Surreal64
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[edit] Surreal64
Surreal64 is a project currently in beta stage that adds the ability to play Nintendo 64 rom packages on a modded Xbox counsel. Currently, the latest version of the software is v.4.95.
[edit] Installation
To install Surreal64, a modded Xbox is required, specifically with the Linux distribution, EvolutionX, or Evox. Users have encountered problems with the emulator being installed to the Xbox, a common issue is the misplacement of the required .xbi system files on the wrong Xbox drive partition. Within the modded Xbox system folders, the initiation files that control the launch and command interpretations are written wrong, thus the user needs to manually use the system to change the file's commands and change the way the Xbox looks for the emulator, (ultimately telling the system to look in drive E: instead of drive C: for example). The easiest method of installation is to burn the program files along with rom files already loaded into the 'rom' folder on the computer. Then, users can use dvd2xbox, a program that rips xbox software from dvd/cd to the counsels hard disk. Generally, the xbox will not recognize the program as an emulator, unless the user changes the .ini file directly on the xbox to recognize the installation folder as an emulation directory, thus the use of the Mod-dash is required to directly access the program.
[edit] Roms
Roms can be found on the internet, at any number of rom databases or forums. These files are simply the "rip" of the original cartridge that the N64 uses, and being digitized, can be burned to a cd or dvd that the Xbox can read. It is then copied from the medium onto the hard drives directory that was created during the installation process.
[edit] Compatibility and Issues
The most problems are encountered with play speed, frame rate, and audio/visual stalling. This is often due to lack of computational resources and because the xbox is running the emulation program in the background, along with graphic/audio render/buffer. Generally the xbox would have no trouble playing N64 games, but due to the fact that it acts much the same way as a personal computer during the emulation, performance can be decreased severely. The xbox must build a page file, and issue RAM and CPU resources to the task twice over.
[edit] External Links
[[1]]Official Surreal Help Thread