Author: XPort (---.nc.rr.com)
Date: 04-08-03 01:14
HU-GO! PCE Emulator port for XBox v3
http://xport.xb-power.com
Put roms in \PCEROMS dir
"I'm not dead!"
"What?"
"Nothing here's your ninepence."
"I'm not dead!"
"'Ere - he says he's not dead!"
"Yes he is."
"I'm not!"
Well, it's been a verrrrry long time since I've done any developing on the XBox,
but I got in the mood again a couple days ago and here is the result - a new
version of HU-GO with.....are you ready for this? CD/SCD image emulation!
What's New:
- CD/SCD emulation via ISO/MP3/CUE or BIN/CUE
- Internal MP3 player - play MP3s from the main menu
- Improved sound - I'm *much* happier with it now
- Improved compatibility ( e.g. Bonk's Revenge, GunHead )
- Should play all games just like HU-GO for the PC
- Force US encoding on games that need it
- Holding D-Pad on game menu makes it scroll
- Adjust SFX/MP3 volume in-game by using Right Analog Stick
- "Normal" sized font by default
- Press Left Thumbstick on main menu to bring up configuration screen
- Fully adjustable screen size
- Actually slightly better compatibility than HU-GO v2.10 for Windows
(e.g. Bonk's Revenge and Dracula X work in XBox version)
(Thanks to Zeograd for providing up to the minute bug-fixes!)
What's Still Included:
- Save states ( saving states doesn't work on CD games though )
- Cheat code searching/creating
- Full speed, 60fps
- Backup RAM saved to hard drive
- ZIP support
Here are some important details - please read the following section thoroughly
if you want to play CD/SCD games
The ideal way to play CD/SCD games is in ISO/MP3/CUE format. This is a multistep
process but it yields the best compatibility. You might say "wouldn't BIN/CUE
be easier? It's a one step process!" Yes, the creation of the BIN/CUE would
be easy, but PCE cds don't image very nicely. They are loaded with errors and
inconsistencies....and the PCE CD-format is completely whacked making strange
use of P and Q subcode information. Bottom line : running off of a BIN image
of a PCE cd is rather haphazard. I don't recommend it. Anyway, transferring
500MB of data to your XBox for each game is no fun.
So, ISO/MP3/CUE is the way to go for best results.
Note - you can select an ISO file from within HUGO and play that by itself
without CUE or MP3 files. There won't be any music and it might fail,
but on CDs with only one data track, it should work just fine. Just rip
the first data track on the CD (usually track #2) to an ISO file, upload it
to the \PCEROMS directory and run it in HUGO.
Here's what you need to do if you want the whole thing:
1. Create cue sheet
2. Rip tracks to ISO/MP3
3. Update cue sheet with the names of the files you created in step #2
4. Transfer all the CUE/ISO/MP3 files to the XBox
5. Load Hu-Go, select the CUE file and play it via 1 of 2 ways
Step 1 - Create CUE sheet
**********************
* *
* DO NOT USE CDRWIN! *
* *
**********************
I tried making a few CUE sheets in CDRWIN and they were all wrong.
This is another reason why BIN/CUE is not really reliable.
Use CloneCD. It's what I've been using and it's correct. You can
use some other program if it creates the same data that CloneCD does.
Basically, you'll want to load up CloneCD, and select the option to
copy the CD to your hard drive. Select the "multimedia cd" format.
On the next screen, make sure the "create cue sheet" box is checked.
Unfortunately, you have to wait for it to image the entire CD before
the entire cue sheet is written - so it's kind of a waste of time
since you won't be using the resulting image file - you'll just be
using the CUE file.
Step 2 - Rip tracks to ISO/MP3
You can use pretty much any program for this as long as is can
make an ISO file out of data tracks and MP3 files out of audio
tracks. I use Nero. There is an option under Recorder called
"Save tracks". That presents all of the tracks and converts
to both ISO and MP3. (If you use NERO make sure you change the
file type to ISO instead of NRG for the data tracks.)
Step 3 - Update CUE sheet with the names of the files from step #2
Here are the first 4 tracks of the cue sheet CloneCD created for
Gate of Thunder/Bonk 3-in-1 :
FILE "thunder.img" BINARY
TRACK 1 AUDIO
INDEX 1 00:00:00
TRACK 2 MODE1/2352
INDEX 0 00:44:66
INDEX 1 00:47:65
TRACK 3 AUDIO
INDEX 1 01:09:29
TRACK 4 MODE1/2352
INDEX 0 01:54:20
INDEX 1 01:57:19
Here is what it should become for the XBox:
FILE "thunder01.mp3" BINARY
TRACK 1 AUDIO
INDEX 1 00:00:00
FILE "thunder02.iso" BINARY
TRACK 2 MODE1/2352
INDEX 0 00:44:66
INDEX 1 00:47:65
FILE "thunder03.mp3" BINARY
TRACK 3 AUDIO
INDEX 1 01:09:29
FILE "thunder04.iso" BINARY
TRACK 4 MODE1/2352
INDEX 0 01:54:20
INDEX 1 01:57:19
All I did was change the first FILE line and add three more file lines
(one for each track.)
Do not use tabs in the CUE file. Please follow the format above,
e.g. "FILE, TRACK, INDEX(s), FILE, TRACK, INDEX(s)..." etc
I've included two full CUE sheet examples in the package.
One is for Dynastic Hero and the other is for Gate of Thunder 3-in-1.
Step 4 - Upload to XBox
Upload all the ISO/MP3/CUE files into the \PCEROMS directory.
Step 5 - Playing the game
Load up HuGo and highlight the CUE file you created. There are two
ways to start the game:
1 : Press A button to start game using System Card version 3
2 : Press BLACK button to start game using System Card version 1
There are actually a few games that can only run on System Card version 1.
This is why I've included the option. 99% of the time, you can run
the game using System Card version 3.
Here are some other important details:
Press and hold Y at the main menu to show the list of button-commands
available to you in and out of the game.
Save state files are incompatible with previous versions of HUGO for XBox.
If you try to play a game and you get a black screen, then go back to the
main menu ( Press Y, then START+BACK ) and try starting the game using
the B button instead of the A button. When you press the B button,
you are telling the emulator that the game in question is bit-flipped
(usually indicating a US-encoded game). That should make it work.
Big, big thanks go out to Zeograd for this fantastic open-source
emulator!
So, will I be making more updates or new emulator ports? Tough to say.
Real work and a family keep me pretty busy. I'm not nearly as burnt
out as I was when I stopped, but I'm certainly not at the same level
of enthusiasm as when I first started. I probably will do more....it's
mostly a matter of "when", I guess....
Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD....what's next?
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