DreamCast Emulation 101

This thread is designed to give you step-by-step instructions on how to burn emulators and ROM disks to play in the Sega DreamCast.

I know there's other tutorial sites out there, but I'm recommending my own methods for doing it because these have been tested and are guranteed to work (provided they are done correctly).

Here is how to get NesterDC, the great NES emulator, and Gnuboy (Game Boy emulator) running on the DreamCast and booting from the same disc.

Requirements:
1 computer
1 CD-r burning drive
1-5 CD-r's
Self-boot Inducer (Dream Inducer v.4)
Theme.sbt
NesterDC.sbi (NES)
Gnuboy.sbi (GBC)
NES ROMs
Game Boy/ GBC Roms

First, install " directory if you haven't yet (remember it won't work in any directory with SPACES in the name). Be sure to name the folder something like "Inducer4" or "SBI4" or whatever, but NO SPACES.

- Download the (Self-Booting Theme).

- Download the NES emulator, (GBC emulator) file and put them in a convenient place.

- Open the "" (or whatever you named it) folder.

- Now open the " in it.

- Click and RUN the . A small grey window with buttons on it and a black command line window should appear. You should see some text to the right of the grey window.

- Check to see if the NesterDC.sbi and Gnuboy.sbi is loaded. Look at the text on the right and make sure it has a next to it.
It should read - or close to that.

- Go to "".

- Click the "" icon (the first one, that looks like a UPC symbol).
The command line window should show the contents as they're being extracted. Wait until it says "completed".

- Now go back into your "".
This folder is where you can check the contents of what you've extracted and make changes.
(OPTIONAL: I made some custom pics for the NES emulator to display on the menu screens. It includes the necessary DXL file for the changes and ReadMe.txt files for further instructions as well. All you really have to do is replace the files that are currently extracted in your Inducer folder. The file names are the same as the default's.
This is purely "optional", but mandatory if you like Karnov ...and liking Karnov IS mandatory!)

- Next, place whatever Nintendo (NES) ROMS you have in the "" folder. You can fit a ton of games for these systems, but if necessary, you can use "disc swap" to play ROMS from a separate "DATA disc".

Once you're finished adding the ROMs, go back into , which should still be running.

Let's burn the emulators!

(NOTE: If you are having problems burning the disc with "CD Record", you can try using "Disc Juggler" instead. If you choose to do this, click on the 2ND ICON (snake) to make a CDI image and follow the instructions here...

.)

The following instructions explain how to burn the emulator using "CD Record".

- Click on the FIFTH ICON (it looks like a CD and case). This is called "". It is a free burning program that automatically completes the multisession burn for you.

- Click on "". You will see information on your available disk drives. Find the drive you're burning with and enter the three-digit number in the field next to it.
Be sure to enter it exactly and use the "commas" (,).

- Go to where it says "" in the text field.

Important! The disk must be burned at a speed no greater than "" to avoid errors.

Now click "".
This will burn the first session, adding the sound file to the CD which is necessary for the DreamCast to be able to "read it". Wait until "complete".

- Click the "" button (according to the built-in tutorial, you should only have to do this the first time).

- Next, name the disk if desired (or just leave it as the default name "INDUCER").

- Click "". This will make the Iso. You can watch progress in the command line window and it might take a while depending on how much content you're putting on the disk.
Wait until "complete".

- Finally, click the "". This will complete the disk. (Again, it may take a long time if there's a lot of data.)
The disk will eject itself upon completion.

- Try it out in your DreamCast.

Here's instructions on how to get DreamSNES- the Super Nintendo emulator to work.

Ingredients:
1 computer
1 CD-r burning drive
1-5 CD-r's
Self-boot Inducer v.4 (Dream Inducer v.4)
DreamSNES.sbi
SNES ROMs

First thing to get (I'm assuming you've got the first three ingredients covered) is to download " directory (it won't work in any directory with SPACES in the name because this uses command line utilities that don't recognize "spaces"). Be sure to name the folder something like "Inducer4" or "SBI4" or whatever, but NO SPACES.

- Download the file.

- Open the "" (or whatever you named it) folder.

- Now open the " in it.

- Click and RUN the . A small grey window with buttons on it and a black command line window should appear. You should see some text to the right of the grey window.

- Make sure the DreamSNES.sbi is loaded. Look at the text on the right and make sure it has a next to it.
It should read -

- Go to "".

- Highlight the "DreamSNES" file in the selection window, then click the "" icon (the first one, that looks like a UPC symbol).
The command line window should show the contents as they're being extracted. Wait until it says "completed".

- Now go back into your "".
This folder is where you can check the contents of what you've extracted and make changes.
You can put mp3's in the "Sound" folder (I strongly recommend deleting that crappy song that's already on there, otherwise it will play during the DreamSNES menu screen). You can use any kind of music you like (as long as it's mp3 format) but chances are, you want good SNES music. Try this one...

Just place it in the "" folder. You can add more than one song if desired.

- Next, place whatever Super Nintendo ROMS you have in the " than that. If you want ALL of the SNES titles, you're going to have to burn a separate ROM disk, or just repeat this project again with a different set of ROMS.
Remember, DreamSNES 0.9.8 supports disk swap, so if you simply have a disk you can open the DreamCast while DreamSNES is running and place the ROM disk in it.
(Of course, you're only going to use the ROMs of games you actually "own" okay. )

Once you're done with your ROMs and mp3s, go back into , which should still be running.

It's time to burn the emulator!

