Pc98 emulators tutorial revision.

[ZephyrBlack]

PC98 Tutorial
The reason why I am doing this document is there is lots of noob who need tutorial, I do not need tutorial since I learned how to use it on my own, anyway hope this tutorial help you all.

What's new.
still need to to neko project 2 aka np2 and t98 next tutorial.
wooohhoooo, I am the first person who know how to hook agth with anex86, not need to worry I will do it later.

What is pc98?.
The NEC PC-9801 (or the PC-98 for short) is a Japanese microcomputer manufactured by NEC. It first appeared in 1982, and employed an 8086 CPU. It ran at a clock speed of 5 MHz, with two µPD7220 display controllers (one for text, the other for video graphics), and shipped with 128 KB of RAM, expandable to 640 KB. Its 8-color display had a maximum resolution of 640×400 pixels. Its successor, the PC-9801E, which appeared in 1983, employed an 8086-2 CPU, which could selectably run at a speed of either 5 or 8 MHz.

In the 1980s and early 1990's, NEC dominated the Japan domestic PC market with more than 60% of the PCs sold as PC9801 or PC8801. In 1990, IBM Japan introduced the DOS/V OS which enabled to display Japanese text on ordinary IBM PC/AT's VGA adapter. After that, the fall and decline of the PC98 began. The PC-9801's last successor was the Celeron-based PC-9821Ra43 (with a clockspeed 433MHz), which appeared in 2000.

FreeBSD/pc98 runs on PC-9801s equipped with an i386 or compatible.

Software for the PC98 generally ran from program and data disks (Disk 0 & 1) or (A & B), and NEC did not have a strong GUI to go up against Microsoft's Windows 95 when it took Japan's PC market by storm. NEC's decision to work with Microsoft to offer a PC98 compatible version of Windows 95 could be seen as the first step towards the 9800 series computer's downfall, as consumers were no longer required to have an NEC-built system to run software designed for Windows.

The PC98 is different from the IBM PC in many ways; for instance, it uses its own 16 bit C-Bus instead of the ISA bus; BIOS, I/O port addressing, memory management and graphics output are also different. However, localized MS-DOS or Windows will still run on PC-9801s.

Seiko Epson manufactured PC-9801 clones, as well as compatible peripherals.

For complete infomation about pc98 at - [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

List of pc98 emulators

There is some pc98 emulators that have been discontinued/lack of coder.
the only emulator have been updated is np2(neko project 2). Anyway here is the list.

Anex86 - this is one of the best emulator since you can make all the menu to english or leave it at the default japanese. (well it seems anex86 can run windows but alas emulation of pc98 games cannot run any pc98 games but most pc98 cd games can work with windows, the only problem is some games run too fast which can be control with neko project 2 emulator.

make sure the emulator or games is in short and not too long.

Neko project 2 - it is the second best emulator after anex86 since it can run some pc98 that are running to fast on anex86 but there is some problem with it which is it cannot run dos6.2 bootdisk that works with anex86 but I have it.

change the np2.ini line at DIPswtch=3e 73 7b it is the default 5mhz setting but some games will as you to change it to 2.5mhz. so change it to DIPswtch=3e e3 7b and save the setting. make sure to exit it and restart the emulator again.

T98 next - this is one of the top 3 emulator which is quite good but the downside is the menu and button are all in japanese but it is still needed to play some games.

T98 V0.27 - this emulator is not the best and since it have lots of bug, so I suggest you all do not use it.

PC98 Tutorial
The reason why I am doing this document is there is lots of noob who need tutorial, I do not need tutorial since I learned how to use it on my own, anyway hope this tutorial help you all.

What's new.
still need to to neko project 2 aka np2 and t98 next tutorial.
wooohhoooo, I am the first person who know how to hook agth with anex86, not need to worry I will do it later.

What is pc98?.
The NEC PC-9801 (or the PC-98 for short) is a Japanese microcomputer manufactured by NEC. It first appeared in 1982, and employed an 8086 CPU. It ran at a clock speed of 5 MHz, with two µPD7220 display controllers (one for text, the other for video graphics), and shipped with 128 KB of RAM, expandable to 640 KB. Its 8-color display had a maximum resolution of 640×400 pixels. Its successor, the PC-9801E, which appeared in 1983, employed an 8086-2 CPU, which could selectably run at a speed of either 5 or 8 MHz.

In the 1980s and early 1990's, NEC dominated the Japan domestic PC market with more than 60% of the PCs sold as PC9801 or PC8801. In 1990, IBM Japan introduced the DOS/V OS which enabled to display Japanese text on ordinary IBM PC/AT's VGA adapter. After that, the fall and decline of the PC98 began. The PC-9801's last successor was the Celeron-based PC-9821Ra43 (with a clockspeed 433MHz), which appeared in 2000.

FreeBSD/pc98 runs on PC-9801s equipped with an i386 or compatible.

Software for the PC98 generally ran from program and data disks (Disk 0 & 1) or (A & B), and NEC did not have a strong GUI to go up against Microsoft's Windows 95 when it took Japan's PC market by storm. NEC's decision to work with Microsoft to offer a PC98 compatible version of Windows 95 could be seen as the first step towards the 9800 series computer's downfall, as consumers were no longer required to have an NEC-built system to run software designed for Windows.

