Luiz Nai | SEGA Nerds

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2’s online features recovered

Luiz Nai — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 01:55:41 +0000

If you have been following the Dreamcast scene, you should know by now that a huge online revival has been ongoing with many games having their online mode recovered, websites being created to work with the Dreamcast browsers and also new features like the Dreamcast Now.

But this great community never stops to amaze us, with more great news that now tons of the online features for Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 have been recovered, and it’s not just it, Sonic Adventure 2 one of the few Dreamcast games to feature add-on content that were not on the disk have also been recovered.

Here is a list of what have been recovered:

Sonic Adventure 1

Compete in World Rankings for the best times, score, rings in levels
Download DLCs like new courses for the Twinkle Park Circuit among other things
Have rankings for DLCs
Have a Chao Daycare system to share your Chao all over the world
Upload you Chao times with the Chao rankings
Fun Room contains the Black Market and a Chao Doctor
Hints
Boards

To use these features simply make an account on http://bb.dreampipe.net/ and you’re good to go.

Sonic Adventure 2

Online Black Market (Partially Online Again)
DLC that was not on the disk
Chao Daycare
Hints
Send Omochao questions
The scrapped Online rankings although you can still access the menu with codebreaker

Video in action:

All of this have been recovered thanks to all the efforts done specially by Jial, Ryo Hazuki from the Youtube Channel “Itsstillthinking” and Dan the admin of dreampipe.net

If you don’t have your Dreamcast online yet, we recommend you to visit the website Dreamcast live and take a look on DreamPi.

The post Sonic Adventure 1 and 2’s online features recovered first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

NFL 2K1, Ooga Booga to have online modes restored soon

Luiz Nai — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 14:04:12 +0000

Last year was a good year to be a Dreamcast owner with nearly a dozen new indie releases, several Kickstarter projects for Dreamcast games and some great advances in the modding scene, with several Dreamcast games having their online functions restored.

Now, a modder named Shuouma, who’s responsible for reversing engineering and bringing the online mode of various Dreamcast titles back to life, has announced that he’s now done the same with NFL 2K1 and Ooga Booga. The servers are currently working, and he’s working with a select group of people to test it out before making it public in the coming weeks.

According to Shuouma all the games in the 2K series share the same protocols, and he plans to bring back the online mode for all the 2K series in 2018.

Shuouma is still thinking… pic.twitter.com/hL1oBgCW61

— Shuouma (@Shuouma_DC) January 7, 2018

You can check all the Dreamcast online games and also learn how to connect in the website Dreamcast Live.

This year looks to be a great year for Dreamcast fans, with new indie games, new wireless controllers and more online games – being a Dreamcast fan means having a lot of fun. Good times to have the grey box!

The post NFL 2K1, Ooga Booga to have online modes restored soon first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

The SEGA Saturn is finally getting a 3D Sonic game

Luiz Nai — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 02:55:40 +0000

Back in 2016, we published an article stating that the future looked bright for Saturn and Dreamcast. One year has passed and 2017 seems to be one of the best years for the Dreamcast Scene. We got many indie releases and also some games back online. However, the SEGA Saturn didn’t get the same attention, but that could be changing.

If you are a SEGA fan, you probably heard about Sonic X-Treme; The game that was in all magazines back in the 90’s and had one of the biggest hypes but never got released. Through the years, some prototypes have been found. The first one was made using the NiGHT´s engine, the second (the most known) was the fisheye version and lastly the unseen POV build. All three were made using different technology and it clearly shows that SEGA was struggling to get a decent demo. However in 2017, a fan named Maxime built a demo that is superior to any prototype made by SEGA. It looked so good that it was presented in one of the biggest European events about retro gaming, Retro Barcelona.

The demo itself is available to anyone who wants to try it in an emulator or on the real hardware. SEGA Nerds, however, needed to know more, so we decided to go after the man who created the game: Maxime.

SEGA Nerds: Hi Maxime, first i’d like you to introduce yourself and tell me when have you played the SEGA Saturn first?

Maxime: I’m Maxime, from Montréal, Québec. I first played the SEGA Saturn in 1995 or early 1996 when I was still a kid, with my first game being VF1. I remember being amazed by Virtua Fighter‘s CD audio, which contrasted with Genesis and SNES games’ audio (as for the graphics, I remember my friends telling me how glitchy it looked)!

SEGA Nerds: I assume by the time that the SEGA Saturn was in the market you were very excited hoping Sonic X-Treme would be released, am I right?

Maxime: Yes, I was reading American game magazines and looking at pictures. I didn’t understand much English back then, but I really wanted a platformer on the Saturn. When NiGHTS came out, I was disappointed that it was mainly a 2D game. I got an N64 at Christmas that year, so I was too busy playing Super Mario 64 to remember about Sonic X-Treme. By the time Sonic Jam and Sonic R came out, the Saturn was pretty much dead where I live and it was really hard to buy new games, so I only played them several years later.

SEGA Nerds: Have you played the prototypes? Which of them do you think would have fit better for the final game?

Maxime: I played the prototypes, but they were disappointing. I do like the visuals in the boss engine version, but it’s hard to tell if the game would have been any good from such an early tech demo.

SEGA Nerds: How did you have the idea to start developing Sonic Z-Treme?

Maxime: I didn’t plan to make Sonic Z-Treme. At first, I justed fooled around Jo Engine and tried to put a 3d model in the 2D Sonic demo. After that, I just tried to put a 3D plane and a rotating camera. After that, I just imported a level from Mario 64 (without collision detection). Then I had a basic AABB collision detection function, so I needed a “blocky” level to test it, so Sonic X-Treme‘s levels were perfect for this. I quickly made a Jade Gully look-alike level in Blender and went from there. I planned to keep simple levels, with not too much geometry to make it easy on the hardware. But later on, Andrew75 shared with me the actual Jade Gully map, but it was way too complex for my engine, so I created a map converter tool (with .OBJ Wavefront files), map partition for culling, textures import and collision masks generation. I also had to load it from the disc, so I created a custom binary file format, and I had to make everything fit in RAM. Andrew75 also shared the biggest Sonic X-Treme map, Crystal Frost, to test with my map converter. I still have to take into account texture coordinates during the conversion to fix issues. So yeah, Sonic Z-Treme is pretty much an accident, lol.

