schirmk V.I.P. Member Xbox Version: Xbox V1.0 Modded: Chameleon
Joined: Aug 09, 2003 Posts: 615 Location: Seattle, WA
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 11:10 am Post subject: I donno if anyone wants it, but heres a tutorial on DC games
Hey all, I just pulled out my DC and realized how great of a system it still is and how easy it is to come up with back up copies of games. So for anyone who might be interested. Heres how to burn DC games, careful its kinda long.
DOWN LOADING..........
most of you asking questions are trying to download games, and are not having too much luck, these are the steps you should
take to increase your chances of downloading a game.
1. you need to know how many rar files are in the game you want. (this is very important, if you are missing just one
file or if one file is bad..the whole thing will be bad) goto www.isonews.com and look up the game it will tell you how
many files there are to the game you want.
EX: Shenmue Passport Kalisto [xx/25]
^
^
this is the number you are looking for, so if you are downloading shenmue passport and you only have 20 files....guess what,
it wont work...duh!
(most times however, when you see this number you can subtract 2 from it, because 2 of the files are not needed for the
game"nfo", "sfv")
2. now you have all the files you need to check them and make sure that they are complete, when the games are release it has pretty much been a standard to release them in 20mb files, so make sure all of the file except the last one are 20mb
if you are checking in windows you will need to make sure you go under "view" and turn on "details", that way you can see the size of the files. you should see something like "filename.001 19,532...blah blah. make sure you have 19,532 for all the files except the last one.
if you are checking them in winrar then you will see "filename.001 20,000,000" once again check them all to make sure they are all 20mb except the last one.
(NOTE: this is just the standard, some times people will re rar the games to a diffrent size so don't be alarmed..if you have a game that says it is supposed to be 10 files and you have 14 files, but they are all at 15mb, then you will more than likely be ok)
now assuming you have all the files in one spot open up winrar and click on the first file( usually the extension is .rar or .01, hit the extract to button at the top, win rar will then asign a folder to the game so just hit ok. now they files will star being extracted to a folder with the same name as the files, winrar will usually tell you when something is wrong ..if you get a message say it needs a file to continue then that means you forgot to download a file and the extraction cant go on, or maybe you have the file and it's in a different folder or even the extension on it got changed. you can either leave winrar right where it is, go back and get the file, or find it on your comp.
once winrar is done you can go look inside the folder it made and you should see either a cue/bin file or a cdi file.
for cue/bin files you need cdrwin, open "record disk", "load cue sheet" find the cue in the folder the game is in and hit record.
if you have a cdi file then you need disk juggler 2.x
make sure you have and adaptek program installed and go get the aspi32 driver. once you have DJ open goto "file", "new" and choose "cd image to cd recorder". hit the source button, find the cdi file and load it. make sure your recorder is recognized by DJ, on the right put "write" in the action box" and put the recording speed down to 4x or below..(to be safe) hit the "advanced" tab and check these
mode: mode1
block: 2368 or 2332
offset:0
toc: cd-rom
now go back and burn it...you should turn off all other apps and anything that makes your hard drive work, you don't want to under run the buffer.
in 20 minutes or so you should have a working self boot game.
(NOTE: if you have a game you made from a cue/bin file then you will need to load the boot disk first, if you made the game from a cdi file DON'T load the boot disk, just put in in the dc and turn it on)
!!!I ALREADY HAVE A WORKING GAME, BUT I WANT TO MAKE ANOTHER COPY!!!!
this is much easier to do if you have a game that requires the boot disk...then you can make a copy with almost any program out there, just make sure you are using 80 min cds for the ones that need it, some times you will need to make the smaller games fit onto a 80 min cd ( i will explain later )
CDRWIN
i use cdrwin though open cdrwin and choose the 3rd box over on the top row "extract disk" make sure the game you want to copy is in the cd tray and you have enough space on your hard drive. save the game to a folder of your choice and hit start, cdrwin will make a cue/bin file with whatever name you gave it. once it is done you close the extract window and choose the 1st box on the top "record disk", hit the load cue sheet button find your cue, set your burn speed, and burn.
copying a self boot game i have only been able to do with 2 programs disk juggler 2.x and psxcopy6.0
disk juggler
first you need to make sure your burner supports multi session...one way to check is to open cdrwin goto "record disk" look at the bottom in "recording options" if you see "new session" available to you..then you are in luck if not.....you only have one hope....(later)
you will need to turn off the auto insert notification to your reader and burner under the system icon in the controll panel, device tab.
back to DJ open "new" and choose "copy cd from the same recorder", put the game you want to copy in the BURNER and close the tray you shouldn't have to make any other adjustments and hit start
disk juggler will then make a iso image of the game, when it is done, it'll kick out the cd. put a blank cd in the burner, close the tray, and let the burner get set. once the burner is set hit start and it should copy ok...if it doesn't , then make sure you have the aspi32 driver from adaptek.com
for those of you who did not have the "open new session" available...the only hope i know of is psxcopy, unfortunately it is hard to find and if anyone knows where i can get a new version of this program please let me know. psx copy to me is the "BEST" program i have on one of my burners..it will burn anything even 90% of self boot games already on cd. if you have it then open it, put your cd-rom in source and burner in destination put the game in and a blanck cd, then hit "copy"
it will scan the cd then goto a screen where it asks you if you want to save it to disk then copy it check this box and hit "copy"
psxcopy will then make a temp image and burn the game, it is one of the few programs that will write one session then continues on to the next...
this is to help SOME of you guys who seem to have trouble when you burn an image file..
it seems a lot of you guys can burn a cdi image, however it doesn't work....
here are some things you can do to improve your burning percentage....a lot of you guys are claiming you've wasted over 20 cds..
um.... you could have damn near bought the game in the store or 2 from me...
the point is...lets use a little sense and not waste so many cds if it wont work after your third try....just stop.
now on with the show...
1. make sure you have the right amount of rar files, ( i have explained this process in my other step by step, if you have not read it, please do and post a reply at the bottom)
2. check to see if all the files are the right size.
