Dumping GD-ROMS using an ordinary CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive!!!

[Onky]

So I got down to ripping that second data track, and, just to check it was OK, extracted the table of contents (TOC). This is what it came out as. Weird or what? For comparison, the TOC from the old copy is here.

Uh dude I think that first toc is for Alone in the Dark 4

I ran extract.exe with the appropriate command in Yursoft's guide (since he says in there that this is what you need to do):

extract data1.iso data2.iso (the LBA number from the start of the second data track)+150

Guess what? It didn't work. So I tried that again, but removed data1.iso from the command string, pressed Enter, and it worked.

That's weird, did you not have to include the toc.iso to make the extract work?? Regarding my Shenmue rip, I ignored the first track as it says in the StateS guide and it worked no problems. Except for the size of course...

I haven't done an "acid test" (i.e. tried making a bootable .CDI image from the files in ExoBoot) yet though,

Good luck with that, can't think why that second track is mosty null data :? Do you think if I hacked the IP.BIN and 1ST_READ.BIN then tried that in Exoboot, I would get a .cdi file that worked in Chanka?

 

[hp1978]

Tokyo Extreme Racer

I get the error below when I try to make Tokyo Extreme Racer bootable with Exoboot, using the Data to Image function.

BTW, I had no success with fastboot either, as it does not make the new CDI image as expected.

The image does contain the bin files (attached).

Is there a way to solve this issue?

Thanks

 

[Onky]

I get the error below when I try to make Tokyo Extreme Racer bootable with Exoboot, using the Data to Image function.

BTW, I had no success with fastboot either, as it does not make the new CDI image as expected.

The image does contain the bin files (attached).

Is there a way to solve this issue?

Thanks

I couldn't get those to work either, I had to use the Echelon selfboot method (included in the StateS guide). However this only gets it on a CD, I still haven't figured out a way to get an iso/cdi that Chanka will recognise.

 

[STC-Fan]

Uh dude I think that first toc is for Alone in the Dark 4

True, but that's what was in that new copy of Ready 2 Rumble I bought yesterday. Christ knows why it has an Alone in the Dark 4 TOC file inside it, because that isn't what's on the disc... o_o

That's weird, did you not have to include the toc.iso to make the extract work?? Regarding my Shenmue rip, I ignored the first track as it says in the StateS guide and it worked no problems. Except for the size of course...

No, I did include toc.iso in the command, but removed the reference to data1.iso (the "dummy" data track before the audio tracks - after those audio tracks is the "real" data track) so that the command looked like this:

extract data2.iso (the LBA number from the start of the second data track)+150

Good luck with that, can't think why that second track is mosty null data :? Do you think if I hacked the IP.BIN and 1ST_READ.BIN then tried that in Exoboot, I would get a .cdi file that worked in Chanka?

ExoBoot is supposed to automatically execute BINHACK to hack those respective files, so you shouldn't need to do it manually. You can do the whole process manually though, by running that, then running MKISOFS (to build an ISO image from the files) and then by running BIN2BOOT (to convert the ISO to a bootable .CDI image).

I can't remember the command that needs to be used with MKISOFS, but you can see it by running ExoBoot as it will open it in the background. I'll be able to do it in a second as I'm just copying it to another PC (with Win98) to build a bootable image of Ready 2 Rumble. (Actually no I won't, cause I've just copied it over to there and installed the required VB 6 runtime files, only to be greeted with "Run-time error 430: Class does not support Automation or does not support expected interface". So I suppose I'll need to try it on another PC.)

 

[STC-Fan]

Double post. Ick.

Anyway, here's some screenshots of two games I've dumped and got working in Chankast so far.

EDIT: I apologise for the blurry look of the images - this is because I accidentally enlarged them in IrfanView while converting them to PNG.

