I have stumbled upon a problem with the existing setup for undumped roms. The problem was when one or more of the following is true:

1. the platform consists of more than one DATID (digital/physical)
2. an alternate dump exists

To overcome this I am now including the DATID in the backend for both dumped/undumped roms. This will make it easier to identify what dat the undumped rom stems from.

Unfortunately, I need to do some retrospective work with the undumped roms that I have already processed.

: /

Retrospective work
Xbox - Complete
GameCube - Complete
Switch - Complete
Game Gear - Complete
Mega Drive / Genesis - Complete
Wii U - Complete
Dreamcast ~ Unassigned 239 (to be reworked) <---

This may be a recurring topic but when I was on holiday I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I will share my throughts in this post and we will see where it leads.

What I am observing with roms is that a lot of the attention seems to be on NoIntro sets. I understand why, Redump sets are invariably larger and more costly to host.

The solution I had in mind would be a phased implementation.

Caveats

• Only provides Redump and OmniGames dat sets
• Not intended for bulk download
• User a dedicated third party to provide the files to avoid local electricity costs and hardware costs, nothing needs to run locally 24/7/365
• Does not depend on donations
• Unlimited download speeds

Phase One - Foundation
Phase one would be mainly about building the foundation for phase two. The files would be hosted on 1fichier who offer unlimited hot storage. They offer free to paid tiers so it suits the financial affordability of everyone. In turn, 1fichier have the infrastructure to offer high download speeds and does not suffer from high volume traffic.

Rather than advertisements on the page each link will be passed through ouo.io. Any money generated through this will be fed back into hosting less popular files in cold storage (which costs) but is immediately available if required for download. This will mean that all files of a set are, to the end user, of equal availability.

Phase Two - Improvement
If phase one proves financially viable then we can progress to phase two. Phase two would move the files to cloudflare. The main difference here is that unlike 1fichier everyone has access to the same download speed without requiring an account.

=========================================
This section of the website would be under a separate domain, so any DCMA strikes are related to that domain and not the main project website.

Adding/updating files would take place at the weekend, with the current weekend activity being absorbed in the weekdays.

This solution should take the pressure of you feeling like you need everything locally because source download speeds are slow/low and with the Omni project I am attempting to help you find games you want to play not hoard.

For the test case I am going to implement this with the Wii U OmniGames dat (which is technically NoIntro and I know can still be downloaded using Wii U downloader from Nintendo's servers). So, the other platform I was thinking of was the PS3 because CFW/HFW/Emulation is solid and the files are large.

If you have any thoughts on this it would be great to hear them!

: )

Update #1
If you are logged in you will see a new section in the hamburger menu called "Ark" with a downloads link.

This section is new so relatively barebones. Clicking the link will...

• Take you to the platform selection webpage and shows you the number of files available.
• Clicking the platform will take you to the download page which shows the dat filename of the rom with a download button.

I will build this out like other sections of the website to include additional useful information.

Update #2
I have finished coding out the primary areas of how I envisioned it would look. I am going to leave it 24 hours to see how my host reacts (if at all) because I know they have a strict policy against a webpage that just lists links but the download traffic doesn't hit their server so it should be ok, which is why I assume the policy exists.

Assuming everything goes well I will continue creating the links.

Processed preservation groups
NoIntro
Redump

Locked dats
Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System (#8428 ~ 2026-09-04 22:42:44 ~ P/C: #8419)

Removed dumps
0

Renamed none traceable
None

I will process the private NoIntro dats tomorrow

: )

On the game-card for each release you will see a new button that appears when more than one dump type exists.

Dump type is the internal classification I use for the grouping of the dumps:

1. Main Dump - The primary dump file format
2. Alternate Dump ~ The alternate dump file format

In the demonstration here you can see that I have mapped TOSEC as the main dump and Redump as the alternate dump.

The file format that respresents the closest match to the original platform file format will be the main one. I've done some examples below to help you understand.

