Newbie who can't seem to get dcstella sbi to work

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 10:07 am

Hi everyone, I'm looking for help in getting DCStella working on my dreamcast.

First of all, this is my first post in this forum and I have to say kudos on a job well done! There are some great tutorials here and I had no idea that the Dreamcast Scene was alive and well! I just HAD to pick up a console after hearing all the great things about it's emulation abilities over on the AtariAge.com forums.

Anyway, sorry to have to make this my first post, but I'm having a rough time getting DCSTella to work. Whenever I pop the CD in my dreamcast, a black screen just stares back at me.

OK, here's what I did:

I based this installation Procedure on this tutorial: http://www.sesonsite.com/Ten-321/DCStuf ... _Tut.shtml

I?m using SelfbootInducer 4 installed to C:\sbinducer

Installed sib.reg and deleted from C:\sbinducer\sbi\

Downloaded dc stella sbi file from sbiffy.com and moved dcstella file ?dcstella_0.2e_b0? into the sbi folder

Launched sbinducr.exe and selected the Stella File on the right and chose Single Menu

Clicked the barcode button to extract the sbi

Here's the confirmation DOS Window:

At this point, my Inducer folder now looks like this:

Now I closed SelfBootInducer to add my roms to the Inducer\2600\ folder per instructions found here: http://consolevision.com/members/sbiffy ... 1056340077

Shot of the ROMS folder:

Then I opened up sbinducr again to create a NERO image, I selected "Single Menu" and click on "NERO DAO" (see pic below)

Here?s a shot of the DOS Status window:

Now, using NERO v5.5.7.2, I begin to burn the Image.

File?.. Burn Image?..c:\sbinducer\inducer.nrg

Burn at 4x, I click BURN.

Pop the CD in the dreamcast and I get a blank screen

Any ideas??

PS: Sorry for the long post and the pics, but I wanted to make it very clear what I had been doing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jerry

Orange_Ribbon · Post by **Orange_Ribbon** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:45 pm

In themes under Emu there should be a DXL file can you open it in note pad, and post it please? I can not see why this did now work.

Captain Spaulding · Post by **Captain Spaulding** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:10 pm

Did you try burning it as TAO or as a discjuggler image. Maybe your cd burner didnt like burning it as DAO. Just a suggestion

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 7:01 pm

Thanks for the responses guys,

Captain Spaulding, I will try the same procedure, but with TAO instead of DAO. (For some reason discjuggler says my burner is "not available")

Orange_Ribbon, I think this is the file you are looking for: "inducer\themes\emu.dxt"

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<THEME>
<INFO>
<AUTHOR VALUE="Mikey242"/>
<TITLE VALUE="Sbiffy!com"/>
</INFO>
<FONT SRC="/cd/Themes/Font.png"/>
<LAYOUT ELEMENTS="7">
<IMAGE X="0" Y="0" Z="8" W="640" H="480" SRC="/cd/Themes/Back.png" MODE="ARGB1555"/>
<IMAGE X="435" Y="135" Z="24" W="160" H="160" SRC="/cd/Themes/Fore.png"/>
<DESC X="416" Y="340" Z="32" W="210" H="72" R="0" G="0" B="0" FONT="18"/>
<SCREENSHOT X="452" Y="152" Z="16" W="128" H="128"/>
<LIST X="101" Y="154" Z="32" W="270" H="230" R="0" G="0" B="0" FONT="30"/>
</LAYOUT>
</THEME>

Cheers,
Jerry

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 7:59 pm

Captain Spaulding wrote:Did you try burning it as TAO or as a discjuggler image. Maybe your cd burner didnt like burning it as DAO. Just a suggestion

Just tried it using TAO instead of DAO and came out with the same problem. I'll try discjuggler next.....

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 8:34 pm

hickster wrote:Thanks for the responses guys,

Captain Spaulding, I will try the same procedure, but with TAO instead of DAO. (For some reason discjuggler says my burner is "not available")

Orange_Ribbon, I think this is the file you are looking for: "inducer\themes\emu.dxt"

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<THEME>
<INFO>
<AUTHOR VALUE="Mikey242"/>
<TITLE VALUE="Sbiffy!com"/>
</INFO>
<FONT SRC="/cd/Themes/Font.png"/>
<LAYOUT ELEMENTS="7">
<IMAGE X="0" Y="0" Z="8" W="640" H="480" SRC="/cd/Themes/Back.png" MODE="ARGB1555"/>
<IMAGE X="435" Y="135" Z="24" W="160" H="160" SRC="/cd/Themes/Fore.png"/>
<DESC X="416" Y="340" Z="32" W="210" H="72" R="0" G="0" B="0" FONT="18"/>
<SCREENSHOT X="452" Y="152" Z="16" W="128" H="128"/>
<LIST X="101" Y="154" Z="32" W="270" H="230" R="0" G="0" B="0" FONT="30"/>
</LAYOUT>
</THEME>

Cheers,
Jerry

Nope. There should be a file called Emus.dxl as well. The dxt file is an XML file that tells DreamInducer where to place the theme images. There should also be a dxl file, which is an XML file telling DreamInducer what text to put on the menu, and where to find various things (such as the bin files for the emus, the screenshots, etc.) If there is no "Emus.dxl" file in there, then either SBInducer didn't create the project correctly, or you chose "Single Menu" from the menu.