SEGA Nerds: I’ve tested your prototype version 0.035 and it looks amazing, Do you intend to finish the game (Please say ‘yes’)? If yes, how many levels do you think will be in the final version?

Maxime: Right now, I’m working really hard on improving the visibility culling to improve performance and have a better drawing distance, but it’s quite complicated. I’m also working on auto generating LOD quads to push the draw distance much further, but it’s also complicated. Another feature I’m working on is transparency using VDP2’s color palette for objects fade-in/out (like in Sonic R), which I got semi-working already. I also want to use the SCU DSP and made (little) progress on that front, but it’s still a long shot. All of this while also aiming for stable 60 FPS, which is what I currently get around 95% of the time, with some slowdowns in busy areas. I’m using SGL for graphics, but I’m not sure if I’ll have to fully write my own 3D implementation, which of course would take a long while, so I have no idea when the game will be finished.

SEGA Nerds: Is your intention to recreate all the Sonic X-Treme levels on Sonic Z-Treme?

Maxime: Right now, for the maps, I’m using Project AXSX’s maps that I converted for my engine. As for the amount of maps, I don’t know yet, but I’ll make sure to publish my map converter tool. I might also make some fully free-roaming “adventure” maps (à la Sonic Jam/Project Condor), but I’m not holding my breath as I have many many many things to do first.

SEGA Nerds: Are there other people helping you? If yes could you tell us what is the role of each one?

Maxime: It’s mainly a solo job so far. Of course, the maps are from Project AXSX and are auto-converted with my tool. I’m also often talking with Dany (who’s active in the Jo Engine forum), who’s a real programmer (unlike me), and he often gives me coding tips.

SEGA Nerds: Is it difficult to develop for the SEGA Saturn? The demo is already looking amazing, do you think is it possible to improve even more?

Maxime: Considering I had no past experience with C and game making, it’s very hard, but I don’t think it would be that hard for a real programmer using SGL and/or Jo Engine. Right now, I’m not making full use of the hardware, so it amazes me how much further the Saturn can be pushed. Very few games made use of the SCU DSP, many games made poor use of the Slave CPU and didn’t make a good enough use of the VDP2. Oddly enough, just by looking at Sonic X-Treme maps you can tell they that never had the Saturn hardware in mind, with maps being very poor candidates for VDP2 3d planes (unlike Sonic Jam and Sonic R). But even with VDP1 heavy games, the Saturn is very powerful, as long as you keep in mind that the VDP1 is slower than the PS1 GPU. One easy way to compensate this is to use the VDP2 color palette to draw sprites (which allows extra effects using the VDP2), use a software mipmapping solution (and/or lower quality textures) and use larger quads (which aren’t as bad as large triangles with the PS1). Even a game like Quake or Duke Nukem 3D on Saturn, two of the most impressive Saturn games, all had 64×64 4 bpp textures, which put heavy strain on the VDP1. With 32×32 textures, I’m sure these games could hit a stable 30 FPS. I managed to import Quake maps into my engine, so I’ll be able to test it.

SEGA Nerds: How long time did you take to develop the demo you have now? And how long do you think it will take to develop the full game?

Maxime: Too long! For the full game, I don’t know, I keep improving my engine for better graphics and performance, so it might take a while. I’m spending maybe 95% of my time on the engine and less than 5% on the actual game, so I’ll have to focus on the gameplay later on.

SEGA Nerds: Tell us where can we find more about your project?

Maxime: I upload videos on my YouTube channel once in a while. I’m also posting updates in several forums, including the Jo engine forum.

Thanks!

Maxime´s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-U3sMVXNwNkk8Zgs4JPmng

Jo engine forum: http://forum.jo-engine.org/index.php?topic=802.0

The post The SEGA Saturn is finally getting a 3D Sonic game first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

Two fans have reportedly fixed the AtGames Genesis audio issues

Luiz Nai — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 18:49:19 +0000

When we talk about Genesis clones, everyone always remember a very known issue: the audio. Companies like AtGames have been releasing Genesis clones for a decade and nearly every release has the been hampered by poor sound quality.

Earlier this year Brazilian tech company TecToy released their new Mega Drive to celebrate 30 year of partnership with SEGA. While this version is better than previous clone consoles, it shares the same Red Kid 2500 processor that has been used in AtGames systems, which means it has audio issues, as well.

But a recent discovery has been made by two fans Neto and Rafael Müller named that could completely fix the audio issues in the AtGames and TecToy Genesis systems.

The recent TecToy Genesis contained a file called md.bin on its packaged SD card. This file sends instructions to the processor to tell it how to execute the games. After a month of digging into the bin file and system, the duo made some interesting discoveries.

Most importantly, they discovered that the clock speed was wrong, which was reportedly the reason the Red Kid 2500 processor had bad audio. Adjusting the clock speed to the correct setting got the sound at about 85-90 percent accuracy of the original Genesis.

Upon hearing this news, fans began messaging TecToy requesting that the company implement this as an official update, and surprising enough, TecToy has announced that they’ll do just that.

Neto and Rafael didn’t stop their work with the TecToy Mega Drive, though. Because it and the AtGames’ Genesis clones and handhelds share the same processor, the two were able to implement this fix on one of their handhelds.

This is pretty impressive work that the duo were able to solve a decade-old problem by using a hex decimal editor and Assembly. Neto and Rafael deserve a lot of credit for fixing a problem that big companies did not have the courage to fix.

If you want to try this fix, take the following steps:

Download the latest firmware for the new Mega Drive;
Inside the file, you will have two files the MDI.BIN (New Mega Drive) and Neto_Boot_Loader.BIN (Portable Mega Drive);
Place the Neto_Boot_Loader.BIN file in the GAME folder and through the MD Play menu load it through the SD option;
From now, all the functions will be the same as the new TecToy Mega Drive with all the benefits of applied patches.

