Need some dreamcast vga connection help

[seieienbu]

I tried to get a lot of non-VGA compliant games to output VGA using boot disks.  Generally you'd get nothing but occasionally you could get a game to output 480p correctly; Last Blade 2 instantly springs to mind here.  If memory serves, it was unsuccessful with the "Innovation" boot disk that I bought from Gamestop but was successful with the Reindeer bootdisk I downloaded and burned from somewhere online.  Occasionally odd things would happen.  Bangai-O would output the entire game taking up only the top left quarter of the screen. 

As much as I love the DC's VGA output capabilities I think it's honestly a disservice to everyone when people don't mention the fact that a ton of games don't use VGA. 

[bartre]

I tried to get a lot of non-VGA compliant games to output VGA using boot disks.  Generally you'd get nothing but occasionally you could get a game to output 480p correctly; Last Blade 2 instantly springs to mind here.  If memory serves, it was unsuccessful with the "Innovation" boot disk that I bought from Gamestop but was successful with the Reindeer bootdisk I downloaded and burned from somewhere online.  Occasionally odd things would happen.  Bangai-O would output the entire game taking up only the top left quarter of the screen. 

As much as I love the DC's VGA output capabilities I think it's honestly a disservice to everyone when people don't mention the fact that a ton of games don't use VGA. 

yeah any commercial boot disc I've tried has been far less successful than the Utopia boot disc.

[SignOfZeta]

I tried to get a lot of non-VGA compliant games to output VGA using boot disks.  Generally you'd get nothing but occasionally you could get a game to output 480p correctly; Last Blade 2 instantly springs to mind here.  If memory serves, it was unsuccessful with the "Innovation" boot disk that I bought from Gamestop but was successful with the Reindeer bootdisk I downloaded and burned from somewhere online.  Occasionally odd things would happen.  Bangai-O would output the entire game taking up only the top left quarter of the screen. 

As much as I love the DC's VGA output capabilities I think it's honestly a disservice to everyone when people don't mention the fact that a ton of games don't use VGA. 

Yeah...I guess. Maybe I got lucky and most of the games I like work or can be tricked. I only had a few titles that absolutely wouldn’t work in VGA and I actually wanted to play them. Jojos, I think was one of them.

[seieienbu]

Yeah...I guess. Maybe I got lucky and most of the games I like work or can be tricked. I only had a few titles that absolutely wouldn’t work in VGA and I actually wanted to play them. Jojos, I think was one of them.

I've never looked until now, but a brief search shows me that there are lists out there that show what games work with VGA and what don't.  What I find surprising is that Last Blade 2 is on the "Not VGA compatible" list.  I distinctly remember it working with a boot disk, so, perhaps the list is wrong or perhaps my aging memory is failing me.  Either way, there's 19 US games that can't be tricked into working according to what I just read.

Air Force Delta
Bangai-O
Ceasars Palace 2000
Coaster Works
ECW Hardcore Revolution
Hydro Thunder
Iron Aces
JoJo Bizare Adventure
King of Fighters 99 Evelution
Last Blade II Heart of a Samarai
MTV Sports Skateboarding
Plasma Sword
Psychic Force 2012
Ring, The: Terror Realm
Skies of Arcadia
Snow Surfers
Soul Fighter
Sydney 2000
WWF Attitude

There may be a couple of mistakes here so if I can stop being lazy I'll test a few later.

[bartre]

also worth noting that some games can be tricked to play widescreen
*supposedly* i haven't gotten around to trying this myself

https://segaretro.org/List_of_Dreamcast_widescreen_codes

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah...I guess. Maybe I got lucky and most of the games I like work or can be tricked. I only had a few titles that absolutely wouldn’t work in VGA and I actually wanted to play them. Jojos, I think was one of them.

I've never looked until now, but a brief search shows me that there are lists out there that show what games work with VGA and what don't.  What I find surprising is that Last Blade 2 is on the "Not VGA compatible" list.  I distinctly remember it working with a boot disk, so, perhaps the list is wrong or perhaps my aging memory is failing me.  Either way, there's 19 US games that can't be tricked into working according to what I just read.

Air Force Delta
Bangai-O
Ceasars Palace 2000
Coaster Works
ECW Hardcore Revolution
Hydro Thunder
Iron Aces
JoJo Bizare Adventure
King of Fighters 99 Evelution
Last Blade II Heart of a Samarai
MTV Sports Skateboarding
Plasma Sword
Psychic Force 2012
Ring, The: Terror Realm
Skies of Arcadia
Snow Surfers
Soul Fighter
Sydney 2000
WWF Attitude

There may be a couple of mistakes here so if I can stop being lazy I'll test a few later.

Yep, most of that is shite. I remember Psychic Force not working, that was a bummer.

I’m %99.9 sure that list is wrong about Skies of Arcadia. I cleared that game when it was new and it seems like I would have remembered having to move the DC to another display to play it.

I’m not surprised Last Blade doesn’t work. All the 2D fighters have something f*cked about them on DC. Third Strike and MvC 2 and CvS2 worked and thats what mattered.

[Lost Monkey]

also worth noting that some games can be tricked to play widescreen
*supposedly* i haven't gotten around to trying this myself

https://segaretro.org/List_of_Dreamcast_widescreen_codes

Bad instructions on that site - what Dreamcast cheat device specifically? Gameshark probably...

This reminds me - I have 3 Dreamcasts and all 3 have the lid switch jumpered due to failure of the switch.. I can't use a swap disk...

Need to find some replacement lid switches...

Edit:  Looks like these switches are unobtanium...  they have to be refurbed or replaced with an external switch...  Maybe I'll try that this weekend. 

[SignOfZeta]

PAR codes, presumably. F355 has a wide function in the menu but that being a 3D simulator that actually makes sense. I can’t envision what CvS2 looks like wide or why anyone would want it to be.

[bartre]

regarding the cheat codes, Gameshark and Action Replay (and their rereleases) are the same thing, just distributed under different names.
the only other one released to my knowledge was the codebreaker, which according to the segaretro page on it is compatible with the same codes.
I'll give it a shot next week and return with my results.

Either way, there's 19 US games that can't be tricked into working according to what I just read.

Hydro Thunder

not 100% accurate.
there's 2 versions of Hydro Thunder, the original release and the Hot! New!/Sega All Stars rerelease
you can tell by the color of the disc.
the OG release has a blue top to the disc and doesn't support VGA
the rerelease has a red disc and does support VGA, as well as having a couple bug fixes
buuuuuut maybe it's the other way around.
again, I'll test it out next week when I have some time.

[schweaty]

So, can i use codebreaker to "trick" the non-vga games into vga?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[SignOfZeta]

Not without a VGA box.

[schweaty]

Welp, got my vga cable in today.  Im getting a ton of video interference over the audio.  The picture is also dark and unstable.  Bad cable?



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[schweaty]

anybody know a place that sells high quality vga cables?  ive never had any luck with the retro-bit crap

[Gypsy]

Just go to a thrift store and pay a dollar. That way you don't have to wait for shipping.

I'm surprised you don't have a bunch though. I just kind of accumulated them as well as those generic 3 prong power cords.

[Bloufo]

Welp, got my vga cable in today.  Im getting a ton of video interference over the audio.  The picture is also dark and unstable.  Bad cable?

I recall with one of those I had to press it in the DC's port pretty hard for a good connection.

Didn't have the problems you describe, though. Which one did you get, this one?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BF74KOS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1