VMU Backup CD v1.1.0 Released!

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VMU Backup CD v1.1.0 Released!

Post by bucanero »

Greetz everyone!

Just a week after the first release, it's time for a new version of my VMU Backup CD! :lol:

Version changes:

+ Fixed the unreadable font issue on TV displays.
+ Added support for the analog pad to scroll in the menus.
+ Added some new games and new saves.
+ Cleaned up a bit the source code.

Again, it's a selfboot DiscJuggler 4.1 CDI image, available to download at SourceForge.net:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/vmut ... r?download

For source code & binary files, click here.

More info on previous version: http://www.dcemulation.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=64294

Enjoy this release, and post your comments!

c ya!
Last edited by bucanero on Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Juan »

Sweet :D
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Post by NightStalker »

just what we all needed.
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Post by zyloj »

Excellent work!
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Post by psp02ls »

I just can't get the horrible discjuggler to burn this properly. Any ideas? Can someone provide a nero version?

Thanks.
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Post by NightStalker »

google for "cdi2nero"..it will create a nero image so ya can get it burned.it is a dos tool.
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Post by Sir Savant »

How big is it, and does it have gameshark code saves?
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Post by Nimrod4431 »

Can you go into a little bit more detail please? This would be an awesome program and if you give a little bit more info it could definitly prove usefull. How do I do the actual backing up of my save files though?
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Post by evanft »

So what do I do if I want to add my own files??
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Post by bucanero »

Dark Savant0 wrote:How big is it, and does it have gameshark code saves?
.RAR Size: 10 Mbytes.

It does have GameShark & ActionReplay saves, with a lot of games loaded. Be prepared for a 80 blocks CDX_CODES_00 save. :P
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Post by bucanero »

Nimrod4431 wrote:Can you go into a little bit more detail please? This would be an awesome program and if you give a little bit more info it could definitly prove usefull. How do I do the actual backing up of my save files though?
For more detailed info, check the previous release info: http://www.dcemulation.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=64294

Also, if you want, check a screenshot:

http://sourceforge.net/project/screensh ... p_id=99309

There's a tutorial on how to add your own saves to the disc in that forum thread too.

I'm posting the text here anyways:

The disc contains all the saves available at dreamcast.planetweb.com (PlanetWeb's VMU archive), and it also contains all the saves available at http://www.dreamcastcn.com (Jeff.Ma's rare Jap saves and more)

So, in case you want to add some save file from either of those sites, I?ve to tell you that those files are already on the CD. :)

But, in any case, the app is totally customizable, if anyone wants to add a game, just edit GAMELIST.TXT and add a line like this:

GAMEDIRNAME=Some Game Description

then, create a directory GAMEDIRNAME, and inside of it you'll have to create/edit SAVELIST.TXT and add as many lines as you need, in this format:

EXAMPLE.VMI=This is the description for this vmu save file.

That's all... you can add as many games and as many saves as you want.

I hope this info is usefull for everyone who wants to customize this app.
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Post by evanft »

Well how do I do that when it's an image file?
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Post by Nimrod4431 »

Wow, I'm impressed. Looks like a great program. Only thing is that I won't be able to put my own saves on the disc because I have no way of transfering them to my computer. Either way I will still make use of this. Thank you.
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Post by LyingWake »

evanft: Looks like you will have to rip everything from the image. You can use ISOBuster or CDMage to do this.

Then, you can add your VMU files by reading the above tutorial.
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Post by hrb2k3 »

wow, great tool, bucanero. i will have to try this out.

thx
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Post by bucanero »

evanft wrote:Well how do I do that when it's an image file?
You can take LyingWake advice. Also you might load the CDI image in a virtual drive like Daemon Tools and then copy all the files to your HDD, so you can customize the saves in the disc.

Note: You'll have to rebuild the selfboot disc if you want to burn the customized version you made in your hard disk.
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Post by bucanero »

hrb2k3 wrote:wow, great tool, bucanero. i will have to try this out.

thx
Hrb2k3! I can't belive you didn't knew about my app!

I posted the news at many forums, DCEmu, FileForums, DCForums, etc... weird that you haven't seen it until now! :D

Well, if you try it, post your comments, and if you have any saves that I can add to the next release, let me know!

c ya
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Post by hrb2k3 »

ok, i made an .sbi and burned it. the sbi is here,

vmubackupcd110.sbi

it took a while to create the sbi because there are so many files, and it will take a while for SBI4 to extract it.

i have to say that this is one of the best apps on DC, simply because we get a whole bunch of saves for every game on one cd.!! :D just 2 things i noticed......i can't save anything to a 3rd party memory card. it says it saved to it, but it doesnt. well, thats ok, i have to use my sega card.

also, if a folder has a lot of saves in it, it takes a while for the app to load them. i'd say if you are going to add your own saves, make sure that there is no more than 40-50 vmu saves in a folder. it will speed up the loading that way.

other that that, great job on the app, bucanero.!!
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Post by bucanero »

About the 3rd party memory card, I have to say that I've 2 non-SEGA memory cards (4 Mb) and I've tested my app on them and it always worked fine.
Also, I had no complains from anyone else about a non-working 3rd party VMU, so it might be a rare incompatibility with your vmu's. :(

Now, talking about loading times, can you tell me wich games take a while to load and how much time is the loading time? (2 seconds? a minute?) I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that you used Selfboot Inducer or it's the same behavior on the "plain" selfboot CDI version.

I want to improve the app for the next version, add icon display and more saves... so if you can provide info, i'll try to make it better. :)

thanx!
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Post by hrb2k3 »

yea, maybe its just my 3rd party vmu. its a jump pack combo. it never worked with previous vmutool's anyway.

i made a cd with this using selfboot inducer 4. so i put some other stuff on the disc as well. nearly filled the whole cd. so that might be why some folders take a while to load. one example is the Shenmue 1 folder. it takes about 45 seconds or so to load up.

with SBI4, i made a .cdi image which means it used bin2boot. it puts all the data files in the first session and the table of contents of the files on the cd in the 2nd session. so the gd-rom is constantly seeking back and forth from the outside of the cd to the inside reading files.

i dunno, maybe you can test to see if the plain .cdi image takes a while to load the shenmue folder.

btw, i didnt notice before, but i like the music. real nice. one idea was to add a vmu manager so we can browse the files on the vmus a delete files etc..
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