CD Game Support

[sheath]

14 hours ago, sheath said:

I can confirm this blackscreen issue with Battlemorph,  Blue Lightning and Highlander but they are working on the sort-of recommended Sandisk UltramicroSDHC UHS-I 32GB Card.  Using the method above, adapted to my directory structure of CD-ROM games in the Base directory and then a copy of them with the Cartridge ROMs in their alphanumeric directories, I was only partially successful.  Loading the file to a black screen, and then loading it again from another directory does indeed get a good boot to gameplay.

Something else I can confirm, my much older Sandisk 8GB card I've been using with Everdrives works until it doesn't, but then works again if I defragment the drive with Defraggler.  Mac users I hear have better defragmentation software built in to MacOS than Windows default defragmentation. Windows defragmentation has never been worth the effort or complete in its process.  Defraggler however can make files on the SD card work when they were not previously.  I can also confirm that none of my Adata or "generic" SD cards work at all for CD-ROM games no matter what I have tried.

Finally, I have multiple SD card readers across laptops and a Rosewill adapter for my Office PC, and I have found both of my older readers work fine at transferring the CD-ROM files one-by-one, not a mass cut and paste.  However, after that initial card setup, after formatting it as Fat32, the cards were seen as read only on one, not visible at all on the other laptop, and needing repair which worked on the newest Windows10 laptop.

I have cleaned all of my SD cards with 91% isopropyl alcohol and blown out the connections with compressed air to no effect.  After format they just stopped working, and I wonder if this is contributing to others' not being able to load files consistently. -edit- This part was unclear, but with my older SD card readers I was unable to change the contents of my SD card after initial setup on my desktop, or even view the SD card on my main laptop. After I repaired the SanDisk on a newer W10 laptop and ran defraggler all known working CD games started working again.

 

Saint, I totally appreciate all of the hard work and testing that goes in even just the software support you already have provided.  This is awesome, and I hope my testing can help others get into the CD-ROM support aspect sooner than they might have otherwise. 

 

So I realized my post could be read like I'm still getting a black screen but I can't edit it again. With the SanDisk SD card and after letting defraggler get the drive down to 0% fragmentation, these CD games are now working. For Battlemorph I used the method of having it in the base directory and the A-B folder and booting one then the other after blackscreen.

[Hastor]

Did anyone ever figure out a reliable way to create images from discs? I was attempting to convert Simone which was a small release for a few bucks, in a sleeve, on eBay. I don't have a working Jag CD drive so hoped this would work. They may well have intentionally prevented it as well.

 

I've tried CloneCD - both Game and Data modes

I've also tried AnyToISO which can make bin/cue files. In my experience using this for CD-I stuff, it matches the redump database when I use this. Those are just however standard data CDs with some audio tracks sometimes.

No matter which image I try, I just get the 'opening filename.cue' or whatever, then back to the command prompt - no errors.

 

If anyone has found a reliable way to make images, or has any info on getting this one working, I'd appreciate it.

[WIZZARD77]

Discjuggler 6 on the default settings eventually worked for me

[Hastor]

55 minutes ago, WIZZARD77 said:

Discjuggler 6 on the default settings eventually worked for me

Hmm, 'default' and 'eventually' don't typically go together haha, so I'm wondering what I might have done different. I just installed Discjuggler 6 - well, 6.00.1400 to be precise.
One difference, this is the first one that gave me any response on the tool. Wasn't CDI broken? Was that fixed? I missed it if so.

Anyway, for Simone, I got:

Opening Simone.cdi... valid CD image.

Found 2 sessions, 6 tracks.
Writing track 01, session 00, 7 MB...
Writing track 02, session 00, 2 MB...
Writing track 03, session 01, 1 MB...
  ERROR: Data signature not found
Writing track 04, session 01, 161 KB...
Writing track 05, session 01, 161 KB...
Writing track 06, session 01, 152 KB...

CD ISO has errors, this *WILL NOT WORK*.

Using a Discjuggler 6 CDI. I emailed the author, who told me there's nothing special about it and it should work. They also mentioned they sent an ISO to SainT for testing a while back, but hadn't had any confirmation, and suggested I follow up here on the forums. While this is a cheap-on-purpose game, they (RISC Games) have an upcoming bigger title I'd like to be able to play as well, so I'd like to see their stuff working on the GD if possible. They hadn't been able to get a GD yet to test on themselves.

 

So either I'm using Discjuggler right, and this game needs tweaked in some way to work, which the author seems they'd probably be open to, or I'm not using Discjuggler right.

