In the near future, we will probably be adding some of our favorite Dreamcast-related YouTube videos, adding some photos and adding some of the upcoming events in which we’re participating. If there’s anything else you think we should post on Facebook, let us know.

On top of all of that, our new Web site is now based on the popular Wordpress blog system, allowing us to more easily organize our content and allowing you to post your thoughts and comments. We hope you will stick around and renew some of the love we all have for our favorite video game console, the Sega Dreamcast.

Happy 10th Birthday, Dreamcast!

To follow this tutorial, you will need the following items:

• MacDreamTool v1.2 or later
• SBI Files
• Toast

This tutorial was written by Matisfaction to explain how to use I.M.Weasel’s MacDreamTool utility. This guide was intended to explain how to use v1.2 of MDT, but should be rather helpful in using MDT v2, as well. Very little has changed, fundamentally, between v1.2 and v2.

• Setting up MDT
• Making a Single Selfboot Image
• Making a Single/Multiple SBI Selfboot Image
• Creating and Inserting a Dummy File
• Burning With Toast 5
• Burning With Toast 6
• Links For More Info

Setting Up MDT v1.2

To set up MDT unpack the RAR or SIT file or whatever with Stuffit Expander. Next take the mdt folder and place it in your Applications folder.

Making a Single Selfboot Image

Locate the plain files of your DC application

To make a single self boot image, you must first unpack the Plain Files of the Program/Emulator that you want to make an image of.

Then start up MDT and choose the self-booter option, Then Click the Add Files Button and select the Folder that contains the Plain Files of your Program/Emulator.

Plain files have been moved to ~/Data

You should now get this message when the process is complete (Click OK).

Now go to your Home folder and then in to the Data Folder That’s located there, Take a look in the Data Folder and place all your Roms/Files that you need to add, into the designated folders (Check the read me that came with the Emulator/Program that you downloaded, On what files go in which folders).

Locate the ~/Data directory

Now once you have added all the files that need to be added, click the Create Iso Files button in the MDT self-booter menu.

The ISO creation process is completed

When the process is complete you should get this message (Iso Images will be located in your Home Folder with the data/IP.BIN files)

Now you’re ready to Burn. (Check Further down depending on which version of toast you have)

Making a Single/Multiple SBI Selfboot Image

To make a Single/Multiple sbi self boot image, you must first unpack the sbis of the Program/Emulator that you want to make an image of.

Locate your SBI directory

Then start up MDT and choose the dream inducer option in mdt, Then Click the Multiple Sbis Button and select the Folder that contains all of the Sbi/Sbis of your Programs/Emulators.

Your SBI files have been added to the project

Click the choose button and you should get this message (with how many Sbis you added):

Now Go in to your mdt folder, and look in the Inducer Folder this is the root folder of your emulator, now place all your additional roms/files to the designated folders (remember to check the read me folder that’s located inside the inducer folder for locations of additional Roms/Files for each Emulator/program).

Create the ISO

Once everything has been added, Click the Create Iso File button in the Dream Inducer menu.

The ISO creation process is completed

Once complete you should get this message:

You should now have one Fixed & one Header Iso in your home folder,

Two ISOs should be in your home directory

Like this:

Now you’re ready to burn. (Check Further down depending on which version of toast you have)

Creating and Inserting a Dummy File

Ok a quick word about adding a dummy file.

It does help sometimes to add a dummy file, the Dreamcast reads a game disc from the out side first, so basically if there is a lot of empty space on the outside of the disc, The Dreamcast will try to read that first (data that isn’t there) until it comes to the actual data that’s further down on the disc.

With repeated use this could cause the sled mechanism to wear out quicker than it normally would.

Adding a dummy file can help towards quicker loading times, and can help reduce the stress on the Dreamcast’s sled mechanism.

Some homebrew games and emus can be so small that the laser doesn’t have to work too hard for too long. Most of the time the data from homebrew/emus are put into the Dreamcast’s ram so the laser is barely used at all.

Adding a Dummy File is purely down to personal choice.

To create dummy files you will need to download Mac Pack 4.0, you can download it from DCHelp.

Ok so you have added all your Roms/Files to your Emulators/Programs using this guide and you are ready to create an Iso to burn your Single Self Booter or Single/Multiple Sbi self booter. Before you do, if you need/want to, you can add a dummy file.

You have to make the dummy file big enough, so that the overall disc size is over 600mb, so that Dummy file pushes all the data to the outside of your disc so your Dreamcast reads that first and not empty space (if the disc is already over 600mb you don’t need to add a dummy file).

So before you create an Iso of your Single self-booter or a Single/Multiple sbi self-booting disc using mdt. Look in your Inducer/data folder, these are the root folders of your disc, you need to place your Dummy file in here.

Click on your Inducer or data folder to highlight it, then hold down the Apple key and press the I key on your keyboard. This is the “Get Info” Command.

Get information about your Inducer or Data directory

A pop up menu will appear:

This tells you what size your folder is, If the size of your folder is the same as the one in the pic, Then you wont need a dummy file due to the small size, but if your folder is in between 100-400mb it might be a good idea to add a dummy file.

Now calculate how big your dummy file needs to be. The overall disc size has to be over 600mb. So if your folder is only say 250mb, you will another 350mb to bring the overall size up to 600mb. Just to make sure you can add another 10 or so mb (or as much as you think is enough), So that’s 350 + 10 = 360, Combine that with the size of your folder (250mb) that’s 610mb altogether.

Open Dummy Creator

Now open “Dummy creator” in your Mac Pack applications folder, and you will get this screen:

Dummy creation process completed

Now type in how much space you need and press enter, after a while (depending on how much space you require) you should get this:

Now quit Dummy Creator, It will ask you if you want to save “creator out”, Click don’t save.

Your newly created dummy file is saved in the Mac Pack applications folder, and should appear as a text file named Empty Space. You want this file to be the first file that gets burnt on to your disc, this pushes the Emulator/Program data to the outside of the disc, so that the Dreamcast reads it first. In order to do this you must rename the text file to 000dummy.dat so that it appears first in toast’s layout when burning. Now place your newly named dummy file into your inducer/data folder (depending on weather you are burning a Single Self Booter or Single/Multiple Sbi self booter)

Now you can continue to create your Iso with mdt in the usual way.

Burning With Toast 5

You should now have your two Iso’s, One Fixed Iso and one Header Iso file.

Open toast 5, and then open toast 5’s preferences and make sure that Prefer Disc-At-Once is Unchecked.

Make sure that "disc-at-once" is deselected in Toast's preferences

Like So:

Make sure that Multi-Track CDRom XA is selected

Now click on the option tab in the toast 5 window and select Multitrack CD-ROM XA as shown below.

Check the block size of your fixed ISO

Now choose Select and then add, and choose the Fixed Iso from your home folder. When adding the fixed Iso check the block size, if it reads as 2056 then you’re fine, if it doesn’t read 2056 then something has gone wrong and you need to start again.

Write the first session

Click ok if the Block size is the same as above, and then click on the record button, make sure that the record settings are the same as below and click Write Session.

When toast has finished it will eject the disc, Click on edit in the finder and then clear (or you can just quit Toast 5 and Don’t save changes and then start Toast 5 up again).

Check the block size of your header ISO

Still in Multitrack CD-ROM XA, Choose Select and then add, and choose the Header Iso from your home folder. When adding the Header Iso check the block size, if it reads as 2056 then you’re fine, if it doesn’t read 2056 then something has gone wrong and you need to start again.

Write the second session

Click ok if the Block size is the same as above, and then click the record button, make sure that the record settings are the same as below and click Write Disc.

Burning With Toast 6

Before you start with Toast 6, its important that you use Toast 6 version 6.0.7 If you don’t have this version you can download the 6.0.7 update from Roxio’s own website.

Select Multi-Track CDRom XA mode

You should now have your two Iso’s in your home folder, One Fixed Iso and one Header Iso file. Open Toast 6 and from the Toast 6 window, Click the option button and select Multitrack CD-ROM XA from the draw that pops out on the left. As shown below.

Check the block size of your fixed ISO

Now choose Select and then add, and choose the Fixed Iso from your home folder. When adding the fixed Iso check the block size, if it reads as 2056 then your fine, if it doesn’t read 2056 then something has gone wrong and you need to start again.

Write the first session of your disc

Click ok if the Block size is the same as above, and then click the record button. Then make sure that the record settings are the same as below and the click Record (you don’t need to check “Verify Data” but as toast doesn’t use this option when dealing with disc images, it doesn’t matter so just leave it as it is).

When toast has finished it will eject the disc, Click on edit in the finder and then clear (or you can just quit Toast 6 and Don’t save changes and then start Toast 6 up again)

Check the block size of your header ISO

Still in Multitrack CD-ROM XA, Choose Select and then add, and choose the Header Iso from your home folder. When adding the Header Iso check the block size, if it reads as 2056 then your fine, if it doesn’t read 2056 then something has gone wrong and you need to start again.

Write the second session of your disc

Click ok if the Block size is the same as above, and then click the record button. Then make sure that the record settings are the same as below and click Record

And that’s pretty much it.

I hope you find this guide useful. If you have any comments you would like to make you can do so via the DCHelp Mac Forum. Mdt’s creators accept no liability for misuse or problems resulting from use. Mdt is not endorsed by SEGA in any way shape or form. See the Disclaimer on the mdt website available for full disclosure.
Copyright D. Senesi 2004 | Email: kohlignen@yahoo.com
See Mdt’s read me file for more information.

