***-->The SCOOP on BBA and Serial Cable!<--***

Well, 1½ weeks ago I was totally new to this and I can tell you it was
overwhelming at first. I had a hard time getting help and I felt bad for XENA
(The most helpful and KNOWLEGEABLE person on here) being bothered by so many people.

This is my thanks to Xena for the help he provided and is the reason for my success!
I figured if I write this it will save XENA a lot of posting time!

First off, if you are just getting into this, like I was, and you are in it strickly
to increase your game library, STOP right now. I don't care about what you do, so I am
not going to give you a copyright speech. PLEASE! No, I am only saying that if that is
THE ONLY reason, don't do it. It is a lot of work, a lot of time and not very easy at
times. It doesn't add up just to get a few more games. What I would do is BUY them off
the net (ripped CD-R copies) They sell for $8 to $10U.S. and I wouldn't pay any more than
that.

Now, if you are like me and a hobbyist, and CANNOT pass up a challenge, then read on!

To start, go HERE! and buy the DC-PC "coders"
cable. Everyone seems to be buying the Lik-Sang version which is A)a ripoff ($34.00U.S.) and B
a complete piece of shit. Can't you see all the posts "Fried lik-sang" "Lik-Sang cable is DEAD!"
Heed the warning signs! It is only 14 inches long! Has NO protection in the middle where the
circuit board is (for regulating voltage differences) and is not of high quality. The tototek
one, however is $20U.S. and is 6½ FEET LONG! Also, it has thicker, high quality cable and the
circuit board in the middle is SAFELY ENCLOSED. Notice on lik-sang's site they don't provide a photo?
Whereas on tototek's site it is CLEARLY displayed?

Ok enough about the cable. If you can afford it, go HERE
and buy THAT! It's a Broadband Adapter, hence forth "BBA" (a 10/100mbit RJ45 Ethernet adapter which replaces the MODEM)
It's $70 clams to your door 2 day air, but WELL worth it!

Why? Because for 2 reasons, QUAKE and other titles are WAY better at those speeds. So is surfing the net.
and the other reason? Because when you "rip" a game (copy data from dreamcast to pc) with the cable (ANY SERIAL CABLE to ANY PC)
it takes anywhere from 17 to 24 hours. NO JOKE! I didn't know this. It is not made very commonly known.
The BBA?? Last night I ripped a game in about 28 minutes!!!!!!! I think that is reason enough.


Ok, NOW you got the hardware. So what now? Well before we go further let me just tell you that
once you have successfully "ripped" a game, it isn't even ½ over. (I know... sheesh!)

You will 1st need TOOLS to perform these duties. By FAR the best site as a resource for files AND INSTRUCTIONS
is HERE!! BY FAR! Everything you need is THERE. Once you get a handle on
it and have all the tools you need, then you will only need the net to either help others or get that much needed
patch off of DCCOPYWORLD. (especially the one I sent for SOUL CALIBUR NTSC/USA release! hehehe) This post had to be continued because
it wouldn't let me put enough in here!!

Now for the experts.
Serial Problems:
I encountered only one problem. Assuming you have the slave CD and all the software setup
if you get the "crapping out after middle of track read" or "get #@$(&%@#$&%!! after 700MB"
all you have to do is (win95.98 users ONLY) reboot. When you get NET login screen PRESS ESCAPE!!!!!!!!!
then when you are at the desktop, press CTRL-ALT-DEL and close EVERY app except EXPLORER and SYSTRAY.
I did this and the problem stopped completely.

BBA issues:
Most common I have seen and what happened to me is, you CAN connect (BTW it DOES work with routers and hubs)
you CAN get the track listing but when you go to download you get ERROR: 0405100 for every file every attempt
Very frustrating in deed. For me, my copy of DCload had 192.168.112.24 as the IP (which is displayed on the TV screen)
It's the 4 hex codes BELOW the MAC address. Got HEX? Go HERE!
for a VERY handy hex tool! This will show you what your IP is in DECIMAL. Now that you know what the IP is of
the dcload software (by the way, your BBA settings in QUAKE or PASSPORT have NO EFFECT AND ARE MEANINGLESS! as far as
the IP address is concerned because DCLOAD just overwrites it as it boots.) Now the other setting must be all zeros.

The BBRIP1.1 should have the IP from DCLOAD in the options area and the MAC address displayed on the TV screen from
DCLOAD. (By the way, if anyone knows where to get an ENGLISH iso of Broadband PASSPORT, PLEASE mail me!)

Now here is what got me.
WINDOWS SETTINGS...
TCP/IP:
IP Address:"Specify"
put in:
IP ADRESS: 192.168.16.63 (you can put in almost anything, but for speed sake use the same 3 numbers as the DC and change the last one)
If it is the SAME as the DC it won't work due to IP conflict.
SUBNET MASK: 0.0.0.0 (this is what got me. I had 255.255.0.0 and as a result I had the common problem of I could connect and
get track list but I could not download)


That should do it. The rest is easy.


Good luck to everyone and happy hunting!

[buglitter]

Could you please clear this up.
PC setting
SUBNET MASK: 0.0.0.0

My question is how can you set this to 0, Windows doesn't let me do it , it keeps saying that this is not valid for the IP (my is set to 192.168.1.1)

I try to get this thing fix but just can get out of this S..T hole yet
Please help
thanks

[emulsoin]

i admire you speed in learning and non lamerness but the one thing i truely disagree with you on is the not increasing your library thought... im not gunna give the copy rite speech either and im not gunna say only back up your own games... but if one wanted to get many free games one would download all of them and not pay 8-10 bucks...

i know people who have over 100 'backups' that they have downloaded and that would be alot of money (still way less than if they bought them legit)
but if you have a 56k then you mite as well buy them for 10 before that site gets shut down

[pirate2k1]

[quote]kevinflynn (31-03-2001 16:52):
Well, 1½ weeks ago I was totally new to this and I can tell you it was
overwhelming at first. I had a hard time getting help and I felt bad for XENA
(The most helpful and KNOWLEGEABLE person on here) being bothered by so many people.

This is my thanks to Xena for the help he provided and is the reason for my success!
I figured if I write this it will save XENA a lot of posting time!

First off, if you are just getting into this, like I was, and you are in it strickly
to increase your game library, STOP right now. I don't care about what you do, so I am
not going to give you a copyright speech. PLEASE! No, I am only saying that if that is
THE ONLY reason, don't do it. It is a lot of work, a lot of time and not very easy at
times. It doesn't add up just to get a few more games. What I would do is BUY them off
the net (ripped CD-R copies) They sell for $8 to $10U.S. and I wouldn't pay any more than
that.

Now, if you are like me and a hobbyist, and CANNOT pass up a challenge, then read on!

To start, go HERE! and buy the DC-PC "coders"
cable. Everyone seems to be buying the Lik-Sang version which is A)a ripoff ($34.00U.S.) and B

HOW DO I BBUY ITEMS FROM TOTEK? IT WONT CLICK ON ANYTHING WHEN I GO THERE?!!!