Console Modding - let the lame tuning begin

Output King of Development
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Absolutely can’t do anything with LCDs.

I don’t even begin to understand how an analogue RGB and Sync signals travel to a screen like that. Specially one so specific as the PS One one.
Sorry I can’t help you with that, I’m simply a hobbyist that follows instructions and has the balls to possibly damage his consoles (which most were either dirty cheap or for free). All that I’ve learned was from trying this stuff out.
I’m really sorry about that. =/

But there’s a couple of guided instructions through out various posts on a couple of forums, that explain the process how people did that with more generic LCD screen. You should look for those portable Dreamcast mods to get that information.
Sorry but I didn’t saved those links. =/

As for the SSD, I’ve seen many chats about using that, but never got any conclusive information about how much more efficient an SSD is compared to an HDD. Always seemed that SSD mods were more of… an experiment with new tech than actual serving any functionality.
In my head… I imagine the difference would be none, or close to none. I can’t imagine the Dreamcast even having the power to process data as fast as an SSD can go. But this could only be failure of imagination.
Obviously, if the SSD is the only one you have laying around… hell… sure use it.

Yeah GDEmu has a terrible sales problem. TERRIBLE.
But I mentioned it because the compatibility list IS indeed impressive.
Only heard the USBGDROM, saw some info, but never got to the compatibility list.

Can’t say I have much use for any PSX game on the Dreamcast because I’m about to receive my PSIO (had actually yo put the order on hold while I was spending 2 months in portugal).
Also… I really like how today’s emulators work for the PSX.
But I do agree that the emulator produced very interesting results with a simple 240p to 480p upscale, considering the good Dreamcast analogue video signal outputs.

And well… if you already got everything then I think all that’s left is wishing you good luck with your mods. =)
I imagine they will be really simple and clean, so I am confident you will end up with a great renovated console. =)

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Read about 3D printed handheld conversion of a PC Engine here.

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7ntsslpy53n21.jpg3488×3488 1.55 MB

source

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or

?
Which method is better?
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well my modding adventures are quite simple really, but i’ve been doing things lately and i love this stuff, so

i am mostly interested in ODEs (optical drive emulators) and flash carts - things that allow me to play as many of the games as possible as conveniently as possible. i’m a practical modder. i have little interest in aesthetic mods, personally.

everdrives are obviously not modding but they scratch the same itch for me - i am seriously addicted to the fucking things. i have the SD2SNES Pro, the Everdrive 64 X7, the Everdrive GBA X5, and the Everdrive GB X7. i kinda want to buy a genesis just so i can i get a Mega Everdrive Pro and use it as a MIDI synth lol but this hobby is expensive gosh darn it

my NTSC-J clear/blue N64 is basically stock except i’ve replaced the original cartridge slot insert with a region-free replacement

my fat PS2 has an IDE-to-SATA adapter so i can use a modern 2TB hard drive that i run everything from. i used to just use IDE drives but i find them unreliable in the PS2

my gamecube now has the GCLoader PNP installed, so i’m running everything from the SD card - the mini-DVD drive has been completely removed. i also have an SD2SP2 and an SD->Memory card adapter for saving settings and running homebrew/etc. i use my GB and GBA everdrives on the game boy player. the two utterly essential pieces of homebrew for gamecube are Swiss (operating system/iso loader) and Game Boy Interface/GBI (game boy player startup disc replacement/improvement) - the latter really makes the aforementioned gb everdrives sing

i just installed a GDEMU clone earlier this month and i absolutely fucking love the thing. it’s weird having the dreamcast and the gamecube with their drives removed, but particularly with the dreamcast i really can’t say i miss that loud-ass gd-rom drive. i also just got one of those SD card adapters in the mail so now i can back up my VMUs to PC. ahhh, i love being able to back up and restore save files on console.

my terraonion MODE arrived in the mail the other day so at some point i’ll be taking apart the salaryman saturn that @Rudie generously bestowed upon me. i want to take this mod slow and do it right. i want to immortalize the beloved chainsmoking salaryman’s saturn. i also have an action replay cart with pseudo saturn kai flashed to it for prior burned cd hijinks, but the MODE should make this mostly unnecessary.

all i’ve done with my PS1 is buy a repurposed gameshark with UNIROM flashed to it so i can play burned CDs without having to do the swap trick every time. only works with an older PS1, with the serial port. if you have an old PS1 gameshark lying around you can do the swap trick once and reflash it with UNIROM, it’s pretty awesome.

