Dreamcast Region Changer v1.5

[CosmicMonkey]

Here we have a mod for the DC that will allow you to change the region and video output of the console. All it requires is soldering one wire, bridging two points (if needed) and burning the Region Changer to CD.

Instructions and info
Region Changer v1.5

Saves me having to use DC-X every time I want to play a game; I can just change the DC to Japanese mode and directly boot Trigger Heart or Guilty Gear.

[Vectorman0]

This is fairly technical, so it goes to that forum.

[c0ldb33r]

So with this mod will I be able to pop in a PAL disc and have it output correctly to an NTSC television?

[CosmicMonkey]

Yep, set region to PAL and output to NTSC.

[c0ldb33r]

The page says "OK, so you have a European PAL Dreamcast, and you want to make it an American one. Collect the following things..."

Mine's a North American model and I'd like to play PAL discs (the opposite). Will this process work? Or is it restricted solely to PAL Dreamcasts?

[davidleeroth]

The page says "OK, so you have a European PAL Dreamcast, and you want to make it an American one. Collect the following things..."

Mine's a North American model and I'd like to play PAL discs (the opposite). Will this process work? Or is it restricted solely to PAL Dreamcasts?

It should work fine. I tried this with my PAL Dreamcast and it works (duh) but it's kinda annoying that the disc doesn't boot directly (you have to use swap-trick or have a mod chip). I ended up by-passing the lid switch so I wouldn't have to open my DC every time I want to change region.

[c0ldb33r]

It should work fine. I tried this with my PAL Dreamcast and it works (duh) but it's kinda annoying that the disc doesn't boot directly (you have to use swap-trick or have a mod chip). I ended up by-passing the lid switch so I wouldn't have to open my DC every time I want to change region.

This confuses me.

After completing the hardware mod, if I want to switch from NTSC to PAL, I imagine the process would involve inserting the switching disc, allowing it to load, set the region and output, insert the game disc, press start, and have it boot the game. Is this not how it is?

[davidleeroth]

This confuses me.

After completing the hardware mod, if I want to switch from NTSC to PAL, I imagine the process would involve inserting the switching disc, allowing it to load, set the region and output, insert the game disc, press start, and have it boot the game. Is this not how it is?

I'm not a software expert but the switching disc doesn't seem to have a boot sector so you'll have to use a game disc to boot and then change the switching disc in on the fly. For this to work you'll have to have the lid switch in closed position. I don't have a mod chip so I don't know if it would overcome this and boot up directly.

But after it's been done, the selected region/output will stay in memory even after power off up. (until you use the switching disc again)

[c0ldb33r]

I'm not a software expert but the switching disc doesn't seem to have a boot sector so you'll have to use a game disc to boot and then change the switching disc in on the fly.
I don't have a mod chip so I don't know if it would overcome this and boot up directly.

But, after it's been done, the selected region/output will stay in memory even after power off.

I suppose you could always load it with the Utopia disc

[davidleeroth]

I don't have Utopia but it didn't work with Action Replay CDX.

[CosmicMonkey]

I have a selfbooting .cdi image of the 1.5 software if anyone wants it.

Have to say, this works like a charm. No more disk swapping everytime I wanna play Guilty Gear. Smashing.

[davidleeroth]

I have a selfbooting .cdi image of the 1.5 software if anyone wants it.

Have to say, this works like a charm. No more disk swapping everytime I wanna play Guilty Gear. Smashing.

Tried the Discjuggler image instead of .nrg and it boots up directly. Thanks CM, this rules.

[XxHennersXx]

I don't play PAL games. I just want to play japanese imports.

Would I set the switch to Japanese and just put in a Japanese disc?

[CosmicMonkey]

Right, to save all confusion:

Region Select - You have 3 options:

Euro - blue swirl
USA - orange swirl
Japan - orange swirl

This sets the region of the disks that the DC will accept.

Language Select - 2 choices

English
Japanese

Sets the language the DC dash displays

Video Output -

NTSC - For all you bods in Japan or the USA
PAL - UK TV
PAL-M - Brazil
PAL-N - Argentina

So you can set the TV output of your system for your country.

Normally a Japanese DC would be set to Japanese/Japanese/NTSC. You can however have it set to whatever you want. For example: Japanese region, English language and PAL output. Or even PAL region, English language and NTSC output for all you guys in the US wanting to play Shenmue 2.

You just need to use the disk every time you want to change anything. Hopefully this'll lead on to a custom DC BIOS that will allow you to change all this from the dash, or with a key combination on boot-up.