(NOTE: If you are having problems burning the disc with "CD Record", you can try using "Disc Juggler" instead. If you choose to do this, click on the 2ND ICON (snake) to make a CDI image and follow the instructions here...

.)

Here are the instructions for burning the emulator using "CD Record".

- Click on the FIFTH ICON (it looks like a CD and case). This is called "". It is a free burning program that automatically completes the multisession burn for you.

- Click on "". You will see information on your available disk drives. Find the drive you're burning with and enter the 3-digit number in the field next to it.
Be sure to enter it exactly and use the "commas" (,).

- Go to where it says "" to avoid errors.

Now click "".
This will burn the first session, adding the sound file to the CD which is necessary for the DreamCast to be able to "read it". Wait until "complete".

- Click the "" button (according to the built-in tutorial, you should only have to do this the first time).

- Next, name the disk if desired (or just leave it as the default name "INDUCER").

- Click "". This will make the Iso. You can watch progress in the command line window and it might take a while depending on how much content you're putting on the disk.
Wait until "complete".

- Finally, click the "". This will complete the disk. (Again, it may take a long time if there's a lot of data.)
The disk will eject itself upon completion.

- Try it out in your DreamCast, have fun and thank me if it works.

Or...

- Get really angry if it doesn't work and reply to this thread telling everyone how much of a "loser" Z.E.N is.

...

That's all! I tried to make this walkthrough as simple as possible so let me know if any of you run into problems.

I'll be adding more projects to this thread as I get to them.

Nice! I'll have to give that a shot sometime! I've always wondered how those things got made. I've always just burnt copies of other peoples' emulators. It seems like alot to do, but probably well worthwhile!

Excellent job, Z.E.N!

I've been curious to try this, however my main issue is speed. If this thing lags even a little bit I'll no doubt be thrown off. Is this full speed or should I keep waiting for one of those?

Ok, ZEN, I'll try this. I just need to get some CD-Rs.

I really really hope it works.

Although I don't know whether it will work or not... thanks in advance.

edit:
...
I downloaded dreamsnes.sbi from sbiffy, but I got a zip file and no sbi file... what am I doing wrong?

Are you downloading this?

That's the one I used. It should be the plain SBI file, not a ZIP.

Sadly, DreamSNES is not 100% full speed and the framerate is lower. It runs a lot of the games slower (perticularly in mode 7) but no slower than about 85% full speed.

RPG's and stuff are fine but games like 'F-Zero' suffer a bit.
DreamSNES is the best SNES emulator for the Dreamcast right now. I've tried others that were slower.

Yes, I downloaded that. I click on "save as" and then the sbi changes to zip in the download window...

I tried to change the file extension from zip to sbi and it worked, but burning the CD didn't. I get ASPI errors. I don't know what ASPI is, but it always gives me errors. It seems it can't make the iso.
I think I will have to live without SNES Games on my DC forever...

dont mean to sound stupid but ive never messed with an dreamcast at all. to run this emulator or any burnt cd for that matter, does the dreamcast have to be modified at all?

I don't think it has to be modified. AFAIK it has to be revision number 0 or 1 (right?).

Thanks, Z.E.N, I'll download the files you told me and try it again.
I really want that to work. And of course I want NesterDC, too.

My brother was thinking about getting A Dreamcast, and the nhe saw this. He would like to do it, but he doesn't know what a "Self-boot Inducer v.4 (Dream Inducer v.4)". If you could help him, I would apprecaite it. Thanks.

I get ASPI errors. I don't know what ASPI is, but it always gives me errors. It seems it can't make the iso.
I think I will have to live without SNES Games on my DC forever...
Go here and download the .

Run it, and make sure your CD burner can handle "TAO" and "DAO" modes. If not, you need to update your disk drive's ASPI drivers from here...

Don't give up yet! You're going to want NesterDC too.

I'm very near giving up, though. I downloaded the infotool, but I already had that with my Nero. And of course my Nero can handle TAO and DAO.

The infotool told me, that the "NERO ASPI is installed and working properly", but under the point "system ASPI" it says "not installed". What's Nero ASPI and System ASPI?

I say just do the same thing, but rather than using CDRecord, since you have Nero, just make a DAO or TAO disc. It shouldn't matter which.

You need to download and install the Adaptec ASPI in order to use it with .

You can use Nero if you want (since that ASPI is working), but you'll have to burn a multisession disk .
I don't know how to do it with Nero and any version higher than 5.5 seems to not work well in DreamCasts.

Download it. Install it to your directory. It has a built-in tutorial. Very easy to understand.

...

Anyway, I just finished making a cool NES Files "theme" for use with my upcoming NesterDC SBI's (and resisted the urge to use Evil-Nes' image for the "loading" screen ).
If you think DreamSNES is difficult to make, then NesterDC will be a nightmare considering it involves extracting 3 separate emulators.

As I read on some FAQ pages in many cases Nero 6 (which I have on my laptop) is no good.
Perhaps I'll try it on my old desktop PC, which has Nero 5.5 on it. I hope it still boots.

I tried it on my old Win98 computer at home and the emulator CD was burnt without problems.
Now I have to wait until tomorrow to test it, because I have my Dreamcast in my flat in Munich where I study.

I very hope it works. Would be cool.

Good luck fellow burners.
Well, the reason why I haven't posted the NEsterDC tutorial yet is because I still haven't got a working one. For some reason the NesterDC.bin files won't load after I try to start them. I don't know why. I didn't alter the binary codes in any way, but I had to make custom BIN files in order to extract them all because they share similiar file names that "overwrite" each other upon extraction. Oh well.
I'll get them right eventually. I think there's something wrong with sbiffy's NesterDC.bin's anyway (everything else seems fine though).