A. this is very important because if one file is bad the whole thing is bad. sometimes when you download a file, it will be either too small(because the download got cut off), or too big (because, it resumed over)
B. the most important thing is....make sure you are using diskjuggler 2.x(a lot of you are trying to do this with 3.x, which is a no no...
if this happens then you need to find that file and re download it.
3. another very important thing...DONT USE CHEAP CDS!!!! i have spoke to some of you guys who say "it finished copying, but the game didn't load", i find out your using cheap cds and once you used a better brand the game worked(...hmmm)
A. don't use those cds that don't have a protective coating on the top, yeah yeah...they may look real nice all silver, but they suck shit. they don't reflect well and a lot of the time the reader goes right through them, plus if they get one little scratch on the top of that pretty silver coat..( that is smeared to death with your nasty finger prints)
the game or what ever you had on it wont work. you can usually tell if the dc can see something on the cd, but just can't do anything with it.
B. if you get the cd player screen when you put in the cd, then the dc sees something on the disk but cant process it. you can either change cd media or if you are not sure if it is self loading, try using the boot disk.
C. if you get the screen where the memory card is bouncing around, then the dc doesn't see anything at all...
"THE GAME BURNS AND I'M USING GOOD MEDIA...NOW WHAT"??
OK now we get into something else....you have followed everything above and still no luck, now it's time to look at the image file itself..
you will need all the rar files to the game, open winrar and goto the directory with the game files. you are going to repair each one, because sometimes when you download files the strans of the filees get messed up, so we are going to try to get the right.
click on the first file of the game and hit the "repair" button at the top you will then be asked if you want to treat it as a rar or zip, choose rar, it will then do its thing and when done goto the next file..hit the second file and then "repair", pick as rar...then you will be ask something else
winrar saves repaired files as "_reconst.rar" so when you do file 2 it whants to call it the same thing, choose to rename the file and change it to "_reconst.002", and "_reconst.003" for the third one and so on...
once you are done, you have to move all the old files to a new directory, so make a folder inside the folder you are in and call it "damaged", move the old files in the "damaged" folder.
now, to make things easy goto one of the old files "right" click on it and choose "rename", i want you to highlight the name of the file WITHOUT the extension and hit "ctrl and c", this will copy the name.
you now have to go back and rename each file to it's original name, if you copied the name like i said then all you have to do is "right click" on the repaired rar hit "rename" hit ctrl and v , this will put the file name in, now all you have to do is put the right extension on..thats why i told you to keep the same extension number on the end of each repaired rar.
once you have renamed them all to their original names un rar the game again and try burning it at no more than 4x...with any luck it should work...
i hope...
!!!!! CDRWIN CUE SHEETS WONT LOAD!!!!!
many times when you download a game the cue sheet gets messed up so....
if you download a game cue/bin and try to load the cue sheet and the cue sheet wont load
look at the error and see what's wrong
if it says "can't open bin"
then open your "note pad"...(start, programs,accessories, ..notepad)
goto file hit "open" goto the directory where the cue and bin are..( make sure you set it to show "all files"
click on the cue sheet and open it..
you should see something like this:
FILE "D GAME IMAGES\DINO2.BIN" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
PREGAP 00:02:00
INDEX 01 44:45:18
make sure the file path and names are correct, the most common one i see is this:..(if you notice the extension got changed to ".bin.bin")
FILE "D GAME IMAGES\DINO2.BIN.BIN" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
PREGAP 00:02:00
INDEX 01 44:45:18
all you have to do is erase the .BIN on the end and save it....
now try loading that cue sheet again...and i bet it will work....
!!!THIS IS FOR THE BOOT DISK ONLY!!!!!!!!!
AS you all know i have mentioned "psx copy" many times i use version 6.0, but if you go here you can get version 6.2
www.cdrsoft.net/index2.html
i will upload the image file of the boot disk for those of you that need it to one of my idrive accounts..i'll post the account later tommorow...
now, this program will not burn cdi files, it is only good for making copies of backup already on cd and self boot games that were made with the kalisto self boot method...i will try to put together a list of those games..if i get the time...
it seem most of you are having the same problems over and over, some of you i have been able to help, while others have not been so lucky.
i'm going to go over the basic things you should do to get disk juggler to work, and i would appreciate anyone else's help that has usefull info. when you are done reading this i beg you to please post a reply at the bottom...say anything, but that way this message will stay on the boards for eveyone to read when they enter.
onto the solutions.
FIRST: IF YOU ARE TRYING TO BURN A CDI DC IMAGE WITH SOMETHING OTHER THAN DISK JUGGLER 2.X.....YOU'LL HAVE A NICE COASTER TO SET YOUR DRINKS ON....SO MAKE SURE IT IS DJ 2.X
SECOND: UPDATE THE ASPI DRIVER AT WWW.ADAPTEK.COM OR USE THE GENERIC DJ DRIVER FOUND AT WWW.DCCOPYWORLD.COM
THIRD: MAKE SURE YOUR BURNER SUPPORTS MULTI SESSION WRITING..ONE WAY TO CHECK IS BY TURNING ON CDRWIN, GOTO "RECORD DISK" LOOK AT THE BOTTOM..IF YOU SEE THE "OPEN NEW SESSION" GREYED OUT UNDER "RECORDING OPTIONS"...WELL.....YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK.(YOU CAN BURN GAMES THAT ARE NOT SELF BOOT THOUGH).
FOURTH NCE YOU HAVE ALL THAT DONE OPEN DJ...
BURNING A UNRARED IMAGE:
1 GOTO "FILE", "NEW"" AND CHOOSE "CD IMAGE TO CD RECORDER"
2 HIT THE "SOURCE" BUTTON, FIND YOUR CDI/ISO IMAGE AND HIT "OK"
3 MAKE SURE YOUR BURNER IS IN DESTINATION
4 MOVE THE RECORDING SPEED DOWN TO 4X OR SLOWER...(JUST TO BE SAFE), AND PUT "WRITE" IN THE "ACTION" BOX..OR "TEST AND IF OK WRITE"
5 HIT THE "ADVANCED" TAB...THIS MAY NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO SOME , BUT I HAVE LESS PROBLEMS WHEN I CHOOSE THESE SETTINGS
MODE: MODE1
BLOCK: 2336 OR 2368 (MAY VARY ON BURNERS)
OFFSET:0
TOC: CD-ROM
DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING CHECKED IN THE "MISC"
6 MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT RUNNING OTHER APPS, YOU WANT YOUR HARD DRIVE TO BE ABLE TO SPIT THE INFO THE THE BURNER WITH OUT ANY PROBLEMS.
