How can I convert dreamcast nrg file to cdi?

[|darc|]

yup all points taken. I should have let no mean no. i'm sorry to have pestered you like that.

[...]

You do you!

I wasn't explicit but after the edit in my previous reply I'm basically saying "not never" but it would be a lower priority.

I do see tremendous value in supporting a non-closed format like CDI, NRG, MDF/MDS are. During the research phase of my work I tried to explore if there was a better format than CDI to attempt to get the scene to switch to and came up empty, primarily because cross-platform burning support is awful for anything that supports multisession. I don't know of anything on Linux supporting burning multisession bin/cue other than ImgBurn via Wine but that can burn CDI as well so no huge advantage there. Perhaps it would be worth exploring writing a cdrecord frontend that splits and burns bin/cues.

You mentioned ImgBurn and IsoBuster for multisession bin/cue (unified flavor) but I ripped an indie game with both and they don't output in the same format. The BIN is identical with the same md5sum, but the cuesheets are different. ImgBurn's cuesheet is more explicit with track indices, IsoBuster's seems to lack this but gives extra redundant LBA info. I'd have to rip more discs to be sure but it appears the IsoBuster cuesheets lacking explicit track indices would result in a loss of information about the originating disc's gaps. Non-uniformity from software to software is the kind of headache I was wanting to avoid, especially when it comes to user support.

[MoeFoh]

yup all points taken. I should have let no mean no. i'm sorry to have pestered you like that.

[...]

You do you!

I wasn't explicit but after the edit in my previous reply I'm basically saying "not never" but it would be a lower priority.

I do see tremendous value in supporting a non-closed format like CDI, NRG, MDF/MDS are. During the research phase of my work I tried to explore if there was a better format than CDI to attempt to get the scene to switch to and came up empty, primarily because cross-platform burning support is awful for anything that supports multisession. I don't know of anything on Linux supporting burning multisession bin/cue other than ImgBurn via Wine but that can burn CDI as well so no huge advantage there. Perhaps it would be worth exploring writing a cdrecord frontend that splits and burns bin/cues.

You mentioned ImgBurn and IsoBuster for multisession bin/cue (unified flavor) but I ripped an indie game with both and they don't output in the same format. The BIN is identical with the same md5sum, but the cuesheets are different. ImgBurn's cuesheet is more explicit with track indices, IsoBuster's seems to lack this but gives extra redundant LBA info. I'd have to rip more discs to be sure but it appears the IsoBuster cuesheets lacking explicit track indices would result in a loss of information about the originating disc's gaps. Non-uniformity from software to software is the kind of headache I was wanting to avoid, especially when it comes to user support.

Does burning to a physical disc (using ImgBurn) a multi-session bin/cue of a Dreamcast Indie game (mil-cd) actually produce a disc that is bootable with real Dreamcast hardware?
I've seen those working in some emulators, but burning?

An ImgBurn created bin/cue of a physical mil-cd disc, then converted to cdi with your redumptocdi tool - will this work? It would be another way to avoid having using DJ6.

[|darc|]

Does burning to a physical disc (using ImgBurn) a multi-session bin/cue of a Dreamcast Indie game (mil-cd) actually produce a disc that is bootable with real Dreamcast hardware?
I've seen those working in some emulators, but burning?

Yes, if the multi-session bin/cue originated from ImgBurn, I have done this with success. But there are likely specific discs that aren't able to be properly duplicated this way. And if you take this multi-session bin/cue outside of ImgBurn and try to use another program to burn it, it may or may not work.

For Redump bin/cue files, no.

An ImgBurn created bin/cue of a physical mil-cd disc, then converted to cdi with your redumptocdi tool - will this work? It would be another way to avoid having using DJ6.

Not at this time, but that's what he's requesting above, which I'm now reconsidering implementing now that this angle/use case is presented to me.

But relying on ImgBurn is not entirely better than relying on DJ6. ImgBurn and DiscJuggler are both closed source. They're both Windows-only, but both work well enough under Linux using Wine. They're both no longer worked on; DiscJuggler had its last release 18 years ago and ImgBurn had its last release 11 years ago. They're both free of cost: ImgBurn is directly free, and in my research, Padus, Inc. was very recently formally dissolved and DiscJuggler likely qualifies as an orphaned copyrighted work with no owner. I've attempted to contact the founder of Padus, Inc. regarding its status but received no replies, so I felt comfortable enough to upload a full, known-working version.

But DiscJuggler can burn some discs ImgBurn can't (even in CDI format using the CDI plugin). I personally haven't had issues with DiscJuggler under Windows 10 or 11 with the version linked above. I'm not sure what's different for those who have.

[nuggetreggae]

"But DiscJuggler can burn some discs ImgBurn can't (even in CDI format using the CDI plugin). I personally haven't had issues with DiscJuggler under Windows 10 or 11 with the version linked above. I'm not sure what's different for those who have."

Let me explain exactly what happens. When making a CDI image from a disk, mounted using a virtual drive (Clone Virtual CD / Daemon Tools are the two I've tested, and sorry my laptop no CDrom drive to try physical) the first few sectors of the CDI will be completely blank. I'm not talking about the 150 sector lead-in which CDI includes, I'm talking about data sectors. With DJ default settings this will be 18 sectors (0-17). With RAW mode settings it's 22 sectors (IIRC) and it's different again when subchannels are selected. By blank I mean blank. No data. No ECC. No EDC. all 0's. opening the resultant CDI in ISOBuster will error on sector view for these blank sectors. (Device reported Error code : 05/64/09) Mounting in a virtual cd and attempting to burn or rip in ImgBurn will error out due to the corrupted CD sectors.