The PC98 is different from the IBM PC in many ways; for instance, it uses its own 16 bit C-Bus instead of the ISA bus; BIOS, I/O port addressing, memory management and graphics output are also different. However, localized MS-DOS or Windows will still run on PC-9801s.

Seiko Epson manufactured PC-9801 clones, as well as compatible peripherals.

for complete infomation about pc98 at - [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

the link above contains the three best pc98 emulator which is anex86, neko project 2 and tp98next
Anex86 english.txt = tell you what you need to know about anex and it is in english unlike the original which is in japanese.
neko tracer which is an older build of np2 but it have debug mode for rom hacking expert but it is the only emulator can save and load state.

dos6.2 fdi (floppy image for anex86 and t98next that is dos6.2 for pc98). it is bootable. XP

pc98.hdi that can is bootable, you can just change the cd-rom drive letter for anex to your real cdrom but I use virtual drive letter K:.
No need to waste a cd rom when you can run it from your pc. it also got freespace for you to install a games but please make a backup before installing a game
because some games will overwrite your configuration which will make it run the games and not go to the root.

pc98 roms = no not the games, I forget this is for which emulator but you can use it with any emulators
pc98 tutorial screenshot (password- monkey80.rar

utilities
diskExpl168E = this is better than the anexdiet since you can actually load any fdi or hdi, then you can drag the content out to your pc.
this is good for rom hacking expert who want to translate games to other languages or for you to hex edit a file. XP

virtual floppy image converter AKA vfic011010 = convert pc98 floppy image to image for each emulators but some games got copy protection and cannot be convert.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
pass: monkey80

Dos guide to newbies
after pressing start you will noticed the japanese texts will appear which mean you have loaded the anex.bmp that I have mentioned.

note: next time use dir/w/s *.bat,*.com or *.exe since some games need to to load .bat,.com and ,exe.
when you find it just type it and press enter.

use cd "directoryname" to enter any directory
cd .. to exit directory and go back to a:>
you can use dir or dir/w to browse the fdi or hdi but you must mount it to anex first.
dir/w/s is to search for filename on all directories on a drive.

to change drive use driveletter: and press enter.

a:> will appear, you type in each line below and press enter. below is the example for loading ayumi chan.
cd ayumi2
ayumi

for example ayumi will load ayumi.bat, so no need to enter ayumi.bat

[ZephyrBlack]

ok, if you all want to hook anex86 to agth. here is a guide; see below
just use agth /p#### (you can find the pid by calling windows task manager)
you hook the window that have anex86 - emulator as the title

some games is the wrong place of the text but you can see highlight and copy then paste the texts to any
translation apps.

here is the proof that agth can be hook to anex


no need to close agth but you can close the game windows and let the anex - setting open and you change games and agth will capture all the japanese texts from the running games.

well every pc98 games can work with agth unlike pc game. agth could not capture japanese texts from picture and animation but for in game text only.

too bad agth cannot work with dos games.

[ZephyrBlack]

Opps sorry, the links are broken and it is breaking the rules. the download links is broken, I have fixed it and replace the older np2081 to np2082.

man imgbolt cut my pics even if it does not contains adult content. I Compress all the screenshots for anex tutorial to screenshot, so you just download it and refer it with my tutorial.

if it is broken pm me and I will reupload it.

[Gink]

It looks kind of confusing, but there appears to be a password for the screenshot rar. Could you please tell me what it is?

[ZephyrBlack]

well monkey80 is the password.

[Gink]

Sorry, I need some more help. I've finished the configuration of the Anex emulator. Now what do I do? I tried Cd F: (My virtual drive) and it says something in Japanese.

What am I supposed to mount onto my virtual drive? Because my Daemon Tools cannot read the original hdi file. I want to play the Ayumi game, I tried changing the file name to ISO and running it with Daemon Tools but it reads it as a blank disc.

[ZephyrBlack]

Well you do not need applocale to play pc98 games, no wrong what I tell to mount it to anex86 and not your virtual drive but when you start anex there is a hdd1 slot at the emulator and you drag the hdi into the hdd1 slot like how to drag file from desktop to your folders.

and press start. forgive me I am too tech head and cannot explain in simple english but I will try.

[Gink]

I've already done that but I mean after I press start it brings up a dos-like looking menu and I don't know what to do after that.

[ZephyrBlack]

after pressing start you will noticed the japanese texts will appear which mean you have loaded the anex.bmp that I have mentioned.

a:> will appear you type in each line below and press enter.

cd ayumi2
ayumi

note: next time use dir/w/s *.bat,*.com or *.exe since some games need to to load .bat,.com and ,exe.
when you find it just type it and press enter.

use cd "directoryname to enter directory". cd .. to exit directory and go back to a:>
you can use dir or dir/w to browse the fdi or hdi but you must mount it to anex first.

for example ayumi will load ayumi.bat, so no need to enter ayumi.bat

[Gink]

YEEEEEEEEEES! Thank you so much! It works!