racketboy.com

This might seem like a stupid question but I looked all over this board and couldn't figure it out. If the Dreamcast's GD ROM format is about twice the size of a CDROM, how is it possible to play all these games using CDR backups? Do most DC games not use the majority of the disc space? This has never made sense to me.

I've been burning some Saturn games and thinking about trying it for my DC too, is the process more difficult w/ DC games.

A lot of games don't use all of the space.
The ones that do usually have large files such as the video or sound compressed with a lower bitrate so that it will all fit. Its usually done well enough by the rippers/hackers that you can't tell much of a difference unless you have a very nice display/connection.

So, for some larger games like Skies of Arcadia or Shenmue, you might want to play with an original copy if you want the best quality.

racketboy wrote:A lot of games don't use all of the space.
The ones that do usually have large files such as the video or sound compressed with a lower bitrate so that it will all fit. Its usually done well enough by the rippers/hackers that you can't tell much of a difference unless you have a very nice display/connection.

So, for some larger games like Skies of Arcadia or Shenmue, you might want to play with an original copy if you want the best quality.

This reminds me of Maken-X. they had to make all of the sound Mono to fit it properly on a CD. I think Ill have to by the original.

I do my best to buy any games that were never ripped 100% perfectly. Try playing the ripped copy of Sonic Adventure 2. All FMVs are nasty looking. All music is mono and 22khz. All the japanese voices were removed. It feels like half a game.

Hear, hear.

*hugs his mint copy of Shenmue 2*

Zed wrote:Hear, hear.

*hugs his mint copy of Shenmue 2*

Same here. Spent $60 and still haven't played it lol. I beat the pirated one long ago. I'll get to the legit one here someday.

I just posted an extended answer on the RetroGaming:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2006/06/ ... ckups.html

Are there any (complete or partial) lists out there with each game and how the rips were done?

Some of you guys that have a DC for a while already seem to know off the top of your head this data for the better known games at least.
Might be a nice effort to compile this sort of thing?

Ivo.

As I was writing that piece, I was thinking that exact thing.
If people want to post their experience, that would be a good starting point.
I'm moving into my new house in a week, so I don't have a lot of spare time right now, but I'd love to compile our finding soon.

Racketboy wrote:First of all, there are a number of ripped titles that can wear out your Dreamcast's disc drive quite rapidly. Just off the top of my head I know that Vampire Chronicles, Headhunter, and Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves all frequently cause the Dreamcast to read the disc frequently and loudly all throughout the game. It basically sounds like your Dreamcast is having a seizure.

Oh yeah. Specially Headhunter. My DC screamed so much while reading that rip it wasn't even funny. I have the same problem with a Power Stone rip (1 or 2? I can't remember). The slight pauses in Skies of Arcadia never bothered me that much, though.