================================================== ========================================
=============== WELCOME=========================================== ==
================== TO THE=============================================
============== NEW DC FAQ=============================================

First i'd like to start off by telling you that if this is your first time here, there are a few things you should know:

1)you can not copy original dreamcast games just by putting them in your cdrom and trying to copy them to your hard drive.

what you will get is three text files which mean nothing.

2)you can not use discjuggler, blindread,nero,hot burn,clone cd, or any other burning software to copy dreamcast originals.

what you get are shinny name brand coasters that don't last long once exposed to heat or moister.or mini frisbees.

3)there are currently only 3 ways to rip or back up dreamcast games. and they are:

a)the broad band adapter method of ripping the game. requires connecting the dc to your pc through the broadband adapter and knowledge of downsampling audio,fmv among other things.

b)the pc to serial cable. requires connecting the dc to your pc through the serial cable. long and lengthy but in the end you need the same knowledge of downsampling audio and fmv as mentioned above.

3)downloading the game files from the net and then burning them.(don't ask where!)

anyone who has told you that ripping the dc was as easy as the playstation was just lying to you! TRUST US! WE'VE DONE OUR HOMEWORK!

There are a number of wayS to burn dc games, since you are new i will give you the basics in short.
***NOTE*** i myself, have no idea how to use the broadband adapter or pc serail link to rip dc games. i beleive that it is just far more easy to download them and burn. i have absolutely no intrest in ripping.


programs you will need:

winrar
autodummy
discjuggler ver.3(or later)
bin2boot
the echelon selfboot tutorial
cdrwin
fire burner
boot disc image (i recomend that you start with this)
you can find all of these here (http://www.dccopyworld.com)(except discjuggler found here (http://www.padus.com))
And Autodummy 1.1beta3 here (http://gamegirlone.tripod.com/AutoDummy1.1beta3.zip)
you will also need the latest aspi drivers updates for your burner.
===>update here<=== (http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/driverindex.html?cat=/Technology) or use the ===> jinxter generic driver <=== (http://63.217.26.28/dc/files/jinxter_dj_driver.zip)
FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH DISCJUGGLER CDI'S THER IS CDI2NERO THANKS TO DEXT. YOU CAN FIND IT ===> HERE <=== (http://cdirip.cjb.net/)


fisrt things first: download the dc g*me files(i can't tell you where but use your favorite search engine to start or our iso folder (http://www.cdrom-guide.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000017.html).


the g*mes are in 19mb files except the last file of the game which can be any size under 19mb...some files are even smaller but the rule of thumb is that the last file that you need will be smaller. if you find a g#me that you want to download and aren't sure how many files you need then check here: iso news (http://www.isonews.com/) search for the game name and the nfo files will tell you who ripped the games and how many files there should be.

once you have all of the game files then it's time to unrar them using winrar. open winrar and got to the folder that you downloaded the game siles in using winrars drop down bar and select all of the files.now click on extract. winrar will ask for the destination to extract the games files to(i recomend creating a seperate folder to extract to) the game files will either extract in bin and cue form or in cdi form.

to burn bin and cue files you would start up cdrwin and select the record disc option,click on load cue sheet and select the cue file that you extracted. burn at 4x or lower to assure you won't get a coaster.(this game will require a boot disc unless you use the echelon selfboot tutorial to amke it selfboot or bin2boot)

if winrar extracts a cdi: then this is by far the easiest to burn. open disc juggler and select cdimage to cd recorder.
there is two cd's in the following window, your recorder should show up in the address line of the second and in the top on should be blank.click on the top cd(icon of a cd on a peice of paper) and select the cdi from the folder you extracted it to.the only settings you need to change would be the write speed (the cdi tells dj the other settings neded for the burn) burn a 4x or lower to insure a proper burn..... wait till the disc pops out and then play.

Pics and and guide provided by :
THE3JAMS


<==== click here for more information on unraring DC g*me files====> (http://the3jams.cjb.net/tutorials/winrar.html)

<====click here for information on raring up cdi's of bin and cue files using winrar ====> (http://the3jams.cjb.net/tutorials/winrar2.html)

<====click here for a guide to using newsgroups with powerpost 2000 as the example====> (http://the3jams.cjb.net/tutorials/powerpost.html)
=========================================
if you have problems using disc juggler, you can use cdi2nero (http://cdirip.freeyellow.com/download.html) to conver the cdi to an nrg that nero can burn.
http://www.cdrom-guide.com/ubb/4MoDeRaToRs/SiGnAtUrE_ImAgEs/trefactor.gif

[This message has been edited by TreFacTor (edited 08-28-2001).]

[This message has been edited by jamman960 (edited 10-23-2001).]

Adding VGA compatability and other settings to games:

This is a pretty simple process and simply involves getting one of the utilities included in the selfboot kit. One of the folders unpacked from the selfboot kit contains a program called IPBIN4WIN. This allows you to edit or create an IP.BIN file for your game that specifies some of the settings at boot. To use it rip the files off the game you want to edit. Open the IP.BIN file from that game in IPBIN4WIN (turn off read only on that file so you can save over it) and put a check in the box marked VGA Box. You can also add support for different regions (not a frequency modifier) and change some settings around (name the distributor after your dog or rename the game to whatever you like). Save this IP.BIN and hack it in as the selfboot kit would have you do normally. If the game does not come with an ip.bin, you can try and rip the ip.bin off of your current CD with CDRWIN.

NOTE: I have never gotten this to work and attribute that to my CD drive, others have gotten it to work though. Choose Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors, and choose to select sectors. Now you must remember the LBA you used to burn the game (if you didn't change it it is probably 11700, if it's not that likely 11702, for games with CDDA you will have to find it yourself). Starting with that LBA rip the next 16 sectors (ie 11700 to 11715) and save it as IP.BIN. Try opening it with IPBIN4WIN, if it opens successfully edit and use it as the self boot kit details.

You can also try simply opening IPBIN4WIN and clicking the appropriate boxes and typing in the appropriate info then saving it as IP.BIN, I have only tried this twice but it worked both times.

Either way make the ISO and burn your game, it should now successfully boot on a VGA box.

