@METALMAN4Wii Lol, you're kidding right? For a start this is only really for playing homebrew since most retail games don't even work properly from SD card. Secondly, I collect original Dreamcast games/peripherals and even have multiple copies of the same games from different regions. I get really tired of people who blindly assume and label anyone who mods a console as a pirate. Besides all that, where would be the harm in downloading games that have been out of print for nearly a decade?!
actually you don't need a 99 dreamcast the rumor (which was started by sega to prevent piracy) was for a dreamcast built in oct 2000 or after wouldnt play backups. its bullshit all dreamcast play backups except a few later japanese ones. i own 3 dreamcast one built oct 2000 and 2 nov 2000 models all play backups.
@Rafael - the file manager is Dreamshell, which was coded by Mr SWAT (Google for "Dreamshell dc-swat". It loads "SD-ISO" game images from the card, but you still need to boot from the Dreamshell CD-R unless you do a BIOS mod. An SD-ISO is a slightly modified version of a DC CD-rip. You can find them to download on the Web. :)
Theoretically, couldn't someone wire a usb interface to the serial port and run games from a USB Harddrive ? Amazing hardware skills. Blows my mind just watching the mods done to DC consoles.
@watermeloncat no, you are limited by the Dreamcast's serial port sadly. That's why some games that need to access a lot of data while playing have framerate issues. I think the serial port maxes out at 1.5mbps or something like that. The card I used in the vid was a class 6 SDHC 4GB but it makes no difference since the serial port is limited to 1.5mbps. And thanks!. I like to keep any mods I do looking as stock and original to the console as possible.
Just wanted to point-out that Dead or Alive 2 for Dreamcast loads much faster with Dreamshell 4 RC1. Yes, the entry to a fight scene lags a little (about 3-4 seconds), but then the fight scene is really playable with RC1. The coder has implemented a much faster read fix. You should try RC1 to confirm it. Thanks, -Steve.
I'm glad to know, I will one day make an n64 portable and dreamcast portable, but intill I can afford that, im just gonna have to watch videos and drool at the awesomeness.
The Dreamcast should be re-manufactured was a clone system, and SD card slots are what I expect to see on clone Dreamcasts! I like ISOs more than real CDs because of reliability issues with mechanical media.
SD cards are flash memory. If you mean a USB flash drive, often they are made with the exact same flash modules SD cards are made out of. The speed issue comes from the fact that the SD card is being read through the Dreamcast's SERIAL controller, thus the speeds are not as much as you would get if you ran the card on a PC. bear in mind this tech is still new on the dreamcast so new drivers may possibly come around that speed up the read speeds
Thanks Retro. I'm all modded up for SD card thanks to your inspiring videos. I even have the make sd iso app for PC too. Happy days. The Dreamcast also has amazing NED,SNES and Genesis emulators with virtually all roms that runs off the SD!! Will be doing the BIOS flashing switch mod soon so that even Dreamshell 4 will boot from startup off SD. C'mon Dreamcast - Still Thinking!
@FeeLtheHertZ It doesn't matter how fast the SD card is. It's connected to the serial port which is MUCH slower than the GD rom. You are limited by the Dreamcast's hardware not the SD card's capabilities.
@crouts0 It's really not too difficult. Strip board diagrams are pretty easy to read once you know what the various parts are. Mostly it's just a series of jumper wires and cuts. If there's anything you think I could add to my diagram to make this mod more accessible for others then let me know.
@8:10 i'm pretty sure that setting sound to mono and deactivating music (especially if the game uses CDDA tracks) will decrease amount of streamed data and help the slowdowns...
Haha I'm just pullin' yer leg! You did a nice job on your Dreamcast. It's actually the fourth time I've seen it. Kudos, man! That was pretty funny - "wee sack." Gotta start saying that!
@xTHExSTIGx Thanks!. Patching the games is easy. You just need to rip all the game files from your original .cdi .nrg .iso GDROM etc etc. Then you modify the IP.BIN file and repackage everything into a new .iso. There are tools available to do all this on the Dreamshell developers website.
I found my answer with this video. Thanks Martin. Now, I need to find the proper mod specific for Dreamshell to operate independent of the GDROM after its initial flash.
@misterintellivision Thanks!. Credit for the idea goes to the guy who figured out this was possible and drew up the original schematic. Without that I wouldn't have had a clue where to start, lol.
