GUIDE AMC DDH (Dolphin Development Hardware) FAQ

The official faq
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Dolphin Development Hardware
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Q: My DDH displays anEon the front panel indicator and will not respond to loadrun or stop commands. Why is this?

A: Most likely, the [font=&quot]main. abe [/font]file is missing or corrupted.

This file contains the firmware for the DDH disk emulation hardware. This firmware is loaded from the emulation drive when the DDH is powered up. If the firmware is missing or corrupted, you will see the 'E' on the front panel indicating the error.

To correct this, go to:

[font=&quot]Start|Programs|gameOptix DVD Development Kit |Restore DDH System Files[/font]

and follow the instructions. Please ensure that you have properly partitioned and formatted the emulation drive first. See the AMC Getting Started Guide for details on the appropriate partition and format requirements.

It's also possible that the DDH cannot access the emulation disk or that an exception occurred. You can check for this by attaching a serial terminal to the AMC console output, located on the back of the DDH near the main system cable. If you observe error messages on the console after the DDH has been power cycled, please contact Nintendo Software Development Support Group for assistance.

Q: All of the demos crash when I try to run them on the DDH. Why is this?

A: Most likely the DDK either cannot find the apploader or it is using the wrong apploader.

In order for DDH to function, it requires that both the gameOptix DDK and GCN SDK be installed on your host system. The apploader is provided by the GCN SDK.

Furthermore, the GCN SDK must be installed for the appropriate hardware platform (HW2).

To ensure that the DDK is using the correct apploader, at the command line type the following:

[font=&quot]getapploaderpath[/font]

The following path should be returned by this command:

[font=&quot]GCN SDK install path[/font][font=&quot]/HW2/boot/apploaderD.img[/font]

where [font=&quot]GCN SDK install path [/font]is the location where you have installed the latest GCN SDK.


[font=&quot]
[/font] Q: When I run a sample program, it "goes crazy" without any input from the controller. Why is this?

A: Please ensure that you have set the PAD specification appropriately. From the command line, type:

[font=&quot]setpadspec [/font][font=&quot]n[/font]

where [font=&quot]n [/font]is the appropriate PAD specification. For example, if you are using a DS5 controller, you would enter:

[font=&quot]setpadspec 5[/font]

Q: Can I use a nested DVD root directory?

A: The previous DDK release (version 2.1.2) contained a bug in which nested DVD root directories could cause problems. This has been corrected in the latest release.
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Q: I cant see the emulation drive from my host PC. Whats wrong?

A: There are several possibilities:

If you cannot see the drive from the host PC's BIOS setup, please check the following:

·[font=&quot] [/font]Ensure that the DDH system main cable is securely connected to the PCI interface card.

·[font=&quot] [/font]Ensure that the IDE controllers are enabled in the host PC's BIOS. If you are using all SCSI

drives and your BIOS cannot support IDE controllers concurrently, you will need to up‑

date the BIOS.

·[font=&quot] [/font]Ensure that the power cable for the PCI interface card is securely connected.

·[font=&quot] [/font]Ensure that the IDE cable from the PCI interface card is securely connected to an IDE

channel connector on the motherboard. Furthermore, ensure that no other devices are

connected to the IDE cable.

If you can see the emulation drive from the host PC's BIOS setup but cannot see it from Windows:

·[font=&quot] [/font]Ensure that the "IDE ATA/ATAPI" and "Disk drives" devices have been enabled under the Windows Device Manager.

Q: Sometimes my host PC locks up when I copy data to the emulation drive, or the data is corrupted. Whats wrong?

A: If you experience reliability problems when copying files to the DDH emulation drive, you may be using an unsupported transfer mode. Please see the compatibility matrix located on page A-21 of the AMC_DDK.PDF(p/n 24-75051-03) document.

If you continue to experience reliability problems, try setting the access mode to "PIO only". For Windows 2000, open the Device Manager:

[font=&quot]Control Panel |Administrative Tools |Computer Management |Device Manager[/font]

Select the appropriate IDE channel for your emulation drive under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" and go to the advanced settings. Set Transfer Mode to "PIO Only". Note that you will have to restart your PC.


[font=&quot]
[/font] You can also try to reseat the main system cable between DDH and the PCI interface card in your host PC. Note that you must power down both DDH and the PC before disconnecting this cable.

Q: Can I configure the emulation drive as a dynamic disk? (Windows 2000 only)

A: No. You must configure the emulation drive as a basic disk with a single primary partition. Please note that converting a drive to a dynamic disk is a one-way process. Reverting the drive requires a low-level format which the Windows Computer Management utilities do not support.

Q: Can I have more than one partition on the emulation drive?

A: No, you must configure the emulation drive with only a single primary partition. Q: I cant see anything from the serial output of the DDH. Whats wrong?

A: Ensure that you have connected your debug terminal to the serial output at the bottom of the back panel of the DDH. The serial output located near the main system cable is the command console for the emulation drive.

Q: How do I change the console country code for DDH?

A: In the latest DDK release, you can change the country code by editing the file AMC.CFG, located in the root directory of the emulation drive. Under the heading "Configuration Defaults", look for entry [118]. For example, to change the country code to Japan, modify the line so it looks like this:

[font=&quot][118][/font][font=&quot] 00000001 // default country code 0 usa, 1 japan[/font]

For USA, modify the line so that it looks like this:

[font=&quot][118] 00000000 // default country code 0 usa, 1 japan[/font]

Please note that the console country code is different from the disc country code. The disc country code can be set using the "setcountrycode" bash script provided in the GCN SDK.
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The DDH does not compare the console and disc country codes. Production systems, however, will verify that the codes match before loading the game app from disc.

For DDH, the console country code will only dictate what language the IPL bootrom will display and what IPL font can be used by the game application.

Q: When I try to loadrun an application, I receive an error "152 LockDrive: Failed to create process". Whats wrong?

A: This problem most frequently occurs because a loadrun was terminated by the user (by hitting control+break). Power cycling the host PC and DDH can restore the system. Or, if you are using Windows 2000, you may restart the emulation service manually:

[font=&quot]Control Panel |Administrative Tools |Services[/font]

Select emulation drve, then right click and select Stop. Wait for the service to stop, then right click and select start.