Here’s another video to see the difference between the original and the modified file:

The post Two fans have reportedly fixed the AtGames Genesis audio issues first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

Tutorial: Connecting the Dreamcast online

Luiz Nai — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 22:24:49 +0000

The Dreamcast was the first console to come with a built-in modem, giving you the ability to play your favorite games with other players anywhere in the world. In addition to playing online it was also possible to surf the internet, send emails, download extra content for your games (Now known as DLC), download mini games for the VMU and also other functions like listening to music, among other things. Well, it’s not something special for people who got used to buying college papers online, but years ago it was a completely new experience.

As time passed, new consoles appeared, enhancing all these ideas by making online gaming become commonplace in any gamer’s life. But despite all these changes, some thing never changed; the loyalty of SEGA fans who have not let the Dreamcast online support die.

There are currently 13 online games working:

4 × 4 Evolution
Alien Front Online
ChuChu Rocket!
Maximum Pool
The Next Tetris: Online Edition
PBA Tour Bowling 2001
Phantasy Star Online v1 / v2
Planet Ring
Quake III Arena
Sonic Adventure
Starlancer
Toy Racer
World Worms Party

And with 29 more staying online in the future (Check list here).

So what does it take to connect your Dreamcast online? Well there are several methods, the most recommended is called DreamPI, where you connect the Dreamcast to a Raspberry Pi and it does all the work by converting the broadband signal to the Dreamcast. But this method despite being the most efficient, is a little expensive.

Thinking about it, I decided to write a tutorial to teach you the cheapest way to connect after learning this method with the staff from the Dreamcast Online Brasil community where you connect your Dreamcast to a PC.

What is necessary?

A Dreamcast with Dial-Up Internet Modem
A PC or Notebook with broadband internet
A USB fax modem
A phone cable with a voltage simulator

Setting up your Dreamcast

To configure Dreamcast, you will need to have a Dreamcast browser such as Planet Web (Any version), XDP or another and make the following settings:

Go to Options and then Internet Connection:

Your Real Name: Enter your name.

User Login: dream

Password: dreamcast

Dial Up Number: 111-1111

DNS1: 46 101 91 123

DNS2: 8 8 8 8

Area code you are dialing from: [Leave it blank]

Long distance call prefix: [Leave it blank]

Call waiting prefix: [Leave it blank]

Outside dial prefix: [Leave it blank]

Modem Init: AT&F0

Dial: Tone

Dial area code: Off

Blind dial: On

Use Proxy: No

Proxy server name: [Leave it blank]

Proxy port: [Leave it blank]

Your Dreamcast is ready!!! Now just save these settings.

Setting up your PC

Download the files VMWare and Ubuntu .

Extract the contents from the Ubuntu.rar file to a folder of your choice

Install VMWare

Open VMWare and click Open Virtual Machine go to the Ubuntu folder you have extracted and select the ubuntu file

Click copy

User: dc e Password: dc

In the upper right corner, right-click on the connection icon, and then click Edit Connections.

Then select your first connection and click on Edit.

Click IPV4 Settings and leave it like this:

Address: 192.168.1.150

Netmask: 255.255.255.0

Gateway: 192.168.1.1

DNS Servers: 8.8.8.8

Save these settings.

Right click on the desktop and then click on File manager

Right-click on the options.ttyACM0 document, and then open it as root

Change the first line of the file like this: 192.168.1.150:192.168.1.151 And then save the file.

Now on Windows in the lower right corner, right click on the WiFi or internet icon

And then open the Network and Sharing Center

Now click on the connection you are using, and then click on Details

In the next window look for IPv4 Default Gateway and note this number

Back to the Linux now open the option file as root and paste the ip number in the fourth line as shown in the image below

Save the file and close the windows. All set on your PC.

Fax Modem USB

To connect the Dreamcast on your computer you will need a Linux-compatible USB Fax Modem. The most recommended modems are feasso fum v92, Lenovo RD02-D400 or Dell NW147.

When you are using the Fax Modem, make a test to see if it is working. With the virtual machine open connect the modem to the USB and in the upper left corner of the virtual machine, click on player, removable devices, USB Modem and then check the disconnect from host option.

Now right click on the Linux desktop and then click on terminal. Press up arrow until the sudo ./discar.sh command appears. Press enter and then enter the password dc. Your fax modem should have both lights on.

Building a Line Voltage Inducer

To build a line voltage inducer you will need the following components:

A capacitor 0.47uf
A resistor 380 Ohm
A battery connector 9v
A battery 9v
A soldering iron, tin (welding wire) OR insulation tape.

(This procedure is necessary to simulate the electricity that exists in a telephone socket).

First you will pick up the phone cable and you will open it (Be careful, dont break the wires). Inside it you will find two wires one white and one red. You will cut the red in the middle and will bind the components as follows:

If your phone cable has both wires of the same color, cut the right one with the connectors facing up and the pin facing down.

Testing the connection

Time to test everything is all right. Connect the battery to the cable and then plug the cable into the Dreamcast and the USB Fax Modem. Now connect the Fax Modem to the PC and open the virtual machine.

When the virtual machine loads the operating system, right click on the desktop and click on terminal. Put the browser on the Dreamcast and then click connect. While Dreamcast is dialing inside the terminal that is open in the virtual machine press up arrow until the sudo ./discar.sh command appears. Press enter and then enter the password dc. Your fax modem will have both lights on while the Dreamcast is dialing. Now just wait.

If all goes well your Dreamcast will open a Sega page that no longer exists. Enter an address like www.google.com and be welcome into the Dreamcast online world.

Testing Phantasy Star Online

To play Phantasy Star Online the procedure is the same, download the game here. This image is ready to connect to the private servers. When you are in online mode and your Dreamcast is dialing you need to do the same procedure you did when you connected using the browser. Have fun.

The post Tutorial: Connecting the Dreamcast online first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

Unboxing the new TecToy Mega Drive

Luiz Nai — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 14:04:25 +0000

Sega Nerds has been following TecToy since the first rumors appeared on the internet in October 2016 about a new Mega Drive. What was before just rumors later became a reallity when TecToy announced they would release a new Mega Drive to celebrate their 30 years of partnership with SEGA.

