Dreamcast issue

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:29 pm

Hi! I have a bit of a problem. Shikigami no Shiiro II just arrived in the mail.. for dreamcast but my dreamcast is not japanese. How can I get it to play? I know the dreamcast can play overseas games but I dont know how.

The game wont play by it self. Do I need to modchip my dreamcast?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:43 pm

You know the word for a perfect society, that cannot be found in any place? Google for it.

Or just get a Gameshark, DC-X or CodeBreaker. Check also which year your DC was made. If it's after Oct 2000, you might be out of luck.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:22 am

Google is not coming up with anything. I have been looking for the past half hour. Wasted 5 disks trying to get boot disks working. ONE of them works, but when I open my dreamcast to switch discs I cannot take out the boot disc because it is still spinning with the lid open.

SOoo... I dunno what to do really.

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:34 am

If it's spinning that's a good thing, it means the disk is being read. Wait, it continues to spin after the lid is open?? Weird. It doesn't stop at all?

Go on Lik-sang or Play Asia and buy the DC-X disk for 15 bucks or so.
Or you can burn a certain boot disk called Utopia. It's easy to find and easy to burn. If you need more help just pm me. I actually have quite a few boot disks which I would be more tha happy to give you. Everyone should be able to enjoy Dreamcast love.

Oh shit you're in Australia? I heard imports don't work there.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:58 am

What does DC-X do? If I cannot switch discs, because the disc doesnt stop spinning when I open the lid, how is DC-X going to be any use?

I have tried Utopia just now. It didnt work. But, my DC cable is broken so I am playing it through a VGA monitor. Utopia doesnt have VGA support (I think.......) and I cannot find any other boot discs which work properly.

If you have any other boot disks which arent Utopia, I may be able to use them.

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:11 am

Yes Utopia does Not work with VGA, though I have heard there are ways around that but I haven't figured them out. I'm not sure why the disk is spinning when the lid is open. What happens when you turn the system on without a disk? If you put in a game that works then open the cover does it still spin?
Don't worry we'll get you through these tough times.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:28 am

The disc spins always but I do not know why.

I can put a game, any self booting game in, and it will load... but the lid does not need to be closed. I can open and close the lid whenever and it will not change anything, the disc will keep spinning.

If no game is in the machine and I turn it on, it tries to run a disc, but then stops because there is nothing there.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:45 am

okie.. I guess i should say this:

- the dreamcst is a hkt-3030 PAL version
- I am using a VGA box to play it on a monitor
- Utopia 1.1 1.2 1.3 do not support VGA
- Utopias patch to work with VGA still does not work even after patching with it
- All the other boot discs that were found did not load or did not work
- The dreamcast does not work on a normal tv
- The dreamcast only works on a VGA monitor.
- The game will not load by itself (the game is japanese, and my dreamcast is PAL)
- I can not switch discs, because most boot discs will not load on a VGA monitor
- I cant switch discs also because the disc doesnt stop spinning when the lid roof is opened.

What do I do? This is becoming a real problem because I do not know what else to do. I dont want to modchip my dreamcast but I cannot think of any other way.

fl0w · Post by **fl0w** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:23 am

Specineff wrote:If it's after Oct 2000, you might be out of luck.

Hmm what do you mean?

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:40 am

The only thing I can suggest is to purchase DC-X. It works for me on my VGA.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:00 am

I might do that. Is modchipping a dreamcast dangerous? I know the instructions and everything.

cigsthecat · Post by **cigsthecat** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:35 am

I've had a chipped DC since 1999 and it's been nothing but a pleasure so far.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:40 am

But I need to know if it is dangerous. If it is dangerous, I do not want to take this risk. If it is simple and no problem, I will go and modchip it.

Swapping sounds like it would become a pest after some time. -_-

Savory · Post by **Savory** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:48 pm

Well, I would say there's always some sort of risk when opening up a console to mod it. As long as you're careful not to break anything, discharge any electricity into it and are somewhat decent at soldering, you shouldn't have a problem. The DC was by far the easiest mod I ever installed and it's far more convenient than swapping.

benj · Post by **benj** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:35 pm

The problem with modding a PAL DC is that most imports will still run at 50 hz. The easiest way to get an import runnig is to download the iso (or rip your original if you have the means to do so) and patch it to run at 60 hz.

EDIT: I just noticed that you're playing on a VGA monitor, so forget what I wrote about patching, since playing on a monitor makes the game run at 60 hz regardless of region. Here is a guide for modding your DC.

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:58 pm

I would seriously buy the DC-X before trying anything else. I have 3 dreamcasts, unmodded and 2 modded. The unmodded with the DC-X works better than my 2 modded systems.

D · Post by D » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:46 pm

Arznei, since you have the original now you can legitimatly download the game now, right guys?

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:21 pm

D wrote:Arznei, since you have the original now you can legitimatly download the game now, right guys?

I did not spend $60 importing a game I would just end up downloading

I will try DC-X, if that works, I wont modchip it. Or I will modchip it as a last resort..

Update: I found and downloaded DC-X and it didnt work. I guess modchipping it is the only option.

