When Shenmue originally came out for the SEGA Dreamcast, it had a fourth disc which allowed gamers to access extras such as cut-scenes, music, and online content. Unfortunately, SEGA closed down Shenmue‘s online servers in 2002 and there would be no way to access that online portion again.
There have been a couple of methods created that can now access the online content of Shenmue Passport; The first method involves the use of hardware and software such as the DreamPi combined with a Raspberry Pi and USB dial-up modem. For many fans, the thought of purchasing extra hardware and jumping through multiple hoops might be too daunting a task.
One member of Shenmue fan site Phantom River Stone has figured out a way to access Shenmue Passport‘s online content without the extra bells and whistles. Check it out:
The Patch: Instructions
Edit: clarified information on the disc image format required & added patch for PAL version.
If you have a CDI or MDF image file of the Shenmue Passport disc, just apply the patch directly. For a GDI image, apply it to the track07.bin file (thanks to Radar on the Shenmue Dojo for testing and confirming).
The instructions vary slightly, depending on whether you have an NTSC or PAL version of the game. If you are not sure, it is fine to try both as only one of the search sequences will be present.
Patch for Shenmue Passport Disc
1) Load the disc image into your favorite hex editor.
2) Search for the 4-byte hex sequence appropriate to your Shenmue version:
(NTSC:) 98 23 0F 89 (PAL:) 88 23 0F 89and change the third and fourth bytes as follows:
(NTSC:) 98 23 27 27 (PAL:) 88 23 27 273) Repeat the search in Step 2 one more time. If the sequence is found a second time, update it in the same way.
4) Save the image. Done!
A video has been also uploaded to show exactly what you can access, which you can check out above. Try out the patch and let us know what you think!
