Sega Dreamcast |OT| Appreciation and Emulation Thread

[Traxus]

I like the colored logo on the top right, was that an official release or a custom job? I know mine is just a gray background that says Dreamcast.

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Yeah it's a glossy sticker that it looks like they slapped on these models (SK-1502). It's a little lopsided and very slightly coming off on one edge so I don't expect it'll last forever; I'd prefer a straight up DREAMCAST logo printed onto the keyboard. From browsing around, I think it has the "SEGA NET" logo underneath. I tried to be careful to keep it dry otherwise I would've just dunked the whole top of the keyboard in a tub of soapy water.

Finally got my mic foam replacement that looks identical to the original. I bought Seaman complete a few months ago but the foam the mic had was nasty and 90% disintegrated so we just threw it away.

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Nice dude! I've been wanting to pickup a mic forever but it seems like the foam is always mangled. Where did you source the replacement?

 

[ss_lemonade]

Yeah it's a glossy sticker that it looks like they slapped on these models (SK-1502). It's a little lopsided and very slightly coming off on one edge so I don't expect it'll last forever; I'd prefer a straight up DREAMCAST logo printed onto the keyboard. From browsing around, I think it has the "SEGA NET" logo underneath. I tried to be careful to keep it dry otherwise I would've just dunked the whole top of the keyboard in a tub of soapy water.

Nice dude! I've been wanting to pickup a mic forever but it seems like the foam is always mangled. Where did you source the replacement?

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https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/332985-REG/WindTech_1522_1500_Series_3_8.html

It did take almost 2 weeks to get delivered though. The color might be slightly off compared to the original (pics show the original being a darker shade of green), but I think as a whole it's close enough.

 

[BizzyBum]

I swear I have a mic with the original foam that's not completely disgusting somewhere in my basement but I'm always too lazy to search.

I only used it for playing Alien Front Online back in the day which is pointless now, though. Is Seaman worth it to try and find it?

 

[AmirMoosavi]

For anyone looking to emulate, you can play Seaman on Reicast. Basically the only DC game I play on that emulator (on my Android phone), use Redream for everything else.

 

[BizzyBum]

Hm, so I'm confused on getting PSO V2 online to work.

From my understanding, if you are using the Ives version with the BBA then the Ives version should automatically take care of you and connect to the Sylverant private servers, right? When I go to select online play I'm met with this screen:

What's weird is the SN is already prepopulated here but the Access Key that comes next is not. I'm using a brand new microSD card with the Ives version and my VMU has no PSO V1 saves on it, so why is it asking me for an original PSO SNAK to transfer characters?

 

[Traxus]

Hm, so I'm confused on getting PSO V2 online to work.

From my understanding, if you are using the Ives version with the BBA then the Ives version should automatically take care of you and connect to the Sylverant private servers, right? When I go to select online play I'm met with this screen:

What's weird is the SN is already prepopulated here but the Access Key that comes next is not. I'm using a brand new microSD card with the Ives version and my VMU has no PSO V1 saves on it, so why is it asking me for an original PSO SNAK to transfer characters?

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I pulled this list up with a bit of googling. I haven't fired up PSO V2 yet so let me know if any of these work?

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I can't imagine sharing these to get a 20 year old Dreamcast game online again is against the rules but I'll delete if ya'll think it's borderline.

 

[BizzyBum]

I pulled this list up with a bit of googling. I haven't fired up PSO V2 yet so let me know if any of these work? I can't imagine this is against the rules or anything to get a 20 year old Dreamcast game online again but I'll delete if ya'll think it's borderline.

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Yeah, I used the PSO V2 NTSC/U codes to originally start V2 which was fine and I can play offline no problem.

It's when I try to connect online it now asks for an original PSO SNAK as if I have a stored character on this DC, especially since it automatically populates the SN with something which I found odd. I suppose I can try using one of those original PSO codes listed there however the wording in my screenshot makes it seem like I need a specific SNAK to transfer a character?

I thought maybe the previous owner of this DC had some save file on the VMU but nothing is there pertaining to PSO.

 

[Traxus]

Yeah, I used the PSO V2 NTSC/U codes to originally start V2 which was fine and I can play offline no problem.

It's when I try to connect online it now asks for an original PSO SNAK as if I have a stored character on this DC, especially since it automatically populates the SN with something which I found odd. I suppose I can try using one of those original PSO codes listed there however the wording in my screenshot makes it seem like I need a specific SNAK to transfer a character?

I thought maybe the previous owner of this DC had some save file on the VMU but nothing is there pertaining to PSO.

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Super weird. It looks like this guy at Dreamcast Talk ran into the same thing and solved it by clearing the console's flashrom with a tool from PSO Palace: https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=15240#p160761

Apparently the DC saves the PSO codes in the console's flashrom if it's ever been played before or something? Sounds like a pain in the ass tbh, but at least there appears to be a solution. 😓

 

[neoak]

Yeah, I used the PSO V2 NTSC/U codes to originally start V2 which was fine and I can play offline no problem.

It's when I try to connect online it now asks for an original PSO SNAK as if I have a stored character on this DC, especially since it automatically populates the SN with something which I found odd. I suppose I can try using one of those original PSO codes listed there however the wording in my screenshot makes it seem like I need a specific SNAK to transfer a character?

I thought maybe the previous owner of this DC had some save file on the VMU but nothing is there pertaining to PSO.

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the serial is tied to the console flashrom. you'll have to reset it.

 

[BizzyBum]

Super weird. It looks like this guy at Dreamcast Talk ran into the same thing and solved it by clearing the console's flashrom with a tool from PSO Palace: https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=15240#p160761

Apparently the DC saves the PSO codes in the console's flashrom if it's ever been played before or something? Sounds like a pain in the ass tbh, but at least there appears to be a solution. 😓

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Dang, nice find. I guess I need to be more patient with my Google searching. lol

Doesn't seem like a huge pain, although erasing the flash memory sounds kinda scary, but if all that does is reset the date/time and my BBA setup then those are easy to redo.

