ateam

(1/2) Over three years ago, an issue report was submitted to Fixel's 3DO ODE repository on GitHub due to "Oyaji Hunter Mahjong" crashing, but... even with a CD-R?! While we still don't know why pressed discs alone allegedly work fine, we have arrived at the light at the end of the tunnel 🙂

(2/2) Today, v1.1.1 of @snowyaria.goodorevengreat.games's English patch was released, and with it I also released a separate patch to fix the crash! github.com/DerekPascare...

I've released v2.2.0 of Orbital Organizer, my SD card management software for the SEGA Saturn ODEs Rhea and Phoebe. github.com/DerekPascare...

Version 1.7.1-ateam of openMenu/Card Manager has been released, bringing 22 fixes and enhancements. Windows/Linux users simply launch Card Manager and let auto-updater run, then insert SD card and click "Save Changes" (macOS update is manual). github.com/DerekPascare...

I've released v2.0 of TextSleuth, a brute-force search utility to identify non-standard text encoding formats. It's designed for hackers/reverse-engineers developing video game translation patches, especially "retro" where custom text encoding formats were often used. github.com/DerekPascare...

In the upcoming v1.7.1-ateam release of openMenu/Card Manager, three new themes (each with a blue swirl variant) have been added, along with the ability to use a custom font sheet. Read more: github.com/DerekPascare... Six video previews follow... BIOS style...

"Simple" SEGA style...

"Simple" SEGA style with blue swirl...

Noir style...

Noir style with blue swirl...

BIOS style with blue swirl...

Thanks to deluxux, the retail Bleemcast! discs now work on GDEMU. www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewto... My openMenu already integrates the generic Bleemcast! boot disc for PlayStation games (thanks to megavolt85), so maybe I can see about integrating these as well.

Over five and a half years since its initial release, I've updated the English translation patch of "Taxi 2: The Game" on the SEGA Dreamcast to version 1.1, finally translating the last remaining French texture saying "Mauvaise Direction" with "Wrong Direction". github.com/DerekPascare...

(1/2) I'm working on an openMenu feature that, when enabled, will at least allow you to push the clock check out another 30 days (max allowed). That way, you only boot up once a month rather than once a week to guarantee no RTC reset.

ateam@dreamcastforever.com

I wrote a post explaining exactly why the Dreamcast will prompt you for the date/time even with a healthy battery, which has puzzled many of us for years! It's not your battery: the Dreamcast's hidden 30-day clock check dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewto...

(2/2) Obviously a BIOS replacement with patch is complete solution, but this is for everyone else.

And now we've got two playtesters onboard! That doesn't mean we couldn't always use more, though. That said, stay tuned for updates! I'm very excited for this one.

ateam@dreamcastforever.com

(1/3) Do you consider yourself well versed in the universe of "Shikigami"? Are you interested in playtesting my English translation patch for Dreamcast? If so, shoot me a DM. I'd love to hear from you. Some more info in the next two posts...

Nothing says high-class living like watching Summer Heights High VCDs on your BVM with your Sega Saturn while you get your work done on a Friday afternoon.

(2/3) I wanted to make this post before someone does a sloppy PS2-to-DC AI patch for this game (it deserves so much better than that).

(3/3) I'm aiming for a high-quality patch built on the Switch/PC retranslation, with added fixes and refinements. I'm also restoring high-quality original art where possible, fixing Engrish across menus/graphics, polishing presentation, and adding an optional invincibility toggle.

Dreamcast Now! (dreamcast.online/now/) now reports people idling in openMenu 😎 Thanks @kazade.bsky.social !

(1/5) Announcing our v1.0 English translation patch release for "Pu-Li-Ru-La" on the FM Towns/FM Towns Marty! Download: github.com/DerekPascare...

(4/5) I've also gone through the trouble of adding a new invincibility mode to the game, which can be toggled on/off from the title screen's SET UP menu. Now you can experience the entire story even if you're not so good at the game itself😉

(5/5) If you're feeling generous and want to contribute to my ongoing translation patch efforts, head on over to DreamcastForever.com and click "Contact" for the donation link.

(1/5) Announcing our v1.0 English translation patch release for "Pu-Li-Ru-La" on the FM Towns/FM Towns Marty! Download: github.com/DerekPascare...

(2/5) This is a complete retranslation and not a simply copying of the arcade version's less-than-stellar English script.

(3/5) Your mission? Recover the stolen Keys of Time and bring Radish Land back to life! Taito's wonderfully bizarre 1991 arcade classic came to FM Towns in 1994, packed with surreal worlds, strange enemies, and just the right amount of storybook charm.