I did ask if there was any intentional lockout, but they assured me there wasn't, and the fact they sold the game for $6 and provided SainT with a copy tells me they are cool with getting it on the GD (at least for those that bought that disc, I'd let them comment beyond that).

WIZZARD77 - when you say eventually, what happened at first, and what caused things to start working?

Edited June 10, 2021 by Hastor

[+CyranoJ]

56 minutes ago, Hastor said:

Using a Discjuggler 6 CDI. I emailed the author, who told me there's nothing special about it and it should work. They also mentioned they sent an ISO to SainT for testing a while back, but hadn't had any confirmation, and suggested I follow up here on the forums. While this is a cheap-on-purpose game, they (RISC Games) have an upcoming bigger title I'd like to be able to play as well, so I'd like to see their stuff working on the GD if possible. They hadn't been able to get a GD yet to test on themselves.

• It is a standard ULS disc with a different logo.
• It will work just fine as a JCD file (I have not seen a single instance where a ULS disc does not image correctly)
• I don't know what you've done wrong, but you've ripped it badly somehow.

[Hastor]

1 minute ago, CyranoJ said:

• I don't know what you've done wrong, but you've ripped it badly somehow.

Yeah, I'm just surprised no one has a tried and tested method of ripping standard discs so I can be sure I'm doing it right. I'm not new to any of this software at all, but anything I'm trying isn't working. Discjuggler is a fresh install with no changes.

 

I'd appreciate anyone else's step by step method of getting it right, it seems people are doing it but I've not seen anything that 'definitely works if you do it this way'.

 

I'll keep trying, though I'm running out of things to try, and get nothing at all from cue or ccd.

[+Saturn]

Here's an excerpt from a tutorial I wrote years ago, if it helps:

 

For ripping with DiscJuggler, which is (highly) recommended for homebrew games but especially
with the Jaguar CD disks contained in the JSII releases, these settings
worked (for me) 100% of the time on the games (in which DiscJuggler works):
Open DiscJuggler
Click "New"
Highlight "Create disc images"
Click OK
Set "Source"
Set/rename "Destination"
Click "Advanced" tab
Tick "Raw read"
Tick "Ignore read errors"
Click Start

[UHATEIT]

Since I have never been able to get any sort of Discjuggler to work, is there a specific site and version to find it at that works. Could just be my laptop and shitty luck. But I've tried it on 2 laptops and never got any version to work for me. 

Edited June 10, 2021 by UHATEIT

[Hastor]

I tried @Saturn's method above, and those options existed exactly as stated, but the output was exactly the same as I posted before - same error, same place.
Does anyone know a good program for making bin/cue files that have worked? AnyToISO always matched redump on other systems, but redump doesn't have info on this title. It also seems to think it is purely an audio CD. I also only used it on discs with more standard layouts. I used to use cdrwin for bin/cue, but it doesn't seem to support that format anymore.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Hastor

[SainT]

5 hours ago, Hastor said:

Hmm, 'default' and 'eventually' don't typically go together haha, so I'm wondering what I might have done different. I just installed Discjuggler 6 - well, 6.00.1400 to be precise.
One difference, this is the first one that gave me any response on the tool. Wasn't CDI broken? Was that fixed? I missed it if so.

Anyway, for Simone, I got:

Opening Simone.cdi... valid CD image.

Found 2 sessions, 6 tracks.
Writing track 01, session 00, 7 MB...
Writing track 02, session 00, 2 MB...
Writing track 03, session 01, 1 MB...
  ERROR: Data signature not found
Writing track 04, session 01, 161 KB...
Writing track 05, session 01, 161 KB...
Writing track 06, session 01, 152 KB...

CD ISO has errors, this *WILL NOT WORK*.

Using a Discjuggler 6 CDI. I emailed the author, who told me there's nothing special about it and it should work. They also mentioned they sent an ISO to SainT for testing a while back, but hadn't had any confirmation, and suggested I follow up here on the forums. While this is a cheap-on-purpose game, they (RISC Games) have an upcoming bigger title I'd like to be able to play as well, so I'd like to see their stuff working on the GD if possible. They hadn't been able to get a GD yet to test on themselves.

 

So either I'm using Discjuggler right, and this game needs tweaked in some way to work, which the author seems they'd probably be open to, or I'm not using Discjuggler right.

I did ask if there was any intentional lockout, but they assured me there wasn't, and the fact they sold the game for $6 and provided SainT with a copy tells me they are cool with getting it on the GD (at least for those that bought that disc, I'd let them comment beyond that).

WIZZARD77 - when you say eventually, what happened at first, and what caused things to start working?

 

Yep, I need to have a look at that ISO, I have not done yet.