*sai*

Anyway, check this out!

This is my officially unofficial "NES Files Dreamcast Menu Theme" that I made.
Feel free to it and use it like any other "Self Booting Theme".

This is my greatest achievement of the week (not counting that "Fabio" thing) and it really works, providing that you have good working BIN's (I don't).

I'm currently testing the emulator for DC also. I'll be sure to add it to the thread later as it is burned nearly exactly like the Super Nintendo one.

Yes, that's what I want, too. GB(C) for DC. And GBA one time. If I had enough time I'd try it and make a tutorial myself, but this semester's gonna be hard.

UPDATE!

Added tutorial for NesterDC 7.1 and Gnuboy 1.0.3 (GameBoy Color emulator) to the first page.
Hopefully there won't be too many problems in making them work for people/manuel.

NesterDC is probably the BEST console emulator out there (just behind SMSplus though) and Gnuboy runs just as good as REW or VisualBoy.
The GameBoy games look better than I expected on a TV screen and both emus are 100% full speed.

I also made some more custom pics for the emu menu screens. Enjoy.

I've been planning to make up a SMS disc for the DC, but I can't find a good package of NES ROMs, romnation.net has plenty, but downloading them individually with that lame number deal takes forever...

UPDATE!
Added tutorial for NesterDC 7.1 and Gnuboy 1.0.3 (GameBoy Color emulator) to the first page.
Hopefully there won't be too many problems in making them work for people/manuel.

Thanks for thinking of me.

I have to try those, too.
Where can I get a bunch of GBC NES ROMs?... Downloading them 1 by 1 is a bit tedious as Luke already said...

I just tried to download themes.sbt. It downloads as nesfiles.zip. When I try to unzip it says the file is corrupt. Do i just need to change the file extension to .sbt? Or is there a different working link?

Thanks!

The link is good. I just called it "Theme.sbt" in the tutorial to let people know that it is the "theme" file.
It should download as Nesfiles.sbt though, and NOT Nesfiles.zip (I don't know why it's different). Just change the extension to "sbt" and it should work.

You DO NOT have to it.
The correct downloaded file should be 225 KB in size.

...

Let Me type it more clear. I'm refering to NesterDC.

I downloaded themes.sbt. It downloads as nesfiles.zip. When I try to unzip it says the file is corrupt. I unzipping programs works properly so it must be the file. Do i just need to change the file extension to .sbt? If there is something wrong, can you give me a working link?

Thanks!
Let Me answer it more clear. YOU DO NOT NEED TO folder in Self-boot inducer.

It should look like the . (EDIT: But your "icons" don't have to look the same, and there is no "spyware" in those files. I have Spybot S&D installed and it shares the ".sbi" extension with SBInducer.)

That's all. Self-boot will extract it just fine.

Here's a link to another "theme".

And NesterDC is NOT an "sbt", it's an "".

You're welcome!

nice little walkthrough there. Now if only it were possible do it with Nintendo Gc...

I did everything you said for NesterDC.

I burned the cd and put it in my dreamcast and NESTERDC loaded. I was able to select my NES ROMs but when I hit the start button on my dreamcast controller they did not load. It just says please wait and becomes a black screen. I know that my NES ROMs work properly.

I only burned the NES emulator not the gameboy. I downloaded Theme.sbt (nesfiles.zip)
NesterDC.sbi (NES)

but they downloaded as zips and I renamed them with the proper extension. You said the nesfiles.zip should be around 200kbs but it downloads only to 74 kb

Your Help would be appreciated.

Make sure your NES ROMs are not "zipped". They should all have the "" extension.

I only burned the NES emulator not the gameboy. I downloaded Theme.sbt (nesfiles.zip)
NesterDC.sbi (NES)
If you are only using 1 emulator, you do not need the Theme.sbt.
Select the in Self-boot Inducer and burn it as usual.

Also make sure your ROMs are in the folder named NES.
I don't know what the deal with the is.
When I click on the link, I get this...

That is how it SHOULD download.

If anyone else is having trouble downloading the "Theme", respond please.

...

Could you develop a write up on how to properly save your games using the dreamcast's memory cards?

I just performed your DreamSNES walkthrough. It worked great. I had to put all of my roms on 3 cds! The only thing that I had to do was make sure my ROMS on each cd were below 600MB.

So be sure to stay under 700MB!!!!

I downloaded the DreamSNES.sbi file from and it downloaded as DreamSNES_098_CG.zip, but I renamed it to DreamSNES_098_CG.sbi

The only other thing was when I wanted to make my second and third cd. I deleted my Inducer4 folder under the c: drive and restarted my computer and redid the whole process to get my second cd.

Another thing I just saw that you can download 748 sNES ROMs off of torrentspy.com. I'm sure they have NES ROMs also.

Thanks!!!

Is DreamSNES_098_CG or DreamSNES-0.9.8 better than the other, or are they the same?

Thanks, Alan

FYI,

When I click the nesfiles.sbt I get the following link:

Thanks, Alan

I just got my NesterDC working! Thank so much for all of your help! I really appreciate it! Thanks, Alan

I will add info to first page later. The quick solution:
, and the you'll hear the VMU "beep" while being jumped to the DreamSNES menu screen. You can return to the game in progress from the menu, but your game will be saved from the point you hear the "beep" (check your VMU saves from the DC's bios to make sure).

all suport battery saving and "save state". The save state works just like on PC emulators. You can do it anywhere.
Just pick a spot, Hold to save.
To "load" a save, fire up the game and bring up "VMU SaveState Menu", then press . You can only use one "Save State" per game and they really eat up memory card space.

