Turn your Xbox Series S or X into a fantastic emulation machine, using Dev Mode

[Siri]

Digital Foundry has been looking into DOSBox Pure's capacity to emulate Windows 98, which @papalazarou mentioned:

 

 

 

Seems like a solid alternative to using PCEm on modern computers. Hopefully they will continue bringing 3D acceleration to parity - the program I just mentioned supports pretending to be a Voodoo 3 which gives a lot of early 2000 games plenty of support, although it might challenge a console to emulate all that.

[papalazarou]

The 98 emulation seems to me ok so far for me I have only added three games but they all work fine (avp, jurassic park trespasser and dark forces 2 Jedi knight) all have been set up for controller support as there is a Custom keyboard with mouse support controller set up that you can assign the keyboard keys to the controller - this is Jedi knight with the controls set up:

 

 

 

[papalazarou]

Long post so beware....

 

Ok so for anyone who was able to grab athersx2 retail (and this will also work for anyone using the dev version)  you can now play selected PS2 games online.  Vid below is a quick one I made to show Battlefront 2 playing online.

 

 

 

 

To get this to  work you are first going to need to inject the ps2 network adapter file into your memory card that you have set up on athersx2 – grab the file here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jlXMvBAlCbshVoG5iV7Qz43zfYpb88V5/view?usp=sharing

 

Then grab this programme - http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/mymc/    extract it to your pc and then run it.  FTP to your  xbox and copy the memory card files from the memory card folder in athersx2.  In the mymc programme locate the memory Card file and inject the ps2 adapter file into the memory card file.  Once done transfer it back to the athersx2 memory card folder over writing the files there.

 

 

For the next part which has to be done on a game per game basis – ftp onto the xbox / athersx2 folder / gamesettings folder and locate the ini file for the game you want to play online.  Save it to you pc and then add the following to it:

 

[DEV9/Eth]

EthEnable = true

EthApi = Sockets

EthDevice = Auto

EthLogDNS = false

InterceptDHCP = false

PS2IP = 0.0.0.0

Mask = 0.0.0.0

Gateway = 0.0.0.0

DNS1 = x.x.x.x

DNS2 = x.x.x.x

AutoMask = true

AutoGateway = true

ModeDNS1 = Manual

ModeDNS2 = Auto

 

Go to this site http://beta.openspy.net/en/supported-games  and find the game you want to play online and then replace the above DNS1/2 XXXX with the DNS on the site for the game.  Save back to you gamesettings folder (over writing the file there) and you should be good to go

[Simmy]

Guys I realllly want to do this but I'm terrified of my console getting banned or losing my account.

 

Are we all SURE that's not going to happen? Even when not using dev mode?

 

If so I'm jumping in tomorrow but... Just wanna be sure

 

 

[carlospie]

Yep go for it

[papalazarou]

Yeah ms have not banned anyone for doing this. I have had this up and running in retail for mode for over a year now and never had any issues from ms.   Any prob getting up and running shout out and we can help.
 

 I’ve become some what addicted to trying and getting full rom sets for all consoles and computers up to ps1 - so have quite a big list of tuff to try and play through lol (even some go the obscure consoles like ms msx 1 and 2)

[dumpster]

No-one's getting banned. The only person who is doing something they possibly shouldn't is Gamr13, who is using his developer account to host builds you can play on retail machines.  I think that Microsoft take them down and he puts them up again, to the point that now he has it all in his app (the website only hosts the app now, and the app allows the downloads of the various emulators).  Although he does occasionally post direct links on Twitter to the AM2R and Sonic fan games.  But it seems no risk at all to your console and account.  I'm running all sorts of emulators, I have Gamepass paid for with Turkish gift cards to make is £2.80 a month, Microsoft don't seem to do anything at all to end users, they're just happy to have you.  

 

And frankly, I think it makes a postitive impact to the whole console anyway. Playstation 5 doesn't do any of this stuff and seems really difficult to buy.  Microsoft is storming this generation in my view, with better games, backward compatiblity, emulation and a console that's easy to buy.  Why wouldn't you want an Xbox when you can have your whole collection of games on it in HD? 

