Dreamcast Update: Item Loss Prevention Patch and beta .cdi releases

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Matt
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Dreamcast Update: Item Loss Prevention Patch and beta .cdi releases

Post by Matt »

Hi all,

We have 2 updates for Dreamcast players today.

Patches

newserv now supports server-side patching (known as "B2 patching") for all regions of Ver. 2. You may pick up these patches at the ship select, with either the "Patches" option, which applies it just for the current session, or the "Patch switches" option, which applies the patch every single time you connect online with the same serial.

The patches available are:

  • Item Loss Prevention (do not lose any items if you do not save when disconnecting)
  • Invisible MAG (hide all MAGs)
  • No idle DC (idle disconnection timer is disabled)

Note that if you are using a shared serial, you cannot use the "Patch switches" option and must apply the patch manually every time. It is recommended to change your serials to unique serials, which can be done with PSO Tool GUI. If you need help with this, please ask on the Discord or on the forums.

Thanks as always to fuzziqersoftware for this functionality and patches!

Beta .cdi releases

I have recently created .cdi releases for all 8 versions of Dreamcast PSO, that players can burn to CD-Rs, use with an ODE, or use with an emulator, that will automatically connect to Ragol.org.

However, these are mostly untested on hardware as I don't have a Dreamcast (for shame! Though some have been burned by others and appear to work fine), so these are currently beta releases! There are some known issues, but the game should fully work. There are no extra patches or improved loading at the current time, as I want to make sure these work first.

NTE: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_NTE.zip
11/2000: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_Nov1.zip

JPv1: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_JPv1.zip
USv1: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_USv1.zip
EUv1: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_EUv1.zip

JPv2: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_JPv2.zip
USv2: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_USv2.zip
EUv2: https://ragol.org/files/dc/Ragol_PSO_EUv2.zip

Changes:

  • All discs have HL check removed (where appropriate) and will automatically connect to Ragol.org.
  • NTE has warps added on Pioneer 2 to grant access to both Mine 1 and Ruins 1.
  • JP discs have all non-Japanese movies removed, and US/EU discs have all non-English movies removed.

These discs also do not have the crashing issues all the old V2 cdis had because... I don't know...? It just works...? If you have any information on why old cdis of V2 crashed, please let me know because I am extremely curious and I cannot seem to make it happen!

Known issues:

  • On NTE, JPv1, EUv1, and USv1, there are issues with the browser accessed through website. The browser may crash when leaving it, or may not load at all.
  • On EUv2, if you access the browser through website and then return to the game, the old Utopia boot disc issues occur: You can walk through the Hunter's Guild pillar, you cannot target anything with Rafoie, you cannot use support techs or Moon Atomizers on others, etc. This is actually an authentic bug with the original GD-ROM and not a result of the CD-R, but it's worth mentioning.

Credits:

  • fuzziqersoftware: For figuring out the encryption and compression of the DP_ADDRESS.JPN executable and how to re-encrypt it back into the disc.
  • Break: For wasting an unfathomable amount of CD-Rs to test all these discs for me.
  • SMiTH@DC-Talk: For his various posts detailing steps on how to hack Dreamcast binaries and changes that need to be made for .cdis.
  • STONEARTS: For the IP.BIN magic from their USv1 .cdi release which helped create the .cdis for all non-V2 versions. (Edit: Apparently this might have been made by Echelon?)
  • BlueCrab: For the HL Check codes which helped me locate them in the executables.
  • Creators of the following tools: scramble, gditools, dahack, binhack32, mkisofs, DC_IP_Insert, and cdi4dc. I don't know who you all are, but thank you for your services!

Keep on PSO'ing, no matter what version you play or wherever you choose to play.

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