The staff from Sega Nerds in Brazil just received the new Mega Drive and made a video unboxing the new Mega Drive!

We hope to have a video comparing TecToy’s attempt compared to the original SEGA model, very soon. The console costs approximately $124 (R$ 399), and it can be bought on the official TecToy website.

The post Unboxing the new TecToy Mega Drive first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

Interview: Dream IDE Reborn – giving dead Dreamcasts new life

Luiz Nai — Tue, 23 May 2017 16:55:35 +0000

It’s crazy to think about, but have you ever thought about the fact that consoles like the SEGA Saturn or the SEGA CD are already more than 20 years old? The Dreamcast is almost there, too.

While many of these consoles have held up really well, many owners are now realizing they have a common problem – the all have CD drives.

While CD-ROM technology was once a source of innovation, has grown into more of a headache today as many CD drives in retro systems are dying. Just imagine what the failure rate will be like 10 or 20 years from now.

With that in mind, hackers and modders have been at work to create alternatives to give a second life to these aging consoles by circumventing the CD drive entirely. The Dreamcast has a great community and many alternatives like the SD card adapter and the GDEmu. Today, we’re going to talk to André (known as Andrews by the Dreamcast community), who has been working on another alternative to the Dreamcast called the Dream IDE Reborn.

SEGA Nerds: Hi Andrews, can you tell our readers a little about yourself?

Andrews: My name is André Pereira, 36 years old, married and I have a beautiful daughter of almost 2 years named Alice. I’m from São Paulo, Brazil. I’m an electronics technician, graduated in 1998 and I’m in the third year in Information Systems. I am currently looking for something in the area of I.T., and parallel to this, repairing video games has gone from being a hobby to my current source of income.

SEGA Nerds: When was your first contact with the Dreamcast?

Andrews: It was soon after its release. One day, I arrived from my work and went straight to my girlfriend’s house (and current wife). When I rang the bell, I heard the song “All I Want” from The Offspring. I asked her, “Wow, your brother has now started to listen to punk rock?” She replied, “No, it’s the new video game he bought.”

Arriving in the room, I saw my brother-in-law playing Crazy Taxi for the first time, with that loud Offspring sound, that rush and madness of the game. As a musician who appreciated punk rock, I was ecstatic when I saw it.

Then, he placed Sonic Adventure in the Dreamcast, which came along with the console. In that introduction, I almost died … (laughs)
In a month, I was came home with my Dreamcast, hidden under my arm because at the time it was extremely expensive! (laughs)

SEGA Nerds: What is the Dreamcast IDE Reborn, and how did you get the idea to start this project?

Andrews: The Dream IDE Reborn is an interface card that makes it easier to install the IDE mod. Its function is to avoid damaging the motherboard, making a safe and much better installation than soldering wires!

I had a lot of consoles to (mod), and I was tired of soldering 40 wires on the board. I took a drawing and went to look for a company that could develop this layout for me. Then, I met a boy who worked with it and lived near home.

We agreed to meet at a mall near here, and in the food court, I started to show him the idea. He took it home, and there came a first layout. Until we arrived at the first version, there were many pizzas and Coca Cola consumed over discussions of the project as a whole. There were the mechanical tests, the electronic tests and the final user tests.

It took me about six months to develop the first version of Reborn. Unfortunately, I lost some Dreamcast motherboards from doing numerous tests. Some friends left their consoles with me as a guinea pig.

SEGA Nerds: How does compatibility with games work?

Andrews: The compatibility of the games isn’t dependent on Reborn because it doesn’t contain any software, just a chip with some written code. All the credit for creating Dreamshell software that bridges the gap between the game image on the hard drive and the console should be given to the DC SWAT Team. The only reason Reborn exists todayis due to these guys who did a lot of hard work to make it all work. I don’t take any credit for that. My part in the story is just to make it easier for people to work so they don’t put a “spaghetti” on their motherboards or even break trails (laughs).

The Dreamshell has few games that don’t work; I don’t have the correct data, but I can say that 95 percent of most games that people want to play, work. There’s a shared table out there, where anyone who has the mod done has tested and updated this spreadsheet. I don’t follow it, because of lack of time and because I repair more than just video games.

SEGA Nerds: Is it possible to make the Dream IDE Reborn work together with the GD-ROM drive?

Andrews: Yes, because I designed it for this: so the user doesn’t have to remove their GD-ROM drive to install it, like other projects that already exist. I have customers who are collectors, have original disks and want to continue using them, in addition to still have the player working.

SEGA Nerds: Do people need to have a working knowledge of electronics to install the Dream IDE Reborn?

Andrews: It’s not necessary to have a knowledge in electronics in general; but a person will need a steady hand, good tools, patience and just stay calm. While most people would have to go to a basic electronics course to learn good soldering practices in the past, today, people can learn a lot from YouTube. Soldering is a simple skill, but it requires some care, and the care, you find in the details.

If you can easily dismantle and assemble things with a simple but clean soldering iron with a thin tip, a little flow and good quality tin, you can do the modification without major problems.

SEGA Nerds: Have you saved many unused units?

Andrews: Yes, my career with video games began around 2002, more or less. I was a member of a very large Xbox forum, and I started repairing consoles of friends with the Error 07, in the classic Xbox, without charging anything, just for wanting to find them and have a good reason to eat a pizza and drink Coke. [laughs]

After that, this community grew as soon as the Xbox 360 came along. From there, the infamous “Red Ring of Death” began to emerge around the world. At the time, I was working in an industrial automation company, a German multinational. There, I had the opportunity to understand a little about RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and why various equipment of the era stopped working. Parallel to this, a friend from there taught me how to resolder BGA components.

As soon as I fixed my first Xbox 360, I made a post in the Xbox Portal forum. From there, I began to receive many service appointments, to the point of getting an interview on the radio and having to buy a bigger house because I was already driving my wife crazy with the living room and kitchen full of consoles and scattered disc drives. [laughs] Yes, if I tell you from the time I started, I think I must have saved at least 1,000 consoles.

