Anyone know about the history of DC homebrew?

[RetroRevival]

Hi guys

I have pretty much finished the article now, and was wondering if you could look at the "history" part of it to see if it makes sense at all :-)

If you want I can post the text on the board?

Regards
Simon

Retro Revival
www.retrorevival.co.uk

[Darksaviour69]

yeah we can have a look at it for you, if you post it we can all correct any mistakes, if there are any!

[Cap'n 1time]

I was going to post somthing like, Beware the Ides of March! But I decided to look up the word Ides first because I thought Ides was the middle of a given month. According to dictionary.com...

Ides -
The 15th day of March, May, July, or October or the 13th day of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.

So to say "beware the ides of march" would be implying that somthing bad were going to happen the 15th of march and the date given by DC mag which states that "Sega,....have confirmed that the production of the Dreamcast console, in its current form, will be suspended at the end of March". THE END OF MARCH!

Now with the confirmed understanding of "Ides" is my IQ has grown from that of a carrot to a block of lettuce.

Thats all i wanted to say.... Carry on.

[RetroRevival]

Ok guys here it is......please correct me on anyhting that you feel is not correct.

Regards
Simon

Retro Revival
www.retrorevial.co.uk

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Launched in the UK on the 14th October 1999, the Sega Dreamcast was to become a legend in the very short time it graced our retail shelves, and even more so since its commercial demise.

Innovation and originality was at the forefront of the Dreamcast profile as it was the most powerful home console the world had seen. It was a smaller home version of the Naomi arcade board (see box out) and came with a 33.6k modem as standard (the first console to support it out of the box). Future keyboard and mouse capabilities and a great catalogue of original games was not enough to ultimately compete with the likes of the Playstation and Nintendo 64. Domination of the market by Sony, along with imminent arrival of the next generation machines, coupled with doubt over the system (due to the failure of the 32x and the Saturn before it) eventually sealed the fate of arguably the best console ever.

After only having been available in the UK for just 17 months, Sega announced in March 2001 that it was to stop production of the console in a bid to restructure themselves as a “software only� company after some four years of financial losses.

As soon as the announcement was made third party games developers began to drop off the DC bandwagon and by the end of 2001 game production was all but over. Only hardcore publishers in Japan continued to release games after this (Ikaruga possibly being the best of the bunch), with the last game from Sega themselves being Puyo Puyo Fever in early 2004.

Even though the Dreamcast has been commercially dead for some three years or so, the emulation and homebrew scene goes from strength to strength, with some offerings being equivalent if not better than anything that was commercially released. In fact the only other console to come anywhere near as close to the Dreamcast in terms of homebrew development is Microsoft’s Xbox. If you are looking at playing retro games on your TV, the Dreamcast is a great way to get initiated as you can pick one up for around £20 now, and the best thing about it is that you do not need to modify the machine, unlike the Xbox.

Sega against the Pirates

The DC homebrew scene was never meant to happen as Sega had a host of anti-piracy methods installed in the console to protect their profits. They had seen that cartridge based consoles piracy was virtually non existent due to the cost of buying a programmer and blank cartridges. However it was decided that Sega’s Next Gen machine would need a cd based format (due to the amount of data needed for each game), and therefore the piracy situation would probably change. They decided that they needed to create a cd system which would be hard, if not impossible to copy, thus stopping the appearance of pirate games as much as they could.

They came up with their own proprietary format, the GDRom, which was in essence a 1GB CDRom disc of the same physical size. Initially the GDRom was the perfect method to stop the copying of games. Blank GDRom discs were not available (and never would be commercially), and the blank space in between the low and high density tracks was not by-passable by normal CDROM drives. All was looking good.

In April 2000 a guy who goes by the name of “Skywalker�, a member of the demo group Hitmen, released the “A.E.G-Demo�. It was shown at the “Mekka & Symposium 2000�, an annual demo scene meet for all computers and consoles, held in Fallingbostel. It was created with the “Dreamcast Debug Handler� (a PC to DC cable and software) and ran off of a normal CDRom disc on a totally unmodified console. The DC world was stunned, and so was Sega.

The A.E.G Demo gave hope to other programmers, and they slowly started to see what they could create, however the Debug Handler was more than $#@!bersome to create and use, so coders all over the world started to look for alternatives. Help was to arrive for them from an unusual and unpredicted source.

Sega’s protection methods in the Dreamcast’s hardware itself had been breached by Skywalker and he had proven to everyone that homebrew software could run on an unmodified machine. Sega, still concerned about software piracy were comforted by the fact that they still had the ace card up their sleeves in the form of their GDRom formatted discs. For now the games themselves were safe.