7 HIT START AND PRAY......
MAKING A BACK-UP OF A DC GAME ON DISK
FIRST FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS ABOVE UNTIL YOU GET TO THE "FILE", "NEW", NOW HIT "CD COPY FROM SAME RECODER"
ALSO IN ORDER FOR THIS TO WORK YOU MUST TURN OFF THE "CD AUTO INSERT" ON YOUR COMP. TO CHECK THIS GOTO "START", "SETTINGS", "CONTROL PANEL", "SYSTEM"..HIT THE "DEVICE MANAGER" TAB..GOTO "CD ROM" HIT THE "SETTINGS" TAB MAKE SURE THERE IS NOT A CHECK IN THE "AUTO INSERT NOTIFICATION" BOX. DO THIS FOR YOUR READER AND BURNER. (RESTART YOUR COMP)
OK ONCE YOU'RE BACK PUT THE GAME YOU WANT TO COPY IN YOUR BURNER PUT THE RECORDING SPEED DOWN TO 4X AND "WRITE" IN THE "ACTION" SLOT HIT START.
DJ WILL START MAKING A TEMP IMAGE OF THE GAME. WHEN IT IS DONE IT WILL KICK OUT THE GAME. PUT A BLANK 80MIN CD IN THE BURNER, CLOSE THE TRAY, LET THE BURNER GET SET...THIS IS IMPORTANY, BECAUSE 80% OF THE TIME IF YOU HIT "OK" RIGHT AFTER YOU CLOSE THE CD TRAY IT WILL FAIL...WHY?..I DON'T KNOW, SO JUST WAIT THE 6 SECONDS OR SO THEN HIT "OK"... IN 20 MINUTES YOU SHOULD HAVE ANOTHER COPY OF THE GAME.
A COMMON ERROR MESSAGE IS "BUFFER UNDER RUN" THAT MEANS YOUR HARD DRIVE OR CDROM( IF GOING CD TO CD) IS NOT GETTING INFO TO THE BURNER FAST ENOUGH, SO THE BURNER STOPS FUNCTIONING.....THE MOST COMMON WAY TO HANDLE THIS IS SLOW DOWN YOUR WRITING SPEED, SO THE BURNER ISN'T WRITING THE INFO FASTER THAN IT'S GETTING IT, ALSO MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING ELSE ON YOUR COMP THAT REQUIRES YOUR HARD DRIVE TO WORK (SO CLOSE ALL APPS )
THE SCARIEST PART IS RIGHT AFTER THE FIRST SESSION, IF YOU GET PAST THIS PART TO THE 10% MARK..IT SHOULD BE SMOOTH FROM THERE..UNLESS YOU MESS WITH YOU COMP, HAVE A POWER OUTTAGE, OR YOU KID COMES OVER AND PUSHES THE BUTTONS ON YOUR COMP(I HAVE THAT PROBLEM)
HOPE THIS HELPS EVERYON....
GOOD LUCK
or try going to the dc file forum www.fileforums.com/
and look for more of my posts.
THE PLAIN AND SIMPLE GUIDE TO CONVERTING SELFBOOTS TO NONE SELFBOOT
(this will work on any drive - including the 4801)
This method has been fully tested on Silent Scope.
However, This method does not cover games that have multiple Audio tracks (cdda) - see note at the bottom
Follow the instuctions step, by step - it really quite easy...
(but read ALL of the step, before executing it)
Ok, before you start, you will need to download FOUR utilities from my site....
1) CDIrip
2) ISO fixer
3) ISOBUSTER
4) Hex Workshop
Once you have downloaded, these four utilites - obviously unzip and/or install them, so they are ready to use.
Ok, here we go..
Step1) This is obvious, but you must have a complete CDI game file ready and waiting.
Step2) USE the CDIRIP utility to extract the ISO file.
The best way to do this is..
Copy the CDIRIP utility to the same directory as your CDI Game file
Then enter into a dos window
Change the dos directory to the same one as the CDI file (using "CD" command)
Then type "CDIRIP.EXE filename.CDI" (change the filename bit to the actual name of your CDI file)
WARNING - THIS WILL PRODUCE FILES THAT ARE ALMOST THE SAME SIZE AS THE CDI FILE - SO YOU NEED TO HAVE THE DISK SPACE.
IMPORTANT - As the sessions are extracted, it will show the "LBA" number - YOU NEED to write down the LBA value for the second session (which is the data session) (usually 11700 or 11702)
This process can take 5 mins to do, so time to light-up maybe ????
Once the utility has completed....
IF THE GAME HAS PRODUCED MULTIPLE "WAV" FILES (i.e. more than one wav file) - YOU ARE STUCK BECAUSE THIS GUIDE DOES NOT WORK WITH THOSE TYPE OF GAMES YET! - Very sorry but you cannot continue.
However, if only one "WAV" file was produced, please continue..
You can delete the CDI file to save disk space, you shouldn't need it again (but ONLY do this if you can create it again if things go wrong, i.e you still have the rar files to re-create it if neccessary??)
You should now have and "ISO" file (called "Tdata02.iso")
The "CUE" file can be deleted - you don't need it.
The "WAV" file can be deleted - you don't need this.
Step3) Use the ISOFIX utility to re-organise the ISO
The best way to do this is...
Copy the ISOFIX utility to the same directory as your ISO file
Then enter a dos window
Change the dos directory to the same one as the ISO file (using "CD" command)
Then type "ISOFIX.EXE TDATA02.ISO"
When the utility starts, it will ask you to enter the LBA (which you wrote down earlier) - usually 11700 or 11702
WARNING - THIS WILL PRODUCE ANOTHER FILE THAT IS THE SAME SIZE AS THE ISO FILE - SO YOU NEED TO HAVE THE DISK SPACE.
This process can take 5 mins to do, so time to light-up again maybe ????
Once Completed...
