Couple of DC Questions

[AreuWho]

Hello, i have some questions about the Dreamcast Selfbooting Methods:

1. Must the bootstrap IP.BIN always reside in the first 16 Sectors of the second session, or is it OK when it's in the last session ?

2. Which CD modes will the dreamcast accept as data-cd (CDROM Mode 1, XA Mode 2 Form 1 & Form 2.....) Is it possible to put more game data on 1 CD if using XA Mode 2 Form 2 Sectors because of less error correction space ?

3. Is there a way to create a data/data format selfbooter without using BIN2BOOT ? I'm asking because I compile DC source code myself and I want to make it accessible for all DC's. If not, can someone tell me what EXACTLY BIN2BOOT does (sourcecode anyone ?) or anyone tell me how the structure of the data/data selfboot disks (including where the bootstrap code is, how the LBA references in the binary files are changed etc..)

4. Will the DC accept disks which have dummy data instead of dummy audio in the 1st session ? (Like Echelon selfboot, except data instead of audio) i think this question relates to data/data format.

5. How can i create a selfbooting cd with cdrecord using a 90 min. CDR ? I already tried the following:

cdrecord -dev=0,1,0 -multi -audio 45000.raw 45001.raw (45000 LBA trick)
cdrecord -dev=0,1,0 -msinfo (I got 45000)
mkisofs -C 0,45000 -o temp.iso <game data dir> (game data is 700 MB)
( cat IP.BIN ; dd if=temp.iso skip=16 bs=2048) > data.iso
cdrecord -dev=0,1,0 -overburn -xa1 data.iso

It burns fine until reaches the end of the regular 700 MB, but not beyond. The man page of cdrecord says most burners only support overburning in DAO mode (i got an Yamaha CRW-F1E with 1.0g Firmware), but overburning an 80 min's CDR to 81 min's worked fine using the method above.

These are my questions. Maybe we could open a thread about Dreamcast knowledge where every user writes down anything he experienced on DC and other users give confirmations if the information is true or not. Just an Idea... The Dreamcast Knowledge Database....

[Hacker999]

1) I think that depends on what game or ap you are burning. Not sure.

2) I don't use CDROM Mode 1 since i think it's useless for the DC but the DC can read it. I mostly use CDROM-XA Mode 2 for all the CD I burn especially for the hombrew stuff. Also, supposed you are using Gypplay and you burn it CDROM-XA Mode 2, and you want to swap another disc with movies on it but it's in CDROM Mode 1, The DC will not read it correctly.

I don't know if it's possible to put more game data on 1 CD using XA Mode 2 Form 2 but that would rock.

3) There probably is another way but I'm not familiar with that.


4) Yes you can have dummy data in the first session. But you can also have actual game data as part of the first session. It's kinda complicated so maybe I'll explain it another time.


5) You must use the option -ignsize in order to burn 90 or 99 minute CDRs with CDRecord. BTW, what game are you burning that you are starting at a 45000 LBA?

[AreuWho]

I'm trying to burn Alone in Dark 4 German, ripped from my GD using BBA. It's one of those games where u have to use the 45000 LBA trick. I already burnt a working copy on a 80 min CDR, but i had to downsample and rip out much stuff to fit it on the cd. And since i figured out the dc can read beyond 80 mins CDs, I thought i'd repack the game for 90 min CD. I already tried cdrecord with -ignsize -overburn (windows and linux), without success...

[Hacker999]

Is your burner capable of creating a disc more than 80 minutes? If not then that's your problem. I have 2 burners and only one of them can write more than 80 minutes.

[AreuWho]

My burner (Yamaha CRW-F1E) is capable of overburning to 99 min's.

[Hacker999]

Don't know what to tell you then. Maybe you missed a step somewhere. Have you tried selfbooting another game with that burner? If not try it with another game and use a dummy file to make then image more than 82 minutes.