n64???????

[emuguy!!]

is there an emu available that lets u play n64 roms on the dreamcast? if so where can i get it and if not. WHY? Maybe someone cud start to work on one ife there isnt already one

[M.I.K.e7]

Originally posted by emuguy!!
is there an emu available that lets u play n64 roms on the dreamcast? if so where can i get it and if not. WHY? Maybe someone cud start to work on one ife there isnt already one

First of all, the Dreamcast isn't fast enough to emulate the N64.

And secondly, the DC has 16MB RAM into which you'd have to fit: the emulator, 4MB RAM of the N64, the ROM, where the smallest commercial game has 8MB I think, and you'll also need a lot of RAM for the translated code when you use a dynamic recompiler, and you'll need one to get more than just a slow-motion emulation.

Add that up: and you'll only have 4MB RAM for the emulator and the translation cache, which isn't much, not to mention that you can rule out all games with a ROM size of over 8MB.

It just isn't worth it.

[emuguy!!]

damn. what emulators are there available for the dreamcast then? do u know any sites with them on?

[M.I.K.e7]

Try these:
http://www.dcemulation.com/
http://www.dcvision.com/

[D.D.]

I think there are good genesis and snes emus on DC

[JuniorCRB]

and GBC, SMS, and NES . and divx and mp3 players.

[CyRUS64]

M.I.K.e7, if you are going to be described as 'Emulation expert', you must surely know how unbelievably lame dcemulation.com is! Come on, they've posted warez, html tags, tons of fake emus for hits etc... and they rarely credit sites such as mine or dcvision, and rarely get the news for themselves in the first place.
It was founded by a lamer, 007cheater, who doesnt even do anything for the site, but still makes lots of money from the popups and adverts...

[M.I.K.e7]

@CyRUS64:

I got the title "Emulation expert" simply through my number of posts, but most of these were actually quite on topic, so I hope I could be counted as one.

I have to admit that I haven't paid a visit to DCemulation for a very long time, but at the time I was slightly interested in that topic it was one of the best pages. I agree that they had some fakes, like the announced N64 emulator, when it is quite obvious that the DC hasn't enough RAM for a decent N64 emulation, not to mention the speed.

I didn't know about DCvision until you mentioned it recently in one of your postings. I didn't have enough time to look through it properly to be sure if it has everything that DCemulation has, but if that's the case I'll drop mentioning DCemulation alltogether.

Of course I know Boob! and I've come across it several times when I researched the DC hardware (I think that was even before I had a DC), nice site indeed.

BTW, I think I got a mail from someone with an @boob.co.uk account to my @dynarec.com address, saying that he liked the Dynarec site. Unfortunately I was so crowded with work at that time that I couldn't reply, and later I simply forgot it... Did you send that mail?

[Acidistortion]

damn thats to bad in alot of way dreamcast reminds me of the 64 almost has the same controller look and feel but oh well theres allways xbox >=)

[lunitunez]

hey guys im lost here, im no expert when it comes to programming but how is a psx emu possible on dc (bleemcast) but yet a n64 is not?

[Kane]

Because the N64 is much more powerful than the PSX. The CPU is 4 times the speed. Thus a more powerful machine is needed to emulate it.

[JuniorCRB]

not to mention the format the playstation load its data via cd much like the dreamcast while the n64 relies on a cartrige that has a response time of nanoseconds, meaning that to be emulated it has to be loaded in to ram.

[M.I.K.e7]

Originally posted by lunitunez
hey guys im lost here, im no expert when it comes to programming but how is a psx emu possible on dc (bleemcast) but yet a n64 is not?

First of all speed:
PSX has a 33.8MHz R3000A (32-bit, no FPU) while the N64 has a 93.75 MHz R4300i (64-bit, with FPU), while the DC has a 200MHz SH-4.

And secondly, as I wrote above, memory is an issue:
The PSX has 2MB RAM, 1MB VRAM, and 512K sound buffer, so of the 16MB RAM of the DC over 12MB can be used for the emulator, especially the translation cache of the dynarec.

The N64 has 4MB unified memory, so you also have 12MB left after you reserved space for the N64 RAM, but unlike the PSX the N64 doesn't get game data from CD-ROMs but from a ROM cartridge which has to be held in memory for the whole time to get a decent speed.
Even a small game like Mario64 has a 8MB ROM, so you have only 4MB left for the emulator and the translation cache, which isn't much but it could work, although it will be too slow (see above).
But if you won't be able to even use any larger games because they simply don't fit into the DC's RAM! Eg. Zelda has a 32MB ROM, which is twice as much as the RAM of the DC.

Resume: It just isn't worth it to make a N64 because it will be too slow and because any game with a ROM larger than 8MB is impossible to emulate anyway.

[Syed Fawad]

What about N64 on PS2.

[M.I.K.e7]

Originally posted by Syed Fawad
What about N64 on PS2.

Sounds more reasonable, but something of the size of Zelda is still impossible because the PS2 has 32MB RAM.
Even the Xbox with 64MB unified RAM couldn't play all games because Conker's BFD has a 64MB ROM IIRC.

Originally posted by M.I.K.e7


Sounds more reasonable, but something of the size of Zelda is still impossible because the PS2 has 32MB RAM.
Even the Xbox with 64MB unified RAM couldn't play all games because Conker's BFD has a 64MB ROM IIRC.

but xbox has a HD and could use vitual memory, like they did with neoragex if you had a low amount of ram.

[Syed Fawad]

I don't get it. I mean I know that i am a complete noob when it comes to hardwares but IIRC most of the PS1 games are larger than 32Mb. Or I am thinking the wrong thing?

Originally posted by Syed Fawad
I don't get it. I mean I know that i am a complete noob when it comes to hardwares but IIRC most of the PS1 games are larger than 32Mb. Or I am thinking the wrong thing?

no, but the big difference is they're loaded of cd.
For example, PSX savestates are memory dumps from the PSX. They contain everything that's loaded into memory at that moment. In some cases thats the whole game (ridge racer) but in most cases only one level. If the level is finished, the PSX loads a new part from CD into memory. That's why it can handle large games.
The problem with a N64 emu is that the entire game has to fit in memory at once (you cant load one part, then another), and that usually doesnt fit.

[Syed Fawad]

Oh, now I get it. Thanks for the info.

[M.I.K.e7]

Originally posted by Samor

but xbox has a HD and could use vitual memory, like they did with neoragex if you had a low amount of ram.

Oops, I forgot about the harddisk in the Xbox...
In theory you are right, but it still might be a performance problem when you have to swap certain parts of the ROM or the translation cache.