CDDA Music doesn't work in Rage Racer

[Haruspex]

Well CDDA music actually plays correctly if insert my original cd to the drive and play it from there, but the problem is i can't find a way to make it work from an image. I created a bin/cue image and the cue has all the audio tracks and staff but the music simply doesn't play.

I tried loading the bin/cue with two different methods

1) Via the Insert CD Image option from pSX Emulator and i selected the cue file but CDDA music didn't work.

2) Mount the image with Daemon Tools 4.08 (i selected the cue file) and load the mounted image with the Insert CD Drive option in pSX didn't work either.

That option in older versions of Daemon Tools called "Analog Audio" it seems to have been removed from newer versions. I don't know if that option can help getting CDDA to work but just a thought... Regardless i can't use old versions of Daemon Tools due to some compatibility issues with my RAID 0 setup.

So anyone has any idea to get CDDA to work from a backup image?

[Gamesoul Master]

You really need to... *not*... use cue/bin. The lack of subcode data could very well be the cause of the problem (though that's not for sure). Try ripping the disc to mds/mdf or ccd/img/sub, as those are the two formats that pSX supports *and* contains the subcode data that some games need.

[patrickp]

If you do use .bin/.cue, Haruspex, make sure you select the .cue file to start the game, not the actual .bin image file.

If you're playing a game that doesn't include subcode (i.e. it's not protected in any way) the .bin/.cue format should work as well as the .ccd/.img/.sub or .mdf/.mds ones - but it doesn't. Even when I was using ePSXe, I used to find that .img images (ePSXe doesn't read descriptor files or subcode directly) worked better than .bin ones.

It's possible that it's the applications that are used to make these these files - CloneCD and Alcohol - are what make the difference, as they're specifically written for copying protected and problem CDs (like Playstation ones). Most applications that produce the widely used .bin/.cue files simply don't deal properly with a lot of the situations encountered in ripping Playstation CDs.

Incidentally, when using .ccd/.img/.sub or .mdf/.mds formats with pSX, again, start the games by selecting the descriptor files - .ccd or .mds - rather than the images themselves.

[Haruspex]

Thanks for the replies guys, i will try in the ccd/img/sub format and/or mds/mdf. The only problem is that to create these kind of images i need to use commercial programs like Alcohol or CloneCD. Does anyone know a freeware program that can make mdf and/or ccd images?


@patrickp Yes i made sure i choose the cue file and not the .bin image

Edit- You were both right in ccd/img/sub format it works like a charm, thanks again for the help!

[Gamesoul Master]

For future reference, Alcohol 52% is a freeware version of Alcohol 120% that can still create mds/mdf images.

[patrickp]

And AFAIK the freeware version of Alcohol 52% (there's a paid for version, as well) can be used to rip .ccd/.img/.sub images as well as .mdf/.mds ones.

And the bummer is that there are no applications that will run in Linux that will rip to these formats. Ripping is the only reason I still keep a Windows installation running...

Edit: good to see you got your problem fixed, though, Haruspex!

[mma-212]

I have the same problem as Haruspex.
I converted cd image (cue\bin) to (ccd\img\sub),but
CDDA still doesn't work..

when i'm mounting image file (*.cue or *.ccd doesn't matter) to virtual drive, winamp can play
audio tracks,and also in other emulators CDDA works perfectly,but i don't like them! ;-)

Please response!

[patrickp]

You can't fix a faulty image by converting it to another format, mma-212, because if the required information wasn't present in the original image, changing format won't mysteriously generate it.

You need to re-rip your image from the original CD.

[mma-212]

Thanx a lot,patrickp!
Unfortunatelly I haven't original CD.
By the way,the game is Twisted Metal.
I have Original CD Twisted Metal 2,
the same problem with CDDA working exists
with this game.Even when i play from Original CD!
So i don't think that the problem is in image.
After several attempts i found the method
to CDDA get work!
By choosing CD-ROM plugin "Mooby2 cd disk image driver 2.8"
In configuration I choosed "Repeat one CDDA track"
and also adjusted CDDA volume to 0.65 (0.00 by default).
I opened image by " File -> Run CDROM ",not by " Run ISO "
Bingo! Music can be heard.
The only minus is that i can't adjust CDDA volume in game.

