DOA2 XiaoPang / redundant files and more ?

[ShindouGo]

Hello,

I'm wondering how did XiaoPang do for their Dead or Alive 2 Master Collection compilation ?

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qx883thrw ... A2.7z/file

The size on the CD is 2.26 GB. When I use the -duplicates-once function of mkisofs, I manage to reduce it to 1.1 GB.
So he must use another technique ?
I think it's a kind of compression.
There is a dummy file present in the Jap versions called ENGINE.BIN (431 MB) which cannot simply be deleted.
When we look at only the folder size of the Jap Limited Edition version, we are already at 805 MB

Anyone have an idea of ​​the method used and how to do it ?

[SMiTH]

So if you look at what files were touched by viewing timestamps you can see that engine.bin was indeed edited/modified/etc
Notice that you will get a crc error if you try to extract engine.bin
That would mean that something was done intentionally to engine.bin
What was done? hell if i know...
* I think the iso was edited after it was created.
I have seen similar things like this when some1 protects their iso from being extracted.
Figure out what was done to make engine.bin crc and you have the answer.

A way to do the opposite of this compilation and maybe accomplish the same thing would be to view the limited edition release etc. and see if it has the same file names/file types in the doa2 folder etc..then simply overwrite the files in the US release. This way you would not need to use engine.bin and the costumes and extra stuff might work with the US bin? You could remove the dreampassport stuff (files,folders) but it wont save much space...target the main game bins and skip 2_dp.bin etc, also you could remove the .sfd in root of dreamon or dummy it, or downsample it.

**If you figure out what was done with engine.bin pls post it here.

as far as compression i have my doubts that this doa compilation uses it.
there has only been two examples of realtime compression ever used in a dc iso.
skies of arcadia released by echelon and the superior soa release made by YZB.

Also going by what xiaopang mentions here...

as far as skies of arcadia is concerned, i did check it out, but i think echelon already went the most elegant way of ripping it. if i had the chance to do it like they did, i would, so don’t expect a soa-rip from me any time soon, if at all. never say never though

***skies of arcadia is the holy grail on par with a working rip of bleemcast.
Well soa is second to a working bleemcast rip....
because bleemcast has the most insane protections ever created
(only a few people on the planet understand enough about it to be able to recreate a working iso)
once you accomplish creating either of these rips then its time to retire lol

[ShindouGo]

Thank you for all this SmiTH.

Indeed, I had seen using Isobuster that the engine.bin file appeared to be corrupt. On the other hand I find that it is a great idea to try to replace that of the GDRom by that of XiaoPang.

I wanted to redo this compilation because I was informed that the US version did not work during fights. The time is up and it indicates each time a draw. I tried on my side on emulator and on GDEmu, it's the same thing.

I tried to do it and I have the same error besides as well on the US version as on another version that I wanted to add, a PAL White Label version. The PAL version does not have this problem there ...

I will try to do it with an LBA at 45000. I had planned to include a demo offering a loop video of the game, video which is 75 MB , so I'm going to remove it because that's what I'm going to lose in place pretty much with the LBA at 45000.

[SMiTH]

I had planned to include a demo offering a loop video of the game, video which is 75 MB , so I'm going to remove it because that's what I'm going to lose in place pretty much with the LBA at 45000.

Why not try to keep the video that you wanted to use?
Downsample it.
or use 11702 lba instead.
I know doa2 works with 0 lba for sd cards so it should work fine with 11702 lba.

Test to see if you can swap files from the limited edition with the pal version.
It would be cool to see these textures/costumes etc working with a different doa2 version.

I was informed that the US version did not work during fights. The time is up and it indicates each time a draw. I tried on my side on emulator and on GDEmu, it's the same thing.

If you need any help with doa2 a user named green ranger here @dct has made many awesome doa2 mods..maybe pm him.
He might have more insight about the engine.bin/ and or creating a better rip of doa2..
https://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewto ... 2&start=40

anything you learn when creating this rip pls post about it so others will have info when working with doa2 in the future.

[christuserloeser]

Hello,

I'm wondering how did XiaoPang do for their Dead or Alive 2 Master Collection compilation ?

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qx883thrw ... A2.7z/file

The size on the CD is 2.26 GB. When I use the -duplicates-once function of mkisofs, I manage to reduce it to 1.1 GB.
So he must use another technique ?

see TDCFInal2 by Toodles:

Q: How'd you fit all that in there?
A: Using links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_link

[ShindouGo]

I understand what you tell me SmiTH but at the moment I already tried with the lba to 11702 and the US version does not work. I have the same thing as the compilation of XiaoPang, ie a fight which lasts 2-3s without having been able to give a single blow. The PAL version works well though.

So I'm going to test by setting the LBA as for the GDRom to 45000 (no binhack is necessary when it's a game in a compilation).

I could possibly make 2 versions: a version proposing DOA2 Jap LE (the version of Echelon settled the problem of the engine.bin file), DOA2 PAL and US (if it works with the LBA at 45000) as well as the White LABEL version ( I should arrive around 700MB with all that). I will see if I can add the Jap version with the XiaoPang method.

The 2nd version, I will not try to limit to 700 MB and in this case there I will propose the total
That is to say the 2 jap versions (regular and limited), US, PAL, White Label, Demo and the DOA2 Final version of Green Ranger

[ShindouGo]

Hello,

I'm wondering how did XiaoPang do for their Dead or Alive 2 Master Collection compilation ?

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qx883thrw ... A2.7z/file

The size on the CD is 2.26 GB. When I use the -duplicates-once function of mkisofs, I manage to reduce it to 1.1 GB.
So he must use another technique ?

see TDCFInal2 by Toodles:

Q: How'd you fit all that in there?
A: Using links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_link

So it is also a mystery to me this compilation.
It seems to me that I also tested this one and with the simple -duplicates-once command from mkisofs (who uses hard link automatically), I couldn't reduce it enough. Especially since this compilation uses the LBA at 45000 which is essential to run the game SSF2X. I will also have to take a closer look at this compilation

[ShindouGo]

grrr it annoys me ...
I can't get it to work.
I tried with the LBA at 45000, I even tried to put it at the root of the CD (some games only work like that), it doesn't want
I still tried to extract the corrupt engine.bin file and I tested like this but it didn't work either
I drop this compilation

[SMiTH]

compare the bins with a hex editor. (raw gdi files to an echelon or kalisto release)
find out if there are other edits that were made to allow the game to boot.
if you find any be sure to credit the group that found them in your .nfo file.
i'm sure it works because there has already been a compilation made.
don't give up, try a few more things until you throw in the towel.
anything you find while making a rip, make a note of it.
so others will have that info available when they try to make a .cdi in the future.

**pm green ranger he obviously knows about doa2 for dc.

[mrneo240]

I would wager engine.bin doesn't exist