NOTE: VGA boxes (at least the 3 I have owned) do not seem to send a VGA signal but rather a VESA signal. Make sure your monitor supports VESA or it may not suppor the VGA box (I have 2 that don't) and some games may force a frequency that will be outside a VESA compliant monitors range. This would cause your game to be entirely non-VGA compatable.

THANK YOU DEVEDANDER FOR YOU SUPPORT!

provided by: VEL
{SENIOR}
****
484 POSTS
=============================================
==========START BUTTON GREYED-OUT===========
==========ON DISCJUGGLER VER 3========


There appears to be a general problem with the start button being "greyd-out" in discjuggler ver3. here is VEL'S solution around that problem.::

Originally posted by vel:
Howabout for people saying they have general problems with the start button in Dj3 not popping, you write in what i have told people time and time again that seems to somehow work, especially for those with hp8250i writers: Install nero, then cdrwin, then DJ. That usually works.


thnx vel for your contribution!

There are many ways now to make all of your non-booting(needs boot disc to laod in the dreamcast) games selfbooting(pop it in and play)


MY favorite==>bin2boot direct download and program provided by XEAL (http://xeal.cjb.net/b2b-cdda-b2.zip)

bin2boot : creates a selbooting cdi that you use discjuggler 3 to burn

i won't try to re-do the readme.txt that comes with bin2boot, after all who could explain the program better than the programmer? but i hope to make this as simple as possible in my own words, how i use the bin2boot program.

start off by making a folder where you will keep all of your dc programs(with all of the different programs, i feel it's nice to have everything situated where you can find it easily and not have to have your desktop cluttered with open windows)

unzip the bin2boot.exe into that folder. once you ahve the game files unrared and you have your bin and cue file there are two ways you can use bin2boot.

1)drag the bin file onto the bin2boot.exe(the program will start and proceed to make the cdi

2)you can open up a dos prompt and type in : (* = 1space)

cd*c:\...........whatever directory your folder is in
(e.g. cd*C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\BIN&CUE)

you will then be in the directory where the bin2boot.exe is located. next type the following command:

bin2boot*(name of the cue file).cue
(e.g.)bin2boot*kal-mgf.cue
(kal-mgf.cue= kalisto magforce
cue sheet)

*note*this command line should be used on games that have an unpack with wav files along with the bin and cue file.

=====================errors in bin2boot======================
================================================== =============

while using bin2boot you may encounter the following error:[i]"a record for the ip.bin cannot be found"[i]

[i]"would you like to make an ip.bin"[i]
"y" or "n"

well the answer if you haven't guess already is "y" for yes.

[i]"what is the name of the binary?(usualy 1ST_READ.BIN)[I]

THE ANSWER IS SIMPLY........... 1ST_READ.BIN

after that a selfbooting cdi will be created for you to burn and enjoy.

**note:** (1st_read.bin may not be the name of the boot file. to find the name of the boot file you will need to either hack the files out of the bin or have already burned the game to a disc using cdrwin or fireburner.)


*************** if you use method 1) your cdi is defaultly placed in the root of your c drive**************************
************************************************** ************************
if you used method 2) the cdi is placed in the directory of the bin2boot.exe************************************** **********************
************************************************** *******************************
[i]this breif faq is not meant to replace the readme file that comes with bin2boot by XEAL it is merely put into the simplest terms i can think of to help "newbies"

****remamber this is an on going project to replaced our old dc faq******

------------------
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo00o0o0
EACH-1-TEACH-1
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Tutorial on patching by Raz:

1)After unraring your game, you will most likely either have a:

a).cdi
b).bin + .cue

I will use the example of shenmue.

2)I have 3 files - kal-smu.cdi kal-smufix.ppf & applyppf.exe.

3)Unzip/rar all files to one directory.
4)Open command prompt by choosing START->RUN->COMMAND
5)type applyppf kal-smu.cdi kal-smufix.ppf

TADA!

THANK YOU RAZ YOUR HELP IN THE DC FAQ RESTORATION IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Using FTPs by Raz:

1)Install an FTP client. I would recommend smartftp - Download from here (http://www.smartftp.com)
2)Open smartftp.
3)In the top section type the adress of the host - usually the IP adress.
4)Usually select anonymous access for public FTPs.
5)Press enter.
6)The FTP can be browsed in a similar way to windows explorer.
7)Once the target file(s) have been selected by CTRL + Left click, right click and select download folder.
8)Wait for the download to finish.

------------------
"trust me if you ever violate my space **** a fat lip, ill leave you with a ****ing fat face!"

Busta Rhymes


added by TREFACTOR;

to upload there is a computer icon under the address bar, click on it and your local(widows explorer)folder will open. you can arrange the two different windows side by side or top to bottom.(i recommend side by side)on the left will be your your folders, on the right the servers folders. get to the folder that contains the files that you want to upload.if you would like toupload the whole folder simply drag the folder from your local browser to the servers folder ***[b]note*** [i]i recomend that you only upload fills(missing game files) or whole games, there is usulay an upload folder and some text requesting or telling you what is needed, take into consideration the speed that you can d/l from the server as your upload speed won't be any better***
if uppin single files then the process is the same.

DirectConnect Made Easy by WickedJuggaloz

Okay, I see alot of people having problems figuring out how to use DirectConnect so I thought I would make this little guide to help everyone out.

First, think of DirectConnect like Napster. Is is so simple to use that within 5 minutes you will be getting fills and even whole games. Of course you need to get the program so visit http://www.neo-modus.com and download the newest version.

Once installed you are then prompted to enter a username, email address and connection speed. You then want to fill in where provided what types of files you are sharing. If you are just sharing Dreamcast then you can enter the names of the games in there. Next you want to click on the FILE TRANSFER tab and select what directories you want to share and where you want downloaded files to go. You can also select the number of slots you want open (this is how many different people can download from you at any given time). IMPORTANT ... if you are running a firewall you will want to click on the CONNECTION tab and select PASSIVE MODE instead of ACTIVE MODE. You can leave it in ACTIVE MODE if you want but you may have to shut down your firewall to allow any search results to come through. Click on OK and then YES on the disclaimer.