Mil-CD & Bleem

Back in 1999 Sega launched the Mil-cd format in Japan. It was created as an enhanced format designed to improve on the then current cd music media by fully utilizing the space on the 1GB GDRom. The idea was to allow the inclusion of additional elements such as video clips, image galleries and extra data not normally found on the already standardised CD-Extra format. It was planned that new music cds would include full screen video, internet capabilities and enhanced navigational interfaces, to take advantage of the DC’s ability to play them. It would be this new music cd format that would be the thorn in the Dreamcast’s side as it would allow the booting of code from a CDRom bypassing the need for information to be stored on GDRom.

Fast forward to May 2000, and a small company called Bleem Inc had wowed onlookers at the E3 show with information on a new piece of software for the DC called Bleemcast (A port of their already popular PC Playstation emulator). The demo they showed was touted as an emulator that would not only enable you to play PSX games on your Dreamcast, but also enhance the experience, as it would use portions of the consoles hardware to dramatically improve those games. What was remarkable was that it was an unofficial product and more importantly it used the DC’s ability to play the MIL-cd format, which was the way Bleem Inc managed to bypass the consoles protection mechanisms.

Initially promised as a pack of four emulators, each able to run 100 games, Bleemcast was eventually released in 2001 as a set of three discs each emulating only one title each (Gran Turismo 2, Tekken 3 and Metal Gear Solid) before Bleem Inc went bankrupt. The reason for them shutting up shop are not crystal clear however it is rumoured that Sony offered to pay off Bleem Inc’s massive debts if they stopped production of all Playstation emulators, which obviously included Bleemcast.

It was a shame, as Bleemcast is an exceptional piece of coding, and proved that the Dreamcast had great potential for homebrew coders to create truly amazing programs. Even today the enhancements that Bleemcast gives over Gran Turismo 2 cannot be matched by the backwards compatibility of the Playstation 2 and its Emotion Engine, which shows you just what the DC was, and is still, capable of.

Not so long after the success of the Bleemcast announcement at the 2000 E3 show, a guy called Marcus Comstedt started to document the MIL-cd format. It was known for some time that MIL-cd would allow unauthorised code to be booted from a CDRom disc, so he went about disassembling of the Dreamcast and found that it was possible to self boot programs by placing an audio track before the data track and then scrambling the binary information. He posted his findings on his website along with sample code and tools that would let other coders create their own bootable Dreamcast cds.


Utopia


In June 2000 the famous Utopia Boot Disc was released, along with pirated Dreamcast ISO images, by a warez group named Utopia. They took all the glory in being the first group to release pirate games for the Dreamcast, however it was the hard work of Skywalker, Bleem Inc and Marcus Comstedt which made it all possible (albeit they were working towards developing the homebrew scene – piracy was simply a horrible side effect of their combined work.)

The Utopia boot disc used the MIL-cd structure to boot specific code into the consoles RAM which would then execute and allow the loading of unauthorised programs and imported games (bypassing the region coding) as well as pirate games. What made this more accessible to the DC community was the fact that it could be burned onto a normal CDRom disc with a normal cd writer, and the fact that you did not need the console modified with a mod chip or other device to use it. People all over the world were using copied software in the knowledge that their warranties were still intact.

It was not long before the boot disc was discarded as warez groups found ways of incorporating the boot code into the released ISO, thus eliminating the need for a boot disc at all.

Sega buy off Kalisto

Sega were losing money on the hardware as it was, let alone the money they were losing due to lack of software sales through the ever increasing piracy scene. They had to do something fast, and so they started shutting down websites that were advertising or offering the Utopia boot disc and associated games ISO’s.

One of the biggest ISO release groups at the time was Kalisto (not of Kalisto software house fame). It is regarded in Dreamcast circles that they were the first to contribute a number of things to the scene including PAL / NTSC conversions, self booting pirate games (without the need for the Utopia boot disc) and the removal of the dummy file from games (which too was included as a copy protection mechanism).

It is reported that Sega contacted members of the group and offered them stock options in Sega themselves on the promise that the group were to stop releasing pirate games immediately. This has never been confirmed, and in some instances ridiculed, however it would not be the first time this type of thing has happened. Pompey Pirates of Atari ST warez fame were offered bribes and products to stop releasing cracked versions of games, however, although they apparently accepted the goodies on offer, it never stopped them releasing the odd game or two down the line.

When Kalisto eventually bowed out of the DC warez scene (to turn their attentions to Playstation piracy apparently) a new group called Echelon instantly appeared who could do everything that Kalisto could do and a little bit more. It is considered and accepted in the piracy scene that Kalisto and Echelon are one and the same, but whatever the true story behind this really is, unfortunately for Sega, the pirated game releases kept coming and their debts kept growing.

