Chankast User's Guide

[Example]

So you’re interested in enjoying all the great Dreamcast games on your computer? Chankast is a beta-version emulator that makes this possible. If you have a Dreamcast game file sitting on your desktop, this guide will explain how to load it as if you were actually loading a CD into the console itself.

PC Requirements:

CPU with SSE capable instructions (P3,P4, AMD XP) 1.6Ghz or higher
Windows XP or 2003 (won’t work with 9x, ME, or most 2000)
DirectX 9.0b installed
ATI or NVIDIA Graphics card with latest drivers
CD-Rom Drive (if using physical disc)
A game backup in the form of a mounted ISO or CD (autoboot backups only)

Installation Part 1: The Virtual Drive

1) Download the free shareware, Daemon Tools, from the link below. An archive of releases is presented, however version 3.29 is widely believed to be the most stable version for use with Chankast.

http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/download.php?mode=ViewCategory&catid=8

TIP: Once installed, you should see a small icon (red lightning bolt) on your system tray.



2) Right click on the icon, then go to Virtual CD/DVD-ROM. Select “Set number of devices…” from the sub-menu, and find the following submenu:



TIP: Disable means “get rid of all the virtual drives” and the drives 1,2,3,4 represent the amount of drives that can be created. So by clicking on “1 drive” we’d have one virtual CD drive and if we click on “2 drives” we’d have two virtual CD drives. This continues all the way up to four which is the most the program can handle.

3) Select 1 drive and wait for the following screen to clear:



4) Return to the Virtual CD/DVD-ROM sub-menu and find the following new options:



TIP:
a)”Device 0:[F:]No media”: This is the virtual drive that was created. Think of it as a regular CD drive that doesn’t have a CD drive tray. “Device 0” indicates that nothing is loaded. “[F:]” indicates the drive letter that Daemon tools uses. This may vary based on the other drives installed on the computer.
b) Unmount all drives: This option would basically eject the CD from its drive. Since there is no drive and there is no CD, this means that it will release the ISO file it’s currently using to be able to load another ISO file.

5) “Device 0:[F:]No media” has two sub-menus, as seen in the picture above:
a) “Set device parameters” allows you to make tweaks for the CD-Rom drive.
b) Mount Image is the function that imitates inserting a CD-rom into the computer. By selecting this, you navigate your hard drive’s file system and select the ISO file of the game.

6) Once the following screen clears, the ISO game file has been “loaded” into the virtual drive.



Installation Part 2: The Emulator

1) Download the emulator, Chankast, from the following:

http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/dreamcast/chankast.html

2) Download the BIOS files (dc_flash.bin and dc_bios.bin), which you can download in this link:

http://images.snesorama.us/dc_flash.zip
http://images.snesorama.us/dc_bios.zip

Stick the unzipped BIOS files whereever you keep your Chankast folder.

3) Open Chankast. First adjust your options by going to....Options. You can configure your drive here (pointing to the drive you've loaded your image to) as well as your controller (we'll get to that in a minute).

Looking at the Options menu....



'Configure Video' is where you can adjust the video settings to help your game play. If you've visited our Chankast Compatibility list, you'll see that certain games require such adjustments.



'Cable Type' allows you to pick between VGA and NTSC output. Again, some games may require alternating between the two.

'Capcom Hack' is necessary to select if you're playing a game made by Capcom, as it enables Chankast to decrypt these types of games. If you're unsure that your game is Capcom-made, you can check it regardless.

4) Set up the controller. In order to see an easy-to-use interface to assign your buttons, it is necessary to activate Chankast's plugins. Go to 'Plugins', then 'Configure' (as seen below).



On the following screen, select 'Input Interface by ElSemi' from the drop-down menu for 'Input Plugin'. While you're here, you can also select 'CDrom interface aspi' from the 'CDrom Interface' drop-down menu.



If you've selected correctly, the controller menu should appear as below when you go back to 'Options - Configure Controls' in Chankast's main menu:



5) Select your drive. Whether you've loaded a CD or loaded a game onto a virtual drive, you must select the corresponding drive letter in 'Options - Configure Drive'.



6) Time to play. If you've loaded a self-booting game, have the appropriate BIOS, and applied the correct video/cable options, applied the Capcom Hack (if necessary), then press 'Run-Start' on the Chankast main menu.



Now you're in business! If any links become dead or pictures aren't displaying correctly, just PM me.

A.