Burning Dreamcast images with BootDreams and Selfboot Inducer (was: "Why?")

I have been attempting to burn games for the last 6 months. I've tried numerous ways (make a disk in 5 minutes, SBiffy!com tutorial, dchelp's tutorial) and each one has failed. I have no Idea why the F it is happening. I remember once I burned some version of doom and it brought up a screen asking what WAD I wanted to play. I have also gotten it to bring up the Sbiffy! screen, but each time I get some, I click on something and the system resets! I have a version 0 (not 1, 0, I think it was a release model) why wont this work? Any help is appreciated.

also, my brother told me that according to his friend (who i've never met and wont give me burned games) you have to use something lower than winxp to burn. well im using xp, does this affect it?

Sorry, cant talk about illegal things here, my friend.

I love you, x.

this isnt illegal!

this whole forum is about burning dreamcast homebrew

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Originally Posted by bullhead

Sorry, cant talk about illegal things here, my friend.

I love you, x.

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Homebrew games/emulators are not illegal.

More information would help diagnose your problem.

What utilities are you using to burn? You said you're using Windows XP, but what else can you tell us?

self boot inducer, Im trying to burn nxDoom, quake (premade quake image from dcevo), and im using diskjuggler demo edition.

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Originally Posted by bullhead

Sorry, cant talk about illegal things here, my friend.

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He's talking about Dreamcast homebrew, bh ;)

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Originally Posted by ganonbanned

also, my brother told me that according to his friend (who i've never met and wont give me burned games) you have to use something lower than winxp to burn. well im using xp, does this affect it?

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No. What your brother told you isn't correct.

It is true that there was a version of BootDreams (v0.6.1 and below) that doesn't work with 64-bit versions of Windows, but it works with the standard 32-bit versions.

Newer versions of BootDreams however do work perfectly with all exisiting versions of Windows.


Seeing you got Doom and the DreamInducer menu to boot on your Dreamcast, you can rest assured that your setup is capable of burning Dreamcast CDs.


Judging from the tutorials you have mentioned in your post, I assume that you have the right software already. Anyway, You need a version of BootDreams and Selfboot Inducer. Install them to C:\BootDreams\ and C:\SBInducr\.



They both are used for different kinds of software distributions. BootDreams is used for Plain Files, SBInducer is used for SBIs:



BootDreams

creates and burns images from 'Plain Files' as you can download from DCEmu UK's cFiles Archive.

Plain Files usually consists of the following:
- 1st_read.bin (containing the program itself)
- ip.bin (the bootsector pointing to 1st_read.bin so the Dreamcast knows which program to execute)*
- readme.txt (info and credits about the program)
- in certain cases some other files and folders containing the game/emu/app's graphic or sound data

*this file is missing in some Plain Files distributions, but don't worry, you can either just copy it from another emulator/game/app or let BootDreams create one for you later.




All you need to do with a Plain Files distribution is

1. creating a folder, e.g. C:\BootDreams\MyGame\, and

2. copy the files you've extracted from your downloaded .ZIP or .RAR into this folder.

It should now look like this:

C:\BootDreams\MyGame\1st_read.bin
C:\BootDreams\MyGame\ip.bin
C:\BootDreams\MyGame\readme.txt
etc.


Now on to the actual burning process:

1. Start BootDreams.exe.

2. Select 'CDRecord' by clicking on the appropriate button (second from right) and

3. choose this folder (C:\BootDreams\MyGame\) in "Selfboot folder".

4. In "CD Label" you should give your CD a name, e.g. "MyGame".

5. Now set the "Burn Speed". The lower the better, e.g. 8x or 12x.

6. Click on "Process".

If the IP.BIN was missing, BootDreams will ask you if it should create one for you. Click on "Yes".


That's it.

Difficulties usually arrise from missing DATA or BIOS files that some emulators or game engines need in order to work at all: e.g. nxDoom needs WAD files of Doom and Doom2 to play these games, Neo4All/CD needs the NeoGeoCD BIOS to emulate the NeoGeoCD hardware, etc.

In such a case it's best to carefully read the included documentations (readme.txt) and to post in our forums to ask for help.




