Dreamcast Widescreen Hacks

Esppiral you are genius!
It is possible to move CAM 4 just a little bit up?

 

Something, something

http://i.imgur.com/6unBbR6.png

 

Updated the Code List, took my time, sorry about that.

EDIT:: Re-uploaded the list. I went through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure all the info was accurate, some wasn't. I've fixed it up and hopefully it should be organised a little better than before too, making it easier to understand.

Can people let me know if any of the games that have a highlighted yellow box (Box before the name box) work on real hardware? I've tested all the ones I have, but I don't own most of these titles.

EDIT 2:: Esppiral, that looks for Panzer Dragoon Orta-esque, very Saturn in graphic style.

 

Thank you for your hard work on Ferrari f355… what is this game?

 

I wanted to say maybe it was Omikron: The Nomad Soul but I never really played the game many times.

 

I'm pretty sure @Esppiral is now also looking into enabling widescreen for the SEGA Saturn, seeing those screens are from Panzer Dragoon Saga =)
Awesome!

 

The Saturn should be ripe for 16:9 display, especially as the PAL versions sometimes have higher resolutions than the NTSC counterparts. I own both NTSC-J and PAL Saturns, and an Action Replay to keep both region free.

PAL is theoretically higher resolution than NTSC (576i instead of 480i) but most video games are relatively lazy in the porting process and simply fill this additional space with borders (The Mega Drive is awash with this horrendous attempt at filling the space). The Sega Saturn seems to be one of the few consoles to actually put effort into the ports, especially from SEGA, as menus and (more occassionally) in-game graphics will be rendered at 576i and as such the image quality is better on the upscale.

A good example of this is Sega Touring Car. The PAL copy running on the PAL machine is fine. The PAL copy on the NTSC-J machine is too big, the image comes off of the right and bottom. Play it in 2 player mode and poor player 2 is left with little but the sky in their part of the screen. Sonic Jam is the only game I own NTSC-J and PAL copies of, and it acts much the same on the main menu.
PAL Sonic Jam on NTSC-J machine is so large, the Sonic World text doesn't even fit on the screen (It obviously falls into the 100 approx lines NTSC is incapable of broadcasting). The videos in the cinema look better, but benefit from being letterboxed to begin with so they are completely visible. This isn't with all games. I believe many games have this issue in the menus but the gameplay is still 480i on PAL.

The Sega Saturn also has a few other benefits. Panzer Dragoon Zwei has a widescreen option in it's menus, as do both NiGHTS games (Christmas and Standard). Hell the EA title Crusader has a very early form of surround sound included, while not completely accurate does actually work. The Sega Saturn was well ahead of it's time in many ways, I just wish Sega had knuckled down on it and focussed on more titles and making it easier to build games for - it would have crushed the Playstation had it been given it's due.

Back on the Dreamcast for a moment - I just played F355 Challenge (PAL) and it's a dream. It's incredible to see a Dreamcast kicking out such high quality graphics 15 years on (at least) from the game's release. And it does play much better in rear view.

 

Ferrari 355 (pal) Cockpit camera 1

Code:

021F2814
02010000
021F27DC
3F733333
021F27E0
3DCCCCCD
021F27D8
BEB33333
021F27FC
28000000

 

Awesome work Esppiral. I'll add it to the pdf when I get home.

I've made a video of Ferrari F355 Challenge, using a real Dreamcast outputting via VGA. It's on a channel I'm reviving with my new computer that can record lossless 4k.

Our future video will include improved vocal recording and finalised vfx work, however I hope you guys like this. I link and reference this site and Esppiral both in the video and in the description.

Let me know what you think. And an epic thanks again to everyone here.

 

http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/sega-saturn-widescreen-hacks-panzer-dragoon-saga-poc.63026/

 

@Roareye Nice video! But I am pretty sure the widescrren hack wasn't enaled when you recorded the video, are you sure you wrote the code correctly?

 

Does the widescreen mode not come on with the rear view code? If not I can rerecord with the code added on.

 

Nope, I made separated codes for.

Widescreen.
Huds
Cameras.

I should have said it I thought it was known ^^'

 

Thats cool, I should have realised the widescreen code wasn't contained in the camera code. I'll redo it, it's no problem. Want it to be right.

EDIT::
It's practically done, rendering the final video now, mixed it to be a little more interesting and found a use for the old footage too! I'll upload it tomorrow because it is 11:15 and I must slumber.

 

There ya go, with the true Widescreen video resolution.

 

I need more info on this.

 

External view camera code works even on pal white label version. There s one thing I have to ask, to have wide-screen and external camera I have to apply both ws hud and camera 1 codes right?
F355 with outside camera+VGA on an LCD screen is great, and finally I can play this game
Thank you so much

 

Yes you have to enter in both codes.

 

You should enter the widescreen code first.
Then your hud selection
And finally the code for the camera you want to use.

 

I m sorry, I feel like an idiot, but when you talk about wide-screen code first ,you refer to WIDESCREEN" HUD ? Then I have to create another one for camera right?