Need help getting downloaded Dreamcast game to work

[Dual]

Ok, so... my friend directed me to this site because it had a lot of games for download, so I went on a bit of a spree and downloaded several. Right now, all I want to get to work is this "Self Boot" Ikaruga that I got. Since I don't know when I'll see him online again, he said the members of the forum are helpful and friendly and that I should ask them.

I'm going to try and make this as clear as possible so I don't come off like too much of an idiot, even though I am pretty damn retarded when it comes to this stuff.

The particular torrent that I downloaded is called "Ikaruga(Self)(CCD)." Once extracted, it came in three parts. Those parts are...
1. .IMG file (which is enormous and is 796 KB)
2. .SUB file (which is about 32 MB)
3. .CCD file (2KB lol)

Now I've tried to burn it 4 times, I will detail how I tried to burn it each time down below.

1st Try: I started up Alcohol 120%, mounted the CCD file, and then burned it on maximum speed. Didn't work. Reads it as a music disc.

2nd Try: I tried it using CloneCD, didn't change any settings and set it to burn as a Game. Still reads it as a music disc.

3rd Try: After looking around on various forums where people have had similar problems, I see that I should be burning it in "RAW DAO," whatever the fudge that is. I try again burning it like that in Alcohol (still using max speed), it doesn't work, and it still reads it as a music disc. (all 3 of these tries ask me to insert a game disc)

4th Try: I look around a little further, and then I see suggestions that I should burn it in the lowest possible speed (which for my version of Alcohol is 4X). I try that out, and it STILL doesn't work. However this time it doesn't read it as a music disc. I pop it in the dreamcast, then it makes this AWFUL noise every few seconds. After a while it just takes me back to the menu. Notably, it does not ask me to insert a game disc...

I am using TDK (brand name) 52x 700 MB CD-R discs, and the size of what I'm trying to burn on it is larger. I don't know if this is a problem or not, as it appears it's auto-resized or something (Alcohol says that was is being burnt is only 699.3 Megabytes, and neither Alcohol nor Clone CD). I went to look for larger sized discs and absentmindedly purchased DVD-RW's when I don't have a DVD writer.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Help would be greatly appreciated. I really want to play this game because I bought it used for my Gamecube a while ago and it wouldn't load stage 4, so I had to return it.

Should I try new settings? Should I use a different burner? Is there a chance what I downloaded is corrupted? Should I try a boot disc (I don't have one) even though it's allegedly self boot? I don't know. I've never gotten an error message when I burn them, and everything appears to be on the CD when I pop it back in the computer when I look.

ALSO, I have 2 different Dreamcasts, and have tried it on both of them (same results with each). I don't know how to check when they were made (which I hear is important when finding out if I can even do this), but I can look (if it's on the system). They are both NTSC, though.

I figure I'm just doing something stupid, thanks for advice if I can get any, guys.

[The Joker]

try to burn it with alky 120%, RAW DAO settings.

[Dual]

try to burn it with alky 120%, RAW DAO settings.

Already did that on try 3 and 4.

[Mikey_]

Those are the most common settings for DC burning. Although it's a little odd that the game wasn't in .CDI format, since that's the most commonly used file type for DC games. Is this the first game you've tried to burn for the DC? If not, did others work? Also, when was your DC manufactured? I think it's supposed to be before October of 2000 in order for it to run self-boot burned games. I may be wrong on that date, though. Some also recommend you burn at the slowest speed possible.

I'm sure this is a pretty stupid question, but, you did burn them to CD-R's, right? Not CD-RW's?

[Dual]

Those are the most common settings for DC burning. Although it's a little odd that the game wasn't in .CDI format, since that's the most commonly used file type for DC games. Is this the first game you've tried to burn for the DC? If not, did others work? Also, when was your DC manufactured? I think it's supposed to be before October of 2000 in order for it to run self-boot burned games. I may be wrong on that date, though. Some also recommend you burn at the slowest speed possible.

I'm sure this is a pretty stupid question, but, you did burn them to CD-R's, right? Not CD-RW's?

This is the first game I've tried, I'm getting a boot disc ready now to try others out.

Both my DCs are manufactured October 1999, so they should be very safe in that department.

Yeah, I burned them to CD-R's as well. I just tried burning the game again (gasp another 25 cent CD) in Clone CD on slow settings and it had the problem where it read it as a music CD again. I'll post again once I've tried a new game.

[Mikey_]

Okay. Well, keep us up to date with that. Try another small game. I believe I have the same game you first tried. I got it from Sprung, and mine is self boot, so no problems there. I'll upload it for you if you don't eventually get it to load.

[Dual]

I just tried burning a boot disc, which works (or at least the "put CD in" screen comes up properly).

Also, I just burnt Bangai-O Echelon (a game) which is self boot, and it works too. I think that copy of Ikaruga I had was just a dud or something.

[Mikey_]

Okey doke. I'll shoot you a PM later tonight letting you know if I have it. If so, I'll upload it for you. If not, then I suggest (if you really want the game) to send Sprung a private message requesting the game. He's EP's resident DC expert, so I'm sure he'd be happy to do it.

[The Joker]

Was the Ikaruga RAR 17Mb?

[Cookie Monster]

I had problems too when Ikaruga was first released, it came in a cdi file and Discjuggler won't burn it correctly so I have to use the cdi2nero utility and burning it with Nero worked.
Perhaps you should try to re-rip the game to the nrg format and burn it with Nero 5.x. You can mount the ccd file in Daemon Tools to make the new rip.

[Dual]

Was the Ikaruga RAR 17Mb?

Nope, it was split into two parts that came in one bigger RAR.

I had problems too when Ikaruga was first released, it came in a cdi file and Discjuggler won't burn it correctly so I have to use the cdi2nero utility and burning it with Nero worked.
Perhaps you should try to re-rip the game to the nrg format and burn it with Nero 5.x. You can mount the ccd file in Daemon Tools to make the new rip.

Rip it in a different format and burn it with Nero? I don't have Nero or Daemon tools nor do I know how to rip it, I'm a noob



Also, I just tried getting Last Hope to work and it's not working either. It doesn't read as a music disc like my failed Ikarugas did, instead it doesn't read as anything. I'm thinking maybe my boot disc doesn't work properly with it? I'm using Utopia v.1.1 and am going to try v.1.3. I'd try v.1.5 but when I tried to burn it with Alcohol my copy of Alcohol glitched and it burned to like 5000% before I CTRL+ALT+DLT'd it (needless to say it didn't work in the dreamcast).

[The Joker]

Mount the Last Hope and IKaruga (1 at a time) with alky, and rerip them as MSF/MDS images then burn them with alky.

[Dual]

Mount the Last Hope and IKaruga (1 at a time) with alky, and rerip them as MSF/MDS images then burn them with alky.

Last Hope is already MSF/MDS and doesn't work. I just tried it with Utopia burner v. 1.3 and it didn't work, going to try and get 1.5 to work again. Edit: 1.5 didn't work again, screw it.

[The Joker]

Weird, it seems everyone but me, Sprung and a few select others can get Dc games to burn properly, maybe your burner isn't capable of some alky burning types.

[Dual]

Who knows? I got a friend downloading Last Hope and he's going to see if he can get it to work (same friend who directed me here) and then tell me the settings he uses.