[Count Buffalos]

The N64 emulation experience is very disappointing - there were glitches and sound problems with the games I tested which no amount of messing with settings fixed when using Glide64. The only solution was use the Angrylion plugin, which is apparently the most accurate out of those available. However, the games became a blurry mess, which is keeping with the original console of course but it’s not a pleasant experience on modern TV. I believe that there are issues because the XBox doesn’t have access to Vulkan.

 

Edit: for balance, PSP games look great with a filter and run really well. 

[PikaStu]

Since upgrading from my One X (not enough power to emulate much) to Series X, I’m now able to emulate 3DO with 2x resolution increase. Only reason is to play Need for Speed - it’s the best version IMO.

 

Gamecube / Wii is hit and miss - I’ve seen folk on YouTube emulate Tatsunoku vs Capcom well, but I keep getting skipped frames?

I’m happy that Muramasa works though, looks and plays fantastic. 

Mame is hit and miss too, would love to run some 3D stuff (Ridge Racer, Cruisin’ USA, SF Rush etc) but I haven’t managed to figure that out yet. So far I’ve only had success with a variety of shmups.
 

What we really need is a core for Model 2 / Model 3 / Teknoparrot! That would be the best thing ever!

[Count Buffalos]

Star Control 2 for the 3do surely?

[Lyrical Donut]

47 minutes ago, PikaStu said:

Mame is hit and miss too, would love to run some 3D stuff (Ridge Racer, Cruisin’ USA, SF Rush etc) but I haven’t managed to figure that out yet.

 

If you're looking for a Ridge Racer fix PPSSPP runs Ridge Racers at 60FPS.

[papalazarou]

52 minutes ago, PikaStu said:

 

 

Gamecube / Wii is hit and miss 

In the core settings drop speed to 80% makes most  games run perfectly (for something like rouge squadron drop it to 50%) 

[Jackson]

Got the retail version of this going yesterday (been using dev mode for a few months). Absolutely brilliant, painless too because I have a usb stick with all the system files on. Only thing I had to do was remake all my playlists as the usb stick appears as a different drive letter in retail mode.

[rafaqat]

Hmm. So I bought a 256gb thumb dirve to stick everything on.   What are others using?   I already have an external SSD but that's for Non Series (S/X) games. 

Would an SSD for retroarch be better?

[Barnard]

On 01/01/2022 at 01:23, Barnard said:

Load a Gameboy ROM 

 

Turn Integer Scaling off in the video settings. 

 

Go to the Quick Menu, click shaders - turn them on - select load - find the handheld folder and load gameboy.slangp

 

It's a magical thing to behold. 

 

Playing link up Tetris with TGB Dual Gameboy emulator on a big screen is glorious.

 

All you guys setting up for the first time don't forget to try out the CRT shaders. Some of them are amazing. 

 

 

[Lyrical Donut]

4 hours ago, rafaqat said:

Hmm. So I bought a 256gb thumb dirve to stick everything on.   What are others using?   I already have an external SSD but that's for Non Series (S/X) games. 

Would an SSD for retroarch be better?

 

The thumb drive will be fine.

[rafaqat]

how do I make thumbnails work?  I've tried updaying my playlists to bulk update thumbnails but don't get a single thumbnail displayed.   I'm pretty sure the game i names correctly.  Mario Kart 64 (USA)  for instance,

[papalazarou]

3 hours ago, rafaqat said:

how do I make thumbnails work?  I've tried updaying my playlists to bulk update thumbnails but don't get a single thumbnail displayed.   I'm pretty sure the game i names correctly.  Mario Kart 64 (USA)  for instance,

Yeah I found retroarch to be hit and miss with thumbnails - I use retro pass as my front end (it launches the games via retroarch )  it takes a while to set up (you need to install launch box to the usb hard drive you are using then using your pc run it and set up your play lists ) but when set up it’s pretty impressive -

 this a vid of my set up 

 

[rafaqat]

44 minutes ago, papalazarou said:

Yeah I found retroarch to be hit and miss with thumbnails - I use retro pass as my front end (it launches the games via retroarch )  it takes a while to set up (you need to install launch box to the usb hard drive you are using then using your pc run it and set up your play lists ) but when set up it’s pretty impressive -

 this a vid of my set up 

 

 

That does look pretty damn swish

[partious]

What resolution can dolphin be set to while still running gamecube games (not just the undemanding ones) smoothly. Does it run worse on series s than it would on a PC with equivalent specs (would have thought such a PC would run GameCube pretty much flawlessly).

