glitch or failure figure, the truth is that a single pass see as moves DC. I firmly believe that the core could be made suitable authentic wonders.

Constant in the movement, calculating eye that might be about 8 FPS / 7. Much more than we could imagine drawing and moving graphics with such purity, is laudable.

Only a little flaw windows where there are texts, for the moment I just tried mario redirecting from dctool GUI with an iso from the BBA.

We talk ...., at first instance the work is great !!!!

[Elven6]

Hey wraggster can you make a compatbility thread like their is for the PSP Dadelus emulator? Theres no denying some is going to pick this up and work on it, alot of the work is practically done on it already, just needs optimizing, save support, a Gui, and a caching technique.

[ron]

I have been taking a look on the source. The makefliles are weird for me, should be OK to generate a new make to probe with our toolchains.

Tomorrow I'll make a tryout in order to know if I'm able to recompile. This one promises a lot, in the right hands can be an awesome emulator

[Elven6]

Ron if you get this think working optomized, etc you will be my hero!

[ron]

Maybe a question of time. As soon as possible i'll talk to GPF, Fox68K and Chui , let's see what can we do with it.

Also should be interesting if people like Quzar, BlueCrab, BlackAura, Fackue, etc... and many others can take a look on it and give us an opinion at the respect, this is only the first step

Regards

[Dull Blade]

this is very much a dream come true, some advancement in n64 emulation on the DC. I remember when we were dawning on neogeo, ase, and even as far back as dreamsnes. Its very nice to see some decent movement in the DC homebrew scene again. Great thanks to those who have made this port possible and to those who may optimize it.

[arqueiro]

wonderfull cant wait to see you guys trying to improve this emulator!

[Eviltaco64]

It would be amazing to get Mario 64 running fullspeed w/sound. I mean, it already looks great (except marios face is missing some textures). But it looks great and with some more optimization, you could get it running at maybe 20 FPS

[Maturion]

Wow, the DCNews forum has 48 guys in it now. Before this emu was released it had only about 20 person viewing the news in this forum. ;)

[Duobix]

If N64 emulation is possible on DC by ported Daedalus, which was dedicated for psp firstly, why don't interest in porting it for ps2? Personaly I don't want the DC to "die" again ;), but It would be better for ps2 due to ps2 power and more amount of buttons, it's like I cannot imagine Banjo-Kazooie played without enough buttons :( .

[Dull Blade]

I will doupt you will ever be faced with task of playing banjo-kazooie on the DC via n64 emu. As of right now, you cant load any roms bigger than 8mb, due to ram limitations. As for trying to get a ps2 port in the move, you might be asking in the wrong place, all these guys are DC enthusiasts. If you really want a fullspeed n64 emulator on a console you should consider investing in an xbox, they' ve got it nailed pretty accuratly.

[JKKDARK]

If N64 emulation is possible on DC by ported Daedalus, which was dedicated for psp firstly, why don't interest in porting it for ps2? Personaly I don't want the DC to "die" again ;), but It would be better for ps2 due to ps2 power and more amount of buttons, it's like I cannot imagine Banjo-Kazooie played without enough buttons :( .
Sadly the PlayStation 2 is not popular with homebrew stuff, and very few coders.

[Eviltaco64]

Sadly the PlayStation 2 is not popular with homebrew stuff, and very few coders.

It's all true. Maybe one day, there will be a console that has the best games and the best homebrew.
But PS2 could probably handle Mario 64 and Mario Kart.

[Elven6]

Actually Dadelus or how ever you spell it was a PC emulator first. And in some aspects compared to the PS2, the DC is more powerfull and vice versa.

[Cast128dreams]

but It would be better for ps2 due to ps2 power and more amount of buttons, it's like I cannot imagine Banjo-Kazooie played without enough buttons :( .


So if thats true coders should start porting games for the ATARI JAGUAR.Jaguar's controler is full of buttons.Like a TV remote.
Dont tell me that the coders cant PORT games because of the controls butons.

There is something more to consider and this is the system power.

[Masta-G]

I think you're all placing your hopes too high..
The developer who ported it to the dreamcast said it will never reach playable speeds.
And there is nobody who claimed to continue working at it since its one hell of a task to get it anywhere near reasonable speed.

[ron]

Simpson474 has released the source code, the most important thing actually.

With dedication and some time , may be in a close future some advances, it's just a question of time.

Regards

[Dull Blade]

I think you're all placing your hopes too high..
The developer who ported it to the dreamcast said it will never reach playable speeds.
And there is nobody who claimed to continue working at it since its one hell of a task to get it anywhere near reasonable speed.

well the source has only been released a few days, so I wouldnt say that yet... if you would of went back 6 or 7 odd years and told people you will beable to play neo geo CD and ASE at full speed on the DC they probably would of laughed at you, but it happened. same with GBA on the psp. The point is, you dont know that it will never reach a playable speed. There could be some major updates and optimizations. from what I can tell, the developer hasnt really spent tones of time on this like how chui / all the other coders did with there releases.