the wii is great because you don’t have to touch anything to get it modded. i have an external hard drive hooked up to mine with lots of games on it. usbloader_gx is the best homebrew on the console as far as i’m concerned. the wii is a really chill console - kat and i have been futzing with endless ocean, it’s such a fucking wii game lol. you can load MP3s from an SD card and listen to them on your little boat. blue skies and blue oceans. i’m digressing but… the wii! the first console i personally modded! beloved wii <3. edit: other incredible homebrew: nintendont (play gamecube isos from sd/usb), savegame manager gx (backup and restore your save files, including locked ones like monster hunter 3 tri), and the most persnickety but also one of the most powerful, sneek/uneek/neek2o (allows you to run an emulated NAND from SD or USB, unlimited space for DLC and WiiWare/VC games). random tangent: the neek2o link is not the best one because there is honestly not really a great guide or centralized resource for neek2o - that’s part of why it’s incredibly obnoxious to set up. but to my earlier point, usbloader_gx handles neek2o stuff by far the best, obviating the need for the most tricky setup stuff.

my wii u and PSTV are also softmodded. the wii u kind of sucks but the homebrew scene is fantastic. what a weird console. it does let you get a nice HDMI picture out of wii and gamecube games without needing to mod those consoles. pstv is also weird, but it’s gotten a lot better recently with the sharpscale plugin imo. the pstv normally has terrible built-in scaling, but this homebrew plugin allows you to get integer scaling and other niceties. pretty essential!

i’m definitely rambling at this point. i love old video games

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i’m planning on upgrading my original xbox with a new sata hard drive - i will post about that here when i can. @AutomaticTiger i believe has done an xbox 360 mod that i want to do…

i have also done some ps3 softmodding but i also bricked a ps3 and one of my projects is to reflash and recover it! whoopsie lol

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Did it RROD? If it hasn’t yet I might just hold off until it does. Some models actually work fine for years, and a RROD doesn’t mean it’s ciruits are toast, it just means it’s running too hot, and you can fix it after.

The biggest thing is never running it on it’s side, which basically wrecks the cooling despite every single ad telling you to use it that way. That can extend the years of a 360 before you need a RROD fix.

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i think mine is one of the later models, the 360 slim type. do those later ones still RROD?

i also was being confusing i think, i was referring to two different consoles in the same paragraph. i have an original xbox that is currently softmodded - i want to replace the hdd in that with a sata hard drive. i’ve got the stuff but i need to clone the first drive and lock the second drive and i haven’t gotten it done yet.

i also have a slim 360 that i want to mod, but i got intimidated when reading about how to mod it. didn’t you mod your 360 somehow? i have most of the 360 games i want anyway, but there is still a lot of stuff on there… like all those cave shooters

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I tried to do a RROD fix prematurely, and then discovered it already had the RROD applied, and then I unfixed it, and then re-fixed it.

I wanted there to be a 360 mod to run like, burned discs, but I don’t think I got very far in that project since it seemed…really hard by comparison to every other console.

This wikihow article makes it sound pretty complicated: https://www.wikihow.com/Flash-an-Xbox-360

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Thanks so much for posting links, @meauxdal The GDEMU clone is all but purchased at this moment, lol.

Even though there are multiple Saturn ODEs out there I’m still waiting on Satiator because I’m a clown.

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GCLoader PNP looks interesting! How is that install? Truly plug ‘n’ play?

I, too, run an eBay GDEMU clone and love it to death. What did you do about the power supply needing more voltage and getting insanely hot? I did the resistor trick which seems to do the job.

Terraonion MODE ordered last week and hopefully on the way soon for my Saturn. I’ve heard about some kind of tray and SD card extension for it from Laserbear, but I don’t see it in their shop.

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it was beyond simple. 15 minutes, most of which is removing and replacing the ungodly amount of screws in the gamecube. hardest part of the install is actually removing and replacing the tiny screws that normally hold the drive to the metal plate without stripping them - those screws are weak as shit. you can get replacements from here if you need them though

same deal - just put one of these suckers running from the 5V to GND and the heat doesn’t seem too bad. the main thing with the GDEMU is the thing is susceptible to the force you need to apply to insert and remove the SD card. too much force and you will need to reseat the whole assembly to avoid connection issues. laserbear mount can help with this… apparently also helps the heat issue by constricting airflow closer to the intended path - i’ve got one for both the DC and the GC but i haven’t actually been using them. i had a scare with a possible brick on the GCLoader (false alarm, luckily, and they’ve got brick protection on the newest firmware thank god) and i’ve been scared to use the SD extenders since

