Dreamcast PAL 2 NTSC patcher v 1.2 (DrEamCast pAL 2 ntsc) 

Copyright (C) TyRaNiD 2000

Website http://members.xoom.com/shuma_gorath/dc_pal2ntsc/

As usual the PAL community gets screwed by da big companies with late releases and 
slow gameplay if you import some dc gamez. So this program hopefully should solve
some of the problems (at least using backup versions). Why oh why did Japan have to have
a 60Hz mains supply, they could have screwed them yankees instead.

This program is designed to patch certain areas of a dreamcast iso to stop the game
switching to 50 Hz which generally means large borders and slower gameplay than the
same game running on a ntsc console.

-= DISCLAIMER =-

I do not give an assurances that this program will patch any game available. So if u 
burn a game and it still runs in 50hz then im sorry but it aint my fault, blame/kill
the producers of the game for being short sighted s.o.bs.

This program should in theory not mess anything up but u never know. Always make sure 
you backup your iso before hand just in case this program screws it up.

This program should not be used in acts of piracy and i do not condone acts as such. 
The only reasonable use for it is to play imports you own in 60Hz on a PAL DC (ok so 
you have to have the backup version but at least you will own the original game). Of 
course sega might still have a dim view on this for reasons of importation :/

Just be warned.  

-= Background Info =-

The original patch wasn't originally made by me. The first people to use it publically was a 
group called PNS but i could be wrong. However the new patch which fixes F355 was my own
work so there :)

The reason the games play in 50hz on a PAL Dreamcast is down to short sightedness of the
programmers. They seemed to have added a country check (as in check if their game is
currently running on a Jap/US/Euro Machine) and set the screen accordingly. Dont ask me
why they would bother to do this on a game which "offically" cant be played on a euro
machine to begin with. The only thing i can think is it allows them to easily produce a 
euro version by just re-mastering the disk to run on a PAL machine and hell to borders and 
slow gameplay noone in PAL land will notice.

Oh and this is why i currently cannot produce a 60 to 50Hz patcher as it is not actually the
video frequency settings i'm changing but fooling the game into believing it is running on
an NTSC machine, however not all games care about the country and so will run 60Hz regardless.
Just get yourself a decent tellivision, most tvs nowadays even support 60Hz through the rf
socket (if you are really desperate).

One final note, even tho this program is/was called a pal to ntsc patcher that is not really 
the case it is actually a 50Hz to 60Hz patcher as unlike a psx the output will not switch 
to NTSC colour and so can be displayed on any PAL tv which supports 60Hz refresh. 

-= Revision History =-

v 1.2 : Added a special search for Ferrari F355 :)
v 1.1 : Added bin/raw image support. Added full scan to fix games such as sf3 which have
multiple programs to be patched.
v 1.0 : Initial Release

-= USAGE =- 

decal2.exe [isoname] -x

isoname is the iso track off the dc backup. The patcher now supports raw mode files such
as cdrwin's bin image. It should automatically detect the file type as either raw
(2352 bytes per sector) or cooked (2038 bytes per sector) but there are possible filesizes
which could screw this simple detection up. If you know that your image is being incorrectly
determined (raw/cooked) then use the switch -x where x is either 2048 for cooked or 2352
for raw.

SUPER MASSIVE NOTE : I do not give any assurances that patching a bin image will work.
I dont know whether cdrwin fixes errors in the bin before burning or fixes the ecc codes
accordingly but it might explain why people cant patch games using bin images. The
best solution is to extract the iso using binchunker/fireburner or dummy add into mode1/2048
and patch that :) 

By the way you DO NOT need the original image of the game. U can extract the iso from 
any game even it it has been messed about with and its not in the original file order.

The program will first ask what type of search you want, there are three types,

1) Full Search. This will search the entire iso and find any patchable areas. Should
find every possible one but is very slow. This is recommended for games which have not
been put on the compatibility list.

2) Quick Search. This is a very quick patcher if you already know that the game can be
patched and the compatibility list says you can quick patch it.

3) F355 Search. This only works on the F355 game (Japanese version). It is a quick search
as the game does not require a full search option. It might work on other games but i 
wouldnt advise anyone to try (if a game doesnt work you could try this but its unlikely).
I dont think it will work on wince games.

If it can't find a patchable area it will tell u. i.e. it will say the iso is not patchable.

The patch is applied to the iso itself so make sure u have a backup handy just in case things
do go wrong.

-= Compatibilty List =-

These are the games i have tried which go from 50hz to 60hz.
I cannot say whether any other games will work. If you burn a game which goes from
50 to 60Hz (please make sure that the unpatched version works in 50hz) then email me on
dc_pal2ntsc@hotmail.com.

These are games which work with the quick patch method.

Powerstone 2 			(JAP)
Resident Evil : Code Veronica 	(USA)
Space Channel 5 		(USA)
Marvel Vs Capcom 2 		(USA)
Dead or Alive 2 (yay)		(USA)
Virtua Tennis			(USA)
KOF99 Evo			(JAP)

Games which work on alternative search (F355 Search)

Ferrari F355 			(JAP)

These work with the full search option.

Street Fighter 3 : Double Impact(USA) I've had ppl say it is not working but i have tested
it and it does work.

For a larger list (and more up to date) check out the webpage at the top of this doc.

-=Greetz + Thx=-

Umm not a great deal to be honest.

Thx to utopia and kalisto for the big dc scene but no thx to them for not ever doing any
50 to 60hz patches for their gamez. It would almost be trivial considering some of the
ripping they are now doing (or is it not quite as hard as they like to make out) 

The person or persons who originally came up with the basic 50 to 60Hz patch. PNS or whoever.

thx to dus for being there and supplying me with a f355 patch which didnt seems to work :)

thx to |Ray| for his quick beta testing.

thx to mulderini from IRC, for supplying me with some useful filez. 

thx to Max for help in the quest for a F355 patch.