Dreamcast - So *when* does the homebrew stop?

[zektor]

What I mean by this is:

I have always been told that you needed to have a DC manufactured before OCT 1999 (or was it December?) to play homebrew discs. Supposedly, Sega "fixed" the problem in models newer than this and models manufactured after this date would NOT run homebrew.

Fast forward to today. I just purchased a second DC unit...brand new. I opened it just to see if it would play homebrew (manufactured April 2000) and lo and behold, it does.

Do I have my dates wrong? Or is this just a myth, and all DC units play homebrew? Does anyone have a later model (ie: Sega Sports Black DC) that plays homebrew?

[Flack]

Yes, my black Dreamcast plays homebrews just fine. I have heard that rumor as well but I personally have 5 Dreamcasts and they all play burned copies just fine. I've also heard that burned copies wear out your laser and I've been playing burned copies on my launch Dreamcast since I got it and it still works fine.

[ubersaurus]

I think it's just a myth, as I've never heard of a DC that had problems playing burned games.

[Eggman]

I have a Dreamcast from 2000 that can play burned games, cds, homebrews, the works. I've heard this rumor repeatedly, but I've never run into any problems.

[studvicious]

I'm also pretty sure that it's just a myth.

[djlr181]

I don't know the exact date, but I believe that Dreamcasts manufactured after October 2000 can't play burned games. Older dreamcasts were able to boot code off CD-Roms but those later dreamcasts can't. I could be totally wrong.

[Cloud121]

If I remember correctly, it's Dreamcasts produced before January or February 2001 that can play homebrew.

[suppafly]

ALL dreamcasts run homwbrew damn it!

[InsaneDavid]

All Dreamcast systems with the exception of a handful manufactured for Southeast Asian markets will have MIL-CD support and thereby play homebrews. Look up some of my posts in older threads about this topic. I'd dig them up myself but this is one of the few things I tire of having to repost.

[kedawa]

Some kiosk units, and possibly the prelaunch rental units, are incapable of playing CD-Rs.

As far as wearing out the laser goes, just make sure to burn your games at a slower speed, and they should be no worse on the drive than the original GD-ROMs are. Oh, and don't use shitty discs.

[kainemaxwell]

DC I got from DP Survivor plays burned games fine, always has.

[MarioMania]

I got some CD-R's now...What site can you burn a Boot Disk to play Imports

[CosmicMonkey]

I got some CD-R's now...What site can you burn a Boot Disk to play Imports

So, is English your first language? That seems to be getting asked a lot round here lately, and it scares me.

Therefore, you have three possible answers to your question:

1. Nero
2. Google
3. Original flavor Doritos with spicy salsa dip

[rcgamer]

I have bought and sold probably dozens of dreamcasts and have yet to find one that won't play backups.

[InsaneDavid]

Here be that thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99708).

[zektor]

All Dreamcast systems with the exception of a handful manufactured for Southeast Asian markets will have MIL-CD support and thereby play homebrews. Look up some of my posts in older threads about this topic. I'd dig them up myself but this is one of the few things I tire of having to repost.

Thanks for the info. I did try to search the forums before posting, but didn't initially come across it. Heck, the forum search function seems to work for me 33% of the time as it is. But again, being a member of these forums for quite a few years, I never recall it being one of those "search the forums, damnit" type places. Questions will be asked more than one time, lets be realistic. Nobody *has* to get aggravated and repost.

Not a flame dude...and I appreciate your helpful knowledge. Just me spitting out my occasional two cents on the matter at hand.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

Yea I would think that it is a myth becuase I have three DC's and they all play burnt CD's just fine.

[InsaneDavid]

Thanks for the info. I did try to search the forums before posting, but didn't initially come across it. Heck, the forum search function seems to work for me 33% of the time as it is. But again, being a member of these forums for quite a few years, I never recall it being one of those "search the forums, damnit" type places. Questions will be asked more than one time, lets be realistic. Nobody *has* to get aggravated and repost.

Not a flame dude...and I appreciate your helpful knowledge. Just me spitting out my occasional two cents on the matter at hand.

No problem, the four character minimum for search words makes this a hard topic to dig out. (can't search "MIL-CD")

[Ze_ro]

As far as wearing out the laser goes, just make sure to burn your games at a slower speed, and they should be no worse on the drive than the original GD-ROMs are. Oh, and don't use shitty discs.
I think the idea here is that GD-ROM's have a higher track density... so when the laser has to move, it doesn't have to move as far on a GD-ROM than it would on a CD-ROM... so in theory, if you play a lot of stuff on CD, then the motor ends up pulling more mileage causing more wear and tear. Whether this actually causes any noticeable change in the life-span of a system is debatable, and probably not worth worrying about...

That being said, I remember playing a burned copy of Frogger 2 on the Dreamcast, and the game had so many seek times that I got concerned about it wearing out the motor and stopped playing. I don't know what the programmers were thinking... they should know enough to lay out the data properly to avoid so many seeks.

As for Dreamcasts that don't play homebrew, I think it's a myth too. I've seen tons of rules of thumb for what can and can't play them, but in all my time, I've never heard of any concrete cases of anyone actually OWNING one that wouldn't play them... so either they're super-rare or they just don't exist.

--Zero

[smork]

That being said, I remember playing a burned copy of Frogger 2 on the Dreamcast, and the game had so many seek times that I got concerned about it wearing out the motor and stopped playing. I don't know what the programmers were thinking... they should know enough to lay out the data properly to avoid so many seeks.


I've never worried so much about excessive seek ruining the motor on a DC -- I just hate how loud the seeking is on mine, so when I get alot in a game it's really annoying!

It's the only thing I dislike about the system other than "They don't make the system or the games anymore."

[mills]

So, is English your first language? That seems to be getting asked a lot round here lately, and it scares me.

Therefore, you have three possible answers to your question:

1. Nero
2. Google
3. Original flavor Doritos with spicy salsa dip




I second this, sometimes I even question if you aren't 10 years old.

[MarioMania]

yay..I got the CDX demo working on a CD-R..Now I could play my 2 Japanese Games

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I've never worried so much about excessive seek ruining the motor on a DC -- I just hate how loud the seeking is on mine, so when I get alot in a game it's really annoying!

It's the only thing I dislike about the system other than "They don't make the system or the games anymore."
How about "You need a dozen VMUs to hold the saves for all your games so you can never remember which one has the save for the game you want to play"? That's my biggest beef with the Dreamcast.

I've got three regular VMUs and two 4x cards and while I've tried time and again to come up with sensible systems for organizing the saves, I still end up all the time having to go out to the DC BIOS and scan through all my VMU pages in order to find the save I want. It sucks butt.

I would hump a monkey for a VMU that could contain all my saves on one page. And the ridiculous part is that that wouldn't even require a particularly huge memory card. A 1MB card would be enough.


...word is bondage...