EDIT #2: I've re-made a self-boot disc image of Fighting Vipers 2 and it displays the "Produced by or under license from" logo then Chankast freezes up. Tomorrow I'll re-make self-boot disc images of Fur Fighters and MSR as I don't have time to do them now. Also I'll have another go at re-dumping ChuChu Rocket and see if I can get something other than null data from the second data track...

 

[Onky]

Hurrahs all round. The data files ripped fine with Exoboot 1.2, so I poked around and found out what made it work. I got rid of the GUI and all the redundant programs to make a stripped down version just for my purposes, and it works a treat. I can now go from a ripped directory to working cdi file in around 5 minutes, fully automated The final batch file looks like this:

SET GAME=DYNAMITECOP - change this to your game name
SET BOOTF=1ST_READ.BIN - change this if your boot file is not the default

rem - DO NOT EDIT ANYTHING BELOW UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

copy /Y data\%BOOTF%
del /q data\%BOOTF%
del /q data\ip.bin

binhack do_not_edit.txt

copy /Y %BOOTF% data\
copy /Y IP.BIN data\IP.BIN >nul

Mkisofs -C 0,0 -V %GAME% -l -o data.iso data
Bin2boot data.iso
del data.iso
del *.tmp
del /q %BOOTF%
rename image.cdi %GAME%.cdi

And that really is all there is to it, edit those two lines, run it and you're done. I've made a little rar file with everything you need in case you want to have a go. If you get stuck, check the readme

 

[STC-Fan]

Wow, nice work there

I haven't had any time today to look at ChuChu Rocket or build self-boot images of those other games. Only thing I haven't mentioned is that I've discovered my Fighting Vipers rip is buggy - the 0GDTEX.PVR file isn't convertable to BMP, and one of the ADX files in ADX_DAT.AFS is corrupted and unplayable.

It also looks like Fur Fighters is buggy as well. I've tried doing a batch conversion of a big load of PVRs from one folder - not one was converted by PVR2BMP. Some others are OK, but it'll need re-ripping too.

And MSR? Well, even though all the ADX files are fine (I've checked all of the AFS files with the game music) it's possible that it too is buggy. But of course even if a game has all its PVRs (textures), ADXs (music), SFDs (videos), DPSs (Dream Passport Score files - the code in them looks like HTML code), INIs (text files, may also have "garbled" data in them) and godknowswhatelse intact that's all we can check.

There's tonnes of other files that can't be checked at all, like MPDs, MLTs, DATs etc. because there is no known way of converting them. Unless they were corrupted in a really obvious way (i.e. repeating patterns of data in the whole file or just null data, as with the ChuChu Rocket files - Hex Workshop is good for checking for that kind of thing) then there's no way of telling until a self-boot image is made and run in Chankast. Bah.

 

[StateS]

hmm hey stc-fan maybe i translated the yursoft document wrong maybe instead of using this command: extract data1.iso data2.iso (the LBA number from the start of the second data track)+150

it might be this command: extract data1.iso data2.iso (the LBA number from the start of the second data track)...

You guys are doing a bangup job with this, I wish I could be of more help... I'm limited to only research...

 

[StateS]

What version of exoboot are you using? the newest version is 1.31 and I think that error which it is giving you is already fixed... Get it from here: http://www.emutalk.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=19059

I think the bug was fixed in version 1.25 or 1.26 I think...
Maybe this will fix your problem...

 

[hp1978]

Onky, what is the "Utopia Boot-CD version of the game" that is written on the Echelon tutorial?

 

[STC-Fan]

hmm hey stc-fan maybe i translated the yursoft document wrong maybe instead of using this command: extract data1.iso data2.iso (the LBA number from the start of the second data track)+150

it might be this command: extract data1.iso data2.iso (the LBA number from the start of the second data track)...

