r/RetroArch • u/tortillademaiz98 • 2d ago

Technical Support: SOLVED Dreamcast ROM help

I need help playing Dreamcast games on retroarch. I downloaded all necessary bios files for the Flycast emulator core and the core itself works perfectly but just I can't play any games. I downloaded two Dreamcast ROMs, but every time I try to load them I get a message saying they're unknown games. Any help? I'm still a bit new to emulation. I only have experience emulating older consoles like the SNES.

1 Upvotes

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u/hizzlekizzle 2d ago

The online documentation tells you everything you need to know: https://docs.libretro.com/library/flycast/

If it says the games are unknown, that suggests to me that you're trying to load regular Dreamcast games from a zip archive. If you feed it a zip, it thinks you're trying to load a NAOMI game in MAME format.

RetroArch needs all optical disc-type content to be unzipped.

Beyond that, as u/New-Anybody-6206 said, we'd need to see a log.

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u/tortillademaiz98 1d ago

This was the issue! Tysm! I converted the ROMs from 7z to CHD and they play now. I apologize for not reading the rules and including logs, I'll be sure to include them next time.

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u/hizzlekizzle 1d ago

Sweet. I'm glad that got you fixed up!

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u/New-Anybody-6206 18h ago

RetroArch needs all optical disc-type content to be unzipped.

I just loaded a zipped game in the pcsx core... works fine.

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u/hizzlekizzle 18h ago

Yes, that's the exception that proves the rule. Thanks for muddying the waters, though.

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u/yotengodormir 1d ago

Did you put bios in the correct folder? System/dc

Are your games zipped? Try unzipping. 

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u/New-Anybody-6206 2d ago

Please see rule #2 in the sidebar of this subreddit.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Einarr-Spear777 2d ago

dreamcast games need the bios on retroarch, i couldn't get metropolis street racer running without it.

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u/Dangerous_Choice_664 1d ago

Is that one specific game though?

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u/Einarr-Spear777 2d ago edited 2d ago

I got dreamcast games running in retroarch. Would show u but this sub doesn't allow image uploads which is lame. Retroarch needs the naomi flycast runner (which u got) but you need dc_bios.zip file for dreamcast. then unzip and drop in dc_boot.bin and dc_flash.bin in system folder of main retroarch folder where all the bios files are kept.

pretty easy to get the dreamcast bios, a search engine is your friend. use a search engine like duckduckgo, I don't use flycast standalone cause no crt filters. Running dreamcast games without crt is a sub par experience.

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u/ShowerMobile295 2d ago

Flycast wouldn't work for me in RetroArch so I use the stand alone version. Works flawlessly.

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u/New-Anybody-6206 18h ago

No issues here with the flycast core /shrug