Okay, now we are ready to download some files. Automatically the Connect box should pop up with three folders ... FAVORITES, PUBLIC and RECENT. To start click on PUBLIC and it will display all active hubs with the most populated hub being at the top. Now since this is a Dreamcast forum we will just be concerned with the Dreamcast hubs. Find a decently populated Dreamcast hub and double left click on the hub name to join it. Now that you are in a hub what you can do to different things. You can look at the list of all the people in the hub on the right and when you find someone you want to "connect" with and share files just double left click on their name. Now here is where everyone becomes confused and think it isn't working. If a connection window doesn't open within 20 seconds it meant they don't have any slots open and just try someone else. Sooner or later you will connect with someone and be able to download their files. HINT - at the bottom of the screen click on the DOWNLOADS tab then if you can't connect to a name it will say NO FREE SLOTS so just go onto someone else.

Now here is where it becomes fun. I don't connect to people from the list on the right very often because you can find the files better just by searching for them with the SEARCH button. What is so nice about this is you just type the exact name of the file you are looking for (etc. e-spdman.009) and you will get a list of all the people in the hub that has the file you are looking for. Now the important thing to remember is to check how many slots they have available, if they have available slots and the file then go right ahead and double left click on it to start the download. Do this for every file you need and if you can't find the file you need try a different hub.

Well, that is about everything you need to know to start downloading files. Through any feedback by other members or this forum or the mods I will be happy to update this as needed. I hope this answered alot of questions and makes it easier for those to find the files they need.

Moon Glorious

PROVIDED BY GrimDeath
****
veteran
523 posts

This is a written and visual guide to making your non selfbooting Dreamcast games selfboot using the Echelon selfboot kit. I have tried to make this guide as userfriendly as possible, if you have ant problems understanding something feel free to e-mail me.



We begin by opening CdrWin and proceed to burn the 4 second audio track that's included in the selfboot tool kit. You must choose open new session on CdrWin and load the 4 second audio track by clicking on the load tracks icon.


After you burn the 4 second audio track you must now open a MsDos prompt window.

Once your in Dos prompt you must change to the directory where you extracted the selfboot tool kit.

Ok now your in the directory where you extracted the selfboot toolkit now you must run the command: cdrecord -dev=x,x,x -msinfo when you perform this command it gives you a number if you used the 4 second audio track the number will be: 0,11700 you will need this number later on that's why I've put it in red. Ok now we must run the binhack program that was included in the tool kit, here you will be prompted for the name of the binary which is: 1st_read.bin when it asks you for the bootsector you type: ip.bin and finally when it asks you for the msinfo you type: 11700. Notice that this number is the one that you got as a result from the cdrecord command but notice that it is also only the numbers after the 0, this is very important but we'll get to that in a few.

Now that we've modified the 1st_read.bin we place it in the data folder where the rest of the games files are.


Now that we've placed the 1st_read.bin in the data directory we proceed to make the image file of the data folder. If you want to dummy the game you must add the dummy file before you make the image file and name it: 000dummy.dat, and place it in the data directory. I didn't include an image of this since the game I was making selfboot didn't require it but if you guys would like for me to add an image of this step let me know, anyways we proceed to make the image of the data folder. This is achieved by typing this command: mkisofs -C 0,11700 -V ECHELON -l -o data.iso data notice that the number in red which we got as a result of the mkisofs command is typed complete this time. When you type this command you will get a warning message pay no attention to this message its normal.

Once you've finished making the image file you have to inject the ip.bin by running the command: ipins. When it prompts you for the name of the bootsector you type: ip.bin, when it asks you for the name of the iso file you type: data.iso we're almost done fellas.


After you finish injecting the ip.bin to the image file we go and open CdrWin again to burn the image file we've just created. Open CdrWin and choose the file and backup tools icon which is the fourth icon on the top row.


In the backup/tool operation box we choose: record an iso 9660image file, in the image filename you choose the image file we created, in this case the image is called data.iso, in the disc type box you choose cd-rom xa, in the track mode you choose mode 2 and make sure you check the finalize/close session and write post gap checkboxes, now burn the image, and in a few minutes depending on the speed you chose you'll be playing your new selfboot game.

Hope this makes it a little easier for some of you to fully understand this process, this is the first written and visual guide I do, I'm planing on making some more guides just like this one, I will be making a cdi-rip tutorial among others I have planned, so if you have any comments or questions feel free to drop me a line at:
mailto:dcpiratesdotcom@hotmail.com

This guide was made by Grimdeath of DCpirates, using the Echelon selfboot toolkit, much props to Echelon if it wouldnt be for them this tutorial would not be possible. You may post this tutorial any where on the internet as long as you give me credit thats all I ask for it took me a while to make it, thanx. Our site will be up shortly in the next few months, it will contain even more information regarding the dreamcast and the diffrent methods you can use to backup your favorite Dreamcast games, we are not here to compete with any other site that's out there right now, we just think we can help some of you to better understand the scene hope you like the site when it's done. E-mail us your thoughts so far at mailto:dcpiratesdotcom@hotmail.com

Thanks to MiSTERC for letting us include his ripping guide in our dc faq:

____|__.._________________________________________ ____________________|____
| :|
- M i S T E R C -
_____ .__ __________________________________________________
/ \ |__|/ _____/\__ ___/\_ _____/\______ \_ ___ \
/ \ / \| |\_____ \ | | | __)_ | _/ \ \/
/ Y \ |/ \ | | | \ | | \ \____
\____|__ /__/_______ / |____| /_______ / |____|_ /\______ /
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ TuS
_____|____________________________________________ __________________ __|____
| |

`- Proudly Presents:....Dreamcast Ripping Guide v.2.0

Game.....: N/A

Origin...: N/A - Filename.....: misterc_ripping_guide_2
Released.: 02.02.2001 - Format.......: .txt
Platform.: Sega Dreamcast (DC) - CD(s)........: N/A
CD1 Info.: 1 txt file / ?? MINS - Ripped.......: N/A


- --- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------>

This guide is in no way intended to be used for piracy, and is in no way
associated with or endorsed by SEGA, use of this guide is for educational
puposes only, I will not be held responsible for any damage caused by using
it, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Ok first things first, things you need before we start

1 DC-><-PC Serial Link cable Either build (Instructions can be found here:
jules.thegypsy.com)
or buy one from one from somewhere like this--> (www.lik-sang.com)
(www.dcwarez.com) (www.gamefreax.de)

2 The infamous Serial/Slave Image from Marcus (mc.pp.se/dc)

3 DreamRip and Hack from BERO can be found here:
(www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/2004/dcdev)

4 TeraTerm Pro, terminal emulator needed to connect to and receive the
ripped GD data. (can be found all over the net just look and you will find)

5 And to be able to burn/selfboot/basically **** about with your images these:
WinZip/WinraR, cdrecord, CDRwin or what ever,Echelon's self boot guide.

