[General Discussion] Full Gamecube backup/load tutorial

A buddy of mine finally got to play some GC images off his hard drive, so here's a little something that I found that should be helpful (I'm needing to do this actually just to get my GC character playable on the PC version of PSO).

Phase 1: Initialize the memory card
Tools Needed: PSUL v1.1
Phantasy Star Online Game Disc
Memory Card
Gamecube Broadband Adapter
If you already have a network setup using a hub, switch, or router you must use a normal Ethernet cable to plug the Game Cube into the network. If you do not have a hub, switch, or router, but you do have a network card in your computer, you will need to plug the Game Cube directly into your computer's network card using a crossover cable.

Note: If you actually play Phantasy Star Online, you may want to use another memory card for this. Also, you only have to initialize your memory card once, not before each rip or game load.

Step 1: Boot Phantasy Star Online Game Disc
Pretty self explanitory.

Step 2: Setup Network Profile

When prompted for the TCP/IP settings, choose manual, do not auto-disconnect, and enter an IP address of 192.168.1.32 with a subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and a default gateway of 192.168.1.100. For the Primary DNS server, enter 192.168.1.100 (Settings may vary). Start the PSUL utility on the PC side with the following DOS prompt command: "psul -s". This make your PC into a sort of Phantasy Star Online game server. Now start an online game using the character you chose and the DOL file will upload to your memory card allowing you to transfer game data to and from your PC.

Step 3: Configure TCP/IP on your PC

Access the TCPI/IP properties for the network card on your PC and change the IP address to 192.168.1.100 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (Settings may vary). No default gateway is required for this to work.

Step 4: Create a Character for Online Play

Next, create a character. It really doesn't how or which character you choose. When prompted for your hunter's license, enter anything you wish. It also might be handy to select the save password to memory card as well so you don't have to enter it each time.

Step 5: Start it all up

On your PC, run "psul -s" at a DOS prompt. It should then say waiting for connection or someting to that effect. Next, start an online game of Phantasy Star using the character profile you chose. It will then try to connect to your PC. If successful, your PC will display the messages "Saving user info on memory card..." and "Done..."

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Phase 2: Extract ISO Image from Game Disc

Tools Needed: Gamecube ISO Ripping Server 1.0.0.29
Download Here: No link currently known
Initialized Memory Card (See Phase 1)
Phantasy Star Online Game Disc
Gamecube Broadband Adapter


Step1: Boot Phantasy Star Online Game Disc
Pretty self explanatory.

Step 2: Start Gamecube ISO Ripping Server

Run the Gamecube ISO Ripping Server tool on your PC you configured above. Select the destination folder and name for the Gamecube game image file to be created then start the utility. You should get a message stating that it is waiting for a connection.

Step 3: Start Phantasy Star Online game in online mode
Start Phantasy Star Online in online mode. It will connect to the server running on the PC and start downloading the ripper code from it. When this is complete, a red screen will appear on the Gamecube and shortly thereafter, you will be prompted to insert the disc you want to rip within 10 seconds. Do this, and once the 10 seconds has passed, your PC will start downloading the image from the disc. When complete, you should have a game disc image on your PC approximately 1.4GB in size. Approximate download time is about an hour or so.

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Phase 3: Stream Game Disc Image to Gamecube

Tools Needed: Paradox GC Disc Server
Initialized Memory Card (See Phase 1)
Phantasy Star Online Game Disc
Gamecube Broadband Adapter

Step 1: Start Paradox GC Disc Server

Start the Paradox GC Disc server on your PC. Select the correct IP address for the Gamecube and the Gamecube disc image file you wish to load. Click start then start an online game in Phantasy Star Online. It should connect to your PC and start executing the game you uploaded.

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Known Issues:

Remeber you are streaming game data to the Gamecube at 10 Megabits/sec. The broadband adapter is capable of transferring data at 100 Megabits/sec., however, since the good folks at Sega assumed nobody has Internet faster than 10 Megabits, they decided to lock the transfer speed down to that rate. You'll need to research this part, yourself.

Links:
Source
PSUL v1.1
Gamecube ISO Ripping Server 1.0.0.29
Paradox GC Disc Server

If you're familiar with other variations of this process, feel free to suggest them.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It's not really all that tough, but a few people asked about it and I finally got around to it. For one, its actually a decent way to back up memory cards and quickswap games. So meh..its here.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yet more expensive and a bigger threat to ruining your warranty on the Cube. :\

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Right, what I'm saying is that "my" way doesn't require you to do that. The hardware is left alone.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

To play them off what?

The recording of the disks onto MiniDVD and playback hack for that is even more difficult.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Saga

cant you just burn the gmes onto mini dvds then play them? ( with a modded GC )

It's not quite like running a bootloader for Dreamcasts. As far as I know, there is no modchip to just "play miniDVDs," much less successfully copy a gamecube game that way with any ordinary burner.

How ya doing, buddy?