ISO/MP3/CUE loading like in WinUAEX?

[MethodGit]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Yeah, but then you don't want quality.

Most people would probably be too busy playing the game or looking at the graphics to listen hard and carefully to the quality of the audio, especially if they're playing it on an Xbox through a TV.

Besides, I'm not saying MP3 should take over for archival purposes (I'm as much a supporter of losseless/perfect replicas of CDs as you lot), I'm just saying it can be a supported option for those who need to cut down disk space significantly.

[fisken uno]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

But i miss the dumping logs, want to compare the TOC/LBA infos from the real CD sources. Or is there a verifier tool like SCDToolz for the Sega CD backups?

Oh yes I'd love the tosec dumps to include log files as well However, unless the pressings are the same you will probably not be able to find matching CRCs of the audio tracks of your copies and the tosec ones. Remember that just a byte of difference will give you a different CRC in EAC. I know, I've used EAC a lot (but then again it only takes common sense to understand that) I'd like the TOSEC dumps to use test+copy as well to ensure there are NO glitches in the audio tracks. Not that I've come across any TOSEC dumps that do (yet), but I've found CD32 games from various other sources that do. And it sucks so bad... I don't think I've come across ANY version of SF2 that isn't scratched AND with lossless/uncompressed audio tracks, so if you have one...

[killergorilla]

I've always managed to match my cds up with the crcs in tosec.

Audio files included.

And of course they use test and copy!

http://startaq.ath.cx:10080/wiki/guide

[fisken uno]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

I've always managed to match my cds up with the crcs in tosec.

Audio files included.

And of course they use test and copy!

http://startaq.ath.cx:10080/wiki/guide

Oh great! Didn't know that they do. It'd still be nice with the logs included though. Setting up the offset correction is also included in the guide! Good job indeed.

I know for sure about the CRC thing with standard audio CDs (the same CDs often produced in several different pressings). It's possible that there weren't any different pressings of CD32 games or that they indeed made identical copies with each pressing.

[Retro-Nerd]

I'm not worried about the audio track quality when TOSEC uses EAC, but if they are 100 % synchronize. Would like to compare the original LBA's with the dumped TOSEC games via the TOC Reader.

LBA example:

Track 01     Audio     00:02:00     LBA=000000
Track 02     Data     00:49:65     LBA=003590
Track 03     Audio     04:39:48     LBA=020823
Track 04     Audio     05:50:12     LBA=026112
Track 05     Audio     06:09:64     LBA=027589
Track 06     Audio     07:43:54     LBA=034629
Track 07     Audio     08:23:13     LBA=037588
Track 08     Audio     11:29:66     LBA=051591
Track 09     Audio     13:28:31     LBA=060481
Track 10     Audio     15:40:10     LBA=070360
Track 11     Audio     17:50:51     LBA=080151
Track 12     Audio     19:51:69     LBA=089244
Track 13     Audio     21:56:72     LBA=098622
Track 14     Audio     23:51:29     LBA=107204
Track 15     Audio     25:57:05     LBA=116630
Track 16     Audio     27:48:53     LBA=125003
Track 17     Audio     29:54:43     LBA=134443
Track 18     Audio     31:59:26     LBA=143801
Track 19     Audio     34:12:49     LBA=153799
Track 20     Audio     36:16:47     LBA=163097
Track 21     Audio     38:21:68     LBA=172493
Track 22     Audio     40:25:45     LBA=181770
Track 23     Audio     43:30:06     LBA=195606
Track 24     Audio     45:33:47     LBA=204872
Track 25     Audio     47:35:67     LBA=214042
Track 26     Audio     50:35:35     LBA=227510
Track 27     Audio     52:47:10     LBA=237385
Track 28     Audio     54:50:19     LBA=246619
Track 29     Audio     57:02:17     LBA=256517
Track 30     Audio     59:01:36     LBA=265461
Track 31     Audio     61:07:65     LBA=274940
Track 32     Audio     63:16:27     LBA=284577
Track 33     Audio     65:22:11     LBA=294011
Track 34     Data     66:29:52     LBA=299077
Leadout     70:15:36     LBA 316011

[Anubis]

I requested this over a year ago. (more close to years ago)

Since DOSBox has integrated ISO image support I wondered if it would be hard to implement seimillar feature in WinUAE. (DOSBox is open source, so can be used as reference)

Of course they don't support ISO+MP3. I usually convert those games with Nero 7 into other formats usable with disk mounting tools. Never had any problem with conversion.