[Guaripolo]

in older times there was a lot of good coders that can make magic with the hands, that was the time of neoragex, psemupro, neoragex, callus, etc. Never say never in emulation, a good coder can shut your mouth and make you c*** your pants (like bleemcast did). Remember, until daedalus was released, the idea was that "dreamcast haven´t the power to make a n64 game run", today 1 game run, without glitches, and with no recompiler, and only graphic optimizations. I remember (in pentium times) that if a PC could run a NEOGEO emu at fullspeed, it could run a N64 emu at decent speed...well of course we are talking about different architectures...

[SnoopKatt]

It could go faster and become a little better, but it's still extremely limited. I would be amazed if Super Mario 64 could reach a playable speed.

[Guaripolo]

It could go faster and become a little better, but it's still extremely limited. I would be amazed if Super Mario 64 could reach a playable speed.

i played SM64 at that speed in my old computer...until corn appears...

[hatespawn]

the source is in the rar
so..some one optimize it?
it is said IT CAN'T LOAD Save games..
watch the video over again,then do it again..
he has 63 Stars From the start
did he lie? or is it a fake with frame limits?
emulated on a old 200 mhz pc?
what one?
by the way a old 150 mhz pc with a voodoo 1,2,3 video card and a sound blaster<any ver> with win98/95 can run n64 FLAWLESSLY!...
try and remove the GLIDE driver for quake 3? and use it in the emulator?

just questions..and pointing out a 200mhz dreamcast SOULD with NO problem run n64,if a 150 mhz pc can..


Shets N Gigglez
HateSpawn

Corn..HA i LOVED that Emulator!


in older times there was a lot of good coders that can make magic with the hands, that was the time of neoragex, psemupro, neoragex, callus, etc. Never say never in emulation, a good coder can shut your mouth and make you c*** your pants (like bleemcast did). Remember, until daedalus was released, the idea was that "dreamcast haven´t the power to make a n64 game run", today 1 game run, without glitches, and with no recompiler, and only graphic optimizations. I remember (in pentium times) that if a PC could run a NEOGEO emu at fullspeed, it could run a N64 emu at decent speed...well of course we are talking about different architectures...

that word means nothing today.
macs running xp,xp hell even win98 running macs.
:rofl:
over a weekend a guy made the worlds 1st NEOGEO hack..the BIOS had a Freaking GameShark System Built in..NOT only That The FucER Made it english,jap,Ero selectable..u guys may know it by now,some other guy got it and puts it in REAL neo Geos..Its Call UNI-Bios now:rofl:
Back in 1995/96 could have been 97<damn pot> i was "DeadMouse" in a irc chanel "#Emu" on undernet,I Said it would be posable to emulate a n64 on a p75<pentium 75mhz> and was laughed at then ban from the channel,fogel unbaned me and a week later 4 n64 emulators hit the scene..then came CORN! Emulating MARIO 64 FULL SPPED/Sound/Save on a p75!:thumbup: i see no reason this will "never be full speed"
ya just need a bord mother focER and a weekend:rofl:

:eek:
Speaking Of Towitch..WTF Is with the saturn.
USE the GLIDE Emulator For quake 1 For the Saturn For MASSIVE Speed Enhancments for ALL the Emus For Saturn..Like snes,gb,sms,genesis...
I Mean Look At the 3do..Yeah..I Said 3do Damnit
with it woping 8 to 12 mhz!!!running PO'ed
Now..the Saturn..
2 Hitachi 28.6MHz
Now Picture it Running snes with GLIDE:rofl:
:eek:
am i and my dreamcast the only ones "thinking"?:thumbup:

Ahh hell while i am ranting on..
MAKE A gb/gbc/GBA Emulator With...
A USB Camera Plugin..
A USB PRINTER plugin..
Also....
USE Zsnes with A Essential Reality P5 3D Game Controller Virtual Glove as A Mouse
or a nes power Glove

Or A PowerGlove PC mouse Hack

Hell..use SEGA MasterSystems 3d Glasses For the PC with a hack
its all out there on that interweb thingy

[fackue]

I think you have an ego problem.

[Guaripolo]

yay i agree with this guy!!!

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yaeh yearrrrr!!!


PD: anyone has tried another game in the emu???

[VampDude]

Sadly the PlayStation 2 is not popular with homebrew stuff, and very few coders.

PS2 is my main homebrew console, and the Dreamcast is my 2nd...

...The PS2 would prove quite popular on the homebrew scene if there were the coders.

[hatespawn]

:eek:
Speaking Of Towitch..WTF Is with the saturn.
USE the GLIDE Emulator For quake 1 For the Saturn For MASSIVE Speed Enhancments for ALL the Emus For Saturn..Like snes,gb,sms,genesis...