SEGA Nerds: Every day we see that more consoles are becoming unusable because of the CD, GD or DVD drives that are dying. Do you believe projects like yours can help preserve a part of the history and help new generations to get in touch with these old machines?

Andrews: Yes, I believe this, and I also believe this is a trend, as well. Everyone is waiting for that exquisite SEGA Saturn USB device and some friends in particular want this to also happen on the SEGA CD and the Neo Geo CD. Solutions like GDEMU and USBGDROM of Mnemo, for example, are expensive solutions, but they are extremely sensational and worth every cent invested, since the enormous work that is done to build a project of this, does not happen overnight.

Also, playing games on an emulator will never be the same as the experience on original hardware. So, the more solutions like these that exist in the market, the better for us and the history of video games as a whole.

SEGA Nerds: Do you have future plans for other consoles or for Dreamcast itself?

Andrews: Yes, I have plans to do something for other consoles, especially the Master System. It’s my favorite, the console; I cried with joy when I won one, and I need to develop something for it.

For the Dreamcast, I already have another project in progress, in partnership with my partner Jailson from Dreamcast Fix. We developed together the Dream Bios Revolution and the other versions of Reborn because we were able to test together, get feedback from our customers and improve our products. And we are working on two others, but since they are just in the idea stage, this is all I can say at the moment.

SEGA Nerds: For people who are interested in knowing more about your project, where can they find you?

Andrews: On my website www.gametrackssite.wordpress.com or people can follow me on my personal profile (Andrews Audiopraise on Facebook). Or the main Dreamcast groups in the world (Dreamcast Junkyard, Let’s Sega Dreamcast GD Emulator Happens and Dreamcast Brasil).

To purchase Reborn, you must read the terms and conditions on the website and fill out a form.

SEGA Nerds: Would you like to leave a message for people who would like to learn how to modify hardware like you?

Andrews: Oh, yes I do, haha! Before, can I give you a quick message? Thank you SEGA Nerds and Luiz Nai for the opportunity you gave me today! I always read the news, and today I realized another dream by having my story on this great website! Thank you so much!

The first thing I want to tell people is you’re always welcome! The demand is too great, and there is so much to do! The second is try to study the basics of what you are going to do and gradually improve. Watch videos, quite a lot of them. Purchase old iron boards to train soldering and desoldering. Practice on your own consoles, and when you feel confident enough, work on others.

The third message is don’t let the criticism and rudeness of forum trolls get to you, especially when you know there are more experienced people. Remember, they’re envious of you for what you have been doing or started doing for the community. Learn from more experienced people, and ignore the trolls.

When I developed the first Reborn, I heard criticism from many people, especially technicians, such as “IDE is the past, Sata is the future” or “It’s just a PCB and nothing much.” I understand Sata is the future, but my goal was to develop a product that everyone had access to. There was also the issue of having to produce them.

I need to think of something that uses quality components, that you have the security to do to not fry your device (and the guilt falls on me) and the main one: WHAT WORKS RIGHT and doesn’t stop working after a few hours, among many Other problems that happen with any appliance that has been around for 20 years, and most professionals do not have the courage to admit it.

It’s not everyone who has the guts to solder a thread, imagine 40! Do you understand what I mean? Initially, I was very scared to sell Reborn outside of Brazil because I did not want to risk the backlash of selling a bad product and not giving any support to people. So I sent some units to five well-known technicians from here to test and certify the quality before uploading my first video to YouTube showing it to the world.

Thank goodness it was something well accepted by the community, and with that, I was able to reduce the price even more because I was able to buy a lot later and get a lower price. The first batch was very expensive, and I got the only money I had because I had just been unemployed, my 1-month-old daughter. I went for all or nothing. And I even had the help of my partner, to crack the value of the first batch.

With that Reborn arrived in Japan, Canada and it is spread all over the US and Europe, and literally has arrived there from Madagascar, Mauritius! I never imagined that I could do something in which all parts of the world would have interest.

And finally, people should have respect for customers and their money. If a problem occurs, deal with it. It’s better than messing around. (laughs)

Before I say goodbye I must say that I am very grateful to Pedro Oliveira and Filipe Marques, both managers of the Dreamcast Brasil group. When I was unemployed in September 2015, Pedro and Filipe started to introduce me customers. My thanks to them and the entire Dreamcast Brasil community for that. I also thank my wife who has always supported me in everything I do. Thank you Joice, I love you very much!
And finally, I thank SEGA Nerds for the golden opportunity! Thanks for keeping the SEGA story alive!

The post Interview: Dream IDE Reborn – giving dead Dreamcasts new life first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

Tutorial: How to make a Dreamcast game using the Titan IDE

Luiz Nai — Wed, 10 May 2017 01:36:06 +0000

Have you ever dreamed of developing your own Dreamcast game? Chances are, especially if you’re reading this, the answer is probably “yes.” Just like you, I’ve always had this dream, but the big question and hurdle was always “Where do I start?”

There are many questions and unfortunately the answers are hidden over the internet in obscure forums sometimes in posts of more than 10 or even 15 years. And as soon as you find some answers, then the real disaster begins: it all boils down to a bunch of scripts that you need to run on Linux and nothing is visual.

After a lot of trial and error, I finally got something running on the Dreamcast, but I realized that the whole process was unnecessarily tedious, so I started to build small tools to make my life easier and eventually decided to put everything together and then Titan IDE was born.

But what is Titan IDE and what does it do?

Titan IDE is nothing more than a tool for editing levels, drawing graphics for VMU and making sprite sheets for Dreamcast.

Okay, but what about the code?

This interface called Titan IDE was made to work together with a 2D platform game template that comes with the tool.

What can I do with the Titan IDE?

With the Titan IDE, it’s possible to create 2D platform adventure games like Mario and Sonic, action games like Mega Man or Metroid and shumup.

Will it be possible to make games of other styles in the future? Does the engine use the potential of the Dreamcast?

This is only version 0.3 of the tool; new updates will come every month, and new templates will be added. It’s still far from using the full potential of the console, but the goal is always to get more out of the Dreamcast with each new upgrade.

So enough talking, let’s learn how to install the Titan IDE and compile your first game for the Dreamcast!

