Related Pages * RG351M/P - Tips, Help & Resources
EmuElec is not the only operating system that will run on Rock Chip RK336 CPU’s, same chipset used on the RG351M/P, RK2020 & RGB10. In my opinion, this operating system has a lot more to offer over EmuElec for these devices, including:
- Several more emulators pre-installed (including Daphne: plays Space Ace, Dragon’s Lair and others)
- Over the air updates
- Improved user interface (
- Faster game exit (press SELECT+START twice easily exists any Retro Arch emulator)
- much more…
Table of Contents
Installation Instructions
Instead of repeating the great work already well-documented by Christian Haitian (Author of ArkOS), pick your operating system of choice for creating the image (Windows 10, Mac OS X or Linux from here). Follow along, I recommend installing ArkOS to a totally new microSD, do not overwrite your EmuElec microSD that you are currently using and may have setup. See the Download Links section for the download appropriate for the device you’ll be using.
After following his instructions to get ArkOS installed, the information below will assist further.
Daphne on ArkOS
Your ArkOS installation can also play those laser disk games from years ago, games like: Dragon’s Lair or Space Ace and more! The instructions below will attempt to help you get these two games up and running quickly and as easily as possible. It’s not extremely easy, but the games appear to run well once you get the files converted properly.
These instructions will assume that you have a legal copy of Dragon’s Lair 20th Anniversary Special Edition (DVD) which includes the games mentioned above. If you don’t have a copy, they are not being produced anymore but may be found below :
- Amazon (used) – This is the exact copy you see in my video.
- ebay – at least, at the time of this writing. This is where I bought my copy.
- There may be others, search for “Dragon’s Lair 20th Anniversary Special Edition (DVD)”
Resources
- The instructions that follow are based on the excellent information by David Knight which may be found here.
- Daphne Emulator website
- Daphne Emulator Wiki
- Digital Leisure – Owner’s of the Dragon’s Lair trilogy intellectual property.
- More about Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace on Wikipedia.
Setup Instructions
- Go to daphne-emu.com, select Download and download the .zip (for Windows)
- You’ll need the rom file for the game(s) you want to play. I can’t link to roms here, so you’ll have to search for something like “dragon’s lair rom download for daphne” or similar keywords.
- Create a folder on your computer such as C:\daphne using Windows Explorer.
- Unzip the contents of daphne-1.0v-win32.zip to your daphne folder you created above.
- Insert the Game DVD/CD into the drive.
- Browse to your C:\Daphne sub-folder and double-click on DaphneLoader.exe (If prompted to update, allow the update to occur).
- Select the game from the Daphne Loader you want to install. In my case, I’ll select Dragon’s Lair. Then, click the Start! button.
- You’ll be prompted to insert one of the following: (Game Name) 20th Anniversary – DVD-Video, (Game Name) – DVD-Video, ROM or Video-PAL. Make sure the disk is in the CD/DVD drive and click the OK button.
- The Daphne Loader will then search the disk to validate your copy of the game. This will take some time, so be patient. At this point, the Daphne Loader may also begin downloading additional files that may be needed, allow it to continue.
- Once completed, the game will try to start. Press a key to allow it to continue. Then, once the game starts playing, close the emulator.
- The resulting files will be located in C:\daphne\vldp_dl with a sub directory for ace (Space Ace), lair (Dragon’s Lair), etc.
- Download the static build of FFmpeg from this page.
- Create a subdirectory in your c:\daphne sub-folder called ffmpeg and unzip the archive in that sub folder.
- Open a command prompt (right-click the Windows button and select Run). Type “CMD” (without quotes) and press ENTER.
- Type or copy/paste (CTL+V will paste into the command window) “set PATH=%PATH%;C:\daphne\ffmpeg\bin” (without quotes). This will append the path to the bin sub folder which contains the ffmpeg.exe. *NOTE – If you have any trouble later, make sure you have this path correct.
- Type or copy/paste “cd c:\daphne\vldp_dl\[game directory]” where game directory is ace, lair, etc.
- I recommend creating a subfolder in the game folder and making a backup copy of the .m2v file(s) before issuing the commands below. By doing this, you’ll have a copy of the original file for use with other systems (i.e. RetroPie, etc.)
- From the command prompt, issue Command 1 (copy the full text below and press CTL+V to paste into the command window). *NOTE: The video file will then be converted, the file size will be roughly half the original size, once completed.
- From the command prompt, issue Command 2 (copy the full text below and press CTL+V to paste into the command window).
Commands
Dragon's Lair ffmpeg -i lair.m2v -b:v 2000k -vcodec mpeg2video -filter:v yadif -s 320x240 lair.mpg ffmpeg -i lair.mpg -vcodec copy -an lair.m2v Space Ace ffmpeg -i ace.m2v -b:v 2000k -vcodec mpeg2video -filter:v yadif -s 320x240 ace.mpg ffmpeg -i ace.mpg -vcodec copy -an ace.m2v
- Next, copy the gamename.zip (.zip rom file you downloaded earlier) as well as the gamename.txt (frame file), gamename.ogg (audio file) and the gamename.m2v (video file) from the c:\daphne\vldp_dl\[game name] sub directory to a subdirectory on your microSD card in the /EASYROMS partition. The path will be /daphne/lair.daphne or /daphne/ace.daphne (create the lair.daphne and/or ace.daphne sub folders in the location specified).
- Next, copy the lair.zip or ace.zip to the /daphne/roms sub folder (this is necessary for it to work).
- Re-insert the microSD running ArkOS into your device.
- Select the Daphne emulator.
- You’ll be prompted “Press ‘Y’ to Parse video…”, press the START button. The video file will then be processed, this will only need to be done once and will take a minute or two.
- Once processed, the game should load. It may take about 20-30 seconds before you see something happening.
- See the next section for assistance with the game Controls.
- That’s it!
Controls
| Control | Function |
| D-Pad or Left Stick | Directional movement |
| START+SELECT | Exit the game |
| START | Start the game |
| SELECT | Insert a coin |
| A | Sword / Shoot |
| R | Pause |