Mega Drive Emulator Dreamcast GD-R Won’t boot with System Disc 2?

[dyer60]

Hi all, I recently picked this GD-R up form an ex Akklaim employee, appears to be a Mega Drive emulator. I am aware there are a few different versions of this so am keen to try it out, however for some reason it won’t boot using the System Disc 2, I have tried different region Dreamcasts, pads and keyboards attached etc. The disc does have some marks but doesn’t show any signs of rot.

Any ideas?

 

[Wombat]

I have run into GD-Rs that would not boot on my retail (with SD2) but would work on a Dev kit, but when ripped it would work on both. So the easiest way to see if all content is there, dump the contents. If you have a BBA laying around or a SD-adapter you'll have it dumped within 30-minutes.

 

[dyer60]

Thanks @Wombat, the SD-adapter was something I was toying with (no BBA adapter sadly). Think I’ll pull the trigger on one and try a dump.

Will keep the thread updated.

 

[dyer60]

Well the SD card adapter arrived and I set myself up for the dump, sadly it failed as the reader could t detect the card so I removed it. Here is the result:




I knew they had poor build quality but WTF!

Anyway ordered the newer version from China, that will be a few weeks!

 

[Wombat]

Yikes, that's some questionable build "quality". Hopefully you'll receive a proper one soon, very curious to know what you'll find on the contents of this disc. I highly recommend getting a GDEMU also, this is the easiest way to boot your GD-R dumps without having to modify anything.

 

[dyer60]

It certainly was questionable, the V2 version has a proper metal shielded connector similar to that found on the link vs cable or other official accessories.

GD EMU has been on my shopping list for a while but i have very limited time these days to be able to play with such stuff.

What modification might be needed to get the dump to run from the SD card reader?

 

[dyer60]

So the new SD card reader has arrived and we are making progress;


I’ll let you know how it turns out.

 

[dyer60]

Ok so we were doing well and then ended up with a read error:



Ended up with the following on the SD card:



Have googled a few times but can’t seem to find any info on what needs to be done to get this running from the SD or indeed if the error has caused a problem with the dump.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Anthony817]

I HIGHLY recommend trying another SD card to dump it, Maybe a smaller one could help with it? To run it form SD card and Dreamshell you need to convert to an SDISO, but that will do no good for us who just need a clean GDI dump. Best bet is to try and make a CDI from it since the serial SD card reader is still not the best thing for running games especially retail ones. I would classify this as in same class as retail since was made by Sega with Katana SDK and not some homebrew from KOS.

Also, if at first you don't succeed fuck the world and smoke some weed. Nah just kidding, if you have issues just keep at it. Dreamshell isn't the best method to use for making dumps to SD cards. So I implore you to keep trying over and over until you get an error free dump. Again like said above, try other cards and see what the results are like.

 

[dyer60]

I HIGHLY recommend trying another SD card to dump it, Maybe a smaller one could help with it? To run it form SD card and Dreamshell you need to convert to an SDISO, but that will do no good for us who just need a clean GDI dump. Best bet is to try and make a CDI from it since the serial SD card reader is still not the best thing for running games especially retail ones. I would classify this as in same class as retail since was made by Sega with Katana SDK and not some homebrew from KOS.

Also, if at first you don;t succeed fuck the world and smoke so weed. Nah just kidding, if you have issues just keep at it. Dreamshell isn;t the best method to use for making dumps to SD cards. So I implore you to keep trying over and over until you get an error free dump. Again like said above, try other cards and see what the results are like.

Thanks

Tried 3 times with different SD cards and same result at the same point!

I’ll try again tomorrow but not looking good.

 

[Anthony817]

Ah that is disheartening.

 

[darcagn]

Your dump is bad. Unfortunately the SDRip software is programmed to quit upon read error. And when it quits, it doesn't leave any of the track left on the card. So what you have there is a bunch of headers, dummy data, and CDDA, but no game data at all since it's all in track 5.
And since the GD-ROM spec demands the game binary be the absolute last sectors of the disc, you basically can never luck out and get the main binary if there's any bad sectors in the track.

If you use the BBA method, the dumping software (httpd-ack) can let you skip bad sectors/read errors and recover the good data.

 

[dark]

Did you try the swap trick, where you keep the lid sensor down, put in a retail gdrom at the bios, wait several minutes for it to stop spinning, and then swap with the GDR?

 

[dyer60]

Your dump is bad. Unfortunately the SDRip software is programmed to quit upon read error. And when it quits, it doesn't leave any of the track left on the card. So what you have there is a bunch of headers, dummy data, and CDDA, but no game data at all since it's all in track 5.
And since the GD-ROM spec demands the game binary be the absolute last sectors of the disc, you basically can never luck out and get the main binary if there's any bad sectors in the track.