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well i realized i was being dumb about the sd extenders so i just started using that and it makes the dreamcast one at least way easier lol

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here’s a project i’ve been working on that should be of interest to current and future gdemu owners.

i have documented which games fail to work after being shrunk using the best shrinking method. i didn’t test everything because holy shit there are a lot of horny visual novels on the dreamcast! and a lot of them use winCE (the problem child for shrinking)! i could probably add more stuff to this at some point - everything not listed here generally should work, but the prototypes and translation hacks might run into issues sometimes so i’ll note any i have issues with here.

i used the shrinking method described in this youtube video:

which works well! a lot better than the gdirebuild method in my experience. however this method is not as well-known and as such the list of games that don’t work with it hasn’t been available - at least not where i could find it. anyone who has or is interested in the gdemu should get some value from this. i’ll try to update for some of the games i didn’t test soon, like half-life.

Legend

! - Works
!? - Works sometimes (issues possibly unrelated to shrinking)
X - Doesn’t work
? - Didn’t test
= - Shrinking doesn’t work

WindowsCE

Game Works? Notes
4x4 Evolution X Returns to DC menu
Armada X Returns to DC menu
Atari Anniversary Edition X Black screen
Bang! Gunship Elite X Slow menus
Bust-A-Move 4 X Black screen
Caesars Palace 2000: Millennium Gold Edition X Black screen
Championship Surfer X Crashes after MPEGSofdec logo
Densha de Go! 2 !? Works sometimes
Ducati World Racing Challenge X Black screen
Get!! Colonies X Black screen
Giant Killers ? Didn’t test
Hidden and Dangerous X Crashes
Hoyle Casino ? Didn’t test
Hundred Swords ! Works
Jimmy White’s 2: Cueball ? Didn’t test
KISS: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child X Crashes when attempting to load game
Marionette Company X Black screen
Marionette Company 2 X Crashes with text
Maximum Pool X Crashes after selecting game settings
Midway’s Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1 ! Works
Midway’s Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 2 X Black screen
The Next Tetris X Black screen
NFL QB Club 2001 X Returns to DC menu
NFL Quarterback Club 2000 X Black screen
Nightmare Creatures II X Crashes after title screen
Plus Plum X Black screen
Q*bert = Can’t be shrunk
Railroad Tycoon II X Black screen
Resident Evil 2 X Returns to DC menu after “explicit violence and gore” warning
Rune Jade X Black screen
Sega Rally 2 X Appears to work, but Dreamcast resets when trying to load certain stages (tested on US version)
Sekai Fushigi Hakken! Troy X No signal
Sno-Cross Championship Racing X Black screen
Soukou no Kihei: Space Griffon X Crashes after first text
South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack X Black screen
Spirit of Speed 1937 ! Works
Starlancer X Black screen
Super Producers X No signal
Super Robot Taisen Alpha for Dreamcast ? Didn’t test
Super Runabout X Black screen
Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition X Black screen
Taxi 2 X Returns to DC menu
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six X Loads but missing text and other assets
Tomb Raider Chronicles X Black screen
Tomb Raider The Last Revelation X Crashes during initial loading screen
Tsuushin Taisen Logic Battle Daisessen X Black screen
UnderCover AD2025 Kei = Can’t be shrunk
Urban Chaos X Loads but missing assets, crashes if you try to start the game
Virtua Cop 2 ! Works
WebTV for Dreamcast ? Didn’t test
Who Wants To Beat Up A Millionaire X Black screen
Wild Metal X Crashes after Rockstar logo
World Neverland Plus: Orurudo Oukoku Monogatari ? Didn’t test
Worms Armageddon ! Works
Worms World Party ! Works

Non-WindowsCE games with issues

Game Works? Notes
Conflict Zone X Black screen. Doesn’t shrink properly
Frogger 2 X Black screen. Doesn’t shrink properly
Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX X Black screen. Doesn’t shrink properly
Power Jet Racing 2001 X Black screen. Doesn’t shrink properly
Surf Rocket Racers X Black screen. Doesn’t shrink properly
World Series Baseball 2K2 X Crashes after FMV

