TUTORIAL: How to play backups w/o mod chip, only Max Drive Pro Memcard

Hi,
i am a newbie to the ngc world.
i just bought a gamecube for my kids and i am willing to make and use backups.
the maxdrive pro looks interesting and i am about to buy one.

still i have 3 questions :
1/
the maxdrive pro solution requires swaping disc (which i can live with).
does the action replay solution also requires swaping disk if i have an sd card or memory card with gcos on it already (i would say yes since it seems that AR also has a dvd bootloader)?

2/
does maxdrive pro works with an sd card instead of the maxdrive memory card?
the SD card seems more reliable,easier to replace, and easier to writo to.
if yes, then it means that i would pay 45€ only for the dvd bootloader.

3/in order to make backup, i do need a bba, is not it?
or is there anyway to plug the gamecube to a pc (serial link? usb link?

thanks for this great thread.
rwan.

 

rslootjes, hopefully my problems up until now have been down to the media and these Traxdata ones will get me up and running

Not very electrically minded so tweaking the POT is not going to be ideal net alone fitting a modchip !!!

 

What if i got a 2Disc game like metal gear solid? Will the in game disc swap go fine or do i have to do some kind of trick?

 

To put multiple games or softwares on 1 MiniDVD, use one of the following 2 tools:

GCMUtility: http://dlxserver.com/GCMUtility0.5.zip

Viper Multi-Boot ISO Creator: http://dlxserver.com/Viper_Multi_Boot_ISO_Creator_V1.3b-LOONYCUBE.zip

I prefer Viper Multi. However, you will have to use the BIOS to explore the disc and run the game/app/emu/etc u want to use. It doesn't make any special menus for you.

If this is too difficult to use for anyone I will make a tutorial in a seperate thread on how to do it. Also, if there is enough demand I can make a tut on how to put all your SNES roms on a miniDVD and play em on cube as well.

As for the mid-game disc switch, I've never tried it so I don't know if it would work or not. It should.

 

Allright, great

But the N64 emu has the name 'N64 Emu' in the iso file. Will I have a list of that in the disc explorer or will it just display the filenames instead? Thnx

Please tell me how to put SNES games on 1 disc. Can it be put together with N64 games as well?

 

That's a problem you see, in the explorer if you use Viper Multi Boot and put multiple N64 roms, the list will just list them all as the same file name. To fix this, you have to forcefully change the ISO Title itself, whether it be through a hex editor or some other application which can change ISO Titles like Magic ISO. Also, you must use The Viper Multi-Boot tool you can't just throw some iso's on a disc and use disc explorer.

As far as SNES, I'll start making a seperate tutorial on that.

 

I am trying to change the name of the iso but it doesnt work. The GC Tool doesnt allow me to change the title. I downloaded Magic Iso and when I try to open an iso it says : 'Cant find the file or file isnt cd image file'. Opening in UltraEdit32 works but when I open the editted iso in GC Tool it doesnt recognise it anymore

 

i have a question :
can I burn the GcoS1.5(POS).dol on a mini-DVD to make it a mini-dvd swap ?

 

No, you should use the Max Drive Pro software for the gamecube to load it.

 

Fantastic.

The TraxData discs work perfectly

No opening the cube and tweaking POTS for me

 

Congrats, same thing here

 

I may have been too hasty ....

So far burned 4 images; Pikmin 2, Mario Tennis, Mario Kart DD and Battalion Wars.

All 4 discs were burnt in the same way and are recognised by the Cube but only the first 2 are playable.

Mario Kart goes to a red error screen after pressing the region button and Batallion Wars does all manor of strange things on the screen before going to a black screen when nothing happens.

All the images were from the same source - what is likely to be the problem with the non-working discs ?? Bad burn, and try again ??

 

probably bad burn. I had a failing Mario Kart too and I burned it again. Even though I got burn proof on my burner I don't use my pc when burning the games. Try that, it might work.

 

thanks again rslootjes.

Re-burnt using Nero 7 (rather than ImgBurn) and it works now.

Hopefully, re-burning will fix Batallion Wars as well

UPDATE: Sadly, re-burning didn't work. When I get to the unresponsive black screen ... if you open the Cube the disc just keeps on spinning though ??

 

Ok, so first let me give some props for a great tutorial. After some trouble getting the Max Drive Pro GC disc to work everything is set up. However, when go and swap to my backup it says it doesnt recognize the media. I suspect it may be because i am using mini dvd-rw discs, can any one confirm this?

 

indeed, as stated in my first post, only DVD-R will work, -RW or +R or +RW will not give you results. Even some DVD-R will not work as the gamecube can be picky (see the posts just above this).

 

@ brudedlx

Thanks again for giving us this great tut and your time. I have been using this method for some time now and for some reason my GameCube has acted up the last few days. I haven't burned any new games because of the fear of loosing discs (coasters). To the problem then. I have used the Ridatas and Optodisc (burning with IMGBURN) with success but this last weekend 4-5 of the games we (kids & I) have played in the past stopped with the dreaded check the Nintendo manual for problems. Is this a media problem, both disc companies are acting the same, or is there the need for tweeking the laser or even just cleaning it.
Thanks one more time and looking forward to your wisdom.

........c

 

It sounds like your discs may have become scratched or worn out for some reason if they worked before and now they don't. This is the most likely cause, but since it's more than 3 games showing the same symptoms, it may not be.

If both disc companies are acting up, your discs are all clean and scratch free, and the games that worked in the past have now stopped working, I would do the POT (Lens) adjustment. Before that though, try playing your original games. If those work fine, your POT may need adjustment to read burned games, although you are the first person to have their gamecube go from reading backups to not reading the same backups, usually it either works or it doesn't, it never stops working.

If you know how, you could also just try cleaning the lens first but be careful because the lens is very sensitive and if you don't know what you are doing you could ruin the gamecube alltogether.

 

Thanks for the reply [bold]brucedlx[/bold]

I used some canned air and relieved the lens of free radicals. lol. I will look up some different guides on actually cleaning the lens and go from there. I also inspected the discs and they did have some finger smudges on them so maybe that was the problem. The original GameCube games play just fine even with some minor scratches and smudges. This baffles me even though I think it is just a dirty lens. Damn dirty lens. BTW I burned Fantastic 4 last night on an Optodisc and we have been playing it for 2.5 hours now. I guess the canned air may have helped. What about the GameCube getting hot after a few hours of play? The other day we put it through the ringer. About 6 hours plus of playing burned and original games. Thanks once again and the help is always appreciated.

..........c

 

obviously make sure your gamecube isn't crammed into some space where air can't get to it to cool it out. The Gamecube (like any game console or computer for that fact) needs some air circulation. Putting it under a small space under a tv or in the corner of a cabinet and playing it 6hrs straight will clearly overheat the system.