Any good Dreamcast tips?

SMS, Genesis, 32X, Sega CD, Saturn, Dreamcast
User avatar
Reprise
Next-Gen
Posts: 4276
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:27 am
Location: Earth

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Reprise »

Tanooki wrote:Hmm happen to have the old sales link with the name of the item you did end up grabbing as it probably being ebay should be up there still.

I'm considering it, but I'd have to cord swap depending on games I think unless there's a work around without burning discs.


I do, but I couldn't get it to work on my phone. I'll try it later on my laptop when I get home. I'm from the UK and it is was a purchase from Ebay.co.uk though.

As Jagosaurus said, you can force most "incompatible" games to use the VGA. I have a SCART lead that I can switch to easily for the odd game that the trick doesn't work on though (the only game that comes to mind is Bangai-O).
Own: Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, PS Vita, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo New 3DS, Nintendo Switch

My gaming blog: https://366gamestoplay.wordpress.com

PSN ID: Anesthetize666
Nintendo Switch ID: SW-8077-5145-0328
Tanooki
Next-Gen
Posts: 6947
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:06 pm

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Tanooki »

I've heard that about forcing it too, probably should try and read into it. Today's lazy types just burn a CD as it's easy, but back in the day before people knew about the open keys to the door they did something else and most stuff worked somehow.

I also wonder if perhaps some of these modern boxes people have made perhaps have a multi-out choice to them somewhere on the market? Have it be a switcher box perhaps that'll do a/v on a game that loathes VGA, yet otherwise uses it. That would be handy.
User avatar
CRTGAMER
Next-Gen
Posts: 11933
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:59 am
Location: Southern California

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by CRTGAMER »

Tanooki wrote:I've heard that about forcing it too, probably should try and read into it. Today's lazy types just burn a CD as it's easy, but back in the day before people knew about the open keys to the door they did something else and most stuff worked somehow.

I also wonder if perhaps some of these modern boxes people have made perhaps have a multi-out choice to them somewhere on the market? Have it be a switcher box perhaps that'll do a/v on a game that loathes VGA, yet otherwise uses it. That would be handy.

I have a 3rd party Dreamcast VGA Box instead of just the VGA cable. It has a switch to select VGA or SVideo Composite option. The box has this advantage for the few Dreamcast games that do not work, it also saves on switching cables to do that bootup bypass.
Image
CRT vs LCD - Hardware Mods - HDAdvance - Custom Controllers - Game Storage - Wii Gamecube and other Guides:
CRTGAMER Guides in Board Guides Index: http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1109425#p1109425

Image
Image
User avatar
Reprise
Next-Gen
Posts: 4276
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:27 am
Location: Earth

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Reprise »

Tried it on my laptop and yeah, the link is definitely no later active sorry.
Own: Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, PS Vita, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo New 3DS, Nintendo Switch

My gaming blog: https://366gamestoplay.wordpress.com

PSN ID: Anesthetize666
Nintendo Switch ID: SW-8077-5145-0328
Tanooki
Next-Gen
Posts: 6947
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:06 pm

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Tanooki »

CRT now we're talking, can you point me to something by name or design say with an ebay link or amazon? I'd buy that in a heartbeat. I've got spare HDMI cables around here somewhere so it wouldn't be hard to pop n' drop that right in place seamlessly.

Reprise: No worries, it's fine, old link and as CRT pointed out, it's a box that would be best since it can hot switch between both for those who don't want to play nice in VGA mode. That would be ideal.
User avatar
Mad_Hatter
128-bit
Posts: 817
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:28 am

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Mad_Hatter »

stickem wrote:I get anything I want to download at isozone and use imgburn to burn. Use to be discjuggler was the preferred burning tool but I never had any errors with imgburn or cheapo discs. I plan on getting a vga box soon but svideo looks good on a crt. My cables are junk though I ordered here a few years back.

I second this.

The IsoZone has the best rips, and you want to find them by DC-Revive (I think that is the name), they upload the best rips. I had some really old rips from like 2002 and you'd get weird boot screens and compressed sound.
Old Username: sp957

Systems: Genesis, Super Nintendo, Saturn, Dreamcast, Playstation 2, Xbox 360, and Windows PC
Handhelds: Gameboy Advance SP, Nintendo DSi, and New Nintendo 3DS

My Trade Thread
User avatar
Mad_Hatter
128-bit
Posts: 817
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:28 am

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Mad_Hatter »

Some other personal tips, hit up thrift shops or old video game stores from some cheap accessories. VMUs, 4xMemory units, rumble packs, controllers, I found these at a Goodwill for dirt cheap and they were all clean and OEM.
Old Username: sp957

Systems: Genesis, Super Nintendo, Saturn, Dreamcast, Playstation 2, Xbox 360, and Windows PC
Handhelds: Gameboy Advance SP, Nintendo DSi, and New Nintendo 3DS

My Trade Thread
Tanooki
Next-Gen
Posts: 6947
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:06 pm

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Tanooki »

I'm on that already. I found 2 games and an OEM Jump Pack locally for $25 out the door, but that was it unless I wanted another controller (don't.) Everywhere else had garbage or sandpaper resurfaced discs that were in no return shops that didn't try the stuff.

I've picked up a lot online with some solid variety, much of it I owned before so I know it's solid or had access to it. I may pick off another lot or a very desired one off like Armada, Lodoss War, Gundam or a few others. Beyond that I'd like to poke away locally and see if I can get lucky again to drag this out and not go full on fast and furious collectard on it.

As I understood it the DCREC and Tux created ISOs are the best of the batch online for speed, stability, and least wear on your drive in how they're organized. I'm tempted to grab the ISOs to GDs I own as I've got plenty of storage and in a pinch demul can be used.
User avatar
Reprise
Next-Gen
Posts: 4276
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:27 am
Location: Earth

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Reprise »

Hey Tanooki, I thought you might be interested in this:

A Dreamcast HDMI box has entered production and will be up for sale soon at: http://www.beharbros.com/products

Image

Note: This is not exactly a VGA to HDMI converter like the image says. It's a box that plugs into the back of the Dreamcast and accepts HDMI straight out of the box.

They already have VGA boxes for sale and apparently the build quality is fantastic (probably reflected in the price). The HDMI box apparently will simply plug into your dreamcast and will allow you to simply plug in an HDMI cable into the box and play on any normal modern TV, without having to mess around with HDMI converters etc.

It may be a bit pricey, but I might get one, even though my current TV has a VGA port. It's important to future proof consoles as much as possible.

Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1TfWrrlgJc
http://www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk/2 ... n-for.html
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/aku ... box.64520/
Last edited by Reprise on Wed Dec 28, 2016 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Own: Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, PS Vita, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo New 3DS, Nintendo Switch

My gaming blog: https://366gamestoplay.wordpress.com

PSN ID: Anesthetize666
Nintendo Switch ID: SW-8077-5145-0328
Tanooki
Next-Gen
Posts: 6947
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:06 pm

Re: Any good Dreamcast tips?

Post by Tanooki »

Yeah I saw those when I looked, but I didn't get the whole mechanics behind it thinking of those VGA only games, but if it will even take their feed (due to coding/parts in the box) and throw those and VGA titles through the HDMI plug that's a big asset. The price though is definitely a problem from what I saw of it as it's definitely not cheap. Not as bad as the OEM one, but far more than a vga box with rca on it plus the converter I noted that could go into it and put out a signal from VGA/RCA to HDMI.
Post Reply