Links For More Information

DreamZone Boards
DC Emulation
DC Emulation Forums
DC Emulation Mac Forums
Mac Pack 4.0
Roxio Home Page

• OSX (duh;)
• Toast 5 or 6 (It shouldn’t matter)
• cdirip 6.c, VCD Copy X

Emu:

1. D/l the discjuggler version of emu and unstuff
2. Open Terminal (found under: Applications -> Utilities)
3. Drag “cdirip” on to Terminal window
4. Drag *.cdi (emu file) on to Terminal window
5. Drag a file you want the rip to go to on to the Terminal window or press “/” in the Terminal window
6. Press “return”
7. Open file where rip went (file you selected or on your HD)
8. Open Toast
9. If you got taudio01.aiff, burn as audio w/ “prefered disc-at-once” in preferences checked (for Toast 6 this option is in the burn options when you go to burn) and click write session as burn type (dont close disc in Toast 6). If you got tdata01.iso click and hold on “Other” button (this is somewhere else in Toast 6, I’ll look it up shortly) and select Multitrack CD-ROM XA, then drag tdata01.iso on to the window and then burn as write session.
10. Close Toast then re-open Toast (don’t think this is nessesary in Toast 6)
11. Select Multitrack CD-ROM XA, then drag tdata02.iso, burn as write disc (close disc in Toast 6).

All done!

Utopia Boot Disc

1. I’ll upload it eventually, but I can’t be the only one with a working version.
2. In Toast burn taudio01.aiff as an audio cd with “Prefered disc-at-once” on and as write session (read above for where this stuff is in Toast 6).
3. Chose Multitrack CD-ROM XA, and drag tdata02.iso into the window and burn as write disc.

All done!

Rom disc or Plain files (plain files will require boot disc):

1. Open Toast
2. Click and hold “Other” and select “ISO 9660″
3. Drag all wanted Roms or all plain files into the window that comes up when you select “Select…”
4. The settings:
   • Format:CD-Rom XA
     Naming: ISO 9660 Level 1
     Append version numbers (;1) : checked
     Use Apple Extensions: unchecked
5. Burn as write disc

All done!

GypPlay:

1. D/l gypplay
2. Place all normal mpg or dat files in the same folder (see VCD rip guide below if ripping from a VCD)
3. Open toast
4. Select ISO 9660 and press “Select…”
5. Place all the files from the GypPlay folder into the window
6. The settings:
   • CD-ROM
     “Joliet (MS-DOS + Windows)”
     “Append Version Numbers (;1)” checked
     “Use Apple Extensions” not checked
7. Burn as write disc and boot with the Utopia Boot Disc

All done!

VCD ripping guide

1. Get in touch with I.M. Weasel to get VCD Copy X
2. Insert the VCD and open VCD Copy X
3. Choose the file the VCD rip should go to
4. Let it copy all of the info on disk
5. After it finishes find the largest dat file and move it to the GypPlay folder

All done!

The original version of this tutorial was available from Dreamcast @ MacEmu. The staff at DCHelp did not write this tutorial, and take no credit for doing so. Unfortunately, Dreamcast @ MacEmu no longer exists. However, I.M. Weasel, the developer behind Dreamcast @ MacEmu, has a new Web site on DCEmulation.

JT Newman has put together a nice user’s manual for all Macintosh users. This guide goes through many different processes that a Macintosh user might need to understand in order to get things working on their Dreamcast.

Note: This tutorial was written by JTNewman around 2005, and has not been updated since then. Some of the more obvious broken links have been fixed, but there are still more than likely quite a few broken links included in the tutorial (for instance, the entire section about SBIffy!com). Please realize that we did not write this tutorial, and that we have no way of verifying the information contained within.

Warning: This user’s guide is very graphic-intensive. If you would prefer to view it as a PDF file, instead of waiting for this page to load, please go to the bottom of the page.

Below, you will find the user’s guide in it’s entirety, only edited to convert it from a Word document into a web-friendly format.

• Who Is This Document For and Legal Stuff
  • Who Is This Document For?
  • Copyright and Disclaimers
• What are the best sites to get me started? What are Disc Juggler and Nero images, sbis, plain files, and other things that are confusing me?
  • Plain Files
  • Nero
  • DiscJuggler
  • Selfboot Inducer or “SBI” Files
• How to use Mac Dream Tool to make self booting discs
  • What You Need And System Requirements
  • Where To Get MacDreamTool And How To Use It
• How To Burn Your Images
  • Using Toast
  • Making a self-booting disc using plain files or using one sbi to directly boot into a program.
  • Using Toast 6
  • Burning with the Unix command line utility, cdrecord.
  • Burning DiscJuggler images (?cdi images?)
  • Exceptions to the above instructions (and what I think is going on with cdi images)
• Other useful programs
• Faqs, links, and other stuff
• Happy crap about the author and future ideas

Who Is This Document For and Legal Stuff

Who Is This Document For?

This document is intended for Mac users that want to make discs of homebrew games and emulators working on their Dreamcast system.

Currently, there is a rather easy way to do this, but I see the same questions over and over again with methods that in my opinion are somewhat dated (though still useful if there is no other option). The world of DC emulation and homebrews can be confusing to the new user even if you are on a PC.

Since there is a flood of PC based tutorials, I will not be covering how to do make DC homebrew discs on a PC at this time, though I will in a future revision cover a couple of programs that will be of use to Mac users that will easily run under something like VirtualPC and do not have Mac equivalents.

Also, I will make few things clear from the beginning. By emulators, I mean programs that are specifically designed to run on the Dreamcast to emulate another computer or game system. There is currently no Dreamcast emulator for the Mac, and there probably won’t be in the near future.

Also, this guide will not tell you how to make bootable copies of commercial Dreamcast discs. If that is what you are looking for, go someplace else. Any messages or emails on this subject will be deleted. Finally, while I will cover this in the faq section, do not ask me where you can find roms for the emulators. Those messages will be deleted as well.

Copyright and Disclaimers

I copyright the contents of this document including my own written words and original images. Copies of any of the materials for use in your own tutorial are prohibited. An exception to this policy is if you have contributed textual or graphical items to this tutorial. In that case, you will be given credit and retain the original copyright to only those materials to which you have contributed; such items may be freely used in other tutorials. If you have made a contribution, I reserve the right to make slight changes to correct spelling and grammar. Translation of any part of this document without written permission from me is prohibited. Currently, the only web sites that can post this document are:

• http://www.dcemulation.org
• http://www.consolevision.com
• http://gbadcdev.emuscene.com/
• http://www.dchelp.net
• http://www.dcemu.co.uk/

I?m probably missing a site or two, so if you want to post it onto your site, please email for permission.

Obviously, I can’t copyright pictures of someone else’s web page, but please don’t just copy my screen shots.

Also, by using this document, you hereby resolve me and any 3rd party of all liability of damages that may occur to your Macintosh computer and/or your Dreamcast. Another way to put this is if your Dreamcast or Mac suffers damage as a result of using this information or any of the programs stated within, you acknowledge that you used this information at your own risk. No warranty is expressed or implied.

Also, I’m in no way affiliated with Sega or Apple Computer, and neither endorses this document in anyway.

With that out of the way, onto the tutorial!

What are the best sites to get me started? What are Disc Juggler and Nero images, sbis, plain files, and other things that are confusing me?

If you are new to the Dreamcast homebrew and emulation scene and have a Mac, you probably started up Safari and entered something like Dreamcast Emulation in the search bar.

If you used another search engine, chances are something like this will be near the top of the list. This is one of the main web sites for DC homebrews and emulation, http://www.dcemulation.org. You will likely be visiting it often. There are other excellent sites including http://www.dchelp.net/ which is one place where you may have gotten this tutorial. I will feature the forums and help section of the latter site towards the end of this document, as it is an important site for newbies. Anyways, go ahead and click on the link for dcemulation.org. At first, the site will seem a little overwhelming:

The main menu to the left (cropped for space) shows you the different sections to dcemulation.org. You will probably notice that there is a link for Mac Help/Tools. While there is useful information in there (that I’ll cover later), to a newbie, things will still seem pretty confusing. Beyond the view of this screen shot, there are links to the forums and live chat (I don’t use the latter). Generally in the middle of the homepage is the latest information regarding new or updated emulators and homebrew games. The right hand side often contains links to sponsors and other useful places.

One of the first things you should at this site is to sign up for a user-id and password so you can use the forums. They are free and you can get a lot of help there. All you really need is a valid email address; you don’t have to provide ICQ numbers and AIM screen names if you wish to keep that information to yourself. Scroll down and on the left underneath ?Community?, click on the link for the ?Message Board?. On the upper right, there should be a link to register. After you sign up for the forums, before you post anything, please read the forum rules so you don’t do anything unintentionally or intentionally naughty:
http://www.dcemulation.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3002

It’s the one on the bottom in this picture, and the rules apply to all forums. In brief, this site contains no porn, warez (illegal copies of commercial software), or commercial roms. Speaking of such things, providing links, distribution, and et cetera, is prohibited on this site and will get you into trouble fast. Also, don’t ask if such and such is being ported to the DC or the status of things; all of this and more are spelled out in the forum rules.

