Neko Project II fmgen and PC-98 Touhou (guide now included)

[Arcorann]

Has anyone tried Xnp2 yet? I figure that a PC-98 emulator that runs Touhou 1-5 natively on Linux and Mac should be of interest to a decent number of people, and I've seen a YouTube video where the person successfully gets MS working.

[Momiji]

I did, but I get STOP errors after the 'ZUN soft' animation no matter what settings I use in it.  I figured this was just a maintained version of the original non-Touhou compatible NP2, but maybe I'm wrong.

[Arcorann]

Here's the YouTube video in question and here's a blog post relating to it in Spanish. Judging from said post the key is enabling IA-32 support before compiling, have a look and see if that works.

[Momiji]

Ohoo, that definitely worked.  Only issue is that the sound is atrocious.  =[

[Arcorann]

Wrote up a guide for installing np2fmgen in the first post. If anyone has any suggestions for things to add, feel free to point them out.

Also, as it turns out np2hma.sys and np2ems.sys don't work on Anex86 or T98-Next. The place where I got them from also included a file called fdxms.sys, which seems to be used as a replacement when using other emulators (it was called in the original config.sys but was redundant when using Neko), and I will upload that file if anyone wants it.

[touhoumaniac]

Thanks for all of this.

For some reason MS is somewhat laggy if there are a lot of bullets on screen. I finished MS extra at midboss with 27% slowdown. The slowdown came from the card monsters.

Got LLS working without lag and PoDD working with the instructions. Sound seems to work perfectly. I can hear stuff that wasn't there with anex.

[Arcorann]

Thanks for all of this.

For some reason MS is somewhat laggy if there are a lot of bullets on screen. I finished MS extra at midboss with 27% slowdown. The slowdown came from the card monsters.

Got LLS working without lag and PoDD working with the instructions. Sound seems to work perfectly. I can hear stuff that wasn't there with anex.

If you're finding large in-game slowdown then increase the CPU multiplier. On Windows you should be able to type any value you want into the drop-down box should you wish to experiment.

[Goldom]

I am having the weirdest issue getting NP21 to work on my new laptop. Sometimes it simply refuses to go fullscreen. Like, it tries, and shows a small frozen image of the game on an otherwise black screen, but then it pops back into a window.

Here's the really bizarre thing. It seems to be tied to the program's path on the drive. In the folder I want it to be in, it kept doing this over and over. So I copied it to the desktop, thinking maybe it was something wrong in the config file that I just moved over from the other PC. And it ran fine. "Aha," I thought, "it was the config file." But nope. The config file had nothing to do with it ultimately, it came down to the folder name I had the program in. It was "np2" and it wouldn't work. I renamed it "np" and it DID work. I renamed it back, and it continued to work though... It's the weirdest thing. It also seems to be having some lag issues that it shouldn't be, because I'm doing the same thing that got it running fine on my slower CPU computer... Maybe some Windows 8 thing, or who knows what. I'll mess with it more later.

Edit: No idea. I've tried a lot of things. The end result is that this computer just doesn't like going fullscreen with the "no change screen resolution" option checked. Either it doesn't work, or it does so after a few second delay, but then the game lags noticeably. This CPU has double the benchmarks of my other one, so it shouldn't be, and I know even its single-threaded abilities are superior because it can play Marine Benefit and the other one can't. But if I want to play fullscreen, I have to uncheck that, causing the game to not fill the screen vertically. Oh well I guess? Can't figure out why or any way around it.

[ZekeSulastin]

What video card do you have?  (Also, are you using the most recent drivers for said video card)

[Goldom]

Well this is a bit late reply. But the laptop has a 675M, but it does the same thing whether I force the game to run on the GPU or let Optimus run it on the Intel HD instead. Drivers... are latest certified by the laptop mfgr. Not the latest per Nvidia's site, but I once tried to update from the stock drivers and it messed up some of the laptop's built in stuff, as laptops are want to do, so that's out.

[NintendoNaut]

I have NPII running fine on Mountain Lion, but I can't get save states to work no matter what I do. I've tried adding "SAVESTAT=1" into the .ini file but no "stat" drop-down appears.

[Arcorann]

Where in the file have you put the line? Ensure that it is within the section labelled [NekoProject21].

[NintendoNaut]

Here's a cap.

[Arcorann]

Ah, I made a mistake in the guide. It should be STATSAVE=true. Sorry about that.

[NintendoNaut]

Hey thanks! Working now! Great guide by the way--It was a huge help.

[oboewan]

Here's some info that may be of use to anyone wishing to play these games:

1. To enable multi-threading (which may or may not help or hinder performance), open up the INI and add the line:
ENHANCED=b00000000000100
to the [NekoProject21] section.

2. If the game seems to stutter slightly, and isn't quite running at 60FPS even though your CPU's not being pegged, this is normal; the PC98 had a native refresh rate of 56.4Hz rather than the 60Hz of nearly all PC displays of today. If by some chance you have a monitor that can display a 56.4Hz signal (mine can't), you can try setting your refresh rate accordingly (you may need to dive deep into your graphics card's settings); otherwise, you're out of luck. I'm pretty sure that Anex and Next get around this by speeding up the game by around 6%, bringing it up to 60Hz.

[[K]KoaMeow]

Had to bump this thread because I have problems with the emulator. So far, following the thread did make the games work, but for some odd reason even after setting the CPUSPEED to 2000, the music is oddly lagging and the game remains at the same pace if I were to set CPU Speed to 800%. Any ways to fix this?