I managed to extract data2.iso already using the following command:

extract toc.iso data2.iso (the LBA number from the start of the second data track)+150

data1.iso just has no actual game files in it - all it contains is the table of contents (TOC) file. I looked at it in a hex editor and aside from the TOC it's just full of zeroes. I made a selfboot .CDI of R2R in ExoBoot and it's working fine (see below link for screenshots). No CD audio yet - I have that ripped OK to a BIN file though and I have a method in mind to add it into the game.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/menace-59/gd-rom_stuff/screenshots/

(EDIT: It didn't work. An explanation... basically I edited the ExoBoot batch file for doing self-boot disc images so that it would hack 1ST_READ.BIN + IP.BIN, build the ISO but not convert it to a CDI. Then I converted the ISO to BIN format in WinISO, and then crudely joined the AUDIO.BIN file onto it using this command: "copy /b audio.bin+data2.bin image.bin".

Unsuprisingly this sodded up the LBA values and BIN2BOOT was unable to convert it because it couldn't find either 1ST_READ.BIN or IP.BIN. <STBO> Could've tried isofix, but of course it only works with ISOs. </STBO> So I'm kind of stuck at the moment, but there probably is a way of adding audio tracks to BINs with some other utility )

 

[Onky]

Onky, what is the "Utopia Boot-CD version of the game" that is written on the Echelon tutorial?

The guide was originally reffering to games that were ripped using a different selfboot technique, and how to convert it to the new standard. For our purposes, however, just use the files that you got from the new_img.iso using the extract program, and it should work just fine

 

[LostBinary]

DVD Wizard Pro (www.dvdwizardpro.com) states that it can copy Dreamcast games using any DVD. Have anyone tried it?

 

[General Plot]

I'll give that experiment a shot, but I'm guessing that no matter the software, it still depends on the drive's ability to read GD-ROM's in order for it to work.
Update:
I got my hands on a copy of this software, and as I suspected, it's another company trying to make money from somebody else's work. All it comes with is TMPEG Encoder (for VideoCD and DVD encoding), Flask MPEG (another convertor), Virtual DUB (for converting to Divx), and other misc free software that can be found online at no cost. It comes with a guide on how to use the programs to capture, convert, and burn Video CD's/DVD's on your PC. And a note: I did not see any included software for game copying as shown on that ad page. I do have the latest version (5.75). It seems they are yet another scam.

 

[STC-Fan]

I got my hands on a copy of this software, and as I suspected, it's another company trying to make money from somebody else's work. All it comes with is TMPEG Encoder (for VideoCD and DVD encoding), Flask MPEG (another convertor), Virtual DUB (for converting to Divx), and other misc free software that can be found online at no cost. It comes with a guide on how to use the programs to capture, convert, and burn Video CD's/DVD's on your PC. And a note: I did not see any included software for game copying as shown on that ad page. I do have the latest version (5.75). It seems they are yet another scam.

I got a copy of that myself, though the one I got had a guide book with it called "Game-Copy-Pro (Xbox-Ps2-Psx).exe". Contrary to the filename, it only tells you how to copy PS1 & PS2 games (with CDRWIN), not Xbox games, making it completely and utterly useless as PS1 & PS2 games can be copied with just about any application. The rest of the stuff (i.e. the main setup program) I couldn't even be bothered to install as I'd read your post by that point, so I deleted it =P

 

[Onky]

I'm also giving the coder's cable method a try for the hell of it, though I've encountered an annoying problem. To get it to work, you need a serial slave CD-R, while is apparently made following the guide from this page:

http://mc.pp.se/dc/serslave.html

But the guide gets a bit dodgy from about half-way down the burning section, it just talks about some random 1ST_READ.BIN file that is required to make the iso, with no indication as to where it has come from. Sure you can probably use IPINS to put the IP.BIN file into the iso, but what should be in the iso? Hmmmm

 

[STC-Fan]

Just a quick bumpity-bump of this topic from myself. Reason? My guide has recieved a bunch of important updates, and the ripping toolkit has also been updated. This will probably be the last time (for a while) I bump this, unless the update is REALLY important (or it's something else that's really important and postworthy), because I am now recording page updates on the main GD-ROM stuff index page (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/menace-59/gd-rom_stuff/index.html). So, erm, yeah.

