DarcNES DOS - Valiantly Resisting the Light

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What's DarcNES?
DarcNES is a multi-system emulator. Currently it emulates the Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Sega SG-1000 and SC-3000, NES, ColecoVision, Turbo Grafix 16 (also known as the PC-Engine) with CD Emulation (CD emulation only on UNIX), Apple II and MSX. This page is about the DOS version of DarcNES. There are other ports for Windows, Amiga, BeOS and the Original Unix (Linux/BSD) version. You can read more about them in their official homepages (see the links section).
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Pingüim Enxaqueca by Daniel 3UB - Sorry, portuguese only!
News

05/05/2001

Every MSX fan worth it's salt knows the Ys series, very popular on our beloved 8-bit computer. Ys made some appearences on the NES and SMS also (if I remember correctly), but I've never played these versions, so I can't tell you anything about these. But the MSX versions (which ran on MSX 2/2+ Hardware) were simply great, some of the best RPG's I've ever seen. The VERY GOOD news is that Falcom, the japanese company behind Ys, will release PC versions of the games. The first one is Ys 2 Eternal, a remake of Ys 2. The second one, to be released this year, is Ys Complete, featuring both Ys 1 and 2 on the same package. The games have been re-made for the PC, featuring (of course) better graphics and sound, etc. Falcom has made 2 RealVideo trailers of the games, both about 4 MB and 2 Minutes and a Half long, and are exceptionally good, but I like the Ys 2 trailer better. VERY worth the download! Ys 2 Eternal is already for sale in Japan, for about 70 dollars, on a package including the game, a music CD and a DVD with the Ys anime. Games like this make me whish I had taken that japanese classes when I had the chance... :)

PS: Local copies of the videos removed due to request


04/14/2001

Made some changes on the homepage, moved old news to the history, and modified the color scheme to make it look more like on the "old times", when DarcNES DOS was still being regularly updated ;P And speaking of NES emulators, I've received the very sad news that RockNES is being discontinued. A final update will be made to all ports, and then it's over. Fx3 (the author) does not mention the reasons for the demise of the project.


03/22/2001

As promised, precompiled PPC binaries of DarcNES 9b0313 are up. Be sure to read the "readme.ppc" file, as it describes an issue with 15 and 24 Bit color depths, very common on iMac's running on the ATI FrameBuffer. And in case you haven't noticed yet, the GBA was released today in Japan! Head over to IGN Pocket and read their (very good) coverage. Be sure to listen to the MP3's also, and download the Iridion 3D video, which is VERY impressive. If I haven't been told, I could swear it was a PSX game, not a GameBoy cartridge...


03/19/2001

I've just installed the demo version of Connectix Virtual GameStation (version 1.41) on my iMac to take some screenshots of the SMS Emu for the PSX. Warning, large screenshots ahead!! There's a little bit of dithering in the images, because I've converted them to 64 colors for a smaller file size. The "blurry" effect on the images is done by the ATI Rage Pro video card, and there's no way to disable it :(

Title/Game Selection Screen | Golden Axe, Title Screen | Golden Axe, using some magic...

The emu on the CD is the PSX port of MasterGear, originally written for the PC and ported to the PSX by Bero. GFX emulation and speed are good, but sound emulation is terrible. There's loud beeps and squeaks on the speakers all the time, and sound seems to be playing at half (or less) the correct speed. I don't know the current status of the emu, since the link on the official MasterGear Homepage is broken. Anyone has more info??


03/19/2001

Hi folks! long time no see!! Nearly 3 months without updates, but I've been on vacations, hard at work, DarcNES (Linux) didn't had a new release for some long time, yada, yada, yada... About a week ago (I know I'm late...) Nyef released a new version of DarcNES Linux. I'm compiling it to try right now. Here's the list of changes:

  • Removed the m6502 core.
  • Disabled compilation of the 68k core and genesis driver (they don't work, so...).
  • Changed many things internally in my quest to get rid of the CAL interface.
  • Started abusing the C preprocessor in the 68k core.
  • Added a workaround for a bug in the linker (and enabled a warning to let me know when I need to do so again).
  • Added a workaround for the very common bad dump of Zelda 2 (the one that is "missing" some CHR pages) (I thought I did this earlier, but I guess not).
  • Added a preliminary MSX driver.
  • Added a preliminary SC3000 driver (thanks to Marc Le Douarain for the patches).
  • Added mode 1 support to the TMS9918 video emulation (for both MSX and SC3000 support, again, thanks to Marc Le Douarain for the initial patch).
  • Oh, and DarcNES/Win32 now has sound support.
As you can see, now we do have MSX Emulation!!! I'll have to try it later at home and compare it with my real MSX (an HotBit HB-8000 machine, manufactured by Sharp in the mid 80's). I'll put up precompiled PPC binaries (for Linux PPC 2000 Q4) later when I get home and get X4 to work at a decent speed with my ATI Rage Pro framebuffer... :(

On a not-at-all-related note, I've added a new console to my collection, a brand new PS one. My old SCPH-5001 Playstation was "fried" when I tried to repair it, so I gave up and bought a new one. Nice console. A friend bought the old PSX really cheap from me and was able to fix it. He's MUCH better at electronics than me... (Hi Perigote!!). I've also found some really weird PSX stuff here, at the so-called (pirate) "Game Stores". One is a CD with an SMS emulator and 105 ROMS, the other is a CD with a NES emulator, with 128 ROMS on it. Those pirates never stop... They've been pirating games for a long time, and now they're packing CD's with emulators and ROMS. Sad...

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DarcNES Multi-System emulator. DOS Port by Sephiroth, original Linux version by Nyef.