 

[BizzyBum]

Super weird. It looks like this guy at Dreamcast Talk ran into the same thing and solved it by clearing the console's flashrom with a tool from PSO Palace: https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=15240#p160761

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Man this is so annoying, I thought adding stuff to the GDEMU was really easy, I downloaded the flash eraser cdi and put it in a numbered folder like the guy said but it's not showing up on the GDEMU menu for some reason?

 

[Traxus]

Man this is so annoying, I thought adding stuff to the GDEMU was really easy, I downloaded the flash eraser cdi and put it in a numbered folder like the guy said but it's not showing up on the GDEMU menu for some reason?

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The GDEMU folder structure is weird as hell obfuscated behind a bunch of numbered folders and files unlike most other ODEs that are just drag and drop. You can do it manually but I've always used a program called GDEMU SD Card Maker to manage it. Way easier. It's a little janky but it does the job. I used this guide. Instructions for SD Card Maker are like halfway down the page.

 

[BizzyBum]

The GDEMU folder structure is weird as hell obfuscated behind a bunch of numbered folders and files unlike most other ODEs that are just drag and drop. You can do it manually but I've always used a program called GDEMU SD Card Maker to manage it. Way easier. It's a little janky but it does the job. I used this guide. Instructions for SD Card Maker are like halfway down the page.

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Alright, I'll give it a try. When I watch YouTube vids of people adding stuff manually it's as simple as making a new numbered folder, copy pasting the cdi, and it shows up but whatever reason when I do that nothing happens. lol

 

[Traxus]

Alright, I'll give it a try. When I watch YouTube vids of people adding stuff manually it's as simple as making a new numbered folder, copy pasting the cdi, and it shows up but whatever reason when I do that nothing happens. lol

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Oh I see, I've always used SD Card Maker but doing it manually isn't as complicated as I thought. The thing is: the main disc image needs to be renamed "disc" so "disc.cdi" or "disc.gdi", so it's hard to even tell what game you have in each folder without digging through each "name.txt" if you have a big collection.

Edit: Actually it is more complicated than I thought. The "name.txt" files I have in each folder are just inserted by SD Card Maker and aren't read by the GDEMU; they're only there to identify the game if you're browsing on your computer. The CDI image in the 01 folder contains the ACTUAL list of your games that's displayed by the GDEMU, so aside from adding a numbered folder containing your new game you would have to manually edit the game list CDI image in the 01 folder so the GDEMU actually displays it. Opening the CDI in a text file just displays junk, so I have no idea how you'd actually do that. Maybe load it with a CD Image software like Nero or something. Anyway...yeah I have no idea. Just use SD Card Maker lol

 

[Laevateinn]

Yeah, GDEmu is super annoying. I would love to buy an alternative not made by the horrible Terraonion.

 

[BizzyBum]

Hell, I think I like the Fenrir ODE setup better on the Saturn.

Sure, your game menu looks like the command prompt on your PC, but you can categorize things in folders so it's possible to do something easy like separate US and Japanese games plus faster scrolling. Not a huge deal the GDEMU is just one long list since you can still list games alphabetically but could get a bit tedious if you have a ton of games.

 

[IrishNinja]

yeah, i too use the SD card maker thing too - after the satiator, the GDEMU does indeed feel obtuse, but finally having it setup, it works perfectly now - outside of a couple homebrew entires i'm trying to sort

 

[Spiderz]

Hey friends, not sure if this is the right place to ask but I decided to try redrawn and when I boot up games, there are artifacts populating the screen. I'm running a 6750xt with a 7600x so I'm thinking it might be an amd issue but was wondering if anyone had any insights!

 

[Traxus]

Finally got my mic foam replacement that looks identical to the original. I bought Seaman complete a few months ago but the foam the mic had was nasty and 90% disintegrated so we just threw it away.

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I nabbed a mic last week and some foam things off amazon. READY FOR SEAMAN

 

[AmirMoosavi]

Hey friends, not sure if this is the right place to ask but I decided to try redrawn and when I boot up games, there are artifacts populating the screen. I'm running a 6750xt with a 7600x so I'm thinking it might be an amd issue but was wondering if anyone had any insights!

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It's funny you mention that because I saw a thread on Shenmue Dojo yesterday where someone was getting artifacts with their 6700 XT in the native PC port of Shenmue I & II, and they found a fix on the Steam forums which involves translating DX11 to Vulkan:

Green aura :: Shenmue I & II General Discussions

Anybody else getting the green aura around everything? am on a 6900 xt rip. got so annoyed i literally went out and bought shenmue for the dreamcast lol

steamcommunity.com

I wonder if this is somehow related, worth a shot anyway.

 

[Traxus]

Anyone else out there use a Brook SD Wingman?

By default, the adapter maps the right stick on any compatible Bluetooth controller to mirror the face buttons (ABXY). I have no idea why this doesn't seem to be noted anywhere in the documentation (maybe I missed it), but I don't think it's widely known that you can easily swap the sticks, giving you perfect modern FPS controls in games like Quake 3 with ABXY movement on the left stick, and analog-look on the right.

Someone posted about this on the DC Talk forum and I was clued into it on reddit.

Select + R3 to swap sticks
Select + L3 to swap back

Easy. On a DS4 "Select" = "Share", etc.

Now in Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament, just go with any southpaw style preset. In Outtrigger that's control style D1. Disable any look-spring assists.

BOOM! Instant modern dual analog controls in Dreamcast games.