Downloading files

Before starting, it’s important to remember that all tests were done using Windows 10, and all the settings and links available here will be compatible with this version of Windows.

Upgrade your DirectX to run the Dreamcast emulator (https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=35)

Install the appropriate .NET version for your version of Windows (https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=49981)

Download the executable file Titan_IDE_0_3.exe;

Installing the editor

Stop your anti-virus (Unfortunately the Anti-virus always stops the installation)
Run the file Titan_IDE_Compiler.exe
Click on Accept
Click on Extract
Click on Finish
Open the file C:/cygwin/Cygwin.bat and when the DOS window stops processing close it.
Go to the folder C:/cygwin/home and delete the folder with the name of your user leaving only the folder titan_ide and rename titan_ide with the name of your user.

Now you’re all set up to begin making your Dreamcast games!

Using the Titan IDE

You already have everything ready to use the editor but to make our work easier.

Right-click on the desktop->New->Shortcut, put the following path in the field: C:\cygwin\Titan IDE\export.
Click Finish.

Now, we will create another shortcut on the desktop, right-click New->Shortcut, put the following path in the field: C:\cygwin\home\(Your Computer name)\dc\kos\Projects\my_game and click finish.

And for the last create the shorcut for the file C:\cygwin\Titan IDE\Titan IDE.exe

Your desktop will have two folders, my_game and export and the icon Titan IDE.This will make easier to handle the files.

Now it’s time to test if everything is working.

Click on the Titan IDE icon.
The window will open and it will look for new updates, click on close.

Click on the Dreamcast icon to open the menu

Click on Compile
A DOS window will open and the template will be compiled, if all goes well you will have this result:

Close this window.
Open the folder my_game on your desktop. Make sure the 1st_read.bin file has the file generation date according to your current time.

Next step is to generate the CDI to test on the emulator or on the console, back to the Dreamcast menu click on Create CDI
The BootDreams will open. In the Selfboot folder, put the address of your my_game folder and in CD label, enter the title you want to give to the game and then click Process and then Yes. Save the CDI to your desktop.

Wait for BootDreams to generate your CDI and click OK.
Time to test our template in the emulator, back to the Dreamcast Menu click Emulator.
The emulator will open. Open the CDI that was generated and test the Mega Man template that comes with the Titan IDE.

Editing the template and making your game

Did you like the game? Compiled, tested and everything went well? How about now edit this template to make your game? Let’s do it.

Back to the editor, click Open.
A template of the map will open, let’s edit this map. Drag a few pieces onto the stage, if you miss something click on the eraser and erase it, then click on the eraser again to stop using the eraser.

Let’s put more enemies on the stage. Drag the skull from the side of the pieces to the stage.
I created 2 types of enemies for this template. If you want to change them, right click on the desired enemy on the map. A side menu will open; if you want the enemy 1, type -1 in the field, if you want the enemy 2 type -2 and then click save.

It’s time to save the changes on the map. Click on the save button at the top of the editor, save the 2 files in the default directory. Please do not change, there is a bug that I will fix soon. Replace both files.

So what about editing the drawing that appears on the VMU? Click on the VMU icon at the top of the editor.
The screen to draw on the VMU will open; click on the pixels to draw and click again to delete. Draw something cool and click save. Again, don’t change the default directory. Replace the file.

Let’s see if the changes have worked. On your desktop enter in the export folder, copy the graphic.xpm file to my_game folder and replace it. Go back to the export folder, copy the map.map file to my_game/romdisk/map folder and replace the file.

Back to the Dreamcast menu, compile, create the CDI and test it on the emulator.

Customizing the sprites

Now you must be wondering, how do I change the sprites to make the game with your art, right? Let’s do it,

Inside the C:\cygwin\Titan IDE\images are all the images for the stage, create your art using sprites with dimensions 32×32 (The only dimension currently working) and replace the current ones using always numerical order.
For the character go to C:\cygwin\Titan IDE\character_images folder and do the same, use your sprites using 64×64 dimensions and replace the current ones always using numeric order.

Remember for transparency use the RGB 0xff, 0x00,0xff background.

Close and open the editor your images should appear in the place of the old ones. Make your map reminding yourself that the width and height of the stage always have to be multiples of 32.

Making the spritesheet for the character

To make your character’s spritesheet click on the Sonic button.

The template is programmed in the following way: the first three positions are the character standing, the next three are the character walking and the last of it is jumping. In the character menu select the order of the sprites with this in mind. Just click on the order of the sprites; if you make a mistake double click on it and it will return to the top.

Click save and again don’t change the default directory.

Now it’s time to import the new sprites

Open the export folder on your Desktop.
Both your block and player images will be in this folder; however they are in JPG and the Dreamcast reads BMP 16-bit. Open the two images in paint and save them as BMP 16-Bits (In the future the editor will save it in the correct format).

Copy the blocks.bmp file to

\my_game\romdisk\images\blocks

And the player.bmp file to

\my_game\romdisk\images\player

Changing BackGround and other images

If you want to change the background, menu image and others go to the folder \my_game\romdisk\images

And change the images remembering always to use bmp 16-bits.

Now that you have placed your images, go to the Dreamcast menu, compile, create the cdi and test it on the emulator if everything is working.

Changing the template code

If you want to edit the template code, click on the button Code on the editor.

The editor will open notepad ++
Go to file-> open, open the folder my_game. Inside this folder are all the scripts written in C ++ and they are full of comments. (In the future I will do some tutorials on how to change this template)

Testing on the console

If you’ve done all this, it’s time to burn the CDI using ALCOHOL 120% or ImgBurn.

[New] Exporting your game for PC.

To export the game to PC click on the Dreamcast button;
Click compiler;

After the game is compiled for the Dreamcast type the following commands on the DOS window:

cd ..
cd my_game_pc
g++ *.cpp -lSDL

Done, the EXE of your game will be in c:\cygwin\home\the_name_of_your_computer\ dc\kos\Projects\my_game_pc folder along with all the codes for the PC version.

Conclusion

So that’s it folks, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you make new games for our beloved Dreamcast. Remember to keep the tool always updated and be sure to follow our page to always get the improvements of the tool and also new tutorials.