Selfboot Inducer.

is used for SBI Files like you can download from DCHelp.net's SBI Repository. Other than Plain Files, SBIs are basicly identical to .zip files (so in theory you could open them with WinRAR to view their contents) but what's special is that they're precompiled to allow you to put many games or emulators on 1 CD.

This is VERY easy to do. All you need to do is to do is to

1. download the SBIs and

2. put them in C:\SBInducr\SBI\


Now start SBInducr.exe. The SBI files you have copied to C:\SBInducr\SBI\ will now show up in the menu to the right. To compile your disc, you need to

1. specify the menu style in "Select Menu Type". I recommend "Single Menu".
(or "Sbi2boot" if you want to burn just a single SBI on a single CD).

2. Extract the SBIs by clicking on the barcode button next to "Select Menu Type". All the contents of your SBI files will be extracted to C:\SBInducr\Inducer\.

3. Click on the CDRecord button (second from right) to burn the C:\SBInducr\Inducer\ folder to a CDR.
(or the DiscJuggler button to create a DiscJuggler .cdi image, etc.)


HINT: Highlight a SBI in the menu to the right by selecting it with your mouse cursor and read carefully if the SBI you extracted needs something extra added (like a BIOS file or ROMs in case it is an emulator). Switch back to Windows Explorer to add the needed files (e.g. .nes ROMs for NesterDC).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ganonbanned

I have also gotten it to bring up the Sbiffy! screen, but each time I get some, I click on something and the system resets!

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This could indicate that you are having a non-working version of SBInducer v4 from DCHelp.net. We are distributing this version since years and there is nothing I can do against it - other than pointing you to a working version.

THANK YOU!

Im giving someone positive feedback!

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Originally Posted by ganonbanned

im using diskjuggler demo edition.

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The DiskJuggler demo is fully functional except that it burns at the lowest possible speed (which is good for your Dreamcast's GD-ROM drive).

Personally, I recommend Alcohol120% as it burns DiscJuggler CDIs and many other formats and I never had a problem with it.

BootDreams' internal CDI burner works good too - and it's free.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ganonbanned

quake (premade quake image from dcevo)

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Here's how to burn it with BootDreams:

1. Start BootDreams and select "Burn a DiscJuggler image" (first button from right)

2. Browse your HDD for the QuakeDCEvo.cdi.

3. Set your "Burn Speed" to 8x or 12x.

4. Click on "Process".

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Originally Posted by ganonbanned

self boot inducer, Im trying to burn nxDoom

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Nice choice. NxDoom is a quality port, easily the best Doom port for Dreamcast :)

At first I'd say that you should get rid of your current SBInducer Installation and do a clean install with this version.

Put the NxDoom_2.2_bO.sbi into C:\SBInducr\SBI\. Start SBInducer, choose SBI2Boot and extract the SBI by clicking on the barcode button.

- I noticed there is no readme or other info that comes with the SBI, even after extraction.... So here's a quick guide:

Switch to Windows Explorer and put your Doom .WAD files into C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\.

This folder could look like this:
C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\Doom.wad
C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\Doom1.wad
C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\Doom2.wad
C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\Plutonia.wad
C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\TNT.wad
C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\uDoom.wad


Additionally you can add some music WADs from the the official nxDoom website. Just download, unRAR, and put them into your C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\ folder and nxDoom will recognize and play them.



Switch back to SBInducr.exe and click on the DiscJuggler button to create 'Inducer.cdi'.

-The following bit is is for expierenced users only-

If you want to add more WAD files than those listed above, you need to create a txt file with Notepad or Wordpad in C:\SBInducr\Inducer\Doom\ called modlist.txt and add the following lines:

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Originally Posted by Example modlist.txt

Game Name appearing on the ModLister,MAINWAD.wad,-file modname.wad additional_wadfile.wad additional_dehfile.deh -savename SAVENAME,My personal comment#Author: Author's Name

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For WolfenDoom this will look like this:

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Originally Posted by My modlist.txt

WolfenDoom: Wolfenstein 3D,DOOM2.wad,-file wolf.wad wolf_xm.wad wolf.deh -savename Wolf3D1,Faithful recreation of Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Wolfenstein 3D#Author: Laz Rojas

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