[request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Moderators: pcwzrd13, deluxux, VasiliyRS

User avatar
ateam
Heroine Console
Posts: 478

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#111 » Wed Aug 31, 2022 2:50 pm

My friend Bob at RetroRGB thought this was cool enough to feature!

ARTICLE: https://www.retrorgb.com/dreamcast-dreammovie-vcd-player-demod.html

(Check 14m58s mark)
Find me on...

DreamcastForever.com
GitHub
Reddit
SegaXtreme
Twitter
YouTube
• Discord: derek.ateam

EdgeConnector
noob
Posts: 2

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#112 » Sat Sep 03, 2022 7:01 pm

Quick question. Have you ever tried to control the interface with a keyboard while the dongle is plugged in? I'm wondering if it will recognize that for controlling the app.

User avatar
ateam
Heroine Console
Posts: 478

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#113 » Sun Sep 04, 2022 8:48 am

EdgeConnector wrote:Quick question. Have you ever tried to control the interface with a keyboard while the dongle is plugged in? I'm wondering if it will recognize that for controlling the app.


Yes, it doesn't work. The application only responds to the remote control talking to the IR receiver. Part of modifying DreamMovie to work without the receiver/remote is not only removing the "DRM check", but also making changes to allow standard controller to function as input device for navigating menus.
Find me on...

DreamcastForever.com
GitHub
Reddit
SegaXtreme
Twitter
YouTube
• Discord: derek.ateam

EdgeConnector
noob
Posts: 2

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#114 » Mon Sep 05, 2022 12:48 am

Have you ever opened the dongle? If so would you be able to share pictures of the inside?

User avatar
ateam
Heroine Console
Posts: 478

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#115 » Tue Sep 06, 2022 3:49 pm

EdgeConnector wrote:Have you ever opened the dongle? If so would you be able to share pictures of the inside?


It doesn't have screws, and given the rarity of this item, I haven't wanted to mess around with the hardware much.

That said, a friend of mine and I might chip in to buy an expensive one on eBay right now in hopes of creating a clone receiver and remote.
Find me on...

DreamcastForever.com
GitHub
Reddit
SegaXtreme
Twitter
YouTube
• Discord: derek.ateam

User avatar
ateam
Heroine Console
Posts: 478

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#116 » Sun Dec 11, 2022 3:18 pm

Just a quick update here, I decided to poke around at this again. I'm busy with two other projects at the moment ("Nakoruru" and "Cool Cool Toon"), but would love to work on this on the side.

When megavolt85 said...

megavolt85 wrote:you only see what the developers of DreamMovie have allowed to see :)
the real executable file is hidden, the funny thing is that it is writed on the KATANA SDK, and all the WINCE files are for a diversion :lol:


...he wasn't kidding! Inspecting DCVCD.EXE inside of Ghidra yielded nothing of interest, and so far neither has 1ST_READ.BIN. Now, it's clear that IP.BIN calls 1ST_READ.BIN on boot, so obviously it's part of the chain. However, I started thinking that there might be yet another executable containing instructions used by this application.

That being said, I decided to launch DreamMovie in NullDC, then take a look at the instructions inside the debugger. I took a string of bytes as they appeared in the debugger, then did a global search through of all files on the DreamMovie disc. No matter how many byte-strings I searched, the only file I found a match in (besides IP.BIN) is MSL.OUT.

Image

In the screenshot above, we can see address 0x8c04707a holds the 2-byte instruction "12 d4". So, as described above, I did a search of all the game's files for the byte-string 12d4ec34415228222489425338231e8b50e01fa0c604, which I found!

Image

With the above byte-string starting at 0x4087A and seeing it start at 0x8c04707a inside NullDC's debugger, a simple calculation can be performed to determine this executable's base address...

Code: Select all

0x8c04707a - 0x4087A = 0x8C006800


From there, I loaded MSL.OUT into Ghidra with the calculated base address of 0x8C006800 and confirmed that I was seeing the same instructions at 0x8c04707a that I saw inside NullDC's debugger...

Image

As I started poking around, all sorts of interesting things were found...

Image

This is just a VERY VERY early start. I may end up using a logic analyzer and a MAPLE breakout board to see if it can give me any clues as to what parts of the code refence data sent by the IR receiver dongle, though I'm not sure yet. I also found one reference to the MAPLE base address (0xA05F6C00) inside MSL.OUT's code, but I haven't had time to trace much further. It's probably just something standard.

I'm a little under the weather today, so hopefully when my mind becomes less foggy, I can take another look at all of this and have a "eureka" moment :D
Find me on...

DreamcastForever.com
GitHub
Reddit
SegaXtreme
Twitter
YouTube
• Discord: derek.ateam

SMiTH
Black Mesa
Posts: 1492

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#117 » Sun Dec 11, 2022 7:59 pm

This is awesome ateam.

dave_van_damn
Graffiti Grind
Posts: 310

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#118 » Sun Dec 11, 2022 8:40 pm

ateam wrote:This is just a VERY VERY early start. I may end up using a logic analyzer and a MAPLE breakout board to see if it can give me any clues as to what parts of the code refence data sent by the IR receiver dongle, though I'm not sure yet. I also found one reference to the MAPLE base address (0xA05F6C00) inside MSL.OUT's code, but I haven't had time to trace much further. It's probably just something standard.


Incredible! Thanks for taking the time to look into this!
aka DavidHK on DC games.

User avatar
megavolt85
Developer
Posts: 1786

Re: [request] Remove checks for DreamMovie VCD player?

Post#119 » Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:45 am

ateam wrote:I'm a little under the weather today, so hopefully when my mind becomes less foggy, I can take another look at all of this and have a "eureka" moment :D


save you some time
Снимок экрана от 2022-12-12 17-43-07.png
Снимок экрана от 2022-12-12 17-43-07.png (15.25 KiB) Viewed 2781 times

  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Modifications”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users