Need some dreamcast vga connection help

[Gypsy]

The Chinese ones are really bad and you will easily notice when compared to a good solution. The retro bit might be fine though, I have no idea there as previously mentioned.

[SignOfZeta]

I feel like Im missing something here.  I've seen a couple of posts about most dreamcast games being vga compatible, but when I look on the back of the games I have, it looks like at least half are not.  Huh?

I wonder if this is because most people use CD-rs and at least 95% of games are patched to work with a VGA cable now days.

Also, I have two super generic VGA cables that were maybe $15 each. Never had an issue with either one as far as video quality or buzzing audio is concerned.

Not every piece of supported hardware is mentioned on every game, especially US release. The VGA box was not promoted in any way in the states, I'm not sure if OEM ones ever were sold here. So many games work and they just don't mention it.

From my experience usually the games that don't work or work badly if tricked are 2D or have some 2D aspects to them. I'm not sure why this is but that's what I've noticed. The 2D fighters come to mind but also even some games like Sakura Wars 1 or 2 (one or both of them, I can't remember) have a malfunction or two if played in VGA even if the rest of the game is fine. The other two SW games are native to DC (1 and 2 were ports of SS games) and used no code in common, are largely 3D, and work great in VGA as do many games from my experience and I've played almost nothing but originals.

I would go check Skies of Arcadia right now but my fucking power just went out and it's going to hit 11F tonight so I have to go haul some fucking wood into the house. WeeeeeeehhhAaaaas!

[seieienbu]

I'm pretty sure that Skies of Arcadia worked fine in VGA.  I remember comparing that game specifically on VGA to a composite upscaler called "JAM!" that looked a good deal worse.

[Gypsy]

I feel like Im missing something here.  I've seen a couple of posts about most dreamcast games being vga compatible, but when I look on the back of the games I have, it looks like at least half are not.  Huh?

I wonder if this is because most people use CD-rs and at least 95% of games are patched to work with a VGA cable now days.

Also, I have two super generic VGA cables that were maybe $15 each. Never had an issue with either one as far as video quality or buzzing audio is concerned.

Not every piece of supported hardware is mentioned on every game, especially US release. The VGA box was not promoted in any way in the states, I'm not sure if OEM ones ever were sold here. So many games work and they just don't mention it.

From my experience usually the games that don't work or work badly if tricked are 2D or have some 2D aspects to them. I'm not sure why this is but that's what I've noticed. The 2D fighters come to mind but also even some games like Sakura Wars 1 or 2 (one or both of them, I can't remember) have a malfunction or two if played in VGA even if the rest of the game is fine. The other two SW games are native to DC (1 and 2 were ports of SS games) and used no code in common, are largely 3D, and work great in VGA as do many games from my experience and I've played almost nothing but originals.

I would go check Skies of Arcadia right now but my fucking power just went out and it's going to hit 11F tonight so I have to go haul some fucking wood into the house. WeeeeeeehhhAaaaas!

I'm very sure Skies works. I could check Sakura Wars if anyone cares but no one cares. Man, it's been so long since I played through those games.

With the fighters, I know Last Blade 2 doesn't work, as it's one of my favourites and the best I can play it with is svideo.

Another game that didn't work was some derpy ass baseball game that sucked anyway. Most stuff pretty much just works and I've played a shit ton of Dreamcast games.

[schweaty]

I feel like Im missing something here.  I've seen a couple of posts about most dreamcast games being vga compatible, but when I look on the back of the games I have, it looks like at least half are not.  Huh?

I wonder if this is because most people use CD-rs and at least 95% of games are patched to work with a VGA cable now days.

Also, I have two super generic VGA cables that were maybe $15 each. Never had an issue with either one as far as video quality or buzzing audio is concerned.

Not every piece of supported hardware is mentioned on every game, especially US release. The VGA box was not promoted in any way in the states, I'm not sure if OEM ones ever were sold here. So many games work and they just don't mention it.

From my experience usually the games that don't work or work badly if tricked are 2D or have some 2D aspects to them. I'm not sure why this is but that's what I've noticed. The 2D fighters come to mind but also even some games like Sakura Wars 1 or 2 (one or both of them, I can't remember) have a malfunction or two if played in VGA even if the rest of the game is fine. The other two SW games are native to DC (1 and 2 were ports of SS games) and used no code in common, are largely 3D, and work great in VGA as do many games from my experience and I've played almost nothing but originals.

I would go check Skies of Arcadia right now but my fucking power just went out and it's going to hit 11F tonight so I have to go haul some fucking wood into the house. WeeeeeeehhhAaaaas!

I'm very sure Skies works. I could check Sakura Wars if anyone cares but no one cares. Man, it's been so long since I played through those games.