¬DC Homebrew Takes Off

In June 2000 Dan Potter decided to experiment with compiling code without the need for the official Sega development kit, and just one month later he released his work as LibDream, a freeware independent Dreamcast library, which would become the defacto software that many coders used to port over the first emulators, games and applications.

In the same month the WinCE development kit was “leaked� and a group of coders operating from Boob.co.uk used it to release an application called Boobplay (an mpeg and avi player).

August 2000 was a busy month with not only another movie player released in the form of GypPlay, but this was the month in which the first emulators were successfully ported over to the console. Gleem was a NES emulator written by Chuck Mason using LibDream, and shortly following that the SNES emulator Sintendo was released written with the WinCE development kit.

Many other emulators and applications appeared, made with both the LibDream and WinCE development kits, and in December 2000 LibDream evolved into Kalistos, which is still in use, and supported, by homebrew coders today.

The popularity of the Dreamcast took off virtually overnight as more and more applications, emulators and pirate games appeared. Sega were selling consoles by the bucket load, however they were selling them at a loss, and the lack of game sales meant that they were building up a large debt very fast.

Sega rapidly changed the code in the Dreamcast in an attempt to stop unauthorised code from being booted, and as of October 2000, NTSC machines had additional code installed in the bios which would not allow booting of any code from CDRom whatsoever. This stopped unofficial games and programs running on the newer consoles once and for all, however it was too late by then, the damage through piracy had been done, and the console was condemned to the grave in early 2001 when Sega officially ceased production.

The compromising of the Mil-cd format was probably the main reason for the demise of the machine as it helped create the pirate scene in the first instance, however in a strange twist of fate, if it was not for the MIL-cd format the homebrew scene may never had happened.

[RetroRevival]

Forgot this bit....

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The Future Of The Homebrew Scene.

Admitedly, the current homebrew scene on the Dreamcast is not as strong as it was in late 2000, but that does not stop the coders writing new software and updating older programs.

With the likes of the Beats Of Rage Mods, the ability to play MP3’s, VCD’s and even Divx (to a point) and the ever increasing amount of people buying consoles, the future of the homebrew scene is looking good.

There are many websites out there now that include the freeware tools you need to code and compile a project on the Dreamcast. There is even information on the beginnings of coding itself, and with some of the best programmers around there is always a helpful hand available from one of the many forums.

The community spirit and helpfulness have even helped me in writing this article after I asked a few of the members on the DCEmu forum to advise me on a few things, and it is this spirit that will keep the Dreamcast living on for a while yet.

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I think I need help with this bit :-)

Any help from the guys in the know is appreciated.

Regards
Simon

[Darksaviour69]

you could say 16 days after the ides of march......

btw IQ has nothing to do with Knowledge, it about how you perform under logical tests, thats why you IQ does not change (much) though your life.... also high IQ does not = very smart ......but it helps

[Darksaviour69]

btw only the PAL system had a 33.6k modem, the US and japan had a 56k, also the dreamcast (in the UK) was beating the PS in hardware sales for the first time in xmas 2000

yamaha invented the GD, sega got it from then

also the dc did not fail because of warez, but that was one of many reasons.... having said that i did read some where that sega stated that it was the lack of hareware sales and not software sales that cause them to stop and the software sales per owner was quite high.... but i not too sure

[RetroRevival]

btw only the PAL system had a 33.6k modem

I am writing from a UK viewpoint so I am only talking about UK mahcines, hence the fact that I only mentioned the 33.6K (just added that NTSC machines had 56K modems)

yamaha invented the GD, sega got it from then

I have a boxout with this info in it, maybe I should have said so.

also the dc did not fail because of warez, but that was one of many reasons....

Changed....

Any more?

Regards
Simon

[Darksaviour69]

i can't see much wrong, its a great write up, i its the best write up about the scene i have seen.... so i was wondering, this would be great for newbies, could we put you articale page on dcemu (just the history), with you credited as auther and link to you site, with something like " ...for the complete story visit www.retrorevival.co.uk issue 3..." what you think?


also you should say something about Dc Tonic, it was given out at E3 2001, http://www.cagames.com/dctonic.php

[RetroRevival]

i can't see much wrong, its a great write up, i its the best write up about the scene i have seen....

Really?

Well to be honest it has take about a week to do (also have done some reviews on homebrew games, emus and applications to go with it ("best of the bunch" type of thing.)

so i was wondering, this would be great for newbies, could we put you articale page on dcemu (just the history), with you credited as auther and link to you site, with something like " ...for the complete story visit www.retrorevival.co.uk issue 3..." Â*what you think?

Sure why not?

I will say this though, lets see if anyone has any other amendments in the next day or so, Â*and as soon as I have the finished product (with amendments) you can have the entire article if you want? Â*Pictures, reviews, history and all?

Regards
Simon

Retro Revival
www.retrorevival.co.uk