Dreamcast Massive Memory Card, Need Software Drivers & cable??

[LimeiBook86]

Update! I found drivers and software and information on the Parallel cable for the PC. Both available here. (http://stevenmatarazzo.com/oldgames/dreamcast-massive-memory-card-plus.html) :)

Hey guys,

So I was at the Digital Press store and I saw this Massive Memory Card Plus for Dreamcast. It was $10 so I decided to give it a try, since it said it can connect to the PC and it was an 8x card.

Unfortunately when I got home and opened the box I was disappointed. :( There was no CD of software for the card, or even the cable to connect it to the PC. The original box was shoved with random Dreamcast manuals, flyers, and booklets for random accessories. I really wanted to use this, and I thought that getting it from the store that they'd have it with everything I needed but sadly it didn't. I would like to not have to return it, but unless I can make / get a cable and the software I may have to.

Does anybody happen to have the software for this. I'm sure it's only for Windows 98/2000 - maybe XP. I hear conflicting reports about the cable. Some people say there is a USB cable - some people say there is a Parallel port cable. There seems to be little to no info about this on the web, so ANY help would be fantastic.

The little port on the VMU has six pins, USB only has 4 so I can't make any certain decisions on wiring.

Here's a photo of the unit and the port it has.

http://homepage.mac.com/ibook238/.Pictures/DC-MMC.jpg

Thanks! :-P
-Steve

[kedawa]

What did you want to do with it exactly? If you just want to download save files from the internet or hack your saves, you can do all that from the Dreamcast with the right software. Dream explorer is what I use, iirc.

[LimeiBook86]

I thought it would be cool to have to download VMU saves. I'm interested in the method you mentioned. But how do you exactly transfer information from the PC to the Dreamcast, does it use the modem or do you have to burn a CD-R to get the files on the Dreamcast? :)

I thought this solution would be easy, but I suppose it isn't. I guess I can always return it.

[kedawa]

I just burn a CDR, although it does support the BBA if you're fortunate enough to own one.
For a good collection of gamesaves, look on the net for "VMU Backup CD V1.3.0".

[LimeiBook86]

Well I got a solution... sort of. I found another seller on Amazon that had just the cable and the CD for the memory card. So I bought that and everything worked fine. Turns out it is a Parallel cable for the PC, not a USB cable (at least for my model) the software for the memory card will NOT work in Windows XP... or Vista. (even with compatibility mode), it says it needs Windows 95/98. If you try to run it otherwise you get connection errors.

Anyway I got the software working fine in Windows 98. I was able to transfer saves to and from the Dreamcast and the PC. It worked perfectly! :)

I made a little website with all the information you could ever want on this thing. Including specs on the cable if you need to build your own, and the software and drivers for the Massive Memory Card Plus to download, since I couldn't find them online I thought I would help anyone else who needed them. :)

Here's the site: Dreamcast Massive Memory Card Plus - Software Drivers & Information (http://stevenmatarazzo.com/oldgames/dreamcast-massive-memory-card-plus.html)

Thanks for the help and info! :D

[OldSchoolGamer]

Hey good job! I had something similar and did use it a lot back in the day. I believe mine was by a company called EMS or something, I would also run WIN98 using VMware JUST to use the connection software lol! a modern USB equivalent would be cool though! It was called the NEXUS memory card:

Still have it and even the cable lol!
http://www.jandaman.com/thestore/prods/dcnexus.html

[LimeiBook86]

Thanks! :) I used to have the one too, I still do actually, but the cable connecting to the VMU never sat right, and I think the connection broke somehow. Also the software never ran well on my computer and it was very glitchy and crashy, I think I only got it to work once or twice unfortunately.

But I'm happy that this works now at least! :) Now I think I'll try to make a second cable (seeing as I have 2 cards now and 1 cable) just as a rainy-day project, also good to help others make a cable if they need one! :D