[Duke]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

I'm not worried about the audio track quality when TOSEC uses EAC, but if they are 100 % synchronize. Would like to compare the original LBA's with the dumped TOSEC games via the TOC Reader.

Just go to http://startaq.ath.cx:10080 and pick the CD you want to compare. All track details are there.

[Retro-Nerd]

Thanks for the info, Duke.

[MethodGit]

Another thing to add - certain games such as Xenon 2 CDTV, Bubble & Squeak, Oscar and SSF2 Turbo are incredibly hard - if not almost impossible - to find in perfect, lossless, original form (and it doesn't help that people who do put the odd original copy up on eBay charge silly money for it!). So when you do come across an inferior MP3 copy, it's rather pointless to then decompress all the audio tracks to WAV - ballooning the overall size in the process by hundreds - when they're going to keep the same lower lossy quality as before!

[Retro-Nerd]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

Another thing to add - certain games such as Xenon 2 CDTV, Bubble & Squeak, Oscar and SSF2 Turbo are incredibly hard - if not almost impossible - to find in perfect, lossless, original form (and it doesn't help that people who do put the odd original copy up on eBay charge silly money for it!). So when you do come across an inferior MP3 copy, it's rather pointless to then decompress all the audio tracks to WAV - ballooning the overall size in the process by hundreds - when they're going to keep the same lower lossy quality as before!

You don't tell us anything new, Git. But you can check the tracks anytime with TAU for the authentication.

And for the mentioned games, they are not to hard to find.

[spirit]

DVD-R & big hard disks are cheap enough, MethodGit. Do yourself a favour and get a 300 GB hd.

Depends of the country, in some countries hardware are not as cheap as it is in others.
We all want the best quality possible, but sometimes is really hard to see the difference.
But anyway the discussion is useless since the emulator's author said that he won't support that format.

[MethodGit]

I wouldn't go as far as saying the discussion is useless - it's got people talking for quite a bit as far as I see!

Also, it just seems to make no sense when you think about it - why is it okay in the Xbox world to support a convenient compressed/reduced format for ISOs, but not so back in Windows world?

Failing the MP3 direction though, we could always see an equivalent of the "compressed CD image" format similar to pSX emulator's CDZ format.

[F1ReB4LL]

Originally Posted by fisken uno

Oh yes I'd love the tosec dumps to include log files as well However, unless the pressings are the same you will probably not be able to find matching CRCs of the audio tracks of your copies and the tosec ones. Remember that just a byte of difference will give you a different CRC in EAC.

They will be probably redumped later using this method: http://psxdb.com/guide
This method gives the same checksums for different pressings (if the tracks were the same on masterdiscs, of course).

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

Also, it just seems to make no sense when you think about it - why is it okay in the Xbox world to support a convenient compressed/reduced format for ISOs, but not so back in Windows world?

Other coder(s), other priorities.

[MethodGit]

I was wondering......... will simple direct ISO loading (without mounting) be possible at least? You could delve through the Gens source code and check its ISO code if you like.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by MethodGit

I was wondering......... will simple direct ISO loading (without mounting) be possible at least? You could delve through the Gens source code and check its ISO code if you like.

It would extremely simple, but as i said, i won't allow use of non-audio track rips. It is either full support or none at all.

[Anubis]

Gens allows ISO + MP3 and plays them well.

[Retro-Nerd]

Originally Posted by Anubis

Gens allows ISO + MP3 and plays them well.

That's not the point. Toni supports no crappy rips.

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by Tony Wilen

...emulating CD Audio properly is very complex and not worth the trouble.

Clear enough...

[Toni Wilen]

I try to make this as clear as possible: I am not going to waste my time to develop my own CD emulator.

Of course, if there is source and license compatible CD emulator. Same as with recent scanlines disucussion. (Note that the answer isn't as simple as: "<put some random emulator here> has it")