"Battery Saving" takes up only a few blocks of memory but can only be done with NES Games with battery saves (Dragon Warrior, Legend of Zelda, Baseball Stars, etc.) To execute a "battery save" to VMU, simply save in the game (at a save point), then to exit the game. This will save it to your card.

Are you using a "download manager" or something that automatically ZIPs everything on the fly. None of these files should have a "zip" extension.

To clear your in the grey window (the one that looks like a trash bin). That will clear your folder so that you don't have to delete the Inducer4 folder.

There's no shortage of ROM links around here...

Same emulator. the "CG" is sbiffy's updated version with new readme's and multi-language support.

When I click the nesfiles.sbt I get the following link:

Yes, that's the correct link. Big thanks to Roth's neighbors "The Villens" for letting me leech off of their server (actually it's MY server but I host their website there).

Anyway, congrats on your new found emulation glory.

I tried it and I got Dreamsnes to work. The speed is only between 75 and 90%, but that's ok. I mainly plan to play puzzle games on it, so speed doesn't matter so much.

Gnuboy also works flawlessly.

But there's a problem with NesterDC. The NES ROMs load, but the controls don't. When the rom is loaded, I can't control the game. Neither Start, a, or b work. What did I do wrong?

Are you using ? The first screen that loads should be one where you select from the available "input" deVices.
It should look like .

However, if you're already to the NES ROMs loading menu, then obviously your controllers work since you have to press "A" to get to them.
Must be something with nesterdc.bin file, but I doubt it. Might be bad NES ROMs that you're using.

Yes, I get to that screen. The buttons work allright until the rom is loaded. But then I cant control anything.

The NES ROMs work perfectly on my computer.

I'm using version 7.1, the one you gave the link to on sbiffy.

Perhaps I'll just try to burn it again and hope everything is fine.

Thanks for the help.

for the nes emulation...where do i put the mp3 sound file u mentioned ?? wich folder that is

i have the same problem the menu controls work but not when i get into a game..are there any readme files about how to use the nester emulator controls etc ????

There is no mp3 playback for the NES emulator.
The mp3 is for the DreamSNES (Super Nintendo emulator). If you're wondering, it goes in the folder named "".

There should be "readme.txt" file after extracting the SBI (look in the root of the folder).

The controls are simple.

DC "A" = NES "A"
DC "X" = NES "B"
DC "Y" = NES "select"
DC "start" = NES "start"

DC "Right Trigger" + "B" - RAM Savestate Menu
DC "Right Trigger" + "Y" - VMU Savestate Menu
DC "Right Trigger" + "A" - Game play options.
DC "Analog Stick" - Adjusts frame skip.

DC "Both Triggers" + "Start" = NES "Reset"

There might be a "bug" in the newer sbiffy.com SBI's (I'm using an older version) so I will check it out and see if I can find an alternate SBI for NesterDC to post a link to.

i put about 100 games on the cd and of the 30 or so that ive tried only about 4 have worked. they all load looking and sounding like the originals, but no buttons work and i just sit there staring at the start screen. im really distraught over this one. anyone have any ideas?

-jay

i found this on sbiffy!.com's forums. it seems nesterdc v7.1 has a config file error that does this to a lot of games. people who went back to v 6.0 had no problems. there is also a way to fix it by turning sound off and saving files and reloading, but it seems a lot of work and not worth it.

Thanks for the info. Then I'll have to get v.6

Yeah just use version 6.0 of NesterDC. It works every bit as good as 7.1.
It seems the latest versions of NesterDC have issues with Self-boot Inducer, although this is not SBI's problem, it because of some code NesterDC.

If you want the light gun support, use NesterDC 7.1+b. Unfortunately, you can't have the multiple NesterDC versions on the same disc (which is what my tutorial on the first page was originally all about).

Looks like I'm going to have to do some "editing".

EDIT: You can still use the "NES files" theme and custom pics for NesterDC 6.0, that I linked to on the first page. The pics share the same filename as in version 7.1 and go in the same directory.

...

Eachtime I use Scanbus it says Tools/CDrecord: No target found

What should I do?

What OS (version?) are you running?

I had the same problem when I was trying to burn NesterDC. I can't remember the exact details but apparently CD Record doesn't work with all CD drives or something like that. I ended up using a mix of Disc Juggler and Nero to burn the emulator and NES ROMs. Sorry I can't be of more help regarding details, its been a while.

I have tried basicly everything i can and nothing works .
Plz someone help me on what to do i really want this

-JiNsAmA- thank you

It was the same with me.
Then I tried it on a PC with Windows98 and it worked flawlessly.

Are you on XP or something else? It might be of help if you tell us which OS you are running on your computer or which hardware you use.

Eachtime I use Scanbus it says Tools/CDrecord: No target found

What should I do?
Check in the .

If it's not there, you either don't have the file or it has been placed in the wrong directory. .

It needs to be in the folder to work properly.

For one reason or another, the disc is not being read when I use it in my DreamCast. I'm brought to the system settings (Play, File, Music, and Settings), and whenever I select play, it displays the message, "Please insert a game disc". I tried using Auto Start, but to no avail. I have followed the steps for NesterDC to the last period. Does anyone have any ideas of what I could be doing wrong?

I'm currently using Windows XP SerVice Packet 2.

