EmulatorResources/PCem/Windows

This page will give you specific instructions and tips for using Windows in PCem. The entirety of the main guide applies here too.

To discuss this setup and its usage, please visit this thread.

(Link to video)

Table of contents

What you'll need
Using with libTAS
Trivia
- System time and startup timecodes

What you'll need

libTAS and PCem (with ROM files)
A Windows XP SP3 Home Edition ISO
Utilities CD with Voodoo drivers and other goodies

Using with libTAS

This section will be focusing on setting up a configuration to make tool-assisted speedruns. These guidelines will help you make a TAS that people will be able to sync on other machines. If nobody else can sync your run, then it will probably not get accepted!

Be aware of our Movie Rules for libTAS movies and especially for running PCem in libTAS.

Windows XP installation movie

We cannot distribute a fully configured OS hard drive image like we did with the DOS configurations, so you will need to install Windows XP yourself. We can provide a libTAS movie that you can run and it will automatically install Windows XP onto a hard drive image for you.

Windows XP CD that we cannot distribute, but we provide hashes for the exact one you need
Clean hard disk file to install the OS on
Utilities CD for extra things
PCem machine config (depends on certain ROM files)
OS installation movie
Make sure you don't have ~/.pcem/roms/ga686bx/flash.bin or ~/.pcem/nvr/windowsxp.ga686bx.nvr before running the movie. They should be generated by it.
In ~/.pcem/pcem.cfg, set confirm_on_stop_emulation = 0.
Disable libTAS OSD in the Video menu if using libTAS versions prior to 1.4.5 to avoid triggering a memory leak bug.
Uncheck Runtime -> Prevent writing to disk for the installation movie.

Here's how we created the movie:

EmulatorResources/PCem/Windows/Configurations

flash.bin and NVR

flash.bin is file a created by the system, it contains the flash memory of the system. Because the ROM gets written into it, we can't distribute it. This file may also contain custom system parameters from previous configs using the chipset.

Similarly, a non-volatile memory file is created in ~/.pcem/nvr/ named after your machine config and motherboard (for example windowsxp.ga686bx.nvr). It is also required for movie sync. It can be distributed, but it's pointless to distribute it, since the installation movie has to be run anyway, and it recreates the NVR file.

You must start with the ~/.pcem/roms/ga686bx/flash.bin and ~/.pcem/nvr/windowsxp.ga686bx.nvr files that were generated from the Windows XP installation movie.
- If you use a verification movie to install your game, you should start with flash.bin and .nvr that were generated from that.

libTAS Settings

All settings from the general PCem guide apply
Games that attempt to fetch the current time and date may not work correctly using the default system time in libTAS (which results in 2070-01-01). To fix this, set the system time to a date between 2000-01-01 (946684800 System time in libTAS) and 2037-12-31 (2145830400).
- 1980-01-01 (2145830400 System time in libTAS) to 1999-12-31 (946684800) should also work. However, Windows XP is known to take substantially longer to boot up using system times in this range and hence this is not recommended.

Trivia

System time and startup timecodes

Starting time	3dfx card BIOS	Pentium II BIOS	System Config	Windows XP	Res increase	Mouse appears	Welcome	Desktop
1	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	44.39	44.55	48.75	51.56
100000000	Trial expiry
300000000	Trial expiry
400000000	Invalid time/date
500000000	Too long (300+)
800000000	Invalid time/date
1000000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	53.42	55.88	60.63	68.75
1100000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	44.4	44.56	48.94	51.39
1200000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	44.42	44.58	48.84	51.49
1300000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	44.4	44.56	48.55	53.62
1400000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	53.42	55.89	58.36	68.84
1500000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	53.42	55.88	58.31	68.78
1600000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	53.42	55.88	59.92	68.72
1700000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	44.4	44.56	48.74	51.1
1800000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	44.4	44.56	48.91	51.36
1900000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	44.4	44.57	49.01	51.36
2000000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	53.42	55.88	59.88	68.75
2100000000	2.27	3.63	9.57	13.82	53.42	55.89	58.27	68.76

Legend:

3dfx card BIOS = first frame that the text is visible onscreen
Pentium II BIOS = first frame that the text is visible onscreen
System Config = frame that the window settles on its new resolution
Windows XP = frame that the window settles on its new resolution of 640x480
Res increase = frame that the window settles on its new resolution of 800x600
Mouse appears = first frame that the mouse appears onscreen
Welcome = first frame that the welcome screen (or "Windows is starting up") is fully visible
Desktop = first frame that the desktop is fully visible