@Gabriel Belmont -- So far, everything I've thrown at it has run full speed from the backup disc. 100% speed. Not bad for an old MacBook Pro.
Additionally, it's not about pretending. I'm working on a project where when one drops in a PC game, any [supported] PC game, it will identify, self-install if necessary, then launch, much like a console. It's all about the drop and play. I saw no reason not to add support for the PSX, PS2, GameCube/Wii, and Saturn. The other three work now, drop and play and everything. Dolphin is too good an emulator NOT to include.
@LPFaint99 -- Thank you for what you've shared. That works better than my way of making Dolphin launch and start the disc in the drive. Here's how this works: when a disc is dropped in, I've set AutoPlay to run my script that checks out the disc to determine what it is (PC game disc, if so which one; Saturn disc; PSX disc; etc.). When the disc type is determined, the system launches the correct program (if a PC game, it launches a script that auto-installs the game, then launches it. If a Saturn game, it launches the emulator and boots the disc, etc.) Again, very console like.
The problem is that Windows doesn't recognize that I've even put a disc in the drive, so my script that checks the disc type is never called. The user could always do it manually, but that defeats the purpose. The question, now, is how to get the system to recognize that I've even inserted a disc at all so it can call the script to determine it's a Wii/GC disc and go from there.
Thank you all for your help thus far. If you're curious, you can read more at http://openextreme.net76.net
The site is currently on a free host. I intend to move to a paid host soon, but finances are a bit of a problem. The short end is that it's open source, so everyone submits a script or few for different PC games, resulting in A LOT of PC games supported.
For now, I have put LPFaint99's shortcut idea to use with basically a batch file on the desktop. Drop in a game, double click that, and boom, off you go. Maybe some future development in Windows or Dolphin or something will be able to read the disc structure without requiring a special drive to do it. Until then, this is about as close as I guess it's gonna get.
Additionally, it's not about pretending. I'm working on a project where when one drops in a PC game, any [supported] PC game, it will identify, self-install if necessary, then launch, much like a console. It's all about the drop and play. I saw no reason not to add support for the PSX, PS2, GameCube/Wii, and Saturn. The other three work now, drop and play and everything. Dolphin is too good an emulator NOT to include.
@LPFaint99 -- Thank you for what you've shared. That works better than my way of making Dolphin launch and start the disc in the drive. Here's how this works: when a disc is dropped in, I've set AutoPlay to run my script that checks out the disc to determine what it is (PC game disc, if so which one; Saturn disc; PSX disc; etc.). When the disc type is determined, the system launches the correct program (if a PC game, it launches a script that auto-installs the game, then launches it. If a Saturn game, it launches the emulator and boots the disc, etc.) Again, very console like.
The problem is that Windows doesn't recognize that I've even put a disc in the drive, so my script that checks the disc type is never called. The user could always do it manually, but that defeats the purpose. The question, now, is how to get the system to recognize that I've even inserted a disc at all so it can call the script to determine it's a Wii/GC disc and go from there.
Thank you all for your help thus far. If you're curious, you can read more at http://openextreme.net76.net
The site is currently on a free host. I intend to move to a paid host soon, but finances are a bit of a problem. The short end is that it's open source, so everyone submits a script or few for different PC games, resulting in A LOT of PC games supported.
For now, I have put LPFaint99's shortcut idea to use with basically a batch file on the desktop. Drop in a game, double click that, and boom, off you go. Maybe some future development in Windows or Dolphin or something will be able to read the disc structure without requiring a special drive to do it. Until then, this is about as close as I guess it's gonna get.