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Thread: Recommended format for Dreamcast games?

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    Default Recommended format for Dreamcast games?

    I got into some Dreamcast emulation lately and managed to get some stuff working, but I notice theres a ton of different formats, so I wasn't sure what the best one would be.

    I see CDI, GDI, and sometimes I hear of CHDS and ISOs but I hadn't found any of those, The ones I have are CDI cause that *appeared* to be the best one, but I'm not really sure, I got those for storage reasons but is it the worst one? Thats the one found in most places.

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    CDI are usually rips so the games can be burned to cd-r to play on real hardware. I think what usually happens is videos are recoded at lower quality, but sometimes games are split across multiple discs (Zorlon has done the latter for some games).

    GDI are full copies.
    Retail Dreamcast discs are not CD.

    Spoiler warning:

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    Quote Originally Posted by deadlegion View Post
    CDI are usually rips so the games can be burned to cd-r to play on real hardware. I think what usually happens is videos are recoded at lower quality, but sometimes games are split across multiple discs (Zorlon has done the latter for some games).

    GDI are full copies.
    Retail Dreamcast discs are not CD.
    Gotcha.

    Would CDI be recommended then? Thats what I picked up for storage reasons, since those were way smaller than the GDIs, and I don't plan on ripping for real hardware, Or would GDI be better?

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    Well you don't need CDI because you don't have the console.
    GDI is full copy, not modified so it's better.
    But if you don't care about FMV's being lower quality you can use CDI...other things might be ripped (as in missing) from games too to reduce size.

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    Quote Originally Posted by deadlegion View Post
    Well you don't need CDI because you don't have the console.
    GDI is full copy, not modified so it's better.
    But if you don't care about FMV's being lower quality you can use CDI...other things might be ripped (as in missing) from games too to reduce size.
    Ah Gotcha. I'm more worried about if theres some sort of horrible noticeable sound issue more than anything, cause I can generally deal with lower quality FMVs, especially since not every game has those.

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    Well it's possible that sound might be recoded at lower quality to reduce space, idk. Zorlon would be the guy to ask he knows a lot about Dreamcast games ripping.

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    Quote Originally Posted by deadlegion View Post
    Well it's possible that sound might be recoded at lower quality to reduce space, idk. Zorlon would be the guy to ask he knows a lot about Dreamcast games ripping.
    Ah I see, Not sure if he's on here or not but maybe if he sees it.

    But as long as its not some horrible sound issue or something insane then it should be fine, especially since most places *only* have CDI

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