You should have a file called "tmp.iso"
You should also have a file called "bootfile.bin"(you may need this later)
You can now delete the Tdata02.iso, to save disk space if needed.
DO NOT delete the "bin" file
Step4) You need to create a new folder in windows explorer
(best to do this in the same directory as the iso file)
Step5) Use the ISOBUSTER utility to extract the raw files from the ISO to your new folder
To do this...
Start ISOBUSTER (double click on isobuster.exe icon)
A window will appear
On the drop down menu in the top left (proberbly shows you CD drive at present) - select "[0,0] <file>"
Then click on the little folder icon to the right of the work "refresh"
A "open image file" window will now appear
IMPORTANT - at the bottom of the window, on the drop down menu "files of type", you must select "Creator Image(*.iso)"
Then on the top drop down menu called "look in", choose the directory where you have tmp.iso stored.
You should be able to highlight tmp.iso, and then click open.
It will now take you back to the main menu, but it should now show all the files contained in that iso (on the right of the creen)
On the far left, you should see a little "ISO" red box with the name of the ISO to the right of this (in my example - "Silent_scope_ECH")
RIGHT click on this name and choose "extract directory" from the popup menu
Choose the destination folder (the one you created in step 4) and click "ok"
The files will now be extracted to your new directory.
Guess what? This process can take 5 mins to do, so time to light-up again maybe ????
WARNING - THIS WILL PRODUCE A FEW FILES THAT EQUAL THE SAME SIZE AS THE ISO FILE - SO YOU NEED TO HAVE THE DISK SPACE.
Once completed....
You can delete the "TMP.ISO" file to save disk space
STEP6) Go into your New folder
Does it have a file called "Ip.bin"?
If not, you need to copy the "bootfile.bin" (created by ISOFIX) into the new folder and then rename the file so it is called "Ip.bin"
(obviously, if you have got an IP.bin already then just delete the bootfile one)
STEP7) Final Stage, a bit of hex editing (not as hard as it sounds)
Start Hexworkshop (icon should be in your "programs" menu)
Top left corner - click on "file" and then "open"
Change the "look in" drop down menu to your new menu (where all the extracted files are from step 5)
Highlight file "1ST_READ.BIN" and click "open".
Then top left corner again - click on "edit" and then "find.." (3/4 down the menu)
A new menu will then be shown
On the dropdown menu "type", choose "Text String"
In the "value" box, type in "cd001" (without the quotes)
Click "OK"
A new window will appear with Hex code on the left and text on the right.
You should find that "cd001" is highlighted on the right.
Ok - you now need that LBA number from earlier (usually 11700 or 11702)
And you need to do a hex conversion (oh dear)
There is a quick way and a long way...
Quick way, If your LBA is 11700 you now need to remember 5A2E
If your LBA is 11702 you now need to remember 5C2E
Long way, If your LBA is anything else, check the bottom of this guide to do you own conversion!
Ok what you have to do now, is look on the Hex code (left) side of the screen for your new 4 digit code. On Silient Scope it is found on the line above the "CD001", so you need to scroll up one line to see it (second group of 4 digits in from the right). Silent scope is a 11700 LBA, so we are looking for 5A2E.
Once found, click on the 4 digit code and overtype it and change it to "A600" (without quotes)
Finally, click on "file" (top left corner) and choose "save"
It will now ask you if you want to make a backup - choose "no"
WARNING....
SOMETIMES, when you save the file, it looks as if the file has saved ok, but actually it hasn't!!! (the file is still the same as it was before you edited it???). I do not know why this happens (but it has been noted particually in DOA2LE).
SO, AFTER SAVING A FILE ALWAYS CHECK THAT THE FILE HAS BEEN CHANGED.
To be completely sure....
Close the hex editor
Restart it
Re-load the file you changed
Do the search again for "CD001"
make sure the code you changed stil reads "A600"
If you are having problems saving the file...
Save it to a different directory
Then delete the orginal file from the game directory and copy the new one into your game directory.
Next you are supposed to open all the "bin" files in the directory (one by one) and do the same search for "cd001" and change the 4 digit code where ever needed. However, in the case of silent scope, all the other bin files do not have a "cd001" in them - so no worries there!
Note, if this step is not done (or is done wrong), the game will load up until about 96% and then it will reset back to the main dreamcast menu
Step 8 ) You are now ready to burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I use "nero" (but you can use many burners)
Just make sure you burn....
all the files in your new directory (don't burn the actual directory)
single session
mode 1
iso9660 level 2
and close disc
You should now have a game that works with the Utopia boot disk!!!!!!! (yeah!!!!)
It even works with my 4801!
LBA TO HEX CONVERSION (maybe needed in step 7)
If your LBA is not 11700 or 11702, you need to do the following conversion for step 7
Start the calculator in windows
click on "view" and click on "scientific"
enter your lba into the calculator, eg 11698
click on the "hex" (far left - topish) this converts it to hex e.g."2DB2"
press the "+" button
enter "A6"
press the "="
it will give you the result e.g. "2E58"
finally, swap the first two digits with the last two
e.g. "2E58" becomes "582E"
Thats it 582E is code you have to look for!
Here's a start..
Some of the games that have worked with this method
Games that don't work, anything with multiple audio tracks)
Have fun, and long live the 2nd greatest system out there, well I think it is.
sargy Xbox-HQ User Xbox Version: xbox v1.2(evoX) Modded: Xecuter 2.6pro(200GB HD)
Joined: Jan 21, 2004 Posts: 16 Location: IRELAND/Co.Cork/Midleton.
Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 3:37 am Post subject: Thank man
Hay man that is cool I’m goanna have to ding my D.C out tomorrow and troy it. Thank for the info _________________ ()==[SARGY>
InsaneKloWn Xbox-HQ Member Xbox Version: xbox v1.2(evoX) Modded: Xecuter 2.6pro(200GB HD)
Joined: Jul 31, 2004 Posts: 58 Location: Imlay City Michigan
Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:37 pm Post subject:
i know lots about all that but darn took along time to read how could you type that much anyways!? _________________ XBOX VERSION/DIDNT CHECK YET
HARDDRIVE 8 gig hardrive
DASH/Default Microsoft
MODCHIP/None Yet!
