[Tutorial] Burning SegaCD games with Nero

[polobunny]

This guide is there to support Zorlon SegaCD burning guide with an even easier method.

---Intro---
I know that alot of cd burners come with Nero 5.5 or 6.0.
Many of you like it for it's user-friendly interface, i was never a fan of Nero, however I find it does a great job to burn SegaCD games.
Why? Nero convert the wavs for you.

In this tutorial I will use Nero Burning Rom 6.0, you can get a free trial at www.nero.com


---Needed programs---
Sega Cue Maker
Nero 5.5 or 6.0
SCDconv


---Beginning---
So let's start!
First, install Sega Cue Maker and Nero if it's not already done.

Download a game from the net, in this tutorial i will use Sonic CD (U).
Extract it if it's compressed, it should come in many mp3's and 1 iso.
I highly suggest you extract the game to C:\ SegaCD or such directory without more than 8 characters for the name, as it is needed later by a SCDconv.
Depending on the game, it may have less/more mp3's and 1 or 2 iso files.
That won't change anything however to the method used.


---Country patching---
There something however with SegaCD games. The later games had ragion protections, so you cannot play an european (PAL) game on a american (NTSC) console or vice versa. There's however a way to fix this, with a small utility called SCDconv.
What it does is patch the boot sector of the iso file to change it's region. If you're playing your games on an emulator, skip this part. If the game you're going to burn is the same region as your console, skip this part. Else, read this.

Tip*
To verify the iso country, i suggest you play it in Gens and check the bios.
On the left is an american bios, on the right is an european bios.



Now that you know which country is your iso, you'll need to patch it. Extract SCDconv into your game directory. Also extract SCDbatch.
Now rename the ISO file to iso.iso, but BE SURE TO COPY-PASTE THE NAME OF THE ISO SOMEWHERE ELSE BEFORE DOING SO, you'll need it later.

Run convert.bat, it will display various informations about your SegaCD iso including the internal name, the company ID and the game ID. It will prompt you for an answer.
If you want to convert your iso to European (PAL) press E
If you want to convert your iso to American (NTSC) press A
If you want to convert your iso to Japanese (NTSC) press J
Then press Y (yes) to confirm. If everything worked fine, SCDconv will show a green message.

If it didn't prompt you for a letter, than there is an error. Be sure the iso file is not in read-only mode (Right-click iso->Properties->Untick read-only).

Rename the iso to what it was before and test it in Gens to see if the conversion worked. Refer to the first test.

You can now continue.

Note:- Region Converting is not 100% proof
The reason for this lies in the special design of the Sega CD games' boot blocks. Unfortunately, Sega decided to mix security code and actual game code in the first few sectors, which makes it very difficult (in most cases) to relocate the game code in order to gain space for the lengthy American and European security codes. If a game doesn't use relocatable code (as it is theoretically a Sega programming standard), the conversion might fail.

---Making cue---
Open Sega Cue Maker, go into the folder where are your Sonic CD files are.

Click "Generate cue" then "Save cue".
IMPORTANT: Save the cue file in the same directory where are the mp3's and iso.


---Burning---
Now open Nero Burning Rom. Cancel the wizard if it pops and go into File->Open (if you are using Nero 5.5 it should be File->Burn cuesheet).
Choose the cue you made earlier using Sega Cue Maker. To verify the cue is working, go into the "Info" tab. There should be a few tracks there.

Let the settings as they are, except for the burning speed, put that to the lower your burner supports.
And well, burn.


---Playing---
The game will work fine in Kega, Gens, and a console.
Have fun.