nullDC v1.0.3 User Manual
-------------------------
Table Of Contents:
1. What is it?
2 System Requirements
3. Preparations/Other Requirements
4. Usage
5.1 Menus
5.2 Plugin Specific Menus
6. NetPlay
7. Tips, Known Problems and Possible Solutions
8. About
Information for lazy people:
If you have problems running the emulator consult sections 2 and 7.
If you want to learn about the options of the emulator consult sections 4 and 5.
The emulator is pre-configured with options that will work for most people but are not the most accurate
neither the faster ones. If you get errors on some games then change options or plugins.
1. What is it?
--------------
nullDC is a plugin based Dreamcast emulator for x86 based computers running Windows Operating Systems.
2. System Requirements
----------------------
Minimum :
- Cpu : Any CPU that supports SSE1 (AMD Athlon XP and later, Intel Pentium 3 and later)
- Video Card : DirectX9 compliant video card with Projected Textures support. (Geforce MX, ATi Radeon)
- Ram : 256 MB
- OS : Windows 2000/XP/2003
- December Redistributable of DirectX 9c. Latest version as of now can be found here:
Online Installer:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&DisplayLang=en
Offline Installer:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c1367bc3-4676-481a-bfaa-5c15d1d7199d&DisplayLang=en
- [B][U]VisualC++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Runtimes[/U][/B]. They can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=200B2FD9-AE1A-4A14-984D-389C36F85647&displaylang=en
- winpcap. It's needed for modem emulation and it's not required otherwise. It can be found here:
http://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm
The above requirements are considered as the absolute minimum in order to run the emulator with just a few errors
as long as the selected plugins/options are supported by the hardware. The emulator is expected to malfunction
or to not work at all on systems that don't meet these requirements.
Recommended :
- CPU : AMD 3000+ or Intel Pentium 4 at 2.6GHz or equivalent.
- Video Card : DirectX9 compliant video card With shader model 2 support. (Geforce FX, ATi Radeon 9600)
- RAM : 512MB Dual channel DDR333
Systems that meet the recommended requirements should get acceptable speeds for most games with minimal errors.
Ideal :
- CPU : Fast Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD 4000+ or equivalent.
- Video Card : DirectX9 compliant video card With shader model 4 support. (Geforce 8 series, Radeon HD series)
- RAM : 1GB Dual channel DDR400
Systems that meet the ideal requirements should get full speed for most games using even the most demanding options.
Notes:
- Some games have higher requirements than the rest and have speed issues even on systems that meet
the recommended requirements. In that case a system close to the ideal requirements is necessary to reach full speed.
- Pentium 4 CPUs perform some tasks slower than other CPUs, thus the clock speed of 2.6GHz is needed.
On the other hand, Pentium M CPUs perform the same tasks much faster
(A Pentium M 750 at 1.86GHz should be enough to reach full speed).
Intel Celeron and AMD Duron CPUs are slow and it's expected to perform worse than the rest.
- nullDC will run on Windows Vista. However, hardware requirements will be a bit higher than the ones mentioned
above and there will probably be sound related issues (as with many other applications running on Vista).
3. Preparations/Other Requirements
----------------------------------
Before running the emulator make sure that you have the necessary Dreamcast BIOS and Flash files dumped from your
Dreamcast.
The BIOS must be named "dc_boot.bin" and the Flash must be named "dc_flash.bin". Both files must be placed in the "Data"
directory which is in the location where you installed the emulator.
The emulator will fail to load if you don't have these files.
Please note that original Dreamcast discs (GD-ROMs) are special discs that cannot be accessed by common PC DVD/CD drives.
Because of this it is not possible to run these discs directly on an emulator. The only way to run such a disc is
to make a backup copy (a dump) of it using some "special" methods either by using a Dreamcast or a modified PC DVD/CD drive.
4. Usage
--------
Running the emulator and selecting the "Options -> Select Plugins" option will open the plugin selection menu.
Here is a list of the plugins that come with the emulator:
-PowerVR (Graphics) Plugins:
"nullPVR" is the graphics plugin that was made by the nullDC team. It's the recommended graphics plugin.
"Chankast's video" is a port of the PowerVR (graphics) core that was used on Chankast (another great Dreamcast emulator).
-GDRom Plugins:
"Image Reader" is used to run images of discs. Supported images are GDI, CDI, NRG and MDS/MDF images.
