METROPOLIS STREET RACER (PAL) [for Sega Dreamcast] Time Trial Online Transfer Guide Ver 0.5 by RJAY63 (rjay63@hotmail.com) This guide can be freely distributed as long as it remains intact. It cannot be used for profit making purposes. ======== Contents ======== A) Introduction B) Time Trial Transfers B.1 Items required B.2 Working UK ISPs B.3 Make a Ghost Time Trial B.4 Time Trial Bugs B.5 Downloading Time Trials B.6 Emailing Time Trials B.7 Uploading Time Trials B.8 Sega's "New" Time Trials C) My Youtube videos & Time Trial website (msr.netii.net) D) Kerbing E) Fast Start F) How to get 262/262 tracks G) Cheat Options H) Speed Challenge I) Old MSR Competitions J) Bonus Vehicles in Street Race Mode K) Hidden Tune L) MSR Soundtrack: Pseudo Artists M) Links N) What I Need O) Guide History P) Shouts A) Introduction ============= I bought MSR around the time of its UK launch but only played the game half-heartedly. That changed in late 2007 when I finally made the effort to complete Street Race mode. Since then I've been playing Time Attack mode sporadically (with the occasional upload to Youtube), however I always wondered what the best players managed to achieve back in MSR's heyday. Earlier this year I also discovered Time Trial (TT) mode in the 'Internet' options (where you could vary the weather) and even managed to get my Dreamcast back online after finding some MSR TT's to compete against! Alongside this, I conducted a thorough search of the internet for the old Dreamarena rankings and even though I was unsuccessful, I did find plenty of MSR info scattered around. So I decided to write a guide bringing all these items together plus instructions for creating, emailing and uploading Time Trials. So why play MSR when its offspring, Project Gotham Racing, has taken the concept to new levels of popularity and competitiveness? Why bother with a decade old game when the PGR games offer incredible graphics, powerful supercars, a sensible kudos system, comprehensive VS/online play, bigger community, tournaments and for the select few the ability to earn a salary from playing a game? Well, in short MSR's handling! The game has a very 'coin-op racer' feel and being a fan of Sega's Outrun 2 SP, Daytona USA & Scud Race titles alongside Namco's Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, this is something I really appreciate. To enhance this feeling, I strip the game right down to a car, an empty track and a clock to avoid the flaws (slowdown playing against CPU cars, broken kudos). It's ironic considering the strap line for MSR is "It's not how fast you drive but how you drive fast" yet the basic time attack modes are the reason I'm still playing today! As mentioned earlier, this document will focus primarily on Time Trials as well as other information that isn't covered by the many other fine guides available for MSR. I'll also provide links to my various Youtube videos and some noteworthy MSR related websites (some now stored at archive.org). PLEASE NOTE: the ISP guide for Time Trial transfer is really aimed at UK users since I have no knowledge of foreign dial up services. I may try to update this in my next revision. B) Time Trials Transfers ===================== NOTE: the following will also work for transferring vanilla MSR ghost files, ie the ones you can save in standard Time Attack mode. B.1 Items Required -------------- * Working DC dial-up modem: Should come as standard with your DC. If not you can grab them on EBAY cheap. * BT Phone Line (UK users): The cheapest and best option to get your DC online. You can do this through cable services but the ISP dial-up cost will be more. * Standard BT phone cable (UK users): To link your DC to the phone socket. You can find a cheap 10m cable for between £1-£2, don't spend too much on this. * Dreamkey 3.0/Planetweb 3.0 disc: Required to amend your DC's ISP details and for obtaining/sending TT files. Check EBAY for second hand discs or google 'dreamcast online'. Planetweb 3.0 is essential for uploading TT files. * Working ISP with compatible SMTP: Required to download/upload/email TT files. Two compatible UK pay-as-you-go