 

With homebrew stuff there is every chance the disc has been mastered without the required header and footer signatures in places. This is incorrect from a standards point of view, but may well actually work OK. Games will have their own marker data in the track for alignment purposes. There is one other title (Robinson's Requiem I believe) which also has this issue on one track. It appears to run OK, but I don't know for sure if it tried to access that particular track whether it will fail.

[doctor_shred]

For some reason DiscJuggler will not recognise my DVD drive. I have Alcohol 120% so I'm holding out for .CCD compatibility in the future.  I have a full collection of retail Jag CD games but no effective way to rip them currently.

 

Keep up the good work Saint.  The Jag GD is beyond awesome.

 

[UHATEIT]

Is the only file format that the cd2jcd program works with a file with a .cdi extension? And is the only program that can create that Discjuggler?

 

I have downloaded Discjuggler more times than I can remember but since the program is old it refuses to worik with my Windows PC, it just keeps coming up "you need to reboot your system" which Ive tried more times than I can count, but it just says the same thing. Since I cannot get Discjuggler to install I cannot use it to try and convert anything to .cdi format. I envy everyone in here that says they have been able to get Discjuggler to install and work since I can't get it to install to save my life. 

 

But if cd2jcd can convert any other format to a .jcd that isnt a .cdi to begin with let me know, or if there is any other program aside from Discjuggler that can convert to .cdi let me know!

[+phoenixdownita]

1 hour ago, UHATEIT said:

Is the only file format that the cd2jcd program works with a file with a .cdi extension? And is the only program that can create that Discjuggler?

 

I have downloaded Discjuggler more times than I can remember but since the program is old it refuses to worik with my Windows PC, it just keeps coming up "you need to reboot your system" which Ive tried more times than I can count, but it just says the same thing. Since I cannot get Discjuggler to install I cannot use it to try and convert anything to .cdi format. I envy everyone in here that says they have been able to get Discjuggler to install and work since I can't get it to install to save my life. 

 

But if cd2jcd can convert any other format to a .jcd that isnt a .cdi to begin with let me know, or if there is any other program aside from Discjuggler that can convert to .cdi let me know!

You actually do not need to install it.

Install 7z in your Windows computer, right click on the DJ setup file and open it with 7z, extract the contents in a directory of your choosing, run the extracted DJ main program from there ... at least that's how I had to do it .... at the time you start DJ you must have a CD/DVD reader/writer connected or it will crash (at least in my "non-installation" it does).
Oh I have been running it on Win10 64bits up to version 20H2 and as far as reading from a USB CD writer (I have no pure reader) it worked just fine and I was able to capture Jag WTR with it. 
I have not tested if it still works on Win10 21H1 as I installed it only yesterday, worth a shot.

[UHATEIT]

1 hour ago, phoenixdownita said:

You actually do not need to install it.

Install 7z in your Windows computer, right click on the DJ setup file and open it with 7z, extract the contents in a directory of your choosing, run the extracted DJ main program from there ... at least that's how I had to do it .... at the time you start DJ you must have a CD/DVD reader/writer connected or it will crash (at least in my "non-installation" it does).
Oh I have been running it on Win10 64bits up to version 20H2 and as far as reading from a USB CD writer (I have no pure reader) it worked just fine and I was able to capture Jag WTR with it. 
I have not tested if it still works on Win10 21H1 as I installed it only yesterday, worth a shot.

Awesome man I'll try that. I downloaded DH V6.0 but it kept doing that error when trying to install the .exe but I'll try to see of it will allow me to use 7Z for opening. 

 

I also have to use a USB cd burner drive. For me my internal cd burner drive stopped working so it won't read anything so I had to get a USB one, so I'll make sure to have it plugged in when trying to start the program, assuming I can install it first. 

 

Would be great if cdwjcd would accept my .iso or .bin files or of some other program could make .cdi aside from just discjuggler 

[UHATEIT]

Alright hoping for some help on this one with Discjuggler. These are my issues:

 

I have 1 laptop that refuses to allow me to install Discjuggler, it is on Windows 10 and only gives me an error "you must reboot your pc" which fails to work so I can't even install Discjuggler to make a .cdi file.

 

My other laptop did install discjuggler however it refuses to create any .cdi because it keeps saying "not available" on my cd drive so the start button is grayed out so it can't create a .cdi at all.

 

Any help on the above would be great!

