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[UKR]Adam1902
rank 17
Posted:
Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:17 am
quote : #1
profile : pm
Posts: 311
Hi,

Recantly, i bought one of these off Ebay, and ive been searching around the forum for info about them, I saw a PSO post where people are telling you not to use these for PSO because they can corrupt your data...

I have 2 official SEGA VMU's, and also this 4mb card.
Is it true that they can corrput your PSO data? (Dont worry anyway, i aint thinking of saving PSO on it, only backing up PSO on it)
The reson i brought it, is to backup my PSO character, and take PSO screenshots, VERY nifty for PSO Very Happy


For those who dont know what they are, ill tell you what mines like and how it works:

Its kinda like a purple card (longer than official ones) without a screen, and mine says 'TOPWAY' on it. If your wondering what 4mb is in dreamcast space - 4mb = 800 blocks in Dreamcast language
Its not like one big card, its actully 4 VMU's combined into 1, because theirs 4 lights on it, and a little button on top, and those 4 lights are numbered: 1, 2, 3, 4. (Each light represents 1 VMU, which holds 200 blocks)

When i press the little button on top, a different light 'lights up', because its changing which VMU im using. (If thats the way you want to put it)


Anyone else know about these or have one?
They really nifty for backing up your PSO character, and for taking PSO screenshots, only £5 of Ebay mine was, and if you wanna take screenshots on PSO, buying one of these is a great ease!

P.S.
Maybe i can put up a picture of mine later, because im not very good at explaining as you can tell Wink
  _________________
Right now, a WoW addict.

Name is xADAMx on SunstriderEU.
lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:50 pm
quote : #2
profile : pm
Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
Yes I have one of these. They are actually more stable than your typical third party card. I personally have never had any errors when saving to them. However I don't use this for PSO, so I don't know how compatible it is.

These are perfect for snapshots, and also would be good for a backup function as well.

These memory cards REALLY come in handy. Especially when you have to move files around or need a central place to store a lot of data.
  _________________
I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list...
Excalibur007
rank 7
Posted:
Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:00 pm
quote : #3
profile : pm
Posts: 61
I haven't used this card with PSO, but I have used the Nexus 16x card. Maybe the reason people say those 3rd party cards corrupt data is because they almost all use compression. This makes the 3rd party cards a bit less reliable than an official Sega VMU that doesn't compress data. The only 3rd party card that I'm aware of that doesn't use compression is the Nexus 16x that I use... maybe the smaller Nexus cards don't either, I don't know.
Another reason those 3rd party multi-bank cards might be considered less reliable for PSO is the potential to accidentally hit that lil button when a save is taking place. Maybe one of the cards with a switch instead of a button would be better. I don't know. I have used one of those for PSO, but only for messing around with copying characters a long time ago.
  _________________
http://www.ProtestWarrior.com
Blast
rank 43
Posted:
Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:01 pm
quote : #4
profile : pm
Posts: 1285
Type: Pal
I used a 4mb card for 103 levels witrh my ex main pso char, never had a problem. I lost the char due to my DC resetting Sad

Laters
  _________________
Now have a working PC DC server courtesy of Segadreamcaster. Bring on the DC on line games yeeee haaa.
Stonefreeze
unknown
Posted:
Wed Mar 08, 2006 12:42 am
quote : #5
profile : pm
Posts: 204
Yeah, I really like my third-party memory card. I use it alot to backup data as well. However, I don't feel as secure as saving it on an official card. I know Sega made a 4x card, but they are rare to come by... I can give myself a kick in the ass when I passed on getting one when I was in EB games.
 
fatheadpi
rank 2
Posted:
Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:49 am
quote : #6
profile : pm
Posts: 7
I use an interact 1600 block memory card (8 memory banks), never had a problem with it. Well, besides the fact that it's a little big and gets stuck in some third party controllers. I sold about 30 of them to other people, and besides one or two that were DOA I've never heard any complaints.
  _________________
PSD Rules!!!

I should know, I was behind the first one, and the second one looks good!
Excalibur007
rank 7
Posted:
Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:47 pm
quote : #7
profile : pm
Posts: 61
It's good to see you here, fathead! Wink
  _________________
http://www.ProtestWarrior.com
fatheadpi
rank 2
Posted:
Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:23 pm
quote : #8
profile : pm
Posts: 7
Good to see you too X. Glad this place didn't shun you after the XDP bullsh*t.

I still do a little PSO'ing if you wanna catch up sometime.
  _________________
PSD Rules!!!

I should know, I was behind the first one, and the second one looks good!
RivaOni
rank 10
Posted:
Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:56 am
quote : #9
profile : pm
Posts: 125
I used them for PSO and never had any issues (I'm assuming you mean the joytech ones) however, the switch on them can fry the resistor in your controller ports board, which is the problem I have with my DC at the moment, this is because the console ahs to be switched on for you to be able to switch between the Memory Cards pages, and this is the reason whyconsole manufacturers tell you not to insert cards/pads while the system is switched on.

I am, however, looking into wether its possible to put a bigger resistor onto the board without messing anything up before I begin work on the DC.
  _________________
GAMEPULSE
phredreeke
rank 9
Posted:
Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:46 am
quote : #10
profile : pm
Posts: 119
Are there compressed DC memory card? I know that many multipage PS1 memory cards are. I assume the large blocksizes (one block on ps1 is 8 kb versus 512 bytes on DC) would leave more dead space on less memory consuming games than on DC. I haven't had any problems with my multipage DC memory cards, unlike with PS1 multipage memory cards.

For the heck of it, here's a pic of the packaging of one of my DC memory cards. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y55/Phredreeke/utopiamemo2.jpg
 
Dreamcast â„¢
rank 39
Posted:
Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:25 am
quote : #11
profile : pm
Posts: 923
Type: NTSC-U/C
I don't know about compressed cards. I know there's a program that can add a few blocks to cards. There's also a program that boots on the DC that can compress files, but you can't just use them. You have to boot the program and then uncompress them. It's still nice to have if you don't have a transfer card.
 
SNK 47
unknown
Posted:
Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:45 am
quote : #12
profile : pm
Posts: 334
I don't want to dampen the enthusiasm regarding third party memory cards because in the main they are very handy Smile

But just pointing out that I've had a few gamesaves ruined when using them. My Virtua Tennis 2 (almost) completed save was the worst Sad Not sure about the reasons for it happening but it shows as a crossed yellow circle. When I tried to save another game to the card it ended up destroying everything on the card ?

Anyway, a rare event but still makes me wary.
 
lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:56 am
quote : #13
profile : pm
Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
THe only third party memory card I have had success with is the 4x Nexus card / skillz card that comes with the transfer cable. These feauture no compression, and I have never had any of the save errors I would usually get with this one madcatz card I have. I only use the madcatz card for research testing. It isn't reliable for anything else.
  _________________
I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list...
RivaOni
rank 10
Posted:
Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:38 am
quote : #14
profile : pm
Posts: 125
Mine were the Joytech cards, I'm not sure if they were released outside the UK, but for the most part their pretty reliable, aside from the problem above, which could be anything, but it does seem its linked to the changing of the pages on the memory card.
  _________________
GAMEPULSE
SNK 47
unknown
Posted:
Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:34 am
quote : #15
profile : pm
Posts: 334
Not sure of the makers name on the card although I must stress I have about 20 odd cards of various makes and that has been the only problem. I did notice that some of the corrupted files would have the name of another game in the title. Still, a rare event.
 
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