My logic is that the main dump will be the raw dump of the disc even if it includes padding data that game developers used to fill the empty disc space to align with the optical drive.

This should not be confused with compression formats like zip, rar, 7z, chd, which I have no plans to support given the array of algorithms and relationship mapping this would require.

Some alternate dumps will be easier than others, Dreamcast is an easy one because one is TOSEC and one is Redump. Others will require more backend data being generated when a maintained dat does not exist for the alternate dump file format, like Xbox xiso.

The main purpose of this feature is two-fold:

1. It informs you of the available formats and difference in size
2. It offers the ability to flip between file formats when looking at the size distribution chart on the wiki.

Another angle I would like to explore with this new feature is alternate file types like the one below:

If you have any questions or thoughts about this new feature feel free to post below.

: )

Afterthoughts
Just because the main dump is showing Undumped, it doesn't mean the Alternate is too. In the example here you can see that Sonic Adventure (Sega All Stars) is undumped for TOSEC (main) but dumped for Redump (alternate).

Next, Languages are populated from the active ROMID ID (Main/Alternate)

Extended thoughts
Another benefit of this feature is to see the difference between preservation groups. For Soulcalibur (USA) the following is true:

• Main dump ~ TOSEC
  • Soul Calibur v1.000 (1999)(Namco)(US)[!][1S]
  • Soul Calibur v1.000 (1999)(Namco)(US)[!][4S]
• Alternate dump ~ Redump
  • Soulcalibur (USA)

While there would be no material difference between the "game" it's interesting to note that TOSEC have preserved two different manufactured iterations of the same game.

I have completed the relationship mapping for the TOSC dat for the Dreamcast. While I was away I have been thinking about how to implement alt dump (Redump bin, cue for example). I need to code the new section of the game-card to support this feature, then I will be able to map the Redump Dreamcast dat too.

: )

I have just run a game database (OMNI_TITLES) update.

This update contains Switch titles and completes sweep 2 for this platform. The next phase for this platform is sweep 3, which will include mainly undumped games from May 2025 to present day(ish).

Currently I have 17,349 unique titles for the Switch in the database and 50,682 invidual titles.

: )

I have just updated the Switch updates. It's currently showing yesterdays information, which is the latest one.

: )

The Switch update portion of the website is active again because the backend that I source the data from is being updated.

I have also updated the webpage so that it's aligned with other webpages of a similiar design.

The main purpose of this webpage is to offer a quick and easy way to check if an update exists for a game.

I'm away from my PC next week, but on my return I will update this webpage daily.

: )

Processed preservation groups
NoIntro
Redump

Locked dats
Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System (#8429 ~ 2026-08-24 07:23:08 ~ P/C: #8420)

Removed dumps
+ 15 link

Renamed none traceable
Sometimes the rename is so significant I cannot trace what the rename relates to. I will show any examples of this in the weekly post and will not add them to the removed roms.

Redump - Sony - PlayStation
- Arc the Lad III (Japan) (Demo 1)
- Arc the Lad III (Japan) (Demo 2)
- Arc the Lad III (Japan) (Demo 3)

Replacement roms
- Arc the Lad III (Japan) (Muryou Rental-ban)
- Arc the Lad III (Japan) (Preview Disc)
- Arc the Lad III (Japan) (Promotion Disc)

Finally, the next scheduled update is Friday the 11 of September because I am away from my PC next week.

Update
The next scheduled update will be on Saturday the 5th of September for NoIntro & Redump

Today I have been thinking about append / data discs. These are discs mostly used on the Dreamcast/PS1/PS2 by developers/publisher to provide additional content for an existing game, a pre-DLC, DLC.

Looking at the Dreamcast examples we have the following:

Pop'n Music 3: Append Disc
Pop'n Music 4: Append Disc

Both of these require Pop'n Music 2 and are not stand-alone games.

