Dumping tools and games

[TheDrifter363]

Hello everyone,

I'm a recent member and I just joined after a long time of using this website to verify my dumps of games that I own. I appreciate what this site is doing and everyone who has participated has my thanks.

Now then, I was reading the wiki trying to find out how does everyone here dump their games. A lot of the tools are windows exclusive and/or use proprietary extensions files. Right now I'm using windows for my video games, but I prefer to use linux for my main operating system usage. Usually I've dumped my games with bin/cue and/or iso but I've realized that bin/cue is better since the bin is a raw format. Now I'm learning about all these weird copy protection mechanisms on pc games and I'm trying to find my way around this.

On windows, I've been using imgburn, since infrarecorder doesn't support reading to bin files, only iso. So with imgburn I can make bin/cue files but I wanted to ask everyone if this is ok. I've already verified the bin files with the games in your database and they've checked out but is the cue good enough. I have no idea the difference between cue, mds, and ccd; but, don't they store the same information just in different ways? If so, sticking with cue shouldn't hurt. I don't want to have to use mds and ccd since those are exclusive to alcohol 52/120 and clonecd respectively and not only are those proprietary software but they also have trials that I really don't want to have to deal with. Is cue good enough for detailing all the intricacies of the disc or is there some more information? Also is bin/cue or some other raw format the ideal solution. Basically avoid iso if possible. I know with my gamecube and wii games I cannot avoid iso as I use cleanrip which automatically makes the games into iso.

Any help is greatly appreciated. By the way I have two games that I would love to add to the pc section which are:

the chronicles of riddick: escape from butcher bay
cryostasis: sleep of reason

If I can figure out the proper technique then I'll be sure to add these.

[pablogm123]

As long as the program and platform you run use the standard 0xBE read command, the dump is raw (2352 bytes per sector) and you have a minimally decent drive everything is OK and extension doesn't matter actually. Anyway, for CD discs we don't add cooked dumps, 2048 bytes per sector.

To put this simple taking as example a conventional, without Safedisc, SecuROM and these things, PC CD game with just a data track extracted by Isobuster in raw mode, CloneCD (when using this one TURN OFF regeneration of data in the read profile, we don't want that CloneCD fixes in the fly user data of damaged sectors using the stored ECC because this is as dumping a disc into raw mode to fix later bad sectors using CDmage, dumps shouldn't be modified in this sense) and Alcohol 120%.

bin of bin/cue = img of ccd/img/sub = mdf of mds/mdf (only if subcodes weren't read, if so mdf will contain interleaved subcode data and you need the 2448to2352 program by themabus to split the mdf file into main channel and subcode). Simple as that.

Problem are discs with audio tracks, you have to find a program for Linux which can:
-Perform a secure ripping, either by multiple reads or C2 pointers.
-Correct the offset, any value you desire once detected the proper one.
-Detect properly gaps and append them to the next track.
*-Detect possible CATALOG/DCP/ISRC flags (this ideally for discs with only a data track as well).
-Extract to headerless files, or at least run sox to remove RIFF headers.

*Answer to the "Is cue good enough for detailing all the intricacies of the disc or is there some more information" question. To detect them PR is good and for discs without copy protections and with just a single data should work even without a real Plextor drive.

[TheDrifter363]

Thanks for the help. I'm trying to understand. So is the wiki still up to date and accurate? I'm attempting to follow this guide as I have Silent Hill 2 for the pc which is not in the database. It contains securom so I'm following this wiki specifically:

https://wiki.redump.info/index.php?title= … protection

So let me get this straight, I first dump with cd manipulator or clonecd, whichever I prefer, and I obtain an img file with a cue sheet. Then I dump again with alcohol 52 or 120 to obtain a mds file. I can discard the mdf file as I only care about the mds. Finally I redump with clonecd to obtain a ccd file and I can disregard the img or bin file created with clonecd. In all of these cases I'll make sure the md5 checksum matches with the raw image file. So at the end of the day I'll have this:

bin/img file: obtained from cd manipulator
cue file: obtained from cd manipulator
mds file: obtained from alcohol 52
ccd file: obtained from clonecd
(edit) sub file: obtained from subdump

Is this correct? Will this be all the information I need? Oh I almost forgot, could I get a copy of that subdump program and instructions on how to use it. This way I can get a sub file and add it to the above list.

So what I'm asking is: Is all this necessary? Wouldn't the the img/bin and cue file from cd manipulator be enough? Maybe throw in a sub file but that's it. Do I really need the mds and ccd file? I don't know if mds will be useful without a corresponding mdf file and same can be said for ccd. Plus obtaining the mds and ccd file will require installing more software. I'm just trying to obtain a correct dump so I can later, in my choosing, burn these files to a cd or dvd and know that I this copy that I would have made would be perfectly identical to the original in every way. That is my goal.

[pablogm123]

That page contains updated and accurate data, was written by MrTikki after asking me and others lots of questions to write the best possible guides yet easy of understand.

Guide basically says that you should extract the data track as usual using IsoBuster, raw mode. You should dump the disc at least twice and make sure that dumps are identical, better yet if using different drives when possible.