BIOS/Default
CPU/733 MHz chip
RAM/ 64 MB
Waiting Installation list
Modchip/aladdin live maybe
Harddrive/80 gig Quantum 5.25 series Lockable
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary Xbox Version: xbox v1.2(evoX) Modded: Xecuter 2.6pro(200GB HD)
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:44 pm Post subject:
That's what dedicated members do. Look at some of the news stories posted. A lot of time goes into this site. Some news stories have taken me over an hour to put together. Some of my game reviews have taken me literally several hours collectively before I post.
We're for real here mate! We want to have the best Xbox site worldwide.
later man _________________ Good Deals: Death@Hand, funkydopenloven, StaticMind, Slamscaper, PorscheXboxter
Bad Deals: None Yet
Pending Deals: Vanguard
2113223 Guest
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:51 pm Post subject: Re: I donno if anyone wants it, but heres a tutorial on DC g
schirmk wrote:
Hey all, I just pulled out my DC and realized how great of a system it still is and how easy it is to come up with back up copies of games. So for anyone who might be interested. Heres how to burn DC games, careful its kinda long.
DOWN LOADING..........
most of you asking questions are trying to download games, and are not having too much luck, these are the steps you should
take to increase your chances of downloading a game.
1. you need to know how many rar files are in the game you want. (this is very important, if you are missing just one
file or if one file is bad..the whole thing will be bad) goto www.isonews.com and look up the game it will tell you how
many files there are to the game you want.
EX: Shenmue Passport Kalisto [xx/25]
^
^
this is the number you are looking for, so if you are downloading shenmue passport and you only have 20 files....guess what,
it wont work...duh!
(most times however, when you see this number you can subtract 2 from it, because 2 of the files are not needed for the
game"nfo", "sfv")
2. now you have all the files you need to check them and make sure that they are complete, when the games are release it has pretty much been a standard to release them in 20mb files, so make sure all of the file except the last one are 20mb
if you are checking in windows you will need to make sure you go under "view" and turn on "details", that way you can see the size of the files. you should see something like "filename.001 19,532...blah blah. make sure you have 19,532 for all the files except the last one.
if you are checking them in winrar then you will see "filename.001 20,000,000" once again check them all to make sure they are all 20mb except the last one.
(NOTE: this is just the standard, some times people will re rar the games to a diffrent size so don't be alarmed..if you have a game that says it is supposed to be 10 files and you have 14 files, but they are all at 15mb, then you will more than likely be ok)
now assuming you have all the files in one spot open up winrar and click on the first file( usually the extension is .rar or .01, hit the extract to button at the top, win rar will then asign a folder to the game so just hit ok. now they files will star being extracted to a folder with the same name as the files, winrar will usually tell you when something is wrong ..if you get a message say it needs a file to continue then that means you forgot to download a file and the extraction cant go on, or maybe you have the file and it's in a different folder or even the extension on it got changed. you can either leave winrar right where it is, go back and get the file, or find it on your comp.
once winrar is done you can go look inside the folder it made and you should see either a cue/bin file or a cdi file.
for cue/bin files you need cdrwin, open "record disk", "load cue sheet" find the cue in the folder the game is in and hit record.
if you have a cdi file then you need disk juggler 2.x
make sure you have and adaptek program installed and go get the aspi32 driver. once you have DJ open goto "file", "new" and choose "cd image to cd recorder". hit the source button, find the cdi file and load it. make sure your recorder is recognized by DJ, on the right put "write" in the action box" and put the recording speed down to 4x or below..(to be safe) hit the "advanced" tab and check these
mode: mode1
block: 2368 or 2332
offset:0
toc: cd-rom
now go back and burn it...you should turn off all other apps and anything that makes your hard drive work, you don't want to under run the buffer.
in 20 minutes or so you should have a working self boot game.
(NOTE: if you have a game you made from a cue/bin file then you will need to load the boot disk first, if you made the game from a cdi file DON'T load the boot disk, just put in in the dc and turn it on)
!!!I ALREADY HAVE A WORKING GAME, BUT I WANT TO MAKE ANOTHER COPY!!!!
this is much easier to do if you have a game that requires the boot disk...then you can make a copy with almost any program out there, just make sure you are using 80 min cds for the ones that need it, some times you will need to make the smaller games fit onto a 80 min cd ( i will explain later )
CDRWIN
i use cdrwin though open cdrwin and choose the 3rd box over on the top row "extract disk" make sure the game you want to copy is in the cd tray and you have enough space on your hard drive. save the game to a folder of your choice and hit start, cdrwin will make a cue/bin file with whatever name you gave it. once it is done you close the extract window and choose the 1st box on the top "record disk", hit the load cue sheet button find your cue, set your burn speed, and burn.
copying a self boot game i have only been able to do with 2 programs disk juggler 2.x and psxcopy6.0
disk juggler
first you need to make sure your burner supports multi session...one way to check is to open cdrwin goto "record disk" look at the bottom in "recording options" if you see "new session" available to you..then you are in luck if not.....you only have one hope....(later)
you will need to turn off the auto insert notification to your reader and burner under the system icon in the controll panel, device tab.
back to DJ open "new" and choose "copy cd from the same recorder", put the game you want to copy in the BURNER and close the tray you shouldn't have to make any other adjustments and hit start
disk juggler will then make a iso image of the game, when it is done, it'll kick out the cd. put a blank cd in the burner, close the tray, and let the burner get set. once the burner is set hit start and it should copy ok...if it doesn't , then make sure you have the aspi32 driver from adaptek.com
for those of you who did not have the "open new session" available...the only hope i know of is psxcopy, unfortunately it is hard to find and if anyone knows where i can get a new version of this program please let me know. psx copy to me is the "BEST" program i have on one of my burners..it will burn anything even 90% of self boot games already on cd. if you have it then open it, put your cd-rom in source and burner in destination put the game in and a blanck cd, then hit "copy"
it will scan the cd then goto a screen where it asks you if you want to save it to disk then copy it check this box and hit "copy"
psxcopy will then make a temp image and burn the game, it is one of the few programs that will write one session then continues on to the next...
this is to help SOME of you guys who seem to have trouble when you burn an image file..
it seems a lot of you guys can burn a cdi image, however it doesn't work....
here are some things you can do to improve your burning percentage....a lot of you guys are claiming you've wasted over 20 cds..
um.... you could have damn near bought the game in the store or 2 from me...
the point is...lets use a little sense and not waste so many cds if it wont work after your third try....just stop.
now on with the show...
