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Flycast is a Dreamcast Emulator.

GitHub: https://github.com/flyinghead/flycast

Flycast Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started with Flycast

  2. Flycast Tips and Tricks

Getting Started with Flycast

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Flycast is a fairly straight-forward emulator to set up. Place your ROMs in Emulation/roms/dreamcast. Place your BIOS directly in Emulation/bios/flycast/bios. Read the Configuration section to learn more about Flycast and its folder locations.

To launch your ROMs in game mode, use Steam ROM Manager and use one of the following parsers to play your Flycast ROMs:

  • EmulationStation-DE
  • Sega Dreamcast - Flycast (Standalone)
  • Arcade - Atomiswave - Flycast (Standalone)
  • Arcade - NAOMI - Flycast (Standalone)
  • Arcade - NAOMI 2 - Flycast (Standalone)
  • Emulators

Flycast Configuration

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  • Type of Emulator: Flatpak
  • Config Location: $HOME/.var/app/org.flycast.Flycast
  • ROM Location:
  • Dreamcast: Emulation/roms/dreamcast
  • Atomiswave: Emulation/roms/atomiswave
  • NAOMI: Emulation/roms/naomi
  • NAOMI 2: Emulation/roms/naomi2
  • BIOS
    • HLE BIOS is enabled by default for Dreamcast games. BIOS for Dreamcast games is optional. However, some games may not perform as expected with HLE BIOS. You may place Dreamcast BIOS into the folder listed below to use console dumped BIOS. You will need to disable HLE BIOS in the Flycast GUI.
    • Location: Emulation/bios/flycast/bios
      • Dreamcast (Optional BIOS): dc_boot.bin
      • Atomiswave: awbios.zip
      • NAOMI: naomi.zip
      • NAOMI 2: naomi2.zip
  • Saves:
    • Symlink: Emulation/saves/flycast/saves
    • Target Location: $HOME/.var/app/org.flycast.Flycast/data/flycast/
  • Save States:
    • Symlink: Emulation/saves/flycast/states
    • Target Location: $HOME/.var/app/org.flycast.Flycast/config/data/flycast/

Note: ~/.var is a hidden folder by default. In Dolphin (file manager), click the hamburger menu in the top right, click Show Hidden Files to see these folders.

Flycast Folder Locations

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These file locations apply regardless of where you chose to install EmuDeck (to your internal SSD, to your SD Card, or elsewhere). Some emulator configuration files will be located on the internal SSD as listed below.

$HOME refers to your home folder. If you are on a Steam Deck, this folder will be named /home/deck (you will likely not see deck in the file path when navigating using the file manager).

Paths beginning with Emulation/.. correspond to your EmuDeck install location. If you installed on an SD Card, your path may be /run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/roms/... If you installed on your internal SSD, your path may be /home/deck/Emulation/roms/..

Note: Folders with a . (.var, .local, .config, etc.) at the beginning are hidden by default. In Dolphin (file manager), click the hamburger menu in the top right, click Show Hidden Files to see these folders.

$HOME/.var/app/org.flycast.Flycast

org.flycast.Flycast/
├── config
│   ├── data
│   │   └── flycast
│   └── flycast
│       ├── emu.cfg
│       └── mappings
│           ├── SDL_Keyboard.cfg
│           └── SDL_Microsoft X-Box 360 pad 0.cfg
└── data
    └── flycast

How to Update Flycast

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  • Update through Discover (Shopping bag icon)
  • Through the Update your Emulators & Tools section on the Manage Emulators page in the EmuDeck application

How to Launch Flycast in Desktop Mode

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  • Launch Flycast from the Applications Launcher (Steam Deck icon in the bottom left of the taskbar)
  • Launch the script from Emulation/tools/launchers, flycast.sh
  • Launch the emulator from Steam after adding it via the Emulators parser in Steam ROM Manager

Flycast File Formats

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  • .cdi
  • .chd
  • .cue and .bin
  • .gdi and .bin
  • .zip