6 And to down sample/size Video files etc these:
Sfd2mpg,Adx2wav,Wav2adx, All of which can be aquired from here:
(www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/2004/dcdev)

7 mkisofs/cdrecord can be found here(Win32 Binaries)
(ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/cdrecord/alpha/win32/cdrtools-1.9a03-win32-bin.zip)

- --- COM Settings!! -------------------------------------------------->

Firstly I would recomend that you configure your chosen COM port, the settings
go like this: (e.g. COM 1 )

Bits per second: 115200

Data bits: 8

Parity: None

Stop bits: 1

Flow control: Harware

- --- Let It RIP!! ---------------------------------------------------->

OK so now connect your DC to your PC with your cable, Done it? Good!

Now boot up your Serial/Slave image, leave it until you see the blue borders
once the borders go blue at the SEGA LIECENCE screen remove the serial/slave
and replace with your chosen GDROM, it will spin and you may here a little beep!
this simply means the DC has recognised the disk (like you didnt all know that)
and you are ready for action, now set up TeraTerm leaving the GDROM spinning in
your DC.

TeraTerm Pro, set up as follows:

Select: SETUP, SERIAL PORT and set:

Baud rate: 57600bps

Data rate: 8bit

Parity bit: None

Stop bit: 1bit

Flow Control: Hardware

Select the correct COM port and OK

Select : SETUP, TERMINAL SETTING and set:

Transmit new line: CR+LF

Select OK

Press enter in the terminal window and you should see this >.

Now Select : FILE, SEND FILE and select (e.g.) G:\Dreamrip\dreamrip.srec
(you will now see lots of these >>>>>>>>>>>>>> in the terminal window
whilst the file is sent and on your TV/monitor your blue borders will have
now turned PINK this is your indication that the file has sent correctly)


When the file has sent you will see a message "Please set to 115k and hit OK"

Now Select: SETUP, SERIAL PORT and set:

Baud rate: 115200

Select OK

Select: CONTROL, MACRO and select (e.g.) G:\Dreamrip\dcrip.ttl.

The file will now be saved and the XMODEM Recive window will appear.
Dont panic if it apears to hang at 16 packets it will for a few seconds and
then start again it will start slow but will gradualy speed up(ish)

When complete you will have a file(s) called trackxx.xxx.gz
this is the data (game) file, trackxx.raw.gz is the CDDA (audio) tracks.


OK, Now I am not going to kid you here this process can and probably will
take anything from 2 up to 24 HOURS so be carefull you DC doesnt melt.

- ---Prepare the ISO!! ------------------------------------------------->

WOO HOO so far so good.

Load WinZip/Winrar and unzip the file trackxx.xxx.gz to your
(e.g.) G:\Dreamrip\whatever directory you will be left with trackxx.iso.

Then open your DOS window and change directory to where ever you have your files
e.g. G:\Dreamrip\dciso

Type ..\extract ..\trackxx.iso. All the files from the GD will be extracted
to your chosen directory. it is likely you have chosen the directory you have
your Dreamrip and Extract exe files. Now set up a new folder called selfboot
and within that a one called data G:\selfboot\data(yes just like it specifies in
the echelon s/b tutorial) move all of the game data to the data dir EXCEPT
1st_read.bin/ip.bin so that you have your game files in "Data" and your boot files
in "Selfboot"


- --- Not So Fast!! ---------------------------------------------------->

So you have your files sitting in their directorys and all is good until you
realise that your files are to big and cant get them to fit on a CD-R.

That is where the tools (Sfd2mpg,Adx2wav,Wav2adx)mentioned in No.6 of the requirements
list come in these can be used to downsample Audio/Video etc etc instructions can
be found in the readme files in each of the tools respectivley....

- --- Not so fast Again!! ---------------------------------------------->

Once you have your downsampled files it is required that you must hack various
files to enable the game to boot correctly, and since the original GDROM has two disk
areas your DC will try to initialize the CD-R from the second sectors 45000+ and will
NOT boot your game so you must point it to the new start sector which can be obtained
after you have burned your audio session for selfboot.

Burn your audio session in the way you would when selfbooting any game using your
prefered prog cdrecord for example is as follows:

cdrecord -dev=x,x,x -multi -audio audio.raw
where x,x,x is your cd-r drive if you are unsure run "cdrecord -scanbus"

Next get the msinfo for your second session
cdrecord -dev=x,x,x -msinfo (this will return the start sector for your second session)
After you have your first session burned and have your msinfo you can hack your
"boot files".

So run in DOS: Hack 1st_read.bin xxxxx
Where xxxxx is the number msinfo gave you e.g. 11700/11702 etc

After all of that you are now set up to follow the Echelon selfboot tutorial

And remember Do believe the hype this method works onehundred% sweet.

"I thank you"

- --- GREETS!! --------------------------------------------------------->

dRUNKeN mASTeR, rOSSCo, cAMP aL, NICKy, DAZ
BERO, MC, tHE dENTIST, TONe, BLAH BLAH blahh

AND ALL OF THE GROUPS THAT HAVE KEPT
THE MASSES HAPPY ON THE DC SCENE

ORIGINALY POSTED BY MITSU50

Well here it is. I searched around and did not find a tutorial like this, so these are my steps I used to do this, hopefully they will help others as well. All comments and improvement suggestions are always welcome.

Programs you'll need:
get from: http://go.to/selfboot

adxencd
cinepack
isobuster or CDmage
Sound editor (I used windows sound recorder)
adxcv

Echelon self boot tutorial from Grimdeath's site: http://www.geocities.com/dcpiratesdotcom/

1. use isobuster or CDmage to extract game data to hard drive (make folder called "Data")

2. Sort files by type and copy out all the files that have a "MUSIC01_.ADX" extension
(hint there are 15 music tracks). Put them
in a folder called "Music"

3. Run the cinepack program and load the adx files one at a time, into it. After its done converting, you'll now have 15 wav files in the music directory. You'll use these songs as guides to size the new songs accordingly in the next steps.

