Dracula X: Rondo of Blood

[PSP_1001K]

I downloaded this game a while ago from a pc engine site. I also have PCEP v0.7, all of the 22 files (2 iso and 20 wavs), the dracx toc file and Super CD-ROM2 System V3.00 (J).pce.

Now I have no idea what to do with all of these files.

can anyone help?

[Slayer1]

If you've run that game on the Magic Engine emulator for PC, then perhaps it's the same as that procedure, which was fairly simple. Otherwise you may need to combine all those files (apart from the Super CD-ROM2 System V3.00 (J).pce) into an ISO for the emulator to run. I think Nero or Alcohol 120% can do that for you.

[VicViper74]

First, you need to rename each files (iso, mp3) from 01 to 22-
So change first mp3 file to '01' and second iso file to '02' and so on.

and put everything into a folder (toc, renamed 22 files)

now.. run pce emulator on psp and load any normal game (rom), such as gunhed or ninja spirit

then go back to menu again and select toc file on 'cdrom select'
and Super CD-ROM2 System V3[1].00 (J)' on 'rom select' section

then rest is history.

One thing I want to point out is that PCE does run with music, however, the music doesn't repeat (and music's kinda glitchy).
It's also bit slow somehow. So I play Dracula X on Hue instead of PCE.
Now, Hue doesn't produce music (ouch,, I know..) but with 0 frameskip/Vsync on, it plays flawlessly with no subtle slowdown.

Yes, you gotta sacrifice great music,, so it's your call. But I rather wanna play it without music since it's an action game. Anyway, hope this helps

[PSP_1001K]

Thanks!

By the way, if PCEP is really that slow...will setting this game up on HuE be similar?

Also, my games sound is very very glitchy...maybe I should just use HuE.

[VicViper74]

Well, I wouldn't say it's that slow and doesn't affect gameplay considerably.. but it's discernible once you play it on both emulator. Music is alrite but it doesn't repeat and bit glitchy. I'm just very picky when it comes to playing an action game and rather sacrifice music than gameply. So it's really your call.

Anyway, enjoy!

[PSP_1001K]

Hi. How do I set up the files in Hue...I had it set up like PCEP, but it says toc read error.

By the way PCEP won't save my games (using the game save and the save state didn't work).

Thanks for all your help so far friend :)

*nevermind* i got it working.

the sound plays on my HuE....but it is "stracthy" like with PCEP. :Punk:

[VicViper74]

oh, that's great!

there was a readme about how you would have to convert the music file to mp3 through a specific method... and may be that's why mine didn't play music somehow on Hue.

So how's the game play with music on Hue?? Does it play flawlessly?

I don't think save state function works but in-game save works just fine.

[PSP_1001K]

For me it skips just as much as it did with PCEP.

Also HuE had alot of graphical glitches...and it kept locking up.

PCEP won't save...so I guess no more Dracula X... .

[lxs07]

i was trying t oget this game to work a few days ago and had it runing on magicengine demo

then i tried runing it on hugu but i couldnt get it to run because i needed some other program or file

can anybody help me with that??

i stole this from another site sssshh!!! (emuasylum.com)


Recomended emulators I use Magic Engine when I emulate Turbo CD. You might think otherwise, but this guide will be based on it. You can get the trial version of Magic Engine from the Emulator section.


Handling ISO's (Burning) Once you have gotten your hands on a Turbo CD image, there's a few things you can do with it. Prefered thing to do is to burn it to a CD, but you can do somthing else as well.

Some people choose to Emulate a CD drive. The way this works, is you use a program to make another CD drive show up in your "My Computer" section of Windows. The program will then use a CD Image (such as an ISO, CUE, etc.) somewhere on your hard drive and make it usable as the extra CD-Drive. This is great for those who don't want to waste CD-R's on games they only want to try out, and for those who have more than enough space on their hard drives. Program of choice to do this is "Alcohol 120%"

Either way, you will need to figure out what to do with what you have. Under regular circumstances, you would have an ISO and a group of MP3's, maybe even a cue in there. You also might have only 1 ISO. Or a BIN with MP3's, or a BIN alone, or maybe even a RAW. Heres a listing of all known combinations and what to do with them.

ISO(s)/MP3's - This is most common. The first thing you must do is convert all of the MP3's to WAV's. Read the Guide "Converting MP3 to WAV" in the FAQ section for more info. Next, you must create a cue. If one comes packaged, then you can skip this step. Now you must understand, TG16 has a very unique track format. The first track is an audio file, and then comes the ISO file. The rest of the audio files come after this track. You might even get 2 ISO files. If you do, the second ISO will be the last track. To actually write a CUE, refer to the cue writing guide.

BIN/MP3 - Same as above, just regard ISO as BIN.