Now that you have signed up for an account (or not), go back to the home page and scroll down. You will see a menu that lists some of the various programs that are available. One of the things you are probably interested in is how to emulate various consoles on your DC (this is not meant as a slight to homebrew games, but I will be focusing on a couple of emulators in particular for the sake of the tutorial)

Sure, there are Mac versions of most of this stuff, but you want to play console games on the TV, right? Some of the most popular sought after emulators are those that can emulate a Sega Genesis (MegaDrive) or a Super Nintendo (SNES). Let’s say you want to get an SNES emulator up and running (one of the most common things people go for first). If you scroll further down the page, you will find a link for SNES emulators. Currently, the best full speed one is DreamSNES (though the alternative, SuperFamicast, is better in some areas). Click on the link for that.

In the middle of the page, you will see a description of the emulator and likely some nice pictures of the emulator in action. Towards the bottom will be links to the files that you need to get the emulator up and running.

Okay, so your first question is likely to be, ?how do I get these things from a Mac to my DC??, and the second question is likely to be ?what are all of these ?formats? for?? I realize you are eager to the answer to the first question, but I need to deal with the second one first.

Plain Files

Plain files are the actual files needed for the emulator to work. If you download them, you will get a zip file. If you use Stuffit Expander to open the zip file you will get a folder containing a bunch of files like IP.BIN, 1st_read.bin, other files, and various subfolders. For making DC games that work, it really doesn’t matter if you know the details with a couple of exceptions. If you are planning to make a self-booting disc that contains the emulator and games, the plain files must be scrambled. Plain scrambled files are of use to you as a Mac user if you want to make a self-booting disc with just one program.

Nero

Nero files are really just CD images, similar to what you may have used with Toast. Nero is a CD burning software program that is widely used by PC users. Unfortunately, as a Mac user, Nero images are useless to you since there is no program to deal with them correctly on the Mac. There have been reports on the Mac forum of a Japanese program that supports them, but there is no firm word on if it really works. Also, the latest version of DiscBlaze (4.0) is supposed to support the format, but has problems with images that contain more than one track (all DC homebrew images have more than one track).

DiscJuggler

Again, this is another PC based CD authoring program. Many people call it ?DiscMangler? because it can be unreliable and make coasters. As with Nero images, you can’t use DiscJuggler images directly. However, there are tools available that will allow you to convert DJ images to be usable on the Mac. New to this version of the tutorial is how to use DiscJuggler images on your Mac; though you won’t need to use them very often, many new homebrews are released as plain files or images before they are offered in other formats.

As I indicated, using scrambled plain files and DiscJuggler images are options for a Mac user. However, there is an even better method, and that takes us to the last file type.

SelfbootInducer or “SBI” Files

From this point, I will call this file type ?sbi files?. These are special file archives that contain all of the components to make a self-booting disc. A big advantage with this format is that it allows you to put more than one program on a disc. The same disc can also include all of your roms, config files, and bios files. When you make a disc for your DC with these files, it will boot into a nice menu that will allow you to select a particular program.

Where do you get these files? A repository of them exists at http://www.consolevision.com/members/sbiffy/ (which I will get into in a moment). This convenient format was created through the hard efforts of burnerO (handle at dcemulation.org). So how do you use them? BurnerO is also the author of the excellent program, Sbinducr.exe that was made to use these files, create a disc image, and burn them onto a CD than can boot right onto your DC.

Before you give up in frustration and yell ?ack, another program only for PCs?, all hope is not lost. A program also exits to manipulate and use these files on the Mac. Created by I.M. Weasel, Mac Dream Tool can do many of the key things that Sbinducer can with a big exception of not being able to burn discs (hopefully this will be added soon). Options for burning the images made by Dream Tool will be covered later.

While the technical aspects and creation of sbi files is beyond the scope of the current version of this tutorial, they are really just zip files that Mac Dream Tool and Sbinducer know how to handle to put things in the right places to first make a folder on your hard drive from which a self-booting image will be made. On that note, it is time to get into the meat of the tutorial that you have waited so patiently for. How can you make your own SBI files? I.M. Weasel has also released a new program to do just that called MDT Services. I will touch on this program at the end of this tutorial and expand upon it in a future version.

How to use Mac Dream Tool to make self booting discs

What You Need And System Requirements

To make self-booting discs on your Mac there are certain things you will need. First is a computer capable of running at least MacOS X version 10.2.8.

This includes anything with at least a native G3 processor with the exception of certain early G3 PowerBooks. You also need I.M. Weasel’s Mac Dream Tool that also works fine under 10.4.X (Tiger). Versions prior to 2.1 needed to have Stuffit Expander installed (which you have by default unless you did a clean install of Tiger), but the current version uses the unzipping program that is part of the BSD portion of OS X (don?t worry, you will not need to use the command line). Obviously, a CD burner is required. Most Macs manufactured today have one internally, but any burner made within the last few years should be okay. Lastly, you will need CD burning software. I would highly recommend that you break open your piggy bank and shell out money for Toast Titanium. Unlike EasyCD for the PC, Toast is an excellent program that can do just about anything including the CD format you will need to burn the images created by Dream Tool. Either version 5.X or 6.X of Toast will work. There are differences in settings between the two, and I’ll cover them below.

Another option is to use cdrecord, which is a unix based command line utility. It should work with most burners made in the last three to four years. You will need to be somewhat comfortable using the unix command line to get it to work (as well as installing unix software). However, once you have it working, it too can create discs in the format required by the DC. A gui using the X11 environment has been made to use this program, but unfortunately, the authors have configured the program to issue a command to permanently stop a key system task; this can lead to an unstable system.

As for other CD burning programs such as DiscBlaze and DragonBurn, I am not familiar with them and will not cover them. Very little if any success has been reported on the forums regarding their use. If you have used them with success, let me know so I can include the information here.

Where To Get MacDreamTool And How To Use It

There are a few places where you can download Mac Dream Tool. For the most up to date version, you should go to its home page:
http://gbadcdev.emuscene.com/

As of this writing, version 2.13 is the latest, and most of the pictures will come from there. Version 2.11 may still be around that had a broken Dummy File creator (I?ll cover Dummy files later), but is otherwise identical (and was used to take the pictures). If you have version 1.2, most of what I will go over will work as well, but there is one key feature missing (more later). If you have version 1.9, go get 2.13 as 1.9 has a number of bugs and generally does not work the way it should.

Another location where you can get it is at http://www.consolevision.com/members/sbiffy/, though the latest may not always be posted there. I would suggest going to its home page to get it. However, since you will be visiting sbiffy frequently, we will get it there for the purposes of the tutorial. Go there now to get it and familiarize yourself with this web site. I’ll cover how to get it there since you will be visiting this site often. Once you enter the URL, the following page should appear:

As with dcemulation.org, there are forums here as well. You should also sign up for an account here as well (actually, you are supposed to). For now though, it isn’t necessary to get Mac Dream Tool (MDT for short from here on in). Click on the files tab:

Click on the folder called ?Mac?:

Click on the sit archive to begin the download of version 2.1. Depending on how you have your browser and Mac configured either the archive will be extracted automatically or you will have to do it by double clicking on it to get the Finder to open the compressed tar file. Regardless of where you have extracted it, the folder containing the application and its subfolder must be placed the Applications folder. That means that for installation, you will need to have Administrator privileges.

Inside the MacDream Tool folder, you should find the following:

(The contents of this folder may vary for different versions).
For proper operation, it is vital that all of these contents be in the same folder (you can put the documentation anywhere though). Inside the Tools folder are some Unix executables used by MTD. Fortunately, you won’t have to worry about using them. The Inducer folder will be the contents of your DC disc. MDT will take that folder and convert it into iso images that Toast and cdrecord can burn. There are files in the Inducer folder to begin with. I suggest that you not move them around J. The Selfboot folder is new to version 2.13 and is used to make a bootable disc from binary files.

Now it’s time to go get some sbi files. At this point, you should register at sbiffy.com. Let’s assume that you picked up GenesisPlus and DreamSNES and want to put both emulators on the same disc. Click on the files tab (see the previous page for reference). You don’t have to limit yourself to these emulators to follow along. You could just as easily give SuperFamicast a try for SNES emulation. (some people prefer it). Also, there are many excellent homebrew games and applications. For example, ?Apps? contains applications that allow the DC to play mp3 files or view jpeg images. ?Games? contains homebrew games and ports designed for the DC. Anyway, click on the Emus folder. While there are different emulators that you can try out for each of these systems, for simplicity’s sake, look for files called Genplus3_bO.sbi for Genesis emulation and DreamSNES-0.9.8.sbi for SNES emulation. To download both of these programs, either control click on the link to bring up a submenu in your browser to download the file, or if you have a two-button mouse, bring up the same submenu with the right mouse button. Don?t let Stuffit Expander or the Finder open them. The files should download to your hard drive (where depends on how your settings are configured as far as internet preferences go).

Place both of these files into one folder. This folder can be anywhere including your home directory or your desktop. However, it is important that the name of your hard drive (root volume) does not contain any special characters or any spaces.

Now it is time to fire up MDT. The first screen that comes up should look something like this:

It is possible on first launch that the program might open up with one of the left-hand tabs highlighted. If so, just click on the Dream Inducer tab.
Let?s go over each of the options.