******** I do need to stress that if the beginning of the CD is CD Audio these errors will not show. There will just be silence where music was before. This is due to CD Audio is 2352 bytes/sector with No ECC and no EDC (the error correction data) ...... No error detection, no error! ******* but these sectors are still blank and data loss IS happening.

But most Dreamcast Discs will still work. If they are Data/Data the file directory is usually in session 2 and will refer back to data in Session 1 by LBA and length. As sector 16 (corrupted) is the volume descriptor and data usually starts at Sector 24, where everything is OK, all files are usually readable!!!!

Audio/Data discs will lose the first 0.5 sec of track 1 audio, and possibly subsequent tracks also. My tests were not conclusive but track 1 is absolutely a fact. Most CDI with CDDA discs are created with MDS4DC tool which outputs MDF/MDS Alcohol Image. These are the only images where I use DJ6 to make CDI now. No other way. But the full uncorrupted audio is in the MDF file. open in Hex editor, search "SEGAKAT" and select all data from 0 to that point and copy. That's the NICE audio. Then open the newly created CDI file, position cursor at Hex $ 56220 (after the lead-in) and INSERT in the audio. The uncorrupted audio. All audio tracks at once. Fixed!!!! Dirty workaround but I have used it a while.

It's not just me. A few people have talked about this issue on this site, and I recenty went to a certain romance warez site and downloaded Birdcage of Horrors CD version and as soon as I opened the CDI of disc 1 in JC's GDI Explorer and saw no defined icon on Session 1 Data, I thought to myself "Yeah, I know what's going on here...." Luckily there was no Data in that session.

So in short, if you don't look for it, you won't see it.

Best Regards Nugget

[nuggetreggae]

@|DARC| gonna annoy you with a few opinions again.....

NRG is a useless format. There are so many different NRG versions & variants and the software to deal with it over time became the biggest junk / bloatware .... NERO AG in my opinion were in it for the money not the scene. Probably the last version I used was 6 (was it) yup checked my folder 6.6.0.8 was the last one i used regularly..... and usually for burning iso / bincue files!!!!!

Dreamcast hacker vector in russia primarily releases in mds/mdf. I've never come across a dodgy one. Works off the bat in GDEmu. Totally worth supporting.

You havent mentioned Clone CD. Big images (they include subchannel data) but generally compatible. There was a homebrew dreamcast game that used subchannel data for protection. (Ghost Blade) and if it determined the subchannel data wasnt there it refused to run and accused you (quite rightly so) of arrrr walk the plank piracy!!!! I recently updated my GDEmu firmware and that broke all CCD image support. I had to make a CDI with the subchannel data included..... But I like the format. It's been consistant and damn useful when necessary. In the past, though, i'd always rather store a 30% smaller ISO!

You noted differences between cuesheets from Imgburn and ISObuster. They may be relevant elsewhere but Dreamcast doesn't care. As long as stert LBA for each track is correct. I've never seen a GDI with pregap info. The image is sometimes different as well. They have differing ways of dealing with the data in the session gap. But CDI doesn't even store that, so also irrelevant.

I like the open viewable stuff. I like cuesheets over NRG CCD MDS. I can open in a text editor. See whats happening. Edit. Add sectors to the end of the BIN (a 0GDTEX.PVR for example) and they're there in the image with no editing. I like ImgBurn. Never failed me once. Free for everyone and Lightning UK supported it for years with DVD Shrink which was also his. I like vinyl over cd's - its simpler. You can play it with a vari speed drill a pin and a polystyrene cup in a power outage. You can see where the breakdown is by looking at the grooves. I'm a real stick in the mud.!!!!!!

Best Regards

[MoeFoh]

Perhaps, running DJ6 with Linux & Wine (XP Setting) is resolving some issues. Darc didn't say anything about virtual drives or mounting of images. I like to know if mdf with audio -> cdi by DJ6 works for him.

On my Win7 desktop, I have DJ6 set to WinXP compatibility and run as Administrator. DT11 blew up DJ6 - had to revert back to DT4.

I'm not sure about Win10, Win11 compatibility modes.

[SMiTH]

hey darc, did you ever put together that software you were talking about a few years ago that would show how the bleemcast beta console lock worked etc?

if you never got around to it, i understand.

[nuggetreggae]

Win7 had no issues at all for me. WinXP was current when DJ was still being released. Only the newest OS's cause trouble. I suspect the ASPI interface, but DJ would complain bitterly when being fed unreadable sectors. So I think it's got to come down to DJ itself, or the interface between itself and ASPI. How did DT11 blow up DJ6? what were the symptoms? same as me? wouldn't start? or something else?

[MoeFoh]

Win7 had no issues at all for me. WinXP was current when DJ was still being released. Only the newest OS's cause trouble. I suspect the ASPI interface, but DJ would complain bitterly when being fed unreadable sectors. So I think it's got to come down to DJ itself, or the interface between itself and ASPI. How did DT11 blow up DJ6? what were the symptoms? same as me? wouldn't start? or something else?

dj6+dt11+win7 - any image of mil-cd mounted - dj6 created a corrupt cdi as you noted under Win10 and shown by isobuster.

As noted in an earlier post: mounting to a scsi virtual drive, instead a dt virtual drive fixed it.

Reverted back to dt4 and everything works.

Have not tested dt12 and have no plans to - I'm sticking with what works - should of left it all alone in the first place. Arrgh, Windows.

[MoeFoh]

DT webpage says v4 is supported in Win10.