ISP's are shown in the next chapter. * GMX email account: A basic email service just right for DC use, sign up at www.gmx.com. Dreamkey 3.0 users should keep the email password in lower case. * PC with DCI_VMI installed: Required for uploading TT files. DC_VMI is homebrew software that makes TT files 'web ready' and you can get it by visiting http://www.franken.de/users/deco/myfiles/myfiles.html * Free webspace at www.000webhost.com: If you wish to host TT file's and allow both Dreamkey/Planetweb users to download them, sign up at 000webhost.com. Keep your site basic to allow DC users quick loading times & lower call costs. NOTE: Once you have saved your ISP details to memory, you can even use MSR's own browser to download and email! It has more or less the same functions as Dreamkey 3.0, bar the ISP set-up. To jump to a URL, on the browser page hold A and press START 10 times. Then move the cursor to the bottom status bar and press X+A together. Check out my YT video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MqfZPGhuGU. B.2 Working UK ISPs --------------- Below are two UK ISP's that are compatible for Dreamcast web surfing and email. The following details should be entered via the Dreamkey 3.0/ Planetweb 3.0 disc and saved to memory. Aardvaak (http://www.aardvaak.net/free-isp-dreamcast.html) *INTERNET* User login: FREE1010 Password: dreamcast Dial Up Number: 0845 662 1009 Backup Number: 0845 662 1309 DNS 1: 80.225.252.178 DNS 2: 80.225.249.186 *EMAIL* Login: [whatever]@gmx.com Password: [whatever] Email: [whatever]@gmx.com POP3: pop3.gmx.com SMTP: smtp.smartemail.co.uk Inspiron (http://www.inspiron.co.uk/Default.aspx?ParentId=6&PageId=265) *INTERNET* User login: guest Password: guest@inspiron.co.uk Dial Up Number: 0845 665 1888 DNS 1: 80.225.252.178 DNS 2: 80.225.249.186 *EMAIL* Login: [whatever]@gmx.com Password: [whatever] Email: [whatever]@gmx.com POP3: pop3.gmx.com SMTP: smtp.inspiron.co.uk Cost on BT line: 2p per minute between 7am-7pm and 0.5p per min all other times (correct as of 18/8/2010). Source: http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/consumerProducts/ pdf/UKInternationalprices.pdf B.3 Make a Ghost Time Trial ----------------------- **To access this option, your Dreamcast needs either ISP details saved to memory or the 'Open All' cheat activated.** NOTE: You cannot make Time Trials for the Free Roam courses. 1. From the main menu, choose 'Internet' 2. Select 'Create Time Trial' 3. Make your selections (circuit, weather & car) and then choose 'Trial Name' 4. Choose a 3 character tag 5. Save the file to VMU (2 blocks required) 6. Go back to the previous menu ('Internet Options'), select 'Time Trial' and load up your file from the VMU. 7. Race around the circuit until you get the desired lap time, then quit the race. 8. Choose 'Save Trial' and select 'Yes' to overwrite file (18-20 blocks required). 9. You have now made a Ghost Time Trial! Check the ghost has not been corrupted by playing through the trial again (see below). B.4 Time Trial Bugs --------------- If you choose a special vehicle (bus, lawnmower etc) and select 'misty' or 'foggy', the weather is always clear when the trial is replayed. If you strike the wall/kerb too many times during your best lap, there is a chance the ghost car will become corrupt. By this, I mean the ghost will suddenly crash and accelerate against the side. The only way to rectify this is by getting a new fast time. B.5 Downloading Time Trials ----------------------- You will need: * 33k/56k DC modem * BT Phone cord * BT line * Compatible ISP * Dreamkey 3.0 or Planetweb 3.0 web browser 1. Go online with your DC using the above browsers or MSR's own Dreamkey browser 2. Visit relevant webpage 3. Click on file to download trial to VMU I would recommend checking out either http://matchingservice.dcarena.de (German Ranking) or http://msr.netii.net (my site). They are both Dreamkey & Planetweb compatible. Please note, some of dcarena.de's ghosts are corrupt as described in the previous section. Note: Other webpages may not be Dreamkey compatible so you will need to use the Planetweb browser instead. B.6 