1. You can choose to add a single sbi or multiple sbi. Generally when the program is in this mode, you will be adding multiple sbi files as in our example though there is nothing to prevent you from adding just one.
2. Although this button comes next, you will be using it last. This is what you will be using to turn the contents of your Inducer folder into ISO images that Toast can burn.
3. The next series of windows will give you information about the Inducer folder you will be making. Much is this is self-explanatory but there is one item I should point out. You will be given the size of the Inducer folder once you have added your SBI files. However, that won?t include stuff you will be adding later. Additionally, even if you don?t add anything to the folder, the size of the Inducer Folder will not be the same size as the image file. I?ll explain why when I talk about dummy file creation.

The first step is to let MDT extract the SBI files and allow it to put things into the proper places inside the Inducer folder. Since you will be installing more than one emulator on the same boot disc, you will next want to click on ?Multiple Sbis?. You will be choosing the folder that I told you to create earlier where you added both sbi files. As of this writing, MDT does not allow you to chose a subset of sbis from that folder. A future version will address this limitation. Anyway, click Chose from the dialog box. What will happen next is that MDT will call upon OS X?s built-in unzipping program (version 1.2 will call upon Stuffit Expander) to extract the sbis, and MDT will put the contents of the sbi file into the right places inside the Inducer folder. During the extracting process, a number of things will happen. A window will pop up that will list the sbi files that are being added:

Also, you will get a progress bar as well:

Note that if you are adding many sbi files, the progress bar may freeze on occasion, but don?t worry about that as the program is still doing something. Also, you will hear a lot of clicking sounds. That is not your hard drive J. As MDT is extracting the sbi files and placing the contents into the Inducer folder, MDT is throwing away a bunch of stuff into the Trash (a click sound it made when items are put into the Trash unless you have hacked your system) that it doesn?t need. Of course, if your speakers are muted, you won?t hear the clicking sound

Click the ?OK? button to be taken back to the Dream Inducer menu. The ?Inducer Properties? section of the main Mac Dream Tool window will now have some information filled in:

With version 2.13, the list window from the previous page will remain and tell you which sbi files were added and how much space they take up (though as I explained above, that won?t give you the size of the final image file). Once you hit ?OK? on the above dialog box, you can close the list window if you wish.

At the very bottom of the main Mac Dream Tool window, there is also a section for an ?.MR? image. This allows you to have a custom boot screen.

Now that the MDT Services program is available, you can create these files on your Mac starting with a PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file. I will touch on this subject towards the end of the tutorial (if you are eager to do that now, please look over the ReadMe file that comes with the MDT Services package).

Now take a peak at the contents of the Inducer folder. You will notice that much more stuff has been added (assuming you took a peek before starting the process:

You will want to leave most of the folders as they are for the most part. The ?Emus? folder contains the binaries for the emulators. ?Pics? contains files used for the gui of the emulator while ?Themes? has some of the files used for the menu screen to select an emulator. Often there will a ReadMe folder.

This will contain documentation for the programs such as where to put roms, config files, and bios if needed. In our simple example, we have two folders called ?Genesis? and ?SNes?. This is where you can put your Genesis and SNES roms, respectively. For GenesisPlus, you could actually put the roms anywhere in the Inducer folder, but for organization, it is better to put them into one folder. Some programs are very fussy about where the files should be located, and this is usually spelled out in the documentation inside the ?ReadMe? folder. So go ahead and put your roms, bios files, etc into their respective folders (your roms are legal or public domain, right J). Now you are ready to make your disc images! To do that, click on the ?Create Iso file? button, and the process will begin. Now, if you are still using version 2.11, you will get a dialog box like this before the iso files are made:

Click the no option as the dummy file creation function of 2.11 has a bug and will make an image file that will be too large to burn. I?ll explain the why there is a bug when I go over dummy file creation which you will need to do with another program for now.

As with making the Inducer folder, another progress bar will appear If you have added a lot of sbi files, this process will take awhile, and it will look like nothing is happening. In fact, often the progress bar will not move at all. Don?t worry as MDT has not locked up. Just be patient, and you should end up with the following dialog box (wording may vary slightly with different versions of MDT:

This means you will have two iso files in your home directory. One will be called ?fixed.iso? which is an image of the contents of your Inducer folder.

The other is called ?header.iso? which will be used to close off the session of your DC disc. If you have read other tutorials for the Mac using different programs, you often had to ?fix? the iso file (especially when converting Disc Juggler images) before you can burn them for use on your DC. As it’s name implies, MDT has already done this for you so the two image files are now ready for burning.

If you want, you can quit MDT or just leave it running in the background. Now it is time for the burning tutorial.

How To Burn Your Images

Using Toast

Using Toast to burn your images is the most straightforward method. The images and instructions below will be from 5.X. Version 6.X will work just as well. I?ll start with using 5.X and then go over 6.X. Anyway, to burn your images that are now in your home directory, fire up Toast. Now if you have used Toast only to make Mac discs, you will probably have that option come up first. What we want to do is to burn a multi-session iso disc, otherwise known as the Multitrack CD-ROM XA format. To access this as an option, you will need to click on the ?Other? tab. If you hold the mouse button down, a submenu will appear to give you the option of several different formats. You want Multitrack CD-ROM XA.

Now that you have selected the correct format, you need to select the fixed.iso image. Click on the ?Select? button and click on the ?Add? button to select the fixed.iso from the ensuing dialog box. Once you have selected fixed.iso, you should have something that looks like this:

Take careful note of the picture above. The block size should be 2056. If it is not, try remaking the isos with MDT.

Now hit the ?OK? button above to get back to the main screen. Now you are ready to burn your first session. If you haven’t done yet, you will be prompted to insert a blank disc.

You want to make sure that buffer Underrun Prevention is checked. As for speed, burn no faster than 12X. The slower you burn the disc, the better.

Burning at 1X or 2X will guarantee that the discs will burn correctly almost of the time. Speeds of 4X and 8X generally work. Note that with some newer Mac models, the burner?s slowest speed might be 8X. If a speed is in italics on the pull-down menu above, then that speed is not supported.

Next, click write session and the first session will be burned. If you elected to go with 1X or 2X, go grab a snack or watch some TV.

Now you will need to burn the second iso. It will be called header.iso, and it can be found in your home directory as well. Once the first burn is done, your disc will be ejected. Go up to the ?Edit? menu and select ?Clear?. Now add in header.iso following the steps above. Click on the big red button again. Reinsert the same disc if you haven’t done so already and burn header.iso as session. This will go much faster.

After all is said and done, pop the disc into your DC. If all went well, you should see the Sega boot screen and you should be taken to an ?Xboxish? menu to select your programs (in our example, DreamSNES and GenesisPlus). Once you verify everything works, click on the button to clean up the

Inducer folder in MDT for your next disc if you are making a new one that is different.

The instructions for burning images with Toast 6 or cdrecord appear after the next section.

Making a self-booting disc using plain files or using one sbi to directly boot into a program.

In addition to using sbi files, you can also use MDT to make a self-booting disc from the plain files. They must be scrambled in order to work. Use this method when a sbi file is not available or you want a disc that boots right into a single program. In this case, download the plain files. This time, you will get a zip archive that you can go ahead and extract. Now fire up MDT. This time, click on the ?Self-Booter? tab:

Add your program by click on ?Add files?. Files will be added to the Inducer folder. Make the iso files as before and burn with Toast as described above.

The very last tab for Mac Dream Tool, SBI-2-SelfBoot, allows you to select one sbi file and make a disc that will boot right into the program on your Dreamcast. While you could have selected one sbi file under the ?Dream Inducer? tab, by using the sbi to boot feature, you avoid having to select the program on your Dreamcast from a menu. Instructions on how to use the sbi to boot feature with regard to making images and burning are virtually identical to those described above.

Using Toast 6

Toast 6 also can be used to burn the images that MDT makes, but there are significant interface differences between 5 and 6 that can confuse people. One of the most frequently asked questions or observations is that Toast 6 does not work. This is not the case. Often the trouble is the result of:

1. Differences in the gui and terminology between 6 and 5 regarding multi-session discs.
2. Other functional oddities that will cause problems if you are unaware of them.

The confusion with terminology can be largely resolved by making sure you have upgraded to at least version 6.07. The latest is now 6.11 which you will need if you are running Tiger. If you have an older version, go get the update. Roxio is very protective about the update files. You must have a legal, licensed version and register to download any patches. If you are not legal, don?t bother going to the boards to pester people about the upgrade files.

I won?t go into every detail as I did with 5.X, but once you have upgraded your copy, go ahead and fire up the program. When you open Toast 6, on the top, you should have four tabs labeled ?Data?, ?Audio?, ?Video?, and ?Copy?. You want the ?Copy? tab. Click on that and click on ?Advanced?.

Click on the bubble to select the Multi-Track CD-ROM XA format. Once you have done all that, you should have something that looks like this:

Hit the ?Select Button?, and you will get a dialog box similar to Toast 5 for selecting CD ROM XA tracks. As with Toast 5, hit the add button and select the fixed.iso data track. Now click on the red button, but don’t start burning yet as you need to pay attention to the next dialog box (this is where most people can get tripped up):

Under the basic tab, set a speed no greater than 8X. Next, click on the ?Advanced Tab?:

Set things up exactly as shown above. You should turn on buffer under run protection, uncheck ?Close Disc? (apparently, this can be set in the general preferences), and the audio write mode should be DAO. The latter option is also in Toast 5 but is located in the general preferences. Now burn your first session. When the process is complete, you will be given the option to mount or eject the disc. Eject the disc and put it back in. Next, you will burn the header.iso file. Go through the same process again (you will have to clear the first image as described for Toast 5) only this time, you want ?Close Disc? checked under the ?Advanced Tab?. As with Toast 5, sector sizes of both images should be 2056.