With the fighters, I know Last Blade 2 doesn't work, as it's one of my favourites and the best I can play it with is svideo.

Another game that didn't work was some derpy ass baseball game that sucked anyway. Most stuff pretty much just works and I've played a shit ton of Dreamcast games.

Are you using a box or cable?  Original discs or patched burns?

[roflmao]

The only game I have (granted my library is only a couple dozen games) that doesn't do VGA natively is Evolution, and I found a video showing that if I power on the Dreamcast without the VGA cable connected and wait for a certain moment to plug it in, it'll still work through the VGA cable. I have one of those cheap Chinese knock-offs, but it is WORLDS better than composite.

[Gypsy]

Are you using a box or cable?  Original discs or patched burns?

I pretty much only use original game discs for Dreamcast now. Anyway it had been a long time so I grabbed the game, it actually does say it is VGA compatible on the back of the US and Japanese cases. Sure enough it does work. I tested with an Akura HDMI box which only outputs to 480p. I have a cable coming (because I want something to easily hook up to a CRT monitor) but it just shipped from Poland today so it will be a bit yet. I can test with it when I get it if you'd like, but I'm sure it will work.

If there are any other games you are curious about just ask me odds are decent I have them.

[schweaty]

Are you using a box or cable?  Original discs or patched burns?

I pretty much only use original game discs for Dreamcast now. Anyway it had been a long time so I grabbed the game, it actually does say it is VGA compatible on the back of the US and Japanese cases. Sure enough it does work. I tested with an Akura HDMI box which only outputs to 480p. I have a cable coming (because I want something to easily hook up to a CRT monitor) but it just shipped from Poland today so it will be a bit yet. I can test with it when I get it if you'd like, but I'm sure it will work.

If there are any other games you are curious about just ask me odds are decent I have them.

I am just trying to figure out if most people are using cables or boxes to trick the non-vga games into using vga.  There's a few ways to do this and I just want to know which works at the lowest cost.

[Gypsy]

The Akura can trick games (I didn't have to with Skies) but it's $85. I'll let you know on the cable and test some games that would require tricking.

[Keith Courage]

I've never been able to successfully do the trick by plugging in my VGA cable after the system has been on shortly. however, I've only tried this on maybe 5 games since most of the games I have just work with the cable. so if I ever want to play any of these five games I just use my CRT television.

[SignOfZeta]

I feel like Im missing something here.  I've seen a couple of posts about most dreamcast games being vga compatible, but when I look on the back of the games I have, it looks like at least half are not.  Huh?

I wonder if this is because most people use CD-rs and at least 95% of games are patched to work with a VGA cable now days.

Also, I have two super generic VGA cables that were maybe $15 each. Never had an issue with either one as far as video quality or buzzing audio is concerned.

Not every piece of supported hardware is mentioned on every game, especially US release. The VGA box was not promoted in any way in the states, I'm not sure if OEM ones ever were sold here. So many games work and they just don't mention it.

From my experience usually the games that don't work or work badly if tricked are 2D or have some 2D aspects to them. I'm not sure why this is but that's what I've noticed. The 2D fighters come to mind but also even some games like Sakura Wars 1 or 2 (one or both of them, I can't remember) have a malfunction or two if played in VGA even if the rest of the game is fine. The other two SW games are native to DC (1 and 2 were ports of SS games) and used no code in common, are largely 3D, and work great in VGA as do many games from my experience and I've played almost nothing but originals.

I would go check Skies of Arcadia right now but my fucking power just went out and it's going to hit 11F tonight so I have to go haul some fucking wood into the house. WeeeeeeehhhAaaaas!

I'm very sure Skies works. I could check Sakura Wars if anyone cares but no one cares. Man, it's been so long since I played through those games.

With the fighters, I know Last Blade 2 doesn't work, as it's one of my favourites and the best I can play it with is svideo.

Another game that didn't work was some derpy ass baseball game that sucked anyway. Most stuff pretty much just works and I've played a shit ton of Dreamcast games.

I know all Sakura Wars games work, but the first two need to be tricked.

[Purple1308]

It should work

[schweaty]

The Akura can trick games (I didn't have to with Skies) but it's $85. I'll let you know on the cable and test some games that would require tricking.

Awesome... I will be monitoring this thread

[schweaty]

Little update, and probably last post in this thread.  I decided to order the white tomee cable (I'm such a cheap-ass).  Got it today, tested out my humble collection of 20-ish games, and everything but KOF 99 works.  No boot disk necessary.  I knew KOF would not work before I tried it.

Thanks for all the help here.

[seieienbu]

It's good that your games work in VGA.  With that said, how does the picture look with that cable though?

[schweaty]

Looks good.  No distortion.

[SignOfZeta]

That part really should't be hard.