Dreamshell 4.0 with DS SD Adapter v2 review. No Instructions I don't recommend. PICKY with sd cards

Описание: I get a TON of sd card errors... so I have to find just the right sd card that will work with both the dreamshell CD and sd.

NO INSTRUCTIONS. BIG NEGATIVE!

I spent the weekend trying to get this to work.
Installing the software is easy. Sadly.. no instructions though! What gives?
From http://www.dc-swat.ru/page/dreamshell/
1. Download dreamshell zip file with bootloader.
2. Format your sd card to fat32 with allocation unit size set to 16, 32, or 64
3. From the zip file, you need unzip and copy the sd folder into the root of the sd card
4. Get an iso, gdi, cso or csi game backup and copy that folder for each game to root directory of the sd card.

Now... The negatives.
A. for my sd card reader.. it was picky. Simple errors like XML parse error, missing sd card, or can't read mbr were common errors.
The main solution was to try a different sd card.. it seems the serial port and sd card reader combination is not that great for reading.. or just my sd card reader was broken.

B. you need a special optimized iso game file. Standard backup game files do not read well through the serial port from sd card. If you read on forums.. sd card performance isn't that great. the audio files need to be made smaller to optimize reading speeds of the serial port.

Again.. had I known this.. I might have avoided this option with dreamshell and sd card. It seems like it would be a great thing to use..

Someone has created about 50+ games that are optimized for SD card on dreamshell. If you google it, you may be able to learn more about how they created these optimized games for sd card dreamshell.


I had the chance to try out dreamshell for my dreamcast over the weekend.
In my LIMITED opinion it was abit difficult to get to work with an sd card adapter. Here are some common errors with the sd cards I had:

1. Missing SD Card. This was with a 32gb samsung class 6 sd card. No amount of formatting at fat32 with 16,32,64kil data would get this card to work. This is a case where you should just try a different sd card.
After wards it boots to the Dreamshell boot loader b2.4
Boot from Ram
Boot from CD.
Neither option really works for me.. or I'm just pressing the wrong buttons.

2. Can't read MBR from SD Card. This is a 32gb sandisk extreme class 10 sd card. I've formatted 3 different ways for fat32, but it always shows can't read MBR. I've repaired the MBR different ways also.. with no success. In this case, I suggest using a different sd card
After wards it boots to the Dreamshell boot loader b2.4
Boot from Ram
Boot from CD.
Neither option really works for me.. or I'm just pressing the wrong buttons.

3. I have a semi working sd card. It's a PNY 8gb class 4 sd card.
It works sometimes... but then all the sudden when trying to boot isoloader... it fails with error:

libpng warning
iCCP: known incorrect sRGB profile
(repeated multiple times)
DS_ERROR: can't parse xml /sd/DS/apps/ios_loader/app.xml

When this happens,,.. after rebooting... multiplea attempts.. it will give the same error when trying to load isoloader.

Or...

It may not boot at all and
boots to the Dreamshell boot loader b2.4
Boot from Ram
Boot from CD.
Boot from SD
None of the options really works for me.. or I'm just pressing the wrong buttons.
In this case.. I can reformat and copy the sd card files and a game onto the sd card and it will work temporarily for a few tries.

OVERALL REVIEW: Either the SD card reader is bad.. or it just won't read sd cards well for dreamshell. It was a disappointing weekend for me.
I did get it working on a 32gb micro sd card from microcenter class 10. It works the longest, but I think I can't fill it up completely or it will eventually fail.