Prototypes

Game Works? Notes
Ball Breakers (Prototype) = Can’t be shrunk
Ecco II Sentinels of the Universe (Prototype) ! Works
Half-Life (Prototype) ? No .gdi available
Internet Game Pack (Prototype) ! Works
Megadrive Emulator (Prototype) ! Works
Millennium Racer Y2K Fighters (Prototype) ! Works

Not shrinkable (files unchanged if shrunk)

Ball Breakers (Prototype)
Q*bert
UnderCover AD 2025 Kei

Artwork issues on GDmenu v0.6.0 after being shrunk

Game Notes
Fire Pro Wrestling D Loading disc artwork while shrunk causes GDmenu to blackscreen
Evil Twin Loading disc artwork while shrunk causes GDmenu to blackscreen
NBA Hoopz Loading disc artwork while shrunk causes GDmenu to blackscreen
Omikron: The Nomad Soul Loading disc artwork while shrunk causes GDmenu to blackscreen
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Rogue Spear Loading disc artwork while shrunk causes GDmenu to blackscreen
South Park Rally Loading disc artwork while shrunk causes GDmenu to blackscreen

List of additional potentially problematic games (from Reddit)

Game Works? Notes
Centipede ! Works
Coaster Works ! Works
Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm ! Works
Dragonriders: The Chronicles of Pern ! Works
Max Steel ! Works
Metropolis Street Racer ! Works
Mortal Kombat Gold ! Works
Roadsters ! Works
San Francisco Rush 2049 ! Works
Shadowman ! Works
Slave Zero ! Works
The Grinch ! Works
The Ring: Terror’s Realm ! Works
Unreal Tournament ! Works
Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense ! Works

WindowsCE - Didn’t test - mostly visual novels

Cherry Blossom
Eisei Meijin III: Game Creator Yoshimura Nobuhiro no Zunou — this looked like shogi but apparently it’s a game creator. board game creator?
For Symphony: With All One’s Heart
Fragrance Tale
Happy Lesson
Hello Kitty no Garden Panic
Hello Kitty no Lovely Fruit Park
Hello Kitty no Magical Block
Hello Kitty no Waku Waku Cookies
Kaitou Apricot
Kita e. White Illumination — this one has some music minigame in it that looks… ok? i guess…
Kitahei Gold
Morita no Saikyou Reversi
Morita no Saikyou Shogi
Miss Moonlight
Net de Para: Nekosogi Paradise
Nishikaze no Rhapsody
Princess Maker Collection — i guess i want to make a princess. i’m a little apprehensive.
Shinseiki Evangelion: Typing E-Keikaku — i’m hearing cruel angel’s thesis in my head now
Shinseiki Evangelion: Typing Hokan Keikaku
Sweet Season
Yoshia no Oka de Nekoronde…
Yuki Gatari

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Thank you for your service! :servbotsalute:

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something to note - since there are few games that seem to be fussy about booting in general (sega rally 2, densha de go 2), some of these “black screen” reports could hypothetically be games that have issues unrelated to shrinking. that said, i thought sr2 was working ok shrunk but i ran into issues later on so even the ones i’ve marked “working” are not a sure bet. i will continue to update this stuff as i test more! when in doubt, don’t shrink! especially for the WindowsCE games!

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Sega Rally 2 is a WinCE game IIRC.

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What’s the preferred method of copying games to/loading games on a sata drive using one of these adapters? I haven’t messed with PS2HD stuff since HDLoader, but I’m assuming you can do all this with FreeMCBoot?

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it is, i have it listed under the WindowsCE heading in my chart. it seems to be kind of problematic on GDEMU in general, though. it doesn’t always launch, sometimes i have to try a few times

you don’t do anything from the ps2 itself except format the drive (and expand the OPL partition so you can put config files/art/VMCs/etc. on it) using uLaunchElf or wLaunchelf (your FreeMCBoot should have this included already). you can’t install games directly to the hard drive from the ps2, you need to connect it to your pc either with USB or SATA and use this batchkit.

don’t use winhiip to transfer files to the hard drive! it runs into issues with larger SATA drives! what i linked above is a better method

i do use winhiip just to verify the drive is being properly detected as a ps2 drive, then i run my batchkit scripts to transfer the isos

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the modern way of loading games on PS2 is OPL (open ps2 loader)

it does everything (internal HDD, USB, ethernet, apps, PS1 games*) and it has great compatibility from all devices now

download the latest version from this thread

click here for tutorials

*popstarter (ps1 games on ps2) kind of sucks, though. not OPL’s fault, but don’t get your hopes up for most PS1 games being an optimal experience

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