I forgot one important,in my opinion, thing!
I mounted .bin image file,not .cue!
Good Luck to everyone!! :-)

[Gamesoul Master]

Well, there was your major problem... you were using ePSXe instead of pSX! XD

[mma-212]

Dear Gamesoul Master!
As i alredy said about emulators (exept the one which i used)
in my earler quotes
i don't like them! ;-)
I didn't named exact emulator and this is my mistake,not problem!
And thanx for response!

[patrickp]

Exactly, GM.

@mma-212: and, of course, since this is the pSX section of the forum, not the ePSXe one, we assumed you were talking about pSX.

Some people have to do things the hard way...

[mma-212]

I didn't find the topic related to CDDA working problem in other sections,so...
Actually I didn't notice "> PSX Emulation > pSX Discussion " therefore
i'm making
sincere public apology!

We doesn't search easy ways.... ;-)

[Gamesoul Master]

It's not a problem at all. The important thing is that your problem is solved...

[patrickp]

As GM says - but if you don't like emulators, is it because they're so much hassle? You really should try pSX, then!

Requirements are pretty simple: in fact, it'll usually run successfully on lower end machines than ePSXe will. You need a working 3D videocard (it's not nearly as dependent on a high end videocard as ePSXe) and a working soundcard.

In Windows, you need to make sure your DirectX 9.0c installation is reasonably up-to-date, and in Linux, in most major Debian distributions anyway, you need to make sure gtkglext (libgtkglext1 in Ubuntu - in the repositories) is installed. There's very little configuration involved to get it running successfully: a lot of people just set a BIOS and memory cards, configure their controller and that's it. If you have sound latency issues, you may need to increase the values for the Latency sliders on the Sound tab.

There's also an excellent frontend available for it: Ultima's pSX Frontend. This is far more comprehensive than most emulator frontends and allows you to preset almost every setting possible on a per game basis.

[Samor]

btw... afaik Rage Racer isn't protected by subcode.

[patrickp]

I'm not sure what the point of your post is, Samor, but if you're saying that a subcode-inclusive format is therefore not necessary, I've already addressed that issue:

Originally Posted by patrickp

If you're playing a game that doesn't include subcode (i.e. it's not protected in any way) the .bin/.cue format should work as well as the .ccd/.img/.sub or .mdf/.mds ones - but it doesn't. Even when I was using ePSXe, I used to find that .img images (ePSXe doesn't read descriptor files or subcode directly) worked better than .bin ones.

I'm not sure just why this is: whether it's because the applications that you have to use to rip to those formats are designed for ripping games CDs, which are often non-standard in various ways, and hence may not rip perfectly with other applications, or whether it's because those formats have other inherent qualities that make them work better - ?

[Samor]

I'm sorry, I just wanted to point out that to my knowledge Rage Racer doesn't have any additional protections (I see you already pointed it out, but missed that), but perhaps there's indeed some issues with cue/bins.... But, to my knowledge cd music should work fine in most emulators when using a cue/bin in daemon tools.

[patrickp]

Well, a lot of people who use emulators probably don't want to have to mount an image every time they play a game, Samor, when it's so much easier to play it directly. You might as well play from CDs so as to get the perfect CD structure!

And it's even easier when you're using Ultima's Frontend. A couple of clicks and you're playing - no inserting CDs, no mounting images...

I agree, if there are no subcode issues, a .bin/.cue should work as well as a .ccd/.img/.sub or .mdf/.mds. But it doesn't - go figure...

Thinking back, the difference was actually more noticeable in ePSXe, because it would always have points in a game where it would slow down etc, and this was always a little better with an .img image than with a .bin.