IndyDDR.com

so im just curious, my machine is running what i guess is bootleg extreme. it has a 5th mix cartridge and i have never ejected the disc to see what kind is inside. so if i put http://www.ebay.com/itm/Konami-DDR-Danc ... 1c4b4d3477 this 3rd mix disc and key in, will 3rd mix just boot up? its a japanese cabinet if that matters at all. im just trying to get into the tech of these machines after years of playing on them

It sounds like you are running a bootleg Extreme if you have a 5th mix security cartridge plugged in -- that's pretty typical and the vast majority of DDR "573" cabinets are running some sort of bootleg. A 573 cabinet, FYI, is a machine that's running Extreme or older and it's named after the actual circuit board inside the cabinet that the CD-ROM drive and JAMMA harness connect to. Konami did a hardware upgrade when they released Supernova so with your current setup you're limited to any DDR release that came before Extreme.

Anyway, to answer your question, it does look like that all you'll have to do is plug that 3rd mix security cart in, insert the 3rd mix CD, and be good to go after you install the game. To install the game you'll have to switch on one of the DIP switches on the 573 circuit board -- DIP switch #4 I believe. The DIP switches are located near the CD-ROM drive, you should see a little bank of DIP switches (they look like tiny little light switches) and you'll want to flip on the one label "4" which should be either the far-right one or the far-left one. Flip it on, insert the CD-ROM, turn the machine on, and you should see the machine start to install the mix. Let the machine finish installing, turn OFF the machine, flip DIP #4 back to its original position, turn on the machine, and enjoy 3rd mix!

Note that you may not be able to go back to Extreme depending on what kind of Extreme bootleg disc you have running in your cabinet. Back in the day, DDR had a separate INSTALL disc and a PLAY disc, as you can imagine, you can only install the game with the install disc and you can only play the game with the play disc. Newer bootlegs combined the install and play discs together into one disc so this may not be an issue for you but it is something to be wary of. If you want to figure out if you can install Extreme with your bootleg, just try installing the game by flipping on DIP switch #4 -- if the game installs then you're fine but if you get an error then you'll need to be really sure you want to play 3rd mix.

No. That won't work. The cartridge/CD combo is for real/official/legitimate (choose your word) installations. The cartridge keys itself to the machine that it is first installed in and becomes useless for any other machine. So, unless that auction is for an unused cartridge (which there is about a 0.000000000000000001% chance of that), it would be little more than a fun trinket for you to look at should you purchase it.

The bootlegs do various things to get around the cartridge security system. Some completely eliminate the need for a cartridge at all. Others require a cartridge be present but often don't care what cartridge it is (resulting in a mismatch between disc and cartridge as in your system).

In every bootleg I've seen, the program code on the disc has been altered to get around the security. An unaltered, official disc like the one in that auction will not contain any of these measures.

Merk is also incorrect about install discs--at least as far as the official mixes were concerned. Only 4th Plus had a separate install disc. All other 573-based mixes had only a single disc that served as both installer and game disc. Many early bootlegs did include a separate install and game disc, but it seems like most of those have consolidated to a single disc now as well.

Honestly your best bet is to obtain the .iso for a bootleg arcade mix and burn the discs yourself or have someone on here do it for you. I'm sure there's a few of us on here with extra discs laying around, I think I have an Extreme and 5th mix disc laying around somewhere.

Don't lie, Merk. I've been pestering you to change mixes for months!

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I know I'm a real piece of shit. I'll probably end up changing it here sometime in January - there are still so many songs to play on Extreme!

They're not going anywhere...

We can always change back later.

Yeah, I guess since my RTC-RAM is busted there's really no need to keep a mix installed. It's not like I have any precious scores that I want to preserve.

Thanks for that input guys. my next question, considering what's been mentioned, is there a chance that removing the current disc (have no clue what it looks like) and putting it back in, will that disrupt Extreme for me.

Nope! That will be fine assuming you don't remove it mid-game. It's more or less the exact same thing as removing a CD from your computer like back in the day when games and shit needed the CD.

Hell, even if you remove the disc mid-game I don't think the game will crash unless you try to pick a song and the game tries to load the music from the disc.

For once, Merk isn't talking out of his ass.

Ho wrote:For once, Merk isn't talking out of his ass.

You're right. He's probably still talking out of his ass. He just happens to be correct this time.

Y'all a buncha muddafuddaz