BIN/CUE - Simple, just load the CUE.

ISO (alone) - Simply just load the ISO file.

RAW (any) - This is the same as a bin. Either keep it this way or rename it to BIN.

CCD/SUB - This format is used by the program, "Clone CD".

NRG - Used by the program, "Nero".

Next, you must either burn or emulate your cd image. Recomended programs for a CUE file are Alcohol 120%/CDR Win.



Using Magic Engine: There is a thing that you must first do to get this running. You need to configure the the CD Drive Letter that you will be using. Open the "Pce.ini" file, and scroll down until you find "drive_letter=". Here, you would enter what drive letter you will be using (and make sure you know what letter it is if you are emulating a drive). For instance, if I was using drive J, I would enter "drive_letter=J:".

After this, you would open the program and "boot" a cd (after you configured the controls). Have fun!

[PSP_1001K]

Anyone know how to fix the save glitch?

[VicViper74]

psp 1000K, that's strange... why don't you delete all the mp3 files and just play with two iso files? (I deleted all the mp3 to save space since music doesn't play on Hue anyway) May be it's the mp3 files that's causing that slowdown.

Like I mentioned before it plays flawlessly with no slowdown with 0 frameskip and Vsync on on Hue. Anyway, playing the most revered Castlevania series, only next to SotM, with glitchy music really bothers me-

I don't know why you are having problem with saving because I can play from the last stage I played even if I just turn off PSP.
Have you finished first level ??(the boss is fire-spitting flying dragon) Try to finish first level and just turn it off, and see if it saves automatically or not because it should.

lxs07, magic engine is in no doubt the best emulator to run any pce/turbo 16 CD games. However, it takes bit of different procedures to run it on PSP. For example, you need toc file instead of cue files for PSP. (but nice tutorial for those who want to run it on PC) Also providing link/info where you got rom/iso is against the policy and you could get ban if you didn't know.

Anyway, personally I think running CD games like PC Engine CD, Neogeo CD are simply incredible. Just wish that it would've been real nice if Dracula X could run perfectly with music.

[PSP_1001K]

Hey VicViper.

I'm going to try deleting the mp3s...actually that might work. I have heard the save states glitch because it's trying to load the music (or something like that).

I have beaten the first boss in the second stage, the flying dragon (normal route) and I purposely died and saved. When I went to the menu my save was there. Reseting the system also reset my save files.

HuE...well...i haven't even gotten far enough to get the game to work (HuE 0.7 does not work with fanjita's eboot loader 0.85 ot 0.9 so I am using the alpha version of HuE). Let me tell you, rightfully so, alpha is really really unstable, especially in Eboot Loader.

You are using v1.5 with HuE v0.7 aren't you? If you are using 2.0 tell me your secret! (Maybe earlier version of HuE/eboot loader?)

[VicViper74]

Oh.. that's explains everything then..

It's probably because of different firmware. Yes, I'm using 1.5. Loading games thru
Eboot Loader is probably causing that slowdown/save problem.

I haven't used Eboot Loader yet, but I know that there's difference between 1.5 and 2.0. I know this because recent release of SNES TYL performce differently depends on the firmware.

Well, good luck bro- and I'm sure updated Eboot Loader will be released, fixing those problems, eventually.

[PSP_1001K]

I got the saves to work!

It appears you need to exit the emulator for it to save. At the exit screen press circle.

Also, the saving with the save state doesn't work once you've loaded a save state.

I'm going to go enjoy Rondo of Blood.

By the way, are there any translation projects for RoB. I found one site that patched the ISO to change the intro, but that's it.

[VicViper74]

ahhh.. I'm glad you got it to work at last!

Yeah, I always exit emulator thru 'exit' function, rather than 'home' button (because it takes less time)

You know, Castlevania series has been one of my all time favorite along with Metroid.
I recently finished Aria of Sorrow again (It was probably my 4th completion.. make sure play it on 'HARD' because it's definitely harder) and working on third Castlevania from NES. I haven't played any of PS2 version of Castlevania because I don't like 3D games... however, will play them once they make it good enough like Metroid Prime on GameCube. and Dracula X: Rondo of Blood is one hell of a hard game for me.

anyway, glad it works for you finally and thanks for starting this whole discussion because it reminded me again how good those old Castlevania games were... and playing them again!

[PSP_1001K]

No problem Viper, thanks for all the help!

I don't have any of the GBA Castlevania games...I got the system after they went out of print.

Whenever I see a copy of one of them used at EB Games I don't have the money. I am currently waiting for a GBA emulator with decent speed so I can enjoy the newer 2d Castlevania's :)

[yamabigdog]

I got the files , all renamed, with a text file ToC, cannot get anything to show up on PSP menu. I know the ROM is good seen it work on another PC. Please any help? I got the SUper CD ROM thing it works, but just cannot get anything in the DracX folder to show up on the Loader Menu. Thanks.