Note: There is a Toast 6.0 oddity that will give you a coaster when burning the second image (header.iso). If you happen to set up Toast to burn the second image before reinserting the disc, the program will revert back to ?Write Session? even if you selected ?Close Disc? while setting Toast up. If you don?t catch this ?switcher-roo? and just go ahead and burn the second image, you will get coaster. So before you burn that second image, make sure the disc is reinserted after burning the first image before setting up to burn the second. If you forget, make you click on the ?Advanced Tab? again to ensure that ?Close Disc? is selected before you burn that second image.

Burning with the Unix command line utility, cdrecord.

If you really can’t buy Toast right now, the only other option is to use a program called cdrecord. This is a Unix command line utility, so you will need to be comfortable using the Terminal program and using the Unix command line

To make things more complicated, you must first install the Fink packaging system on your computer. Fink allows you access to all of the cool open-sourced Unix based programs that are out there including ones that run under X11. Then you will need to install Apple?s Developer Tools.

Explaining how to use Fink, the terminal, and the Developer?s Tools are beyond the scope of this tutorial right now. If you don’t know what I mean when I say ?X11?, then you are better off breaking open that piggy bank for Toast.

Anyway, to get the Fink packaging system, go to http://fink.sourceforge.net. There are different versions of Fink depending on whether or not you are using 10.2X, 10.3X or 10.4X. Download the one that is appropriate and read all instructions and ReadMe files. The Fink package now comes with a program with a graphical user interface that allows you to manage your packages called Fink Commander. This is the recommended method for installing packages.

You will want to install version 2.X of cdrecord. As of this writing, it is under the unstable tree because not enough people have tested it. In my hands though with my internal burner, it did work. If your drive was made before 1999, it may lack a standard (MMC compliant) that cdrecord requires. Go to the Fink homepage for instructions on how to get Fink to install from the unstable tree.

Ultimately, our goal is to have cdrecord built into MDT so all of this is unnecessary.

Assuming you have cdrecord installed and are ready to burn the isos that MDT made, you will need to open up the Terminal application. By default, the working directory you start in is your home directory, which is where MDT has placed the iso files. If for some reason you are not, issue ?cd ~? to get there.

Now insert a blank disc. If your Mac is still at it’s default settings, it will ask you what you want to do with the disc. Instead of having it mount the disc, you want to tell the Finder to ?Ignore? the disc. However, if you have changed your system settings to do something else to the disc such as automatically mount it, you will need to change that. Select ?System Preferences?? under the Apple menu and select ?CDs & DVDs?:

You can either change it to ask the Finder what to do or to just ignore the blank disc altogether. Since you are likely in your home directory, burn fixed.iso by issuing the following command:

cdrecord dev=IODVDServices speed=8 -multi -xa1 fixed.iso

OS X doesn’t use device numbers like other Unix systems. In most cases, the above device specification should work when using one of Apple’s combo drives or SuperDrives, but you may need to use dev=CompactDiscServices if your drive is CD-RW only. Set the speed flag to the lowest speed your drive will go. The next two flags specify the use of the Multi-Track CD-ROM XA format and that we are burning a multi-session disc. If you are not in your home directory, you will need to add the path to the iso (or if you moved it). If all goes well, you should get the following output:

Cdrecord-Clone 2.01a19 (powerpc-apple-macosx7.3.0) Copyright (C) 1995-2003 J?rg Schilling
scsidev: 'IODVDServices'
devname: 'IODVDServices'
scsibus: -2 target: -2 lun: -2
Using libscg version 'schily-0.7'
cdrecord: Warning: using inofficial libscg transport code version (csapuntz-scsi-mac-iokit.c-1.4 '@(#)scsi-mac-iokit.c  1.4 02/10/19 Copyright 1997,2001 J. Schilling').
Device type    : Removable CD-ROM
Version        : 0
Response Format: 2
Capabilities   :
Vendor_info    : 'MATSHITA'
Identifikation : 'CD-RW  CW-8123  '
Revision       : 'CA0T'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-ROM.
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc   CD-R/CD-RW driver (mmc_cdr).
Driver flags   : MMC-2 SWABAUDIO BURNFREE
Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R RAW/R16 RAW/R96P RAW/R96R
Starting to write CD/DVD at speed 8 in real TAO mode for multi session.
Last chance to quit, starting real write    0 seconds. Operation starts.
Turning BURN-Free off
Track 01: Total bytes read/written: 577805904/577805904 (281034 sectors).

It will seem like things are paused at the ?BURN-Free off? line for quite awhile and nothing is happening. Eventually, the last line will be output, and the terminal will be ready for the next command.

The disc will now mount in the Finder and it will still have the cdr badge on it, indicating that the session is not closed. We need to issue a command to tell the Finder to release it’s grasp on it. The following command should work if you are using an Apple branded internal burner:

disktool -u disk1 0

Unfortunately, there isn’t a man page for this command, so I don’t know if changes need to be made for 3rd party internal or external burners. If this command doesn’t work, you can try to eject the disc and re-inserting to tell the Finder to ignore it. If this works for you, let me know so I can confirm it.

Assuming the disc is in and not mounted, next, burn header.iso by issuing the following command:

cdrecord dev=IODVDServices speed=8 -xa1 header.iso

You should get output similar to the one above. Again the disc will mount, but the cdr badge should be gone, indicating that the session is closed and the disc is finished.

Burning DiscJuggler images (?cdi images?)

DiscJuggler is a common CD burning application in the Windows world; the demo copy is useful for burning discs (though there are major limitations compared to the full version). As such, it is a common practice for developers to provide their homebrew games/applications as a DiscJuggler image.

You can recognize these images by their file extension that is ?cdi? (will call it cdi image from this point on). It is not uncommon to have new programs distributed as an image first before a sbi. Also, many collections such as Beats of Rage Mods or emulators packaged with public domain roms are simply distributed as images. Also, depending on the development tools used to create the application, the sbi file format can be incompatible. Mind you, these scenarios are the exception rather than the rule. Still, on occasion, you may need to burn a cdi image. Also, these images are the standard format used by dcevolution.net when they build things like Beats of Rage mods or an emulator compilation with public domain roms.

CDI images are really in the Multitrack CD-ROM XA format with all of the tracks (generally two) in one image. The problem is that Toast in of itself as trouble dealing with images that contain more than one track (it can make them, but has trouble reading them from other sources). So, before we can burn cdi images, we need to have a way to separate the tracks. This is were a program called ?CDIRip?, originally written by De_XT and ported to OS X from OS 9 by Lucas Newman (no relation!). You can find this program by clicking on the ?Mac Tools? link on http://www.dcemulation.org (left hand pane). Go ahead and download version .62. While you are here, you might as well pick up ?MacPack 4.0? as you are going to need a program in it later.

There is an older version of CDIRip that comes with the MacPack, but you won?t need it.

One other thing I should mention is that cdi images are often packaged in a ?rar? archive. These kinds of archives are gaining in popularity in the PC world, so you will encounter them often when dealing with cdi images. There are plenty of programs to handle rar archives under OS X. I recommend UnRarX by Peter Noriega (find it at http://www.versiontracker.com). Don?t use Stuffit Expander to extract rar archives, especially segmented ones (you may encounter these) as it can have problems correctly extracting the archives.

In a nutshell, you will encounter two types of cdi images. One type will have two data tracks and is the easiest to deal with. A second type will have one audio and one data track (which is often two data tracks in one image!) and is a bit more complicated to deal with. The problem is that you won?t know which you are dealing with until you extract or ?rip? the cdi image. Let?s deal with the easiest one first.

As always, there are exceptions to the above examples, and I will cover the one you are most likely to encounter at the end of this section.

You have a cdi image with two data tracks

Suppose on your quest for homebrew games, you come across Super Mario War (SMWdj.rar from http://www.dcemu.co.uk/mariowar.shtml). First, download the rar archive by control clicking on the link (or use the second mouse button if you are using a third party mouse) and download it to your hard drive. Fire up UnRarX. Select the downloaded rar archive by choosing ?Browse ? ? under the ?File? menu. Next, extract the archive by selecting ?Extract ?? from the ?File? menu. If all goes well, the UnRarX window should look something like this:

The extracted cdi image in this place will be in the same location as the rar archive; you can change were you want the extracted file to go by using the pull down menu next to ?Extract to:?.

Now it is time to extract the cdi image, so let?s fire up CDIRip. You should get a window that looks something like this:

If you are dealing with an image with two data tracks, you don?t have to worry about the options very much. Leave them unchecked for now. Hit the ?Rip? button to rip the cdi image. A dialog box will appear to allow you to select the image. This will be followed by another box for you to select the output directory. If all goes well you should get a dialog box telling you that the process is completed, and you should get two data tracks (of course I knew ahead of time that this image was two data tracks). Note that if you are dealing with a large image, it will take a minute or two for CDIRip to do its job. Be patient and a dialog box should appear that the ripping was completed successfully. Wait until the program is finished before you begin burning. Your two data tracks should be called ?tdata01.iso? and ?tdata02.iso?. How do you burn these? Well the first track is pretty much the same as ?fixed.iso? as mentioned under the Mac Dream Tool instructions. That second track (?tdata02.iso?) is your ?header.iso?. Before you begin burning, you should check the file size of each. The first track should be larger than the second (the second will be around 608K or so). If that is the case, go ahead and burn these tracks as described under the burning tutorial by burning tdata01.iso as a session and tdata02.iso as disc. If the second one is bigger, skip over the next section and proceed to the ?exceptions?.