Emailing via Dreamcast ---------------------- You will need: * 33k/56k DC modem * BT Phone cord * BT line * Compatible ISP with working SMTP * Dreamkey 3.0 or Planetweb 3.0 web browser * GMX webmail account 1. Select email function then 'compose' to go online 2. Select TT file as attachment (Planetweb 3.0 users can send more than 1 attachment per mail to each other) 3. Send email to recipient The recipient MUST have the same browser type as you, ie Dreamkey to Dreamkey (inc MSR's own browser) or Planetweb 3.0 to Planetweb 3.0 The file transfer will not work Dreamkey to Planetweb or vica versa. B.7 Uploading --------- You will need: * 33k/56k DC modem * Phone cord * BT line * Compatible ISP with working SMTP * Planetweb 3.0 web browser (Dreamkey WILL NOT work) * GMX webmail account * PC with DCI_VMI installed * Free webspace at www.000webhost.com 1. Create Time Trial with ghost & save to VMU 2. Load Planetweb 3.0 and email Time Trial file to yourself. You can send multiple files if you like however this will increase the waiting times. 3. Access GMX email from PC and download Time Trial file to your PC 4. Make a note of the original file name eg. MSRCHALL.GTV 5. Change TT filename to something unique & the extension to .VMS (eg. MSRCHALL.GTV becomes MSRALFA.VMS). The default file name for TT's will always 'MSRCHALL' so changing avoids overwrite issues if you're uploading more than one challenge. *CAPITAL LETTERS SHOULD BE USED FOR FILENAMES & EXTENSIONS AT ALL TIMES* 6. Move renamed file to the same directory as DCI_VMI 7. Open Command Line from Windows Start (type CMD in run box) and change directory to the one holding DCI_VMI. 8. Type DCI_VMI [file name].VMS 9. Press 'd' for data file. The 'file description' sections will automatically be pre-filled. 10. Choose anyname for DCI file, this is not required. 11. Press 'y' for DCI Copyable. 12. Type the original file name in the next section. This must be EXACT so in this example it is MSRCHALL.GTV 13. Type 'none' for VMI Program Description 14. Type 'none' for VMI Copyright Information 15. You should now have 3 files - MSRALFA.VMS, MSRALFA.VMI & [whatever].DCI. Delete the DCI file 16. Upload both MSRCHALL.VMS and MSRCHALL.VMI files to your webspace FTP IN THE SAME DIRECTORY. 17. Add the relevant HTML code to your webpage for a download link to the .VMI file, ie Alfa Romeo GTV Trial Some webpages do not automatically allow Dreamkey users to download the file. In this case you will need to create an .htaccess file containing the following code: addtype application/x-dreamcast-vms-info vmi addtype application/x-dreamcast-vms vms See http://rvmu.maushammer.com/faqindex.html for more info. Some webpages (like Angelfire) do not allow you to change the .htaccess settings especially on free accounts. www.0000webhost.com does! B.8 Sega's 'New' Time Trials ------------------------ On the old MSR webpage at Dreamarena, there was a section about time trials taking place on an 'exclusive circuit'..... web.archive.org/web/20011030222845/www.metropolis.dream-key.com/usa/ msr_011.php I found the VMU files for these 'New Time Trials' on an old download page and discovered they DID NOT take place on unique tracks but on the existing 'Challenge' courses. There were also no accompanying ghosts, just empty trials. All cars drive with manual gears, no ABS and 'MSR' on their numberplates. Here is the data for each trial (S-Short, M-Medium, L-Long): London: St James' Challenge (St James L-4) Car: MG RV8 (Racing Green) Weather: Foggy London: Trafalgar Challenge (Trafalgar M-7) Car: Vauxhall VX220 (Mandarin) Weather: Clear London: Westminster Challenge (Westminster M-7) Car: Mitsubishi Evo 6 (Grey) Weather: Clear San Francisco: Financial Challenge (Financial L-6) Car: Jensen S-V8 (Black) Weather: Raining San Francisco: Fisherman's Challenge (Fishermans L-4) Car: ??????? Weather: ??????? San Francisco: Pacific Challenge (Pacific M-8) Car: Mazda RX-7 (Vintage Red) Weather: Wet Tokyo: Asakusa Challenge (Asakusa L-4) Car: TVR Chimera (Yellow) Weather: Drizzle Tokyo: Shibuya Challenge (Shibuya L-4) Car: Audi TT Roadster (Denim Blue) Weather: Downpour Tokyo: Shinjuku Challenge (Shinjuku S-11) Car: Renault Spider (Sports Blue) Weather: Foggy Unfortunately the VMU file for Fisherman's Challenge was missing, however I have a feeling the car was probably the Toyota Celicia GT4 (only 2 other 4WDs present) and weather was either misty or clear. You can find them at http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/gzaxxxskams/ otherdownload/ogd.html. There's no real point downloading though, just make your own copies! C> My Youtube Time Trial videos & download website (msr.netii.net) =============================================================== I have made various Youtube videos showing some of my best TT laps. They are as follows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD2oKQTUn9c Course: Tokyo-Asakusa-Long-Nishi Sumita Gawa (Asakusa-L2) Car: Nissan Skyline GTR Time: 0'51.024 Weather: Clear http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGKUj8OiBsc Course: London-Westminster-Long-Bridge Street West (Westminster L1) Car: Mitsubishi Evo VI Time: 1'07.696 Weather: Downpour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsopoihkrpE Course: San Francisco-Fisherman's Wharf-Medium-Taylor North (Fishermans M-8) Car: Jensen SV-8 Time: 45.323 Weather: Clear http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=24E648DEB802C6F6&playnext =1&v=NnWYYqv97BE Courses: Speed Challenge tracks (separate TT files to allow manual transmission & no ABS) Car: Opel Speedster Times: 1.02.386 (San Francisco), 1.11.407 (London), 0.57.890 (Tokyo) Weather: Clear To compliment this, I also uploaded some of these Trials/Ghosts to a DC compatible website for you to download and challenge. The URL is msr.netii.net and you can download these ghost/trials via Planetweb or Dreamkey. Make sure you have enough space in your VMU before doing so (approx 20 blocks per Trial). D) Kerbing ======= When exiting a corner a little too fast your car sometimes bounces off the kerb unscathed. As well as preventing you from crashing into the sides, this quirk can be also exploited for faster lap times especially on narrow circuits. Basically you need to turn so the tyres on your outer side hit the kerb, bouncing you away. Practice is required to obtain the optimum speed and car position: if you drive too fast or hit the kerb too early, you will loose speed or crash. Please also note there has to be an actual kerb on the corner for this technique to work! ;) See my Time Trial videos on Youtube for some examples of kerbing (links in previous section). E) Fast Start ========== Useful on Street Challenge/Quick Race mode but difficult to pull off. During the countdown, hold the accelerate so the needle is just at the start of the redline. Then the moment the announcer shouts "GO", floor it! Here's a Youtube video I made at www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRDgkU-YfAA F) How to get 262/262 tracks ========================= *You will need to have aquired the 'Open All' cheat (see next section)* 1. Activate the 'Open All Cheat' within the Cheat menu to open the 3 remaining courses (featuring in Speed Challenge mode). 2. Go to Time Attack mode and set a fast lap on each of the 3 tracks 3. After the final autosave you should have 262 tracks available. NOTE: Sometimes if you race the 'Speed Challenge' option, the above tracks will lock themselves off again. Simply redo the above to release. G) Cheat Options ============= These are found inside the normal 'options' menu. This list is assuming you have completed Street Race mode. Skip Car Challenge: Self explanatory - required for obtaining the Alfa Romeo GTV in the PAL version. Open All Cheat: Unlocks remaining tracks and options. Time Of Day: Self explanatory - sets the time of day overriding the DC's internal clock Silly Cheat*: Stretches the visuals making the game more or less unplayable. Bubble*: Makes the screen bounce up and down. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJG3shmEpJ8 for an example. Grass*: Turns the road green but not to actual grass. If you want to race on actual grass, drive on the banks of the St James's Park courses! Adjustable Camera*: During a race, pause the game and select Options -> Camera -> Adjust Camera. You can now amend the distance, height and rigidity of a particular viewpoint. Once changed, you cannot access this option again during the race. Widescreen*: Enables 16:9 on a compatible TV, probably the most sought-after cheat. * You will need to switch these options back on after each race. Try combining Silly, Bubble & Grass for the ultimate eye-bleeding experience! H) Speed Challenge =============== This mode formed part of Sega's MSR competitions when the Dreamarena portal was still active. Found within the 'internet' option, the purpose is to gain the best lap on 3 pre set tracks for the lowest combined time. You are forced to drive MSR's headline car, the Vauxhall VX220/Opel Speedster with automatic gears and ABS on. Although this is not an ideal set-up, the world's best players managed some outstanding times during a competition in March 2001, easily beating my records set with Manual Gears and no ABS (see section below for more info)! The tracks are as follows: Track 1: San Francisco-Financial Distric-Medium-Market West II Track 2: London-St James's Park-Long-Parliament Street South II Track 3: Tokyo-Shinjuku-Long-Higashi-Dori Kita II You can see videos of my times on the Speed Challenge courses on Youtube (see section C for links). I) Old MSR Competitions ==================== Dreamarena Vauxhall VX220 competition http://gaming-age.com/news/2000/10/17-113 A European Dreamarena competition with an actual Vauxhall VX220 as first prize. Basically you had to answer a series of questions with the option of gambling your correct answers for more 'kudos'. From a business point of view this made sense as the money obtained from the Dreamarena phone charges probably paid for the competition. However it's a shame they didn't have a similar challenge to the one that took place in France (see below) where the prize was won through actually playing MSR rather than winning a quiz. The winner was featured in an edition of UK Dreamcast magazine. European DC Racing Wheel competition http://web.archive.org/web/20010503210811/www.dreamcast-europe.com/ english/news/000108/000108.php One of Sega's 'Speed Challenge' competitions. Not much of a prize but a good idea to see what the best racers could achieve. They managed some spectacular times, especially being forced to drive with automatic gears and ABS! Here they are listed below: Track 1: San Francisco - 1.01.3 set by sirus (UK) Track 2: London - 1.10.4 set by benvollo (France) Track 3: Toyko - 0.56.034 set by manasel (Spain) The UK winner was also featured in an edition of UK Official Dreamcast magazine. French Opel Speedster competition http://www.micromania.fr/special/msr/dc_details.php (pop this URL into Google translator) Now this is more like it: win a real Opel Speedster by actually playing MSR! Basically a Kudos challenge, you needed to obtain the highest scores obtained without a joker on set circuits. The top 4 players progressed to the final in Paris where the eventual winner won the car. You can read some of the participants comments archived on http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/0-3054-0-1-0-1-0-metropolis-street-racer .htm, including this rather interesting topic from the alledged winner saying he wishes to sell his prize (http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/1 -3054-2316035-1-0-1-0-0.htm)! Prelimenaries: Street Race-Chapter 18-Race 7/Old Palace Yard North Finals: Street Race-Chapter 19-Race 7/Parliament Street South II Grand Final: Street Race-Chapter 20-Race 7/West Jefferson IV Street Race-Chapter 20-Race 8/Nishi Shinjuku Restaurant (You also needed to finish 4th, probably to stop people exploiting the flaws in the Kudos system) J) Bonus Vehicles in Street Race mode ================================== **You need to be driving a normal car & have a bonus vehicle in your garage.