Any unleaked Dreamcast games in circulation?

On multiple occasions @Tomleecee has said he's not particularly skilled when it comes to the technical side of Dreamcast things. I don't think he ever ripped the content of a GD-R disc nor experimented with circumventing the copy protections of VMU-files. I don't mean this in a bad way at all, but this does mean that his findings on the VMU/dongle are not thoroughly researched and are solely based on his short time playing the build. This was also not his intend when showcasing the variety of unreleased games, it was about unveiling and recording footage not documenting the, can it be copied aspect

So assuming it's a stock VMU it can only be that the file itself is being copy protected and/or using an undocumented feature (just like that Puyo Pop Fever save file that unlocked something no-one knew before) making it seem all out of the ordinary while in reality it's not that complicated to replicate.

 

@Tomleecee knows people in the industry too, maybe ask him to ask them or ask directly here for example: https://twitter.com/ZOOMPlatform/status/925758582494072832

 

Calm down, love. He said that the guy, who had the discs, tried copying / accessing the DRM VMU the traditional way and failed.

 

That's not mentioned in the original DC Junkyard article for CMR 2.0 so would be nice if you could actually provide some kind of link or a full quote.

 

There's also the original DCJY CMR2.0 video (where it might've been mentioned), DCJY twitter, DCJY facebook page. Where exactly this was said - I don't know, but something to that effect was said. If you'd really cared about it you would've contacted DCJY directly by now, on either of these platforms, and asked them instead of making useless speculation here in all eternity.

Your assumption that's it's a "normal vmu save" is ridicilous because that's not really a drm then, is it? If you can just copy it to another vmu? Without any special method to it? It'd be a real waste of time and effort making such a "drm".

 

If you dump the games, you don t need the VMU each times? Like dumping a games whit the the disc system 2 ?

 

We're talking about Colin McRae Rally 2.0 prototype. It needs a VMU with DRM data on it.

Spoiler: Colin McRae Rally 2.0 Dreamcast Prototype

This is the DRM DONGLE VMU

 

It shouldn't be too hard to crack as a protection, if the right people are bothered to do it.

 

Are the files even released? Maybe something like a minimal amount just to get to a menu ala geist force?

 

I'm no expert but, as posted above, I'm sure it would just be a matter of cracking the disc - and not the VMU.

On the other hand, we do have to be realistic here - at this point in time any unreleased Dreamcast game/demo will be worth quite a bit of money - and while they will never reach Stadium Events levels, they'll only keep going up in value. We need to accept the fact that the person who has them knows this and this is why we'll probably not see them unless (a) someone else has a copy and shares or (b) they decide to sell them and the new buyer shares them online. I just hope they're all backed up! I originally asked because I was curious to know if anyone had heard anything new? I guess not.

We'd do well to respect the owner's wishes and be happy with the videos on DJY.

 

Sounds reasonable to me.

So let's forget about Collin McRae.

 

Just saw this on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Dreamcast-Developer-System-Disc-2-bonus-GDR/253241995175?
Apparently it includes a preproduction copy of Alone in the Dark featuring some sort of Debug menu. Has this been dumped yet? Can't seem to find it anywhere on the net...

If anyone wants to buy this I'd be willing to chip in with $150 if you can send me the GD-R afterwards so I can dump it to the community (I have a BBA & an SD-Reader), so if anyone here is interested in acquiring a relatively cheap System Disc 2 & wants to see this get released let me know.

 

I don't mean to be rude but as a newer, non-tenured member I feel like users here would feel more comfortable with someone else. I'm sure there are a lot of users who would be able to help in the same capacity.

Like I said I don't mean to sound like a jerk but this could be somewhat of a risk. I do appreciate you giving us this link, though.

 

Well, I may be new to this forum but not the Dreamcast community. If you research my nickname on dc-swat.ru or theisozone you'll see that I've been a dedicated Dreamcast fan for a while now who's already shared quite a bit of his work with the community.

 

Not to be rude either, but betas are another level of trust. Kevin didn't even let me play with the Geist Force files locally, I had to vnc to his machine. I wasn't well known back then, but still, with the money involved and previous dramas and the risk of shipping rare stuff, people are reticent to share physical betas, or even files, except to a select few.

 

You've got a point there, but often this overprotective attitude leads to these Betas rotting away in someones private collection instead of being shared publicly which is pretty much as bad as losing them. Just look at the whole Deer Avenger 3 situation. If the guy owning the disc would have been more trusting towards the community, I'm pretty sure it would have made it to a release.

 

This situation is particular IIRC, because the person that got the game wasn't really a collector but rather someone that basically stumbled on it and wanted turn his luck into money. Unless I'm confused between two betas.

Most Serious collectors on here either have a way to dump their games themselves (SD-Card + SD2) or have trusted contacts to do so. There's also a way to dump a GD-R — even those with gdda — with only a SD-Card reader or BBA if you want to work a little and burn game-specific trap discs. I can be of assistance to anybody that'd want to do that.

 

Sure but not all of these people are willing or able to actually spend the required money on these discs, which is something I'm willing to do.
I'm really just trying to help out with funding that's all.

 

Which is great. If you were to host something off-site at a place where you have the reputation and whatnot I would be interested in helping out. As others can attest to I'm almost always willing to contribute and help bring something to the public.

 

I'm actually the admin of a larger Mac gaming related community forum I helped to build a while ago if that's enough reputation for you, so if there's any actual interest in starting another DC-Beta group funding project I could create a proper topic there and link you to it.

Also I'm currently offering a custom Dreamcast modding service which is expected to generate quite a bit of revenue in the coming months which I'd also be willing to invest into the funding of further DC-Beta releases.