See you!

The post Tutorial: How to make a Dreamcast game using the Titan IDE first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

TecToy celebrates partnership with SEGA, announces new Genesis game

Luiz Nai — Tue, 09 May 2017 15:07:12 +0000

Last week, TecToy hosted an event to celebrate its 30-year partnership with SEGA, and Tsurumi Naoya, Executive Vice President of Sega Sammy Holdings, was their special guest.

During the celebration, TecToy officials announced that the company’s new Mega Drive will begin shipments to buyers this week, and the first one was given to Tsurumi.

Tsurumi spoke how the partnership with TecToy is important to SEGA and the mutual respect between the companies. At the end of the celebration, TecToy CEO Stefano Arnhold announced that the first game they will produce is Monica in the Land of Monsters, and that the new Mega Drive will be able to receive new updates via the system’s integrated SD slot.

Monica is a childhood icons for many Brazilian Mega Drive owners. The first game in the series was released by the company in 1994, and the game was known to be a modification of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, an arcade game produced by Westone and published by SEGA in 1987.

The game’s price and official release date of the game, however, wasn’t revealed.

According to Arnhold, the company also sought to make a reprinting of Ayrton Senna Super Monaco GP 2, a modification of the classic Super Monaco GP, to the “new-old console,” but discussions about copyright prevented the release.

Tectoy has been the official distributor of the SEGA consoles since the late 1980s. Even after the Japanese company’s departure from the console market, the Brazilian company continues to relaunch versions of its devices, such as the Master System.

The post TecToy celebrates partnership with SEGA, announces new Genesis game first appeared on SEGA Nerds.

Interview: Alexandre Pagano, a Tectoy designer in the ’90s

Luiz Nai — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 13:45:39 +0000

With the launch of new Tectoy’s Mega Drive approaching and the celebration of 30 years of partnership with SEGA, we decided to go deeper in the Tectoy history and talk with some of the company’s great people and developers.

To start this series, today we are interviewing one of the main figures behind the success of Tectoy in the ’90s: Alexandre Pagano.

SEGA Nerds: Good morning Alexandre first of all it’s a honor to speak with you, your work was part of the childhood of many people here in Brazil. So for outsiders who don’t know your work, let’s start with the basic.

Who are you? Where you are from? And what do you do as a profession?

Alexandre Pagano: I’m Brazilian, born in São Paulo capital on Dec. 30, 1968, so I’m 48 years old. I am happily married, and I have a 25 year old son.

To talk a little about my professional career we have to go back a little in time … actually quite lot [laughs].

In 1974, when I was only 6 years old, my parents took me to see the Orlando parks. I was amazed by such technology, beauty and all the wonders created by Walt Disney and his entire team. The designs and animations have always fascinated me and since then I have known that I would work with animation.

A few years later, when I was in college in the ’80s, I started working in an animation studio called HGN. This studio was outsourced from Disney Studios, where we did some short films. Goofy and his gang, DuckTales, and the coolest of all, the Gummy Bears.

It was a very important experience because, as the computers at that time were still a very, very expensive resource, we worked with the traditional animation, that is, frame by frame, 24 frames per second, acetate painted manually and then photographed frame by frame.

It was at this time that I learned all about animation. A great school!

SN: How and when did you join Tectoy?

Pagano: In 1990, it was very difficult to continue in the animation area, and unfortunately, this is a very underpaid area. My father, who worked in the Tectoy sales department, told me that they had a vacancy for a promotion assistant and that paid a lot more than I was earning at the time.

As I had to pay my tuition fees in the design course at the Faculty of Belas Artes in São Paulo, I left the animation area and went to work in the promotions area of Tectoy.

One of my activities was to respond to letters from children who had doubts about the Tectoy toys. The biggest demand at the time was how to go from certain stages in the Master System games. So, to answer these questions, I had to play the games until the end. At one point, the children did not want to wait for the mail, they wanted the answers as quickly as possible and started calling Tectoy.

When the lines started getting congested, I spent more time answering tips than doing other activities. Marketing management decided to absorb me into a new hotline department, which served as a direct channel to answer questions about Tectoy games.

As the demand increased, more and more attendants were hired, and they had the tips in individual notebooks, but the tip books didn’t have a response pattern. So I decided to make a folder with all the tips presented in a standardized way, with a unique language, clear layout, clean and very technical – this helped when responding to the doubts of our customers.

At a given moment, the number of games released was quite high and the complexity of the games increased every day. It became increasingly difficult to play and answer calls. We were no longer having fun; we had deadlines, goals, etc.

It was at this point that I spoke with my manager at the time, André Goldfarb, suggesting that we had a gaming expert, and I was applying for this vacancy. Thus, in the middle of 1991, Tectoy created the Games specialist position.

The years passed, and a game that marks my transition from specialist in games to the first game designer of Brazil falls on my desk. My manager at the time, Andrea Bedricovetc, gave me the Phantasy Star cartridge for Master System and asked me for an evaluation: “Alexandre, play this game and tell me what you think? I want to know if it’s worth getting released.”

At that point, I had never even played tabletop RPG, much less a digital version. We were in the ’90s, we had no internet, and while Phantasy Star was known in the rest of the world, it was entirely new to us. I played and loved the game, but my opinion was that if it wasn’t translated, people would not play it.

This was evaluated, and, to my surprise, I was tasked with assisting in the translation project of the game that went on to take about three months of work. The reverse engineering work done by engineer Claudio Oyamagushi made it possible to not only to find the text characters but also the graphic characters.

This meant we could get games that had not been released to change the characters and adapt games to our market! After translating several games, the whole team began to be dissatisfied … we wanted to make a game from scratch.

After several marketing negotiations with copyright, we got the authorization to make a game of the character Pica-Pau (Woody Woodpecker in U.S).

We were very excited, but then we had to ask ourselves, “How do we make a game?” We only knew how to adapt games! [laughs]

Based on the concept of animation, we started producing the Pica-Pau game (it would go on to be known as Woody Woodpecker’s Frustrated Vacations) that had the secret name of “Asdrubal Trouxe o Trombone,” the name of a Brazilian Jazz Funk band from the time I had just watched a show. As the name was too big … It was only Asdrubal.

