84 replies to this topic

[headkaze]

Chankast Launch Homepage

[Brian Hoffman]

thankyou so much

[lingpanda]

headkaze, on Nov 15 2006, 09:19 PM, said:

chankast_launch v1.6 - By HeadKaze
========================

- Supports most options for ChankEx. Just change ChankastExe=ChankEx.exe in the chankast_launch.ini file. Other options are in the ini file, pretty straight forward stuff.
- Currently the wrapper does NOT support "Soul Calibur Player Select Hack" because it pops up a Message Box warning "This fix cause performance impact in other areas of the game." and right now I can't be bothered trying to remove that automatically. Hopefully in a future version of ChankEx they will fix these issues and remove the Message Box so it will work.
- Added JoyPad exit (a few people requested this, so that's for you)

Enjoy!

ChankEx is going plugin style. No longer going to be hacking the exe. Don't know how it will affect your wrapper.

[jombee]

headkaze, on Nov 16 2006, 02:19 AM, said:

chankast_launch v1.6 - By HeadKaze
========================

- Supports most options for ChankEx. Just change ChankastExe=ChankEx.exe in the chankast_launch.ini file. Other options are in the ini file, pretty straight forward stuff.
- Currently the wrapper does NOT support "Soul Calibur Player Select Hack" because it pops up a Message Box warning "This fix cause performance impact in other areas of the game." and right now I can't be bothered trying to remove that automatically. Hopefully in a future version of ChankEx they will fix these issues and remove the Message Box so it will work.
- Added JoyPad exit (a few people requested this, so that's for you)

Enjoy!

Thanks so much for updating the launcher, but I cannot seem to get it to work.

When I run it from GameEX I get an error that says ChankEX needs to close, and when I run it from the command line I get an error saying it cannot mount the image. I am using Daemon tools Drive G: (Program Files\DAEMON Tools\), my ISO's are in D:\dreamcast, the launcher vers. 1.6 and ChankEX are in D:\ChankEX

here is my config for the launcher

# Chankast Launch v1.6 -- By HeadKaze

[General]

# Name of Chankast executable (must be in same dir as chankast_launch.exe)
ChankastExe=ChankEx.exe

# Set default drive letter
Drive=G:

# Video Mode (640x480|800x600|1024x768|1280x1024|1600x1200)
# 1600x1200 only works with ChankEx
Screen=800x600

# Full Screen Mode
Fullscreen=True

# Force Full Screen Mode (for version < 25)
# Can be used with the -screen switch to force a resolution
#Forcefull=True

# Which program to mount the ISO with (DaemonTools|Alcohol120)
MountTool=DaemonTools

# Delay in seconds to wait after mounting ISO
Delay=5

# Unmount ISO when finished
Unmount=True

# Define ascii key for exit (27 == ESC key)
Exit=27

# Set region of DC flash file (jap|usa|euro)
#Region=usa

# Process priority (Normal|AboveNormal)
#Priority=Normal

# Show stats such as FPS
ShowStats=False

[DaemonTools]
Exe=d:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools\daemon.exe
Device=0

[Alcohol120]
Exe=C:\Program Files\Alcohol Soft\Alcohol 120\AxCmd.exe
Drive=M:

[GamePadExit]
MapGamePadExit=False
Up=False
Right=False
Down=False
Left=False
Button1=False
Button2=False
Button3=False
Button4=False
Button5=False
Button6=False
Button7=False
Button8=False
Button9=True
Button10=True

#Settings for ChankEx
[ChankEx]
# Limit FPS (Off|30|60)
LimitFPS=Off

[Soul Calibur]
CPU=120
ZWrite=False
ZWriteAlpha=False
CapcomHack=False
CableType=NTSC
SCalbrPlyrSelectHack=False
SCalbr2DFix=True

[Ikaruga]
CPU=120
IkarugaLevel2Fix=True

[Sega GT]
CapcomHack=True
SegaGTLoading=True

and here is my config from GameEX

[Emulator_29]
Enabled=True
StartPageName=Sega Dreamcast (ChankEX)
TitleText=Sega Dreamcast
StartPageLogo=Dreamcast
RomFilter=*.bin;*.cdi;*.nrg
RomsInFolders=False
ROMPath=D:\dreamcast
SnapPath=D:\dreamcast\snap
TitlePath=
BoxPath=
CartPath=
WorkingPath=D:\ChankEx
MapKeys=False
WaitBeforeKeys=
SendKeys=
ReplaceDash=True
ReplaceUnder=True
Capitals=True
RemoveBrackets=True
ShowDesktop=False
Debug=False
MapFile=
AlsoLaunch=
Command=chankast_launch.exe [RomPath]\[RomFile]
OLDatZip=
LaunchBefore=
LaunchAfter=
configFile=
ExcludedFiles=
CustomBackground=
PlayMusic=
PCGame=
DATABASE=
GamesIn7Zips=
LastGame=False|29|Soul Calibur|Soul Calibur.cdi|Soul Calibur|Sega Dreamcast|5

