Bunch of Dreamcast questions - can you help? (modding/online help)

Hi everyone, I hope this is the right place to ask all these questions (I couldnt see anywhere else it would belong) I have tried asking these questions on other internet forums and no-one seems to know! - so I really hope someone here can help ray: I appreciate any help you could give me, and sorry if any of these questions have been asked before.

I have been out of the Dreamcast scene for quite a while, but have just started getting into the great machine again :icon_bigg I only have a PAL Dreamcast at present but have decided I am going to get an NTSC console and chip it so that I get the best out of all my games (NTSC machines boot all games in 60Hz - unless i'm mistaken?) However I have a number of questions:-
<Apologies in advance for the length of this post!>


(1)Where is the best place to get the latest revision of the Dreamcast modchip? (Version 4.0 I think)


(2)I have a broadband connection at home, but no landline(phone line) I know the Dreamcast had a broadband adaptor released for it, but it is very rare and expensive I have heard it is still possible to get the Dreamcast online using a PC modem, and have found a link to a website detailing how to do it, but I am finding it very confusing. Can anyone explain how to do it in simple terms? Heres a link to the site:-
http://consolevision.com/members/mterlouw/
- What parts/equipment do I need?
- I only have my PC set up using DSL broadband from ntl, and my PC doesnt have a modem installed. The guide I link to is about 4-5 years old, and doesnt have any instructions for Windows XP SP2 users. It also expects your PC to have a 56k modem built in (which mine doesnt) BUT there are 128k external modems available nowadays, could these be used?


(3) Also, my Dreamcasts internal battery has died, and i'm beginnning to find it alittle annoying having the "enter date and time" menu pop up every time I turn it on. I know the DC uses a rechargeable internal battery which "takes two hours to fully charge and then should last about two weeks" but mine has completely had it:crying: I know there is a mod to replace the internal battery, here is a link:-
http://devcast.dcemulation.com/mods/batteryreplace/battery.php
According to the link it is soldered onto the controller board, so I would need to unsolder it first, then replace it with two AA/AAA's. I'm going to use two AA's at 2500mah so that I will probably never need to enter the date and time again!
...However i'm alittle unsure on how to do it (the guide isnt very clear)
- where could I get the correct parts for the mod?
- has anyone here had experience of doing this mod? - If so could you please tell me where you got the parts from? and explain where you put the batteries internally inside the Dreamcast? and how to 'wrap them up'/insulate them?


(4) Lastly, i'm also tired of my VMU's letting out there little 'yelp' for help whenever I turn the DC on. I was just going to remove the batteries, or cut the beeper wire, but I was thinking there must be a way to fit some rechargeable batteries into the VMU unit. I found these available on ebay:-
http://cgi.ebay.com/5-Rechargeable-3-6V-Lithium-CR2032-battery-fr-LED-Badge_W0QQitemZ5871467316QQcategoryZ294QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
- Is the VMU unit capable of recharging its battery whilst the DC is on?
- If it isnt, I guess i'll have to get a charger for the LIR2032 batteries, but im having trouble finding a UK charger for them, any ideas? (The seller of the batteries I link to offers a charger, but its an american two pin charger OH: )
- Will the rechargeable CR2032's (LIR2032's) be fine to use with the VMU's? I only ask as normal CR2032's output at 3V, but the re-chargeable LIR2032's output at 3.6V - will this matter?

Thanks to everyone who reads this essay and for any help you can give me!
:icon_bigg

 

what good would chipping a DC do? You can stright copy games because they are GD so you wouldnt be able to make your own backups. The only reason I can see would be to region select but you already have a pal DC and are getting NTSC???

 

Tried this once, couldn't get the bugger to work. So few games are still online that its pointless

done this myself, very easy. get 2x rechargeable aa's, shove them in a little plastic holder which connects -ve on one to +ve on the other(i just had one floating about, probably available from maplin in UK) and then desolder internal battery (remove controller board 1st) which is the trickiest part, then solder on the leads from your battery pack to where the original battery was. I just left the batteries in aq free space somewhere, its not hard to find somewhere to put them. For insulation just use electrical tape around all soldered connectors, that'll do the job for you

 

I am chiping a DC so that I can play games from any region: I have UK, USA, and JPN games and want to be able to play them all on the one DC console. Even if I buy an NTSC console, I would still have one region of games unplayable - hence the modchip!

 

He is saying that boot disks exist that do a better job of playing imports than modchips.. of course you do have to insert an extra disk.. but it's pretty painless..

 

Well, I can never be doing with the whole 'disk swapping' thing - I like to just be able to turn my console on and play the game straight away, as opposed to messing about swapping disks, and ending up scratching them in the process...OH:...thanks anyway though.

and Steadster, thanks for your answers. I know there are very few online game still available, but id still like to give it a shot if its possible. Id like to be able to search and download save files online, aswell as playing PSO. Plus there always the remote possibilty that someday the online features will all be restored...

I'll check out the maplin site for parts, what wire is best to use? can you just use ordinary 30 AWG Kynar?

 

Absolutely any wire will do. Nice big spots to solder to. Removing the internal battery is quite hard, it ends up basically snapping off If I remember correctly...

 

OK thanks Steadster, I found the parts at maplins, so once I get them i'll give the mod a go..

Also, I found a place selling the modchips, so that sorts out my first question!

All I need to know now is how to get my DC back online (if I still can), and if the 3.6V rechargeable batteries would be ok to use with my VMU's (since the original batteries are 3V)

Thanks again everyone:icon_bigg

 

I used the PC-Dreamcast server for some time (played a lot of PSO with it). It worked for me, but:
- I was using Windows98 (never used it on XP)
- You will need a dialup modem capable of answering incoming calls
- It can be an internal or external 56k modem, but it probably won't work with "winmodens"
- My modem was a PCI "Courier V. Everything". You can find it (both internal/external models) on eBay, really cheap
- My DC modem needed the external battery to operate

The only problem with this setup was that I had to start the PC software manually during the connection, and the PC was far away from the DC. I had to make a "remote control" to start the software... I even thought about rewriting the PPP server or try some old DOS BBS solutions to make everything automatic, but now I have a BBA.

Good luck!