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Home 2p setup question

Posted: 28 Aug 2014, 12:44
by jamtero
So I recently picked up a second set of DC twin sticks and now debating on the most economical way to go about putting together a home 2p setup . My personal stick is 360/DC reversible, but the new one isn't modded yet. One way would be to link my two dreamcast systems but I've come to find out that the vs. link cable is pretty rare out there. I have two xbox 360s but one is banned. I'm starting to think it is gonna be cheaper to find another 360 and a controller to gut on craigslist vs finding the link cable on ebay with a ridiculous asking price. Thoughts?

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 28 Aug 2014, 12:59
by MentholMoose
If you want a 2P setup I'd say get another Xbox 360. XBLA VOOT has many improvements over DC VOOT so the extra cost will likely be justified.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 28 Aug 2014, 20:47
by Porcupine
Banned or not, shouldn't you be able to play via direct link with any two 360's?

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 29 Aug 2014, 02:00
by MentholMoose
Can you load an XBLA game on a banned 360?

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 29 Aug 2014, 06:57
by Fredo
The Dreamcast official link cable is overly rare and pricy, and the third party one, The Dragoncast, is not reliable. Forget about DC and buy XBLA. You probably can find a new unbanned Xbox 360 for a lower price than an official Dreamcast link Cable anyway.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 29 Aug 2014, 11:56
by jamtero
Yeah think I will be picking up another 360. No way to download the game to the banned one or get the updates either.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 30 Aug 2014, 12:51
by twistedsymphony
If you have two PCs with i5 3.0Ghz or better processors you can run Demul to emulate the arcade version of 5.66

Xbox 360 will have HD resolutions though, AND you can play Force as well as OMG (both in HD as well) on an Xbox 360.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 30 Aug 2014, 13:41
by ChexGuy
the sound emulation on demul is pretty funky

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 01 Sep 2014, 16:46
by twistedsymphony
ChexGuy wrote:the sound emulation on demul is pretty funky
Did you play on demul 5.7 or 5.8... 5.8 is much improved and they're releasing another new version soon that should be even better.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 01 Sep 2014, 17:11
by ChexGuy
Says v0.5.8.2, it's mostly stable but it tends to distort if a lot of stuff is on the screen.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 01 Sep 2014, 17:55
by MentholMoose
twistedsymphony wrote:If you have two PCs with i5 3.0Ghz or better processors you can run Demul to emulate the arcade version of 5.66
Does this really work? can it seriously do linked games?

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 01 Sep 2014, 20:50
by ChexGuy
Pretty sure demul has netplay, no idea how to set it up though.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 02 Sep 2014, 17:19
by Porcupine
I am not sure if you can start a XBLA game on a banned Xbox 360, however I can play VOOT or any other XBLA game just fine with my normal Xbox 360 when it is not connected to the Internet or Xbox Live in any way. So I presume you can.

If you don't already have VOOT installed to the banned Xbox 360 though, that could pose a problem. I still think it might be possible. Just download VOOT to your normal Xbox 360 and copy the whole game to a USB memory stick, and copy it to your banned Xbox 360. After that, there may be issues with the VOOT game not being properly signed to the banned Xbox 360, however it may still let you play as long as you use the original gamertag, as all XBLA downloads are signed to both a console and a gamertag.

I think there are some nice things about the DC version of VOOT. The training mode is a lot better (you can switch control between both players) for testing purposes. Also the TV color/brightness is correct. There is something wrong with the color mapping of Xbox VOOT, I think it has something to do with 256 depth RGB color vs 220 depth YPbPr color as was the common standard in the SD and DVD days. The whole game is a little darker than it should be.

If you turn on the "enhanced graphics" mode in Xbox 360 VOOT, the mechs and projectiles get brighter back to normal levels (in addition to having enhanced -- or annoying -- shading/lighting schemes depending on your preference) but the backgrounds stay dark. When I went back to check VOOT on a DC (before my DC laser went kaput, and I am too lazy to fix it) I was surprised at how much brighter it is. In my opinion the darkness on the mechs is significant enough to grant a competitive disadvantage in Xbox 360 VOOT, however this can be remedied by using enhanced graphics (if you like them) or adjusting your TV's black levels or gamma correction (however it will only be appropriate for VOOT and no other games).

Force doesn't have this problem. It's always the correct brightness, both the mechs and the backgrounds. And it has better graphics in every way (in my opinion) than the original arcade version. Force also gives you the option to turn off its enhanced graphics but I doubt many people turn them off in Force, or even know the setting is there.

Re: Home 2p setup question

Posted: 04 Sep 2014, 11:04
by twistedsymphony
MentholMoose wrote:
twistedsymphony wrote:If you have two PCs with i5 3.0Ghz or better processors you can run Demul to emulate the arcade version of 5.66
Does this really work? can it seriously do linked games?
I've never tried it personally but Demul does support it... theoretically you should even be able to play across the internet too. :D

Demul DOES indeed require a hefty PC... to get the graphics as good as possible you need a Direct X 11 Compatible video card as well Windows 8 (because 7 doesn't fully support DX11) but most of the processing power comes from the CPU not the GPU, I have an i3 3.0GHz and it's just barely enough so an i5 3.2GHz or better would probably work much better.

If the audio studders and sounds choppy that's generally a sign that your PC isn't fast enough as sound emulation is the first and most wildly effected by not having enough horse power.

there are other NAOMI emulators too such as Makaron and NullDC but I have no idea how well they play VOOT or if they offer netplay/other features.


The Demul team have been working on Hikaru support and have a few games playable, sadly no one has ever dumped the code from Force so until that happens we wont see it emulated.