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:04 pm

Didn't work? Well that's what you get for not purchasing it:)
Seriously though, I have no idea what's up with your system. When you installed the DC-X disk did it even read it? Did it ask you to swap it out with the game disk?

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:19 pm

malcolm wrote:Didn't work? Well that's what you get for not purchasing it:)
Seriously though, I have no idea what's up with your system. When you installed the DC-X disk did it even read it? Did it ask you to swap it out with the game disk?

Nopes. All it did was go into the cd menu and say 69:(something) like it was a regular cd track.

I also fix the disc spinning while lid open problem, but I still cannot find a boot disc which works for VGA mode

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:32 pm

Okay, you burned the disk wrong, that much I know. Don't ask me how to burn it correctly becasue I'm not sure about that. If it's coming up as a cd it means you burned it wrong. On dreamcast disks the audio tracks are in a particular part of the disk. You have it in the wrong place, therefore you burned it wrong. Please trust me, order the DC-X disk from either play asia or Lik-sang, I'm positive it will work. trust me. I use it with my unmodded system on VGA every single day.

Post by **Icarus** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:42 pm

Arznei wrote:Nopes. All it did was go into the cd menu and say 69:(something) like it was a regular cd track.

I also fix the disc spinning while lid open problem, but I still cannot find a boot disc which works for VGA mode

Use Padus Discjuggler to correctly burn all .cdi images.
Note: I didn't tell you that. ^_-

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:56 pm

Icarus wrote:
Arznei wrote:Nopes. All it did was go into the cd menu and say 69:(something) like it was a regular cd track.

I also fix the disc spinning while lid open problem, but I still cannot find a boot disc which works for VGA mode
Use Padus Discjuggler to correctly burn all .cdi images.
Note: I didn't tell you that. ^_-

But there isnt any cdi files. There is Img, Sub and Ccd. That is all.

This says its the "american" version, so does that mean DC-X only works on american DCs?

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:04 am

RE burning: .img files should be burnable with most disc writing software. You could always try loading the image on your PC using Daemon Tools and then doing a straight "CD to CD" copy.

RE DC-X: I think so. I don't use a swapdisc personally (bought premodded jpn DC a while back) but if it's labelled as "American" then it will only work on US consoles.

I take it since you're in Austrailia you have a PAL based DC right? You might have to track down the PAL version of the DC-X disc, or something similar that was released here in PAL-land.

Can't be of more help I'm afraid, sorry.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:14 am

Icarus wrote:RE burning: .img files should be burnable with most disc writing software. You could always try loading the image on your PC using Daemon Tools and then doing a straight "CD to CD" copy.

RE DC-X: I think so. I don't use a swapdisc personally (bought premodded jpn DC a while back) but if it's labelled as "American" then it will only work on US consoles.

I take it since you're in Austrailia you have a PAL based DC right? You might have to track down the PAL version of the DC-X disc, or something similar that was released here in PAL-land.

Can't be of more help I'm afraid, sorry.

Thats ok mate, thanks for helping. Do they even have DC-X PAL versions? How could I burn it wrong? I was using Alcohol 120% on Normal CD at 8x.

The thing is labelled DC-X_Game_Adaptor-[CCD-IMG]-US_NTSC-DC-GENiUS, and the US_NTSC part makes me think it is only for american dreamcasts.

It looks like the only option is modchipping it..

Post by **Icarus** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:40 am

Arznei wrote:Thats ok mate, thanks for helping. Do they even have DC-X PAL versions? How could I burn it wrong? I was using Alcohol 120% on Normal CD at 8x.

I assume they do, as I remember seeing a few of them during the DC's early lifespan. You could always try trawling eMule for the PAL revision, as I can't find anything on isoHunt.

Discs of this nature are very fussy to burn. If the disc doesn't burn correctly (usually there are instructions supplied with these archives) then it might suffer the same region locking that regular games do.

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:09 am

No DC-X is compatible with any dreamcast. It even says on the package that's compatible with ANY Dreamcast console. Why won't you listen to me, just buy the damn thing! It works! That's the beauty of it. But if you must burn a copy make sure you burn it at the lowest speed possible.

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:12 am

Icarus wrote:
Arznei wrote:Thats ok mate, thanks for helping. Do they even have DC-X PAL versions? How could I burn it wrong? I was using Alcohol 120% on Normal CD at 8x.
I assume they do, as I remember seeing a few of them during the DC's early lifespan. You could always try trawling eMule for the PAL revision, as I can't find anything on isoHunt.

Discs of this nature are very fussy to burn. If the disc doesn't burn correctly (usually there are instructions supplied with these archives) then it might suffer the same region locking that regular games do.

Yes, but this is not suffering region lockout. If it did I would think it would say "please insert disc" not go to the cd player menu.

So can somebody please tell me how to burn this? I do not particulry want to waste anymore discs trying to get it to work.

i.e.: What are the proper settings I should have in alcohol120%?

Update: I got it working! Thanks guys. I am kind of dissapointed in Shikigami however, the gamecube version has Wait and the dreamcast version doesnt.

DC906270 · Post by **DC906270** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:22 am

I am kind of dissapointed in Shikigami

lol, after all that