DOSBox and Dreamcast Emulation

Hello, this might be a most generic post, but if I can make work DOSBox and Reicast i will be done for lots of time. Here are my problems.

First one: DOSBox So I downloaded a few games, I am not sure if it’s forbidden to talk about it, but i am gonna make an example. Let’s say, in the most hypothetical hypothesis, i have Doom 2: Hell on Earth’s rom. I uploaded it in the roms folder into a dedicated folder. This one contains a few file with extensions “.1 - .2 - .3 - .4 - .5”, a “.dat” file, an “install.dat” and an executable “deice.exe”. Then i followed the guide on the lakka website. I created a config file, called “doomii.conf” (i made it with notepad). This file is composed as it follows:

[autoexec]
@echo off
mount d "/storage/roms/dos/DoomII"
d:
deice.exe

I wasn’t sure if it had to point to deice.exe or to install.dat (so i tried them both). Anyhow, after this, i continued to follow the guide and I created the DOS.lpl (playlist file) like this:

/storage/roms/dos/DoomII/doom2.conf
Doom II: Hell on Earth
/tmp/cores/dosbox_libretro.so
DOS (DOSBOX) 
DETECT
DOS.lpl

So: from the main menu (of course) Doom appears in the playlist, but when i make it run i get the most generic error possible “Failed to open libretro core”. What did i do wrong? I was guessing, at this point, that there’s a problem with my rom. But i also tried to launch the first Doom and even Raptor (an old shump that i really liked as a child). Now time for my second one.

Second one: Reicast As for now i am pretty convinced i can’t launch Dreamcast games for hardware issues, but still the hardware i am using it’s pretty new (it is a small server used just a few years ago, with an Intel Core Duo CPU - i think it was an i3). Anyways, i followed pretty much every guide on the planet. I updated Reicast and I uploaded the /dc/ folder with all the bios in the system folder. When i go into the core information i get these two strings: (!) Present, Required: dc_boot.bin (!) Present, Required: dc_flash.bin So the “(!)” does it mean something ambiguous? I am wondering this 'cause in the videoguides i’ve watched there was no (!). So, that said, i tried two roms, one with the .cdi extension and the other one with the .gdi extension. Without much to add: when i run both i get again the “Failed to open libretro core”.

Any chance you guys can help me? Thank you very much, Alessio

Should be DOOM2.EXE. You should be able to scan the directory, and run from the menu. I think Deice.exe is the installer.

I am thinking that probably i didn’t scan the directory. Anyhow, i do have only Deice.exe - so should i scan the directory first or (or!) i should find another rom of Doom 2, with the doom2.exe file? I mean, if i scan the directory, the deice.exe will install the game and then i’ll have access to doom2.exe?

Thanks!

EDIT: i scanned the directory, but nothing new happened.

If you install DOSBox locally, you can likely run deice.exe to go through the install process. DEICE.exe won’t scan, because we don’t list installer files.

Don’t want to be the huge noob here, but how can i install dosbox locally? Thanks again!

https://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1 Depends on your OS.

Please try to provide lakka system log so that we can help you more precisely.

As RobLoach suggested, change the executable to DOOM2.EXE.

Also for the Dreamcast core check that the dc directory is writeable.

Thank you.

The (!) string is meaningless and hardcoded at all times. I have no idea why it was missing in one version you saw.

If reicast crashes on startup, it’s usually only one of two things: unsupported game, or incorrect bios. Most of my problems were solved by changing the bios rather than the game not being supported. If you are using the file floating around that says something like “DC BIOS (All)”… that one does not work.

So guys, i am gonna admit i suck pretty bad at this :joy: (so please don’t kill me)


@RobLoach I am using Lakka, so which one should i download? :grin: Anyhow i downloaded another Doom2 rom, it has many more files, including a WAD and a DOOM2.EXE (also setup files) but still, if i launch the DOOM2.EXE i get the same error message.


@gouchi I entered via SSH to my Lakka pc and followed the guide, but when i run the games (and get the “failed to open […]”) i have this (i am pretty sure this is not how it works, but still it might help you).