[headkaze]

Quote

When I run it from GameEX I get an error that says ChankEX needs to close, and when I run it from the command line I get an error saying it cannot mount the image. I am using Daemon tools Drive G: (Program Files\DAEMON Tools\), my ISO's are in D:\dreamcast, the launcher vers. 1.6 and ChankEX are in D:\ChankEX

I think you just answered your own question. You can't mount the image. All chankast_launch does is mount the image to the drive you specify using the command line options of Daemon Tools. If it's not mounting you need to review the settings.

ie.
- Use Daemon Tools 4.0+
- Make sure Drive=G: matches the drive letter of your Daemon Tools virtual drive
- Make sure Device=0 matches the device number of your Daemon Tools virtual drive

[jombee]

headkaze, on Nov 16 2006, 04:26 AM, said:

I think you just answered your own question. You can't mount the image. All chankast_launch does is mount the image to the drive you specify using the command line options of Daemon Tools. If it's not mounting you need to review the settings.

ie.
- Use Daemon Tools 4.0+
- Make sure Drive=G: matches the drive letter of your Daemon Tools virtual drive
- Make sure Device=0 matches the device number of your Daemon Tools virtual drive

Hi, thanks for your fast reply!

I am using the most recent version of Daemon tools, and my drive letter and device number match.

Unfortunately it is still not working.

I tried "commenting" out the lines that do the mounting in your launcher ini file, and did the mounting and unmounting in GameEX config instead. When I did this, everything seems work fine.

heres my gameex config

[Emulator_29]
Enabled=True
StartPageName=Sega Dreamcast (ChankEX)
TitleText=Sega Dreamcast
StartPageLogo=Dreamcast
RomFilter=*.bin;*.cdi;*.nrg
RomsInFolders=False
ROMPath=D:\dreamcast
SnapPath=D:\dreamcast\snap
TitlePath=
BoxPath=
CartPath=
WorkingPath=D:\ChankEx
MapKeys=False
WaitBeforeKeys=
SendKeys=
ReplaceDash=True
ReplaceUnder=True
Capitals=True
RemoveBrackets=True
ShowDesktop=False
Debug=False
MapFile=
AlsoLaunch=
Command=chankast_launch.exe [RomPath]\[RomFile]
OLDatZip=
LaunchBefore=""d:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools\daemon.exe" -mount 0,"[RomPath]\[RomFile]""
LaunchAfter="d:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools\daemon.exe" -unmount 0
configFile=
ExcludedFiles=
CustomBackground=
PlayMusic=
PCGame=
DATABASE=
GamesIn7Zips=

[headkaze]

jombee: This is quite strange.. okay can you do me a favour try the chankast_launch in the fist post again, I've changed the command line to run Daemon to have double quotes around the exe. Even though it was working for me that may solve the issue.

If your still having problems, can you download the zip in this post and show me the command line it displays in the MessageBox. Thanks.

Attached Files

•  chankast_launch_test.zip   20.31K   14 downloads

[emphatic]

Does Chankast Launch still support using .lnk's (command line) or just the in-built .ini functionality? Because two of my games are on the same disc, and I want them to appear as two items in GameEx, so I can have screenshots for each games.

i.e.

Border Down
Ikaruga

as opposed to:

Border Down/Ikaruga

Emph

[headkaze]

it still works with shortcuts but you just place the options for the game in the ini file instead.

Create a shortcut to chankast_launch.exe and add the game's full path as a parameter.

Eg.

chankast_launch.exe C:\Games\Sega Dreamcast\Ikaruga.cdi

Then you can have a section in chankast_launch.ini called Ikaruga.

Eg

[Ikaruga]
CPU=120

Although bare in mind you don't have to have an ini section for every game, only create sections for the games that don't run using the default options in Chankast.

[slipstream19]

Hedakze!!


JOYPAD EXIT! word man. your the man. no more manually klicking joytokey everytime starting gameex

woooho


(will have a go at it on monday when i get home next week)

thx

[emphatic]

Doesn't work for me unfortunately. If I run it through GameEx ChankEx just crashes (send error report to ms crap). This is probably due to the cd image not being loaded, because I created a .bat file to test my command line and it gives me "Mount switch syntax error" something. I have set my drive letter ( I: ) and drive # ( 0 ) correctly. I'm using Daemon Tools 4 something. (That worked with the older launcher).

Oh, and I tried having GameEx mount the images like in the jombee posted. Still no luck.
 chankast_launch.txt   1.67K   11 downloads
 Dreamcast2.txt   896bytes   14 downloads
Emph

[headkaze]

Quote

Exe="C:\Program\DAEMON Tools\daemon.exe"

I would remove the double quotes above.

Uninstall Daemon Tools and download the latest version and install it. Also download the wrapper from the first post again just to make sure you have the latest version. Don't forget you need dc_bios.bin and dc_flash.bin.

