hfric wrote:You care about what :
the game to play now = go retard iso + add crack ... be like GOG and then X years later complain why 90+ of theirs RIPS does now F work
1:1 data archive to have a working game forever till your HDD breaks = keep the original dump
I thought that the CCD/IMG/SUB or MDS/MDF step is only necessary to bypass the copy protection on the disc, after that, it's safe to convert to ISO to get (usually) the most compression. I don't modify the image, or put anything in it. That bothers me when people put a "Crack" folder and then the modified dates are messed up. I don't like RIPS, it's why I archive images and why I'm trying to make sure I understand what I'm doing. I'm okay with repacks if it's the only way because of game being Steam-only.
I don't rely on cracks either, I know they can be buggy. All cracks for Star Wars Empire at War have bug where game can slow down, other times if you have CPU ally, the ally might spam this one unit you would deploy to build something on it, but the AI would make those and only those, and never use or move them, leaving you to fight two AI alone. It only happens with cracks, is very annoying. Cracks for Star Wars Battlefront II don't work, only make SecuROM worse. Still no reliable crack for Ghostbusters: The Video Game, only temporary fix from virusek. Mini Image allows me to use unmodified EXE/DLL and still make the DRM happy, and not have to keep a massive image on disc or waste a CD (and money) that will eventually rot or even slow the game down.
I use cracks for convenience if they work, not for long term. I test each ISO to see if DRM a problem, and I put a Mini Image in each archive with the ISO, if possible, because a lot of older games require some stuff from disc so Mini Image not needed.
I understand what you're saying though. It's my understanding that CCD/IMG/SUB and MDS/MDF is only required if you plan to burn them in the future, not for mounting or emulation (unless the SUB or CUE has something necessary for emulation). I don't think people will burn forever. If I can convert to ISO and not ruin the game, or break it because of DRM, then I will do it.
Scaryfun wrote:No need for attitude when someone is asking a simple question.
Yes, audio tracks are lost when an image is converted to iso. If it's a clone image, you can view the cue as a text file using notepad to see if there are indeed audio files, they will be listed.
I noticed this with Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2. They are like the old PS1 games that you could put in your CD player and listen to in-game music. I remember companies trying to advertise it as a feature
I think it was just the only way they could do it at the time.
I think as long as it has a track starting at all 0s and nothing more, then it's not actually needing to be CUE/BIN anymore? Like this:
FILE "FABLE.BIN" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE1/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
So I was wrong about Fable, it's okay if it's an ISO. DOSbox seems to use CUE/BIN or ISO version just fine.