If you use the BBA method, the dumping software (httpd-ack) can let you skip bad sectors/read errors and recover the good data.

Yeh. Figured that was the case. I don’t have a BBA and probably not going to invest the time and money to get this done. If there is anyone out there who wants to lend a hand then please reach out.

Did you try the swap trick, where you keep the lid sensor down, put in a retail gdrom at the bios, wait several minutes for it to stop spinning, and then swap with the GDR?

I haven’t but I suspect I’ll get the same error! Again if there are people willing to help just shout.

Thanks

 

[darcagn]

Yeh. Figured that was the case. I don’t have a BBA and probably not going to invest the time and money to get this done. If there is anyone out there who wants to lend a hand then please reach out.

I have experience doing data recovery from GD-Rs and I would be more than happy to help dump this GD-R.
Whether that is just assistance or if you send it to me and I just get it done. I'm in USA though (you're in UK right iirc? you sold a GD-R to me a few years ago)

Before we do any of that though, can you post the hashes for the tracks you were able to dump?
This might be the same disc as the one already published on Hidden Palace dumped by Comby Laurent a few years ago.

I haven’t but I suspect I’ll get the same error! Again if there are people willing to help just shout.

I would expect the same, too. Since you're seeing the 5 tracks in SDRip you're already beyond the security check, and if you start doing GD-ROM swaps you'll get track type mismatching errors while dumping



edit: just saw that you posted screenshots of track sizes in bytes
track 1 (2352 sector) = 2123856. converting to ISO [(2123856/2352)*2048] = 1849344, matches track 1 in laurent's ISO dump
track 2 (cdda) = 139944000 = matches track 2 in laurent's dump
track 3 (2352 sector) = 840616560. converting to ISO [(840616560/2352)*2048] = 731965440, matches track 3 in laurent's ISO dump
track 4 (cdda) = 39332496 = matches track 4 in laurent's dump
based on above, mathematically, track 5 size therefore must also match filesize

Therefore, it's either 1) the same disc as already dumped by Laurent, or 2) a different disc and coincidence the track files remained the same size between builds (super unlikely)
If you post the hashes (which depend on build dates/times contained within tracks 1 and 3) we'll know for 100% sure if it's the same disc.

More info:
https://www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk/2017/01/official-megadrive-emulator-for.html
https://translate.google.com/transl...ainfo.org/emulateur-megadrive-officiel-dreamc

GD-ROM dump: https://hiddenpalace.org/Megadrive_Emulator_(Jan_15,_2001_prototype)

CDI version I made in 2017:
https://mega.nz/file/6tU0Cb4I#bcaC2qlIKq0uiUrGEDalx5Rz8ve5O6IJFlVcc3LzkmM

Package I made in 2017 that allows you to generate your own CDI with your own ROMs from this emu build:
https://mega.nz/file/24UHHSgZ#fidVY4j0hLTcHn4_Dve8DomFeBxXQ_CrcsunWOiDItU
(put ROMs in root/ROM, modify ROMS.LST in a text editor accordingly, then run make.bat to get your CDI)

 

[dyer60]

Thanks @darcagn, I do indeed remember.

Yes does look like it's the same!

Where would I find the hashes?

 

[darcagn]

Thanks @darcagn, I do indeed remember.

Yes does look like it's the same!

Where would I find the hashes?

Fastest way on Windows to find the hashes is to download md5sums.exe from this website, highlight your 5 track files, and drag and drop them on top of the md5sums.exe file.

These are the hashes for Comby's dump in GDI ISO/2048 format:


And I converted that to BIN/2352 using ISOBuster's recent native GDI support, which should be really powerful if it works right:


If ISOBuster's conversion worked correctly, and you have the same build disc, your MD5 sums should match the ones in this image.

Your track 5 failed at 292325376 bytes in = 124288 sectors in. Start of track 5 is sector 419428 + 124288 sectors in = your failure was at LBA 543716.

All files in the table below 543716 are dumpable, the file using sector 543716 (WWFWA.bin, aka WWF Wrestlemania Arcade) is damaged, and everything above 543716 is unknown. Try cleaning the disc and dumping again, take another picture of the screen and we can see if it got further in than before. You can also try another Dreamcast or GD-ROM drive to see if results change.