EDIT - Try adding your roms while you still have SBInducer open, instead of closing it and then re-opening it.

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 8:49 pm

curt_grymala wrote: Nope. There should be a file called Emus.dxl as well. The dxt file is an XML file that tells DreamInducer where to place the theme images. There should also be a dxl file, which is an XML file telling DreamInducer what text to put on the menu, and where to find various things (such as the bin files for the emus, the screenshots, etc.) If there is no "Emus.dxl" file in there, then either SBInducer didn't create the project correctly, or you chose "Single Menu" from the menu.

EDIT - Try adding your roms while you still have SBInducer open, instead of closing it and then re-opening it.

Cool, thanks for the info. I definitely don't have a "emus.dxl" file. I DID choose "Single Menu" when going through the process. Should I have chosend Multi-Menu or SBI2boot instead? I will also do the thing with keeping SBInducer open when adding ROMS. I'm so close to getting this to work I can taste it! Keep the suggestions coming!

Cheers,
Jerry

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 8:53 pm

hickster wrote:
curt_grymala wrote: Nope. There should be a file called Emus.dxl as well. The dxt file is an XML file that tells DreamInducer where to place the theme images. There should also be a dxl file, which is an XML file telling DreamInducer what text to put on the menu, and where to find various things (such as the bin files for the emus, the screenshots, etc.) If there is no "Emus.dxl" file in there, then either SBInducer didn't create the project correctly, or you chose "Single Menu" from the menu.

EDIT - Try adding your roms while you still have SBInducer open, instead of closing it and then re-opening it.
Cool, thanks for the info. I definitely don't have a "emus.dxl" file. I DID choose "Single Menu" when going through the process. Should I have chosend Multi-Menu or SBI2boot instead? I will also do the thing with keeping SBInducer open when adding ROMS. I'm so close to getting this to work I can taste it! Keep the suggestions coming!

Cheers,
Jerry

Well - if you are putting only DCStella on the disc (not putting any other emus, apps, demos or homebrew games), then you should probably choose SBI2Boot.

Orange_Ribbon · Post by **Orange_Ribbon** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 11:41 pm

do you have any DXL files at all by chance? (sometimes for me SBInducer does not make the DXL, and I have to write it myself.) I have to really try the new version of SBInducer though. Also did you make the rom list by chance? Also where did you put said list?

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:16 am

It should be noted: If you use the SBI2Boot method, there won't be any dxl files.
If you use the Single Menu method, there should be only one dxl file. That one should be mainmenu.dxl, and it should be in the root Inducer directory.
If you use MultiMenu, then there can be up to five dxl files. The first would be mainmenu. Then, within the Inducer\Themes directory, you would find any of these four: apps.dxl, demos.dxl, emus.dxl and games.dxl

Orange_Ribbon · Post by **Orange_Ribbon** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:47 am

Okay so he has that then cause it is in his one Jpg.

curt_grymala · Post by **curt_grymala** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 8:58 am

Well, with Single Menu or MultiMenu, he will always have a "mainmenu.dxl", because that is where everything begins. The thing is, he will probably need to open it to see if there is information included in that file that leads to "/Emus/Stella.bin" or whatever the bin file is called for DCStella.

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:31 am

Seeing as he has a theme and mainmenu that's not 0 bytes, it'd be good if we were able to define what a "blank screen" is.

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 4:52 pm

burnerO wrote:Seeing as he has a theme and mainmenu that's not 0 bytes, it'd be good if we were able to define what a "blank screen" is.

The blank screen is the same as if the TV was turned off - Just a blank black screen.

Well, I tried to burn using a discjuggler image with Alcohol 120% using the SBI2boot menu option and still a no go..... this is very disappointing - and frustrating

Maybe I have a bum console or something??

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:07 pm

hickster wrote:Well, I tried to burn using a discjuggler image with Alcohol 120% using the SBI2boot menu option and still a no go..... this is very disappointing - and frustrating

Maybe I have a bum console or something??

Are you seeing a produced by Sega screen as you would with a retail game?

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:26 pm

Nope, just a blank black screen....

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:30 pm

Kindly describe what happens on-screen from the moment you depress the power button.

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:42 pm

When I hit the power button on the DC, the screen goes from the regular 'snowy' static to absolute black. And it remains black.

I should probably mention that I bought this console used from EB yesterday and I haven't played any retail games on it yet. It's guaranteed for 6 months, so I never thought for a second that it may be busted - think it might be??

burnerO · Post by **burnerO** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:46 pm

You're not getting video output regardless of whether or not a disc is inserted?

Are retail games working?

hickster · Post by **hickster** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:06 pm

Ummm.... how should I tell you this?? Hope you've got a sense of humor....

It appears the video cable was plugged into the console too far. I wiggled and played with it pulled it out a shade and now I get a dreamcast animation and the machine loads up a screen with a CD in the middle, Track 02 on the top left screen and the track length on the top right. On the bottom are various controls (play, ff, rew, etc.)

Hitting play doesn't seem to work, so I hit a button to go to the main menu and I'm presented with Play, Music, Settings and File. Hitting play brings up the message "insert game disc". Am I getting closer?

Thanks for sticking with me, by the way