<1.Glide on dc or saturn would be faster,easing up on video memory,**** a 4 meg 3dfx banshee ran n64 emu at n64 speed on a 150mhz and p75,load 4megs of vid mem on the dc for the glide driver leaving what..16 - 4 =12 mb to play with>


I Mean Look At the 3do..Yeah..I Said 3do Damnit
with it woping 8 to 12 mhz!!!running PO'ed
Now..the Saturn..
2 Hitachi 28.6MHz
Now Picture it Running snes with GLIDE:rofl:
:eek:
am i and my dreamcast the only ones "thinking"?:thumbup:

<2.SELF explanatary>

Ahh hell while i am ranting on..
MAKE A gb/gbc/GBA Emulator With...
A USB Camera Plugin..
A USB PRINTER plugin..
Also....

<3.TELL me that wouldint be cool!>


USE Zsnes with A Essential Reality P5 3D Game Controller Virtual Glove as A Mouse
or a nes power Glove
Or A PowerGlove PC mouse Hack<this hack has been done and works>

<4.TELL me that wouldint be cool!>


Hell..use SEGA MasterSystems 3d Glasses For the PC with a hack
its all out there on that interweb thingy[/QUOTE]
<5.u can use a sega mastersystem 3d glasses on a pc..with ANY card..forgot and lost the links tho,look it up in google>
..
As far as an ego problem,there is none,i been into emulation since the 1st calaculator emulator,i remember when Gameboy roms were only found on FINLAND Bbs Systems<man my internash bill was 1300.00 and alls i got was 113 gameboy roms>
i saw things in the video to conterdic what was said about saving a game,HE has 63 stars when it loads.
alls i was doing was sharing and tossing a few "suttle hints" out there.thats all:)

[Guaripolo]

Yay no disco for you!

[hatespawn]

Yay no disco for you!

:confused:what:confused:

[Guaripolo]

I think glide it´s made by Smitty Werber Man Jensen...

[Masta-G]

Well he has a point about UltraHLE and Corn though...
They worked flawless back when I had my PII 200MHz and Voodoo Rush card. I only had 32megs of ram and I was running Windows 98SE:P

So I think N64 emulation could do a little better on the dreamcast, maybe using HLE or something.

[Guaripolo]

Well he has a point about UltraHLE and Corn though...
They worked flawless back when I had my PII 200MHz and Voodoo Rush card. I only had 32megs of ram and I was running Windows 98SE:P

So I think N64 emulation could do a little better on the dreamcast, maybe using HLE or something.

Yes, but you had 32 mb of ram plus the pagefile, so in theory there´s unlimited memory for a PC. In DC you can´t use a pagination system (well you can, look at aes4all, but it´s more difficult).
I also think that with a good recompiler and some optimizations a n64 emu on DC could run at fullspeed, but this are only words, we need a hero here!!!!
PLEASE TOM CRUISE HELP US WITH YOUR INFINITE POWERRRR!!!!!!!!!

[hatespawn]

Yes, but you had 32 mb of ram plus the pagefile, so in theory there´s unlimited memory for a PC. In DC you can´t use a pagination system (well you can, look at aes4all, but it´s more difficult).
I also think that with a good recompiler and some optimizations a n64 emu on DC could run at fullspeed, but this are only words, we need a hero here!!!!
PLEASE TOM CRUISE HELP US WITH YOUR INFINITE POWERRRR!!!!!!!!!

i tryed it on a p75 voodoo 1,NO SWAP FILE<Wtf pagefile,its a swapfile damnit>win98 32 megs ram
FLAWLESS n64 emulation with 1964/corn

[hatespawn]

i'd try 16 megs ram if anyone has one i could use

[Christuserloeser]

UltraHLE uses a completely different approach at emulating the N64...

I remember that I've read about that a long time ago at DCEmulation.com...

[unholydoragon]

any new info yet?

[kohan69]

Saving and mono sound could be implemented.

Some optimizatio could be done to reach 15-20 fps

a lot of devs are surprised by how much optimizing files on a cd structure could help

then, the roms themselves must be modified, i'm sorry but it's true.

Grass in mario64? just one lowres green texture, etc

also, some roms could be split to pass 8mb limit

so you'd have one rom for first half of game, another rom for second.

then it will be playable.

[fackue]

This might be interesting to see this progress but who is actually capable of continuing this?

It might be worth doing some serious research on.

[reliantkcar]

where is the download link i wanna try this

oh by the way my xbox runs n64 great and believe it or not the Dreamcast has a more powerfull cpu than the xbox (celereon 733 .9 gflops vs. DC hitachi SH-4 1.4 gflops)

and faster ram than ps2 (800 mbs vs. 600mbs)

so i don't see why it's not possible.....

[аlex]

where is the download link i wanna try this

2147507190

[DCBR]

Hey guys,

do you think it would be possible to improve this emulator nowadays with the technology of the SD card?
In my opinion If the emulator was adapted to running with DreamShell and load the games on the SD Card the performance would be better!

[zagal]

Hey guys,do you think it would be possible to improve this emulator nowadays with the technology of the SD card? In my opinion If the emulator was adapted to running with DreamShell and load the games on the SD Card the performance would be better!With hacks is posible that works on SD-Card and delete the ram limitations. After this, the most difficult is optimize, and use dynarec for best performance. This best that reply a guru of DC.