Games that won't run on a Katana

[Dreamcast]

Shenmue seems to be the most well known example, but other AM2 games like Outtrigger and Virtua Fighter 3TB won't run on a Katana in either emulation or GD-ROM mode. The game stops at the "licensed by" screen.

(At least) for the working games I've tested in emulation mode, the TOC is read, the "licensed by" screen appears briefly, then the TOC is accessed again. For the games that don't work, the TOC isn't accessed a second time.

Some AM2 games do work like 18 Wheeler, F355, and Fighting Vipers.

Has anyone been able to resolve this problem?

[l_oliveira]

I believe it's because these games look for the console region/video mode settings on the flash and Katana does not have them (because it has a different bios and such settings are read from dip-switches) causing the games to hang (they're not meant to be played on a Katana set so ...)

Maybe flashing the Katana with portions of the retail flash (the 128kb flash with the settings, not the 2MB flash with the ROM image) could make it work.:thumbsup:

[APE]

I believe it's because these games look for the console region/video mode settings on the flash and Katana does not have them (because it has a different bios and such settings are read from dip-switches) causing the games to hang (they're not meant to be played on a Katana set so ...)

Maybe flashing the Katana with portions of the retail flash (the 128kb flash with the settings, not the 2MB flash with the ROM image) could make it work.:thumbsup:

Only if I get wasted one night and socket the flash. I don't think anyone wants to try this without some sort of insurance. :-)

[l_oliveira]

It's NOT the boot ROM it's the small flash with the settings.

And anyway an custom program would need to be made for flashing that.

[Dreamcast]

Mark30001 had a guide up at Segakatana (reference thread here) showing how to run homebrew on a Katana. I think he used the dc-load serial application on the Katana and dc-tool on a pc. Dc-tool has a builtin function that can dump the content of a given address range.

[l_oliveira]

Mark30001 had a guide up at Segakatana (reference thread here) showing how to run homebrew on a Katana. I think he used the dc-load serial application on the Katana and dc-tool on a pc. Dc-tool has a builtin function that can dump the content of a given address range.

That trick with dc-load can help with obtaining the contents of the Katana configuration flash (128KB) which could then be edited by hand on a hex editor to be made compatible with games that detect video mode automatically and then flashed back.