Lakka:~ # retroarch.service ; retroarch -v -sh: retroarch.service: not found RetroArch [INFO] :: === Build ======================================= Capabilities: MMX MMXEXT SSE1 SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE4 Built: Dec 21 2016 RetroArch [INFO] :: Version: 1.3.6 RetroArch [INFO] :: Git: 274b40f RetroArch [INFO] :: ================================================= RetroArch [INFO] :: Loading default config. RetroArch [INFO] :: Looking for config in: “/storage/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg”. RetroArch [INFO] :: Incompatible shader for backend gl, clearing… RetroArch [INFO] :: Resetting undo buffers. RetroArch [INFO] :: Environ SET_PIXEL_FORMAT: RGB565. RetroArch [INFO] :: Version of libretro API: 1 RetroArch [INFO] :: Compiled against API: 1 RetroArch [INFO] :: Set audio input rate to: 29970.03 Hz. RetroArch [INFO] :: Found shader “/usr/share/common-shaders/bilinear.glslp” RetroArch [INFO] :: Found shader “/usr/share/common-shaders/nearest.glslp” RetroArch [INFO] :: Found shader “/usr/share/common-shaders/stock.glsl” RetroArch [INFO] :: Video @ fullscreen RetroArch [INFO] :: Starting threaded video driver … RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Found 2 connectors. RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Connector 0 connected: yes RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Connector 0 has 18 modes. RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Connector 0 assigned to monitor index: #1. RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Connector 1 connected: no RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Connector 1 has 0 modes. RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 0: (1680x1050) 1680 x 1050, 60 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 1: (1280x1024) 1280 x 1024, 75 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 2: (1280x1024) 1280 x 1024, 60 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 3: (1280x960) 1280 x 960, 60 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 4: (1152x864) 1152 x 864, 75 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 5: (1024x768) 1024 x 768, 75 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 6: (1024x768) 1024 x 768, 70 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 7: (1024x768) 1024 x 768, 60 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 8: (832x624) 832 x 624, 75 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 9: (800x600) 800 x 600, 75 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 10: (800x600) 800 x 600, 72 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 11: (800x600) 800 x 600, 60 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 12: (800x600) 800 x 600, 56 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 13: (640x480) 640 x 480, 75 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 14: (640x480) 640 x 480, 73 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 15: (640x480) 640 x 480, 67 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 16: (640x480) 640 x 480, 60 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: [DRM]: Mode 17: (720x400) 720 x 400, 70 Hz RetroArch [INFO] :: Found GL context: kms RetroArch [INFO] :: Detecting screen resolution 1680x1050. RetroArch [INFO] :: [EGL]: EGL version: 1.4 RetroArch [INFO] :: [EGL]: Current context: 0x7f6a5c0c7d40. RetroArch [INFO] :: [KMS]: New FB: 1680x1050 (stride: 7168). Segmentation fault


@anon90536803 As you said i actually used a pack of BIOS downloaded from a video-guide. It worked for the guy, i tried to substitute the dc_boot and dc_flash with another pack i found online but it still doesn’t work.

Sorry to bother you guys, i am really a noob here. Thank you very much for the patience.

Can you check if you reproduce your issue with Lakka (LibreELEC version) ?

Thank you for your test.

1 Like

Since I cannot create a new post - i just signed up for this forum … I guess I need to tack onto this post.

I am trying to load Command and Conquer in dosbox … I am sure I have it set up correctly. (I was running it in retropie)

here is my command_and_conquer.conf

[autoexec] mount c “/storage/roms/dos/command_and_conquer” mount d “/storage/roms/dos/command_and_conquer/CC_INSTALL/CDROM” -t cdrom -usecd 0 -label GDI C: cd CC C&C

… and here is my playlist

/storage/roms/dos/command_and_conquer/CC.conf Command and Conquer /tmp/cores/dosbox_libretro.so DOS (DOSBOX) DETECT DOS.lpl

When I try to run this from the menu i get “File could not be loaded from playlist.”

I am running on a raspberry pi 3b.

Anyway … I very new to lakka … I have no idea how to troubleshoot this.

Thanks

You said your configuration file name is command_and_conquer.conf and in your playlist it is CC.conf ?