Sega Dreamcast NullDC crashing on game boot (UPDATE: Working but runs choppy...settings help?)

[drjea2010]

Hello all...

I seem to have run out of luck. I added a string of emulators without issue, and now my last two (Intellivision and Dreamcast) have given me issues. Here's the lowdown:

I downloaded nullDC for Sega Dreamcast. Near as I can tell, I have all the necessary bios, etc. It works fine on my Windows 10 computer (but this is my work station and in no way associated with my arcade cabinet). The arcade cab is running Windows XP Pro, version 2002, Service Pack 3. I did some sleuthing, and according to this site (Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.) I installed the 2010 Visual C++ runtimes but did not update the DirectX 9c runtimes. BUT...I'm afraid to install directx9 update  on my arcade cabinet out of fear that updating will end up causing issues for all my other WORKING systems. Would this be the case, or would I likely not run into any issues with updating Windows, if I just leave my hyperspin, rocketlauncher, and all emulators alone?

Second, more specific to what nullDC is doing...the emulator will open, and when I load a game (.gdi format or .cdi) I get a windows error/send error report pop up, but I can hear the audio of the game playing in the background without issue. So, again, I'm hoping it is an easy fix, but I don't want to update anything if it will break other systems. Outside that, I don't know what to tinker with--perhaps settings in the emulator itself (note, I'm trying to get the emulator working on its own, outside of HS/RL).

I tried changing several of the input/controller options under options-- select plugins-- then under maple plug-ins. What should I put there? I have joystick and arcade buttons and a keyboard. On some of these they close the emulator right away but play sounds and on others it runs the log in the background but no error, but also it didn't change from the nulldc title screen. Here's a copy of the log in one of these attempts. 

A few questions from this:

* what does "verify failed" at the bottom mean?

* third line from bottom it says "unable to connect to server!" Do I need to have internet connected to use this emulator?

* middle of the file it says the rom I am trying to load "is not an mdf/mds file" and "is not an nrg file." Is this the issue, and if so what does it mean/how do I fix it?

* I tried doing the same thing with a .cdi file, and the nrg and mdf/mds stuff was gone, but the "unable to connect to server" note was still present.

As always, appreciate any and all help, clearly outlined, you can offer!

[drjea2010]

Doing lots of reading....would the DirectX install be the most likely contender to fix this error, or is there something else I'm totally missing?

[drjea2010]

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Ok, I got the DirectX runtimes on and it works, but the sound and game are somewhat choppy and slow to respond. Recommendation on what settings to change to make it run more smoothly?

[dark13]

NullDC right now is really old, it would be better to use Flycast or, if you have enough cpu power, Demul.

[drjea2010]

21 hours ago, dark13 said:

NullDC right now is really old, it would be better to use Flycast or, if you have enough cpu power, Demul.

But my system is really old and I've only gotten some other emus to work by using older versions. So i had hoped nulldc would work. Seems to be too graphically intense or something like that. Tried every plug in combo and sound is still choppy and framerate runs fine when starting a game up and then drops to 20ish once gameplay begins.

I gave up on nulldc after I couldn't get the fps up to a reasonable level during game play. Trying Flycast now, but for some reason retroarch will load some of my downloaded cores but not others. Flycast is one that won't load. I go to load core, select flycast, and the "no core" message remains. Not sure what the issue is. I have both the mwc and regular win32 version of RA and on my other computer I can only get the core to load in the win32 version. On my cabinet computer that same version of RA won't open the Exe file at all. 

Ideas?

[dark13]

8 hours ago, drjea2010 said:

But my system is really old and I've only gotten some other emus to work by using older versions. So i had hoped nulldc would work. Seems to be too graphically intense or something like that. Tried every plug in combo and sound is still choppy and framerate runs fine when starting a game up and then drops to 20ish once gameplay begins.

I gave up on nulldc after I couldn't get the fps up to a reasonable level during game play. Trying Flycast now, but for some reason retroarch will load some of my downloaded cores but not others. Flycast is one that won't load. I go to load core, select flycast, and the "no core" message remains. Not sure what the issue is. I have both the mwc and regular win32 version of RA and on my other computer I can only get the core to load in the win32 version. On my cabinet computer that same version of RA won't open the Exe file at all. 

Ideas?

Try to copy flycast_libretro.dll from the working system to the non working one.
The only idea that come up to my mind is something related to opengl support on the videocard.

[drjea2010]

18 minutes ago, dark13 said:

Try to copy flycast_libretro.dll from the working system to the non working one.
The only idea that come up to my mind is something related to opengl support on the videocard.

Thanks. Is there a way I can tweak settings to overcome opengl support on videocard? (that's a bit above my paygrade, but if there is something I can do outside just replacing it, I'm open).

I was getting the following error on my arcade cab when I try opening the newer version of retroarch (I have the mwc version on there working fine, but can't get it to load the Flycast core or many others, even after I changed the core download location in the config file, thereby making all cores available, and all successfully downloaded; they just won't load, so I thought maybe I needed a newer version of Retroarch. That's the one that I won't open. Here's the error it's giving me---easy fix?"

"the procedure entry point cancelioex could not be located in the dynamic link library kernel32.dll"