ISO Loader 0.6.x Beta

[pcwzrd13]

Tested the rest of the games.

These work:

Razor Freestyle Scooter - Music works perfectly!
Sega Smash Pack - All games work with music except Virtua Cop 2 (it's a Windows CE game which won't work with this loader).
Star Wars: Demolition - Music works perfectly!
Striker Pro 2000 - There's no music in this game but I believe the commentary and crowd sounds are CDDA which work fine.

These don't:

PenPen TriIcelon - Freezes at first load screen.
Reel Fishing Wild - Freezes after intro cutscene.
Roadsters - Freezes on first loading screen.
South Park Rally - Freezes on first loading screen.
Spec Ops II - Black screen before mission starts.
Stunt GP - Music crackles and skips.
TrickStyle - Freezes at Acclaim logo.

I only tried mostly default settings with and without DMA so I'll have to try more extensive testing later.

[SWAT]

(11.11.2020 15:51)dragoncity писал(а):  I use RetroDream I prefer the interface and for testing it's very fast.

If you can make several loaders if there are options it would be great!

There are too many options and there will probably be more soon.
And after the release of 0.8.x, RetroDreams may also need to be updated
Although I try to maintain backward compatibility to the last.
I really hope that I will finish in the near future all the most important things that are stuck for last 4 years
I have already received some good results with IRQ, that hinting at the possibility of 0.8.x (the rest 0.6.x will not be needed).
I just need to finish what is already obvious. Hopefully.

(11.11.2020 19:34)dragoncity писал(а):  SWAT > Can you add WinCE games in your last loader ?

Didn't turn it off on purpose, the support is broken.

(11.11.2020 20:28)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  Quake III Arena - Music working perfectly!

It did not work perfectly for me, periodically the playback out of sync a little, but it fixes itself or you can fix it by pressing pause.

(11.11.2020 21:03)fafadou писал(а):  I try to understand, there are 4 CDDA modes ?
Is it possible to switch, or it depends only of the loader choice ?

Yes you can switch.

[pcwzrd13]

@SWAT Yes, I see what you mean about Quake III Arena now. Just played 1.5 hours of online matches and noticed the music does get distorted sometimes. Also noticed on one map the music would randomly stop or switch from stereo to mono depending on where you were on the map. lol Overall it wasn't terrible though. At least it works and doesn't cause the game to freeze or anything.

[SWAT]

(12.11.2020 07:24)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  @SWAT Yes, I see what you mean about Quake III Arena now. Just played 1.5 hours of online matches and noticed the music does get distorted sometimes. Also noticed on one map the music would randomly stop or switch from stereo to mono depending on where you were on the map. lol Overall it wasn't terrible though. At least it works and doesn't cause the game to freeze or anything.

The game trying use the same audio channels there used by loader.
Similar behavior is found in Xtreme Sports and a number of other games.
This issue has always been there, I have not tried to do anything more with it, since the time I came up with CDDA emulation at all.

[fafadou]

(12.11.2020 05:06)SWAT писал(а):  Although I try to maintain backward compatibility to the last.

For me, compatibility is not very important, no problem for udpating the DS folder if it needs

(12.11.2020 05:06)SWAT писал(а):  I really hope that I will finish in the near future all the most important things that are stuck for last 4 years
I have already received some good results with IRQ, that hinting at the possibility of 0.8.x (the rest 0.6.x will not be needed).
I just need to finish what is already obvious. Hopefully.

What a wonderfull teaser here, I never imagined, you may push on 0.8.x loader version if you could
I don't know if it's a cdda implement to 0.7.x or a new loader, but I'll see when the time will comes
Don't hesitate to release other 0.6.x and more loaders if we can test some things in order to help.

I'm really grateful you still take time, to explain. Many thanks again.

[SWAT]

(12.11.2020 12:58)fafadou писал(а):  What a wonderfull teaser here, I never imagined, you may push on 0.8.x loader version if you could
I don't know if it's a cdda implement to 0.7.x or a new loader, but I'll see when the time will comes

No, I can't add something like that in 0.7.x. In general, nothing can be added to 0.7.x.
This is a special loader for running the most problematic games, everything else should run on 0.8+ (direct descendant of 0.6), because it is not afraid of fragmented images and may have additional functionality. And maybe someday 0.7.x may not be needed at all

[fafadou]

I'm very pleased to see you so optimistic, you must have a lot of ways to go on and it's a fantastic new
What could we expect at :
CDDA with all games and hombrews ?
No only ide hdd, but CF and ssd for visual concept games too ?
True gd rom speed option, for resident evil code veronica tiger issue and skies of arcadia intro issue ?
Fragmented files accepted ?

Don't answer me, please do the best loader as you think it must be done.
Don't hesitate to request us to tests or if you need simple things to do that may help you.
From the beginning, I simply hoped, you could import the cdda, same in ide than sd serial port manage. Since 0.6.9 loader, you go beyond my biggest expectations.
I can only say thanks and "bravo", and sorry to can't help you more...

[pcwzrd13]

(11.11.2020 22:27)dragoncity писал(а):  @pcwzrd13

> Have you try an PAL console or past your console in Europe + NTSC (for keep NTSC).

For me you will have better result like Alone in the dark

Tried the region changer (both Europe + NTSC and Europe + PAL) but didn't see any different results.

[SWAT]

(12.11.2020 18:47)fafadou писал(а):  CDDA with all games and hombrews ?

Point me to homebrew CDDA game plz.

[Zychion]

Xeno Crisis and Cave Story both have CDDA. Do they count as homebrew?

[fafadou]

@Zychion sure they are.