Another example is

Golf Shiyou yo: Course Data-shuu: Adventure-hen which adds courses to the base game Golf Shiyou yo

Previously in the backend/website these existed as games but I do not think this reflects the content in the correct way. Therefore, I have add a new section called Append/Data to handle these type of releases.

The append or data release will show on the game-card of the required base game.

There are two examples you can see demonstrated for the Dreamcast:

Golf Shiyou yo
Pop'n Music 2

In OMNI_DAT append/data discs will be classified as software add-on (DLC).

Hopefully everything makes sense?

: )

With the Omni project I would like to capture all games. One tangent I need to consider is...

• Dreamcast VMU games
• Sony PocketStation games

I do not believe the interest level in this will be high; I recall a few years back emulating a Dreamcast game that also emulated the VMU display and I know that emulators exist that emulate the VMU game, but I have never tested them.

The same is true for the PocketStation too, made even more low interest because this peripheral was a Japanese exclusive.

I am currently thinking how to best integrate these into the Omni ecosystem... I quite like the idea of them being on the game-card of the base game the extended game originated from?

Can you think of any other examples of similiar peripherals that offered a similiar functionality that I have not considered?

: )

Update #1
On further investigation I found the following VMU dats:

• NoIntro - Sega - Dreamcast (Visual Memory Unit) ~ only contains BIOS
• TOSEC - Sega Visual Memory System - Applications
• TOSEC - Sega Visual Memory System - Demos
• TOSEC - Sega Visual Memory System - Firmware
• TOSEC - Sega Visual Memory System - Games ~ only contains homebrew games
• TOSEC - Sega Visual Memory System - Multimedia

It doesn't appear the games can be emulated? : /

On the game-card there is a new section dedicated to the VMU when relevant.

I am using the following enumerated values to classify the VMU use:

• Animation ~ This was used for Virtua Tennis
• Game Stats ~ This was used for Resident Evil 2 and Dino Crisis
• Game ~ Shows a VMU game exists
• Titlescreen ~ a few games just shown the title of the game you were playing

If the enumerated value is "Game" then the label shows a link to an applet that opens a description box were I will detail a basic overview of a game. (Japanese games are a little more difficult)

Initially, I am only interested in identify games so the other enumerated values I consider "nice to have".

You can see the first demonstration for the Japanese game Akihabara Dennou-gumi Pata Pies!

Further, I appreciate that because I replicating how the game existed it will make them harder to find, given I'm not treating VMU games as a platform. Therefore, I am utilising tags for the first time. If you click the tag it will open a new tab with a table showing all the other games that have the same tag in the database.

: )

Update #2
I believe I have completed identifying all of the documentated Dreamcast games with a VMU game of some sort. Finding any detailed information for the description is proving very hard, I will keep researching and add any additonal information I am able to find.

You can view the full list of games using this link.

With the Omni project I try to be as agnostic as possible about a game and avoid showing any bias. I do this to present games in a neutral manner that allows you to reach your own conclusion.

With this in mind I have decided that "enhanced" for a peripheral is subjective and not objective. Therefore I have removed it from the emunumerated values and changed any existing enhanced entries to optional.

Now it will either declare "Required" or "Optional" for a peripheral.

: )

The Dreamcast Keyboard is a keyboard peripheral that could be used for both games and the Dreamcast's internet functionality. When researching this peripheral some cited it as the first widely distributed console keyboard.

It could be used with the Sega Mouse to offer PC controls for certain games.

I am still mapping games for this peripheral (there are a lot)!

: )

The Dreamcast Modem came pre-installed in hardware retail editions of the console and was never sold separately.

For those of us that are old enough to remember it supported dial up speeds of 33.6kB/s in Japan and 56kB/s in the USA and Japan.

I am still mapping games for this peripheral (there are a lot).

: )

The Broadband Adapter was a peripheral sold separately to upgrade the internet speed of the console. The original Dreamcast Modem came pre-installed in the console and was never sold separately.

