Sega CD problems on GensPlus

[Deleted]

I can't boot any of my Sega CD games up on the GensPlus emulator. When I give it the command to boot the CD, it acts as if I do nothing, not even acknowledging if anything's wrong with my BIOS or whatnot. I don't think it is my BIOS; more like the fact that my laptop refuses to acknowledge something called "ASPI drivers," whatever the fuck those are. Goddamn technical terms... so, if anyone can help me out and get this crap working, let me know of what can be done.

[onoff456]

Go to "Options->Current CD Drive" on your Gens Plus menubar. Does it list your CD-ROM drive or drives?

If you see something listed, then choose the drive that you wish Gens to read your segacd CDs.

If nothing is listed, then it means the file "WNASPI32.DLL" is missing. You need to put this file in Gens main folder. You may have this file already in your computer if you have a cd-burning program. You can google for it also.

[Deleted]

Jun 3, 2008 23:37:13 GMT -5 onoff456 said:

Go to "Options->Current CD Drive" on your Gens Plus menubar. Does it list your CD-ROM drive or drives?

Well... the thing is that I don't even see a "Current CD Drive" option on my GensPlus.

The specific version I'm using is 0.0.9.61. If there's any way I can bring up the current CD drive, do let me know.

[onoff456]

I already told you. Place a copy of the file "WNASPI32.DLL" in your gens main folder. Restart the emulator afterwards. There is always the possibility your cd-rom drive is not recognized by Gens (read the FAQ at the official Gens webpage). In that case create a cd image and use a virtual drive instead (games tend to run better that way anyways).

Download an official Gens build instead of the "plus" fork (eg, Gens 2.14). Or use KEGA instead.

EDIT: Download the nero version of the file here ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll. It's the best one to get.

[Weasel]

If you're running Windows XP, the ASPI layer should never be necessary - Windows XP uses a different CD access method called IOCTL. If you can find any references to that in Gens Plus, then it might lead you in the right direction, but since I'm a devout Kega Fusion user, I unfortunately cannot help in more detail.

[onoff456]

Emulator developers usually make their software to run in many versions of Windows, not just Windows XP. Also some hardware isn't IOCTL compatible. That's why emulators like epsxe support both IOCTL and ASPI. KEGA has this option as well. Some programs that employ cd-burning keep the wnaspi32.dll file for compatibility purposes (eg. Ahead Nero Burning ROM) and resort to it automatically depending on the user's configuration. Actually if sabotenga uses Nero he may already have the file in question in his hard drive.



@sabotenga: You should definitely try using a virtual drive instead. I've tried DAEMON Tools with both KEGA and Gens and it works great. I also tried Alcohol 52% and that works also. Also GENS and KEGA have this neat feature which allow you to save hard drive space by ripping the audio tracks of your SegaCDs to mp3's.

Here's the section of the Gens readme that deals with CD problems:

/#####################/
/# SEGA-CD / MEGA-CD #/
/#####################/
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Before you can begin playing Sega-CD/Mega-CD games you must configure Gens
ready for CD emulation:

1. Download the Sega-CD/Mega-CD bios files which are available from
Eidolons Inn (http://www.eidolons-inn.de).
2. Set the location of your bios files through the Directories and Path
Configuration in the options Menu.
3. Whilst the Directories and path configuration window is still open you
also need to set the default BRam directory for Sega-CD/Mega-CD save
games. Click on OK to save your settings.
4. Open the Option menu and click on the Current CD Drive option, this will
bring up a list of available CD and DVD drives, select one of the drives
from the list. If no drives are shown then you do not have the ASPI layer
installed. You will need to download and install the latest ASPI drivers
before you can play any Sega-CD/Mega-CD games.

Gens is now ready for Sega-CD/Mega-CD emulation.


* Running a Sega-CD/Mega-CD Game from a CD:
-------------------------------------------

Place your Sega-CD/Mega-CD game in the CD drive you selected above and click
on Boot CD in the File menu, or press Ctrl + B. Gens will now initialize
Sega-CD/Mega-CD emulation and begin reading the CD, after a few seconds the
Sega-CD/Mega-CD bios screen should appear. If the bios screen fails to
appear read the FAQ section for more help.
Note that it's normal your CD tray is locked right after you clicked on
Boot CD, this is to permit the CD swap stuff (read the Multi CD game for more
infos) to work correctly.


* Running a Sega-CD/Mega-CD Game from a CD image/Mp3 file:
----------------------------------------------------------

Gens also supports CD images (backups) in .iso/.bin/.raw format with .mp3
audio. It is recommended that when using CD images that you have both the CD
image and the correct .mp3 files available as many games will not run if the
audio tracks aren't present.

For Gens to correctly identify any .mp3 audio tracks for your CD images they
have to be placed in the same directory as the CD image file with the same
file name as the CD image followed by a track number. For example if you are
using a CD image called Blaster.iso with three .mp3 files you would need to
put all the files in the same directory and rename them like this:

Blaster.iso
Blaster 02.mp3
Blaster 03.mp3
Blaster 04.mp3

There are a couple of important points to remember when setting up your CD
images & .mp3 files for use with Gens:

* The CD Image should NOT be numbered, it won't work if you have
"Blaster 01.iso" instead of "Blaster.iso"!
* The CD image acts as track one so the first audio track will always
be track two+.
* The track numbers must also be a TWO DIGIT number: 02, 03, ..10 etc,
NOT 2, 3,...10.
* The space between the file name and the track number is optional.

