Burning PS1 Backups. About to tear my hair out

[DenverNugs]

Today I came into possession of a PSone with an MM3 modchip installed. I cannot for the life of me get ANY game to work correctly either testing it in Epsxe or on the modded PS1 itself. I've tried Maxell, Sony, and Verbatim CD-R discs and cannot get a single game to boot up. I've tried every guide google has to offer and every program suggested (Imgburn, Alcohol, Discjuggler, CDWIN, Nero, etc)

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the burner. The lowest speed that it will support is 16x. I understand it's better to burn these games at a lower speed, but if that was the problem wouldn't the game at least boot up? From what I've read usually burning at a higher speed will simply cause FMV scenes to be choppy and audio not playing correctly. No disc I've ever burned has worked even when loading from my drive in Epsxe. I've tried burning from cue and bin with no luck and converting them to an iso and burning won't work either. I've tried multiple games with multiple rips, the rips themselves play fine in Epsxe loading from the hard drive, but no dice when loading from CD.

What about my Burner (ASUS GH95N) is causing this? Drivers are fully updated. After a burn I can see all the files burned correctly on the disc, the damn things just refuse to play in anything. Assuming my drive is the problem, what exactly am I doing wrong in the process?

Does anyone own an external burner that they KNOW burns PS1 games without any issues whatsoever? I've wasted about 4 hours and about 22 discs on this and it's driving me crazy.

[Jazzmarazz]

Ok, stop right there. Don't burn another disc.
you said "either testing it in Epsxe or on the modded PS1 itself" so I can imagine that there is a problem with the file. Are you absolutely positive you have cue and bin files? because if you a *.bin.ecm then that is not the same. Are you familiar with UNECM? ECM is a compression method used specifically for PS1 games. UNECM will extract the bin. Also something to note is that x16 is the slowest a CD may be burned, so forget that as the issue.

Can we see the files you are trying to burn? A simple folder shot will do. Make sure we can see the file extensions.

[DenverNugs]

Definitely BIN and CUE files. Most of my testing I've done with disc one of FFIX. I've tried other rips as well with no luck. I also tried converting the BIN and CUE to ISO and did a direct burn of that with no luck as well.

http://i.imgur.com/fZvPSeo.png

EDIT: and yes I did select the CUE in Imgburn, but that doesn't matter since it auto selects it when you choose the BIN anyway.

Double EDIT: I do own IX and tried to just do a direct copy of my authentic one and it still won't play in epsxe. -.- and the files DO play in epsxe when I just load the bin or cue file from the hard drive, it just doesn't play from the CD I burned the files onto, which is what makes me think it's my burner.

Also, I don't know if it's relevant, but I get this message with any burned game on the ps1. http://www.retroage.net/images/stori...ormat_disc.jpg

and if I load the CD in Epsxe it's just a black screen.

[Zorlon]

What other settings have been changed in IMGBurn?

If you do another burn just make a copy of the log file, you can also set verify after burn option on (it is an option that shows after you hit the big button that starts the burn)

[toxic]

Do you have any other computer nearby so you could try burning the cd there? Also on the slowest speed possible

You can try another game, like a smaller one (so you dont have to wait so long) and which doesnt have modchip detection (i know MM3 is stealth) eg. Crash Bandicoot 1-3

That will require you to unecm but always try it in epsxe. There is a certain problem with the image when it doesnt work in epsxe.

Also are you positive that the PSOne laser is reading correctly(just a precaution)?

Sent from the Intergalactic Space Arcade using aliens.

[DenverNugs]

Sorry for the late response. I appreciate all of your help. I made a breakthrough today. Turns out all of the brands I purchased in stores (Maxell, Sony, Verbatim) ALL CMC Magnetics! I've read this is the worst you can possibly get. My first lesson in CD-R media. Don't buy them in office supply and electronics stores. They all seem to come from the same place.

I'm not sure if it was the discs that made the big difference, but I was able to burn Crash Bandicoot flawlessly after a couple bad discs on the burner I was using before. First two burns booted up FINALLY but seemed to take a long time to load. I burned the same files in the same way on my girlfriends laptop and now it is working P E R F E C T! It even seems to load faster than my real crash disc! Hopefully the trend continues with all the new images I try.

For anyone who finds this post on google looking for help like I was before, here is what I recommend.

-Buy Taiyo Yuden CD-R discs. Don't buy anything at the store. I wasted about $40 on discs before I learned this.

-If you have good media and your discs still aren't booting, it's either your BIN/CUE rip or your burner. Take an official sony game and do a direct copy on a quality CD-R. If it still won't boot or it skips, it's your burner.

Thanks again everyone.

[deadlegion]

Yep CMC are trash and are often disguised under brand names you would assume to be ok. Verbatim is the one people usually fall for, thinking they're all good.

[DenverNugs]

Yep CMC are trash and are often disguised under brand names you would assume to be ok. Verbatim is the one people usually fall for, thinking they're all good.

I definitely fell for it. Seems like the Datalifeplus ones are supposed to be the quality ones. It's a shame there's so much misinformation with blank media. But I suppose most of it isn't much of an issue unless you're using them for things like this. Lol.

Burned Einhänder, Ehrgiez, Ghost In a Shell, and Final Fantasy Tactics with no issue as well! Only one I had a problem with was Strider 2. It seemed to be an edited image because it had a user made boot screen with options for cheats. After loading the game it gives me this



I was pretty sure the MM3 is a stealth chip. Is this normal with a modchip on anti-mod games like this?

[deadlegion]

I guess that must be a PAL version, SLES-02867 or SLES-12867.
Try the NTSC-U version.

[DenverNugs]

I guess that must be a PAL version, SLES-02867 or SLES-12867.
Try the NTSC-U version.

That's the odd thing, it actually had a selection for NTSC and PAL on the user created boot screen after the black Playstation logo. NTSC gave me that message and PAL gave me the same message without color. I was also under the impression that the MM3 made the console region free.

[deadlegion]

Yeah but the PAL versions are the ones with anti-mod afaik.
If it doesn't work it doesn't work, so get something that does work.

I can't even remember what chips my consoles have now but I'm pretty sure they're some form of stealth.

[DenverNugs]

Yeah I tried a couple of other rips from different websites and they all seem to be the same rip. All are listed as NTSC, too. No big deal. It's one game

[Warrior]

Yo Nugs, give me a bit and il upload Strider set Redump AND the PPF patches to remove the protection on them.

[DenverNugs]

Yo Nugs, give me a bit and il upload Strider set Redump AND the PPF patches to remove the protection on them.

That would be awesome! I played it at a friends house a long time ago and saw a youtube video showing gameplay the other day and really wanted to try it again. I appreciate that a lot!

[toxic]

Do you know how PPF patching works?
Anyway, here's 2 patches, for the both Striders.

*Note* These patches are for PAL version of these both games* They do have a PAL/NTSC selector so you should be fine!*

So, you extract both of these zips to separate directories. One zip contains ppf-o-matic 3. You will use that program to patch games. The other zip contains Strider 1 & 2 patches. The files that really are the patches and you need are the .ppf files.

So, when you have the unmodified image of Strider (1,2 or both) you open ppf-o-matic 3 (AKA pdx-pom3) then it's pretty simple. In the top blank field you have to select your image (select .bin/.img you can't do that with .cue and .ccd files), and in the lower field you select your .ppf file.

You hit Apply with the arrow icon, and then it should say something like : " Patching successfully completed, burn image to CD now!"

Try the image in an emulator (try it with pSX because ePSXe skips the intro sometimes) or just burn the disc and test it on the real thing.

Happy patching!