4. Select 15 songs that you want to use in the game (convert mp3 to wav on a side note) before proceeding. You'll have to cut down the size and lengths of the songs so they closely match the size of the originals. I used the windows sound recorder just to trim them down a bit, but i'm sure there are others that might be better. (use a one word naming system for the songs i.e. "Master of puppets" to "Puppets" it makes it easier when working in DOS in the next steps).

5. Next compare the volumes between the originals and the new songs, as they may be a little different. You may want to adjust volumes with the "adxcv" program in DOS to set the volumes, but its not critical. The read me file gives a good description of how to use it, the volume level I selected was 7000000 . Better to be a little high and turn it down if necessary. You'll have to convert back to adx first using the adxencd program, and then set set sound levels.

6. If you tweaked any sound levels you are all set for a moment, if not then run the adxencd program, and convert all songs to adx format. Rename all new songs accordingly i.e. music01_0.adx through music01_15.adx, so that they correspond to the original names. (the program proccesses the songs one at a time, i'm not sure if you can do them all in one string).

7. now in the music directory you'll have all new .adx songs. Delete the wavs unless you want to save them. Cut and paste the new songs into the game data directory, It will ask if you want to replace existing files say yes to all.

Thats it!!! Now use the Echelon self boot tutorial, (I used Grimdeaths Tutorial cause its got pics and real easy to understand), to put the game back to CD.

Hopefully this was easy for people to understand. It worked perfectly for me. It may sound a little difficult but its actually not that bad to do with a little patience.

Thanks to those from the cdrom-guide that helped me out, and xena's site for the programs, and grimdeath's site for the self boot tutorial.

Enjoy,

Mitsu50

======= SUBMITTED-BY-SNAKE78 ======


Here is a tutorial on making a backup of a backup using DJ3 (this is assuming your burner is compatible with DJ):

To copy the Image to your hard drive:

1) Open up DJ3, click on File, New. Choose CD Player to CD Image

2) Make sure the Selfboot DC game is in your cd drive (your burner preferably) and choose the correct drive as the source.

3) For the destination, click on the icon of the paper & the disc & tell it where to save the image at.

4) For the advanced tab, these are the settings I use(I believe they are defaults since I haven't changed them but just in case), nothing needs to be checked in Misc, DAE read speed MAX, Audio Resync set to Native (all the way to the left), CD Image MAX size 80 min(s), Verify CD Image unchecked.

5) Click Start. It will save the image.

To Burn the Image to a CD:

1) Open DJ3, Click File, New. Choose CD Image to CD Recorder.

2) Choose the source file. Make sure your burner is selected as Destination.

3) Advance Tabs should be all set, but again here's what my settings are. Mode - Audio, Offset - 0 bytes, block - 2352, TOC - CD-DA, All the Misc are unchecked except the "Add post-gap to 3rd party images."

4) Make sure a blank CD is in your burner.

5) Set the Correct speed. Click Start and the CD will burn.

6) Common Problem: If you can't click the start button, you skipped step 4.

Good Luck and Happy Gaming.

===== PROVIDED-BY-GARLIC MAYHEM =====

Selfboot method easy and simple

after you rip a game you get the .iso.gz,(not if you use the bba you will just get the iso file) unzip that with winrar and you get a iso image, extract that using 'extract' and place all files in c:/selfboot/data except ip.bin and 1stread.bin.

1. Burn audio track... using cdrwin burn a 5 or more sec audio track and leave cd open.

2. In dos in selfboot dir type Cdrecord -dev=0,1,0 -msinfo and get 0,12345, (your own number will be 12345)

3 Type binhack,enter then 1st_read.bin, enter then ip.bin, enter and then your 12345 number, not the zero or coma

4. Drag 1st_read back to/data

5. Type mkisofs -C Garlic -V 0,12345 -l -o data.iso data

6. After completion type ipins, itll ask you for the boot file and type ip.bin, then itll ask you for the iso which is data.iso... close your dos prompt.

7. Open Cdrwin. Choose the second to last icon on the top row. Select record iso9660. (not build) make sure you load the data.iso and keep all the settings but change it to CD-XA and mode 2. Burn and play.


Sorry bout any mistakes,if there are any, feel free to edit. This works for me and others but may not for you. Make sure you get the selfboot toolkit to do this. It should be available at dccopyworld.com.

- Garlic Mayhem

=== PROVIDED BY EXTATYX ===

How to hex edit games to change the frequency from 50 to 60 Hz

OK - get hold of 'hedit' I find it a very fast hex editor!

Run hedit and open up your games disk image.. (.bin - .iso - .cdi - that kinda thing!)

Go to the 'edit' menu in hedit and select replace - a window will pop up with 4 text input boxes:
The first section is called 'Find what' and it has 2 text boxes (text and hex)
Copy this line:
01 E4 03 A0 02 E4 01 A0 03
and paste it into the 'hex' text box.

The second section is called 'Replace with' and it also has 2 text boxes labelled text and hex.
Copy this line:
00 E4 03 A0 00 E4 01 A0 00
and paste it into the 'hex' text box.

Click on the 'Replace All' button....
and wait..............

When it has finished replacing the data - go to the file menu and save.

Now burn away!! :)

It really is that easy!!

===Games this has been tested on:===

Succesfull games:

Sega Bass Fishing
Virtua Striker 2 2000.1
Ganbare Nippon Olympics 2000
Powerstone
Powerstone 2 (JAP)
Hydro Thunder
SW: Pod Racer
Timestalkers
Neo Golden Logres Pinball
Evolution 2
Shenmue - all 3 disks
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Street Fighter 3: Double Impact
Fighting Force 2
World Series Baseball 2K1
Panzer Front (Jap)
Speed Devils
Tokyo Xtreme Racer
Slave Zero
Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Both Disks!)
NBA Hoopz
Twinkle Star Sprites
Powerstone 2 (US)
Mars Matrix
Cool Boarders Burrn
Spiderman - yay!