@Swat it's complicated, because they are still release as .cdi, and often encrypt and 1ST_READ.BIN is scrambled
But here a list of link of homebrews in .cdi and other format I find and for two of them, trying to repack as .gdi

Here a list of homebrews links, @megavolt85 go sometimes there :
https://darius-saturn.com/forum/viewtopi...313&t=6014

Here some pick of cdda homebrews :
ghost blade :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/vodg6olb06...t.rar/file
sturmwind cdi
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jp431194lb...nd_cdi.rar
sturmwind repack by me in gdi
https://mega.nz/file/lvIQXQbQ#hpXFXxcCTt...bAyUlV0pmc
zia cdi :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/1blt2g7ma7...8Unl%29.7z
zia repack by me :
https://mega.nz/file/p7pVWagZ#3n-4qO551g...aRIaFguFU0
cave story :
may @zychion can provide it because I have only a .iso so without cdda

Some neogeo emulation neo4all with cdda :
view point :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/016wlyzdpp...3.rar/file
breakers revenge :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ji8npda1ub...9.rar/file

Sometimes some repack games don't have cdda with dreamshell as this starlancer or 4x4 Evo I'm thinking only about wince games I'm sorry :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/6a5xiajo5m...FR.iso.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/file/1hhoffb0x0...vo.7z/file

[pcwzrd13]

Did some testing with RetroDream today and got some surprising results. Two games that don't work for me when loaded from DreamShell, Alone in the Dark and Aerowings 2, work fine in RetroDream. I always thought they would be the same since they're both using the same loaders but apparently there's something with DreamShell causing an issue with these games. Any idea why that would be @SWAT?

Edit: I was also able to play through the whole Metal Slug 6 Easy mode with no freezing!

[Acey]

@swat

I've been using retrodream with sd adapter
Working good with some games and not so good with some
As expected via sd adapter(serial)

With my surprise upon testing the new atomiswave games
That were ported two out of five happen to work great kof has minor stage writing bug and high score bug but gameplay is perfect got to the end also samurai spirits works flawless gameplay speed is very fast and no skipping but stage starting glitches

I have been testing via 0.6.6 beta sd loader
Both games work on memory 0x8cfe0000 and 0x8cfe8000
I have setting sync on true also tested 8 and 16 but doesn't really look like it makes a difference in game does fix glitches but games run great

Apart from those two games others either refuse to go past excuteing or if they do they just go straight to black screen

I have just recently tested isoloader 0.6.9 and beta 2 on kof with same settings just doesn't go past excuting also same results with 0.6.9.10

I wonder what could have changed to make those games stop working?
Is my first question secondly is there anyway to look into how and why these two games I mentioned load and others refuse to?

Thanks for reading and sorry for long first post

[SWAT]

@Acey
For SD values 1+, 2, 4 and max 8 are more relevant than 8 and 16, it's better for IDE.
For example, in Shenmue 1/2 to get more smooth gameplay need use 1+, also the same for Crazy Taxi 1/2. But loadings will be longer.

@fafadou
Thanks for links.

@pcwzrd13
Seems different state of the hardware at executing game binary.

[Zychion]

Ian Michael posted this on his discord sometime ago offering a cleaned up CDI version of Cave Story. I haven't been able to convert it to GDI or anything but here is the link
https://mega.nz/file/j2pnhYoR#BvDybg_JRa...-H4dhQyVY4

[pcwzrd13]

Quick question. Do any games benefit from using the "no CDDA" versions of loaders? I've never really used them but is there a reduced possibility for issues if you use them on games that don't need CDDA support?

Also, @SWAT Do you have any ideas about how to solve the bugs with Phantasy Star Online? It would be great if you could figure out a fix for that. The game runs great for the most part but not being able to heal or revive players when playing online is a bummer.

[SWAT]

(15.11.2020 07:37)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  Quick question. Do any games benefit from using the "no CDDA" versions of loaders? I've never really used them but is there a reduced possibility for issues if you use them on games that don't need CDDA support?

"no CDDA" version takes less memory for loader. This can help games that don't run from memory 0x8c000100 and 0x8c004000.

(15.11.2020 07:37)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  Also, @SWAT Do you have any ideas about how to solve the bugs with Phantasy Star Online? It would be great if you could figure out a fix for that. The game runs great for the most part but not being able to heal or revive players when playing online is a bummer.

This is the first time I hear about this Apparently this anti-cheat system works.

[pcwzrd13]

(15.11.2020 08:52)SWAT писал(а):  

(15.11.2020 07:37)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  Also, @SWAT Do you have any ideas about how to solve the bugs with Phantasy Star Online? It would be great if you could figure out a fix for that. The game runs great for the most part but not being able to heal or revive players when playing online is a bummer.

This is the first time I hear about this Apparently this anti-cheat system works.

lol Yes, PSO is very picky about how you load it. I believe GDEMU had the same issue before an update. I'm not sure how he fixed it though. I wonder if a very minimal loader would work. Strip out anything that's not required to launch the game.

[fafadou]

The last update for gdemu only do, is to can switch between true gdrom speed, and "fast" gdemu speed (for me, dreamshell is faster during loadings). It avoids resident evil code veronica tiger issue, and skies of arcadia intro crash freeze.
So maybe it's the same issue. Or a previous gdemu update but it was some years ago.

[megavolt85]

(15.11.2020 08:52)SWAT писал(а):  This is the first time I hear about this Apparently this anti-cheat system works.

я смотрел изменения в Sylverant PSO Patcher, у него была та же проблема, единственное изменение в том, что патчер сохраняет FPSCR и ещё пару регистров и перед запуском бинарика игры все эти регистры восстанавливаются
именно поэтому я настаиваю на том, что перед запуском бинарика всё железо должно быть проинициализировано так же как это сделал бы БИОС