Please note that at the time of recording this video, this new firmware was not yet public, but now it is! Simply use the VM2 GUI software to update your VM2 unit.
For those who may have missed it, I wrote an article in December of 2023 (Dreamcast “VM2” overview and review video), accompanied by a video review, highlighting the features of the brand-new aftermarket VMU for the SEGA Dreamcast, named “VM2”. Created by Chris Daioglou of DeamMods.net, this new VMU packs quite a punch with a host of fantastic features.
However, I’m happy to show you all today its latest and arguably greatest achievement: automatic per-game virtual VMU switching!
Also worth noting is that this feature is exclusive to the openMenu software for GDEMU, originally written by Hayden Kowalchuk (aka mrneo240) and now under active development by megavolt85 (of Atomiswave conversion fame). This is due to the requirement for ODE menu software to communicate directly with the VM2 in order to transmit game IDs, something not yet possible without specific VM2 API calls. Presently, no other Dreamcast ODE menu software has implemented these calls.
That said, hardware hackers and reverse-engineers may one day discover a universal/no-mod solution for this, similar to what 8BitMods achieved on the PlayStation 2 recently with their MemCard PRO2. However, no such discovery has been made as of yet.
The above video provides an in-depth presentation on how this new feature works, along with some explanation of what openMenu is all about. All relevant links can be found in the video description.