 

The problem with cd2jcd is that it refuses to convert anything to jcd except for .cdi files. I'm confused why on the initial post that cd2jcd is supposed to allow .ccd and bin/cue but it refuses to do that for me. So it seems the only possible way for me to do anything is to get discjuggler to work so I can convert things to .cdi unless there is a way to fix cd2jcd to allow it to use other formats or a setting for me to change that allows it to accept those other file types mentioned in the first post. 

 

Below is the screen shot of what the 1 laptop shows with the disc drive causing it not to allow me to hit start in discjuggler to create the .cdi

 

[WIZZARD77]

Have you tried making an .iso then mounting in a virtual drive and using Discjuggler to rip the virtual drive?

[UHATEIT]

6 minutes ago, WIZZARD77 said:

Have you tried making an .iso then mounting in a virtual drive and using Discjuggler to rip the virtual drive?

Oh that's a good idea I'll try that! There's no excuse why disjuggler won't work with my cd drive just says not available for some reason, shows it's there bur blocks out the start button to make the cdi. I can rip to iso and put on the hard drive and see if that works. It's frustrating how much work I've tried just to get .cdi made. I don't know why the initial post says it works with bin cue as it won't even do anything if I try that or ccd. Unless there's some way to edit the cd2jcd program itself 

Edited June 18, 2021 by UHATEIT

[The Yar]

On 5/31/2021 at 10:31 PM, wasteddude said:

On the Jaguar GD, I found a way to start up Blue lightning and Battle Morph more reliably after the first time playing.  I would configure my memory card with two folders (CD Games Set1 and CD Games Set2).  Then, I would place the same CD games in both folders and copy one at a time to configure it).  The CD Games Set1 would be my main game folder to always use first.  If Blue Lightning or Battle Morph would boot to a black screen in CD Games Set1, I would go to the CD Game Set2 folder and boot the same game again.  100% of the time, the same game would boot to a black screen in CD Games Set2.  As a final step, I would go back to CD Games Set1 and the game would start up just fine.  I'm guessing that there's some type of residual system memory error somewhere whenever the Jaguar is turned off after playing these games.  This method seem to be working for me every time and hopefully for you as well until a fix is created.  I also found out that Blue lighting would not boot when I used a 32 GB SanDisk Ultra A1 (gray label) SD card.  The 16GB SanDisk Ultra A1 (gray label) version works without any problems.  SainT, thanks for creating an awesome device.

 

 

I have a K serial Jaguar, and this did not work for me. I formatted the card, reinstalled the firmware and followed the steps outlined above to no avail.

 

 

[Pinballs]

Which of the 38GB of visual studio files do I need to download before cd2jcd works? The cmd line crashes when I try to run and says is not a recognized program.

 

Where are the rollup packs for cart roms and jcd files, as my set is incomplete? Arcade Projects do this for every arcade system. It must surely be possible for Jag :-) Please PM me if this can't be posted. Cheers.

 

Edit: I found the files. Conversion to jcd remains the problem. Any reason why the gamedrive won't work with CDIs etc? The converter is a pretty challenging program to use. I know, 1st world problems :-)

 

So to summarise- please could someone share a pack of jcd files (CD) and converted homebrew (cart)?

Edited June 27, 2021 by Pinballs

[Pinballs]

Really grateful for any help with obtaining a jcd file pack. I can't get cd2jcd to work as I don't have the visual studio update files, and don't have room on my little SSD to extract all 38GB of visual studio bloatware to see if it works, sadly ?

[nicolaspersijn]

Everyone having trouble converting should check archive.org

[Pinballs]

Thanks for this- I'm currently downloading these, and see that you uploaded the jcd files on 29th June. Hugely appreciated!

[hypochondriac]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:02 AM, nicolaspersijn said:

Everyone having trouble converting should check archive.org

Got a clue about what to search for? I can't seem to find it. 

[Pinballs]

Search 'jaguar+jcd'. This is the page in question, and huge thanks again to nicolaspersijn for uploading these to archive.org:

 

LINK REMOVED

[Kirkman]

I finally got my GameDrive firmware updated and I'm finally trying some JCDs from the Internet Archive. I have a K-series Jaguar (got it for Christmas in 1993). Here's the serial if that's helpful:

 

 

I've been trying hardest to play Battlemorph. I frequently get a black screen if I hit a button at the Jaguar logo. Sometimes if I just wait, then the Battlemorph title screen will appear by itself and I can play. I seem to be able to get through one mission, but after I select a second mission, the game usually glitches out and crashes.

 

Something similar happened with Primal Rage. It loaded just fine, but when I got to the character select screen, the color palette was completely wrong and eventually the game crashed.

 

Most of the others that I tried didn't load (just a black screen), at least at the first attempt. If I ever get some free time I need to go through them all systematically.