If you can't get it working from command line, it wont work with the wrapper. Also try running the chankast_launch_test version a few posts above, as it will display the Daemon Tools command line it's trying to run.

To test chankast_launch without running it from GameEx (no point trying it from GameEx until you get it working outside GameEx).

Create a shortcut to chankast_launch, right click properties on the shortcut and add a game as a parameter to the target.

Eg.

C:\Emulators\Chankast\chankast_launch.exe C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast\Soul Calibur.cdi

Run the shortcut to test the wrapper.

[headkaze]

Hmm I think I know what may be causing the crashing for you emph. Some of the hacked dll's may be causing it. I've just tried a fresh install of ChankEx with my wrapper and I can replicate the crashing. The way I fixed it was to copy over the following dll's from the original Chankast

Chankast_Cdrom.dll
Chankast_Cdrom_Aspi.dll
Chankast_Input.dll
Chankast_Input_Semi.dll

I think ChankEx uses some pretty crude hacks and may not be worth the effort after all. I'm not sure if replacing the above dll's means that some of the hacks don't work either.

[sbaby]

hi headkaze

I'm testing your chankast launch 1.6 and work fine with GameEx and original Chankast

# Name of Chankast executable (must be in same dir as chankast_launch.exe)
ChankastExe=Chankast_alpha_25.exe


With ChankEx CRASH (Xp error : AppVer:0.0.0.0 ModName: d3d9.dll)

# Name of Chankast executable (must be in same dir as chankast_launch.exe)
ChankastExe=ChankEx.exe


Without GameEx work fine

[headkaze]

I've just had a play with ChankEx using the Soul Calibur hacks and I don't honestly notice any difference. I'm really starting to wonder why I bothered adding support for it. Personally I'm going back to using the original Chankast, this hack dosn't seem to be worth it IMHO.

[emphatic]

headkaze, on Nov 17 2006, 12:23 AM, said:

I've just had a play with ChankEx using the Soul Calibur hacks and I don't honestly notice any difference. I'm really starting to wonder why I bothered adding support for it. Personally I'm going back to using the original Chankast, this hack dosn't seem to be worth it IMHO.

I'll try the dll swap tomorrow. Now it's bed time in Sweden. But I think it's a good thing you added support for ChankEx, perhaps they'll live up to your expectations sooner than you think. I noticed a great speedup in Border Down, at least when I let ChankEx decide the fps by itself. Think outside the box that is your precious Soul Calibur.

Emph

[DieSeL]

sbaby, on Nov 16 2006, 11:58 PM, said:

hi headkaze

I'm testing your chankast launch 1.6 and work fine with GameEx and original Chankast

# Name of Chankast executable (must be in same dir as chankast_launch.exe)
ChankastExe=Chankast_alpha_25.exe
With ChankEx CRASH (Xp error : AppVer:0.0.0.0 ModName: d3d9.dll)

# Name of Chankast executable (must be in same dir as chankast_launch.exe)
ChankastExe=ChankEx.exe
Without GameEx work fine

The problem with this error seems to be a conflict maybe between the wrapper(?) and fullscreen mode, if you disable fullscreen and turn on debug in the main config the emulator plays no problem??.
If you leave fullscreen off you do not get a picture through Gameex,the game is loaded as you can hear it.. if you then press Escape (chankex`s default switch to fullscreen mode)after you hear the game is loading you get fullscreen and it works no problem.

[jombee]

DieSeL, on Nov 17 2006, 01:17 AM, said:

The problem with this error seems to be a conflict maybe between the wrapper(?) and fullscreen mode, if you disable fullscreen and turn on debug in the main config the emulator plays no problem??.
If you leave fullscreen off you do not get a picture through Gameex,the game is loaded as you can hear it.. if you then press Escape (chankex`s default switch to fullscreen mode)after you hear the game is loading you get fullscreen and it works no problem.

I think DieSel is on to something here. If you disable fullscreen ChankEX loads with no error, but you can only hear it and see a black screen. If you change the GameEX config to showdesktop=True, everything works perfectly, except the game is in windowed mode. I thik the problem might be with ChankEX using ESC for fullscreen mode.

Headkaze, I see nice improvements in Soul Calibur, Ikaruga and a few other games with ChankEX. The games look better and run faster for me.

[headkaze]

Thanks for that guys, I'll see if I can bring ChankEx into fullscreen using a different method.

[Trixstar]

guys do you realize that you are reverse engineering my reverse engineered version of a program based entirely on reverse engineering!

Wow, pretty cool.

headkaze,
Anything you need just ask on the shoutbox. we're not telepathic
Ill send you the beta's of chankex via pm link if it helps
I get the latest version together and post you within 24-48 hrs.

Also support wont be such a headache for you soon, since 90%
of settings are now saved in the ini file and its chankex is able
to be disabled completly.
hot swappable, sortof!

btw the soul calibur hack is for the huge amount of 2d corruption that accours after a vs screen is displayed.