how to configure ISO Producer?

[ackmondual]

I've used ISO Producer before I had to reinstall winXP a year ago. It seemed pretty idiot proof then. The games ran from ISO images worked fine, but now i've had one problem after another.

First problem i solved on my own. It seems like leaving the first item left ISO Producer unusable. Everytime i try to start IP up afterwards, i get the winXP error message saying "IP is creating problems...." send error report or no. I've managed to fix this problem on my own by deleting the cdr.dll file first, opening IP, copying cdr.dll from the zip archive, and then clicking on config plugin to get around that error msg while allowing me to access the plugin settings.

My current problem is the current settings I have are producing ISOs, but when i try to run them using ePSXe, i just get a blank screen. I hit escape to quick and exit back to the desktop.

My current config is included in the snap. ISO Producer is v1.1a. SCPH1001 is being used

I'm using a Dell Dimension 8300
winXP Pro + SP2
P4 3GHz 800 FSB
1.5GB PC3200
128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

============
Plugin: Pete's D3D Driver 1.1.76
Author: Pete Bernert
GFX card: RADEON 9800 SERIES

Resolution/Color:
- 800x600 Fullscreen - [16 Bit]

Textures:
- R5G5B5A1
- Filtering: 0
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limit: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: 60.0

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 1
- Framebuffer texture: 0
- Framebuffer access: 0
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: off
- Advanced blending: none

Misc:
- Scanlines: off [0]
- Unfiltered FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Full vram: off
- Game fixes: off [00000000]
===============
ePSXe SPU core 1.5.2.

first 3 boxes checked
===============
ePSXe CDR WNT/W2K core 1.5.2.

first CDROM selected
no boxes checked

[hushypushy]

hmm, i just downloaded ISOproducer and it kept crashing on me when i tried to make an ISO..ill have to fiddle around with this more when it isnt 2 AM

have you tried other ISO making software, i.e. ISObuster or Alcohol120%?

by the way your settings are way too low for a radeon 9800, you can use Pete's OGL2 GPU plugin with teh nice preset and it should run buttery smooth.

[ackmondual]

I would highly prefer ISO Producer, as it's supposed to be easy and simple to use (guess not after all ), but it is also the only one of the 3 that's freeware. I'll try some other settings later on.

BTW thanks for the FYI on the plugin. Mmmm... buttery.

[hushypushy]

hmm, i get the same thing. after finally making an ISO without it crashing, the ISO wouldnt work, in ePSXe or windows...quite strange. i know the CD works for sure because i played it off the CD for a bit to see if it worked.

[ackmondual]

hmmm, I'm baffled. Did ePSXe change in some drastic way since v1.52 to v1.6, or was it ISO Producer since over 15 months ago? I remember just creating an ISO with ISO Producer, then running that ISO via ePSXe without a problem. Now it's like somehow, there's actually new copy protections in place since last i tried. What new events/triggers could've happened with either or both apps that could be causing so much problems with ISOs now?

[hushypushy]

i have no idea, i just tried ISOproducer for the first time yesterday

and it's not ePSXe's fault, the ISOs that came out were crap, which has nothing to do with ePSXe.

[ackmondual]

so much for that. I was gonna try another PS1 emu (perhaps the one with 9 save states ), but i figured it had to be ISO Producer Terrific. Deep down, i had a gut feeling back then I should've made a copy of all this stuff even tho it was mostly available on the web. EmuXhaven.net is saying a CDRmooby27 plugin works with ISOs, but if ISO Producer is that bad, then that won't matter either. At least i can still play off CD for the meantime.

