Some help on dev console capabilities

[Dot50Cal]

Hi guys Im looking into getting a couple different Developer systems however I need some help. A while back I was looking at a message board about a cancelled game and a developer from that game just so happened to pop on and post a picture of the game. The quality was superb and there was no artifacts from capturing. I messaged him asking him how he got such a high quality picture. He replied that he took the picture from the "Frame Buffer" of the system with his developer console.

Now this is my question, Do the following dev systems have this ability, and if so how far does it go? Can I capture video from the game directly instead of going through s-video, etc?

DC Katana
PS2 Tool
Dolphin (large case one, not sure of the name here)

If these cannot, then how did this developer do such a thing?

[Topic Archive]

...Yeh it's a fairly standard method, in fact the Xbox Debug or Dev Kit is about the easiest on the market to capture stuff on, mainly cos the SDK, with Network Neighbourhood is all set up for it.

...The Dolphin, as you call it, or NPDP-GDEV or GBOX will also capture stuff although it's not as simple as the Xbox Dev.

[the_steadster]

Do you mean GDEV, as in oldengineers avator, or DDH, the PC tower style one

[Dot50Cal]

Ah yeah thats the one ;) I was wondering though, dont you need an SDK or something along with this in order to do it? So Id basically be looking for those, with the SDK software, right?

[hl718]

Yes. You'd need the hardware and the software. :)

And you can often capture at resolutions many times higher than what is normally displayed when the game runs. For example, the PS2 Tool can run games in a higher res (and capture) than the stock PS2 Test unit can. Makes for pretty screens.

-hl718

[Dot50Cal]

OK these things are exactly what I need then :) So for the following systems these can do this:
PS2 - PS2 Tool
GC - GDEV
DC - Katana?

I know the Katana's run about 500, but does anyone have any estimates on what the other two go for currently?

Also this might seem like a silly question but will the PS2 Tool allow PS1 games to be captured like this? What kind of connection do these make to the PC? Certainly it cant be COM ports..

[hl718]

The Tool has a PC built inside, the GDEV uses the custom card and the Katana uses SCSI.

-hl718

[OldProgie]

Also this might seem like a silly question but will the PS2 Tool allow PS1 games to be captured like this? What kind of connection do these make to the PC? Certainly it cant be COM ports..

The PS2 TOOL will not run PS1 games, so no, you can't capture ps1 games.

Connections vary. PS2 uses a network connection. GDEV needs it's own special pci card.

[babu]

I know the Katana's run about 500, but does anyone have any estimates on what the other two go for currently?

only time I've seen a TOOL on ebay the seller was asking for like 10000 USD..

[Sintendo]

You don't even need a developer system to get screenshots from you Gamecube. All you need is a way to run homebrew and a BBA. I can post some screenshots if you want.

[Topic Archive]

The Tool has a PC built inside, the GDEV uses the custom card and the Katana uses SCSI.

-hl718

...In fact on the GDEV you would use either the BBA or the USB2EXI to capture with.

[Topic Archive]

GDEV needs it's own special pci card.

...It's not needed for capture :)

[Jaysmith2000]

I didn't see this answered but the DC Dev System has a capture utility.

[Dot50Cal]

Id like to see that, It doesnt happen to have the ability to change the resolution as well, does it?

You don't even need a developer system to get screenshots from you Gamecube. All you need is a way to run homebrew and a BBA. I can post some screenshots if you want.

[Dot50Cal]

Great, So I think the first thing to get would be the Katana since I know someone whos willing to sell one. Do I need any special items included with it? IE CDROM with SDK, Cables or a PCI card? I want to make sure I get it right.

[OldProgie]

...It's not needed for capture :)

But you do need it to run the game if you don't have it on a cart.

[Topic Archive]

Great, So I think the first thing to get would be the Katana since I know someone whos willing to sell one. Do I need any special items included with it? IE CDROM with SDK, Cables or a PCI card? I want to make sure I get it right.

...Your'll need a compatable (in other words ideally an old 50pin ) SCSI card, cable and an SDK such as R9 or above and you're away. :smt045

[Topic Archive]

But you do need it to run the game if you don't have it on a cart.

Indeed.