As an added plus, it appears the PC98 port of Doom and Doom II works in this emulator, although it suffers from the sound lag problem like the other Touhou games, and I have no idea why, but they still have this weird beeping noises when playing either two. PC98 Wolfenstein 3D on the emulator outright crashed NekoProject II, however.

[Romantique Tp]

Emulate > Configure then change the sound buffer. Don't set this too low if you don't have an USB or PCI audio card, something between 17 and 70ms should be good enough. 17ms is about 1 frame of delay in a game that runs at 60 FPS.

[[K]KoaMeow]

Yeah, that did the trick on the lag, but the sounds are still playing slowly.

[Arcorann]

Posting to remind myself that official v0.84 has been released, and that the thread with updates to fmgen is here. OP will be edited soon.

While I'm at it, I'll point out that this:

I'm pretty sure that Anex and Next get around this by speeding up the game by around 6%, bringing it up to 60Hz.

is wrong, at least w.r.t. external emulator speed - I checked a while back.

@Koa: (I know this is a bit late, but) Turn on the CPU speed and framerate displays on the title bar, and see whether it's running more slowly than your settings.

[Silent Harmony]

EDIT: Sorry for any inconvenience, I ended up just buying xpadder.

[Totalheartsboy]

Um i have a minor problem, i want to change the keyboard keys for the Touhous game, for example instead of using the arrows i want to use the numpads(since my arrow keyboards are not working).

And in the page mentioned in the main post doesn't mention how to change the key function. So someone can gimme an explanation?

[shockdude]

I recently set up Neko Project II the other day. Great guide btw,
Some notes:
1. The YM2608 samples link is down. I had to get the samples from here instead.
2. PC-98 games were meant to be displayed with a 4:3 aspect ratio, not the widescreen 16:10 that NP2 uses by default. For the most accurate display, switch to a 4:3 resolution (I use a custom 1440x1080 resolution, but 1024x768/1280x960 also works), go to Screen > Screen option > FullScreen, check "No change screen resolution", set Zoom = Full, and click OK. I also enabled Screen > Stretch Filter to smooth out the pixels. Enter fullscreen. Chubby character portraits be gone!
3. F12 toggles mouse emulation, which also hides the mouse cursor in fullscreen.
4. On my PC, I was able to use an 80ms audio buffer instead of 100ms.

Also I use AutoHotkey to remap controls, as I do for all Touhou games.

[DeityDiz93]

Out of curiosity, where do you set all these custom options you've set for your emulator? I know about the trick of clicking the icon/hitting the right arrow while in the Emulate options for window specific settings; however, none of the resolution suggestions you put here are available by default, so what do you do to change the resolution?

Also, Stretch Filter did not work for me on Fullscreen, but personally I don't enable it anyway because I prefer the unaltered pixels. At the very least I could use 80ms audio buffer as well, but I'm not sure how changing that is significant. Anyway, while I already had the samples before the link went dead, thank you for providing a place for others to get them. ＾＾

[shockdude]

Out of curiosity, where do you set all these custom options you've set for your emulator? I know about the trick of clicking the icon/hitting the right arrow while in the Emulate options for window specific settings; however, none of the resolution suggestions you put here are available by default, so what do you do to change the resolution?

Also, Stretch Filter did not work for me on Fullscreen, but personally I don't enable it anyway because I prefer the unaltered pixels. At the very least I could use 80ms audio buffer as well, but I'm not sure how changing that is significant. Anyway, while I already had the samples before the link went dead, thank you for providing a place for others to get them. ＾＾

The lower your audio buffer, the less audio lag (delay between when you do something and the sound effect plays). Too low of a buffer will cause audio crackling and general instability.

By "change resolution", I mean literally change your entire computer's desktop resolution to a 4:3 resolution (e.g. 1024x768, 1280x960).
Modern graphics drivers should let you easily create and use custom resolutions like 1440x1080. Directions should be readily available on Google.

Stretch filter doesn't do anything unless you set "No change screen resolution" in Screen > Screen Option > Fullscreen. Also set Zoom to "Full" so that the game properly fills the screen.


Here's what PoDD's menu looks like at 1024x768, stretch filter on.


Stretch filter off.


For comparison, PoDD at 1366x768 (Zoom set to Adjust Aspect to maintain the 16:10 aspect ratio), stretch filter on. Note the stretching in the kanji, the copyright text, and Reimu's head/body.

[DeityDiz93]

Ah, thank you very much for the clarification! In that case my setup is working well for me, I got a resolution that indeed works with my current monitor without any of the visual issues you demonstrated. ＾＾

Unfortunately, even with the setup you showed for fullscreen, I still could not get Neko Project II to work with the stretch filter on in fullscreen mode, it even crashed at times when trying to enable it, but most of the times it just left me with a black screen, but the stretch filter works just fine in windowed mode. Perhaps there is a specific .exe I should be using as my current one is the np21nt.exe as apposed to the others, but at the same time I much prefer having the stretch filter off anyway, so I'm in no rush to use it. ＾＾;

Hopefully this helps others though as I ultimately prefer the use of Neko Project II and T98-Next. I'm quite thankful for these setup guides.

[Silent Sinner in Scarlet]

Installation
* Download the emulator. There are a few versions that are good for playing Touhou:
** The fmgen version is recommended for general use. This link should guarantee that you have the latest build. Select the first entry in the list labelled np2fmgen.7z.
*** As of 2017-10-12 the latest version is the 2017-10-11 build.

Those links above now return me a 403 Forbidden Access error, thus preventing me from getting np2fmgen. Any alternative links for the latest fmgen build (other than that ridiculously-humongous 2+GB MEGA.NZ upload that has been circulating through Discord)?