Dream Library (Virtual Console)

[Roareye]

Well, the likelihood is we can't fix the emulator's quality, but we are able to get it fully functional. Let's focus on that side.
Can anybody help me figure out what the website has to do to tell the emulator which game to play?

Hey Roareye, sorry for this message on a 1 year old topic, but did you make any progress regarding Dream Passport and its Emulator? I just stumbled on this video and then looked on Dreamcast-talk if anybody spoke about it.

Maybe Dricashan could help you in your researches ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsI5v_xltIQ

Sorry for the late reply. No I never got this any further off the ground. I'm rebuilding DreamArena 2 atm, and as part of the new interface I'm going to test downloading PC Engine and MD roms to DC for play. It may not work, but it's worth a shot. I've already got a basic page worked out that should be able to boot the known playable demo roms from the site (albeit you'd have to go to the site via Dream Passport 3 or Premier for that function to work as the files aren't in Dreamkey). I'm thinking of how to cross the site build with a custom browser disc that includes more options and makes the interface more user-friendly.

[streeker]

The Smash Pack based single game emulators posted by mkandersson1082 ( https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/vi ... 51&t=14229 ) inspired me to try and recreate the DreamLibrary emulator as close as possible - also based on its Smash Pack incarnation.

I had to realign the menu backdrop in order to have this look and feel like the DreamLiabray emu. Menu texts are all English now, saving of the controller settings works AND most importantly: the emulator is no longer restricted to 15 minutes of gameplay.

Here are the five games that came as official previews on the DreamPassport 3 disc. These are single game CDIs for offline use. VGA and RGB enabled. Gameplay is fine, sound is (of course) ridiculous compared to the original MegaDrive/Genesis hardware

Columns [DreamLibrary SP].rar

(1.26 MiB) Downloaded 146 times

Flicky [DreamLibrary SP].rar

(1.21 MiB) Downloaded 158 times

Ghouls 'n Ghosts [DreamLibrary SP].rar

(1.66 MiB) Downloaded 105 times

Pengo [DreamLibrary SP].rar

(1.62 MiB) Downloaded 152 times

Puyo Puyo [DreamLibrary SP].rar

(1.57 MiB) Downloaded 122 times

I also tried some of the other games that are present on the DreamPassport 3 disc - see this post ( https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/vi ... 28#p114829 ) - but ran into graphic glitches or ingame freezing soon, so I left them be...

.

[Roareye]

The Smash Pack based single game emulators posted by mkandersson1082 ( https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/vi ... 51&t=14229 ) inspired me to try and recreate the DreamLibrary emulator as close as possible - also based on its Smash Pack incarnation.

I had to realign the menu backdrop in order to have this look and feel like the DreamLiabray emu. Menu texts are all English now, saving of the controller settings works AND most importantly: the emulator is no longer restricted to 15 minutes of gameplay.

dreamlib.png

Here are the five games that came as official previews on the DreamPassport 3 disc. These are single game CDIs for offline use. Be aware that they only(!) seem to work with VGA. Gameplay is fine, sound is (of course) ridiculous compared to the original MegaDrive/Genesis hardware

Columns [DreamLibrary SP].rar
Flicky [DreamLibrary SP].rar
Ghouls 'n Ghosts [DreamLibrary SP].rar
Pengo [DreamLibrary SP].rar
Puyo Puyo [DreamLibrary SP].rar
I also tried some of the other games that are present on the DreamPassport 3 disc - see this post ( https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/vi ... 28#p114829 ) - but ran into graphic glitches or ingame freezing soon, so I left them be...

.

How have I only just seen this!? Amazing work ^_^

I'm trying to translate the official Dream Library at (Think I'm on top of it) but there are some aspects that I'm finding hard to translate. I've not played the Smash Pack, but I'm guessing it dropped all elements outside of basic gameplay?

I actually came looking for more images of the Dream Library system in use (as rare as they are likely to be). Some of the translations require a bit of context, which I can't get myself due to the images only appearing after connecting to the now-dead Dricas server. I managed to translate the image from the Dreamcast Junkyard post (though it seems Streeker figured those out too) but there is plenty of the visual elements I've not seen in action.

If anyone can share images of the Dream Library service (preferably once a user has "logged in"), as rare as that may be, it would help me out a lot.

Here's one of the menu PVRs translated. I am ensuring it matches up identically with translated alpha layers too

[-drez01-]

Looking good!

[streeker]

I'm trying to translate the official Dream Library at (Think I'm on top of it) but there are some aspects that I'm finding hard to translate. I've not played the Smash Pack, but I'm guessing it dropped all elements outside of basic gameplay?

Just to let you know: almost everything in my "DreamLibrary SP" mockups is already in English - menu, controller settings, credits and all of the games... except for "Puyo Puyo", which hasn't been translated yet. Unfortunately.

[Roareye]

I'm trying to translate the official Dream Library at (Think I'm on top of it) but there are some aspects that I'm finding hard to translate. I've not played the Smash Pack, but I'm guessing it dropped all elements outside of basic gameplay?

Just to let you know: almost everything in my "DreamLibrary SP" mockups is already in English - menu, controller settings, credits and all of the games... except for "Puyo Puyo", which hasn't been translated yet. Unfortunately.

That's awesome. Did you translate the server connection and ROM download system too?
I'd have thought the SP version would have missed these since they weren't a feature on Smash Pack.

If you have those assets though I'd love to get a look at them, with your permission.

[streeker]

The emulator I used for the five games above is the Smash Pack one, not the one from DreamLibrary. The DL emulator is not very useful, since gameplay is limited to 15 minutes only. Otherwise both emulators are basically the same. Like I said, the five games work entirely offline - no server connections or stuff like that. And they boot straight to this menu:

[Roareye]

The five games above didn't have to be downloaded. The ROMs were already available on the disc. So in these cases the DreamLibrary emulator acted very much like the Smash Pack one. I didn't have to hassle with server connections and stuff like that. Like I said, the five games work entirely offline and boot straight to this screen:

Oh I'm aware of how Dream Library worked, and the accessible nature of those 5 games (and how to add and activate full versions and other titles), I was more interested in the assets.

Can I ask, is the text on the menu there made up of images, or is it built from an alphabet? By this I mean did you have to change the code to make them appear in English or swap out a PVR?

[streeker]

Can I ask, is the text on the menu there made up of images, or is it built from an alphabet? By this I mean did you have to change the code to make them appear in English or swap out a PVR?

I've edited my post above while you were posting yours. So once again: I didn't use the DreamLibray emulator at all. Everything except the ROMs and the menu backdrop comes from the Smash Pack.

[Roareye]

Sure. But that menu in your picture is the same design as the original Dream Library, as such a patch of those files into Dream Library may work to translate that menu too.

The Dream Library emulator isn't inherently locked to 15 minutes. Those ROMs are, the timeout can be patched around, but it requires you to compile a new browser disc with the replacement ROMs. They boot up via link codes - drez and I have got them running on a beta of an upcoming new browser disc - even got em running on the European browser.

My main question is whether or not the menu assets shown in your image are PVR visual files or not (The text moreso).