Post#12 » Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:46 am
In this thread:
Show me you don't understand the difference between emulation of a disc drive and emulation of a whole console without actually telling me you don't understand.
Optical drive emulators (aka ODEs), such as GDEMU, USBGDROM, and MODE, serve to emulate the actual GD-ROM drive. A GD-ROM is nothing but a storage medium, and a GD-ROM drive is nothing but a mechanism for seeking and retrieving data stored on said GD-ROM.
The serial SD card reader (i.e., DreamShell) is a bit different, where it's another avenue to launch software. Code execution like this is also seen in other consoles, like the PS2 via USB, or the PC Engine via its expansion port.
But do you know what else is another avenue to launch software? Wait for it... burned discs taking advantage of the MIL-CD exploit! There's just as much "original hardware" involved in burning a self-booting disc image to CD-R as there is in launching that disc image via DreamShell (or ODE).
Wanting an "authentic experience" with a disc is one thing, but you're completely off the mark if you think it's "just like software emulation on your PC" if you launch software on a game console via a storage medium other than the original retail format (e.g., GD-ROM, CD-ROM, etc). Once the game binary has been launched from ANY storage medium, and its assets accessible from the same storage medium (textures, sounds, etc), you are playing on original hardware.
Consider this... you go to play a PC game, which originally released on floppy disk. The year is 2023. What if you decided to virtually mount a floppy disk image so that you could still access the files and thus play the game? Or, what if you decided to use a physical FDD emulator, like the GoTek, where the dump of the original floppy disk is stored on a USB drive? Are you not still playing on original hardware (i.e., a PC)? The answer is "yes".
Or, what if a PC game originally came on CD-ROM, so you decide to rip it to an ISO that you can virtually mount it and play whenever you'd like without needing a disc drive? Still original hardware? Answer, again, is "yes".
What about consoles that let you install a game to internal hard drive?
I could go on and on...
I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you want to enjoy all that the Dreamcast has to offer these days, being married to the idea that you must experience software via optical disc is going to leave you shorthanded. I too once shared this sentiment, but eventually explored my options and have never looked back.
All of that being said, you're still 100% entitled to your opinion (obviously), but your comments (like "what's the point?") display a clear lack of understanding about how these devices, and game hardware in general, function.