After approving the script written by Jaime and Sandra Chemmin, we started to design the Memory Map, which is essentially a storyboard of the game. Once that was done, we fleshed out the animations and the game’s graphics, backgrounds, sound effects and the soundtrack.

While this was going on, another team worked on the structure and programming of the game. This team was managed by Claudio Oyamagushi, and had programmers Marcelo Caiado, Luis Campello, Mauricio Guerta, among other beasts of the programming area.

We finally finished the game in November 1995.

SN: When did you leave there?

Pagano: I worked at Tectoy until Jan. 2, 1996.

SN: Which projects did you work on while at Tectoy?

1) Hotline;
2) Especialista em games (Specialist in games);
3) Understanding how games work based on semiotics concepts;
4) Phantasy Star Translation;
5) Translation of Phantasy Star II (Mega Drive);
6) Translation of Phantasy Star III (Mega Drive);
7) Monica in the Castle of the Dragon (Master System);
8) Monica’s Gang in the Rescue (Master System);
9) Monica in the Land of Monsters (Mega Drive);
10) Chapolim x Dracula (Master System);
11) Geraldinho (Master System);

12) Sapo Xulé: The Master of Kung Fu (Master System);
13) Sapo Xulé: SOS Lagoa Poluída(SOS Polluted Lagoon) (Adapt. Master System)
14) Sapo Xulé: vs. Os invasores do Brejo (Master System);
15) Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (Master System);
16) Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (Mega Drive);
17) Super GP Monaco with Ayrton Senna.

There were more projects, but my memory is not the same … a type of bank-line that accessed the account of Game Gear users through dial-up line.

And the most unusual thing was a game program that was on the GuGu show (Brazilian TV show) where kids entered into the video game. I think there were more projects, but I don’t remember

SN: Which project was the hardest to complete, and which one are you most proud to have done?

Pagano: There were a lot of projects that required a lot of work, but I think we could split them into three …
The most complex work that made me proud was undoubtedly Pica-Pau’s game. The most satisfying, which I have no doubts was the adaptation of the game Monica to the Mega Drive, it was one of the most beautiful we did. It would be unfair not to include the Phantasy Star translation because without it I would not have gone into the development of games.

SN: How was working at Tectoy in that golden age? Did you have much contact with SEGA? Did they evaluate your work?

Pagano: Working at Tectoy at that time was very satisfying. Everyone is proud to have worked in what was the biggest technology toy industry of the 1990s. We were a big family.

Contact with SEGA was minimal, and it was done only by the marketing department. Unlike today, the language barrier was also a problem. Few people spoke English, and it made it difficult to communicate with SEGA, which was very closed off at the time.

SEGA did not evaluate our work and also did not help … We had no software, books, support, basically nothing. Everything, absolutely, everything that was done and created by Tectoy, was developed and created by its collaborators.

Remember again that we did not have Google, YouTube, or the Internet at that time … nothing! We took blood from stone! We were a very tight team and very talented!

SN: Is there any project or something that was started within Tectoy but has never been finalized that you can share with the public?

Pagano: It was a very dedicated company; when we started a project, it always went to the end. I think the only project that did not go forward was the development for the SEGA Saturn, which was considered, but we didn’t begin the development.

SN: With the launch of the new Mega Drive, many Brazilian fans are asking Tectoy to relaunch the Monica Gang. Because it’s a project that you participated in, how do you feel when you see the game receiving so much affection even after so much time?

Pagano: I never would’ve imagined these old project I did would be remembered as they have after all these years. They were just games, and I didn’t realize that they would have such a big impact.

Everything I do I always try to do with a lot of attention to details and give my best. But I always think we all try to do this, don’t we?

Every time someone recognizes, praises or even criticizes our games, for me, it’s a great honor. Because knowing that somehow I could contribute to the entertainment of a group of people and that they had any kind of good or bad opinion, it makes me feel extremely flattered.

Having the opportunity to be a digital artist in the ’90s and collaborating with the learning curve of a generation that bridged the digital generation of today, only makes me proud.

SN: What is your favorite console? And the favorite game?

Pagano: Nowadays, due to lack of time, I’m no longer a regular player, but my family is very technological as you must be imagining. We have almost all the new generation of consoles, Wii U, Switch, PS3 and 4, and Xbox, among others.

It gets very difficult to talk about X or Y console because each one has its own characteristics and particularities that I love.

Let’s put it this way …

The most nostalgic without a doubt is the Atari.
What gave the greatest technology step was the Master System.
The most entertaining was the Nintendo 64.
The one that had greatest variety of games was the PlayStation 1.
The most interactive was the Wii and Wii U
The most technologically advanced is the PlayStation 4

But the console that lives in my heart still remains the Mega Drive.

It’s unfair to be able to talk about just one game, so I’ll pick five, OK?

#5) Phantasy Star
#4) Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau (Frustrated Holiday of the Woodpecker).
#3) Monica in the Land of Monsters
#2) Epic Mickey
#1) Super Mario 64

I think these five were the games that made the most of my life!

SN: What did you think of Tectoy’s new Mega Drive?

Pagano: I didn’t have the opportunity to evaluate, but knowing the visionary look and the great entrepreneur that is Stefano Arnold, I’m sure it will be a great console.

SN: What advice would you give to someone who is just getting started in the industry?

Pagano: Learn from the past to create an even better future. The secret of successful games is still in our essence, that is, as much as we create extremely innovative technologies, we will continue human beings.

Games create communities that allow for competition, and the eligibility of leaders, regardless of gender, will continue to be the next success of the market, regardless of console, graphics quality, gameplay or other specific characteristics.

Would you also like to leave a message for Tectoy and SEGA fans?

I’m a fan of yours, and thanks for the opportunity! I feel honored and flattered to be able to tell a little of my history, our history.

A big hug,

Alexandre Pagano.

The post Interview: Alexandre Pagano, a Tectoy designer in the ’90s first appeared on SEGA Nerds.