Unsuccessful :-(

Surf Rocket Racers
Maximum Pool
Sno Cross Championship Racing
Hidden + Dangerous
Quake 1
Midway Greatest Arcade Hits
Wild Metal
Bust a Move 4
Virtua fighter 3tb
Rainbow 6
Urban Chaos
Sonic Shuffle
Railroad Tycoon 2
NBA 2K1
Armada
UnderCover A.D.2025 Kei


'kudos' to ragingdevil - after all without his help I would have known nothing! :)

====> Thanks Extatyx for submitting this!<====

CHCANGING THE MUSIC IN CRAZY TAXI2
PROVIDED BY MITSU50 :
THANK YOU MITSU


Changing Music in Crazi Taxi 2!!!

Here is another one you all might like. Hopefully this will reduce the repetitive posts on the main forum. This may sound similar to the THPS2 Tutorial I wrote, and thats because, IT IS. :)

Programs you'll need:
get from: http://go.to/selfboot

adx2wav
adxencd
isobuster or CDmage
Sound editor (I used windows sound recorder)
adxcv

Echelon self boot tutorial from Grimdeath's site: http://www.geocities.com/dcpiratesdotcom/

1. use isobuster or CDmage to extract game data to hard drive (make folder called "Data")

2. Sort files by type and copy out the files named "SONG3.adx, SONG4.adx, SONG5_2.adx" and SONG6.adx, and put them in a folder called "Music"

3. Select 4 songs that you want to use in the game (convert mp3 to wav on a side note) before proceeding. You'll have to cut down the size and lengths of the songs so they closely match the size of the originals. I used the windows sound recorder just to trim them down a bit, but i'm sure there are others that might be better. (use a one word naming system for the songs i.e. "Master of puppets" to "Puppets" it makes it easier when working in DOS in the next steps).

4. Next compare the volumes between the originals and the new songs, as they may be different. You may want to adjust volumes with the "adxcv" program in DOS to set the volumes, but its not critical. The read me file gives a good description of how to use it, the volume level I selected was 10000000 . Better to be a little high and turn it down if necessary. You'll have to convert back to adx first using the wav2adx program, and then set set sound levels.

6. If you tweaked any sound levels you are all set for a moment, if not then run the adxencd program, and convert all songs to adx format. Rename all new songs accordingly (i.e. back to original Crazi Taxi song names), so that they correspond to the original names.

7. now in the music directory you'll have 4 new .adx songs. Delete the wavs unless you want to save them. Cut and paste the new songs into the game data directory, It will ask if you want to replace existing files say yes to all.

Thats it!!! Now use the Echelon self boot tutorial, (I used Grimdeaths Tutorial cause it got pics and real easy to understand), to put the game back to CD.

Hopefully this was easy for people to understand. It worked perfectly for me. It's pretty much the same as THPS2, so if you've done that one this one will be a piece of cake, if not it may sound a little difficult but its actually not that bad to do with a little patience.

Enjoy,

Mitsu50

The Jinxter driver that makes the HP8200 work with discjuggler can be found here (http://gamegirlone.tripod.com/Pfc.zip)

A short note on installing it: all you have to do is replace the pfc.inf file that is in your discjuggler folder with the one in the zip file. When you open Discjuggler after that, it should say 'Jinxter ghost driver' in the destination box, instead of your burner.

http://www.cdrom-guide.com/ubb/4MoDeRaToRs/SiGnAtUrE_ImAgEs/GG.gif

SUBMITTED BY JO12345: How to convert a DVD to a SFD-Movie

How to convert a DVD to a SFD-movie(Dreamcast Movie-format, MPeg1 - Stream with a special Dreamcast Audio-Track)

I used a document found on CD-Rom-Guide for this :
http://www.cdrom-guide.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/003056.html

author : Rules


Software You Will Need
1. Latest SmartRipper (incredible ripper!)
2. DVD2AVI + VFP Plugin (how this amazing program works? i dont know.. )
3. TMPGEnc 12a With My SVCD Templates
4. S. Movie Creator

Please Read This Entire Page Before Asking Questions Somewhere Else!


1. SmartRipper (put the dvd in your dvd-rom and decrypt to your hard drive)

Note: For this entire procedure, you're going to need plenty of hard drive space. DVD movies are anywhere from 4 to 10 gigs, and u also need the space that the resulting MPEG will occupy, which can be an extra 1 to 2gigs.

Before running it, please play the movie in a software dvd player for only a couple seconds and then close it. This will "authenticate/unlock" the drive.

When you first run it, it will go through a series of IFO files and prepare to actually parse the DVD the way it should be played in a standalone. It will automatically start with the movie section and select the MOVIE. Keep in mind that using IFO parsing (the movie section of the program) you are completely going to not worry about any multiangles or any other weird problems.. such as a music video intermission between your movie files. Those kinds of things will just automatically be left out while it rips.

First... click on SETTINGS, on the Movie tab... set Key Check to only ONCE and set File splitting by every vob-file. Only "Option" checked should be Unlock Drive. In the Files/Backup Tab, set Key Check to only ONCE as well. Hit OK to go back to the movie menu.

Please click on the "Movie" Rip-Method on the top right corner (Default). Your movie length should already be highlighted in the "IFO -> Title -> Angle" window, if it isn't, please do so.

Please select the proper target folder, SmartRipper will also check for available space. The start button will now appear under the settings button. Please click on it

2. DVD2AVI (does exactly as the name suggests...)

Start DVD2AVI.exe and the vfp plugin should be in the same folder if you downloaded it from here.

Proceed to File -> Open and selecting your vob's and pressing add. Then hit ok.

Go to Help -> VFAPI Plugin, this will enable the use of the .VFP file in the same folder (should be checked).

If you know that the audio track is not Track No. 1, then change it now in Options -> Audio Demux -> DD Decoding.

Pressing F6 will bring up a Statistics window that you have to monitor for a couple minutes. Now press F5, the movie will begin to preview.

Here you also want to notice what framerate AND type your movie source actually is. For those of you that do not know, Region 1 (US and Canada) is NTSC (29.97fps), all other regions are PAL (25fps). Also, take note of the aspect ratio and remember it. 16:9 or 4:3 ?

