aaron wrote:my copy of Virtua Fighter 3tb is this way. do you guys think that might be faulty media? i have no idea when VF3tb was released in relation to the DC's launch.
I think it was released around the same time as Crazy Taxi. Definitely wasn't a launch title.
You could check the disc for disc rot, if you just want to know what the culprit is.
Damn shame that game isn't working, regardless, though.
i'll probably just end up downloading and burning the DCRES releases TuxTheWise made a few years back, as they tend to perform better than retail discs anyway. i still want to keep the originals, though, working or not
aaron wrote:i'll probably just end up downloading and burning the DCRES releases TuxTheWise made a few years back, as they tend to perform better than retail discs anyway. i still want to keep the originals, though, working or not
Yeah, I get that. I'm sure if my Dreamcast games ever stopped working, I'd just resort to backups and such, but the stress of burned discs on the laser concerns me a bit.
aaron wrote:i'll probably just end up downloading and burning the DCRES releases TuxTheWise made a few years back, as they tend to perform better than retail discs anyway. i still want to keep the originals, though, working or not
Yeah, I get that. I'm sure if my Dreamcast games ever stopped working, I'd just resort to backups and such, but the stress of burned discs on the laser concerns me a bit.
as i understand it, the DCRES repacks are designed to give as little stress to the laser as possible through file order, dummy data removal, etc. i think as long as you're using good media, then you should be okay. dreamcasts are a dime a dozen anymore, too.
but, yeah, i'd much rather use original media, tbh.
aaron wrote:as i understand it, the DCRES repacks are designed to give as little stress to the laser as possible through file order, dummy data removal, etc. i think as long as you're using good media, then you should be okay. dreamcasts are a dime a dozen anymore, too.
but, yeah, i'd much rather use original media, tbh.
Oh, right. I remember hearing about those releases, now that you mention it.
It causes me a great deal of agony deciding which copy to use with anything that I can use burned media to play games on. I usually want to use the original disc since I payed money to own it, but I also feel like playing a backup copy so that I can preserve the original.
Probably better to just not think about it too much and enjoy the games.
aaron wrote:as i understand it, the DCRES repacks are designed to give as little stress to the laser as possible through file order, dummy data removal, etc. i think as long as you're using good media, then you should be okay. dreamcasts are a dime a dozen anymore, too.
but, yeah, i'd much rather use original media, tbh.
Oh, right. I remember hearing about those releases, now that you mention it.
It causes me a great deal of agony deciding which copy to use with anything that I can use burned media to play games on. I usually want to use the original disc since I payed money to own it, but I also feel like playing a backup copy so that I can preserve the original.
Probably better to just not think about it too much and enjoy the games.
hah, yeah. i feel your pain. i usually just play the backups, but i'd like to have original DC discs on hand simply for collecting purposes. burned media is so much more versatile on older disc-based systems, imo.
CD AGES wrote:Then there is a good chance the disc went thru one or to many sessions of resurfacing if the disc looks prestine but the Dreamcast can't pick it up to load it.
This is a common problem among many retail stores that resurface GD discs to remove visible scratches on a disc without knowing that they are possibly doing more harm than good. Many people mistake Dreamcast games for a CDrom that can be buffed with less consequence. While this isn't 100% conculsive, the odds of a GD disc working after going thru resurfacing process is very slim from personal experience and feedback.
If there is any good that can be taken from this is that its at least comforting to know that its not your hardware that's going bad.
I felt a need to point this out, but it depends completely on the machine used to do the resurfacing. Not all are created equal. I know a local store here that has an extremely good quality machine (as you cannot even tell that it was done without a keen eye). I also know another store that has a crap one that leaves fluid stains on the underside and leaves very obvious "buffs". And it goes without saying that a home kit will just outright ruin pretty much any type of optical media, lol.
I have about four games from the shop with the "good" machine (they resurface any optical disc that people sell them preemptively) and they work well. Now the one DC game I got from the store with the junk machine (Sega GT) would always freeze when I tried to do the 0-400 tournament, so I had to throw it away (I didn't feel it was worth returning for $2).