1. make sure you have the right amount of rar files, ( i have explained this process in my other step by step, if you have not read it, please do and post a reply at the bottom)
2. check to see if all the files are the right size.
A. this is very important because if one file is bad the whole thing is bad. sometimes when you download a file, it will be either too small(because the download got cut off), or too big (because, it resumed over)
B. the most important thing is....make sure you are using diskjuggler 2.x(a lot of you are trying to do this with 3.x, which is a no no...
if this happens then you need to find that file and re download it.
3. another very important thing...DONT USE CHEAP CDS!!!! i have spoke to some of you guys who say "it finished copying, but the game didn't load", i find out your using cheap cds and once you used a better brand the game worked(...hmmm)
A. don't use those cds that don't have a protective coating on the top, yeah yeah...they may look real nice all silver, but they suck shit. they don't reflect well and a lot of the time the reader goes right through them, plus if they get one little scratch on the top of that pretty silver coat..( that is smeared to death with your nasty finger prints)
the game or what ever you had on it wont work. you can usually tell if the dc can see something on the cd, but just can't do anything with it.
B. if you get the cd player screen when you put in the cd, then the dc sees something on the disk but cant process it. you can either change cd media or if you are not sure if it is self loading, try using the boot disk.
C. if you get the screen where the memory card is bouncing around, then the dc doesn't see anything at all...
"THE GAME BURNS AND I'M USING GOOD MEDIA...NOW WHAT"??
OK now we get into something else....you have followed everything above and still no luck, now it's time to look at the image file itself..
you will need all the rar files to the game, open winrar and goto the directory with the game files. you are going to repair each one, because sometimes when you download files the strans of the filees get messed up, so we are going to try to get the right.
click on the first file of the game and hit the "repair" button at the top you will then be asked if you want to treat it as a rar or zip, choose rar, it will then do its thing and when done goto the next file..hit the second file and then "repair", pick as rar...then you will be ask something else
winrar saves repaired files as "_reconst.rar" so when you do file 2 it whants to call it the same thing, choose to rename the file and change it to "_reconst.002", and "_reconst.003" for the third one and so on...
once you are done, you have to move all the old files to a new directory, so make a folder inside the folder you are in and call it "damaged", move the old files in the "damaged" folder.
now, to make things easy goto one of the old files "right" click on it and choose "rename", i want you to highlight the name of the file WITHOUT the extension and hit "ctrl and c", this will copy the name.
you now have to go back and rename each file to it's original name, if you copied the name like i said then all you have to do is "right click" on the repaired rar hit "rename" hit ctrl and v , this will put the file name in, now all you have to do is put the right extension on..thats why i told you to keep the same extension number on the end of each repaired rar.
once you have renamed them all to their original names un rar the game again and try burning it at no more than 4x...with any luck it should work...
i hope...
!!!!! CDRWIN CUE SHEETS WONT LOAD!!!!!
many times when you download a game the cue sheet gets messed up so....
if you download a game cue/bin and try to load the cue sheet and the cue sheet wont load
look at the error and see what's wrong
if it says "can't open bin"
then open your "note pad"...(start, programs,accessories, ..notepad)
goto file hit "open" goto the directory where the cue and bin are..( make sure you set it to show "all files"
click on the cue sheet and open it..
you should see something like this:
FILE "D GAME IMAGES\DINO2.BIN" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
PREGAP 00:02:00
INDEX 01 44:45:18
make sure the file path and names are correct, the most common one i see is this:..(if you notice the extension got changed to ".bin.bin")
FILE "D GAME IMAGES\DINO2.BIN.BIN" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
PREGAP 00:02:00
INDEX 01 44:45:18
all you have to do is erase the .BIN on the end and save it....
now try loading that cue sheet again...and i bet it will work....
!!!THIS IS FOR THE BOOT DISK ONLY!!!!!!!!!
AS you all know i have mentioned "psx copy" many times i use version 6.0, but if you go here you can get version 6.2
www.cdrsoft.net/index2.html
i will upload the image file of the boot disk for those of you that need it to one of my idrive accounts..i'll post the account later tommorow...
now, this program will not burn cdi files, it is only good for making copies of backup already on cd and self boot games that were made with the kalisto self boot method...i will try to put together a list of those games..if i get the time...
it seem most of you are having the same problems over and over, some of you i have been able to help, while others have not been so lucky.
i'm going to go over the basic things you should do to get disk juggler to work, and i would appreciate anyone else's help that has usefull info. when you are done reading this i beg you to please post a reply at the bottom...say anything, but that way this message will stay on the boards for eveyone to read when they enter.
onto the solutions.
FIRST: IF YOU ARE TRYING TO BURN A CDI DC IMAGE WITH SOMETHING OTHER THAN DISK JUGGLER 2.X.....YOU'LL HAVE A NICE COASTER TO SET YOUR DRINKS ON....SO MAKE SURE IT IS DJ 2.X
SECOND: UPDATE THE ASPI DRIVER AT WWW.ADAPTEK.COM OR USE THE GENERIC DJ DRIVER FOUND AT WWW.DCCOPYWORLD.COM
THIRD: MAKE SURE YOUR BURNER SUPPORTS MULTI SESSION WRITING..ONE WAY TO CHECK IS BY TURNING ON CDRWIN, GOTO "RECORD DISK" LOOK AT THE BOTTOM..IF YOU SEE THE "OPEN NEW SESSION" GREYED OUT UNDER "RECORDING OPTIONS"...WELL.....YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK.(YOU CAN BURN GAMES THAT ARE NOT SELF BOOT THOUGH).
FOURTH NCE YOU HAVE ALL THAT DONE OPEN DJ...
