Question on burning a game disc from a Dumpcast release

[adam917]

What is the sequence I would need to do in order to get a fully-running game disc, assuming that I do have the correct capacity discs (not dwelling on whether they really exist or not, though I believe they do)?

Do I need to create a .cue file that references the track##.iso/raw files? If so, what format needs to be selected: MODE1/2048, MODE2/2048, MODE1/2352, or MODE2/2352? If this is the way to do it, I'm stuck on the MODE1/2 issue as I know that 2352 = raw format.

Anyone that can help, thanks very much...

[Maddog]

Dreamcast data tracks are mode 1.

But even if cd's of the specific capacity existed, you wouldn't be able to burn the dumps as they are and boot them. You need to hack quite some stuff in order to "persuade" the DC to read them from a burnt disc of any capacity. So, unless you already know how to do that, don't bother. Use the .gdis with NullDC or burn a scene release for use on real hardware.

[adam917]

Dreamcast data tracks are mode 1.

But even if cd's of the specific capacity existed, you wouldn't be able to burn the dumps as they are and boot them. You need to hack quite some stuff in order to "persuade" the DC to read them from a burnt disc of any capacity. So, unless you already know how to do that, don't bother. Use the .gdis with NullDC or burn a scene release for use on real hardware.

Does this information apply even if you have a boot disc?

[Shoometsu]

Dreamcast data tracks are mode 1.

But even if cd's of the specific capacity existed, you wouldn't be able to burn the dumps as they are and boot them. You need to hack quite some stuff in order to "persuade" the DC to read them from a burnt disc of any capacity. So, unless you already know how to do that, don't bother. Use the .gdis with NullDC or burn a scene release for use on real hardware.

Does this information apply even if you have a boot disc?

first of all you'll need to extract the files from the track03 (and other data tracks from the high density data area). there's a program that can do this simply called "extract.exe". also:

1 - the data should fit in the cd-r that you'll burn, or else you'll have to rip/downsample some files
2 - after step 1, you can burn it as non-boot or apply she echelon selfboot method. i'ts your choice.

[Majinseed]

hmm this is were it gets interesting
i got quite a load of DC tuts and tools on my hdd, but werent able to find anything called "extract.exe"... any hints?

another thing: i think i'm able to downsample video, but how to handle those *.raw files?


edit--->
forget that stuff up there, found everything i needed for now

[Majinseed]

hmm, since the new dumps contain data in *.bin format the ectract.exe won't works anymore. isobuster also doesn't bring do anything, so how to get extract the files from the .bin?

----
I know, double-posting is bad, but last post was a while ago and nobody would notice my edit...

[Maddog]

Majinseed:
It needs some little workarounds, but you can get an .iso or even the files themselves from a .bin!
I had done recently a little guide to convert old .iso to new .bin files for those having downloaded the old versions, but it can also be "reversed" to convert bin to iso again. Here goes:

You can "mount" the image to CDMage using a dummy .cue and then extract to an .iso (or even grab the files directly when game has 3 tracks, no need for extract.exe at all!)

Here's a .cue that I confirmed working for track03.bin (therefore all single track games will work with this .cue)

Code: Select all

FILE "track03.bin" BINARY
  TRACK 03 MODE1/2352
    PREGAP 10:00:00
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

Paste this to a .txt file in Notepad and save it as dummy45000.cue (or any other name you want)
Then you have to do the following:
1) Run CDMage->File->Open->browse to "dummy45000.cue" (or whatever name you gave it). track03.bin should be at the same folder.
2) Right click on track03->Extract track
3) Set the following options: "Sector numbers"->"Use numbers of source track", "Mode1 as"->"Mode1/2048".
Select extraction folder and track naming scheme if you like (defaults are fine)
4) Click "Extract"
5) Wait for extraction to finish, you should now have a brand new 2048 .iso in the same dir!

Alternatively, you can grab the files directly from the mounted .bin and skip extract.exe step completely:
*this only works on single data track games, ie games with 3 tracks only!*
-Click on the mounted track and you should be able to see the filesystem on the right window of CDMage.
-Select all files and folders there
-Right click on the selected files->Extract files
-Select destination dir
-Wait for extraction to finish and toy around to your heart's content

Of course this leaves a little problem with games having more than 3 tracks...
Unfortunately, procedure is more complicated because dummy cue won't work for CDMage. It can't find a filesystem on final track (filesystem is always on track03) and gives out an idiotic error.
Similarly, Isobuster and Alcohol think you are mounting a DVD (due to large sizes and high LBAs involved) and don't allow .iso extraction within the app. But I have found a little workaround for that too:
You need a dummy cue again, which should look like that:

