Dreamcast Modification F.A.Q. v1.1 © NCS
July 22, 1999

Rev 1.0 notes: Inception
Rev 1.1 notes: Added information on cross compatibility between VMS and joypads

What is the reason for this FAQ?
To clear things up, to knock out rumors and misconceptions, and to answer the most common questions we have received over the past couple of days.

Can my Asian Dreamcast play the USA version of Sonic Adventure that I see in Hollywood Video?
The Asian Dreamcast, as well as the Japanese DC, is territory locked. This means that they can only play DC GD-Roms from one region of the world: ASIA. In terms of territory, there is no difference between the Asian Dreamcast and the Japanese DC. The USA Dreamcast is locked from booting games from outside it's intended territory, the Americas.
European Dreamcasts will only play European territory GDs. There are three relevant regions, Asia, USA, and Europe and they are all territory unique from one another.

What happens when I try to play Sonic USA on my Asian DC?
The system recognizes the disc as a GD-Rom but will not allow you to boot the game. If you have ever had a vanilla American territory Playstation, you'll recognize the symptoms when you try to boot a Japanese CD.

Does this mean that I'll have to run out and buy a domestic DC just to play USA games?
No, but it does mean that you'll have to get your Dreamcast modified if you want to play games from all territories. Inherently, every DC can boot games from any territory, you just have to unlock the "gates".

So, it can be done?
Yes but due to the cramped space inside the Dreamcast, we are experimenting with new ways of doing old procedures.

Does the term "mod chip" apply here?
It can but not in the sense that you seem to be thinking about.

When can I get my DC "fixed" for all access?
NCS should be able to accept mod work in 1-2 weeks but basically, not until we are comfortable with the design and safety of our method. We are still unsure for example if we are placing any additional constraints on the DC pcboard when the mod is finished. The DC runs hot as it is and we don't want it to run any hotter.

Will NCS share this information with everyone?
Sure, why not. There is no proprietary information involved. We'll post the procedure once it's done and tested on a variety of consoles. Of course, the usual disclaimers apply where we take no responsibility in what you do with the DC, etc, etc. We've seen some scary Saturn and Sonyps mod attempts from customers and we can only shudder at what monstrosities we'll see with the DC.

Is there more than one way of doing this procedure?
There will certainly be an easier way. NCS would ideally like to manufacture a low cost plug-in device that defuses the territory lock-out. This way, you can plug and play games from all territories. However, we have had bad experiences with our manufacturing partners in Asia. They appropriate ideas and share them with other factories which makes the point of innovating and creating something like this a low incentive project if everyone has access to it while we end up paying the costs of developing, testing and setting it up. We'll certainly work with our Asian partners but we don't expect much in the way of returns from it. They have the manufacturing facilities and we only have the ideas.

Can I use a Japanese VMS, joypad, VGA Box or joystick with an American Dreamcast?
Yes, but you forgot to mention the Japanese keyboard, the driving wheel, and the light gun. Those work as well with an American DC. Surprisingly, stored data from a Japanese Sonic game save will transfer over to the American version of Sonic intact. The same goes for the A-Life mini game, et al.

Why do companies territory lock their consoles anyway?!
Licensing and distribution issues but Nintendo has never enforced any rigid territory schemes on their software. Perhaps new media dispensation requires heavier locks. Only a guess.

What now?
This document should answer most, if not all of the questions we've received over the past couple of days. If you have questions, please wait for our next web site update instead of e-mailing our company concernng the mod as everything we wish to make public at this time is in this document. Thanks for your cooperation.

End