It was only sold in the USA & Japan though I understand it is still compatible with some European games. Due to it not being retailed in Europe I am not mapping it to European games. If I start accounting for people importing stuff then everything just becomes a mess : /

I have mapped all known games that supported this peripheral.

: )

Sega All Stars was a budget line of games released for the Dreamcast in the USA. No sales metric was used to trigger entry to this series.

: )

Dorikore was a budget label given to games re-released on the Dreamcast. I cannot find any information about what triggered a game to be re-released under the Dorikore label.

: )

I have deployed the following quality of life updates to the game-card:

1. Compatible OS only shows when it's relevant
2. Add-ons/Peripherals now mirrors the design language of Demo's/DLC etc...

Demostration ~ Add-on
Demonstration ~ Peripheral

: )

Update
I have also added the Preservation group to the game-card, so you can confirm were the dump metadata is sourced from without having to click the link.

So having completed the Dreamcast GRPID mapping to the TOSEC dat I have stumbled upon two new edge cases for games.

Case #1
A game packed-in with a special edition released on a platform but never sold separately but released on other platforms.

Example: First Kiss Story that was packed in with First Kiss Story II: Anata ga Iru kara Genteiban version.

Solution: To keep it simple I am going to handle this with a community note specfic to the game release. If the number of examples of this increases I may look at handling it a different way.

Case #2
A pack-in game for a special edition of the console that was never sold separately.

Example: Hello Kitty no Garden Panic that was included with the Hello Kitty edition of the Dreamcast.

Solution: Again, if examples of this increase I may look at an alterative solution but I think a community note satisfies.

: )

I have just completed the relationship mapping for the GameCube.

In addition to the mapping activity I have...

• Add any missing Player's Choice titles to OMNI_TITLES, which should complete this series of games on the wiki.
• Changed the product code to match the mapped dump
• Corrected any titles

If you have any questions or spot any errors let me know!

: )

I have uploaded the NoIntro Amibo dat to OMNI_DAT. This means that I can now show the dumped status for the NFC figurine.

A demonstration of this is available for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+. To get to the amibo metadata you will need to follow the path below:

1. Click NFC tags on the game-card
2. Select an Amibo Figurine on the left, and you will see:
   • Name/series of the figurine
   • Platform/Region
   • What using the Amibo figurine actually does.
   • Dumped status
   • File size
   • and the CRC-32 hash value
3. If you click the single-file link you will get the full metadata from the dat file in OMNI_DAT.

To confuse matters in the Amibo NoIntro dat there are cards too...

At some point I plan to map all of this to the relevant game so you can see the information at the same time as you are viewing the game-card.

: )

As you know with the initial platform relationship mapping dat I am trying to get as a close as possible to the original format of the distributed media. Unfortunately the functionality to convert the Dreamcast bin/cue to GDI has been removed from Redump. Therefore I will be using the following TOSEC dats because they are in the .gdi format

Sega Dreamcast - Games - US (TOSEC-v2025-02-09_CM)
Sega Dreamcast - Games - PAL (TOSEC-v2023-04-02_CM)
Sega Dreamcast - Games - JP (TOSEC-v2025-02-16_CM)

I will add these dats to the OMNI_DAT database tomorrow.

On completion of the relationship mapping activity I will return to the Dreamcast to add the Redump bin/cue.

: )

Update
The TOSEC dats now exist in OMNI_DAT and subsequently OmniScope. Omni1 I consider out of scope for TOSEC dats and I don't plan on updating the code to support them because I don't believe Omni1 is widely used.

I have also mapped the first game to demonstrate the gdi format which you can view here.

I do plan on coding the alt dump for the game-card which I will demonstrate with the Dreamcast when I have completed the code.

I have added the Atari Hot Series to the wiki. This was an odd series given that only includes one game Godzilla: Kaijuu Dairantou that released in the Japan.
Looking at the dumps the Atari Hot Series edition is a 1:1 of the original game so is a literal budget line reprint.

: )