Dreamcast; how force all games to play in VGA

[NGCD Maniac]

Is there any way to force all Dreamcast game to play in VGA mode? I have my Dreamcast connected to a decade old PC monitor and the games look amazing, but some games don't want to play when I use the VGA cable (like Trickstyle), and Im stuck to play them with S-Video cable... and I don't want to go back to S-Video quality after enjoying 480P.

 

I have check around and it seem to work if you have DC-X, but it is hard to find and expensive (100$+). Any other options around ? (cheap options would be great)

 

Thx

[derFunkenstein]

Cheapest option I can think of is to find a patched CDI image.

 

You could do RGB passthrough with a Toro, which is $80 instead of $100+, but you're going back to 480i, and if you don't have an OSSC or Framemeister it's not really an option.

[Atariboy]

For an alternate option that hopefully will soon be available, HD Retrovision is developing a component cable.

 

http://www.hdretrovision.com/development/

 

Supports 480p of course, but it also supports 240p/480i. No need to revert to an inferior type of cable for certain games, play patched games burnt to cd-r, etc. You do have to flip a switch on the cable though to swap between SD and ED modes as necessary (Which is also important for those with high quality SD CRT's with component inputs that want to upgrade past S-Video, but obviously can't take advantage of the system's 480p capabilities).

 

Of course I suppose your monitor might lack component. But my LCD monitor from a decade ago has the full range of inputs. So if you have S-Video on it, I bet it offers a component input as well.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Atariboy

[NGCD Maniac]

For an alternate option that hopefully will soon be available, HD Retrovision is developing a component cable.

 

http://www.hdretrovision.com/development/

 

Supports 480p of course, but it also supports 240p/480i. No need to revert to an inferior type of cable for certain games, play patched games burnt to cd-r, etc. You do have to flip a switch on the cable though to swap between SD and ED modes as necessary (Which is also important for those with high quality SD CRT's with component inputs that want to upgrade past S-Video, but obviously can't take advantage of the system's 480p capabilities).

 

Of course I suppose your monitor might lack component. But my LCD monitor from a decade ago has the full range of inputs. So if you have S-Video on it, I bet it offers a component input as well.

That could be a good solution whenever its available. My old monitor does support component.

 

Thx for the info

[glazball]

I've always been under the impression that you can't force all DC games to VGA, though you can force some with the VGA box switch trick. Going by this list

 

Also, I feel you for wanting the best quality from the DC but S-Video for those few games that don't support VGA isn't the end of the world imo.

[NGCD Maniac]

I've always been under the impression that you can't force all DC games to VGA, though you can force some with the VGA box switch trick. Going by this list

 

Also, I feel you for wanting the best quality from the DC but S-Video for those few games that don't support VGA isn't the end of the world imo.

 

Not the end of the world, just wanted to look if there was a solution. The games just look so dark with S-Video compare to VGA, the picture aren't has clean.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I think about the only game I own that I can't really force to work in VGA mode is Bangai-O. I can force it to boot under VGA, but due to the way the video works on that game, it comes up scrambled looking and impossible to actually play. Most other games can be tricked using the swap cable method or flipping a switch on newer VGA boxes.

 

I actually have my DC connected via s-video most of the time and it is more than playable to me that way. But I do have a VGA cable adapter for it as well and a VGA to HDMI adapter connected if something I want to play supports VGA and I'd prefer to play it that way.