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Most people I knew in 1999 were still using dial up, not that it would stop people, then CR-Rs were also brand new, plus you sorta had to be in the know about such things. Most people learned of Napster for example by word of mouth. Plus the techie types I knew pirating games were doing so long after the Dc's demise.
I remember seeing pirated DC games in 2000-2001.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Lizard
Even if 99% of people were still on dial-up all you needed was that one guy who had a broadband connection, after that everyone else could share CD-Rs among each other.
Game magazines kept talking about it too. So yeah it was widely known how to do it. Just find a friend who knows where to get a copy and you were set.
Question is how did they get the GDs read and dumped. Was it by using the serial port and a "coders cable"? Because you couldn't stick it in a CD drive and have it work. Hell I don't even think a DVD drive will recognize it.
I think they used the broadband modem somehow, its been a while.
Yeah there are several methods. Another one involved taking a stock CD drive and modifying its firmware so it would read GD instead (a GD drive has the same hardware as a CD drive but needs to manipulate the motor in a different way to read the tracks, as well as being accurate enough at it). I think there are only two or three CD drive models out there that got modified this way though? (since custom firmware needs to be specific to the drive, not to mention that the drive must let you replace it in the first place)
Original dumps were done with the CD drive firmware hacks and what I would assume was a bit of inside access from some dev house. The BBA exploit was discovered later but still used for some dumps.
Oh, and even if you made the game too large to fit on a single disc then it was possible to split them into multiple boot sets sometimes. The easiest way to gain additional space without messing with textures though was to shrink/rencode the cutscene movies on discs to get them down in size.
I used to do a bit of couriering back in the day since I was one of the few people in my area with broadband since about 97 or so if I'm remembering right. I had a friend who also made a mint burning CDRs for people (games, CDs, whatever) back in the day, it was a hell of a time.
On the boarder of picking up a dreamcast. All I want to know is is it possible to download a rom, burn it to a cd-r, then disk swap it. Have every other Sega console (Minus the pico who cares about that!?!?) and there is definitely some games id love to play on the DC. Already beat adventure 1 and 2 on NGC and im not willing to put more money in another consoles library. ALSO HAVE NO INTEREST IN MOD CHIPS
The whole point of the MilCD exploit is that it's taken as a legit disc as-is. No need to swap or anything. Just be careful about the quality of the disc because if it's some weak crap then there's a chance for the drive to not recognize it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toasty Costanza
To what ive gathered if I find a pre november 2000 DC all I would have to do is get a rom and burn it to a CD-R. I also heard that doing so It will slowly kill the DC as games where never meant to go through the MilCD. I also heard some games wont work right via MilCD
That's the part about the disc quality. The crappier the disc is, the more power the laser needs (and the faster it wears out).Quote:
Originally Posted by Toasty Costanza
Damn, you're definitely missing out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toasty Costanza
reconsidered, the dreamcast to me is 5 games. Sonic adventure 1 and 2. Beat both of them on the gamecube (These are the only gamecube games I own) seemen (dont have a mic and there like 40 dollars) and shenmu 1 and 2 (the second game is in Japanese!). So thats an L and im gonna pass.
My other option was an 8 track player or get my laserdisc player repaired (IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYBODY WHO COULD GIVE ADVICE PLEASE SEND THEM TO ME) But I've decided that I REALLY need to invest in the video cables I use in my setup. I recently threw my 27 inch crt out the window and got another TWICE AS HEAVY. Its flat, has giant speakers, and not only does it have comp and s-video like the last tv it has COMPONENT. Seeing that getting component for all my consoles would cost me AN ARM AND A LEG and also the fact COMPOSITE SUCKS I came up with a plan and Im upgrading most my consoles to high quality s-video cables. (Who knew the SNES nativly output S-video?!?!)
SO ILL SAY THIS ON SEGA-16, THE DREAM CAST HAD NO GOOD CONSOLE ONLY GAMES! PROVE ME WRONG
That's a pretty bold statement... I mean it HAD plenty of good exlusive games while it was alive. But you are coming at the console fresh after it's been dead for well over a decade.
So many of those awesome games were ported to other consoles in an attempt for them to live on, and many have since been re-released for markets that are very receptive to older games.
Lots of the best you have played on other systems, but they are only on those other systems because the DC died before it truly ran its course. But they were done first on Sega's console.
If you feel no need to play them as they were originally envisioned and created... that is your prerogative, but it doesn't mean that the DC had nothing to offer.
We could prove you wrong, but then we could continue to not care either.