Problems with Dreamshell RC-1

[djvectorman]

Hopefully this helps someone on google which can be redirected here or help those on this forum, the 10 sd rc1 commandments ha :

1) Try to buy the new compact sd card readers (old ones with long wire are put together with less quality than ones being sold now which are compact and plug right into serial port). Make sure a good connection is made though, maybe a piece of scotch tape on sd card reader end to plush the fit.



2) Best sd cards to use are 1-4 gb ScanDisc sd cards class 6 (blue sds). Many sd cards (like 32gb or non scandisc won't work).



3) Tell the users WHICH copy of Dreamshell cd such as DS RC1 or DS Beta 3 or Beta 4 to use with said game (sadly uploaders don't do this), for instance doom_dc seems to work with all Dreamshell versions but Sonic will not run on RC1. IF you have bios chip in dc, you could simply install Dreamshell in your dc without the need of Dreamshell cd running anymore after that. It would be cool if people buy the bios chips, then put Dreamshell on it, then sell on ebay with directions how to install.

4) When downloading the sd isos, NOT regular isos, read the description of sdisos on isozone.com and make sure the sd game works with the Dreamshell cd VERSION you have, example Sonic (and others) will work with Dreamshell Betas perfectly but will freeze up in Dreamshell RC1.

5) Only have 1 controller plugged in, pcwzd13 explained that some homebrews won't work and appear to be corrupted if the 2nd controller is plugged in during start of sd game, which helped me play a game finally =)

6) I also found out if a sd game "freezes" or if it works great once then you immediately restart dreamcast to play another game or same game on sd card and it don't work anymore, you don't need to reformat the sd, just let let the dreamcast and sd card reader "cool" for 10-20 minutes then restart the game and it'll work fine HOWEVER if you have 20 games on sd card like me, and you put another game on that doesn't work with DS RC1 and you get "the black screen of death aka black screen with white text with bottom reading DS$ help" then that game, and all of them...will be corrupt, so you will have to reformat sd card and put the games you know work back on it, usually 1-2 gb cards have this issue.

7) Hit the "A" button twice to select "run yes/no" sd, if you hit only once nothing might happen, so press A button on dc controller twice to see "run sd card iso" box in DS SD menu. Select yes and game will load and you can play it then.

8) If you have a sd card reader plugged into back of dc in the serial port, dreamshell rc1 cd, a scandisc sd card, put this (below game via link) on sd card either by itself or with other games from your pc to sd card, plug sd card in dreamcast sd card reader, it runs perfectly and is a perfect emu :

http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/drea...tor-sdiso/

9) Place to d/l sd card games which are sd isos NOT regular isos/cdi :

http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/dreamcast/sd-isos/

You can play some retail games (some run near or even perfect) converted to work with sd card and great "4th party" as I call them homebrews and even emus to play on sd.

10) Thank you to Swat for dreamshell boot cds and answering our questions and to the people making various dc sd card readers.

[neon]

I made new, handmade sd adapter. Wires have now 4 cm. And it still doesn't work. I try 3 different sd cards.

I can not afford to buy 6 class sd card for tests.
Maybe I doing something wrong.

1. My sd adapter doesn't have capacitors and resistors. Is that have good or negative impact?
2. I use SD Loader disc form Beta4. Doest it compatible with RC1?
3. When I load from sd card, it says something like "Loading Dreamshell" then, I see "Press Y for 60hz" and then black screen. What is interesting, when I press Y, I get black screen with NTSC signal. I thought it's not possible to force PAL machine to display NTSC.
4. I burned "Dreamshell RC1 disc" in DiscJuggler, but I has serious problem with boot. I think we still need "repack for old JP DC".

I hope we wouldn't have to wait next 1,5 years for new Dreamshell release

[SWAT]

1. Negative
2. Yep
3. Why not? All DC's supported all video modes.
4. Maybe

[neon]

I finally was able to boot DS 4.0.0 RC1 on Dreamcast. It was hard. I cut wires to 2,5 cm. I use tin to cover pins on my handmade SD adapter.
But finally it turned out that I don't unpack all files to the SD card.
Why? Because I use Linux, and when big cdi file was unpacking, I cancel using Ctrl-C. And this is my mistake. I though that all important files was unpacked, but they wasn't.

I would like to recommend, to split .cdi and sd folder on 2 different 7z archives.

And I also discover that my "SanDisk SDHC 4GB class 2" sd card works OK with RC1.
I tried also "SanDisk Extreme III 1GB" and "Esperanza SDHC 4GB class 6" and bough works fine. But my crappy "HTL 128 MB" don't work. My adapter works fine without capacitors.

As few people mentioned 50 hz mode don't work correct. The screen is shifted down. Now, I use 60 hz NTSC mode.

I have also 6 questions:
1) I noticed LBA window in ISO Loader. How to use it?
2) How to use virtual keyboard? It's still too small.
3) How to boot games with LBA 45000 copy protection?
4) Do we still have to change LBA to zero?
5) How to go back to Dreamshell menu from game?
6) SWAT why you don't add your tested games from RC1 to SDISO Compatibility thread?

[B00daW]

Hey, first off I'd like to say a few things... I'd really like to give my thanks to the DC-SWAT community for creating this product. I'd also like to thank you all for creating an English forum so that other parts of the world can enjoy it.

To give a little background about what I have and what I have done:

I have an unmodified US NTSC-U Rev. 1 Dreamcast. I have a SD serial loader bought from Taobao. I had to use sandpaper to sand away a bit of the plastic in order to create a snug fit. It connects fine now. I have a Class 10 Patriot (US made) 32GB SD card. I have tried Dreamshell 4.00 RC1 Bootloader and Dreamshell 4.00 Beta 4 SD Bootloader. RC1 boots to the menu but when I select "Boot from SD" the DC either reboots or hangs on a black screen. My SD card was recently formatted and has the DS folder in root. When I use Dreamshell Beta 4 I am able to boot into SD and load files without issues. My only problem is the lack of compatibility with ISO images. I am also considering to overclock my Dreamcast to a save speed without need of another fan.

Questions:

- How can we help in order to increase SD compatibility with >RC1 releases?
- How can we help to increase with SDISO boot compatibility?
- Can kernel tweaks help with SD access speeds for high-class SD cards? Are any hardware modifications possible?

Since the Dreamcast may be a "dead" console it's the perfect "new-gen" console to play games with good graphics and sound these days without much legal repercussions. I hope this project progresses further.

[SWAT]

To neon:
1. DS try to auto detect LBA, but if this impossible, you can set LBA manualy.
2. L+R shift zoom it.
3. If this is a original GDI converted to ISO without repack, loader run it without problem.
4. If you repack the image, you need to change LBA to zero.
5. No function. If the game wants to overwrite the boot loader in memory, it's loads the DS automatically.
6. I tested are not many games. Most have already tried to run.

To B00daW:
1. The only problem that I know - it's the quality of adapter and wires length.
2. For now i don't know...
3. Theoretically, DC overclock can increase the speed and SD. And also may help remove extra elements interchange from the motherboard for serial port.

[wallace]

I solved the problem! for those who have trouble reading the cards in dreamshell4 rc1 (and DCPlaya v2.0), on the board to remove the RA601 and instead put a jumper or soldered to the test point (for VA1 - http://yam.20to4.net/dreamcast/va1.html) ... I immediately have been no problems. reads SDHC and every noname ...
wire from the IDE cable length 10 cm works fine!