[hushypushy]

well im not sure if you're comprehending the fact that i couldn't make a working ISO with it. when i mounted it and loaded it, windows said it was corrupt. it's no fault of my CD drive or ePSXe or anything since i've made ISOs before. it's an ISO producer problem, and i have no idea what it is.

have you tried it in ASPI mode? i tried installing forceaspi and it didnt work, maybe i did it wrong i should try that (and maybe you should too)

[ackmondual]

[sarcasm]all hail the ISO Master!!!![/sarcasm]

Now that that's out of my system, I can't get ASPI since winXP doesn't have it (but u alr knew that). For what it's worth, this seems to be a good guide to follow.
http://radified.com/ASPI/forceaspi.htm
I'll have to try it myself later. Dang new job. 2.5x the salary but 5x the work. Not fun for emulatorers

[hushypushy]

for some reason i dont think that you understand anything i say

i'll try to draw it out simpler so as not to offend.

i've made ISOs before, so i know my computer works as far as making ISOs. i tried a lot of stuff but i couldnt make ISOproducer make a working ISO. when i mounted it, it didnt work. therefore, it's the fault of ISOproducer, not of my computer's.

and didnt i already mention Forceaspi? you can get an ASPI layer on windows XP if you install forceaspi, i guess i fecked it up and it didnt install right (or maybe it was on my last install..i reformat so much it's anyone's guess to when i install stuff).

so, when you have a chance, you can try Forceaspi. i've heard that 1.6 is better than 1.7 though, so you might want to try that.

and good luck at work.

[ackmondual]

First off, with 11k+ posts, I figured you would have to know a thing or 2 about ISOs. 2nd, the guide was moreso for u, altho yeah, I was thinking all too much last night as surely you would have heard of that guide given your knowledge of ISOs. 3rd It's one thing to hide behind femail avatars, and I'm not one to complain about sigs as it's easy to ignore even longer ones or ads, but to have female pics in your ad is just simply beggin' every1 to read your sig first

MOST IMPORTANTLY, i did get it to work. Eureka! As usual, sheer luck was on my side.

These are the new settings I've used

Interface still win2k/XP, but tried the scsi mode instead
It seems to like my E drive, even tho last time I specifically marked the D drive and the disc was in D and not E.
Read mode, was auto-detected. Pop in the disc and let it do its job

I'm using a HL-DT-ST GDR 8126B 16x DVD ROM/40x CD ROM for my D, DVD ROM drive
My E, DVD burner drive is a TEAC DV-W58E DVD+R/+RW 12x8x4 CD R/RW 40/32/16 which may explain why ISO Producer likes that more.

Upon double clicking the ISO, i had to wait up to 10 seconds for it to load, altho slower PCs may have to wait up to 2 minutes.

See if that works. Quite curious to see if it does for other PCs as well.

[hushypushy]

yeah, i tried that before. mine crashed instantly under SCSI mode. took a little longer to crash under RAW mode

i just spent a little while testing out a lot of different options in both of my drives, and it still always crashes. it crashes at different parts every time so i'm fairly sure it's not a disc reading problem. i really don't understand.

well at least i have Alcohol 120%

It's one thing to hide behind femail avatars

how do i "hide" behind a female avatar? everyone knows who i am, well except those that have fallen prey to the plan but still.

but to have female pics in your ad is just simply beggin' every1 to read your sig first

i put it up, you kind of have to look at it since im ubiqitous on these boards, but still...im not asking for attention. if you like it, leave it alone, if not there will probably be another fiasco like 2003....im walking a thin line as it is

[ackmondual]

Originally Posted by hushypushy

yeah, i tried that before. mine crashed instantly under SCSI mode. took a little longer to crash under RAW mode

i just spent a little while testing out a lot of different options in both of my drives, and it still always crashes. it crashes at different parts every time so i'm fairly sure it's not a disc reading problem. i really don't understand.

well at least i have Alcohol 120%

well, to each his own Yet again, ISO Producer is supposed to be practically idiot proof. I've seen multiple license packs of ISO Producer being sold online. I guess they wanna make $$ too and are ignoring their freeware version? At least I finally found something that worked.


[quote]how do i "hide" behind a female avatar? everyone knows who i am, well except those that have fallen prey to the plan but still.