BURNING A UNRARED IMAGE:
1 GOTO "FILE", "NEW"" AND CHOOSE "CD IMAGE TO CD RECORDER"
2 HIT THE "SOURCE" BUTTON, FIND YOUR CDI/ISO IMAGE AND HIT "OK"
3 MAKE SURE YOUR BURNER IS IN DESTINATION
4 MOVE THE RECORDING SPEED DOWN TO 4X OR SLOWER...(JUST TO BE SAFE), AND PUT "WRITE" IN THE "ACTION" BOX..OR "TEST AND IF OK WRITE"
5 HIT THE "ADVANCED" TAB...THIS MAY NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO SOME , BUT I HAVE LESS PROBLEMS WHEN I CHOOSE THESE SETTINGS
MODE: MODE1
BLOCK: 2336 OR 2368 (MAY VARY ON BURNERS)
OFFSET:0
TOC: CD-ROM
DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING CHECKED IN THE "MISC"
6 MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT RUNNING OTHER APPS, YOU WANT YOUR HARD DRIVE TO BE ABLE TO SPIT THE INFO THE THE BURNER WITH OUT ANY PROBLEMS.
7 HIT START AND PRAY......
MAKING A BACK-UP OF A DC GAME ON DISK
FIRST FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS ABOVE UNTIL YOU GET TO THE "FILE", "NEW", NOW HIT "CD COPY FROM SAME RECODER"
ALSO IN ORDER FOR THIS TO WORK YOU MUST TURN OFF THE "CD AUTO INSERT" ON YOUR COMP. TO CHECK THIS GOTO "START", "SETTINGS", "CONTROL PANEL", "SYSTEM"..HIT THE "DEVICE MANAGER" TAB..GOTO "CD ROM" HIT THE "SETTINGS" TAB MAKE SURE THERE IS NOT A CHECK IN THE "AUTO INSERT NOTIFICATION" BOX. DO THIS FOR YOUR READER AND BURNER. (RESTART YOUR COMP)
OK ONCE YOU'RE BACK PUT THE GAME YOU WANT TO COPY IN YOUR BURNER PUT THE RECORDING SPEED DOWN TO 4X AND "WRITE" IN THE "ACTION" SLOT HIT START.
DJ WILL START MAKING A TEMP IMAGE OF THE GAME. WHEN IT IS DONE IT WILL KICK OUT THE GAME. PUT A BLANK 80MIN CD IN THE BURNER, CLOSE THE TRAY, LET THE BURNER GET SET...THIS IS IMPORTANY, BECAUSE 80% OF THE TIME IF YOU HIT "OK" RIGHT AFTER YOU CLOSE THE CD TRAY IT WILL FAIL...WHY?..I DON'T KNOW, SO JUST WAIT THE 6 SECONDS OR SO THEN HIT "OK"... IN 20 MINUTES YOU SHOULD HAVE ANOTHER COPY OF THE GAME.
A COMMON ERROR MESSAGE IS "BUFFER UNDER RUN" THAT MEANS YOUR HARD DRIVE OR CDROM( IF GOING CD TO CD) IS NOT GETTING INFO TO THE BURNER FAST ENOUGH, SO THE BURNER STOPS FUNCTIONING.....THE MOST COMMON WAY TO HANDLE THIS IS SLOW DOWN YOUR WRITING SPEED, SO THE BURNER ISN'T WRITING THE INFO FASTER THAN IT'S GETTING IT, ALSO MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING ELSE ON YOUR COMP THAT REQUIRES YOUR HARD DRIVE TO WORK (SO CLOSE ALL APPS )
THE SCARIEST PART IS RIGHT AFTER THE FIRST SESSION, IF YOU GET PAST THIS PART TO THE 10% MARK..IT SHOULD BE SMOOTH FROM THERE..UNLESS YOU MESS WITH YOU COMP, HAVE A POWER OUTTAGE, OR YOU KID COMES OVER AND PUSHES THE BUTTONS ON YOUR COMP(I HAVE THAT PROBLEM)
HOPE THIS HELPS EVERYON....
GOOD LUCK
or try going to the dc file forum www.fileforums.com/
and look for more of my posts.
THE PLAIN AND SIMPLE GUIDE TO CONVERTING SELFBOOTS TO NONE SELFBOOT
(this will work on any drive - including the 4801)
This method has been fully tested on Silent Scope.
However, This method does not cover games that have multiple Audio tracks (cdda) - see note at the bottom
Follow the instuctions step, by step - it really quite easy...
(but read ALL of the step, before executing it)
Ok, before you start, you will need to download FOUR utilities from my site....
1) CDIrip
2) ISO fixer
3) ISOBUSTER
4) Hex Workshop
Once you have downloaded, these four utilites - obviously unzip and/or install them, so they are ready to use.
Ok, here we go..
Step1) This is obvious, but you must have a complete CDI game file ready and waiting.
Step2) USE the CDIRIP utility to extract the ISO file.
The best way to do this is..
Copy the CDIRIP utility to the same directory as your CDI Game file
Then enter into a dos window
Change the dos directory to the same one as the CDI file (using "CD" command)
Then type "CDIRIP.EXE filename.CDI" (change the filename bit to the actual name of your CDI file)
WARNING - THIS WILL PRODUCE FILES THAT ARE ALMOST THE SAME SIZE AS THE CDI FILE - SO YOU NEED TO HAVE THE DISK SPACE.
IMPORTANT - As the sessions are extracted, it will show the "LBA" number - YOU NEED to write down the LBA value for the second session (which is the data session) (usually 11700 or 11702)
This process can take 5 mins to do, so time to light-up maybe ????
Once the utility has completed....
IF THE GAME HAS PRODUCED MULTIPLE "WAV" FILES (i.e. more than one wav file) - YOU ARE STUCK BECAUSE THIS GUIDE DOES NOT WORK WITH THOSE TYPE OF GAMES YET! - Very sorry but you cannot continue.
However, if only one "WAV" file was produced, please continue..
You can delete the CDI file to save disk space, you shouldn't need it again (but ONLY do this if you can create it again if things go wrong, i.e you still have the rar files to re-create it if neccessary??)
You should now have and "ISO" file (called "Tdata02.iso")
The "CUE" file can be deleted - you don't need it.
The "WAV" file can be deleted - you don't need this.
