Dreamcast questions

[ClassicGMR]

Just scored a July 1999 Dreamcast console. Works great but, of course, the CMOS battery is dead.

 

1) Is it hard to replace the CMOS battery? Do I even care?

 

2) Is the DreamShell loader any good? Anyone use one? Worth looking into at $15?

 

Thanks ahead of time! Off to play a rousing game of Worms: Armageddon!

[spacecadet]

Replacing the battery involves basic soldering. It's not as easy as it should be, but it doesn't seem that difficult either (I haven't done it, but I've seen guides because I was considering it too). For me I just decided it wasn't really worth it. You just have to bypass the date setting every time you boot up, or set the date manually. There are maybe a few games that rely on time actually passing (Sonic Adventure, for example) and if you plan on playing any of them and using those features, then you might want to replace the battery.

 

There are YouTube videos about replacing the battery if you want to see whether it's something you can easily do. For me, I use my DC sometimes but not often enough that just bypassing the date or setting it when I boot up was enough of a hassle to get around to soldering something.

[TheGrandPubaa]

2) Is the DreamShell loader any good? Anyone use one? Worth looking into at $15?

 

With the SD card adapter, it has gotten a bit better over the years, but last time I tried it, any kind of video/music streaming is going to be choppy or simply not work. Compatibility also seems to be lower than Dreamshell with the IDE mod(which I haven't personally tested, since I have a GD-EMU). Loading time can be longer than from GD-ROM, but if the game uses midi/chip generated music and doesn't have a lot of videos, then it might well be a viable option. I was able to play PSO with some lag here and there.

[icemanxp300]

I have dreamshell and the card adapter. I find it extremely useful to toss roms on an sd card and such. It beats burning stuff all the time. Plus you can run emulators for different systems and adding/deleting files is super easy.

 

AS far as battery replacement. I could easily do it but I just bypass it. I don't play it enough anymore to make it worth fixing.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Could do what I did with my battery. I replaced it with a vertical battery holder and ordered a replacement rechargeable coin cell to stick into it.

[derFunkenstein]

I didn't find out about DreamShell until after I already had my USB-GDROM so I haven't tried it.

 

But do yourself a favor and do the fan mod. You can 3D print a bracket for the 5v 40mm Noctua fan, but you'll also need to fashion an adapter to get the fan to plug into the board. It's so worth it, especially if you're not using the optical drive. If you're using discs (either original or CD-R) it isn't as useful because the optical drive is loud, but it puts out a good amount of air and keeps my Dreamcast cool.

[ClassicGMR]

Could do what I did with my battery. I replaced it with a vertical battery holder and ordered a replacement rechargeable coin cell to stick into it.

Saw how cheap this was and went ahead and ordered the part and the rechargeable battery.