-AICA (Sound) Plugins:
"nullAICA" is the sound plugin that was made by the nullDC team. It's the recommended sound plugin.
"Chankast's AICA" is a port of the AICA (sound) core that was used on Chankast (another great Dreamcast emulator).
"Elsemi AICA" is an audio plugin that was made by Elsemi.
"Empty AICA" is an audio plugin that produces no sound. It has reduced compatibility but is faster than the rest.
-Maple (Input/Saves) Plugins:
There is only one available maple plugin available that covers all the maple related functions. It has 2 divisions.
Its first division handles each controller port and its second division handles the expansion slots of the peripheral
connected to each controller port. Each division has various states. Divisions and states are explained below.
Controller Division:
"nullDC Controller [WinHook]" connects a normal dreamcast controller using input from the keyboard.
"nullDC Controller [no input]" connects a normal dreamcast controller using no input.
"nullDC Keyboard [WinHook]" connects a dreamcast keyboard.
"nullDC Mouse [WinHook]" connects a dreamcast mouse.
"nullDC Controller [WinHook.NET]" connects a normal dreamcast controller using input from the keyboard but for
NetPlay usage. It will make the emulator freeze if it's used for offline gameplay.
*Refer to the NetPlay section for more information about NetPlay.
"None" acts like no controller is connected to the port.
Expansion Slots Division:
"nullDC VMU" declares that a VMU (memory card) is connected to the expansion slot of a peripheral.
"None" acts like nothing is connected to the expansion slot of a peripheral.
In case the above looks confusing... Imagine a Dreamcast, it has four ports, you connect a controller (peripheral)
to a port, then a memory card to the controller (the Dreamcast controller has two slots for memory cards etc.).
Maple uses the same structure. See? Simple. ;)
-External Device (Modem/Broadband Adaptor) Plugins:
"nullExtDev" acts like a peripheral is connecter to the external device slot of the dreamcast.
After all the necessary plugins are selected and the "OK" button is pressed the emulator window and console will appear.
5.1 Menus
---------
Here's a brief explanation of the menu options and their usage. Whenever a menu option has an arrow next to it it will
expand revealing more options. If it doesn't have an arrow then clicking on it will pop up a configuration/message box.
Clicking on the "File" tab will reveal 5 options.
"Normal Boot" boots a dreamcast disc or an image (depends on the selected GDRom Plugin).
"HLE Boot" bypasses the bios and boots a dreamcast disc directly. This is for testing only. It can
and will lead to compatibility problems.
"Open bin/elf" boots a dreamcast homebrew/development application/demo. It won't work for bin/cue ISO images!
"Load bin/elf" loads a dreamcast homebrew/development application/demo in memory. It won't work for bin/cue ISO images!
"Exit" exits the emulator... maybe.
Clicking on the "System" tab will reveal 3 options.
"Start" starts emulation.
"Stop" stops emulation.
"Reset" resets the emulator.
Clicking on the "Options" tab will reveal the following options. Note that the options of "PowerVR", "GDRom",
"AICA", "Maple" and "ExtDevice" change according to the plugins used.
"nullDC Settings" has the core options of nullDC. It expands revealing some options.
Clicking on the "Show" option will open a configuration box with the most of these options and more information.
Available core options:
"Enable Dynarec" enables the dynamic recompiler if selected. The interpreter is used when this is not selected.
Recommended setting: Enabled
"Enable CP Pass" enables a Dynarec optimization if selected. Recommended setting: Enabled
"Underclock FPU" underclocks the Floating Point Unit if selected. It can speed things up if enabled but it might
also break some games. Recommended setting: Disabled
"Cable Type" defines what cable that the emulated Dreamcast uses to connect to the output screen.
Recommended setting: Depends on the game. Change it if some games give an error about unsupported cable type.
"Select Plugins" opens the plugins selection box.
"PowerVR" contains the available options of the selected PowerVR (graphics) plugin.
"GDRom" contains the available options of the selected GDRom plugin.
"Aica" contains the available options of the selected AICA (sound) plugin.
"Maple" contains the available options of the selected Maple (input/saves) plugin.
"ExtDevice" contains the available options of the selected External Device (Modem/Broadband Adaptor) plugin.
Clicking on the "Debug" tab will reveal the "Debugger" option which opens the SH4 debugger.