[+ Gens actually calculates the track order by looking at the numbers at the
end of the .mp3 files. You can use any numbers you want, for example 10,
27, 32... however it's easier to rename them in the way shown above.]

Once you've set up your CD image and .mp3 files as shown you're ready to
begin.

Instead of clicking on Boot CD in the File menu click on Open Rom as if you
were going to load a normal Genesis/Mega-Drive game. The Open file window
will appear as usual, click on the arrow on the "Files of type" box and
select "Sega CD isos files (*.iso,*.bin,*.raw)" from the drop down list. Now
locate your CD image file and click on the Open button to begin loading the
game. Gens will now initialize Sega-CD/Mega-CD emulation and begin reading
the CD image/.mp3 files. Please note it can take a while before the Sega-CD
/Mega-CD bios screen appears as Gens needs to calculate the length of all
the files before it can begin.


* Multi CD game:
----------------

Some Sega-CD/Mega-CD games has severals CD so you'll need to change the CD
at some moment to continu your game.

- If you're playing from a real CD, normally gens will lock your CD tray
right after you clicked on Boot CD, i *need* to do that because there is no
way to detect if the tray is open or not with win32 API (nor ASPI) !
Well so when you need to change the CD, press Ctrl+V combinaison a first
time to eject the CD (tray open), then place the new CD and press Ctrl+V a
second time to close the tray.
For slot-in CDROM drive, press Ctrl+V after you inserted the new CD.

- If you are playing from an iso image, you have to process in the same
way : when you want to change CD press Ctrl+V to fake the open tray, press
it again to fake close tray and normally a dialog box will appear to choose
the new iso file.

Important : Sometime the CD swap processing doesn't work well du to some
misemulation problem, just retry until it works correctly.

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2008 15:12:46 GMT -5 onoff456 said:

I already told you. Place a copy of the file "WNASPI32.DLL" in your gens main folder. Restart the emulator afterwards. There is always the possibility your cd-rom drive is not recognized by Gens (read the FAQ at the official Gens webpage). In that case create a cd image and use a virtual drive instead (games tend to run better that way anyways).

Download an official Gens build instead of the "plus" fork (eg, Gens 2.14). Or use KEGA instead.

EDIT: Download the nero version of the file here ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll. It's the best one to get.

A: Whoopsie. Sorry for missing the instruction to download the file. I am INCREDIBLY daft when it comes to technical difficulties, and I will ask nigh-infinite questions until the problem is resolved.

B: However, no more questions, as the file you've provided has got the CD emulation to work! Thank ya, onoff! ;D

C: Sadly, the emulation itself seems imperfect, and I can't do anything unless I initialize the RAM... however I do that, I'm not sure.

Solution: Well, I was enticed by Weasel's use of Kega Fusion. For some reason, the original Kega would never work, but... Fusion works. PERFECTLY. So, I'm quite happy. However, the CD wouldn't work without the file that onoff provided. Thank you both SO very much. If I can repay you somehow, let me know.

[onoff456]

Nice to hear you got it working.

[Deleted]

Well, I got it working for a while, but now a new problem rears its head. I didn't try out the Sega CD emulation long enough last time, but now, after prolonged play, my entire computer shuts down for no good reason. I'm certain the CD is the problem, as it happened twice. So, what gives with that problematic?

[ReyVGM]

Jun 4, 2008 22:53:38 GMT -5 sotenga said:

Thank you both SO very much. If I can repay you somehow, let me know.

A suitcase filled with small unmarked bills would suffice. I'll make sure onoff gets it safely ;D

[onoff456]

Jun 7, 2008 10:47:44 GMT -5 sotenga said:

Well, I got it working for a while, but now a new problem rears its head. I didn't try out the Sega CD emulation long enough last time, but now, after prolonged play, my entire computer shuts down for no good reason. I'm certain the CD is the problem, as it happened twice. So, what gives with that problematic?

Follow my previous advice: create a cd-image of your game and mount it to a virtual drive.

[Smithee]

Hmm. Just a semiunrelated question, I remember I was trying to play Snatcher on Kega and I was having a hell of a time, but I soon reached a freeze on the emu. It was right when I entered my car for the first time, but it just kept driving and driving forever. Also when I started Lunar it played the intro fine, got to a point where it was doing some crazy scaling effects and froze!
I have no idea what these things where, and I have given up... Just to say though, this was a while ago so the specifics are a little fuzzy. I'm pretty much wondering though, if these games worked for you guys, and how I should deal with it.

[onoff456]

It's a known issue with that game. It not only happens there but at other parts of the game as well. Changing emus won't work. Both KEGA and GENS get stuck at the same places. Only workaround is to use save files that will allow you to progress further. Google for them. They are out there.

[Smithee]

Nah. I'm buying the game soon anyhow and am gonna play it through without an emulator. Well that is if I can find it, it'd be pretty expensive I imagine.

[Smithee]

Hey, here's a little bumpy: You say "that game", and while I think that's Lunar after looking around I pretty much know it isn't Snatcher... but what to do for Snatcher?