**Most importantly for you NTSC users here is the FRAMETYPE. I suggest you watch a couple of minutes into the movie. If the frametype is ONLY progressive, you're in luck, you can stop the preview and select Options-->Preserve Film. If the movie type is HYBRID, or it shows INTERLACED or switches between PROGRESSIVE and INTERLACED (at least once even!) then make sure that Preserve Film is OFF! Remember whether or not your source is interlaced! You're going to need to know for TMPGEnc. (Borrowed from Purpleman)

Note:
1. For those of you who do not want to bother with interlaced CRAP and don't mind LESS quality. Then DON'T use preserve film but make sure you change the FPS in TMPGEnc to 29.97 and that 3:2 Pulldown is not checked in the Main Video Tab, then ignore the Inverse Telecine instructions.

2. DO NOT have preserve film ON for PAL sources.

Press ESC to stop the statistics scanning and F7 to stop the preview.

Before you go on.. I must WARN you to close any CPU intensive programs or anything not necessary.

Go to File -> Save PROJECT (not AVI) and select a drive with space on it. DON'T DO ANYTHING UNTIL IT'S DONE! ............

If you're still here.. congrats. If you just came back from a reboot, I warned you

Now you have a small .d2v project file and a nice beautiful .wav corresponding with the audio track that was selected. But remember, you can't delete or even change the path name to those movie VOB's until you are done. The .d2v is only a "map" to the exact byte locations of those VOB files. They are still going to be accessed when you encode.


3. TMPGEnc (powerful encoder)

Run "TMPGEnc English.exe" .. or Japanese if you're feeling daring.

At the bottom of program next to Video source, select browse and find your .d2v file from DVD2AVI. For audio source, find your .ac3 file.

---- Please follow the instructions that apply below ---


Advanced :

Video Source Type: Non-Interlaced if your movie is progressive only(DVD2AVI), Interlaced if it is interlaced...
Field Order: Even field first
Source Aspect Ratio: This should be either NTSC(PAL) 4:3 525l(625)ine, NTSC(PAL) 16:9 525(625)line. DVD2AVI would have told you this in the Statistics area.
Image Positioning: Fit to frame (preserve aspect ratio) ** Not 2!

Also, make sure nothing is checked under these options, NOTHING! (especially inverse telecine).

Video - Settings :

Stream-Type : MPeg-1 Video
Size : 640 x 480 for movies(black borders on TV), 352 x 240 for full screen TV-stuff.
Aspect ratio : 4:3 525 line NTSC !!!
Frame Rate : Keep the original framerate
Rate control : "Constant bitrate (CBR)" or "2-pass variable bitrate (VBR)"

CBR if you want your movie fast, 2 pass VBR if you want best quality(doubles the encoding time)

Bitrate(only CBR) : anything from 800 kbit/s(movie fits on 1 CD, quality may suffer) to 2200 kbit/s(high quality).

Setting for VBR :

Minimum bitrate : 0
Maximum bitrate : 3000
Average bitrate : anything from 600 kbit/s to 2200 kbit/s

VBV buffer size : 0(automatic)

Motion search precision : I suggest "High Quality(Slow)"

If you have a full-screen TV-film(no black borders on TV), you can skip the following chapter.

##widescreen movies##
Go back to the Advanced Settings.
Double click "Clip frame"

confirm, that "Resized image is used to display preview" is NOT checked.
now clip the black borders at the top/bottom of the image(search for a bright scene).
Write down the "Size after clipping"
Click on OK.

Go back to the Video - settings.

Now we have to adjust the y-resolution in order to fit the "Size after clipping".(the reolution must be a multiple of 16)

Go back to the "Clip Frame" window.

Now CHECK the "Resized image is used to display preview" box.
If you discover any black borders in the preview, you have to adjust the Resolution in the Video-Settings.

Don´t use the following Resolutions for your movie:

640x240
640x352

because they are displayed full screen on the Dreamcast(no black borders on the top and bottom of the TV)
##

Press "Start" .. and this will take a while depending on length of movie. Press ok when done to everything.

I recommend you calculate for 15 mins, abort the encoding and check, if everything looks right.


4. Calculation and Cutting

Now you have a pretty big file in front of you, beautiful quality. How do you burn it to play it on a DVD Player? Well, we can use the tools in TMPEG by going to File -> MPEG Tools, but first, we should do some calculating.

First of all, you CAN fit a maximum of 695megs on a 80min CD by burning in Mode 1(5 megs for the player).

So let's say you have a 2 gig SVCD file for a 2hr movie (This is just approximate). You will obviously need 3 CDs, as is the case for most SVCDs. Please note that in TMPGEnc you can only type in the time interval in seconds. So a 2hr movie (7200 seconds) would be cut into 3 like this...

Part 1 - 0 -> 2405 seconds
Part 2 - 2400 -> 4805 seconds
Part 3 - 4800 -> 7200 seconds (end of movie)

Notice that I repeated 5 seconds to allow for error and being cut off in the middle of a sentence. If you've made it this far, you can certainly do your own calculations.

Now... let's actually do it. Go to File -> MPEG Tools, and click on the last tab, "Cut/Join". Click the add button and select your 2 gig Mpeg file and from the scroll down menu select "MPEG1 Video (automatic)".

If at this point you are in tremendous need of space, go ahead and delete your orginal VOB's and/or DVD2AVI project file, but I DON'T RECOMMEND it.

Double click on the filename and for range set from "0" to end of your first cut, in my example would be "2405". Press ok. At the bottom of the window select your Output and remember to label it PART I, don't try to overwrite the file you're using! Press start.

For second cut, double click on the filename of the mpg again, set the beginning to, as in my example, "2400" and end to "4805". Press Ok, CHANGE OUTPUT TO PART II, then press start.

Repeat for however many parts you have remembering to change your output file. You should now have files big enough to fit on a 74min CD.

5. Converting MPeg-1 Video to SFD-movie

Now we have to convert the audio-track.

First we´ll have to De-Multiplex the Mpeg-1 Video.

Go to File -> MPEG Tools, and click on "De-multiplex"

For input choose the movie you want to convert.
choose the output name/directory of the video-/audio-file.
click on "Run".

Now we have a M1V-video file and a MP2-audio file.

convert the MP2-audio to an uncompressed WAV-audio(f.ex. with WinAMP and Diskwriter PlugIn)

Start the S. Movie Creator.

