Index ⇒ Announcements & Rules ⇒ Beginner's guide to LW (How-Tos)

[Molitor]

Done what I should have done almost 4 years ago: rewritten every post in proper English.
If anyone knowledgeable on CD/DVD protections would like to add bits, feel free to post here or edit the post. I'm not really used to the technique and fall short when it comes to writing anything on it.

[Shattered]

Thanks Molitor.

I've added a remark for beginners to make sure to use the latest version of WinRAR/7-zip to extract the downloads below the "NOTE ABOUT CORRUPTED FILES :".
I've also added a note regarding passwords under "Posting on LW".

I'll add the copy protection part tomorrow.

[Molitor]

Shattered, thanks in advance for anything you may add. Wise addition about file corruption: I was considering making a reminder in the Broken Downloads subforum, thing that I'll probably write in the next days.
I have become more and more interested in Usenet binaries downloading/posting, hence the mention in the guide. I now believe it could be viable as a place to host our files (cf. your POP3D posts); but to convince potential downloaders to use NZB instead of DDL, we need to get rid of the most repellent aspect of Usenet: paying subscriptions and configuring a newsreader. However, with services like Free-Usenet, there's an opportunity to write a "100% free" tutorial! Which is what I'm doing.

[Meddle]

I never found it that tough to configure a newsreader.

[Shattered]

I'm almost done writing the part about copy protections. I'll add it as a separate post.

[Shattered]

[zobraks]

Great post!

[Shattered]

I have updated my post with links from the Wayback Machine to the CloneCD profiles file and DAEMON Tools Game Database site.

[Kroagnon]

I'm trying to image some titles to provide for you folks here, but am having great difficulty with CDs that contain both data and audio. What would be the recommended software to use for this (and any particular settings) if I want a 1:1 copy (or as close as possible) in a format that others can use?

I have tried CloneCD but none of the profiles I've tried resulted in an image that I could mount and see as I do the original CD. The images show only the audio tracks, while the original CD only shows the data (but plays the audio in a CD player just fine).

Advice, help or just a pointer to another thread (here or elsewhere) is appreciated!

[Molitor]

What software do you use to mount the image? You can also use the MDF/MDS format for the image, using Alcohol 120% or DT Pro (Mixed Mode CD or CD-Extra profile).

[Kroagnon]

I've used CloneCD to create the image (tried using both 'CD Extra' and 'Mixed Media' profiles); it refuses to create a cue because it's multisession. Fair enough. Results in ccd, img and sub files.

I have then mounted it with CloneDrive (ccd) where it only shows up as an audio cd (no data is visible). Audio tracks play fine.

Other mounting attempts have been with WinCDEmu (says it's corrupted and shows nothing) and ImDisk (as a CD, which just gives "an error occured while mounting").

I also created an image using ImgBurn (resulted in cue, ccd and img) which gives the exact same results as above when mounted (i.e. either audio tracks only or corrupted).

I don't have Alcohol or DaemonTools installed (Alcohol was my go-to program many years ago, though), but might give those a try and will report back!

Worst case, I know I can make two disc images - one of the demo data, one of the audio - since it's not a game needing CD audio, but a "combo" soundtrack and demo, but I'd ideally like a true image of the full thing to share if possible.

EDIT:
Made an image with Alcohol and same results as above. However, Alcohol's virtual drive mounts it correctly; that is, I can see the data files in Explorer on the mounted disc, and WMP can play it as an audio CD! Tried mounting my previous CloneCD and ImgBurn images and they all work too... so it seems that the issue was with finicky mounting software rather than the images!

As a result, I've switched from CloneDrive to Alcohol (nostalgia!) for my image mounting now, since it's clearly more capable than CloneDrive or WinCDEmu.

My only remaining question is: is there a preference for a format of image to share here? Is CloneCD (with sub data) the "truest"? Is Alcohol's format better? Or the image created in Imgburn, given it produces a cue as well (so can be mounted in DOSBox)?

[Molitor]

Glad you figured out where the issue came from! To answer your question about the preference, I don't think that any format is truer than another as long as it reproduces the whole content of the original media. The choice of software/format is especially important when you want to copy games with physical or sector-based protections, but most 1990s/early 2000s games will be handled fine with CloneCD (when there is a protection) or any program capable of producing bin/cue images (where there is no protection). All in all, a MDF/MDS copy is not that different from a CloneCD one, because the sub data and the audio tracks are stored as well, albeit no cue file is produced. It is true that the CloneCD is often privileged over Alcohol for DOS games because img and cue files are natively handled by DOSBox while mdf and mds are not, so if you want to copy games with ease of mounting in mind, then CloneCD is the way to go.
The only formats you should avoid are the plain .iso, as well as the proprietary formats that are supported by very few programs (.uif on top of my mind, what a weird thing it is).

[Kroagnon]

Thanks! I might stick with CloneCD in that case.

I will say that the image I made with Alcohol of the QFG Collection Disc 2 (QFG5 demo+soundtrack) won't mount in DOSBox via the IMG (as I said, no CUE is created apparently because "it's a multi-session disc")... it only seems to mount under Alcohol's virtual drive (possibly DT as well, though I don't have that installed. I might test to see if I can get it to mount in a Vitualbox VM though as well before uploading it, since the disc is for Win 9x anyway (and Mac, apparently, though I can't test that)...

Should this discussion be moved to another thread, do you think? Happy to discuss it here but don't want to clog the tutorial thread with my specific concerns/attempts!

[wergeond]

[Shattered]

I've added a Wayback Machine link to the Blindwrite profiles file.