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What have you been up to lately with your Dreamcast?


GiygasKaz

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I noticed newtmonkey started similar general discussion forums for a few of the other console subforums, I decided I'd do one for the Dreamcast! Surprised it hasn't been done yet. Feel free to discuss any modding/games you've played/etc!

 

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Finally installed an ODE in my system after having it collect dust for awhile. I'm a big fighting game fan and the local guys seemed excited at the prospect of me having one around with a few Brook Wingman SD adapters for playing some Third Strike and CVS2. I took the opportunity to delve deeper into the library and I'm working to clear out my backlog now, starting with Illbleed! Diehard survival horror fan and I've heard lots of interesting things about this one so I'm excited to get into it.

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I've always been stubborn and refused to import games. Recently I caved and imported a game for the first time: Capcom vs SNK 2 for Dreamcast (I also bought a Game Shark so I can play imported games). CVS2 didn't come out in the US on Dreamcast and the US releases for other systems aren't nearly as good as the DC version IMO.

 

So that's what I've been doing with my Dreamcast lately. Playing CVS2 like crazy after 23 years of being upset there was no US release and refusing to buy a Japanese copy.

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On 2/2/2024 at 9:04 PM, GiygasKaz said:

Finally installed an ODE in my system after having it collect dust for awhile.

When my last optical drive dies eventually I'll resign myself to this also. For now it's still original discs for me though. Though I have found gd-rom drives for sale from China, I'm pretty sure I'll be better off modding in the end.

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7 hours ago, neogeo1982 said:

When my last optical drive dies eventually I'll resign myself to this also. For now it's still original discs for me though. Though I have found gd-rom drives for sale from China, I'm pretty sure I'll be better off modding in the end.

Although I've heard the Chinese replacement parts work just fine, I think the ODE is a worthwhile investment. It's a pretty fast swap if you decide you wanna use discs again as well.

 

Nice stick btw! Been considering getting one of the DC ones for awhile. I have a custom Dreamcast inspired one I designed and the parts arrive today so I'll post pics when it's done :)

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The stick is a good one. Weighty and takes a good beating. The buttons are adequate, but are not drop in for Sanwa if you want to swap out. The holes are about millimeter too small and need to dremel out the diameter to fit them in. Which can also ruin and start peeling the front art on it.

    Also of note there are 2 different versions of the Fight Stick when shopping one. One has VMU slot, the other does not. Mine does not but has the Saturn internal wiring and adapter. I could unplug the adapter inside mine and use as a Saturn stick.

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13 hours ago, neogeo1982 said:

Today was quick rounds of fishing before work. I wish the fishing rods weren't over $100 new now. I could buy several real ones and just go fishing at that price.

 

IMG_20240207_000236~2.jpg

Keeping an eye out for a good price on the fishing rod. The game is incredibly fun but it definitely feels like I'm missing out without it.

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5 hours ago, neogeo1982 said:

That's so cool! Is it wireless?

Not natively but I can plug a wireless adapter into the USB port to add wireless support. It does have native support for every console 7th gen onward including most of the retro "mini" consoles.

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What have I been up to lately? Well, nothing! The disc drive in my Dreamcast started getting a little spotty and wasn't reading data-intense games that filled or came close to filling out the entire disc. It was still able to read smaller games like Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure though. I opened up the console to adjust the little screw thing (potentiometer??) that affects how the disc laser travels. I uh, kinda broke it in the process. I started looking for a replacement disc drive and found no luck. Then I discovered the Dreamcast did not use regular CD's, it used something called a "GD-ROM" that used discs whose storage was closer to 1GB. (That explains, to me at least, why the Dreamcast is able to read ISO's burned onto regular CD's but not every game was able to be copied in this manner.)

 

So replacing the disc drive in my Dreamcast is a bust. Instead I suppose I'll just get one of those GDEMU SD card readers that take the place of the optical drive... except the creator of the GDEMU hasn't been selling them for a while now meaning if I want to revive my Dreamcast I guess I'll have to buy a knockoff board from AliExpress or something.

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7 hours ago, Radio F Software said:

opened up the console to adjust the little screw thing (potentiometer

With a multimeter I hope. Otherwise you would have no idea what ohms it was set at and what you adjusted it to. The laser might not be the problem though. There's 9 capacitors inside the drive that are probably leaking or dried out. Sometimes a recap can solve the issue along with some white grease on the slides.

 

7 hours ago, Radio F Software said:

why the Dreamcast is able to read ISO's

That will omit or compress many cutscenes and downgrade/compress the audio to fit on a CD. GDEmu you won't have to worry about this. You'll get the full experiences.

    If soldering is not your cup of tea then yes a new drive or GDEmu are good options.

Here's an ebay guy in the US that sells them.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394589639970?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=_svtqaa9rl2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ahiae0r0rgy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

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7 hours ago, neogeo1982 said:

With a multimeter I hope. Otherwise you would have no idea what ohms it was set at and what you adjusted it to. The laser might not be the problem though. There's 9 capacitors inside the drive that are probably leaking or dried out. Sometimes a recap can solve the issue along with some white grease on the slides.

I'm a big dumb idiot whose experience with electronics comes from building combat robots where unless you have the schematics you just tweak things and test it out until you get it to work the way you want. So, no. :P

 

I'll open it back up and inspect the caps though I'm pretty sure they were okay.

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On 2/13/2024 at 4:12 PM, Radio F Software said:

I'm a big dumb idiot whose experience with electronics comes from building combat robots where unless you have the schematics you just tweak things and test it out until you get it to work the way you want. So, no. :P

 

I'll open it back up and inspect the caps though I'm pretty sure they were okay.

If you don't want a bootleg GDEMU, Terraonion makes a multi-console drive called the MODE. Works for PSX, DC, and Saturn. Only problem is it costs a small fortune. I've heard the aftermarket GDEMUs are decent but QC is iffy.

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On 2/14/2024 at 7:29 PM, GiygasKaz said:

FF7

Remake or the old one? Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2 on Dreamcast are great to playthrough if you enjoyed the old FF7. Each have a different feel to them and good story and characters.

 

IMG_20240216_052742239.jpg

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On 2/16/2024 at 6:12 AM, neogeo1982 said:

Remake or the old one? 

Played Remake and Intermission, now I'm about halfway through the original. I do have Skies of Arcadia high on my list though and I'll have to check out Grandia 2 as well!

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7 hours ago, GiygasKaz said:

halfway through the original.

Half way through the game or half way grinding to fight Emerald Weapon? 😁. I've been periodically grinding my Phantasy Star Online character and setup a Sylverant account for myself. As soon as I get my Dreamcast back online soon I can play with people again finally. I see a few people daily on the Sylverant site playing. 

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