[VicViper74]

I got the files , all renamed, with a text file ToC, cannot get anything to show up on PSP menu. I know the ROM is good seen it work on another PC. Please any help? I got the SUper CD ROM thing it works, but just cannot get anything in the DracX folder to show up on the Loader Menu. Thanks.

make sure the extension is toc. place the cursor on 'toc' file and see if it displays 'toc file'. if not, then you need to change the extension to toc.

good luck

[mstrhelix]

yes i've tried as well and the Dracx.toc will not show up in the list for the life of me and it is named dracx.TOC so i'm runniing out of ideas.

[VicViper74]

yes i've tried as well and the Dracx.toc will not show up in the list for the life of me and it is named dracx.TOC so i'm runniing out of ideas.

that's where most of people make mistake, including myself.
naming it by adding toc at the end of it is not gonna cut it.
for example, by renaming it 'dracx.TOC' is not gonna make a file toc file.
you have to make sure the extension is toc.

I'll tell you what;

go to My Computer, tool, folder option, view, and uncheck the box that hides extension. then try to name it with 'toc' extension.

let me know if you are still having problem.

good luck

[yamabigdog]

OMFG!!! WoW, yet another dream come true! Thanks VicViper your solution worked 100%. Appreciate the help.

[yamabigdog]

Also does the sound/music work better on a 1.5? Im currently using 2.0 with Fanjitas Eboot 0.96. I'd plunk down the cash for another PSP for this alone, but also to run SNES9xTYL better ^ ^.

[yamabigdog]

Yes Castlevania is my Fav series of all time. I can help you find copies of the GBA ones PSP1001K if you havent found. I have purchased all 3, CotM, HoD, AoS. All 3 equally good, and stand well on their own. Though for emulation purposes only CotM is best cuz it has a darker color pallette(gets hard on the old winkers after 20 mins on a GBA). Anyways, I hope some1 fixes the sound, its really quite a nice soundtrack for a Castlevania. Nice reworked themes. Don't think many people will spend time on a system with one calling card game =-( hehe. I am currently playing it with volume turned down about halfway or so, not as noticeable. Seems to play faster once the music track has ended, so I'd imagine close to full speed if you remove the .mp3's.

[VicViper74]

Also does the sound/music work better on a 1.5? Im currently using 2.0 with Fanjitas Eboot 0.96. I'd plunk down the cash for another PSP for this alone, but also to run SNES9xTYL better ^ ^.

I haven't used 2.0 yet so I can't really tell you from objective perspective.
However, I can tell you that music on 1.5 doesn't repeat and it's kinda glitchy on PCE (it becomes annoying..). It also has this very subtle slowdown... so I play it on Hue, which doesn't play music but with no slowdown whatsoever. You will see the difference once you play it on Hue instead of PCE.

I believe there's no much of difference between 1.5 and 2.0.

Well, glad to be your help and enjoy :mrgreen:

[yamabigdog]

Just a quick history lesson on why I wanted this ROM to work so badly. I was in 7th grade, in '93 when a friend of mine first showed me this game. He was the rich kid who had all the newest systems(Neo-Geo, PCE-CD, Genesis, Sega CD, etc. He pumped his fully equiped stereo system hooked up to the widescreen, and turned out the lights...When the intro starts, it's in German, but as a kid it sounded like pure evil. CV being my fav series I just drooled at how good this game looks/plays. Knowing I could never afford this system I played it all weekend, no sleep. Long after my friend passed out I stayed up late into the early morning hours. Could never get the emulator working on my PC, that would be sweet. Oh Well, cheers to homebrew, and cheers to PSP!

[Trigun]

i've gotten it to work multiple times just without music and it pisses me off. castlevania without music just isn't CASTLEVANIA....if you even want to check my crazyness about castlevania.. just look at my profile page..

[Drathian]

I'm a big castlevania fan too, check out my page if you haven't already, at the dungeon I go by the name Dracul.

http://de.geocities.com/daemonschlos...la/index2.html

http://www.demoncastledracula.tk/

[Trigun]

nice site but last time i check . metroids were from metroid

[Drathian]

LOL, yeah I just though't I'd add it for fun, its not completely a castlevania site (also my home page), but mostly. ;)

I almost have as many games as you only thing I'm missing is the slipcover version of Rondo, and some of the older not standard pc versions like the 68k, commodore, amiga, and dos pc game, I do have the konami C&C collection though .

[Trigun]

nice isn't it?yeah i'm totally obsessed with castlevania but i don't try to show it. usually i show my other 3 obsessions rpgs, Halo and FF