I'm getting one of the v5.3 GDEMU units soon (it shipped this morning YAY!) and had a few questions for people using these so I can get set up ahead of time. I'm not new to the Dreamcast but it's been years since I have had to make a selfboot CD or anything else technical for it - so if you could be as detailed as possible please: 1 - With "GDmenu_v0.2(15-09-2014)" having been released, do I even need to wire up external switches for the up/down select on the board? Should I even look at Dreamshell? 2 - Does the GDEMU bypass the lid switch? (I ask that because I'm considering an SD Card extender to mount outside the DC so I don't have to keep fiddling with the lid or case.) 3 - How are people handling out-of-region/import games with the GDEMU? I saw that the "GDEMU_SD" software has a region patcher for GDIs, does that work (and will PAL games run properly on my NTSC DC), or do I need to use something like a DC-X disk image? 3a - I saw someone here saying they use a Codebreaker or Gameshark CDX image with GDEMU, how does one do that (or use the DC-X image) exactly? 4 - I am assuming based on all I read before purchasing that the TOSEC GDI set is the way to go, but I also wondered about using scene released selfboot CDIs (or the ones done by TuxTheWise) if necessary. Is that as straightforward? A lot of questions I know, I hope some kind soul out there can guide me. Thanks in advance! - KhenemetHeru
Stay away from dreamshell when using GDemulation of any kind because of compatibility issues with games. and you dont need to get up anymore using the menu system. use the extender it will put less stress on the actual device as for the lid switch idk i dont own either option yet but with my multi game boot disc to go back i just hit the correct combination on my controller to go back to the main meny or DC start up screen IDK why people are getting up and opening their lids unless both boards disable this feature. I think disc swapping still required you to tap the button on the board so sadly u will need to open your DC or install external controls. as for regions... you still need to patch for pal or NTSC based on your console. GDI dumps are always 100% the way to go unless you want homebrew or a game that was only released as a CDI... but retail games you want GDI because you have a perfect 1-1 vs some if not most CDI or bootable discs images are down sampled some way to make them fix on a CD-r. Hope i answered all your questions... sorry i dont own DCemu or USB gdrom but i have been keeping up and doing my homework... but if you like just say waiting for someone that owns one to respond and im sure someone will
I have them. 1-2 days away from finished downloading. Will upload the rest of trurip and tosec USA trurip is in software section under a archive http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?53514-REQ-Dreamcast-Archive
Thanks LordFenixNC, I am still waiting for someone that owns one to reply, but your info helps and confirms a couple things for me. And Greg2600, there are a couple torrents out there with the TOSEC set, albeit an older one - 'TOSEC Sega Dreamcast Collection [2013-04-13] [USA-JAP-PAL] - by gmninja' was one I started on but I also found the same one on NNM-Club with better speed and a bunch of misc. stuff added as well. Only a couple hours out from making a full set of USA + unique foreign region games as GDIs... Took about 2 days total... I'm just glad I don't have to rip my library or rely on my scene rip CDs. A further question, has anyone tried using Sandisk 64GB SDHC cards? I know 32GB is the max officially supported, and that's actually the best cost-wise for me atm, but I'm curious going forward.
i'm here about sd cards, but not on the gdemu. it's more of an observation. i did a cheap mod to my WODE jukebox for wii, added a four socket usb hub and three low profile sd card readers.wanted 3x 64g internal to the wode. wode didn't recognise them, they were prepared no differently to normal LOWER capacity cards. (32g, fat32) upon closer inspection of the cards, they were 'sdxc' not 'sdhc'... that was my mistake. check if the gdi board supports sdxc before you drop a tonne on 64g cards. if there's NO mention of 'sdxc' (just sdhc) than i doubt it can support them...yet. of course, i'm speculating, i don't have a gdi board yet, but if WODE (or anything NOT defining sdxc in support) is anything to go by, it aint accessing them. [edit] i've yet to find a 64g sd card as SDHC. (all i've found in that capacity was SDXC)
Gotcha, I know it doesn't support SDXC. I hadn't noticed that 64GB cards were only made as SDXC cards, but being limited to 32GB a card is no big deal ultimately.
1. You don't need to wire external switches. You can, but it's not necessary. I don't use them myself. Same goes for Dreamshell, which will be more of an annoyance than a benefit. 2. Yes. 3. Region-free BIOS is your best bet. Region-patching usually works, but some games can be of trouble. PAL games on NTSC DC is usually no trouble, but are always some games programmed in a way that causes trouble. Bottom line if that a PAL game didn't cause trouble on a NTSC console a boot-disc, it won't cause problem with GD-EMU either. 3a. Imagine you have one game you want to use with Codebreaker or Gameshark. You should know by now that each game has got its own folder on the SD card, from 01 to 64. So, you put the Codebreaker or Gameshark in the folder before the game's folder. Example: you want to use Codebreaker with Sonic Adventure. You put Codebreaker in folder 01 and Sonic in folder 02. Or Codebreaker on folder 05 and Sonic on folder 06. Then, you load Codebreaker and when disc switching is asked, just press the button on GD-EMU and you're done. 4. TOSEC and Trurip are both the way to go. Either is good and you can even build one from the other. As for CDI, GD-EMU is now compatible, so it shouldn't be much trouble. Just put the CDI file in its own folder and you're done.
They are sets of GD-ROM images from two different groups that purport to be "perfect dumps" - but if they're not they're damn near good enough; useful for all the emulators out there for DC and lately for the GDEMU... though hard to find on a non-private non-ratio based tracker or any other location usually. Just wanted to report here that 64GB SDXC cards work for the GDEMU if formatted to FAT32 @ 32k clusters, confirmed by myself and others here, though I know, not officially supported so if there are problems you're SOL using those.
