Dreamcast-Talk.com

mstar wrote:

Ian Micheal wrote:Btw far as i remember dc X does not work with vga out

Sketcz wrote:...

I know about DC-X and VGA, but it's fine, because I have no means of using VGA. I use RGB SCART and need DC-X to force games to run in 60Hz.

I've an original DC-X, a retro-bit VGA Box and let me assure you it works just fine, basically forcing every game into using VGA.

Not sure where you got the idea it doesn't work?

FWIW, using a PAL Rev0 DC...

It was the first Utopia disc that did not support VGA. Later versions did.

Ian Micheal wrote:did you try this DC_IMPORT_ENABLER_Belokk.rar as it was better then most of what dc X did worked flawless

Yes, I did try DC Import Enabler, and it does indeed boot imports. However, it does not force them to run in 60Hz. I'm using USB-GD, as an ODE solution, which is region free and runs all games as region free. However some NTSC games run in 50Hz. DC Import Enabler does not seem to correct this problem - unless there's a button combination or settings option that I missed, which allows it.

Anyway, I actually found the solution just before coming here to post this.

The Code Breaker disc, if loaded first, will boot NTSC games in their correct 60Hz speed. Which is what I needed. It's pretty easy to find. You need to load it, click start game, wait for it to tell you to open the lid, do so, and if you've set USB-GD up correctly, it will auto-boot at the correct 60Hz speed.

MoeFoh wrote: Check here:
https://mega.nz/folder/q7oxzDga#JfJulP8EX1-poB0nkgy2ZA

HOLY GODS!!

Thank you!

I'm wondering if the megavolt85 GDEMU modified version of Code Breaker will work with the USB-GDROM ODE? It doesn't require you to open the lid.

https://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewto ... 22&t=13703

Sketcz wrote:

Ian Micheal wrote:did you try this DC_IMPORT_ENABLER_Belokk.rar as it was better then most of what dc X did worked flawless

Yes, I did try DC Import Enabler, and it does indeed boot imports. However, it does not force them to run in 60Hz. I'm using USB-GD, as an ODE solution, which is region free and runs all games as region free. However some NTSC games run in 50Hz. DC Import Enabler does not seem to correct this problem - unless there's a button combination or settings option that I missed, which allows it.

Anyway, I actually found the solution just before coming here to post this.

The Code Breaker disc, if loaded first, will boot NTSC games in their correct 60Hz speed. Which is what I needed. It's pretty easy to find. You need to load it, click start game, wait for it to tell you to open the lid, do so, and if you've set USB-GD up correctly, it will auto-boot at the correct 60Hz speed.

MoeFoh wrote: Check here:
https://mega.nz/folder/q7oxzDga#JfJulP8EX1-poB0nkgy2ZA

HOLY GODS!!

Thank you!

Thanks for posting your solution. See post #13.

MoeFoh wrote:Thanks for posting your solution. See post #13.

Thanks. I am downloading the modified version now and will try it. Lifting the lid does not always work all the time.

While I'm posting here...

Today I tried testing both the CDBoot 60Hz file and also the DC-X file, but they are both IMG files, whereas USB-GD only accepts CDI, GDI, and I think either BIN or ISO? I only use GDI and CDI on so am not sure about the last one.

Is there any chance you could convert the IMG files to CDI? For some reason Half Life boots in 50Hz and Code Breaker refuses to recognise it.

I will try the modified version of Code Breaker later tonight and let you know if it works on USB-GD.

MoeFoh wrote:I'm wondering if the megavolt85 GDEMU modified version of Code Breaker will work with the USB-GDROM ODE? It doesn't require you to open the lid.

https://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewto ... 22&t=13703

I went to that link, followed the link to Mega to get the hacked Code Breaker, placed it on my USB-GD and...

It does not boot up at all. It goes straight to the music CD screen, as if it's not being recognised as a Dreamcast disc. So for whatever reason, it is non-functioning on a USB-GD.

Sorry about that. I was hoping it would, to save me needing to open the lid.

Please let me know if it's possible to convert the two IMG files to CDI. If not, I'll try to look into an alternative solution.

Will try to convert the Utopia image. DC-X has advanced copy protection, won't do that one. It is impossible to burn a working copy without CloneCD software and a specific cd burner. Not sure if it ever worked with an ODE.

Did you try the Gameshark CDI?

MoeFoh wrote:Will try to convert the Utopia image. DC-X has advanced copy protection, won't do that one. It is impossible to burn a working copy without CloneCD software and a specific cd burner. Not sure if it ever worked with an ODE.

Did you try the Gameshark CDI?

No worries on DC-X. I think it's a lost cause. The 60Hz Utopia disc would be cool though.

Yes, I did try the GameShark CDI. And the results were strange - though others online have reported similar issues.

So I queue the game image with USB-GD then load GameShark. Lift the lid to swap images, close the lid. Then boot GameShark.

It then resets the Dreamcast, as is normal for such swap discs. I then get the red swirl logo, since it's booting in NTSC mode (my DC is PAL and normally has a blue swirl).

For any of the games which boot in 60Hz without a problem (there's several), they will load as normal under GameShark. But when I try to boot the problematic games, the ones that load in 50Hz, that's when stuff gets weird. (So Cosmic Smash, Grandia II, etc.)

The game picture starts not at the top of the TV screen, but 40% of the way down. The top 40% is just blackness. The lower 60% shows the game screen, but the bottom 40% of the game is cut off, since the whole thing has shifted downwards.

Basically, booting the problem games under GameShark causes the entire screen to shift downwards and display incorrectly, even worse than before.

So far only Code Breaker has worked. After flipping the lid and closing it, Code Breaker does not boot to the logo swirl. It goes straight into the game.

The problem with Code Breaker is that if I get the timing of the lid wrong (too fast or too slow) it gets a read error on the disc image.

Also, Code Breaker only seems to want to boot retail games - unreleased stuff like Half Life it says is an invalid disc. I'm wondering if it will affect other games, but so far all have booted apart from Half Life.

It would be cool to find and isolate the code in Code Breaker that allows forced 60Hz booting, and create some sort of separate CDI file, or somehow integrate it into the firmware of USB-GD. But that's beyond my ability.

Right now I'm just happy Code Breaker works as a solution for my PAL console. We should spread this knowledge far and wide.

If you need more info, please let me know. I can try some tests. Maybe we should move the conversation to a fresh topic?

Oh, and I downloaded two versions of Code Breaker. The first does not boot at all - it goes to the audio CD screen. Only the 2nd one boots. But I cannot remember where I downloaded this.

there are many different boot disks for dc.

gameshark, gameshark lite, codebreaker, xploder, action replay demo, action replay cdx, utopia v1.1&v1.2 (the reindeer is a reskinned teapot demo from sdk), cheatcode vol1&vol.2, 3 different homebrew boot disks (dc hakker, imrtech homebrew boot disk, grendel's demo loader), karat pro, jp and rus versions of bootdisks, dc-ie, dc-x. (some of these are just different regions version of action replay or gameshark)

you might want to check out ntsc enforcer? i have never tried it.
there is a pal enforcer as well.
some1 might have a link for ya?

i still probably left out a few other boot disk/cheat disks etc?

Wow, that's even more than I realised! I filled up a folder titled AAA_Booters, to sit at the top of my menu, but I think I've only got like 50% of that list.

So far only Code Breaker does what I require. I'm hoping the hacked Utopia disc, for 60Hz, works similarly, but we shall see.