.:: El Bucanero ::.

For those who are worried…. my Dreamcast blog is not dead!
I´m just pretty far away from the DC scene lately, and I don´t have the needed time to keep developing new stuff.

So, before everything gets vanished from my hard drives, I decided to upload into SourceForge´s SVN servers the source code from all the Dreamcast tools and apps I coded in the last few years.

My project´s SourceForge.net Subversion repository can be checked out through SVN with the following instruction set:

svn co https://vmutool.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/vmutool vmutool

Note: This is a generic Subversion checkout command which will pull all modules, tags and/or branches of the project.
You can browse the repository with your web browser; in most cases, you will want to add ´/trunk´ to the HTTPS URL above to check out only trunk (main development line).

As I´ve promised at DCForums.co.uk, I made the Shenmue Save Converter so you can load your completed Shenmue 1 save on Shenmue 2 PAL.
Download the beta version: shenfix_beta.rar

If someone wants, burn the selfboot image (Padus DiscJuggler .CDI) and try it out.

Some notes about it: you might notice the logos and screens saying ´VMZip´, but dont worry, its because I didnt have time to make new screens for the beta.
Using the converter is pretty simple: browse and select your Shenmue 1 savefile, press “A”, and then select the destination VMU to save the fixed PAL Shenmue save.

My suggestion for beta testing: save the converted file in a different VMU, so you won´t overwrite your existing (and WORKING!) save file.

If it works nice for the “beta testers”, then I can do a proper ´official´ release.

I hope to hear your comments, c ya!

So… yesterday I was messing around with some files I had with tons of GameShark codes, and I decided to build an online Dreamcast cheat code database using PHP+MySQL.

Right now there’s 3500+ GameShark/ActionReplay CDX cheat codes for 254 dreamcast games, but I’ll keep adding more games and codes I’ve around. I also have a couple of related projects in mind that will help Dreamcast’s gamers to handle cheat codes.

You can access the GameShark / ActionReplay CDX Cheat Code Database here:

http://www.bucanero.com.ar/dreamcast/codes/

I hope this page is useful for the Dreamcast community!

Some weeks ago I used my VMU2GIF tool with all the Dreamcast saves I had around, just to see how strong was my tool after all.

With all those Dreamcast icons around, I had to do something with them.
So, I uploaded those .gif icons to my web server and now I can proudly announce that my VMU Saves Archive will display the original Dreamcast icon of each save available!

I know it’s just a cosmetic update, but I belive it’s a nice touch!

This new Win32 GUI tool I´ve just released will help those who want to easily convert Dreamcast savefiles from .DCI, .VMI/VMS or plain raw saves to PlanetWeb´s .VMI/VMS format or Nexus .DCI format.
You’re also allowed to edit the file’s attributes like name, date, copy protected flag & data/game flag.
As an added bonus, this tool allows to extract the VMU icons and save them as animated .GIF files, so they can be used in webpages.

This tool was coded using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the C++ classes I made before and I used too for my previous VMU2GIF and DCI4VMI tools.

Click here to download the Win32 Setup package and the source code.

Note: You´ll need Microsoft .NET Framework v1.1+ to install this tool.

Today I’ve released another command-line tool for handling Dreamcast VMU save files.
This tool is called VMU2GIF and allows you to extract the animated icons from save files (either in .DCI or .VMI/VMS format) and save them as .GIF files.

Here are some VMU2GIF examples, taken from some well known Dreamcast games:

Downloads for VMU2GIF Win32 exe, Linux binaries and source code are available at my SourceForge.net page.

Have fun with this little DC tool!