Step3) Use the ISOFIX utility to re-organise the ISO
The best way to do this is...
Copy the ISOFIX utility to the same directory as your ISO file
Then enter a dos window
Change the dos directory to the same one as the ISO file (using "CD" command)
Then type "ISOFIX.EXE TDATA02.ISO"
When the utility starts, it will ask you to enter the LBA (which you wrote down earlier) - usually 11700 or 11702
WARNING - THIS WILL PRODUCE ANOTHER FILE THAT IS THE SAME SIZE AS THE ISO FILE - SO YOU NEED TO HAVE THE DISK SPACE.
This process can take 5 mins to do, so time to light-up again maybe ????
Once Completed...
You should have a file called "tmp.iso"
You should also have a file called "bootfile.bin"(you may need this later)
You can now delete the Tdata02.iso, to save disk space if needed.
DO NOT delete the "bin" file
Step4) You need to create a new folder in windows explorer
(best to do this in the same directory as the iso file)
Step5) Use the ISOBUSTER utility to extract the raw files from the ISO to your new folder
To do this...
Start ISOBUSTER (double click on isobuster.exe icon)
A window will appear
On the drop down menu in the top left (proberbly shows you CD drive at present) - select "[0,0] <file>"
Then click on the little folder icon to the right of the work "refresh"
A "open image file" window will now appear
IMPORTANT - at the bottom of the window, on the drop down menu "files of type", you must select "Creator Image(*.iso)"
Then on the top drop down menu called "look in", choose the directory where you have tmp.iso stored.
You should be able to highlight tmp.iso, and then click open.
It will now take you back to the main menu, but it should now show all the files contained in that iso (on the right of the creen)
On the far left, you should see a little "ISO" red box with the name of the ISO to the right of this (in my example - "Silent_scope_ECH")
RIGHT click on this name and choose "extract directory" from the popup menu
Choose the destination folder (the one you created in step 4) and click "ok"
The files will now be extracted to your new directory.
Guess what? This process can take 5 mins to do, so time to light-up again maybe ????
WARNING - THIS WILL PRODUCE A FEW FILES THAT EQUAL THE SAME SIZE AS THE ISO FILE - SO YOU NEED TO HAVE THE DISK SPACE.
Once completed....
You can delete the "TMP.ISO" file to save disk space
STEP6) Go into your New folder
Does it have a file called "Ip.bin"?
If not, you need to copy the "bootfile.bin" (created by ISOFIX) into the new folder and then rename the file so it is called "Ip.bin"
(obviously, if you have got an IP.bin already then just delete the bootfile one)
STEP7) Final Stage, a bit of hex editing (not as hard as it sounds)
Start Hexworkshop (icon should be in your "programs" menu)
Top left corner - click on "file" and then "open"
Change the "look in" drop down menu to your new menu (where all the extracted files are from step 5)
Highlight file "1ST_READ.BIN" and click "open".
Then top left corner again - click on "edit" and then "find.." (3/4 down the menu)
A new menu will then be shown
On the dropdown menu "type", choose "Text String"
In the "value" box, type in "cd001" (without the quotes)
Click "OK"
A new window will appear with Hex code on the left and text on the right.
You should find that "cd001" is highlighted on the right.
Ok - you now need that LBA number from earlier (usually 11700 or 11702)
And you need to do a hex conversion (oh dear)
There is a quick way and a long way...
Quick way, If your LBA is 11700 you now need to remember 5A2E
If your LBA is 11702 you now need to remember 5C2E
Long way, If your LBA is anything else, check the bottom of this guide to do you own conversion!
Ok what you have to do now, is look on the Hex code (left) side of the screen for your new 4 digit code. On Silient Scope it is found on the line above the "CD001", so you need to scroll up one line to see it (second group of 4 digits in from the right). Silent scope is a 11700 LBA, so we are looking for 5A2E.
Once found, click on the 4 digit code and overtype it and change it to "A600" (without quotes)
Finally, click on "file" (top left corner) and choose "save"
It will now ask you if you want to make a backup - choose "no"
WARNING....
SOMETIMES, when you save the file, it looks as if the file has saved ok, but actually it hasn't!!! (the file is still the same as it was before you edited it???). I do not know why this happens (but it has been noted particually in DOA2LE).
SO, AFTER SAVING A FILE ALWAYS CHECK THAT THE FILE HAS BEEN CHANGED.
To be completely sure....
Close the hex editor
Restart it
Re-load the file you changed
Do the search again for "CD001"
make sure the code you changed stil reads "A600"
If you are having problems saving the file...
Save it to a different directory
Then delete the orginal file from the game directory and copy the new one into your game directory.
Next you are supposed to open all the "bin" files in the directory (one by one) and do the same search for "cd001" and change the 4 digit code where ever needed. However, in the case of silent scope, all the other bin files do not have a "cd001" in them - so no worries there!
Note, if this step is not done (or is done wrong), the game will load up until about 96% and then it will reset back to the main dreamcast menu
Step 8 ) You are now ready to burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I use "nero" (but you can use many burners)
Just make sure you burn....
all the files in your new directory (don't burn the actual directory)
single session
mode 1
iso9660 level 2
and close disc
You should now have a game that works with the Utopia boot disk!!!!!!! (yeah!!!!)
It even works with my 4801!
LBA TO HEX CONVERSION (maybe needed in step 7)
If your LBA is not 11700 or 11702, you need to do the following conversion for step 7
Start the calculator in windows
click on "view" and click on "scientific"
enter your lba into the calculator, eg 11698
click on the "hex" (far left - topish) this converts it to hex e.g."2DB2"
press the "+" button
enter "A6"
press the "="
it will give you the result e.g. "2E58"
finally, swap the first two digits with the last two
e.g. "2E58" becomes "582E"
Thats it 582E is code you have to look for!
Here's a start..
Some of the games that have worked with this method
Games that don't work, anything with multiple audio tracks)
Have fun, and long live the 2nd greatest system out there, well I think it is.
|
All times are GMT |Page 1 of 1
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
HQ Network: 7,872 | 
Guests: 734 | 
Members: 2 
Forums 
I’m goanna have to ding my D.C out tomorrow and troy it. 
Thank for the info 