Flycast Hotkeys

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Hotkey Flycast
Quick Menu Select or TAB or STEAM + DPad Down*
Fast Forward STEAM + DPad Right or ENTER
Stop Emulation STEAM + DPad Left or ESCAPE
Insert Coin Select*
Service Key L3
Test Key R3
Insert Card Enter or STEAM + DPad Right*
  • When playing arcade games through Flycast, the Select button will no longer open the Quick Menu. For arcade games specifically, the Select button is mapped to Insert Coin. For Dreamcast games, the Select button is mapped to the Quick Menu
  • When playing arcade games through Flycast, STEAM + DPad Right will no longer Fast Forward. For arcade games specifically, STEAM + DPad Right is mapped to Insert Card. For Dreamcast games, the STEAM + DPad Right button is mapped to Fast Forward

Steam Deck Light Gun Controls

Flycast also comes with a EmuDeck - Steam Deck Light Gun Controls profile intended to be used with light gun games. To use this profile, apply it manually. For instructions, see How to Select a Steam Input Profile.

Controls EmuDeck - Steam Deck Light Gun Controls General Notes Emulator Specific Notes
Left Trackpad Mouse and Right Click on Click Mouse sensitivity set to 100% -
Right Trackpad Mouse and Left Click on Click Mouse sensitivity increased to 200% -
R2 Left Click Typically used to shoot When using MAME, move the cursor to the bottom left of the screen, and click L2 or R2 depending on the game to reload
L2 Right Click Typically used to reload When using MAME, move the cursor to the bottom left of the screen, and click L2 or R2 depending on the game to reload

Flycast Tips and Tricks

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HLE BIOS

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HLE BIOS is enabled by default for Dreamcast games. BIOS for Dreamcast games is optional. However, some games may not perform as expected with the HLE BIOS or you may need additional features provided by console dumped BIOS.

In order to use console dumped BIOS, you may place the files required into the Emulation/bios/flycast/bios folder. You will also need to disable HLE BIOS in the Flycast GUI.

Flycast HLE BIOS

How to Install Custom Textures

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Texture Pack Sources

This list is not exhaustive

  1. Open the /home/deck/.var/app/org.flycast.Flycast/data/ folder
    • ~/.var is a hidden folder by default. In Dolphin (file manager), click the hamburger menu in the top right, click Show Hidden Files to see these folders
  2. Create two folders: TEXDUMP and TEXTURES, casing matters
  3. Place your texture pack(s) in /home/deck/.var/app/org.flycast.Flycast/data/TEXTURES
  4. Open Flycast, click the Video tab, scroll to the Texture Upscaling section, check Load Custom Textures
  5. Your texture pack will now be installed

How to Configure the Sega Dreamcast Microphone

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For a full list of games that used the Sega Dreamcast Microphone, see https://segaretro.org/Dreamcast_Microphone.

  1. Open Flycast
  2. Click the Controls tab
  3. Under the Dreamcast Devices section, on the Port A controller, set the first port to Sega VMU and the second port to Microphone
  4. Exit out of Flycast and your microphone will now automatically be enabled

To set this on a per-game setting:

  1. Open the respective game
  2. Press the Select button
  3. Click Settings
  4. Click the Controls tab
  5. Under the Dreamcast Devices section, on the Port A controller, set the first port to Sega VMU and the second port to Microphone
  6. Click Make Game Config at the top of the screen
  7. Exit out of the settings and your microphone will only be enabled for this game

How to Configure Light Gun Games

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Flycast Controls

  1. Open a game with light gun support
  2. Press STEAM or ... + DPad Down to open the Quick Menu
  3. At the top, click Make Game Config
  4. Click the Controls Tab
  5. Scroll down to Dreamcast Devices
  6. Set the Port A controller to Light Gun and check the Crosshair box

Steam Input

  1. In Game Mode, single click the game you would like to change the Steam Input Profile for, and click the Controller Icon on the right of the screen. Click the layout (whichever name it is currently set to) at the top
  2. Click the Templates tab
  3. Select the EmuDeck - Steam Deck Light Gun Controls profile
  4. Light gun controls will now be configured for this game
Controls EmuDeck - Steam Deck Light Gun Controls General Notes Emulator Specific Notes
Left Trackpad Mouse and Right Click on Click Mouse sensitivity set to 100% -
Right Trackpad Mouse and Left Click on Click Mouse sensitivity increased to 200% -
R2 Left Click Typically used to shoot When using MAME, move the cursor to the bottom left of the screen, and click L2 or R2 depending on the game to reload
L2 Right Click Typically used to reload When using MAME, move the cursor to the bottom left of the screen, and click L2 or R2 depending on the game to reload