Code: Select all

FILE "track30.bin" BINARY
  TRACK 30 MODE1/2352
    PREGAP 114:38:00
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

This specific one is for Airforce Delta USA version. Generic format is

Code: Select all

FILE "trackXX.bin" BINARY -> track number
  TRACK XX MODE1/2352 -> track number
    PREGAP XXX:XX:XX -> LBA of track in MINUTES:SECONDS:SECTORS
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

Here's what to do next:
1) Mount game-specific .cue (explanation on how to create it follows...) to Alcohol's virtual drive. Of course the respective .bin must be in the same directory!
2) Do NOT try anything else in Alcohol right now, because it's quite likely to crash (shitty app!)
3) Open Isobuster, browse to the virtual drive letter. Cancel any possible message about filesystem.
4) Right click on track, select "Extract track xx"->"Extract User data (tao/ iso/wav)
5) Wait for extraction to finish, then rename resulting trackXX.tao file to trackXX.iso. This is now ready to be passed to extract.exe or anything else you like.
6) Go back to Alcohol, right click on virtual drive and unmount image with dummy .cue immediately.
7) Windows probably won't be able to delete the .bin afterwards (gives message it is being used), close Alcohol completely and retry-should be able to delete it now. Fucking program!

Info on how to create dummy cues for multi track games:
-Open the respective .gdi to get the LBA of last track. Eg for Airforce Delta at previous example, you see that the last line reads:

Code: Select all

30 515850 4 2352 track30.bin -8

First number is the track number, put that in FILE "trackXX.bin" BINARY and TRACK XX MODE1/2352 lines of your dummy cue
Knowing that each second is 75 sectors, you have to convert the 2nd number (here 515850 sectors) to time to be entered in the INDEX line of the cue. So, divide 515850/75 to get number of seconds (6878 here). Then convert that to MIN:SEC:SECTOR format. Remember that SECTOR can be max 74 since 75 is one second, SEC can be max 59 since 60 is one minute.

Some example numbers to save you some calculations since I already did those myself (track number, pregap):
ChuChu Rocket PAL: 19, 112:27:19
F1 World Grand Prix PAL: 23, 99:25:21
Fatal Fury-MOTW USA: 5, 71:12:23
Grandia II PAL: 5, 11:15:25
Nomad Soul PAL: 5, 87:19:31
Sega Rally 2 PAL: 5, 74:56:61

Hope all this info is understandable and useful to you.

[Majinseed]

oh, its VERY usefull BIG thx!

i've been playing around a bit while waiting for answers and had some results with simply using "bin2iso" which i found somewhere on my hdd.
i've run this on a game which has 2 *.bin files, i just converted the one and then the second, from there i just started extract.exe with the "number" (dunno what it stands for exactly ^^) from the *.gdi (which is what i've done before the convertion from iso to bin)

now i have one prob: i have a couple of files there, everything looks good, but i can't be sure it worked 100%, there might be files missing or with bad data.

so finally, do you still have some extracted games on your hdd and could send me a *.dat (CM) from the files so i could verify my data? of course if you don't have anything left on your disk i'll do the convertion according to your guide myself, your dat would just save me from installing alcohol which screwed me in the past
of course any game with 2 data files would be fine...

[Maddog]

Well, I rechecked procedures and it looks like you are lucky indeed.
Since my guide was initially intended for iso 2048->bin 2352 conversion, it was true that you couldn't mount the image directly in Isobuster because it would think you were mounting a DVD and wouldn't allow 2352 RAW extraction.

But I rechecked it in detail today and it looks like Isobuster is accepting happily the dummy cue for .bin files and CAN convert to user data (iso)
So, ignore all Alcohol steps in the above instructions. Just open the dummy cue in Isobuster and select "Extract user data" on the track. I tried the procedure with ChuChu Rocket, Nomad Soul and Grandia II PAL, worked for all of them fine.
Sorry for confusion!

Some target crcs for you to check against your converted stuff:

GrandiaII: track05.iso size 1020928000 crc 567cb7ca md5 f6becee7215391a21ac76d2a68d5ea30
ChuChu Rocket: track19.iso size 88281088 crc 8d8903e6 md5 b73a3856d5c1de206fa92b760a15acdb
Nomad Soul: track05.iso size 319885312 crc 04e6ca8b md5 9d0db27f624b7dcaa31b02888ab495ee
Fatal Fury-MOTW: track05.iso size 468432896 crc 9a2de72b md5 8710b31917ab45e7b44df2551187cb96

[Majinseed]

well, my converted ChuChu *.iso which i crated using bin2iso matches with your data. so it seems like i can avoid all this creating a *.cue etc for now ^^

big thx again, would really have a prob without you...