You have one audio track and one data track

This scenario is a little more complicated than just having two data tracks as a successful burn will require a program that is in MacPack 4.0. This program is called ?Isofix 1.3? and along with it should be an ?Isofix Config File?. You have probably already noticed that the MacPack also comes with an older version of CDIRip, but we will be sticking with version .62. An example of a cdi image that has one audio track and one data track is Volume 1 of the Beats of Rage Collection (BOR Collection 1 update.rar from http://www.dcevolution.com (beware those of you on a 56K modem!). I suggest finding a friend that has broadband in order to download this one. In any event, once you have it, go ahead and use CDIRip on it. Instead of getting two tracks, you will get one audio file (taudio01.aiff) and tdata02.iso). Throw both of these files away. Run CDIRip again, only this time, select to include the Pre-gap. You will get the two files again. Throw away the audio file as you won?t need it. Now open the Console (found in your utilities folder). Somewhere, you should find the following:

CDIrip 0.6.2 - (C) 2002 by DeXT

Searching file: '/Users/jnewman/Desktop/BOR Collection 1 update.cdi'
Found image file. Opening...
This is a v3.5 image
Destination path: '/Users/jnewman/Desktop'

Analyzing image...
Found 2 session(s)

Ripping image... (Press Ctrl-C at any time to exit)

Session 1 has 1 track(s)
Saving  Track:  1  Type: Audio/2352  Size: 300     LBA: 0
 [Current: 00%  Total: 00%] [Current: 42%  Total: 00%] [Current: 85%  Total: 00%]
Session 2 has 1 track(s)
Saving  Track:  2  Type: Mode2/2336  Size: 120612  LBA: 11700   [ISO]
(followed by many lines of text about the conversion progress?)

Session 2 is your data session. Many lines of text will follow about the conversion progress, but we don?t need that information. Now in the MacPack folder that you downloaded earlier, there is a program called Isofix 1.3 and a text file called Isofix Config File. Using something a plain text editor like BBedit or TextWrangler (do not use TextEdit as it complains that it can?t save SimpleText documents and instead will try to save the config file as an rtf file) open up the config file. You will see three lines like this:

isofix
11702
mac

Go back to the console and look at the end of the information for Session 2. Note the number next to LBA. Note it and go back to the Iso Config File.

Change the number to whatever number you saw in the Console information. In this case, we need to change 11702 to 11700. Save the config file.

Now you are ready to use Isofix. Go ahead and open up the program. You will be presented with the following dialog box:

Go ahead and choose that file. Another dialog box will appear to ask you to select the Isofox Config File. Navigate to wherever you saved it and select it. Now the conversion process will begin. You will get a dialog box that will look like the following:

Once the program is done, you will get a message saying the process. As you probably guessed from the above picture, you will end up with three files.

Go ahead and discard ?bootfile.bin?. The other two files should have familiar names to you. Burn ?fixed.iso? as session, and on the same disc, ?header.iso? as disc following the directions given in the burning section.

Exceptions to the above instructions (and what I think is going on with cdi images)

There are exceptions to the above cases. Sometimes you may get multiple data tracks or more than one audio session. You might run into a case where the second data track is larger than the first. To the best of my knowledge, none of these cases apply to legal DC homebrew images; they only apply to illegal rips and hacks of commercial games and Sega intellectual property. Thus, you can ask all you want, but you will need to go elsewhere for how to burn those images.

The one exception is the Driller Demo cdi image (a popular homebrew shooter). Many have reported the failure of being able to burn this image on the Mac; this can be fixed in the unix world by applying the appropriate flags to the CDIRip program at the command prompt. However, in OS X, the port of CDIRip is a gui app (in Cocca I think), and there isn?t a way to run it as a command line application. There is an untested sbi of this shooter, so I suggest you give that a try.

As you have probably have guess then, there is some trial and error when it comes to burning DiscJuggler images, and basically, you will have to do an experiment by doing a ?pre-rip? before deciding what to do. I believe this is largely dependent on how the cdi image was created. In case with two data files, if you were to open up the Console to get an LBA value, it would generally be zero (hence no need to fix). What Isofix does is changes the sector size so Mac burning programs like Toast can burn them correctly for the DC. Obviously, changing the sector size for something that doesn?t need it has the potential to cause problems.

Some have suggested that for version 2.X cdi images, you need to use CDIRip .5 and for 3.X images, you should use CDIRip .62. I largely believe this conclusion to be false. I have used CDIRip .62 on both 2.X and 3.X images using the above three methods depending on what I get as a result of the ripping process. As of this moment, we don?t know if CDIRip .62 will work on version 4.X images. I have yet to come across one of these in the DC scene. If you have and can verify whether or not they work, please drop me a note. Also feel free to drop me a note with any questions (Note: as of this writing, it appears that 4.X images are identified as 3.5 images and the above instructions should still work. This has not been thoroughly tested though).

Other useful programs

The only other program I will be covering in this tutorial is called Dummy Creator 2. You can get this program by going to dcemulation.org and clicking on the ?MacTools? link. This program allows you to create ?dummy? files that contain garbage data. Why would you want to add such a thing to your disc? For one thing, the DC starts to read a disc from the outside and then goes inwards until it can find something it can boot. Often, many of the discs that you will be making will not fill up the entire disc. Apparently, this can cause wear and tear on the CD lens motor (I have no idea if this is true or not). A dummy file pushes all of the bootable data and executables to the outside of the disc. This is supposed to save wear and tear on your DC. Some claim that there are homebrews will boot faster since the data is easier to find. At the very least, I’ve noticed that the DC does a lot less work if you fill up the disc, so there might be some validity to the wear and tear theory.

In any event, if you want to include a dummy file, go download Dummy Creator 2 and extract the archive. This is a classic program so prepare for OS 9 to start up. There is an OS X version of this program in MacPack 4.0 and that should work just as well. One thing to note though is that the OS X version seems to take much longer, and it will appear that the program has locked up. It hasn?t and it will make the dummy file eventually.

What size should the dummy file be? There is a catch; because your Inducer Folder is sitting on an HFS+ volume, the allocation blocks will be much smaller than that for the final CD. So the size of the Inducer folder won’t give an accurate estimate on how big to make the dummy file, especially if the Inducer folder contains many small files. Your best bet is to make a test iso file with MDT without a dummy file first, and use the size of that image to determine how big to make the dummy file. You will want to leave about a 20-30 megabyte cushion, as you might not be able to burn a multi-session disc otherwise. Once you have determined how big to make it, input that value, and a dummy file will be created in the same location as the Dummy Creator application. It will have a funny file name such as 000DUMMY.DAT. Place this in the Inducer folder after you have set it up. Since numerical order precedes alphabetical order, it will be burned first on the CD, thereby pushing everything else to the edge.

There are other programs that are of use, but they will be covered under future versions of this tutorial.

Faqs, links, and other stuff

1. I?ve made a disc using the instructions as described above. I read the instructions before starting to make a disc and did not burn my disc at 50 billion X. However, when I insert the disc into my DC, it attempts to read the disc and takes me back to the DC menu screen. What did I do wrong?
   Select the controller icon on the DC menu to start up the disc or turn your DC off with the disc inside and start it back up again. It should be able to read it now.
2. Despite following your instructions, I still can?t get the DC to recognize the disc.
   There could be many reasons for this. One thing in particular comes into play regarding DC made for the North American market (maybe Japan too, I don?t know). At some point in late 2000, Sega changed the bios so that the drive could no longer read CDr discs; there is no way to play homebrews or emulators on these DCs. The consensus seems to be that if the DC was made before October of 2000, you should be okay. As far as I know, all Sega Sports model Dreamcasts will work (the only alternate one introduced into the American market). So if you want to be safe, get one made October of 2000. However, later models were made with whatever parts were around, so some models made after that date will work because they still got the old bios. There is no way to tell ahead of time though unless you take it home and try it out.
   To the best of my knowledge, all PAL DCs work.
3. Do I need to make a roms list for DreamSNES to work?
   Not really. As you probably already noticed, the renaming tool that comes with DreamSNES is for PCs. It makes the emulator read the rom names faster, but the list is not required. Older versions of Mac Dream Tool included the ability to make a list, but it doesn?t work right. This function is available with the companion program, Mac Dream Tool Services, but I don?t know if it is fully working yet.
4. Okay? what about Mac Dream Tool Services??
   While I made reference to it in the text, this program will not be covered in this version of the tutorial. Sorry for the empty promise, but I will get to it in the future.
5. I?ve made a disc especially for DCStella, but either I get a blank screen or the games don?t show up in the menu.
   With regard to the first issue, there seems to be an issue with making a self-booting disc and version .2f. At first I thought it was a Mac issue, but PC users have reported problems. As for the second problem, as a Mac user, you are stuck in a rock and a hard place. A renaming tool is supplied with the emulator that creates a text file that associates the proper name of each rom with a generic file name. This is required for the emulator to see roms on the disc. This tool must be used on a PC (it would probably work under virtual PC). There is no Mac version at this time. I will cover how to use this program in the next version of the tutorial, but you will need to have access to a PC.
6. What are the ?good utilities?, GoodWin), etc?
   These are all rom renaming programs. They run under Windows only (GoodWin is a gui front end). You don?t need to use any of them.
7. Still, it seems like we have a number of programs missing for the Mac that would be useful (i.e., ripping nero images, etc)? Can?t you make something?
   No. I don?t know how to program, nor do I have the time to learn right now.
8. Is there a DC emulator for the Mac?
   No, and there probably won?t be one for a long time. Don?t count on it happening once the Macs start using Intel chips either.
9. Any other useful sources of information?
   As for links, try the ones I listed way up in the disclaimer section (listed again for easy access):
   http://www.dcemulation.org http://www.consolevision.com http://gbadcdev.emuscene.com/ http://www.dcevolution.net http://www.dcemu.co.uk/
   These are really great sites. Just remember not to do anything naughty like ask for commercial roms.
   Speaking of which, there are plenty of public domain roms available either because the original author has said it is okay or they are homebrews for the various systems. A good starting place is http://www.pdroms.de/index.php.
   Getting a hold of me:
   The best way to get a hold of me for the moment is on dcemulation.org. My handle is abydos1000. Either send me a private message or post in the Mac forums on that site. I usually pay a visit once a day or so. Also, I am also open to any suggestions you may have regarding this tutorial
   You can also try to reach me at abydos100@hotmail.com

Happy crap about the author and future ideas

I used to have this at the beginning but figured no one cared, so now it is at the end.

