True Region Free Dreamcast - Modified Dev/Retail BIOS - No More Boot Discs!

[wildbird5150]

Do you happen to know any great places online where I can buy Dreamcast PAL games in a very good condition or new? Shipping to Russia is a must.

[abnormaldevil]

u should really consider doing tutorials i love watching your videos thats y i love faulty ebay junk i would like to see how u refurb ur dreamcasts for different common problems they have bc i would really like to know how u do it

[bloodsuckingflea]

You are single-handedly the coolest dude I don't know, haha. Thanks for the upload!

[monkeycrow84]

awesome mod! i love modded systems, i plan on getting a region free snes whem ive saved up enough cash, its an expensive mod to get done and i need to buy the console first lol.

do you know if theres a region free chip mod for the ps2 slim? i want to start getting jap and ntsc games for my collection

[LarryBundyJr]

Is it possible at all to build a broadband adaptor for the dream cast? I've been after one for years, but considering they go for £150 on eBay...

[theultimo]

@LarryBundyJr I'd look at a boot sale or a computer shop - I found a mint BBA US version for $20 at a local thrift shop.

[dotgp]

Ive been wanting to do this for a while now but never found the chips anywhere, thanks for the info.

[DaveSimonH]

Got to love the Dreamcast disc drive cranking noise, you just won't get that with other systems ports of its games or emulation lol

[StigsGameRoom]

Very cool mate ! Looks like soldering that second bios chip in would be fun lol. I installed a chip in my Dreamcast, no fancy bios or anything, it just makes it region free, 4 simple wires to solder in an boom away you go :)

[paulspydar]

@StigsGameRoom hi, do you havr the info where i can get that chip? cheers.

[Psqwall]

Hey this is awesome ! I love your mods! I have a question about a DC problem can I pm you?

[InfernoV2]

There's a mod similar to that for the Saturn that makes the console region free so you don't have to use those region free cartridges (But I assume you already know about this, right?) A guy on a site I regularly visit sells pre modchipped Saturns with the region free BIOS. I would love one, but so pricey!

[TheSegaStoner]

edt1138 sent me to check out your videos! Cool cool!

[zeprefel]

i miss my dreamcast

[999iphonegeek]

Man I miss my dreamcast!!

[skinyme]

my dreamcast plays games of any region anyway. is this for legit games?

[CrysisLTU2]

@skinyme Yeah, same thing is for me, atleast for backups. I don't have any legit NTSC games, I would try it.

[edt1138]

Alright, that is a really cool mod, but I don't think my soldering ability is up to the task of piggybacking those chips yet. Maybe with a bit more practice.

[DingoPenta]

Does not look near as complicated as the soldering for PS2 modchip.

[codenamegamma]

great mod, i was kinda wondering with all the benefit of the modded bios, why bother piggybacking it? yea, its nice if you Wanna go back and forth, but it seems like it would of been faster to desolder the old chip and put the new one on, then piggybacking it and getting no extra functionality of having the old chip still active.

[RetroGameTech]

@codenamegamma Without the proper equipment, removing the old BIOS chip is very risky and you will most likely damage the mobo (trust me :P). It is much easier just to stick the new chip on top of the old one, lift a few pins and solder a couple wires. There's also the added advantage of being able to boot into the retail BIOS, load up DreamShell and flash the new BIOS chip on the fly. That could come in useful in future if more advanced custom BIOS are written/released.

[codenamegamma]

@RetroGameTech oh, ok, so you didn't use a programer to flash the chip you had to piggyback it to flash it. that makes sense.

[SCBianchi]

Favorited for when I get a dreamcast!

[KITT171]

Well hot damn, this is sweet!

[mallpunk182]

How much did you pay for your copy of Shenmue 2? it is so expensive on ebay

[RetroGameTech]

@mallpunk182 About £16 delivered on a 'Buy it Now' auction a few months back. They come up at that price quite often but you need to be quick! :P

[mallpunk182]

@RetroGameTech wow, that is very cheap! I guess the strategy is to just wait and see what comes up. Bidding for a copy of Shenmue 2 is so difficult with all the bidding wars and sniping that goes on, everybody scrapping for it as the time runs out!

[DIMORULEZ]

Nice!

I've tried this mod a couple of months ago, but sadly leg 12 of the original BIOS chip broke off :(

Have you ever experienced a similiar problem and, if so, how did you fix it?

The really stupid thing is that i noticed the the loose pin AFTER I had already soldered about half of the pins, and, on top of that, the new chip is glued onto the old

The alternative i'm thinking of would be to completely desolder the BIOS and then resolder a preflashed chip, but that wouldn't be nearly as cool

[RetroGameTech]

@DIMORULEZ You could very carefully cut away at the chip to expose more of the metal leg. Although, by the sound of it, accessing that area will be very difficult without causing more damage. Is the new chip pre-flashed? If it is you could probably just forget about the original being damaged. The only other solution I think is to desolder everything and start over.

[Yijral]

Does anyone know what happened to my dreamcast it's not reading discs anymore...

[RetroGameTech]

@Yijral probably a burnt out laser. It's the most common fault with older disc based systems.

[Yijral]

@RetroGameTech anyway to fix it?

[shenmueso]

god you're good.

[RetroGameTech]

@shenmueso Thanks, but I really just followed a tutorial and ordered my parts from other more knowledgeable people. The credit for stuff like this always goes to the people who work this stuff out in the beginning, create the modified software and write the tutorials. Without them I wouldn't have a clue where to begin :P

[shenmueso]

@RetroGameTech like the progressively appearing peaks of Ben Nevis, you're always looking to the next plateau. Looking at you from a position of uber noobdom, i see that awesome handy work but you look up also.. to the guys who made the code etc.. and they in turn would probably say "we'd be nothing if it wasnt for the guys making the chip sets" its the ciiiiiircle of liiiife..

probably..

; )

[retroswede]

That's a great mod. I'll have to try this one out.

[gabrielres77]

nice xD

[SpiderPg92]

This looks like a nice mod but i would rather just get a NA or JP Console and switch out the power supply like you showed in another video

[RetroGameTech]

@SpiderPg92 Using that method means you still need to use boot discs or have space for 3 Dreamcasts though. The nice thing about this mod is the convenience. It's kinda like 3 in 1 :)

[Polaventris]

Very sweet mod! I bet it took quite a bit soldering to get all those legs + the few extra wires on them soldered.

[RetroGameTech]

@Polaventris I must have started about 10pm and didn't get everything packed away and finished until about 3am! lol. I ran into a couple of minor issues which required fault finding and continuity testing. I was pretty tired by the time I got it working properly, haha.

[ikey1555]

thats a sick mod be awesome for the games I had to back up I was just wondering you seem to be very good at mods and bourd work do you do somthing like this as your job or is it somthing you learned for fun

[RetroGameTech]

@ikey1555 I do stuff like this just for fun xD. It's not too difficult and you learn as you go. There are usually lots of tutorials and forums around to get tips from which also helps.

[retrospectTV]

cool mod.

[CrysisLTU2]

What happens if you have the system on and use the switch on the side?

[RetroGameTech]

@CrysisLTU2 Probably nothing bad/the system would freeze. I have no desire to test it though :P

[P5ychoFox]

Lovely solder work there!

[blazerockerz]

Does this mod make it so burnt discs work without have to mess with anything else

[retrospectTV]

@blazerockerz You can creat self booting burnt disce for NA dreamcast, meaning the gme will run when you put it in.

[deadman5152]

Nice ! Good job :D