Meh, here I'm just assuming that ppl with female avatars are really guys like 97% of the ppl out there. It just feels strange to talk to a lady who's really a man

i put it up, you kind of have to look at it since im ubiqitous on these boards, but still...im not asking for attention. if you like it, leave it alone, if not there will probably be another fiasco like 2003....im walking a thin line as it is

2 chicks getting it on? Heh, not likely.

[hushypushy]

guess what you're talking to a man who is really a man

[ackmondual]

D'oh. I guess it was wishful thinking to hope for the very best. I'm playing Megaman X4 and the ISO freezes after selecting X or Zero, but before the Sky Lagoon (first level, or level #0 of the game) fully loads up. Using the CD-ROM gets around this just fine. This freeze up from the ISO also occurs at another point in the game as well, demoting the ISO from full version to "crutch", as it seems, some parts of the game will require me to swap the CD back in.

Eager to try out other things, I've done just that with Alcohol 120%. Does this look normal to any of you who've used this program? Specifically the massive amount of disc read errors. I hear that some PS CDs may purposely contain blank sectors to try to confuse CD-burners. Could that be what this is about?


################################################## #####################

####################### Dumping/Recording Progress Log #######################
18:15:37 Processor info: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2992MHz)
18:15:37 Disc dumping: (D HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B(1:0)
18:15:40 Reading Mode: General Mode , Ignore reading errors
18:15:40 Source Info: Session: 1, Track: 1, Length: 620.7 MB / 070:37:12
18:15:40 Writing image file: C:\Emulators\Play Station\game ISOs\Final Fantasy 7 (1 of 3).iso
18:20:41 Disc read error at: 303616
18:20:41 Disc read error at: 303617
18:20:41 Disc read error at: 303618
18:20:41 Disc read error at: 303619
18:20:41 Disc read error at: 303620
.
.
.
18:20:50 Disc read error at: 305833
18:20:50 Disc read error at: 305834
18:20:50 Disc read error at: 305835
18:20:50 Disc read error at: 305836
18:20:50 Disc read error at: 305837
18:20:55 C:\Emulators\Play Station\game ISOs\Final Fantasy 7 (1 of 3).iso: Image file writing completed!
18:20:55 Disc dumping completed!
################################################## ############################

[dbhankins]

First, I don't recommend setting Alcohol to ignore errors. Don't have it ignore errors, but do set the retry count as high as it will go. Alcohol is specifically designed to cope with PS CDs with the kind of copy protection you speak of, so that shouldn't bother it. Also, make sure it reads the subchannel data in case you've got a copy-protected PAL version of the game.

Next, how old are your FF7 disks? Are they scratched up?

With CDs, label-side scratches are the worst, as the reflective and data layers are very close to the label. Hold your disk up to a bright light. Do you see light shining through pinholes or scratches? If so, your disk is done for.

Also, even pressed disks can get disk rot, where the reflective layer or data layer oxidizes, ruining the data. The older the disk, the more likely there's been disk rot. Do you see a coffee-ring-like discoloration under the surface of the disk when you look at the underside? Have you ever bent the disk taking it out of its package? Does the disk give high C1/C2 numbers in KProbe2 or Nero CD-DVD speed?

If a disk is warped at all it can fail, as the laser head needs to be a fairly uniform distance from the disk surface while it's spinning. Is the disk warped at all? Do you hear chafing noises that accelerate as it spins up?

Finally, it could be your drive is marginal. Try cleaning the heads, and go looking on cdfreaks.com for diagnostics you can run on your drive.

Just for comparison, I've been running FF7 (NTSC/US) in ePSXe with the original game disk (no ISO), and have gotten as far as the impending collapse of the slum sector without problems.


Dan

[highslime]

i've made one ISO with IsoProducer, and it works. the game is destruction derby raw. i should try to make another one to see if it's a fluke. but the point is, i didn't have any problems, once i figured out how to use the damn thing.