Xeon, xbox emulators

[Cobalt60]

Hello. Ive been a Mac person my whole life but I am actually selling my Mac and building a PC. Now, I play Halo for the xbox all the time, as well as on my Mac. Well, now that I will have a PC, and the xbox is similar to a PC, I was hoping to be able to run the xbox version of Halo on my PC, in the hopes that I can even network to an xbox and play a link game.

Now, can anyone tell me if this is possible yet? My PC will be a Pentium D 920 probably running at 3.2GHz or 3.6GHz. RAM will be 1GB, and I was planning on getting a Radeon X850, which is pretty powerful. However, I have heard that an nVidia card would be better since that is what the xbox actually uses.

So what I want to know is, is this yet possible? I am willing to go through quite the extreme to accomplish this. But I dont think I can go to so far an extreme as to actually help develop the program, Im not great at programming but I am very good at hardware hacking.

Any help greatly appreciated

Chris P

[RF]

Not even a chance, xbox emulators are not even close to such a state. Xeon can run Halo, but not fast or graphically complete. Your best bet is the pc version.

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[Vanit]

Even if there was an emulator that ran Halo perfectly, you would have trouble connecting to XBox Live and its my understanding that online play is one of the main reasons Halo did so well. So for that additional reason I'd take RF's advice on sticking to the pc version.

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[Cobalt60]

OK maybe I should have been more clear. I am going to use the PC version. I have no interest in xbox live. My only interest is directly connecting to other xboxs to play Halo. The PC version and the xbox version really are different games. I would like to hook my PC up to an xbox and play the xbox version of Halo with other people on multiple TVs (or monitor) at the same location. I have read some reviews that one of the 2 popular (only?) xbox emulators gave near xbox like performance in certain instances. The ONLY game I want to use is Halo, so Xeon would suffice. OK so I hope this cleared up exactly why I want an xbox emulator, just to play Halo on a LAN with xboxs. I would even be happy if it just recognized 4 USB controllers and gave playable frame rates (15fps?) during multiplayer.

So thanks again for any advice. Also would appreciate any input on how important using an nVidia card for this purpose is.

Chris P

Also should mention, Linux will be installed on my PC as well as whatever version of Windows. I dont know if that helps at all.

Chris

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Last edited by Cobalt60; September 2nd, 2006 at 13:19.. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

[JKKDARK]

You can't, Xeon hasn't LAN.

[Vanit]

I don't think Xeon has network support.

EDIT: Gah, Jkkd beat me to it :P.

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[deamonhunter]

about ur gfx card question i'd say wait if u can and get a dx10 card next year so u can play halo2 on vista perfectly but if u r in a hury take a nvidia 7xxx card or ati x1xx card the x850 is kinda old now (shader2 only)

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[refraction]

To be frank with you, XBox emulation isnt worth wasting minutes of your day on, the only available emulators run 1 game each, CXBX running Turok rather well, the other running Halo poorly, plus both emulators are not in active development as far as we can tell (neither author has provided an update in a couple of years) so id give up and use your real XBox

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[Vanit]

Atleast this guy didn't attempt to flash his XBox bios onto his PC :>.

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[Cobalt60]

I have to say that I am sort of surprised that a 733MHz Pentium 3 with 64MB system RAM is difficult to emulate. In my mind, the hardest thing to emulate would be the video card, but could probably be overcome by getting a similar video card. Well of course the xbox has a different BIOS and other components but I dont think they are such high speed components that emulation should slow them down a lot. Anyway, Im going to do a lot of research and see if I can get a group of people to work on another emulator. Any programmers here interested? Id be just as likely to try this through Linux as Windows.

[JKKDARK]

Then good luck

[Vanit]

Honestly, I don't think anyone would be interested in working under an unskilled project leader.

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[Cobalt60]

Why dont you try not being a jerk, and why dont you change your signature, its pretty annoying. I mean, the word noob gets passed around like it DOESNT mean someone thats new to something. If you dont want to be a constructive part of this conversation then dont post a reply, simple enough.

Did I ever say I want to be a project leader? No. Did I say I want to gather a lot of information and pass it on to people who can use it better than I can? Yes.

And you know nothing of how skilled I am. Just because I havent programmed an emulator before doesnt mean Im not skilled. I BTW have many articles online on modding Macs, and many consider me to be the leading expert in PowerPC G4 processors. I focus on hardware, but that doesnt mean I cant program. I am extremely skilled when it comes to hardware modifications, and hardware modifications can certainly be a useful part of this project.

[Vanit]

My signature used to offer assistance to 'newbie questions' through the private messaging system but it seemed all I got was bios requests so I changed it to that in hope it would discourage asking for the bios in the forums altogether.

The reason I was harsh to you is because we do see a lot of people come in and say, "I' though of this awesome project that does this. Who wants to make it for me?" My comment remains though, emulator authors don't listen to project ideas from people they don't know and more importantly aren't part of the scene already. If you have no proof you can pull your weight you'll be ignored (this isn't an invitation to show me).

I'm not telling you that it can't be done. But this is what you should expect.

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[industrian]

Originally Posted by Cobalt60

and why dont you change your signature, its pretty annoying.

And alas, another crybaby joins the forums.

If you want to play Halo on your PC, buy the PC version. Bottom line, enough said, move on, here's a soda.

