Table of Contents for
Gaming Hacks

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2004
  1. Cover
  2. Gaming Hacks
  3. Credits
  4. Contributors
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. How to Use This Book
  9. How This Book Is Organized
  10. Conventions Used in This Book
  11. Using Code Examples
  12. Comments and Questions
  13. Got a Hack?
  14. 1. Playing Classic Games
  15. Legal Emulation
  16. Play Commodore 64 Games Without the C-64
  17. Play Atari ROMs Without the Atari
  18. Use Atari Paddles with Your PC
  19. Run Homebrew Games on the Atari 2600
  20. Create Your Own Atari 2600 Homebrew Games
  21. Play Classic PC Graphic Adventures
  22. Play Old Games Through DOSBox
  23. Play Reissued All-in-One Joystick Games
  24. Play Arcade Games Without the Arcade
  25. Add and Manipulate a MAME Frontend
  26. Keep Your ROMs Tidy and Organized
  27. Learn Game-Specific MAME Controls
  28. Filter Inappropriate MAME ROMs
  29. Autoboot into MAME Heaven
  30. Play Emulated Arcade Games Online
  31. Play Classic Pinball Without the Table
  32. Emulate the SNES on the Dreamcast
  33. 2. Playing Portably
  34. Play Games on Your iPod
  35. Mod Your Game Boy
  36. Take and Print Photos with Your Game Boy
  37. Compose Music on Your Game Boy
  38. Explore the GP32 Handheld Gaming System
  39. Take Your Console with You
  40. Explore the Bandai WonderSwan
  41. Play Real Games on Your PDA
  42. Install a PlayStation 2 in Your Car
  43. 3. Playing Well with Others
  44. Practice Proper MMORPG Etiquette
  45. Understand MMORPG Lingo
  46. Grind Without Going Crazy
  47. Make a Profit in Vana’diel
  48. Write MMORPG Macros
  49. Build an Effective Group
  50. Catch Half-Life FPS Cheaters Redhanded
  51. 4. Playing with Hardware
  52. Build a Quiet, Killer Gaming Rig
  53. Find and Configure the Best FPS Peripherals
  54. Adapt Old Video Game Controllers to the PC
  55. Choose the Right Audio/Video Receiver
  56. Place Your Speakers Properly
  57. Connect Your Console to Your Home Theater
  58. Tune Console Video Output
  59. Tune Your TV for Console Video
  60. PC Audio Hacking
  61. Optimize PC Video Performance
  62. Build a Dedicated Multimedia PC
  63. Use a Multimedia Projector for Gaming
  64. 5. Playing with Console and Arcade Hardware
  65. Play LAN-Only Console Games Online
  66. Hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System
  67. Play Import Games on American Consoles
  68. Find a Hackable Dreamcast
  69. Play Movies and Music on Your Dreamcast
  70. Hack the Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit
  71. Unblur Your Dreamcast Video
  72. Use Your Dreamcast Online
  73. Host Dreamcast Games Online
  74. Burn Dreamcast-Compatible Discs on Your PC
  75. Burn Dreamcast Homebrew Discs
  76. Buy Your Own Arcade Hardware
  77. Configure Your Arcade Controls, Connectors, and Cartridges
  78. Reorient and Align Your Arcade Monitor
  79. Buy Cart-Based JAMMA Boards
  80. Programming Music for the Nintendo Entertainment System
  81. 6. Playing Around the Game Engine
  82. Explore Machinima
  83. Choose a Machinima Engine
  84. Film Your First Machinima Movie
  85. Improve Your Camera Control
  86. Record Game Footage to Video
  87. Speedrun Your Way Through Metroid Prime
  88. Sequence-Break Quake
  89. Run Classic Game ROM Translations
  90. Change Games with ROM Hacks
  91. Apply ROM Hacks and Patches
  92. Create PS2 Cheat Codes
  93. Hack Xbox Game Saves
  94. Cheat on Other Consoles
  95. Modify PC Game Saves and Settings
  96. Buff Your Saved Characters
  97. Create Console Game Levels
  98. 7. Playing Your Own Games
  99. Adventure Game Studio Editing Tips
  100. Create and Play Pinball Tables
  101. Put Your Face in DOOM
  102. Create a Vehicle Model for Unreal Tournament 2004
  103. Add a Vehicle to Unreal Tournament 2004
  104. Modify the Behavior of a UT2004 Model
  105. Download, Compile, and Create an Inform Adventure
  106. Decorate Your IF Rooms
  107. Add Puzzles to Your IF Games
  108. Add Nonplayer Characters to IF Adventures
  109. Make Your IF NPCs Move
  110. Make Your IF NPCs Talk
  111. Create Your Own Animations
  112. Add Interactivity to Your Animations
  113. Write a Game in an Afternoon
  114. 8. Playing Everything Else
  115. Tweak Your Tactics for FPS Glory
  116. Beat Any Shoot-Em-Up
  117. Drive a Physics-Crazed Motorcycle
  118. Play Japanese Games Without Speaking Japanese
  119. Back Up, Modify, and Restore PlayStation Saved Games
  120. Access Your Console’s Memory Card Offline
  121. Overclock Your Console
  122. Index
  123. Colophon

