Non Mil-CD Dreamcast, Any Back Ups Possible?

Hello, I used to own a Dreamcast manufactured in 1999 and just recently bought another Dreamcast (HKT-3020). It is manufactured in December 2000 (one of the last ones) and has a number "2" circled next to this date. When I owned my older Dreamcast I had a few games burnt on it and was able to play them flawlessly. I hadn't had one for the past 3 years but despite that I burnt a few games for a friend without me even having a system to test it on, he said they all worked perfectly (they were all 1st try).

Now I'm perplexed at this newer Dreamcast. Supposedly it is a rumor that DC removed the ability to read back ups from their systems but for me it definitely seems to be the case. I have used Disc Juggler 6, Disc Juggler 4, BootDreams, and Alcohol 120% all with different settings and have gone through about a dozen discs, all of which boot to the Dreamcast music player. Is there any sort of way to get back ups to work on this unit? I am using the same disc drive and same cdi files that I used to burn discs for my friend. They are all self boot, if I were to even try to make a boot disc would my system just read it as an audio-cd anyways, would there be a point?

 

Not without a slight hardware modification, namely custom bios (to add Mil-CD support back in).

 

The fix in the bios stopped Audio/Data layout discs. Convert to Data/Data will work on newer consoles.
http://theisozone.com/tutorials/dreamcast/burning-and-backup/newer-non-mil-cd-dcs-and-workaround/

 

Just fit a Dev kit bios.

 

As he said!

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. It turns out that the guides to make it a data/data CD, although they did make data/data CDs, were unsuccessful for working on a Non Mil-CD Dreamcast. According to some things I read, the Dreamcasts that can't read Mil-CDs will only read GD-Roms regardless of the CD's set up. It was unknown until the BIOs was recently dumped (just a year ago) whether these last run DCs would play data/data CDs. Here are the recent forum posts discussing this BIOs revision. Looks like the only way to do this would be to change the system BIOs. Wish I could play import and homebrew games via CD but it looks like I gotta do this the old fashioned way .

http://dumpcast.dcemulation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1310
http://theisozone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=10422

 

If you read the second thread - you will see some 2000 models work fine and others dont. So you still need to actually check it properly.

Also, he makes several incorrect comments in those threads - like needing a GDR to reflash the bios as he wasted a "perfectly good flash chip"??

You just boot off the original, then switch it over and reflash...

 

The way I checked it was by burning files the same way I did for friends (who had it work first try) and when the same exact CDIs I used for them didn't work on mine I knew something was weird. I used up a ton of discs and 4 different burning programs. I checked the sticker on the back and it is made in China in December 2000 and has a number 2 next to it. The data/data CDs boot into the CD player mode too for some weird reason (unless I am just not burning them right).

If changing the bios involves using a CD than is it hopeless?

edit: Also it appears that the releases I was using this entire time (Revive DC) were data/data from the start.

 

You could solder in a pre-flashed bios chip.

 

You cant flash the original bios in the system - so not being able to boot CD's doesnt matter. Even if you could - it wouldnt flash the original chip. You would need to solder in a flashed (and reflashable) replacement.

 

Thanks for all the information. Before I look into doing these modifications I wanted to ask if using a GD-Rom pass through disc like Gameshark, Action Replay, DC-X, or Import Enabler will allow the Mil-CDs to run?

 

Hehe, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and give you a resounding NO. A majority of these products will only work on MIL-CD compatible Dreamcasts as they also run on compact disc media.
Why not just a buy another DC? One that is MIL-CD compatible.

 

I had no idea that these devices were also based off of CDs, I assumed that they were actual GD-ROMs but looks like I'm wrong . I just got this system and it seems like a waste to buy another but it is looking like that might be the best option. There are lots of demos, imports, and fan made games that interest me. Not being able to access certain unique DC games/features is a major bummer. I was just wondering if there was any sort of work around with these discs but guess not. I suppose it shouldn't cost much to buy a working DC console only.

 

It's been years since I've paid much attention to that kind of stuff for DC. I know I tried a few things...

At the moment my current system is modchipped.
Because some form of internal mod is mandatory even on CD compatible DC consoles to boot import GD-ROMs directly from the tray as normal.
Without any swap trick, boot disc, or otherwise.

 

Blasphemy!!!

That's tha spirit lad! LOL! I own over 20 Dreamcast (all working great thank goodness). You may as well invest in a 2nd DC. I'm only assuming here but your current Dreamcast is perhaps a rev2 unit. I mean I own only one DC that is not MIL-CD friendly and of course, its a rev2 unit. They aren't entirely as reliable as previous models so...

 

I have a non-mil CD Dreamcast and all my rips are DATA/DATA and NOT ONE work in that system. I had to add a BIOS chip to it in order to play backups plain and simple. The DATA/DATA will boot simply is not true. Try one of my rips from ReviveDC all done in DATA/DATA 4500 original LBA unhacked except to remove protections where need and still it refuses to boot. Also a gameshark will do you no good as it relies on the Mil-CD exploit AUDIO/DATA to boot their code so that one is out the window as well. They not not pressed GD-ROM's but rather pressed multi-session Mil-CD's used in boot disc, Bleem, and even the new games we see from devs like Hucast, NG: DEV team, and more. The only GD-ROM that will boot out of region games is the System Disc 2 and they run $150+ but they would only load out of region games even if your internal battery is dead unlike commercial third party disc or even homebrew software like Utopia.

 

I just wanted to ask, would a Dreamcast modchip let me boot CDRs or would I need a bios chip.

 

You would need the bios chip, as the modchip (4 Wire) doesnt do more than let original imports play, not DC backups.

 

You will have to install a new BIOS chip not the 4 wire modchip. That would only allow retail imports to boot. My non-mil cd DC once it had the chip installed would boot everything. The old myth about data/data session disc is false. I make all my backuos in that manner with original lba of 45000 and they dont boot at all.

 

The BIOS option is easily the best. Fixes all this nonsense, plus you get a funky new boot animation. What other motivation do you need?