Are you certain your DC is a revision "1" or "0" ? the revision 2 consoles don't boot from CD-R. if this isn't the case, and your console is a revision "1" or "0" then you're just not burning the disc right.

I've been told that it's better to burn them no faster than 12x, but sometimes as low as 8x, or even 4x is required. Since then I've burned at 4x just to be sure, and have burned a lot fewer coasters.

Well, I'm not entirely sure. I don't know how to tell the difference unless it's marked somewhere on the console..the box doesn't give me a clue. The only clue I could have is that it was a "Sonic Expansion Set".

On the bottom of the console next to the there should be a circle with a number in it, that's the revision number.

this is assuming you're from North America, that something...

there should be a circle with a number in it, that's the revision number.

this is assuming you're from North America, that

Ah ha, it is indeed a 1 inside that circle. So it must be the disc. I've been attempting this at 4x, Menu type Single, with all the necessary files. The only thing that may affect is it that I'm only using the NES emulator, not the GB emulator. That's the only guess I can have, but I'm extremely new to this.

Any ideas?

I've been attempting this at 4x, Menu type Single, with all the necessary files. The only thing that may affect is it that I'm only using the NES emulator, not the GB emulator. That's the only guess I can have, but I'm extremely new to this.

Any ideas?
It could be a problem with the Self-booting theme. If you're just using the NES emulator, select instead of "Single Menu" and it should directly load the emulator, bypassing the "theme".

Make sure you're using with Self-boot Inducer (it's the only one that works properly).
However, the "theme" should boot up just fine if you followed the instructions, so there must be a "burn error" somewhere.

It could be a problem with the Self-booting theme. If you're just using the NES emulator, select instead of "Single Menu" and it should directly load the emulator, bypassing the "theme".

Make sure you're using with Self-boot Inducer (it's the only one that works properly).
However, the "theme" should boot up just fine if you followed the instructions, so there must be a "burn error" somewhere.

Alright, everything is working now. I switched the menu type. Thanks alot guys.

It says for me that it "Cannot open SCSI Driver" and I can't pick my CD burner...

When are you getting this message?

You should be able to select your burning drive under ).

Are you using an external drive maybe?

???

uhhhh is this something a 13 year old with all the requirements and patients could do? im really interested in the idea...

If you're on Win98 it's absolutely no problem.

well im on a windows xp acer laptop, but our family computer was originally windows 98, could i do it just fine with windows ME? (thats whats on the '98 right now.)

ME is techically very similar to '98, it should work just fine.

Thanks a lot. I will try to put up a CDI burning guide for (if anyone else out there knows, please contribute).

This thread is designed to give you step-by-step instructions on how to burn emulators and ROM disks to play in the Sega DreamCast.

Here's instructions on how to get DreamSNES- the Super Nintendo emulator to work.

Ingredients:
1 computer
1 CD-r burning drive
1-5 CD-r's
Self-boot Inducer v.4 (Dream Inducer v.4)
DreamSNES.sbi
SNES ROMs

First thing to get (I'm assuming you've got the first three ingredients covered) is to download " directory (it won't work in any directory with SPACES in the name because this uses command line utilities that don't recognize "spaces"). Be sure to name the folder something like "Inducer4" or "SBI4" or whatever, but NO SPACES.

- You can download the file from .
(NOTE: If you have installed on your computer, the SBI files may automatically be associated with it because apparently, the SBI extension is also used for Spybot apps. This won't affect anything though.)

- Open the "" (or whatever you named it) folder.

- Now open the " in it.

- Click and RUN the . A small grey window with buttons on it and a black command line window should appear. You should see some text to the right of the grey window.

- Make sure the DreamSNES.sbi is loaded. Look at the text on the right and make sure it has a next to it.
It should read -

- Go to "".

- Highlight the "DreamSNES" file in the selection window, then click the "" icon (the first one, that looks like a UPC symbol).
The command line window should show the contents as they're being extracted. Wait until it says "completed".

- Now go back into your "".
This folder is where you can check the contents of what you've extracted and make changes.
You can put mp3's in the "Sound" folder (I strongly recommend deleting that crappy song that's already on there, otherwise it will play during the DreamSNES menu screen). You can use any kind of music you like (as long as it's mp3 format) but chances are, you want good SNES music. Try this one...

Just place it in the "" folder. You can add more than one song if desired.

- Next, place whatever Super Nintendo ROMS you have in the " than that. If you want ALL of the SNES titles, you're going to have to burn a separate ROM disk, or just repeat this project again with a different set of ROMS.
Remember, DreamSNES 0.9.8 supports disk swap, so if you simply have a disk you can open the DreamCast while DreamSNES is running and place the ROM disk in it.
(Of course, you're only going to use the ROMs of games you actually "own" okay. )

Once you're done with your ROMs and mp3s, go back into , which should still be running.

It's time to burn the emulator!
(NOTE: There are a few ways to burn this emulator, but I'm sticking with the one that "works".)

- Click on the FIFTH ICON (it looks like a CD and case). This is called "". It is a free burning program that automatically completes the multisession burn for you.

- Click on "". You will see information on your available disk drives. Find the drive you're burning with and enter the 3-digit number in the field next to it.
Be sure to enter it exactly and use the "commas" (,).

- Go to where it says "" to avoid errors.

Now click "".
This will burn the first session, adding the sound file to the CD which is necessary for the DreamCast to be able to "read it". Wait until "complete".

- Click the "" button (according to the built-in tutorial, you should only have to do this the first time).

- Next, name the disk if desired (or just leave it as the default name "INDUCER").

