Trouble Burning Dreamcast Games

[PsoPhreak]

Hello. I have been searching online for, and following, guides to burn playable dreamcast games from .cdi files. I have tried Padus Discjuggler, but I have windows 7 which is not supported by Adaptec for ASPI drivers (as in there is no download for windows 7 ASPI drivers anywhere). This causes my system to be incapable of running this program. I then downloaded Alcohol 120%. I am using the full version, and I have followed many different online guides. The procedures I have followed have been to burn the image of the game (which is selfbooting btw!): In TAO mode, RAW DAO mode, (both times at the slowest speed possible), to mount the image using Daemon Tools and use the cd copy feature in Alcohol. NOTHING! I repeat, NOTHING has worked. I used an NTSC-U version of Phantasy Star online V2, specifically this one http://snesorama.us/board/showpost.php? ... stcount=92 . I insert the disc into my Dreamcast that was manufactured in December of 1999, and is of the region NTSC-U. The disc spins and reads, then stops spinning, then spins and reads, then repeats this cycle for like 20 seconds until it finishes saying "Checking disc". Then nothing happens. I am at the "boot menu" where it has play, file, music and settings. I try selecting Play, and I am prompted to "Insert a Game Disc." Sigh. What do you guys think the problem is? I have wasted like 15 cd-r's so far. I am using TDK(the name brand of the the media) 700MB CD-R's. I have read from a moderator that posted in 2007 that some 1999 dreamcasts can not read burned games without modifying the disc reading lens. Any clue as to what he means by this? Thanks in advance!

[vlame]

it's always been 120% = raw dao for me.

have you ever had burned games work in it?

[PsoPhreak]

No. I just received the dreamcast a couple of days ago. I became nostalgic and decided to buy one. I picked it up from a guy on craigslist.com for 25 dollars. I have never burned a disc that works on it.

[vlame]

do regular games work? do cd's work?

[MikeyW]

Did you make sure to enable "overburn" somewhere in the options menu in Alcohol? Phantasy Star sounds like a game that may go over the 700mb "limit" of regular CD-Rs. Enabaling overburn will alow you to bypass that.

The amount of CD-Rs I've chucked in the bin due to forgetting to turn on overburn is insane.

[Hobie-wan]

I have read from a moderator that posted in 2007 that some 1999 dreamcasts can not read burned games without modifying the disc reading lens. Any clue as to what he means by this? Thanks in advance!

That was late 2000 when they changed the drive. If A120 didn't complain that there wasn't enough space to burn the data, then doesn't need to enable overburn. What does 'lowest speed possible' mean? Are you burning at 2-4X, or will your drive only go down to 16-20x+? Does it read a real disc? Even try a music CD if you don't have a real DC game. Maybe the lens needs a careful cleaning with an alchohol dampened q-tip. Do not press down, just lightly drag across.

[benderx]

The only DC game that I could never get to work was Mortal Kombat gold.

[pelham123]

If you're burning a .cdi image it needs to be Discjuggler, every attempt I've made at using other burning software has resulted in a dud. Since you can use the trial version, borrow a friend's laptop/desktop, use the one at work/school/college - even an internet café, and try it running XP. It works for me. If you successfully burn a copy using Discjuggler on another system and it still dosen't work, atleast then you'll know it's your console.

[MikeyW]

If you're burning a .cdi image it needs to be Discjuggler.

This isn't true, at least not for me. Discjuggler doesn't work for me as I'm on Vista, but it's not been a problem due to the fact that Alcohol 120% can recognise and burn CDI images just fine.

[Assman]

Discjuggler doesn't work for me as I'm on Vista

Huh? I have Vista and the trial version of DJ works with no problems whatsoever.

Anyway, I have several burned games that have problems booting initially, taking several tries (open and closing the tray, turning the power off and on) before being recognized, yet they're all completely capable of booting and playing. Maybe you just need to keep trying with the discs that you already have. I did notice recently that my "problem discs" booted far quicker when my DC had already been running for a while too.