If you are new to the DC homebrew and emulation scene and have a Mac, then hopefully this guide gave you the guidance you needed to have a working disc on day one with minimal coaster generation.

I will tell you a little about myself, but not too much (and in previous revisions, you had to plow through this crap in the beginning. This will probably date me quite a bit, but my first video game system was a Pong system by Telestar (and yes, it was old enough to be able to play only on black and white televisions). My next system after that was the Atari 2600 where I was the envy of some of my piers because I had stacks of cartridges (all of them long gone). Then there were the Nintendo years in college. My tastes switched drastically though as I was a fan of the Sega Genesis (I was only interested in sports games and Sega’s arcade ports, and of course Sonic). I then followed that up with the Sega Saturn. However, my tastes switched back to role-playing games, so I went the way of Sony.

Currently though, I don’t favor any system in particular, and my genre tastes are pretty broad. If it gets enough fun games, I buy it. I am enjoying the PS2, X-Box, the GameCube, and of course the Sega Dreamcast to probably equal degrees depending on my mood.

As for myself, I have plenty to do besides playing games. My real daytime job is as a researcher in virology, and my second full time job is my family. I also enjoy dogs and have enjoyed working with them at animal shelters (though that is on the back burner right now). With kids, there isn’t much time for other things.

Things to work on for future revisions (not all at once):

1. Have a good table of contents
2. Figure numbers
3. Expanded general information section
4. More to the Faqs
5. Recommended emulators and homebrews
6. Other programs of use if you have a PC or Virtual PC
7. Documentation for Mac Dream Tool services.
8. HTML format (not any time soon)

Until the next revision, good luck!

This user’s guide was put together by JT Newman, who can be contacted in the DCEmulation forums.

This guide is also available as a 1.2 Megabyte PDF File. You can download it by clicking on the link below:
Macintosh Dreamcast User’s Guide by JT Newman

To follow this tutorial, you will need the following items:

• Toast Titanium 5.x
• CDI RIP 0.6.2
• Stuffit Expander

Emulator cd’s will require a second GAME disc with this method.

Writable CD Media used. CD-R’s Only.
650mb/70min
700mb/80min
185mb/21min Mini-CD’s

1. Download the emulator in Disc Juggler Format. Unzip it. Now you will have a .cdi file.
2. Launch CDIRip,and select “Cut All Tracks” then click “Rip”. Select the cdi file. Another prompt will ask you to select a folder for output, choose any folder.If CDIRip is successful it will say “Ripping Completed succesfully”.
3. Follow the appropriate section of this tutorial depending what files were created.
   It will always create a “CDIRip CDI Analysis” file.
   Either:
   2 Data sessions or
   1 Data session & 1 Audio session

2 Data tracks (NesterDc,DreamSnes,DoomDc,Jpeg SlideShow)

1. Launch Toast and select Edit > Preferences. Make sure “Prefer disc-at-once” is unchecked and hit ok.
2. Select MultiTrac CD-ROM XA ( click and hold down the Other button ).
3. Select the first Data track file to put on the disc and then click Burn.
4. Burn as Write Session. Burn at low speeds if you’re having trouble.
5. Go to the “Edit” menu and select “Clear”.
6. Select MultiTrac CD-ROM XA ( click and hold down the Other button ).
7. Select the second Data track file put it on the disc then click Burn.
8. Burn as Write Disc. Burning speed now should be the same it was for the first session.

It should work, click here for creating a Rom Disc.

1 Data track and 1 Audio track ( DCDivx, LinuxDC,DC Hakker,DC Loader )

1. Launch Toast and select Edit > Preferences.
   Make sure “Prefer disc-at-once” is unchecked and click ok.
2. Select Disc Image ( click and hold down the Other button ).
3. Select the “fixed.iso” file to add on to the disc then click Burn
4. Burn as Write Session. Burn at low speeds if you’re having trouble.
5. Select MultiTrac CD-ROM XA ( click and hold down the Other button ).
6. Select the “header.iso” file and add it to the disc.
7. Burn as Write Disc. Burning speed now should be the same speed it was for the first session.

Now it should work. Follow the next tutorial section to burn a Rom Disc.

Rom Disc

1. Unzip the games ( roms ) with Stuffit Expander.Different emulators want the games in a specific folder, read the text files that come with each emulator. Usually “roms”, or “games”, or just the root folder ( not in any folder on the disc ).
2. Launch Toast and select “ISO 9660″ ( click and hold down the Other button ).
3. Click on Select and then setup the file layout ( see above ) with roms in appropriate folder.Click on the Settings tab and use this setup. Format:CD-Rom XA Naming: ISO 9660 Level 1 Append version numbers (;1) : checked Use Apple Extensions: unchecked
4. When you’re done putting Roms on the disc, click Burn. Burn at low speeds if you’re having trouble.
5. Burn as Write Session if you want to add more games later. Burn as Write Disc if you wish to finalize the CD.

The original version of this tutorial was available from Dreamcast @ MacEmu. The staff at DCHelp did not write this tutorial, and take no credit for doing so. Unfortunately, Dreamcast @ MacEmu no longer exists. However, I.M. Weasel, the developer behind Dreamcast @ MacEmu, has a new Web site on DCEmulation.

• MacPack 4.0-(Iso Fix 1.3)
• Mkisofs (1.1 or 1.1.3)-Pre-compiled for OSX
• Toast Titanium

This method requires OS X because of the unix Terminal program.

This method supports up to 31 character file / folder names.

1. Download the emulator/program in plain files. Unzip it.
2. Move the folder that contains the files “1st_read.bin” & “Ip.bin” to your home directory.
3. Rename the folder you just moved in step two to “data”.
4. Move the “IP.BIN” file into your home directory.
5. Create a new folder in the ?data? folder.
   Read the ?readme? text files with each emulator for appropriate folder name that the emulator wants the games or roms kept in.
6. Unzip mkisofs and put it into your home directory.
7. Launch the Terminal program, type “cd ~” to go to the home directory. Press Enter.
8. Type “sudo ./mkisofs -C 0,11700 -V EMU -l -o data.iso data” in the terminal window and push return.Then enter your password. Wait, the terminal should display its progress in percent (if the data folder is large).

   [localhost:~] mycomput% mkisofs -C 0,11700 -V EMU -l -o data.iso data
   mkisofs: Warning: -C specified without -M: old session data will not be merged.
   
   29.96% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:18 2002
   39.93% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:23 2002
   49.91% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:24 2002
   59.92% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:24 2002
   69.90% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:26 2002
   79.87% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:26 2002
   89.85% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:26 2002
   99.83% done, estimate finish Sun Jul 7 21:02:27 2002
   Total translation table size: 0
   Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0
   Total directory bytes: 10240
   Path table size(bytes): 62
   Max brk space used 0
   50091 extents written (97 Mb)

9. Type “( cat IP.BIN ; dd if=data.iso bs=2048 skip=16 ) > selfboot.iso” and push return. Wait, the Terminal should display something close to this.

   [localhost:~] mycomput% ( cat IP.BIN ; dd if=data.iso bs=2048 skip=16 ) > selfboot.iso
   38375+0 records in
   38375+0 records out
   78592000 bytes transferred in 8 secs (9824000 bytes/sec)

10. Launch IsoFix, Select the ISO file to work with, “selfboot.iso” then select the Isofix Config File “Isofix Config File”.
    Now you have three new files “bootfile.bin”, “fixed.iso” and “header.iso”.
    Only the file “fixed.iso” and “header.iso” are needed now.

Burning

1. Launch Toast, select Edit > Preferences. Make sure “Prefer disc-at-once” is unchecked and click ok.
2. Select MultiTrac CD-ROM XA ( click and hold down the Other button ).
3. Click ADD and select the file “fixed.iso” then click Burn.
4. Burn as Write Session. Burn at low speeds if you’re having trouble.
5. Select MultiTrac CD-ROM XA again ( click and hold down the Other button ).
6. Click ADD and select the file “header.iso” then click Burn.
7. Burn as Write Disc. Burning speed now should be the same speed it was.