- Click "". This will make the Iso. You can watch progress in the command line window and it might take a while depending on how much content you're putting on the disk.
Wait until "complete".

- Finally, click the "". This will complete the disk. (Again, it may take a long time if there's a lot of data.)
The disk will eject itself upon completion.

- Try it out in your DreamCast, have fun and thank me if it works.

That's all! I tried to make this walkthrough as simple as possible so let me know if any of you run into problems.

I'll be adding more projects to this thread as I get to them.

Dear Zen,

I've spent on and off about a week trying to figure this emulator crap out and have spent many late night hours reading web site after web site and have accumulated a collection of particular software, zips, rars, etc...

Anyway, I found your "Step by step" tutorial for the DreamSNES and it worked PERFECTLY. Keep in mind I'm a total lost soul with this and just started. My son found a Dreamcast that someone had thrown out but it works fine. We purchased one game a while back and all is well. However, for educational purposes only, I read your instructions very carefully and they were so very clearly given. You're a class act. (of course after finding out that it worked, naturally for legal purposes we destroyed the CD, as anything else might be illegal)

I might add something if I may to your TUTORIAL, it's regarding when one loads up the ROMS to the folder. In that folder is already a LIST generator. People might not realize they have to create a ROM list after putting SNES games in that folder. That's what that "provlist.exe" is for. I used it and it made all of the titles into numbers instead of their correct names, for example, Donkey Kong. It turned it into a number instead of listing it alphabetically in the "D"s as Donkey Kong. Now I don't know if it would read like that when fully completed and burned so I deleted that Rom Directory creator and used "romlst.exe" instead. I can't even remember where I found it but it made a very nice alphabetical listing for the ROM LIST for the menu to read when playing it on a DC. (Actually, since we discarded the CD, I'm assuming thatt)

Once a directory or rather ROM LISTING has been created, I removed the "romlst.exe" file from that directory and put it in a file in MY DOCUMENTS for later use. I didn't burn the CD with the "romlst.exe" or the "provlst.exe" in the SNES folder.

Also, thank you for suggesting we remove the VERY CRAPPY song that came with that application. I listened to it out of curiosity while checking the software out prior to using it in the first place and it sounded too wierdo for me and instead put a really nice tune in there.

You really helped this mom who's TOTALLY new to this. I wanted to take the time to register AND say "Thank you" for the very carefully and EXACT directions because I would have been lost otherwise and possibly ruined 10 more CDs.

Note, just before throwing the CD away, as keeping it would be possibly considered illegal, we tried it for educational purposes and the program DreamSNES does drag for many games and there were only 100 games loaded on it. It's very beautifully laid out and a much nicer interface then the Sega game emulator loaded with Sega games for Dreamcast yet the only drawback is it drags somewhat for games with more motion. If it wasn't for that it would be TOTALLY AWESOME IN MORE WAYS THEN ONE.

Thank you Zen. And anyone out there, if this clueless mom can do it, I promise you that you can too.

It's people like Zen that add class to the internet.

this is the only help i've found for doing this and it works perfectly. thanks.

for those of you having burning issues follow the instructions but instead of recording the cd from inducer save it as a cdi image file (the snake button) and use alcohol 120% to burn it. you can download alcohol for free(google it) and you shouldn't have a problem.

Good idea. Also, from me who has trashed dozens of CDs from learning, I would also suggest if you have a .cdi file, and Discjugger, which the free trial version works perfectly up to 700mgs, which is often fine, and it defaults to the SLOWEST burning speed for the long lasting trial version, again, which is nice and what is needed, but if burning the .cdi file on juggler, don't forget to change the settings in the ADVANCE area/tab, change the following BEFORE burning a CDI / cdi file:

Actually, since I'm here I might as well step by step it:

First, wait for the nag screen to go away
then click on FILE......then click on NEW.
then a box pops up: choose "Burn CD and DVD images"
you'll see another area show up, find the ADVANCE tab...once there you'll see it.

Then, click on ADVANCE

for the MODE area, make that setting NOT audio but INSTEAD, change it to
"MODE 1 DVD"

In that same area is a TOC thingie/box. Change that to "CD-ROM/DVD"

below that the ONLY thing that should be checked is:
"Raw/Write" And also check "Overburn CD/DVD"

if the boxes are not allowing you to check them or fully show up to function, this is because no CD has been put in your burner. Once there is a CD in there, the START/BURN button and other areas will allow you to fiddle with them.

I hope this helped anyone. I had to learn the small detailed stuff the hard way, but for only educational purposes of course.

If you did really keep the CD, i wouldnt worry about it. No one here is going to care. I dont think there is any government officials sanning the board everyday, either.

Thanks a lot A_Childs_Mom for the Disc Juggler walkthrough (if you don't mind, I have edited the original post from the first page with a link directly to your post so others can use it if CD Record doesn't work for them).

I got tired of some of the "not very easy to understand" tutorials about DreamCast emulation on various other web sites, so I tried my best to make one that described each and every step as simple but as thoroughly as possible.
Good to see that it's working out for most of you.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about "legal issues" either. Most government officials are too busy cracking down on movie pirates and child soliciters to bother with petty things like people playing ten year old games on an emulated console.

Why thank you very much.
However... you might want to steer clear of the "Off-Topic" board. Some of the stuff I post there might change your opinion of me. Ha!

When i pick up some CD-r's tommorow, im gonna try it out, And i read somewhere DONT use cd-RW's in your DC It said it can fry your lens!?

