Problems Making & Burning ISOs for the PSX Namco Museums

[SpinNuYasha]

I'm pretty much a n00b at doing this kind of thing, and I'm not sure how to word all of this correctly, so I'll give as much information as I could.

I've been making ISOs & backup discs for all five Namco Museum volumes for the PSX, both for backup & sharing* purposes. The Greatest Hits volumes, one ("N"/SLUS-00215) & three ("M"/SLUS-00398), transitioned without any spotted problem, other than the usual emulator** incompatibility of missing background music stored as CD-Audio (the first three volumes had some of the background music stored as CDA; the last two had the music stored as XA). However, for the rarer volumes, I have been encountering some major problems.

When I play the backup discs on a PlayStation�, volumes two & five ("A"/SLUS-00216 & "O"/SLUS-00417, respectively) have in-game sound problems. Each arcade game loses its music, but the background music from the museum hallways play fine. I've also encountered unusually longer loading times, especially when I'm entering or exiting a game. Whenever I play the ISO or the backup disc on my emulator**, I sometimes encounter these two crashing errors whenever I enter a game room:
"COP0 OpCode 1a UNK"
"Opcode 3f UNK (PC001509b0) (77357, 130)"
Google searches for these two messages end up with no results.

I've used 3 CD-Rs to make a backup disc for volume four ("C"/SLUS-00416). Neither of them worked on my PlayStation� nor my emulator**. However, the ISO works with the exception of its only incompatibility--Gempei Toumaden, known in the Museum as The Genji & the Heike Clans, doesn't work (this is a problem that has also been encountered when I used the original disc).

Please note that I took the time to buy these games in Excellent if not Like New condition. All of the original discs of these games worked out fine when I tested them before ripping & burning. Also note from the catalog numbers I gave out, I'm using NTSC-U/C products. I made ISOs using Alcohol 120% v. 1.9.2.1705, with the exception of Volume One, which I used Nero's Burning ROM v. 5.something. However, I've used both programs to make ISOs for Volume Four. I only used Alcohol 120% to burn the ISOs onto discs.

*I am aware that torrents with Pac-Man games are banned from the tracker; I'm currently searching for a remote one so I could share them.
�I use a regular PSX without a modchip. To play backups & imports, I use the swap method with a Pro Action Replay & a spring.
**I use ePSXe with the CD-ROM plugin ePSXe CDR WNT/W2K core 1.5.2.

Any help regarding these problems will greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

[Zorlon]

Okies try CDRWin and create an ISO with that, after scan the iso with CDMage to make sure it copied fine, there is no protection on any of the Namco Museums so it's not that

Also ePSXe seems to handle errors in ISO's far beter than a PSX does after you burn the same iso

Use CDRWin (Free version will do) because it's compatable with just about everything including CDMage and patches for PSX games, though patches are not needed for the game you are having problems with

Burning back.. Nero will do that fine on default settings

Note# it's also best to use the slowest available speeds for both creating ISO's and burning them, also CDRWin is also fine for burning but going back to use Nero is just something I have a feeling you are more used to using

P.S. is that a Pro Action Replay copy (Hardware back port thing, usually blocky and gray, older datel AR's are also like that but don't let you swop) or is it the Datel Pro Action Replay 3.XX with hacked bios (Also Hardware back port thing, black with rounded edges), I'm after the hacked bios, I lost that myself a few years back and the place I got it from is no longer there :/, fortionatly I have a chipped PSone but there were some great advantages to using the PAR3.XX for creating my own AR codes and backing up memcards to PC, well I can still back memcards up but the code generator isn't for my backups.

[SpinNuYasha]

Note# it's also best to use the slowest available speeds for both creating ISO's and burning them, also CDRWin is also fine for burning but going back to use Nero is just something I have a feeling you are more used to using

I burn at 1x speed, but the ISOs are created much faster even when I select the 1x option.

P.S. is that a Pro Action Replay copy (Hardware back port thing, usually blocky and gray, older datel AR's are also like that but don't let you swop) or is it the Datel Pro Action Replay 3.XX with hacked bios (Also Hardware back port thing, black with rounded edges), I'm after the hacked bios, I lost that myself a few years back and the place I got it from is no longer there :/, fortionatly I have a chipped PSone but there were some great advantages to using the PAR3.XX for creating my own AR codes and backing up memcards to PC, well I can still back memcards up but the code generator isn't for my backups.

All I know about my PAR is that it's blocky & gray. I'll try to check the version later.

