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I was searching online and came across this bizarre Dreamcast in a car mod.
I do not understand how people fail to see the Dreamcast has a FAN slot on the right side of the system. The way this unit is mounted, the fan grill is obstructed. People wonder why their Dreamcast's die. Its idiots like this riding around in escalades (they spinnin, spinninnnnnn), sticking consoles in where they don't belong. Anyways feel free to use this thread to talk about all custom Dreamcast Hardware mod's. I could not find a thread like this in the forums, so I decided to make one as a central place to discuss them. |
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| _________________ I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list... |
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I'm just impressed they spinnin' with a dreamcast and not another system. Maybe they got some custom cooling system goin' on there. | |||
| _________________ PSO: Erisi HUnewearl Eda FOmarl Official Servers: (formerly) Nawara'ven |
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You know in rap video's and stuff, when the cars start bouncing up and down? I think we know what makes it happen now...
All that hot air has to come out somewhere!  |
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| _________________ Pretty music wot i has made: http://grandcanonicalensemble.bandcamp.com/ |
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I recently did the mod that allows you to permanently change your console into another region following this guide. I wanted to keep the main board original, so instead of soldering the lead to R512, I taped it into place and twisted the other end around the 12V pin. It's cool to see the blue swirl. The PAL Dreamcast is the only one I haven't been able to track down at a reasonable price and now I have it: sort of. 
There are a couple things to note with this mod. SWAT's Region Changer disc version 1.7 won't convert NTSC-U consoles into PAL consoles. Instead, it converts it to NTSC-J. I found that version 1.5 works perfectly, so if you want to do this, use that version. Also, when I did this, I reassembled the Dreamcast outside of its case and forgot to put something between the controller board and the metal casing that goes over the main board. I'm guessing this is what caused the fusible resistor (F1) to blow on the controller board. I tried replacing it with a very close match. It was 3.3 Ohms like the original, but had a lower tolerence which wouldn't let me use VMUs. Instead, I just put a piece of wire across it to bypass the need for a resistor or fusible resistor and it works perfect. It's in a resistor's nature to resist current, which is fine if you have one controller and don't want to overload it, but since this is my PSO Dreamcast and I have it loaded with VMUs, a keyboard, and three controllers, the missing resistor shouldn't be a problem at all. Side note about the Dreamcast in the car: if you look at the side facing the camera, you can see there is enough room where the fan would be on the other side, so it should be able to perform nominally. |
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I suppose it's not much of a hardware mod since it's all external but:
I can now play my dreamcast in component video. I first took apart a VGA box and installed a switch to change between 480i and 480p. I then built a custom VGA to SCART cable. The SCART output goes to a SCART RGB to Component transcoder. I had to build a circuit to combine the separate horizontal and vertical sync signals into the composite sync required by SCART RGB and Component Video. |
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| _________________ PSO: Erisi HUnewearl Eda FOmarl Official Servers: (formerly) Nawara'ven |
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| That dreamcast to car mod is legendary! hopefully that person is using a vga adapter for the full experience | ||||
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I have been researching DC mods and I have decided to go with a VGA converter and an SD adapter simply because It is less labor intensive and that way I can just disconnect from one system and move to another. I figure the less actual modding I do, the less chance I will screw up the mod. Also I really want to look at the situation in respect to long term use and versatility. This way I don't have to mod every system I get, and I have heard some games don't work with the VGA adapter, so if that is the case, I can still unplug the adapter unlike a permanent mod. I would like to find out how many different mods are there and what is possible. I am also wondering if it would be possible to install a replaceable fuse in place of the f1 resister, so that when it goes out it's just a matter of changing a fuse. It is my goal to build a list of possible mods and ways hopefully get around some common issues. I wanna be playing my DC for a long time to come. With a responsible attitude toward care of the system, I think it is completely possible.
I would also like to say that It is a good idea to buy adapters to use controllers from other systems. The idea of using a playstation controller on a DC might not sit well with some, but from a practical standpoint the more options the better. Especially considering that it will only to get harder to find DC controllers and other hardware as time goes on. You will probably have a much easier time in the future finding PS1 and PS2 controllers. |
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Can someone answer some questions I have concerning both the sd card mod and Dreamshell? First off will any sd card work or is there a particular sd card I should use in conjunction with Dreamshell? Lastly, I understand that you can install Dreamshell into the bios and boot it without a disk. My question is, if I do this can I still use the gd rom drive to play games like a normal DC? | |||
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You won't be able to install the program to the system unless you add an EEPROM chip over the existing BIOS ROM chip. If you do, yes, you should still be able to run games from the GD-ROM drive. | |||
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Can you tell me where I might find the right chip/ Instructions for the mod? DCSwat just calls it a bios mod but I don't find many references to that. Then I thought that they meant the region override chip but there are a few different ones. one with 4 connections and one with like 26. I watched this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-2hI5kPdRg&NR=1This gave me the impression that you could write it to the original bios using the region change mod. I think the DC swat page explains that the program installs to the space that is used as temporary space by the GD rom. That is what prompted my question. Also, in the video, he does seem to be using the region change mod, if that is what the wires are out of the front of the DC in the video. Please help me sort this out. I am willing to buy whatever I need for the mod, I just want to make sure I am making the best decision for the longevity of the console. | |||
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looks to me that he is running Dreamshell off of that CD that is in his Dreamcast. could be wrong though?
edit, i just watched the 2nd video. idk maybe he did install it onto the Dreamcast? |
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| _________________ VGA is the way to play |
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I never got around to buying a Dreamcast when they were new. So my hunt begin, I wanted a real well built system and did some research and found that the early Japanese models with the Yamaha disk drives and heat pipe cpu coolers seem to be built very well plus they are actually built in Japan! So I ended up finding this model but also needed a way to play all region games so I was able to get a 4 wire mod chip as I didn't want to swap disks. So here goes the story.
So I received my Jap system works great and seemed to be built well! Cleaned up nicely. 
Then dug a little deeper and cleaned out all the insides. Very nice Motherboard and cooler set up for a system at its time of release.
Then went ahead and installed my region free mod chip not to fun to install very small points! 
Then started putting it all back together. 
After that I tried it out and it works beautifully playing US games! UPDATE: I received my other system and games lot. cleaned up the system inside and out and gave to my brother. Games are a little scratched up but i'm going to resurface them. Now onto my problem I had last night. Ever game load up and plays on the my system fine except my Shenmue 1. It would load up fine to the main menu start a new game and go through the intro video then it goes to a loading screen then it will get stuck there and just play music. Tryed it on my other 2 systems and it loads perfectly. I Check the disk and it perfect. So long story short it seems to be my beloved Yamaha drive I thought would be so good and last so long could not handle that part so it seems. So I took the other Samsung drive that was in my other system and threw it in and thank goodness it fit. Because putting the Yamaha drive on the other doesn't work right and sits funny on the metal board. Anyways now that works fine. I also swamped out the Jap power board for the US one cuz it seems to run cooler. My system currently with the newer swapped out Samsung drive and the newer 1999 US power board. 
Here is the old Yamaha drive and old Jap power board reattached to my spare system.  |
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Ps: Notice how the Yamaha lifts on the bottom left. It lifts even more once tightened down =/ But it does work. | |||
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