My family knows me all too well... I promise I'm a grown man of 39.

The Amityville Jordan (1979)

I've released a patch to fix graphic palette corruption issues specifically on the FM Towns Marty (not most/all of the regular computers) for the game "Taito Chase H.Q." You can read more about the patch and download it here: github.com/DerekPascare...

ateam reposted

@jackal27.bsky.social

You can’t even comprehend how important Eien ni Hen’s work is to the fan translation community. Romancing SaGa, Fire Emblem, Sakura Wars, Tear Ring Saga, Glory of Heracles, Dragon Force II, Dark Half, Beyond Oasis, Psi-O-Blade, Arabian Nights, and so much more. What a loss. Rest in peace.

Romhack.ing@romhack.ing

In memory of the translator, Eien ni Hen. May she rest in peace.

(1/9) Almost two and a half years after releasing my "Virtua Cop 2" English patch for Dreamcast, I've put out v1.1 with fixes for the audio popping and the game starting at 50 Hz on PAL consoles using RGB! DOWNLOAD: github.com/DerekPascare...

(8/9) The PAL RGB fix is pretty straight forward and ensures 60hz is used, though I've never done this on a Windows CE game before, so it was definitely new (and fun) territory.

(9/9) In the end, I'm glad I went back to this one, because that pop was becoming hard to ignore once I'd noticed it!

(6/9) I also changed the loader to choose its padding by audio format, keeping zeros for PCM and using 0x80 for ADPCM. The idea was to alternate positive and negative steps to avoid that suspected drift, and it even fits in the existing code with no need to edit recordings!

(7/9) In a decoding test, one clip ended at -16, but adding 48 zero bytes took that to +1424. The new padding left it at -16, which helped point me in this direction, although those numbers alone don't prove what was causing the audible pop.

(4/9) The padding looked like another part of it, since the game fills it with zeros. My suspicion from the tests is that those bytes make the decoded ADPCM waveform drift upward, leaving a sudden jump when playback stops and giving us that pop.

(5/9) I kept the library's allocation sizes and changed the game to prepare the full length before handing the sound over. That meant changing the loader's rounding from 32 to 64 bytes, which comes down to the two constants highlighted here.

(2/9) I'd been hearing a pop after some sound effects, including gunshots, and found it in both the Japanese release and the Smash Pack version I used for the English patch. With the sound data matching across versions, I started tracing the Windows CE loading code.

(3/9) What stood out was that the game rounds sound lengths to 32-byte boundaries, while the library rounds to 64 but still copies the smaller amount. For 73 of the 149 sounds I checked, that leaves 32 bytes at the end of the playback buffer unwritten.

(1/3) Over three years after its initial release, I'm proud to finally have squashed the LAST BUG in our English translation patch of "Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me" on the SEGA Dreamcast! DOWNLOAD: github.com/DerekPascare...

(2/3) So, what was the elusive bug that kept me hacking away at the same game, little by little, for years? Like many ADV/VN games, "Nakoruru" features a history viewer to scroll through past dialogue. Due to expanding maximum size of dialogue text, tons of things downstream needed tweaking.

(3/3) Every few months, I made a little progress, always being sure to keep very good notes. I knew it was a matter of time, and thank the Lord above, that time is now... Something as "trivial" as this took me dozens and dozens of hours to finally crack and deliver in this final v1.4 update.

The NAOMI-to-Dreamcast ports continue! This time, it's "Senko no Ronde Special". See CaptainKoffski's post for download link: dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewto...

A big update for openMenu! As such, I've bumped it up to v1.7.0 😎 As always, Windows and Linux users need only to open Card Manager and let the auto-updater do its thing. A manual update is still required for macOS users. github.com/DerekPascare...

Well, I've spent time writing custom diagnostic tools and have done EVEN MORE testing. Situation isn't as dire as I initially thought, but there are still problems. Read more here: dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewto...

ateam@dreamcastforever.com

(1/3) People have been asking me about this redesigned GDEMU clone (Dreamcast ODE). So I bit the bullet, bought one, and tested it. Firstly, all of the "faster speeds" stuff is pure marketing bullshit. Timing is handled by GDEMU firmware, and it's delicate. You don't want to arbitrarily increase.

21 Sept

21 Sept

(2/2) Secondly, the KatanaDrive reports any and all disc images it mounts as GD-ROMs, even if they're CD-ROMs! This means CDIs (indie, homebrew) don't launch properly when openMenu's boot mode is set to "fast" (BIOS patches break). This also means it doesn't play straight audio CDs... like, at all.