Video-material file : the M1V video you just created
Audio-material file : the WAV audio you just created

Type : Sofdec Data(.sfd)

The Duration and Video options should be greyed out, if not go back to the de-multiplex part, there seems to be a bug in TMpeg or S.MCreator...

Audio : 22050 Hz, Stereo, 196 kbit/s (results in a SFD-file that has the same size the MPG-file has)

now click on "Start Encoding"

Now you have a ready to burn SFD-movie.

Burn it with the SFD-player as MODE 1 ISO(for non-selfbooting movie)

Thanks jo12345! :)

how to change the faces in thps2
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Noct:
First thing to do is open one of those bitmaps I described and look at what Im talking about.
Im in the process of actually doing this,so Ill walk myself through it.
Open ISO>SKATEDIT>FCEBLUE2.BMP
(thats what im using,try and match the hair pattern to your own as best you can)
in PS.
Notice the picture is within a square, and all the pixels are flush to the edges.
It almost looks like this haircut is some wild afro,but actually when that wraps around,its just a flat head of blue hair.
Just like the neck looks distorted into almost shoulders,once that wraps around the smaller polygon on the bottom of the head,itll just be a neck.
Thats what I meant by the picture will be distorted.
Ok now open the picture of yourself you want to put on the guy.
By the way,be very selective when you choose what picture to use,it should be a level straight on picture of your face, without any bizzare shadows or lights going across your face.
(Im personally using a wedding photo,cuz its the only professional picture of myself I have.
I imagine like a school photo,or drivers license picture would be fine.)
On a side note,you really only need one side of your face,(explain later) so if you have a good frontal shot of your face,and one side of it is too dark or something..you can still use it.
Ok, heres the actual hard part.
Zoom in real close on both pictures, then take the polygonal lasso tool,and try and select just the face,and neck on the actual game bitmap.
Try to keep all the hair out of the picture.
(little tip on ripping pictures in PS,dont even attempt to try and do selects all on one pass,work on small areas at a time,and then add,or subtract to the selected area.
You can make your select tool be subtracting,or adding by holding either ALT "-", or SHIFT "+" while you click the first point.)
Once youve gotten it selected, in PS6 go to IMAGE>MODE>
indexed color is selected,change it to RGB.
Now, go to
IMAGE>ADJUST>brightness and contrast
Now play with this slider, and try to get the skin tone of the game character as close to the tone of your face in the picture your using as possible.
Dont worry about wether or not it makes the face look squirrley, your not going to use the features on that one anyways.
Once youve done that,deselect the image,and then select just the hair.
(it doesnt have to be perfect,the pixels are so small you probobly wont notice if your off a little.)
Now go to LAYER>New Layer
click ok,and it sets a new blank layer on top of your image.
Now take the airbrush tool,and change its color to your hair color.
Now spray over all of the hair pixels until you can see it anymore(inside of the selection area you put around the hair.
Now goto
LAYER>LAYER STYLE>BLENDING OPTION
this will bring up an options menu with an adjustable slider that says "opacity".
Slide that to the left until you can see some of the features of the hair underneath,but not so much that you lose the color.
Now goto
LAYER>FLATTEN IMAGE
Hopefully at this point,the complextion,and hair color match the photo your comparing it to in some respect.
Now to the actual picture of you.
select from your face,a chunk that basicly covers your mouth,nose,and at least one eye.
(You can select both, but your only going to use one.)
Once its selected,copy it (CNTRL+C)
Now back over to the game image,paste it in.
(CNTRL+V)
Its obviously going to be way off sizewise,probobly way too big.
You can scale it down by resizing it(CNTRL+T)
Get it as close to the right size as you can,and try to size/position it so one eye
is perfectly overtop of the old eye,and the nose and mouth line up to the middle of the face.
Once youve got it in place,apply the resize,(just click a different tool,then click APPLY on the pop up window).
Now with the airbrush tool(resizeing if needing) set to whatever the basic color of your skintone is(use the eyedropper tool to select a color directly)
and try to blend the piece/pieces you placed on the game image into the rest of the face.
You only need one side of the head,so dont bother doing both.
The reason youre only doing half is that this is will look much better if its completely symetrical,so i find it best to do one side then copy it to the other side.
Once everythings looking ok,you need to select exactly one half of the image with it cut straight down the middle of the face.
Copy one side of the face then paste it on the other side flipped over.
(EDIT>TRANSFORM>FLIP HORIZONTAL)
Once its in place flatten the image again.
If it didnt match up perfectly,you can do a little fine detail editing around the seam down the middle to try and fix it up,but dont forget these are small pixels,and your never really going to see a real close up of it in the game anyways.
Now goto
IMAGE>MODE>ands select INDEXED COLOR
In the pop up window select the palatte as
PREVIOUS is it is available,or
MASTER(selective) if its not.
and hit ok.
now just hit the close button in the right corner of the image in photoshop.
PS will ask you if you want to save it,say yes,and rewrite it overtop of the original image.
(always make backups first)
And thats pretty much it.
Editing logos on shirts,and the images on boards is pretty much the same thing.
Wow...maybe this shoulda been in the faq folder.

thanks Noct!

-= Originaly Posted By: Avalon-Racer =-

-= How To Insert Roms Into Emulator Disks =-


Ok, here is what you do:

1. Rip everything off to a folder using ISOBuster or CDmage.

2. Move all of your ROMs in the folder label'd ROMS

3. Open CDRWIN. click Record Disc
Click Load Tracks. Find the .wav file that you ripped off, and burn it. Make sure the option Open New Session is checked before burning.

4. After the wav has burned, click File Backup and Tools and choose the Backup files directly (on the fly) to an ISO9660 compatable disc from the dropdown menu. Open windows explorer, navagate to the folder where you placed the files, and place IN ORDER the following files/folders1DSNES.SH4
GFX
LOCALE
ROMS
SOUND

5. Check the options Preserve Full Pathnames, Write Postgap, BURN-Proof(If your burner supports it) and Finalize/Close Session,and uncheck Open New session

6. Under Disc Type choose CDROM-XA, under Track Type choose Mode 2 and under Speed choose 4x.

Then click Burn, and you're all set. Happy burning :)

.