Didnt work. every thing went smoothly until make ISO where nothing happened at all. I had the NES ROMs loaded in the "nes" folder and cant see what i could have done wrong. i was only using nesterDC, and was on WindowsME computer.

You didn't happen close out "Self-boot Inducer" while you were adding the NES ROMs to the folder did you? That will ruin the ISO.

Did you receive any weird errors during the click process? Did you follow the command line (DOS) window progress?

Also, where is the exact location of your ) on your computer?

Need more input.

I didnt close the SBI while doing anything it was always on. And the Msinfo seemed to go smoothly, and i had the Self boot inducer in my documents folder, with no spaces in the title. Thank you.

EDIT: Hey, i think i know the problem. You specified to not put it in any directory with spaces and i did. I will re-install it DIRECTLY to my C:/ drive and try again. Thanks

HOLY CRAP! This is so freakin tottally kick-ass i can hardly breath! I got Dreamsnes to work, And its GREAT!!!! Just one question, How do you get back to the list of NES ROMs after playing one game?

THANK YOU!! Im going to do NesterDC Now

Hold LEFT on the analog stick for 3 seconds and you'll be taken back to the title menu. You can return to the game from there.
This is also how you games to the VMU, provided the game itself has battery backup saving.

Hi, new guy here. Just wondering, when i click on the scanbus button, I get some error messages stating that

cannot load aspi driver Tools/Cdrecord Permission denied! Cannot open scsi driver'

anyone know what I can do?
Windows XP right?

I'm betting you need an ASPI driver, but I can't remember the details. , and if not, I'm sure someone else can.

its ok, I used nero to finish it off, but tbh, it runs sort of slow on my dreamcast; could this be a fault in the burning process?

Are you talking about DreamSNES? Unfortunately SNES Games do run a little slow on a Dreamcast. If it is NesterDC you burnt there shouldn't be any slowdown at all.

yeah, its is DreamSnes. ah well, i'll just make do with my snes cart collection, as tbh, I can't stand slowdown...

DreamSNES only runs about 75-90% speed at best, unfortunately. It's definitely not a replacement for a real Super Nintendo, but serves its purpose as a way to "try out" games just in case you might want to collect more SNES carts.

It's the worst when trying to pull off Mode 7 effects. It probably only runs games like 'F-Zero' at 50% full speed.
It's still the most advanced SNES emulator for the DreamCast and will most likely remain that way, as progress on improving DreamSNES and others have seemingly stopped.

cheers for all the help guys; I agree that it will definitely make a good testing ground for games that I may want to pick up sometime in the future, and I will probably use that route from now on.

If you like nes, WHich i beleive is superior to the snes, NesterDC works flawlessly, and is freakin amazing. Give it a shot. Its almost like a real NES.

I tried to download DreamSNES_098_CG but it keeps flying through the download and saying it is corrupt or invalid.this also happens when I tried to download DreamSNES_098 from sbiffy.com

i dont think that matters and you DONT have to Unzip anything. just do the instructions as planned, placing the "Invalid" SBI in the correct place. it worked fine for me. what computer are you on? XP? 98?

Im on XP,and I just downloaded DreamSNES-0.9.2 isn't it the same thing?

Im not exactly sure. But i didnt use that. Just use the "Invalid" File and try it. Z.E.N. Stated somewhere up there that it doesnt matter and you dont have to unzip anything

Uhh can someone gimme a reply before I make it

So Im gonna just retry the invalid one and not take my chances ....so you sure it wont mess up

just checkN so it doesnt matter if it isnt able to unzip?

Im pretty sure, yeah. Make sure your DC is a model (0) or (1) its on the bottom beside NTSC. What have you got to lose? a buck? Look at all the snes gamez you can have for that one dollar!

Thanks

Oh hey so I just downloaded DreamSNES_098_CG.sbi but it looks like DreamSNES_098_CG do I just add the extension

Is it a SBI. File? If it is i think you'll be OK.

it is still zipped I just got it from sbiffy cause as I recall you said it didnt have to be unziped if it was corrupt

yeah, so what? Burn it.

when i checked in the inducer file there was nothing in there but a file that said IP

man, you stumped me. Im not sure... Jeez!

When does that guy Z.E.N get on

I just went to the Inducer and hit the upc looking thing and it says:

End of central directory signature not found.Either this file is not a zip file or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive.In later case of central directory and zipfile comment will be found on the last disk of this archive. Unzip: cannot find zipfile directory in Sbi/DreamSNES_098_CG.sbi,
and cannot find Sbi/DreamSNES_098_CG.sbi.zip,period.
Extraction complete.
The correct filename should be recognizes it.

You might want to make sure the folder your 's are in do not have known file type extensions marked as "hidden".
Also do not use a download manager to get the files, and make sure there's no "spaces" in the path of your directories or the DOS command of Self-boot won't be able to find anything.

By default, there should be...
- Ip.bin (32k)
- 1st_read.bin (422k)
- Binload.bin (7k)
- Themes (142k)

If you are missing any of those files/folder, then start up Self-boot Inducer and click the last icon (trash bin) to clear out and reset the "Inducer" directory.

Also make sure you have a "theme" (sbt) in the "Sbi" folder or it won't work.
Also make sure everything is done in the right order.

I did every single thing you said and it burnt but the bad thing is that It didnt F-ing work and made waste CDs I am getting Really Mad at this ....and to top it off I clicked on Mario and he changed the names of all the SNES Games so now I have to rename all of them just to know what I am playing....

I think that's "Link" not Mario. The is not necessary (maybe I should warn everyone about that).