Clicking on the "Profiler" tab will reveal 2 options.
"Enable" enables the profiler.
"Show" shows the profiler.
Clicking on the "Help" tab will reveal the "About" option which opens the about box.
5.2 Plugin Specific Menus
-------------------------
Each plugin can add its own menus to the interface of the emulator. These options will appear as an extension of the
corresponding option that each plugin has under the "Options" tab.
For example, if you run the emulator and go to "Options"->"PowerVR" you will notice some available options.
Now if you select another PowerVR plugin and go to "Options"->"PowerVR" again you will see that some options
are changed, added or deleted.
Below is a list with the options of each plugin that comes with nullDC:
Available options for PowerVR plugins:
nullPVR:
"Fullscreen" sets the fullscreen resolution. Setting it to "Auto" will set the resolution to maximum and also make
a nice menu appear while in fullscreen. Use a specific resolution to get rid of the menu.
Pressing Alt+Enter also switches between window and fullscreen mode.
Recommended setting: 640x480, 960x720, 1280x960 and any 4:3 resolution that is a multiple of 640x480.
Other settings might produce artifacts on some games with specific video cards (blame ATi).
"Aspect Ratio" defines if the screen will be stretched to the used resolution, if an aspect ratio of 4:3 is
going to be used with black borders on the sides or if an aspect ratio of 4:3 will be used with the screen
expanding showing more stuff than it should. Recommended setting: Stretch is a safe option, you can also try the
other 2 if you have widescreen monitor.
"Palleted Textures" sets how palleted textures are going to be handled. Recommended setting: Dynamic, full if you
have a video card with shader model 2 support. Otherwise switch between Static and Versioned if textures look wrong
(ie: Soul Calibur with Static option) or if the game seems too slow (ie: Virtual On with Versioned option).
"Sort" sets if and how the graphics will be sorted. Recommended setting: Per Triangle if you have a fast system.
Otherwise, Per Strip. Note that some games need Sorting off to look good.
"Modifier Volumes" sets if and how shadows will be drawn. Recommended setting: Normal if you have a fast system.
"Z Buffer Mode" sets the used depth handling mode. Recommended setting: D24FS8. Note that D24FS8 is not supported by
most video cards. The emulator will drop back to D24S8+FPE in that case which can be a bit slow for old systems. It's
the second most accurate option however.
"Show Fps" shows various GFX related statistics on the screen.
"About" shows the about box.
Chankast's video:
"Fullscreen" enables fullscreen. You can enable or disable it only before starting emulation!
You have to open nullDC.cfg and set a resolution manually or the emulator will use 640x480.
Recommended setting: 640x480, 960x720, 1280x960 and any 4:3 resolution that is a multiple of 640x480.
Other settings might produce artifacts on some games with specific video cards (blame ATi).
"Use ZWrite" enable writes on the Z-Buffer. Recommended setting: Depends on the game.
"Use Alpha Test ZWrite" enable writes of the alpha channel on the Z-Buffer. Recommended setting: Depends on the game.
"Wireframe" enables wireframe mode. Recommended setting: Disabled.
"Show Stats" shows various GFX related statistics on the screen.
"About" shows the about box.
Available options for GDROM plugins:
Image Reader:
"Swap Disc" swaps the selected image with another one. Does not work for all cases.
"Use Default Image" uses the selected default image every time emulation starts. Recommended setting: Disabled unless
you plan to play the same single game for a long time.
"Select Default Image" selects the ISO image that will be used in conjuction with the "Use Default Image" option.
"Patch GDROM Region" patches GD-ROM images (GDIs) to boot on every BIOS/Flash version. Games with extra region
protection will not boot unless you have a BIOS and flash file of the same region!
"About" shows the about box.
Available options for AICA plugins:
nullAICA:
"Config" opens a configuration box with various options. The function of each option is explained there. :)
"Sync Audio" limits the emulator and the audio speed. Recommended setting: Enabled.
"DSP Emulation" enables DSP emulation. Recommended setting: Disabled! DSP emulation is not done yet and will result in
various problems. It might "work" for some games however.
"Mute CDDA" mutes CDDA audio tracks. Recommended setting: Disabled.
"Mute Sound" mutes sound. Recommended setting: Disabled.
"About" shows the about box.
