Emulating Pioneer LaserActive (Mega-LD) games

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Sat May 26, 2012 5:37 pm

A heads-up: copy of Vajra 2 for any interested collector. This is a rare one, we'd need a copy.

http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b133336092

MNc99 · Post by **MNc99** » Tue May 29, 2012 12:39 am

It can be as rare as it likes, I'm not paying 65 quid for that.

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Tue May 29, 2012 7:21 am

On another note, since I do have a pretty high-end capture card (Canopus ADVC 110, supports S-Video as well), what would be the best stand-alone LD player to buy in order to rip video?

MNc99 · Post by **MNc99** » Tue May 29, 2012 9:35 pm

LAPProject wrote:On another note, since I do have a pretty high-end capture card (Canopus ADVC 110, supports S-Video as well), what would be the best stand-alone LD player to buy in order to rip video?

I think it was mentioned elsewhere that most LDs display the video in such a way that other players would be unable to match it; using the LaserActive with the video feed prepared in the manner specified previously appears to be the best (and only) way to do it.

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:12 am

MNc99 wrote:
LAPProject wrote:On another note, since I do have a pretty high-end capture card (Canopus ADVC 110, supports S-Video as well), what would be the best stand-alone LD player to buy in order to rip video?
I think it was mentioned elsewhere that most LDs display the video in such a way that other players would be unable to match it; using the LaserActive with the video feed prepared in the manner specified previously appears to be the best (and only) way to do it.

The S-Video mod isn't the hard part with the LA. The hard part is tricking it into playing the disc as a normal LD - if you put the disc in with no PAC, it just says "Needs Control Pack" and spits it back out. Any way to get around that screen?

Misty · Post by **Misty** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:14 am

LAPP: Yes, Nemesis commented earlier that his dumping technique also plays the LD video.

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:15 am

Misty wrote:LAPP: Yes, Nemesis commented earlier that his dumping technique also plays the LD video.

Cool. Now I just need one of those nifty one-of-a-kind Genesis-to-USB cables! Oh wait...

But in all seriousness, if he's the only one who can dump the discs, I'll be more than willing to send some of mine off.

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:27 pm

Just posting a reminder that, due to the fact that the video capture device we use is unavailable until September, any of our discs are available for lending.

Nemesis · Post by **Nemesis** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:55 pm

This project is shelved for the next month or so due to a lack of time to work on it. Family life is busy right now, so when I'm at home, I simply don't have the time to do any more work on it right now. I hope to get back to it in a month's time though. I won't ask to borrow any disks until I've completely finished with Space Berserker and I'm totally happy with the video rips, and I'm sure I have enough time to rip any disks that are sent to me in a reasonable time.

MNc99 · Post by **MNc99** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:04 am

Alright. Thanks for keeping us posted.

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:35 am

Nemesis wrote:This project is shelved for the next month or so due to a lack of time to work on it. Family life is busy right now, so when I'm at home, I simply don't have the time to do any more work on it right now. I hope to get back to it in a month's time though. I won't ask to borrow any disks until I've completely finished with Space Berserker and I'm totally happy with the video rips, and I'm sure I have enough time to rip any disks that are sent to me in a reasonable time.

Got all the time in the world here!

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:59 am

Update: When this project resumes again, I now have a copy of Triad Stone to lend if need be.

PsychShaman · Post by **PsychShaman** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:50 am

Finally finished all 10 pages. Very excited about this project! I was playing the other day thinking how it's kind of sad that there won't ever be an emulator for the laseractive, and how few people have actually experienced the laseractive. Luckily google led me here, and all was good again:)

I'm very actively collecting for this system, this is what I currently have:

3-D Museum (jp)
Angel Mate(jp)
Dora Dora Paradise(jp)
Dr. Paolo No Totteoki Video(jp)
Goku(jp)
The Great Pyramid(us)
High Roller Battle(jp)
Hyperion(jp)
I Will: The Story of London(us)
Melon Brains(jp)
Rocket Coaster(us)
Space Berserker(jp)
Triad Stone(us)
Triad Stone(jp)
Vajra(jp)
Virtual Cameraman(jp)
Virtual Cameraman 2(jp)
Zapping TV Satsui(jp)

I'd be more than happy to contribute them to this project.

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:15 pm

I thought I ought to alert you all to an item on Yahoo Auctions that may or may not help with this project.

http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h168535869

These are the floppies that contain the LaserActive Program Editor to be used with Windows 3.1 in conjunction with the PC Interface Module PAC-PC1.

While this may or may not help with eventual emulation, it may indeed provide an insight into how LaserActive system code works.

LAPProject · Post by **LAPProject** » Sat Nov 17, 2012 10:16 am

Good news and bad news on the floppies. Good news is that, through methods I won't disclose, I DID manage to get ahold of their data and it does work correctly in DOSBox.

The BAD news is that the editor proper doesn't want to start since it doesn't detect the PC-1 PAC. And good luck finding that...