The original version of this tutorial was available from Dreamcast @ MacEmu. The staff at DCHelp did not write this tutorial, and take no credit for doing so. Unfortunately, Dreamcast @ MacEmu no longer exists. However, I.M. Weasel, the developer behind Dreamcast @ MacEmu, has a new Web site on DCEmulation.

This mod is the one that’s most needed for the Dreamcast. Lots of commercial games have a soft-reset option, so that’s ok. But as nowadays more and more homebrew games are being released, they mostly lack this, and that’s why you’ll want to install this one: no more open/close or power up/power down, far easier is to push the little button!

This mod is VERY easy to perform, but I expect you to have at least little soldering skills. Also, I expect you know how to safely disassemble the DC. I cannot be held responsible for any damage you encounter while performing this mod. I must stress to be careful with soldering irons and hot glue guns, as THESE CAN BURN YOU!

To follow this tutorial, you will need the following items:

• 1 Dreamcast (PAL/JAP/US)
• 1 Philips screw driver
• 1 small push button (the same as the ones used for the Saturn shoulder buttons)
• 1 Dremel (or very small drill the same size as the push button)
• 1 polishing stone for Dremel or similar
• Hot glue gun
• Soldering iron and some solder
• 2 lengths of kynar wire (about 30 cm each to be safe)
• 2 pieces of shrink tube (0.5 cm each)

You’ll have to solder 2 points on the bottom of the mainboard, so take out every piece of hardware. Begin with plugging in the soldering iron, as now you can disassemble the console and the soldering iron will have the desired heat when the disassembly is done.

Disassembling the Dreamcast and Installing the Button

Now you have to strip the 2 lengths of kynar wire (on both sides), solder them on the two inner legs of the push button and cut of the two outer legs (if there are any, depends on model).

Now take the two pieces of shrink tube, slide them on the two connected legs and isolate the connections by heating the shrink tube.

It’ll look like this. (Note from Curtiss – Illustrations 1.1 and 1.2)

Look for IC 206, it’s in the exact centre of the main board. Next to the small triangle, there should be a connection spot, this is a testpad. Connect one of the desired wires to it.

Make sure to have the stripped connection not too long, so it doesn’t short out anywhere else!

(Nevermind the green wire, both of my Japanese DC’s had this from the beginning, don’t know what its for.) (Note from Curtiss – Illustrations 1.3 and 1.4)

Now connect the other wire to a ground near the fan, this is the most convenient spot in my opinion. Make sure NOT to take the connection beneath the one that is connected in the pic, because the shielding will block the way (where the screw is placed). (Note from Curtiss – Illustrations 1.5 and 1.6)

Now take the Dremel with drill, and have the little polishing stone ready for use to widen the hole. (Note from Curtiss – Illustrations 1.7 and 1.8)

The best place for the button is in the exact centre of the square right next to the cooling fan. (Note from Curtiss – Illustration 1.9)

Now take your hot glue gun and warm it up. Test if the button fits and doesn’t jam, so try it out a couple of times, it should make a clicking sound like usual. No worries if the hole is a little bit too wide, it’s better than trying to push it in and it gets stuck…

Glue the button in, make sure the wires come out the same as in the pic.

Just hold the button by pushing with one index finger, so the button is all the way in and then glue around the button. Just keep it there for a couple of seconds, the glue will harden within a while. Don’t try to glue yourself to the casing! Try out the button to check if you still hear the clicking sound. (Note from Curtiss – Illustrations 1.10 and 1.11)

The hard part is over.

Reassembling the Dreamcast

Tape up the two wires on the bottom of the main board, just at the edge of the board.

When navigating the wires, try to get them in the corner, so they come out of the gap in the shielding (but remember the screw, so don’t get them trapped underneath the shielding).

Tuck away the rest of what’s left of the wires so it doesn’t get in the way of other components: eg fan, led… and close up as usual. (Note from Curtiss – Illustration 1.12)

Disclaimer/copyright:

SEGA and the Dreamcast logo are copyright of SEGA Corporation.

The original idea for the button seems to be from bITMASTER.

I got the idea for this mod when browsing through this site: http://cadcdev.sourceforge.net/

The site is by Dan Potter (hacker/programmer/god).

The actual improvements, tutorial, pics and explanation are entirely mine.

This tutorial is free to distribute to the community, ONLY in it’s original PDF format.

No changes allowed without my permission!

If needed, I can always be contacted through the known channels.

Have fun!
Shinebi
10/2006

One of the nice things about DreamInducer is the fact that it supports custom themes. Once you create a custom theme for DreamInducer, using the tutorial developed by Nyarlathotep, you can follow this tutorial to package it up as an SBT file, which are the archives that Selfboot Inducer uses to add the theme to your disc compilation.

To follow this tutorial, you will need the following items:

• A DreamInducer Theme
• A ZIP program (WinZIP or WinRAR)

Creating the Appropriate Directories

Begin by creating directories. The first directory you need to create is “Inducer”. Then, you need to create a directory called “Themes”. Then, create the directory in which you plan on putting your theme images.

So far, your directory structure should look like this:

/Inducer/
/Inducer/Themes/
/Inducer/Themes/YourTheme/

Now, if you have decided to include an intro movie clip, you need to place your Intro.dxi file in the “Inducer” root directory.

Next, place all of your dxt files in the /Inducer/Themes/ directory. You should also place your “Loading.dxi” file in this directory.

Also, make sure you have a Font.png file in that same directory (unless you gave it a different path in your dxt files). If you want people to see a screenshot when they are in the main menu, and they scroll down to the different options, then you also need to make sure that you include the following files in your /Inducer/Themes/ directory: Apps.png, Demos.png, Emus.png and Games.png. You should also create a screenshot for exiting the menus and call it “Exit.png”. It should be in this directory as well.

So, now your directory structure should look like this:

/Inducer/
/Inducer/Intro.dxi (optional)
/Inducer/Themes/
/Inducer/Themes/Apps.dxt
/Inducer/Themes/Demos.dxt
/Inducer/Themes/Emus.dxt
/Inducer/Themes/Games.dxt
/Inducer/Themes/Mainmenu.dxt
/Inducer/Themes/Apps.png
/Inducer/Themes/Demos.png
/Inducer/Themes/Emus.png
/Inducer/Themes/Games.png
/Inducer/Themes/Font.png (unless you have changed the directory structure of this file in your dxt files)
/Inducer/Themes/Exit.png

Now, you need to add your own files. Place all of your new images in your own directory (called “YourTheme” for the purposes of this tutorial). You should at least have the following files in this directory: “Main.png” (or whatever you call your main image), and “Loading.png”. If you choose to have multiple images (Fore, Back, Time, etc.) this is where they go as well.

Double-Checking

Make certain that all of your dxt files refer to the correct directory paths. Remember that “/Inducer/” on your harddrive is the same as “/cd/” in your dxt and dxi files.

Compressing the Theme Package

Now, you are ready to create your SBT. Simply zip the Inducer directory using WinZip (or a comparable program). Make sure that your program will retain the directory structure within the zip file. This is extremely important. If the directory structure is not maintained, then the file will not extract properly when Selfboot Inducer tries to extract it. Then, rename your “Inducer.zip” to “DreamInducer_YourThemeName.sbt”, replacing “YourThemeName” with the actual name of your theme.

If you need more information on compressing your archive, please visit my tutorial on creating SBI files. There is detailed information (with illustrations) on how to compress these archives located within that tutorial.

Testing Your New Theme

If you want to test your SBT, you can use Selfboot Inducer to extract it, along with one app, one demo, one emu, and one game. Then, use your CD burning program to burn everything inside the “C:/SBInducr/Inducer/” directory onto a multisession disc. Many CD Burning programs do not support extended filenames, so if you are planning on using this method to test your themes, make sure that none of the files or directories within your theme are longer than eight characters (plus the three characters for the file extension).

Then, use DemoMenu to boot your Dreamcast. Once the DC has booted, remove the DemoMenu disc, and insert your theme test disc. Hit “A” to go to the parent directory, and then go to “1st_read.bin” and hit “A” to load DreamInducer. If you do not have a DemoMenu disc, already, you should create one for this purpose. It will be extremely useful in the long run. You can get the necessary files from Consolevision or DCEmulation.

You can use this method 9 or 10 times on each disc. Once your sessions begin to get into the double digits, it will no longer read the correct session.

Side Notes

Make sure that none of your filenames contain hyphens or spaces. These will be changed to underscores when the disc is burnt, so your dxt files will not be referring to the correct file locations when the theme is being used.

Make sure that your theme archive ends with the SBT extension, otherwise it will not be extracted in the correct order.

Make sure that your theme archive filename begins with the words “DreamInducer”. I don’t know for sure if this will affect the way it is extracted, but it appears to.

• dir2boot
• The plain files to a homebrew project

Dir2Boot is a very simple utility that you can use to create a selfbooting CD image (ISO) from the plain files of nearly any homebrew application, demo, emulator or game you download from various other Dreamcast-related sites. Dir2Boot most likely will not work with the various loaders used for illegal rips of commercial games, so it should only be used with homebrew software.

Getting Started

1. Download and install Dir2Boot.
2. Download the “Plain Files” package of the project you would like to selfboot.
3. Open Dir2Boot
4. Locate the directory that contains the plain files you would like to make into a selfbooting image. Press “OK”
5. Type in the name of the disc (standard rules for disc volumes apply: it must be all caps, and it can’t be more than 11 characters)
6. Click the appropriate button.