Originally Posted by Cobalt60

And you know nothing of how skilled I am. Just because I havent programmed an emulator before doesnt mean Im not skilled. I BTW have many articles online on modding Macs, and many consider me to be the leading expert in PowerPC G4 processors. I focus on hardware, but that doesnt mean I cant program. I am extremely skilled when it comes to hardware modifications, and hardware modifications can certainly be a useful part of this project.

Since you've used the "but the <console to be emulated> is only <list of specs for said console> so why is it hard to emulate?" argument in this thread twice, I believe that automatically adds you to the "stupid n00b" list.

But good luck with your research anyways. I'm sure you'll do well. Just like this guy.

[Proto]

Despite him being a little naive about the correlation between a console architecture and the difficulty to build an emulator of it on another architecture (which isn't really a different thing, but that's another matter...), the attitude many of the board's veterans have toward the new ones is starting to get on my nerves... I'm not pointing fingers, so if you feel this doesn't fit you just ignore this comment, but can't you people have a minimal standard of courtesy towards people that commit the "oh so great sin" of not knowing as much as you about the matter at hand :/

PS: We are in the wrong section BTW

[Paratech]

Originally Posted by Cobalt60

Why dont you try not being a jerk, and why dont you change your signature, its pretty annoying. I mean, the word noob gets passed around like it DOESNT mean someone thats new to something. If you dont want to be a constructive part of this conversation then dont post a reply, simple enough.

Did I ever say I want to be a project leader? No. Did I say I want to gather a lot of information and pass it on to people who can use it better than I can? Yes.

And you know nothing of how skilled I am. Just because I havent programmed an emulator before doesnt mean Im not skilled. I BTW have many articles online on modding Macs, and many consider me to be the leading expert in PowerPC G4 processors. I focus on hardware, but that doesnt mean I cant program. I am extremely skilled when it comes to hardware modifications, and hardware modifications can certainly be a useful part of this project.

Well apparently you suck at math, or don't understand emulation too well, Dreamcast emulators require around 2-3GHZ to work, the Dreamcast only used a 200mhz processor, it takes an average of 10 clock cycles to emulate 1 clock cycle of an emulated system, and that doesn't include much more than the core system.

Look at the games in MAME like NFL Blitz, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, they require upwards of 10GHZ to run, now go to www.system16.com and look at the hardware that runs NFL Blitz, it isn't near 750 mhz....

I'd suggest learning a bit about emulation and system specs before saying a 750mhz system can be emulated on current PCs, maybe if it were hacked and simulated like Nintendo 64 "emulation" and heck even Nintendo 64 emulation can require a beefy system, and it wasn't very powerful either, and it's "emulation" isn't even true emulation, not yet...

BTW, an XBOX can be had in the states at Electronics Boutique for around $109.99 plus tax for a used one with a 1 year warranty. I'd suggest buying one because true emulation of it won't happen for a long time...

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[Cobalt60]

Para, your explanation is superficial at best. The Dreamcast could be a totally different architecture and processor and that is why it takes 10 cycles to emulate it, yet you didnt even mention such an important aspect. An xbox emulator would in fact not need to emulate the processor because PCs already use the same architecture. And inded, the GPU could even be not emulated. What needs to be emulated is the BIOS and other components specific to the xbox. And I admit I dont know a lot about xbox hardware, but I do know that in an emulator the hardest things to emulate would be the CPU and the GPU as they are the most advanced part of a systems hardware.

So that being said I think people here need to realize how the Linux world works. Software has open source code, meaning anyone can work on it. And if someone makes it better, that enhancements are incorporated into the official version of the software. There is no moaning about project leaders and worrying about people pulling their weight. People do what they do and superb software is the result.

So my advice to all of you people scolding me is that you are simply hindering such a process. I simply am offering what I can do. I can take an xbox apart and figure out every single component on the board. In fact, all these components can be installed on a PCI card and right there you have a hardware solution where no emulation is needed. But my point is, you people are too concerned about getting credit for stuff and not concerned enough about actually getting stuff done.

And Industrian, man you really need to re think your ways or something. I am a noob to xbox emulation, and this forum is my first attempt at trying it. Your response really saddens me. You told me to use the PC version bottom line, even though I already said that is what I am going to use. But I cant bring my PC over my friends house and play against his xbox, unless my PC could emulate an xbox. I think youre missing my goal entirely.

So I will tell you the bottom line. What I want to do is entirely possible. And when you can install a PPC emulator on an xbox and run Mac OS X, then you can certainly make a PC run xbox games.

Chris P

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Last edited by Cobalt60; September 3rd, 2006 at 09:40.. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

[refraction]

i have to agree with you to some extent, the scolding is going a bit over the top, we dont know how good at programming you are and its nice you want to help the community.

But (this is what i need you to realise), Xbox emulation is not really a very good place to start your life in emulation, its not as easy as you might imagine, plus without the right documentation and knowledge into the system it will be very difficult for you to do, id suggest you mess around making some lower end emulators first and then consider looking into it.

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[industrian]

Well seeing how you came across as a noob, then flamed a member here, I think the "scolding" was kinda warranted.

My "play Halo on the PC" comment really was a stock one. I wasn't telling you (expressly) to use the PC one, I was making it clear to any other user/guest that happens to stumble on the post in the future that if they want to play Halo on the PC, their best bet is the PC version.

Originally Posted by Cobalt60

So I will tell you the bottom line. What I want to do is entirely possible. And when you can install a PPC emulator on an xbox and run Mac OS X, then you can certainly make a PC run xbox games.

And as I said before, good luck with your research.