MagicEngine

[Gyromite7]

Okay, I just shelled out the $$$ to import a nice-looking original Dracula X CD. Now, I am trying to make a "play" copy so that I can put the original in a safe place.

I've been using Nero Burning Rom, since many CD programs (CD wizard, CDRWIN) don't support my TDK burner. So, I copied a CD image to my HD. When I try to burn it to a CDR, the process finishes, but the 2nd track (MODE 1 data) seems to be mixed in with the 3rd track (audio). The disc won't work in ME and that 3rd track sounds like a bunch of static for the first 10 or so seconds in an audio CD player. That is burning to high-quality 700MB CDR media; the weird thing is that I can get a perfect copy if I use a 650MB CD-RW instead.

Has anyone experienced something like this? Could the larger discs be throwing off the sector offsets somehow? I can't find any 650MB CDRs to test with, so I'm just guessing as to what the problem really is. Thanks to anyone who can offer any ideas!

[AlexisMachine]

I have an MP3 CD player that does something similar. It absolutely *hates* 700MB CDs, but has no problems at all with 650MB CDs. In the MP3 player's case, I'd assume that it's hardware-related - it doesn't know how to properly deal with the tighter spiral track on a 700MB CD.

You neglected to mention whether you're using the play copy through Magic Engine or an actual Turbo system. Once again, dangerous as it is, I'm assuming you're playing on authentic hardware, which would easily explain the problems reading 700MB CDs. It could also be substrate-dependent; different colored discs work better than others on older drives.

Again, take this with the appropriate grain of salt or three; this is all conjecture and assumption.

[Kaminari]

Just a thought, but the PC Engine CD games all have a maximum capacity of 650 MB, no more (I believe 700 MB discs didn't exist at the time). Could be that the real hardware can't read discs of higher capacity.

Edit: just noticed that you tried your copy in ME... At which speed did you rip and burn your image? Some original CDs are extremely sensitive. I now remember having the same problem with Star Parodier, I had to rip the image in 1x because of constant static throughout all the audio tracks.

[Jabberwok]

[Gyromite7]

Thanks, Jabberwok! I tried CloneCD, and it worked on the first try! Cool! I must've thrown away 15 CD-Rs while trying to get that Nero program to work properly. I just couldn't understand why the same CD image could burn to a CD-RW and not to a CD-R. I guess it is just a bug in the programming, not a hardware problem. Thanks to everone for the suggestions!

[Specineff]

Kaminari, I noticed you posted something about 700 MB CDs.

I made a backup of Blood Gear (Yup, I won't risk my original getting scratched by my 2 year old nephew.) On a TDK 700 MB CDR. I tested it on my duo and ME. Both 98 and 99 took it without any problems. Same with the Duo. Now the funny thing is, I used NERO and my mom's Technics CD burner on her laptop. Of course, I tried first using a CDRW, and running it on ME. Once I confirmed it worked, I simply re-burned the image to a CDR. Probably the trick lies on setting up Nero's options so it copies the data just as is, without correcting it.

Just my two Cents. (Or Meseta, Gil, Credits, Dyne.. whatever...)

Specineff.
_________________
Proud owner of a Dreamcast, Saturn, Turbo Duo and a registered version of ME since 2002.

[Ethane]

The only reason I can think of why your backup came out wrong is because not all CD burners can handle the burning needs of PC-E CDs correctly. Take my story, for instance:

Friend of mine is a musician, and was burning CDs of his music to sell locally. However, he had a Sony external 4x burner (CRX100E USB), so it was slow going. I simply traded him my 24x HP, because I rarely burned CDs and he couldn't afford an upgrade. Well, I leave town and later on decide to back up some of my games. I find out that I cannot, because the Sony CDRW drive I have simply WILL NOT burn PC-E games. I use Nero, and tried every trick to make it work to no avail. So, I try every other software - no go. So I look up the Sony CRX-100E on the web to find out that it is a problem with the drive itself, and nothing any software can fix. I've seen a few forums on websites of people pulling out thier hair wondering why they can't burn CDs, and a few fights erupt.

Moral of the story: If you want to backup/burn PC-Engine CD games, do a little research before buying a drive to see if it supports all the "good stuff" like DAO and what-not. Yamaha seems to be the best.

Odd bit of the story: While my Sony drive is pretty much one of the crappiest and most incompatible ever made, it is one of the rare few that can handle the creation of CD+G discs and CD-Text, according to one site. Wierd.

Ethane