Elsemi's AICA:
"Sync Audio" limits the emulator and the audio speed. Recommended setting: Enabled.
"About" shows the about box.
Chankast's AICA:
"About" shows the about box.
Available options for Maple plugins:
drkMapleDevices:
This plugin is much simpler than it might look at first. There is the option to plug or unplug a device on each of
the 4 ports, to show the vmu on each port (if you closed the VMU window) and to configure the keys for each controller.
Available options for ExtDevice plugins:
nullExtDev:
This plugin just partially emulates the Dreamcast modem for now so the only working options are the "None" and "Modem".
Recommended setting: None.
6. NetPlay
----------
NetPlay was dropped after v1.0.0 BETA 1. The current structure of the emulator makes it quite unusable.
Use nullDC v1.0.0 BETA 1 along with the netplay addon if you really want to play online.
7. Tips, Known Problems and Possible Solutions
----------------------------------------------
- If the application or some of the plugins fail to start showing an error message you might not have the required runtimes
and DirectX version installed. Go get them (links are on the Requirements section on the top of this document).
- If the emulator cannot find the BIOS and Flash file then they are either missing or not named correctly. Note that
Windows are configured to hide extensions for known file types and the name of the BIOS might show up as "dc_boot.bin"
but it's actually dc_boot.bin.bin (or something). Try deleting the ".bin" part and see if the emulator still complains.
- If the emulator fails to start with an opcode error message on the console then you either don't have correct BIOS and Flash
files or the emulator is not compatible with the game you try. Try using the MMU version on interpreter mode to see if the
game runs that way.
- The MMU version is not recommended unless it's used on interpreter mode with games that make use of the Dreamcast MMU.
It's slower than the non-MMU version.
- The console that opens when you run the emulator displays some vital information which will help you report possible
problems that a game may have. However, on some cases it may make the system slow.
Open nullDC.cfg and set "Emulator.NoConsole=" to "1" to get rid of the console.
- nullAICA and Elsemi's AICA sync audio to match the speed of the rest emulator parts. If a game runs below 100% its real
speed, sound will be choppy and will have occasional "clicks". It would be better to use Chankast's AICA on that case.
- The emulator might crash sometimes when trying to close it.
- If you are asked to enter the date and time every time you try to run a game then the flash file might got corrupted.
Try going to the "data" folder and deleting the "dc_flash_wb.bin" file. This will probably fix the problem. If not,
then the original dc_flash.bin file you provided is corrupted. Redump it from your Dreamcast.
- If the emulator runs at 50VPS and not 60 then you are either using a PAL BIOS and Flash pair or a hacked Flash file.
PAL units run by default at 50VPS.
- Some games may have problems if the "Constant Propagation Optimization Pass" option is enabled.
Soul Reaver and Toy Commander are known to be affected.
- Systems below recommended requirements will get a speed boost with the "No AICA" plugin and might get better graphical
results with Chankast's video PVR.
- Some games have problems with specific plugins. Using a different plugin might fix some issues.
- Specific Echelon intros make nullDC crash with a "Not Implemented Opcode" message.
This cannot be fixed by using different plugins or options.
- If you have graphical and audio issues try messing with the options of each plugin. Go to sections 5.1 and 5.2 for a
description of most options. Keep in mind that the better something becomes, the slower it becomes too (unless broken).
- If you can't get a compatible game to run then the plugins or options you use might create the problem. Try using others.
It's possible that the Flash file got corrupted somehow too. Try deleting the "dc_flash_wb.bin" file and see if your
game runs now.
Another possibility is that you have a corrupted image of that game. Try dumping your game again.
If nothing of the things above work then nullDC might not be compatible with that game.
8. About
--------
Credits :
drk||Raziel : Main coder
ZeZu : Main coder
GiGaHeRz : Plugin work/misc stuff
PsyMan : Mental support, management,
beta testing & everything else
General Plot : www & forum WIP
soully : www WIP
Beta testing :
emwearz, Miretank, gb_away, Raziel, General Plot,
Refraction, Ckemu,Falcon4ever, ChaosCode
Many thanks to :
Ector, Jim Denson, Flea, Jupi, Chankast team, lev|,
GameCop and everyone else we forgot
???
Có phải đó là thiếu file của DirectX 9.0C mới ko nhĩ? Tại tui đang cài bản DirectX 9.0C hơi cũ. 