Burn Dreamcast Homebrew Discs

How to discover and boot the best DC homebrew stuff.

Why does the author have a Dreamcast fixation in this book? For starters, there’s a forward-looking, constructive homebrew coding scene for the console. Most importantly, it’s relatively easy to burn your own self-booting CDs for the console, saving you having to buy and install complicated, possibly less-than-legal modchips. This, in turn, has led to a real burgeoning of creative homebrew software for people to download and run on the DC.

To start exploring the marvellous world of Dreamcast homebrew software, make DCHomebrew (http://www.dchomebrew.org/) your first port of call. Formerly part of the DCEmulation.com site covered in other hacks, it’s seen a major revamp and is particularly useful due to their hosted and well-updated lists. The site also stores all the files it covers locally, so, in theory, there are no broken links.

Self-Booting DC Menu Systems for Homebrew Games

If you want to make the most of your Dreamcast, you need some way to burn your own self-booting CDs. I’ve dealt with the packaged CDI archives in a separate hack ( [Hack #56] ), but that won’t help much if you have lots of tiny programs you want to select, one by one, from a menu.

The basic approach is to burn a standalone CD with a menu system such as DemoMenu or (my favorite) DCHakker, then burn a separate CD with all your homebrew titles on it. The homebrew CD needs a specific directory structure, so use DiscJuggler or a similar specialized CD-burning utility.

The Dreamcast Help site (http://www.consolevision.com/members/fackue/tut_demomenu.shtml) has a tutorial on this very subject that’s well worth your time. Here are its salient points:

  • Grab and burn your boot CD

  • Although there are other, older options, the best boot discs are DCHakker (http://www.dchomebrew.org/dchakker.shtml) and DemoMenu (http://www.dchomebrew.org/Demomnu.shtml). These allow you to load almost any Dreamcast homebrew executable except those created using WindowsCE. Fortunately, that’s a very small percentage of titles.

  • Burn a multisession disc

  • Open your favored CD burner (the tutorial uses Nero Burning ROM), select the Start Multisession Disc option after bypassing the Image Wizard, and choose ISO Level 2, Mode 1, ISO 9660, and Joliet. Then add your files. You can drag any homebrew title from Windows to the root of the disc, but remember to rename the .BIN file if you have multiple programs to burn, lest multiple files overwrite each other. When you’ve finished, write the disc.

  • Boot with the menu disc

  • You should be able to boot your Dreamcast using DCHakker or DemoMenu. Switch to your homebrew CD. You should then be able to access and run any of the executables on it.

One of the coolest things about this method is that these self-boot menus support multisession burning, so you can keep adding new homebrew DC titles. Since you’ll likely want to try new programs or new versions, this can save you from burning dozens of CDs with only about 100 KB of data apiece.

Simply take the CD-R back to your CD burner, and burn extra data to it. In the Nero CD-burning tool, select the Burn ISO option, Continue Multisession Disc, and then add new files before selecting the Write CD dialog as before.