[fireblaster_lyz]

"COP0 OpCode 1a UNK"
"Opcode 3f UNK (PC001509b0) (77357, 130)"

Please note that I took the time to buy these games in Excellent if not Like New condition. All of the original discs of these games worked out fine when I tested them before ripping & burning.

Opcode errors are generated on a bad read of a disc. It means the original you had is damaged.

[Zorlon]

SpinNuYasha may be lucky if CDmage can repair the damage.

:/ yeah I guess I should have mentioned that the image did infact have errors in it and er why I knew, so yeah thanks for that fireblaster_lyz good call.

[SpinNuYasha]

Opcode errors are generated on a bad read of a disc. It means the original you had is damaged.

Even though the error never occurred on the original--only when I tested the images?
I'm not exactly sure, but the bad reads could have also explained why the some of the arcade games' music sounded worse than it did on the original when I played it on the regular PlayStation.


Also, an update: I took Zorlon's advice & ripped-and-burned Volume Four using CDRWin. The backup disc was able to load when I used the emulator, & I'm soon going to find out if it works on the PSX.

Oh, and I just checked this on my PAR: I don't know if this info helps you in any way regarding my PAR version, Zorlon, but the menu reads "Action Replay CD VER 1.5 (E.M.S.)."

[fireblaster_lyz]

ePSXe is pretty sensitive to CD read errors.
It does not performs like a PSX.

[SpinNuYasha]

Heh. I guess this means I should have tested the originals on ePSXe as well as the regular PSX.

Anyways, the fourth backup for Namco Museum Volume 4 (burned with a CDRWin-made ISO) didn't entirely work on the PSX. It would load up only once, and even then, the game froze when it tried to load up one of the arcade games.

Even though an error scan from CDMage came up with zero errors & the game on a CD-R loaded up on ePSXe just fine, it still doesn't work at all on the PSX.

[Zorlon]

here is a daft lil trick for you to try before I sugest anything more drastic.

Try having your PSX sat on it's side or even beter upside down on a stack of books before you ask the PSX to boot the game after the swop. (Sometimes the PSX can read CD's beter that way)

oh yeah and I know the E.M.S cards they are indeed the Action Replay coppies I was refering too, I still have one of those kicking around

I also know it has a file brouser built into it so you could check it reads ya CD-R in that aswell

[fireblaster_lyz]

No...I don't think so as it is a duplicate of the CD.
The CD is really scratched...perheps, another copy?

[Cyberxion]

I've come across cases in which certain backups exhibited errors when loaded with the swap method. For instance, my backup of DDR 2nd Mix had problems where the music would drop out during the game, and the arrows would be terribly off synch to the point that the game was unplayable. However, when popped into my chipped PS2, the game runs perfectly. Perhaps this is what's happening in your case. Just a thought.

[Zorlon]

I use a PSone chipped so maybe it's OK for me because of that or maybe the PSX laser could do with a lil fine tune to help it read CD-R's as CD-R's are not half as good quality as originals

[SpinNuYasha]

I haven't used the PSX for so long, I had forgotten that I should set it upside down or on either of its sides so it'd run better. Unfortunately, that remedy didn't work.

I'm going to have to go with Cyberxion's theory that the backup would only truly be effective with a chipped unit.

UPDATE: I made an ISO of Volume Two using CDRWin. After I scanned it with CDMage with zero errors, I burned it. The backup disc had fewer in-game music errors, but there errors were still apparent, plus the in-museum music was missing whenever I entered a game room. I have yet to test this on ePSXe for any OpCode errors.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I tested the burned copy on ePSXe. No OpCode errors .

[Zorlon]

OK if your PSX needs to be on it's side or upsidedown because of reading problemms you can ajust your PSX laser, it's actually easier than it sounds

I'm not going to go through that just now though as I'm just off to bed but if you are interested in hearing more post in reply to this

[SpinNuYasha]

OK if your PSX needs to be on it's side or upsidedown because of reading problemms you can ajust your PSX laser, it's actually easier than it sounds

I'm not going to go through that just now though as I'm just off to bed but if you are interested in hearing more post in reply to this

This sounds interesting. Tell me more.

Also, I made a CDRWin ISO of Volume Five earlier. I burned it, although I forgot to set the speed to 1x, so it ended up burning at 8x. I just hope the backup isn't affected too much. Fortunately enough, though, there were no OpCode errors when I left it running on the emulator (I didn't have time to actually play it myself; I just let it run while it went through the demonstration mode for each of the arcade games).