I am by no means an expert on the subject but I know how emulation works. I wanted to write this as a topic that could be pinned for newcomers to read before they start asking for PS2, Gamecube, and DC emulators.

Every system has it's own unique and different hardware. And each system has it's own individual coding methods and SDKs. So obviously you can't just play a PS2 game on the XBox and so on. Because the coding is different and written for a different set of hardware.

What an emulator does is recreates the specific hardware for another system with software. And then that software runs on the hardware of the host system. So just imagine for a second. Two systems that are just about on par with each other as far as speed goes. The only way to get full speed would be to have the true hardware for the system. Software could never hope to emulate a system that is close to the same speed as the host hardware. For a good example, think of hardware rendering vs software rendering...which is faster? The hardware of course.

Another way to think of it is when you put a game in your PS2, the game just runs right off the hardware. If you were trying to emulate it on the XBox, first it would go into the software and have it's code and commands changed to the native language of the XBox, and then that new code would be run. And being that the systems are so closely matched in speed, the emulation would be very, very, very unplayably slow. And the problem with PS2 emulation is there really isn't even a working one for the PC yet.

Now why can older systems be emulated? Because compared to a PS2, their hardware is very simple to manage with an emulator. The XBox can manage the code fast enough to keep the game going at a steady clip. I know this isn't an in depth explanation, but I thought I would put it in laymen's terms.

Basically...here is the gist of what I just said...PS2, Dreamcast, and especially Gamecube emulation is not going to happen on the XBox. It just can't handle it. Granted one could be made, but it would be so slow and ugly it wouldn't even be worth the effort.

Anyways...case closed...after reading this there should be no reason for anyone to ask questions about why PS2 emulation can't be done.

Thank you whoever pinned this. I am honored

It is really shocking the bumber of people who's problem solving skills are good enough to set up a modded XBOX, or even mod it themselves, but can't understand why you will NEVER see Gamecube let alone Dreamcast on the XBOX.
You have the speed ton consider, and the RAM, the RAM being the harder to explain.
Also, many people believe that if the N64 can be emulated, then the Dreamcast should be emulatable as well, what they fail to understand is that the Dreamcast is FAR more advanced than the N64, I guess you would have to own one and play the better titles that came out for it to see. Give the Dreamcast a DVD ROM for extra storage space, and it could easily compete with a PS2 any day!

but what if i nail roadkill to my xbox and wear an onion on my belt? then could i emulate xbox2 on my xbox?

Yep, the total internal memory for a dc comes to ~35MB alone (this is what my savestates come to anyhow uncompressed), and then there is a lot more ram required for the program itself, aswell processing ram, cached texture storage,etc... and a half-decent dynarec alone would want a lot more megabytes too.
Its just not feasible.

Nevertheless the fact that on ~2ghz systems we get 10-15fps only

This post has been edited by CyRUS64: May 17 2003, 10:24 AM

Is XBOX2 going to be able to run XBOX1 games (& software) ?? If so, that's the only way I can picture a PS2, DC or Gamecube emulator being worth the effort. Working on them now knowing that they'll eventually run on an XBOX2.

*Smacks rhawk79*

yea that's true, for a port, obviously there are no working pc emulators so there's nothing to port in the first place. i was saying that in case anybody is trying to build one for the xbox from the ground up.

QUOTE (lucas @ May 17 2003, 11:14 AM)

but what if i nail roadkill to my xbox and wear an onion on my belt? then could i emulate xbox2 on my xbox?

dont ever reply to any of my quotes telling me I act like a child.

As for the topic at hand yes you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Its never going to happen on our xbox's anyway. Or most of your PC'S for that matter. And thats even if a ps2 or DC emu even existed. Possibly if the xbox 2 (or any other next generation system) is hackable it just could happen. But I would imagine you will need a PC at least 2x more powerfull than the current console you are trying to emulate to enjoy it.

As for emulating a n64 saturn psx or a 3d0 pcfx (last generation systems) that however is possible (Though there are a few emulators on my list not currently emulated) as they are older and obsolete compared to the power of our pesonal computers and now xbox's!

Just had to throw my 2 cents in, adiods.

This post has been edited by dmb062082: May 18 2003, 01:25 AM

Saturn is tough but girigiri has shown it potentially possible. However Saturn gfx has to be cpu rendered so the celeron 733mhz would struggle even with that - unlike n64 where the dlists/alists can be hle'd saving a *lot* of cpu resources, and putting the xbox's powerful gfx card to use
Once Satourne has a good dynarec then we'll see.

QUOTE

thats 10-15 fps for a highly unoptimized engine. eventually im sure we could get a near full speed emu on say a 2.6ghz comp

Certainly on some games we are aiming for ~2ghz, but a celeron 733 is still out of the question =)

just have to say well said deusprogrammer