 

@PikaStu, what's the issue with the 3D Mame games? Not supported by the retroarch Mame core or do they run but with stutter/slowdown?

 

[papalazarou]

2 hours ago, partious said:

What resolution can dolphin be set to while still running gamecube games (not just the undemanding ones) smoothly. 

 

 

 

for the majority of games i can run them at 4K for gamecube fine - for the more demanding ones i have them set to run at 1080 - the main thing to do is set your cpu speed to arround 80-90% for most games or down to 50% for demanding games withing the gamecube core options this will make them all work fine. 

[Don Wiskerando]

I've followed the guides and, my goodness, is pretty easy to get up and running.  

 

I've booted up a C64, Amiga and PS2 among others.  I am now on the hunt for some rom sets so that I can play The Last Ninja, the best version of Cannon Fodder and Gradius V.

[PikaStu]

On 18/08/2022 at 04:29, partious said:

 

 

@PikaStu, what's the issue with the 3D Mame games? Not supported by the retroarch Mame core or do they run but with stutter/slowdown?

 

I managed to get Cruisin’ USA and World to work fine… not tried Ridge yet. I expect they’ll be a bit slow, but I could be wrong.

[dumpster]

6 hours ago, PikaStu said:

I managed to get Cruisin’ USA and World to work fine… not tried Ridge yet. I expect they’ll be a bit slow, but I could be wrong.

Something to do with OpenGL being used by Mame, and Xbox using DirectX.  And the ports of the emulators, whoever does them and wherever they come from, it's all in UWP format which is a less popular format. I think we are basically in the hands of the developers to take Mame as seriously on UWP as they do on windows etc.  I've not get many modern games to run on Xbox Mame, where you know they run on an older PC, the console is way over spec for the job but the software just isn't there because it's all open GL.  

 

 

This post may be wrong, but it's along the lines of being right...

[papalazarou]

Ps2 standalone is back on Xbox again this time there should be no take downs as its not done by the dev behind athersx2

 

 

[Jackson]

What's actually better about the standalone one? The retroarch one runs everything fine but I have two issues

- needs multitap support

- 'ghosting' of the graphics in some games, very noticeable in Ico and MGS3.

 

Are either of these improved?

[papalazarou]

in terms of which one is better - the standalone  by miles a lot more games are compatable  and run on it (not sure about multitap)

[rafaqat]

Yup. The standalone ran Ico and Burnout great whereas I've had issues on retorarch.

 

On that note. I played Gradius V and it's awesome. Such good memories plus now I get how to get better at it.

Burnout left me feeling cold. Felt so much slower than I remember.   Maybe I played it on Xbox or maybe it was Burnout 2 that really grabbed me.   I'll have to give the second game a try.

 

 

[PikaStu]

2 hours ago, rafaqat said:

 

On that note. I played Gradius V and it's awesome. Such good memories plus now I get how to get better at it.

Aw yeah, that’s the first game I ripped yesterday to try with this emulator! Glad to hear it runs well.  
For some reason I always preferred R-Type Final, maybe because I was better with the slower pace, but Gradius V is the better all round shmup package! It’s still gorgeous!

 

Has anyone tried a rhythm game like Parappa 2 / Gitaroo Man / Amplitude? I wonder how they fare with input lag…

[Jackson]

1 hour ago, PikaStu said:

Aw yeah, that’s the first game I ripped yesterday to try with this emulator! Glad to hear it runs well.  
For some reason I always preferred R-Type Final, maybe because I was better with the slower pace, but Gradius V is the better all round shmup package! It’s still gorgeous!

 

Has anyone tried a rhythm game like Parappa 2 / Gitaroo Man / Amplitude? I wonder how they fare with input lag…

The PSP guitaroo man runs perfectly, not sure about PS2 though.