** 1. Go to Main Menu 2. Select 'Street Racing' 3. Choose the chapter & challenge 4. Select 'Change Car' 5. Choose the bonus vehicle in your garage and away you go! K) Hidden Tune =========== Very rare but sometimes after a completing a challenge/time attack, a hidden tune plays on the menu screen. I have only heard it 6/7 times in the past decade and have no idea what triggers it but luckily in 2007, my DVD Recorder was active while the tune played. I emailed Richard Jacques about this music and he confirmed it is his work and was originally composed as 'credit' music with no name. It's a smooth jazzy instrumental and you can listen to the track on Youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur8ViXiLcfw. L) MSR Soundtrack: Pseudo Artists ============================== We all know the man responsible for the music is Richard Jacques, however the radio station DJs quote pseudo-artists for each track. Here is the complete list: Song Pseudo Artist ---- ------------- Am I Only Dreaming Undulator feat Kym Rogers California Demon Zeffer Club Paris Earthburn Come On Baby Otis Cook Don't Wait Fay Douglas Fallen Angel Slipstream Freeway Shakka Heartlands New Dawn Holding On Sugar Free (??) I Can Still Believe Helena Davidson It Doesn't Really Mater Chantelle Let's Get It On Tonight MC Momo Live Your Life Salford Keys (sic) Long Long Road Kurt Austin Low Lights Clarence Mitchell Quartet Outside In Defunct Overdrive Dominator Passion Infinity Push Atomhead Red Line Tomahawk Show Me Your Love Capricorn Sold Out Elevation State Of Mind Intuition Think About It Black & White Time Shanice Williams When She Comes Back The Jacque Richards Band You Can Love Me Gabriel Nelson M. Links ===== German MSR rankings (with downloadable ghosts/trials) http://matchingservice.dcarena.de My Time Trial website http://msr.netii.net My Youtube site http://www.youtube.com/user/RJAY63 Cyberscore MSR Ranking (Time Attack) http://www.cyberscore.me.uk/game-msr.php MSR VMU Saves & Ghosts/Time Trials http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/ http://www.bucanero.com.ar/dreamcast/vmu/metropolisracer Old MSR Dreamarena website (rankings are not present) http://web.archive.org/web/*sr_31nr_10/http://metropolis.dream-key.com/* Bizarre Creations website & forum http://www.bizarrecreations.com Archived Bizarre Creations MSR forum (many broken links) http://web.archive.org/web/20030710123239/http://pub40.ezboard.com/ fbizarrecreationsfrm2 French MSR Discussion board http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/0-3054-0-1-0-176-0-metropolis-street-racer .htm French MSR fansite http://msrfan.ifrance.com/ Edge Award 2001 (graphical achievement): http://web.archive.org/web/20010502092229/www.dreamcast-europe.com/ english/news/000007/000007.php Russian MSR records site (never took off) http://web.archive.org/web/20080105154321/http://www.dc-swat.net.ru/vmu/ msr/ Unofficial VMU Guide http://rvmu.maushammer.com/faqindex.html DCI_VMI download and other VMU homebrew http://www.franken.de/users/deco/myfiles/myfiles.html N. What I need =========== * Dreamcast compatible ISP's from outside the UK (with working SMTP) * An archive of the old rankings from MSR's long dead Dreamarena page * MSR strategies and driving techniques. Email me at: rjay63@hotmail.com O. Guide History ============= Ver 0.5 - Created sporadically between July-August 2010. P. Shouts ====== Virtuaracing & Team 'Avit: keeping the Sega dream alive! Eric: you will play Daytona USA 2 again, don't give up hope! Archive.org: Giving dead websites eternal life! For all the MSR info and proving there was a Daytona competition back in 1999. gzaxxs: For your download webpage that helped me solve the 'New Time Trials' mystery. Onlineconsoles.com: Helping me getting my Dreamcast back online. Aardvaak & Inspiron: Still allowing Dreamcast users access to the internet with working email. GMX: Providing a DC compatible email service 000webhost: For Dreamkey compatible webspace Dreamcast-Talk: For the Planetweb 3.0 disc Bizarre Creations: For making MSR Sega: For the Dreamcast Silly Boi Singh: The man who thought a Wade gravy jug would make him a millionaire! :p Mac: Good luck in your studies! Metropolis Street Racer (C) 2000 Sega. Car names are trademarks of their respective owners This guide (C) 2010 RJAY63 (rjay63@hotmail.com) {End of file}