All the original Dreamcast (not modded ones) have orange LED. The start up logos are Orange in NTSC-J consoles (Japan and Asia markets) and blue on NTSC-U and PAL consoles (north america and europe)
Nice video, and nice mod. For those asking you need a DC built before November 2000. I have a Oct2k DC and I have every DC game in .cdi format from underground gamer((the best for retro they have every game and every emulator)) and i use disk juggler to burn the .cdi's and I toss them into the DC and it plays every game every time like its the real deal. No hard modding at all. Those are the easiest DC systems to play backups. I'd love that mod tho It would save me a lot of space! gj mate
@AngelsDemonic iv been using backup copies on my dreamcast for over 6 years now and i have never had a problem with it. it still works perfect for orignal games and back ups :/ the dreamcast was made to run cd discs too aslong as the disc is good quality you shouldnt have a problem.
@ghettochildusa To not have to burn a CD every time you want to play a new game, to have multiple games on a single SD card, to not need to swap discs to play new games or access ROMs for emu, to just have more storage space to work with, lots of uses for this. It's especially useful for testing homebrew games and versions, mods etc., no need to burn a CD every time.
This is quite impressive, pal! But I wonder..why doesn't for example DOA2 run at proper speed? Is it because it can't read data fast enough from the SD? If so, wouldn't it be a good idea to make a usb port mod and make it read isos from a 2,5" hdd maybe? Is that even possible? Anyways, very good work! :)
Couple of quick questions about your stripboard layout: 1.) The blue lines are bridging just those two points right, NOT the ones in between them (for example the b through f bridge would not connect c,d and e as well right). 2.) What are the red dots? I'm assuming I would sever the connections on the strips at those points right? 3) Anything special about that green connector wire? Or is it just like the other blue lines. Sorry if I sound like an amateur but I'm just recently got into mods
It's really not surprising at all. RS232 has a very low signaling rate, it was good enough for external modems in the 80s and 90s, but there was a reason external CD-ROM drives used SCSI :)
not so much cd-r's as the format used for creating the images music/data, you can get themworking by moding the format or finding other image types from what i have been told by a buddy whos got both older and latter models. infact, some latter models work fine as well...its likely a firmware release thing....trial and error. from what he says this also effected some retail games 2 he owns legit copies of he had to image and mod to make work on one of his latter units.
I'm quite surprised that the serial DC's serial port would be actually slower for data transfers considering that the GD-ROM drive is but a CD-ROM drive equivalent of 12x in speed o.o; Still great job here =)
I know the Japanese version is SUPPOSED to be orange, but it looks more red to me, considering, aesthetically, there's no way to differentiate between an American DC and a Japanese DC. I know some early Japanese DCs don't have the plastic things right above the orange light, but maybe that's just Adam Koralik's DC being weird.
@RMwashere apparently there is away and i believe that might have something to do with flashing the Dreamcast bios but i think a couple months ago found a much easier way of doing it but i could be wrong
If has of yet there hasnt been any BBA alternative,its beacause its hard not to say impossible to replicate.it has a "mystery chip" that no one knows what it does,or how it does it.or if someone actually does know,hes sure didnt share his wisdom on major Dreamcast forums.and its not because DC OS is BASED on windows CE thats its easy to code for.again,if it was,it would have been done,ages ago.look at this SD adapter thingy.barely made a DECADE after the system release.theres a reason for that
Why don't u get a USB 3 drive to do this, the games would run much better, DOA2 might even work also coz the read times from a USB is much higher then a cheap SD card..
@AtomiXStudios Kinda pointless as the resolution wouldn't go up since the graphics processor almost definitely couldn't display at such high resolutions, however, there is a dreamcast VGA adapter that creates extremely crisp and high resolution graphics, I recommend getting this instead, and it doesn't even required any modification of the internals.
Dang that sucks. It is very obvious from your video that when games need to read from the card all the time they are the ones that lag more. Pacman and Tokyo Racing(or whatever it is called) didn't read from the SD card much or at all after the game loaded and they played smooth.
I have seen your videos, its a very cool idea, I subbed, if I ever stumble into money I don't need, I might ask you how much one of those dream cast mini cabs cost.
dreamcast graphics via scart were crystal clear compared to my ps2 scart cable that totally sucked.The ps2 graphics were better only after i purchased a component cable for it.
They don't. It's obvious he's modified the console. Did they even Have SD in circulation (like today) when the dreamcast was released, and the what, three years following it? Honestly.
Where do you get your ISO's? Do you rip them all yourself? I've been trying to get my DC to load ISO's and I've been having a ton of trouble finding/making them.
Any chance you could test the compatability of some of the exclusive dreamcast games of mine? I'd love to have something like this if all of my Dreamcast Exclusive games ran perfectly as I am getting rather sick of having to shell out for a new console every few months due to laser errors.