The only other noteworthy thing I have to mention is that, provided I get a chance to have a go at it, is to test out a broken Samsung SD-612T DVD drive. Right now it is broken, but I am hoping to remove the motor inside the drive (which is faulty because it won't spin up properly anymore) and replace it with one taken from a working Samsung SM-308 combo drive I have. There are a bunch of other broken drives I've got recently but some of them are not easy to repair. The only one I can vision being fixed also is an LG 52x CD-ROM drive with corrupted firmware.

Other than that, there's nothing else happening. However, it is now looking like the chances of getting correct rips of Fur Fighters, Fighting Vipers 2 and MSR will be to try a different drive other than my LITE-ON LTD-165H DVD drive.

 

[Sri Narayan]

CDDA question

Is there another method or tool of adding cdda track?
Because I can only extract the isos when they're merged. (not cdrom method).

 

[STC-Fan]

Is there another method or tool of adding cdda track?
Because I can only extract the isos when they're merged. (not cdrom method).

This is probably what you'd have to do to get CDDA tracks into an image file. Since the ISO format does not support CDDA tracks, you'll need to convert your ripped ISO file into BIN format with WinISO. BUT, before you do that, you'll need to:

1) Run isofix.exe on the ISO file if you haven't already done so. Open a Command Prompt in a folder with the image file and the isofix program, type in (without quotes) "isofix [image-filename.iso] 45000".

2) Extract 1ST_READ.BIN and IP.BIN from the ISO file, hack them with BINHACK and that other utility (they're in the ExoBoot self-boot kit, do a search of the forums for ExoBoot 1.31 for the latest version) and insert them into your ISO file with WinISO.

3) THEN you need to convert the ISO to BIN with WinISO. Once it's finished doing the conversion, you should have your resulting BIN file, and a CUE file for it (more often called a CUE sheet). The CUE sheet is where data about track in the BIN file is listed.

4) Finally, you'll need to insert CDDA tracks (either in seperate WAV files or all ripped together from your game into a BIN file) into the main BIN file (in the correct order), but I'm not sure how to do this.

Also, once you've actually done step 4), you'll need to write your own CUE sheet (which will hold the track layout of the BIN file) - not an easy task, but possible, since the toc.iso which you ripped (and hopefully still have to hand =P) has all the relevant track info - take a look in GD Lister for this info.

Finally, CDRWIN comes with a guide to writing CUE sheets, which is very handy. Dunno if that's in any older versions, but I just grabbed v3.9K today (the latest version) and it was in the help file. All I'm going to do for now is to try and write a CUE sheet for Ready 2 Rumble just to give you guys a clearer idea of what CUE sheets for DC games with data + audio tracks should look like.

P.S. - I said something about trying to fix a busted Samsung SD-612 DVD drive by replacing the motor with one from an SM-308 CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive in an earlier post - sadly, the latter has now also died, so I can't do that now. With any luck though, I might be able to borrow some drives from a friend of mine for testing, soon (where "soon" could be anything from a few days to a few weeks).

P.P.S (Last time I EVER edit this damn post with any luck =P) - I had a go at writing a CUE sheet for the ripped audio (in BIN format) from Ready 2 Rumble and burnt a CD to test it out. The timing was out a bit - the start of track 2 spilled over into the end of track 1 for instance - but at least it worked OK. Good bit of practice if nothing else.

I also wrote a CUE sheet including all of the relevant R2R tracks (dummy / TOC track + audio tracks + game data track) which is probably also wrong, but I can't even test that yet because AFAIK there's no way of making the actual disc image yet (which would be a BIN file with the audio tracks first, data tracks last, as with the real disc).

 

[Sri Narayan]

i will try it with sega cuemaker

perhabs it will work. Thanks!