Self-Booting DC Menu Systems

An alternative to booting from one CD and switching to another is to burn CDs that include a self booter as well as multiple homebrew programs. The application in question is the Windows program SelfBoot Inducer[10] (http://consolevision.com/members/sbiffy/files/). In some ways, this is the easiest approach, especially because it produces a convenient self-booting CD containing the excellent-looking Dream Inducer menu system. Of course, you can burn this disc only once; there’s no multisession fun.

The DCHomebrew site has an excellent SBI tutorial (http://www.dchomebrew.org/burnsbi.shtml), but it’s really a little simpler than the boot CD method, especially if you have Windows. Grab the SelfBoot Inducer application, copy the .SBI files into the C:\Sbinducr directory, run the program, and decide whether you want to output the disc image file in DiscJuggler, Nero, or another format. This produces a ready-to-burn CD image that boots with a menu showing your choice of SBI files. It’s really as easy as that.

The Best DC Homebrew Titles

I’ve talked up the homebrew scene pretty heavily. What’s worth exploring? The following are just a few of the all-time classic and particularly cool pieces of homebrew software, excluding, of course, any of the emulators ( [Hack #18] ) or music and movie players ( [Hack #51] ).

Beats Of Rage

Although completely homebrew in construction and coding, be aware that Beats Of Rage uses some sprites and backgrounds unofficially from SNK’s King Of Fighters series as well as backgrounds from Sega’s Streets of Rage series. However, if you can get past this reuse (and it’s a completely different genre of game from KOF), you’ll find one of the most delightful, fully formed titles on the DC. Neill Corlett has successfully produced a classic Sega Streets Of Rage-style scrolling beat-em-up, originally created by Senile Team. Though there’s also the original PC version and a modchip-only PlayStation 2 version, somehow the DC feels like the right place to play this game. See http://senileteam.segaforums.com/bor.php.

Ghetto Pong

Inspired (an odd word to use) by the classic Atari game, this early, unofficial effort from Cryptic Allusion is a two-player funfest. Though it features new backgrounds and music, the main draw is the same great Pong gameplay that has kept people playing for over 30 years. Download it from http://www.dchomebrew.org/ghetto.shtml.

Alice

This is an amazing-looking, fully featured platform game. It’s a side-scrolling platformer featuring gorgeous pastel illustration-like graphics and fun playability. Though it’s still in early development at press time, the DCEmu site has some very attractive screenshots (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/alice.shtml). Alice really looks professional; all the better to give away for free. Learn more from http://www.dchomebrew.org/alice.shtml.

Feet Of Fury

This homebrew title from Cryptic Allusion has a nicely featured demo version available for download, but the full version actually comes on a CD and costs money, despite being an unofficial, self-boot-style title without Sega’s approval. While you may scrunch up your face at this, the game is a rather full-featured, Dance Dance Revolution-inspired title. It features 22 songs to step along to and works with the Dreamcast DDR controller. It even has a Typing Of Fury section that uses the Dreamcast keyboard and the DDR interface to pastiche The Typing Of The Dead, a cult Sega game in which you have to type words as quickly as possible to defeat zombies. Even if you don’t go whole-hog and buy the title, there’s a good preview version available from http://www.feetoffury.com/fof_download.php.

Will robot ever, ever find kitten? We hope so.

Figure 5-6. Will robot ever, ever find kitten? We hope so.

RobotFindsKitten

This title is one of the most genuinely marvellous pieces of software ever invented. The ASCII-based game bills itself as “yet another zen simulation.” The instructions speak for themselves:

In this game, you are robot (#). Your job is to find kitten. This task is complicated by the existence of various things which are not kitten. Robot must touch items to determine if they are kitten or not. The game ends when robotfindskitten.

As you’ll see from the homepage (http://robotfindskitten.org/download/Dreamcast/), RobotFindsKitten has ports to almost every system imaginable There’s even a version for the GP32 and one for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (I guess that means you can emulate the Spectrum version on your GP32 and then emulate that on ... Okay, crazy talk).

RobotFindsKitten is less a game and more of a way of life (see Figure 5-6). It’s fun to wander around until you find kitten, at which point you feel happy and can start again.


[10] If the file you want to burn is an .SBI, this is your only option.