Is there really no way around using Daemon v3.29?

[Cerune]

I'm trying to get Chankast to work, have been for some time, but I seem to be stopped by one problem after another. The ISO I'm trying to run is Skies of Arcadia. It was the eschelon version, so I found the patch and ran that, so now I have everything I'm supposed to need, except for the correct version of Daemon Tools. I have the patched game image, the original eschelon version, and daemon tools v3.47, is there any way to take the images and make them work without mounting them with daemon tools? The reason I ask is because v3.27 invariably crashes my computer upon installation, then after I reboot mistakenly brings up the install new hardware wizard, and then finally refuses to start daemon tools at all. I've tried looking for solutions to this problem, but what I could find was heavily made up of technical phrases and acronyms that I do not understand, leaving me unable to use v3.27. Is there any way to get around the necessity to use this?

Also, in case it sheds light on my problem, I have another constant problem with the emulator that no one else on the internet seems to have ever mentioned (according to google searches), and that is that when I ever for any reason access the system browser (the thing you go to when you don't have a game in the system) or when it's supposed to show the Dreamcast Logo Scene, all I ever see is a plain, single-color background, random simplistic triangles, and nothing but blank space wherever text should be displayed.

 

[Agozer]

What graphics card do you have?

Note that you shouldn't even be using Chankast. Try nullDC.

 

[SegNin]

I have the same problem that you have.
If I try to install Daemon 3.xx (including 3.29) on my comp then it BSOD's on restart and if I try to run Daemon Tools 3.xx I get a "Virtual SCSI Driver not found".

Apparently the makers of Daemon Tools fixed this problem in the 4.xx series, but never fixed it in 3.29.

And if you try to run a patched game in ChanKast with anything other than Daemon Tools 3.29, then you get that annoying IoControl error.

So, you have 4 options:

Use NullDC (which is already a better emulator than ChanKast)
http://forums.ngemu.com/nulldc-discussion/87533-nulldc-v1-0-0-public-beta-1-a.html

Use ChanKastEx which has a workaround for the IoControl error:
Configure > Advanced > Don't report CD errors.
http://chankex.esmartdesign.com/install.html

You could also try DEmul, though this emulator isn't quite as good as the other 2 (yet):
http://demul.emulation64.com/

Finally you can buy a real DreamCast cheap and it will play burned games as long as it's either a European model, or if it's a US model, it has a manufacturing date at or before October 2000.

One last warning: if when you install Daemon Tools 3.29 you get that BSOD on restart, when the New Hardware wizard pops up on the next restart, DO NOT try to install any new hardware (instead click cancel) and if you see that "Virtual SCSI Driver not found" error when you try to use Daemon Tools 3.29 afterwards, then you know that 3.29 (or any of the 3.xx series) isn't going to work on your comp, so you better just uninstall 3.29 and use the latest version instead.

IF YOU TRY TO INSTALL NEW HARDWARE AFTER GETTING THAT BSOD, YOU WILL SCREW UP YOUR COMP AND EITHER HAVE TO GO BACK TO A PREVIOUS SYSTEM RESTORE POINT OR RE-INSTALL XP.

 

[Cerune]

Thank you for your help, nullDC looks promising, but *sigh* now I need to find dc_flash.bin. I found out that the other needed file (dc_boot.bin) was just a renamed version of the dc_bios that Chankast used, is the dc_flash file also just a re-naming of something I should already have somewhere, or a special requirement of this particular emulator?

 

[Agozer]

All Dreamcast emulators need the Dc_flash.bin file.

Anyway, judging by the graphical errors you see in the BIOS menu would suggest that you have an integrated Intel video chip or at least something very similar. If this is true then you can forget about trying to get any of the three prominent Dreamcast emulators working properly.

 

[Cerune]

I do....Darn you Dell and your horrible "Gaming PC" that doesn't even have a decent video card -_- All that work for nothing, oh well, thanks for letting me know at least.