Playing Imports on a Dreamcast...........

[XianXi]

What's needed? A mod chip? Nothing?

[Julio III]

A boot disc.
You can either purchase one like a DC-X, Xploder or Action Replay or download one such as Utopia and burn it yourself. Mod chips are available but it is simply easier to pick up a boot disc. I use the demo version of the Action Replay CD-X that was on the front of a magazine back in the day.

[Iron Draggon]

Just get a GameShark CDX. As far as I know, it works for all the games. Make sure it comes with the part that plugs into the controller too though. Some people just sell the disc, which is useless without the part for the controller.

[blue lander]

It's super easy to use a boot disk to play imports, but it's also super easy to install a mod chip. They're cheap and you just have to solder 4 wires. It's pretty easy if you have any skill with a soldering iron.

[jajaja]

If you pay for a bootCD your getting ripped off. Afaik Utopia was the first who made a bootCD and they did it for free (freeware).

[max 330 mega]

If you pay for a bootCD your getting ripped off. Afaik Utopia was the first who made a bootCD and they did it for free (freeware).
there are titles that do not work with utopia, which makes buying a CDX the better choice.

[roushimsx]

Another vote for modchip.

Swapping discs gets annoying quickly, especially once you've experienced the bliss of having a chipped system. As a nice bonus, you don't have to deal with the stigma associated with modchips when you mod your Dreamcast because they're only useful for legitimate importing purposes.

Seriously, they're super easy to install and you'll never have to worry about swapping again :)

[XianXi]

thanks for everyone's help. What is the controller part for? I plan to use PS2 controllers while playing an import, will that not work?

[Fighter17]

If you pay for a bootCD your getting ripped off. Afaik Utopia was the first who made a bootCD and they did it for free (freeware).
there are titles that do not work with utopia, which makes buying a CDX the better choice.

Where's the list?

[Ze_ro]

I vote for mod chip too. Having to swap discs and keep a boot disc hanging around is a total pain in the ass. Beware though that the chip I got wasn't mounted to a board or anything, and soldering wires onto the tiny connectors on a surface mount chip is a little tricky.

I've always heard claims that Utopia doesn't work with everything, but I've never seen it fail myself. I used to use this method before getting a mod chip, and it worked with everything I had (admittedly, that was only about 5 games at the time).

--Zero

[tylerwillis]

For everyone advocating the DC mod, do any places still sell the chips? I had once, but it looks like it fried - the DC worked for a year or so and then went blityz till I took it out - but I would love to get another and remod.

[Nez]

Go with the boot discs. I don't like game shark becouse it will somtimes delete your save files.

I use code breaker or the innovation converter.

The real benefit to using botdiscs is that if a game is not VGA compatable using a boot disc will cicumvent that and allow it to play in 480p.

Some work fine hydro thunder, others you'lll find out why it doesn't work jojos bizzar adventure.

[goatdan]

I got with a boot disc, personally. It isn't worth the time and effort to mod it in my opinion. And the boot disc forces some games to play in VGA mode, which I appreciate too :)

[Rabid Peanut-Butter]

I've seen the Utopia boot disc not work on a small handful of imports like the "Project Berkley" bonus disc. My GameShark disc though boots everything. I'd agree the disc is the way to go, it's just so easy.


... And the boot disc forces some games to play in VGA mode, which I appreciate too :)

I didn't know that!

[M1Savage]

I'd suggest the codebreaker which is very easy to find. Even the codebreaker "demo" works great for booting imports. As for the Utopia disc, I play PSO Pal version online regularly (yes, Sega still has it online and it's FREE!) and if you use the Utopia disc to boot the game, it messes up many things in the game such as being able to heal your teammates and such. I can't speak for using Utopia with other games, but can say for certain that for Pal PSO you'd be better off with something else.

[InsaneDavid]

If you're looking for information / clarification concerning boot discs check out this thread...

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12859

Stick to my posts there and you should be alright.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

Utopia's had something like a 99% success rate for me on importing; I don't see the point of paying for a mod chip when Utopia's available for the cost of a blank CD.

[unwinddesign]

Utopia is crap. VGA support is shoddy, it doesn't work with some games, it's a pain in the ass to swap it, loads slowly, and plus, it's warez.

If you're gonna disc swap, use the Gameshark CDX, Action Replay or something similar.

If anyone is interested in a modchip, head on over to www.dcpawnshop.com and message "fatheadpi" about them -- he can get them for you. $12 if you preorder, $15 for those that don't. Pretty good price, since Lik-Sang doesn't carry them any more.

[Tron 2.0]

Bootdisc if you ask me.

DC-X
Gameshark CDX
Code Breaker

I've used all 3 work fine for me.