Nothing more is needed for the DB, except obviously the errors count (1 expected error in the postgap zone) and perhaps a quick and dirty subcode dump got by CloneCD/CDManipulator (subdump only if are really interested in getting the cleanest subcodes possible, but it's very time consuming and for detecting CATALOGs and so on even a quick and dirty subcode dump by CloneCD is good enough) to determinate properly if the disc contains CATALOG and other possible flags. One good strategy and efficient would be dumping the disc as usual using IsoBuster, and then a CloneCD/CDManipulator (see the screenshot posted below) dump with the proper profile to kill two birds with one stone: to verify the IsoBuster dump and to get the quick and dirty subcode dump that you can upload (subcodes compressed are very small files).

For you personal backup and archive perhaps you could desire to create a mds file for that disc. Create it and archive it. If the dump by Alcohol lacks of subcodes mdf file must match the dump got by IsoBuster and/or CloneCD/CDManipulator.



P.S.: CDManipulator can create .ccd files if you choose that in the file output options once selected the multi-session mode. Just use any plain text editor to delete the ficticious ISRCs which uses to add due to random errors in the subcode not properly ignored.

[TRACK 1]
MODE=1
ISRC=0@41=0100013
INDEX 1=0

[TRACK 1]
MODE=1
INDEX 1=0

Subdump:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmkd2l490mtdrm1/subdump.zip

Reference of command line for a non-real Plextor drive:

subdump.exe -i g: -f test.sub -mode 1 -rereadnum 25 -speed 8 -flushspeed 8 -fix 2

Optimal speed depends on the drive used. Certain drives read better at lower speeds (4x/8x), others one at higher speed (24x and higher).

If there is a  real Plextor drive which supports D8 command:

subdump.exe -i g: -f test.sub -mode 2 -rereadnum 25 -speed 8 -flushspeed 8 -fix 2

And if you are just interested in getting a quick and dirty subcode dump, somewhat cleaner than the one got by CloneCD/CDManipulator and verifying the linearity of subcodes frames add the -quick parameter.

[TheDrifter363]

Hmm so I'm rather confused, should I save my backups as:

bin and cue

or

img, ccd, and sub

or

mdf and mds

Which one is best? All three contain raw data, their metadata deals with copy protection differently which is what I am aiming at. I'm using cd manipulator instead of isobuster. Which one is the best for archival purposes?

Also when creating a sub file with subdump it freezes after a while towards the end where it was reading the drive but I only saw a blinking cursor in the command prompt. How long does subdump usually take without the quick option?

[pablogm123]

bin/cue should be good enough for every common disc layout. ccd/img/sub is needed actually in certain discs which contains mixed type pregaps (75 sectors of data + 150 of audio, being the first ones marked as data in the subs). bin/cue cannot handle this layout, ccd/img/sub can because actual .subcode is present. mds/msf for this protections which measures physical disc positions.

Anyway, converting bin/cue to ccd/img/sub if you prefer this format in the future is trivial: just mount the image, create a CloneCD/CDManipulator dump (.img file created should match the original .bin) and replace the .sub created with the one dumped by subdump.

Even if the disc is in near mint condition and not affected by discrot, subdump takes some time to dump the subcode (not protected by CIRC, so no error correction is offered and a high ammount of rereads is needed to get uniform and constant data). For a disc in good condition with more or less 70 minutes (740,880,000 bytes of data extracted into raw mode), without any class of deep scratch, expect easily 45-60 minutes.

[TheDrifter363]

Ah thank you I forgot that subdump can dump sub files from img/bin files. Though can you explain more on mds/mdf and its benefit for copy protection? Isn't bin cue or img ccd sub good enough for copy protection like safedisc or securom? Also I've read somewhere that if I create a mds/mdf copy that in the future I would always need to have alcohol to play the burned copy on another computer. I don't want to have to do that. I want to burn the copy and play it on another computer without worrying about installing more software.

Can I burn a mds/mdf copy and then play it on another computer without installing alcohol on that computer?

[pablogm123]

Only MDS format can capture data of physical measurements (due to that it's suggested in the guide to create one MDS file for personal use), needed for SecuROM and StarForce. ccd cannot capture that, it's a simple .txt file similar to a .ini file which describes the TOC, but nothing related to physical measurements. I doubt that a personal backup will work without doing anything special due to the physical measurements performed by the protections.

RPMS needed to burn and Alcohol to emulate DPM data. Perhaps Daemon Tools with SPTD installed, to enable advanced emulation options can mount the image (or even create it in certain advanced editions) and get this image acting as the original disc in order not to wear the precious original disc.

For Safedisc, a decent burner capable of burning weak sectors (decent EFM encoder) and done, as far I remember.

[TheDrifter363]

I have a question about the mds/mdf files. So I'm trying to rip a securom game like the chronicles of riddick: escape from butcher bay. It is a CD based game with the first cd containing securom 5 or 4. I've ripped it 3 times but each time the md5 checksum is different. Is this accurate? For two of the files, there is a data read examination error which I'm guessing is the securom error. This error happens at the exact same sector. For the other one, I got a disc read error at 0 but I believe that's a mistake. I'll try again, but why am I getting 2 different checksums with files that should be identical. Both of their error spots were at the exact same spot. How can I verify if my mds/mdf copy is valid?

[pablogm123]

It's extremely unlikely that you rip to mds/mdf once CD several times and you get the same hashes, or directly impossible due to random errors in the subcode:

http://www.mediafire.com/?p8on996xtmrb8

2448to2352 can split the MDF file into main channel and subchannel. Main channel should be always identical and uniform for these these discs. Subcode is always affected by random errors.

2352to2448 to do the reversed process: convert a clean subcode and the raw dump into a MDF file reusing the MDS previously created.