When you turn on the DreamCast, does it actually "boot" the disc?
Are you getting the BIOS screen (the one with 4 options) or the CD player?

???

Yep the bio screen just showed both times!!!!!

How do you burn the cdi with Alcohol 120%,is there anything I have to do
in particular besides just going into it and burning it?? Do I have to have any special settings to burn the cdi file??

Your having problems with CD Record? It worked fine for me.

The last time I tried burning a CDI image with Alcohol 120%, I just used the default settings and it worked fine.
I just prefer not to take the extra steps to make the CDI because CD Record seems to get the job done (at least it does for me).

As for the disc not booting...
Did you absolutely make sure your DreamCast is a "revision 0" or "revision 1". Other "revisions" will not boot CD-Rs.
For information on locating the revision number, check .

You also might want to change your menu settings since you're only burning one emulator.
When starting .

This will bypass loading the "theme" and directly load the emulator.

That's about as much as I can tell you right now.

I cant figure out how to do this for the life of me!
I dwnloaded the required pragrams as suggested..
But i dont know which is the directory to put the files in?
And do i have toi unzip them aswell??

Pls help!

Open the "Inducer4" (or whatever you named it) folder.

- Now open the "Sbi" folder and place Theme.sbt (if you downloaded the one above, it should be named "Nesfiles.sbt") and both the NesterDC.sbi and Gnuboy.sbi in it.

DO I UNZIP THESE??????????????

- Click and RUN the Sbinducr.exe. A small grey window with buttons on it and a black command line window should appear. You should see some text to the right of the grey window.

NOTHING APPEARS IN MY WINDOW TO THE RIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The extension, not "zip".

The window on the right shows the extracted emulators. Of course, they won't extract unless they have the extension, so just change "zip" to "sbi" then run Self-boot Inducer to see if it works.

I don't have this so-called "zip" problem so I can't make a 100% positive analysis of it.

Hey,there.Im wanting to give this a try and will be picking up a dreamcast and try to figure this out.Befor getting though,I hear that only the first dreamcasts made will read CDR's and they removed the function in later models.Is this true and if so is there a way to tell which ones will work with CDR's?Any help greatly appreciated,thanks.

Changing from zip to sbi worked fine!

So now i just need to download NES ROMs and put them in the folder?

Also im after the NEOCD bios thats needed for neo4all.

Thanks heaps for your help Z.E.N

Look on the bottom of the DC, Near NTSC U/PAL Indicator, If there is a circle with a 0, or a 1 your good for burning. If its a 2, Your screwed.

Thanks.I hunted down a number 1 system and will attempt my first burn tonight.

Well I had the same problems with not being able to burn from the self boot inducer and went with disc juggler and got it.Im still pretty clueless though,I exited by accident from My first attempt at self boot inducer and now I cant find all my NES ROMs.450 something roms somewhere on my computer I cant find them though.I had already made a CDI image with discjuggler and made 3 copies just in case I cant find em.Tomorrow I'll give DreamSNES a try.

Thanks to everyone who put info up in this topic as it would have taken me forever to get my first done on my own.Once I have these all burned my 9 year old boy will be the one who will be happiest though.Im gonna set up a nice game room for him where hell have thousands of games at his disposle.Thanks again everyone.

its really great. I love nesterDC i find its almost like the real thing! Thank you Z.

Got dreamSNES working thanks to all the great info.One question though.When you press select game and the games list comes up,is it normal to bog down the dreamcast and have the games list and music sputter and stutter?Thanks again all.

Uhh.. That doesn't happen to me. I don't use Dreamsnes alot though, little too much lag for me to handle.

That's perfectly normal behavior. It takes a while for the Dreamcast to read the ROM headers when loading the game selections.
There is a way to speed up the process by running the "provlist.exe" before burning the emulator, but it renames all the game NES ROMs to numbers. It's worth a try as long as you back up all of your original ROM files in a different location.

Have not tried it though (I have about 150 games on my disk, so the "loading" isn't that much of a problem).

All right, you talked me into it. I bought a dreamcast and a boxed set of "Samba de Amigo" controllers for $20 or so.

I've already burned a CDx or something to play US games in the system using discjuggler that works. I have not tried any emu's yet, but they will be attempted soon.

Is there a good place to download the ISO files of the DC games?

I have to thank Z.E.N, this weekend one of my flat mates and I (with very little computer expertise between us ) managed to do this for his younger brother.

Good to see that this thread is helpful to a lot of you. I will be updating with a new tutorial on how to burn as well as a brand new custom SBI menu theme.

The links will be rehosted also, along with some new downloads like NSF packages and box scans.

Anybody want a "Karnov Menu Theme"?
You won't have to wait long!

Step #1: Download

Step #2: Open it, and locate your NES ROM folder

Step #3: Click start build, and wait a week or two

Step #4: The builder should launch your CD burning software when the image is prepared, press the "burn" button

Step #5: Enjoy the best NES emulator the DC has ever seen.

Anybody want a "Karnov Menu Theme"?
You won't have to wait long!

When? WHEN!? Just the thought excites me!

I am resurrecting this thread because the 4 year old file links were broken, so I rehosted them for anyone who still wants to use this tutorial.

As far as I know, all the necessary tools needed for creating a working DC emu disc are there.

The DreamCast is still a great system. Anyone who wants to experience a near perfect NES emulator that you can play on your your TV screen, I urge you to give NesterDC a try.

Yeah, this was excellent. I still have the disks for NES, SNES, Gameboy etc. laying around somewhere. Must get the DC out and Hooked up again.