Dreamcast VGA Resolution Patching?

[xnamkcor]

You have a Wii and Xbox forum, but no Dreamcast. I guess this goes here.

I've seen many Aspect Ratio/Widescreen hacks for PS2 games and even 720/1080p/i video mode booters. And I've seen "PAL" convertion patches from Dreamcast games, which I imagine involves changing more than the frequency(resolution).

I'm wondering if there are any guides or utilities for patching any Dreamcast games, that use VGA, so they use higher resolutions.

My monitor runs at 1280x1024, but I'd be happy with 1280x720 or 1280x960. I realise this might severely reduce the framerate or cause other problems. 640x512 is probably my minimal "need" for this. But if I'm gonna be patching the resolution, I might as well try to have some fun with it.

Thanks in advance.

PS: I realise that using a non 4:3 resolution will probably still result in improper Aspect Ratio and maybe even black bars or cropping. Anything addressed in changing PS2 resolutions probably also apply here.

[atreyu187]

Not going to happen ever, I help crack games for ReviveDC and Dreamcast Clean Merge Project. DC max resolution is 640x480 and even then if a game wasn't codded to add VGA it will not work and there is no way to force them. I use a VGA to HDMI upscaler to get 1080p from my games but they cost about $100+ for a good one, cheap crappy ones that don't really work are cheaper but you get what you pay for.

[xnamkcor]

If your goal(like mine) is more definition, all up-scallers are "cheap and crappy". My monitor has DVI-D in. Maybe I can look for a non-scaling(Point Scaling) adapter to convert the 640x480 VGA to 1280x960. Maybe even find one that will add 32 to the top and bottom. I guess the two biggest issues would be video quality and delay.

This looks ok.

For only $27.34 each when QTY 50+ purchased - VGA to HDMI® Converter

PS: When a game is "patched" to work on PAL, what is changed? Just the Hertz? Is there also cropping or Aspect Ratio fixes? Would it be at least possible to fix the Aspect Ratio?

[Jay-Jay]

If there is a way to make DC games show 16:9 aspect ratios, that would be very cool.

I know PS2 gamers have been able to do this recently where they make a natural 4:3 game appear to be a natural 16:9 game, especially HEX editing the ISOs: http://psx-scene.com/forums/official...n-hacks-forum/

HEX editing a BIN file might be possible, the only thing I can suggest is if the PC DC emulators can be useful for this type of coding in order for us to be able to read which codes needs to be changed or exploited.

You may have better luck discussing this in Dreamcast sites--there are many of them, but unfortunately most have been quite dorm these past years.

But if you do find an active site, let them know what we are doing with PS2 4:3 games, they might find that very interesting, especially since DC games have always had better graphics quality than the PS2--well, at least most games.

[xnamkcor]

If there is a way to make DC games show 16:9 aspect ratios, that would be very cool.

I know PS2 gamers have been able to do this recently where they make a natural 4:3 game appear to be a natural 16:9 game, especially HEX editing the ISOs: http://psx-scene.com/forums/official...n-hacks-forum/

HEX editing a BIN file might be possible, the only thing I can suggest is if the PC DC emulators can be useful for this type of coding in order for us to be able to read which codes needs to be changed or exploited.

You may have better luck discussing this in Dreamcast sites--there are many of them, but unfortunately most have been quite dorm these past years.

But if you do find an active site, let them know what we are doing with PS2 4:3 games, they might find that very interesting, especially since DC games have always had better graphics quality than the PS2--well, at least most games.

One of the reasons I shelled out 35 Dollars for my DC was my PC can't do Dreamcast emulation very well. But I can probably do it well enough to get some debugging done. Just gotta hope the emulator lets me change whether the game is running in VGA or NTSC modes. And also hope the resolution shares values between modes. Then I can try to find an address for resolution.

Is it easy to make GS or PAR or CB codes from RAM values?

[Jay-Jay]

@xnamkcor , that's a good question.

I just flagged some key guys that are involved in the PS2 widescreen hacks to this thread. Hopefully they may have some insight on this possibility.

[No.47]

The Dreamcast's highest (actual) resolution apparently is 480p, so it won't work. Besides, resolution hacks are very problematic and would slow down the framerate considerably (as you said yourself). If you want a higher resolution, use an emulator.
And do yourself a favor, try to avoid PAL conversions, no matter if they are official or PAL patched. PAL patches only are a subpar workaround (internal resolution remains unchanged, wrong aspect ratio, wrong game speed, ...) and most offical PAL releases unfortunately were not better, if they didn't have an optional NTSC mode. At least that's how it is in PS2's case and I assume it's no different with the Dreamcast.

[xnamkcor]

Does changing the aspect ratio change the game speed?

[No.47]

Does changing the aspect ratio change the game speed?

No, but if the game speed is set for 60Hz (NTSC) and then the video mode is simply changed to 50Hz (PAL), the game runs considerably slower. I think Tekken 3 PAL is a prominent example for this. It was seldom that a game has been adjusted/optimized properly for its PAL release, since that would've meant higher costs; sometimes it has been done, for example Metal Gear Solid 3 got a great PAL release (increased internal resolution = no black borders, adjusted game speed = no 'PAL slowdown'), at least if I remember correctly.
Increasing the aspect ratio could in theory slow down the framerate, because it means that more things have to be rendered. But I have never noticed this with all the PS2 widescreen hacks.

[xnamkcor]

No, but if the game speed is set for 60Hz (NTSC) and then the video mode is simply changed to 50Hz (PAL), the game runs considerably slower. I think Tekken 3 PAL is a prominent example for this. It was seldom that a game has been adjusted/optimized properly for its PAL release, since that would've meant higher costs; sometimes it has been done, for example Metal Gear Solid 3 got a great PAL release (increased internal resolution = no black borders, adjusted game speed = no 'PAL slowdown'), at least if I remember correctly.
Increasing the aspect ratio could in theory slow down the framerate, because it means that more things have to be rendered. But I have never noticed this with all the PS2 widescreen hacks.

I'm not changing the refresh rate.

If I patch a game for "PAL" and use the VGA, does it now use 640x480@50Hz?
If so, Could I patch a VGA game to 75 or 90Hz?