How do you rip a PS game to ISO form?

[darkreeverel]

I'd love to rip all my PS games into ISO form to share with you guys... but I don't know how! Tutorial please

[Stark]

You need an image making program.

here are a few off the top of my head

CDRWin
Alcohol 120%
Clonecd
Nero
Discjuggler

I think CDRWin would be the easiest to use, just download the trial version (even though it forces the speed of your cd drive to 1X the slowest speed is better) just select create image while you psx cd is inside and you should know where to go from there, post back if you require greater detail

I'll be gone for a few hours now though I need to go somewhere.

[darkreeverel]

Thanks for another quick reply Theo. I think I have a few games that I dont see ISO's for on the site.

[hannanshah]

I recommend Isobuster. A great program that will eve read disks that Windows won't read (ie. scratched discs). Use the Extract CD content-RAW command to create an image file (a .bin and .cue file).

[Bonster]

Humm well u need 2 things XXLClony + CloneCD. XXLClony will detect if the PSX CD if it is protected and it will configure the settings for u to be burn with CloneCD.

always check for CD protection

[GODJonez]

Humm well u need 2 things XXLClony + CloneCD. XXLClony will detect if the PSX CD if it is protected and it will configure the settings for u to be burn with CloneCD.

always check for CD protection

Alcohol 120 % takes that copy protection too, just choose PlayStation as disc type.

[Stark]

If you use CDRWin to rip to bin format, there are a few places where you can apply "protection Patches" to bin Format Isos.

[Bonster]

Thanx i will check out CDRWin Again never knew they had a PSX burn option.

[GundamGuy]

Alcohol 120 % takes that copy protection too, just choose PlayStation as disc type.

No, PlayStation disc type, only changes the settings to Mode 2, Raw Data... It has nothing to do with copy protection.

[Araym]

Hey guys, sorry for the late bump and all but it's for a good cause. I didn't see a "How to Rip PSX Games" guide so either I'm blind or it's pretty straightforward, but I have some questions because if I'm going to capture images and put them on the tracker, I'd rather they be done _right_.

1. Is there a preferred imaging software to use with PSX CDs?

Before I had always just figured an image is an image, but I've heard that ISO/BIN-CUE formats don't store Sub Channel data although I've also heard that the majority of the games don't need Sub Channel data to run anyway. Does it really matter which program and/or image you use?

2. I saw at Megagames that you need CDRWin to patch PSX games. Does this mean you can load an image made from, say, Alcohol 120% and then patch it using CDRWin or does the image explicitly have to have been made from CDRWin in order to be capable of patching?

3. I need a little copy-protection 101... Does the image-extracting process change if the disc is protected?

For example, if I put in an original PSX CD and scan it with ClonyXXL and find it's protected by LibCrypt -- does that mean I have to change a certain setting(s) in Alcohol (or any image program) so that the copy protection isn't transferred or do I extract it as usual and then see if I can find a patch for the image? Or will it work as-is if burned and placed into a modded/swapt PSX?

If that's unclear, here's an example:

Lets say I want to make an image of Twisted Metal 2. I use Alcohol 120% to extract an image of Twisted Metal 2 [under the Playstation preset at the lowest write speed given]. Afterwards, scanning the original TM2 CD revealed it was protected by LibCrypt. If I burned the image onto a CD without doing anything and placed it into a modded PSX, would it work or do I have to: 1) Capture the Image again using some kind of setting or program to filter out the protection 2) Patch the Image file before I burn it or 3) Nothing, it'll work fine.

Okay, I think that's about all I have so far... Basically I just want any games I upload to be compatible both for those who just use emulation but also for those who'd rather burn the games and play them directly on the console.

Thanks for any help/clarifications.

[Araym]

Okay, I think I've pieced most of this stuff together just browsing around the net and this forum. I figured I'd post my findings to have my information checked and also on the off-chance someone stumbled into this thread wondering about this stuff also.

1. The most commonly used imaging software for capturing PSX images seems to be CDRWin -- it appeared frequently in the forums/guides I've visited. I don't know if that makes it best or not but it is simple and free. CloneCD, Alcohol120%, Nero, etc. all seem to get the job done just as well.

As per the subchannel deal: CDRWin does not extract sub channel info. CloneCD, and Alcohol 120%, and BlindWrite do so after extraction you should be left with a .sub file. However, the .sub files seem to be unnecessary. While data stored in the subchannel of a CD usually contains extra info like CD-text or protections, the majority of PSX games don't use it and, besides, most burners can't write/read subchannel data anyway [Your burner has to support RAW DAO 96 to be able to write subs]. For some more on subs, check out this thread.

2. I haven't had to patch an image yet, so I can't answer this empirically. But I'd imagine if you had an image file, like Nero's NRG format, you could mount it on Alcohol and then extract a new image from the mount with CDRWin should it be necessary. To be safe, it may be best to separate headers from images if they have them (basically converting images into headerless image formats such as BIN or IMG) prior to patching. Again, this is all just my speculation.

3. From my information, you deal with copy-protection after you extract the image. Once you have the image and want to get it ready to be burnt, you can scan the CD with ClonyXXL or look it to see if it's protected at PSX-CP List. If it is, you can go to Megagames/GameCopyWorld or some such site that offers PSX Copy-Protection removal patches and then follow their directions.

Anywho, that's what I've come up with on my limited research. I think it's about right, and if not hopefully someone will set the record straight.

I don't find myself qualified to make a guide on how to rip PSX CDs, but there's a very quick and short way described here for CDRWin. The guide is actually used for making backups, but if you wanted to make an Image instead of a copied disc you'd just select "Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors" instead of "Copy to Image and Record" and then pick a place to save the image file instead of selecting a Destination CD-Writer.

After the image is generated, it doesn't hurt to Scan it for corrupt sectors with CDMage.