Spoiler: File table

45021 , >:\LCD
45022 , >:\MD_EMU
45023 , >:\ROM
548092 , >:\1ST_READ.BIN
548082 , >:\LCD\ALTBEAST.LCD
548083 , >:\LCD\COLUMNS.LCD
548084 , >:\LCD\GOLDAXE.LCD
548085 , >:\LCD\PHSTAR2.LCD
548086 , >:\LCD\REVSHIN.LCD
548087 , >:\LCD\SHFORCE.LCD
548088 , >:\LCD\SONIC.LCD
548089 , >:\LCD\STRAGE2.LCD
548090 , >:\LCD\VECTORM.LCD
548091 , >:\LCD\WRESTWAR.LCD
547419 , >:\MD_EMU\BUTTONS.PVR
547436 , >:\MD_EMU\FONT.PVR
547693 , >:\MD_EMU\GRID.PVR
547699 , >:\MD_EMU\HVM.PVR
547716 , >:\MD_EMU\MANATEE.DRV
547734 , >:\MD_EMU\MDLOGO.PVR
547991 , >:\MD_EMU\ROMS.LST
547994 , >:\MD_EMU\SPARK.PVR
547999 , >:\MD_EMU\STREAM.MLT
548000 , >:\MD_EMU\VM.PVR
548017 , >:\MD_EMU\WIN.PVR
419428 , >:\ROM\AFTERBURNERII.BIN
419684 , >:\ROM\ALADDIN.BIN
420708 , >:\ROM\ALIENSOL.BIN
421732 , >:\ROM\ALISIA_D.BIN
422244 , >:\ROM\ALTBEAST.BIN
422500 , >:\ROM\ANIMAN.BIN
423012 , >:\ROM\ARCADE.BIN
423268 , >:\ROM\ARCADE4.BIN
423524 , >:\ROM\ASTORM.BIN
423780 , >:\ROM\BATMAN1.BIN
424036 , >:\ROM\BLOODLIN.BIN
424548 , >:\ROM\BUBSTIX.BIN
425068 , >:\ROM\CALGAME.BIN
425324 , >:\ROM\COLUMNS.BIN
425388 , >:\ROM\DDMAUI.BIN
426924 , >:\ROM\DDRAGON.BIN
427180 , >:\ROM\DDRAGON2.BIN
427436 , >:\ROM\DDRAGON3.BIN
427948 , >:\ROM\DECAPATK.BIN
428204 , >:\ROM\DEMOLMAN.BIN
429228 , >:\ROM\DRMEANBE.BIN
429740 , >:\ROM\DYNAHEAD.BIN
430764 , >:\ROM\ECCO.BIN
431276 , >:\ROM\ECCO.FTX
431277 , >:\ROM\ECCO.GTX
431278 , >:\ROM\ECCO.ITX
431279 , >:\ROM\ECCO.STX
431280 , >:\ROM\ECCO.TXT
431281 , >:\ROM\ECCO2.BIN
432305 , >:\ROM\ELEMASTR.BIN
432561 , >:\ROM\ESWAT.BIN
433841 , >:\ROM\FATALFUR.BIN
434609 , >:\ROM\FIFA.BIN
435633 , >:\ROM\FIRESHRK.BIN
435889 , >:\ROM\FLASHBCK.BIN
436657 , >:\ROM\FREWIND.BIN
436913 , >:\ROM\FWORLDS.BIN
547035 , >:\ROM\F_22.BIN
437169 , >:\ROM\GALHAD.BIN
437681 , >:\ROM\GAUNTLET.BIN
438193 , >:\ROM\GHOSTBST.BIN
438449 , >:\ROM\GHOULSNGHOSTS.BIN
438769 , >:\ROM\GHOUST.BIN
439089 , >:\ROM\GOLDAXE.BIN
439345 , >:\ROM\GOLDENAXE.BIN
439601 , >:\ROM\GOLDENAXE2.BIN
439857 , >:\ROM\GUNSTAR.BIN
440369 , >:\ROM\HARDDRIV.BIN
440497 , >:\ROM\HARDDRIVIN.BIN
440625 , >:\ROM\IMMORTAL.BIN
441137 , >:\ROM\J_POND2.BIN
441393 , >:\ROM\KIDC.BIN
441905 , >:\ROM\LASTCRUSADE.BIN
442417 , >:\ROM\LIONKING.BIN
443953 , >:\ROM\LITECRUS.BIN
444977 , >:\ROM\LOSTWRLD.BIN
447025 , >:\ROM\L_STLK.BIN
448049 , >:\ROM\MALIHBOX.BIN
448561 , >:\ROM\MANOVERB.BIN
449073 , >:\ROM\MARBLEM.BIN
449329 , >:\ROM\MARVLAND.BIN
449841 , >:\ROM\MICKEYMA.BIN
450865 , >:\ROM\MIDNIGHTRESISTANCE.BIN
451377 , >:\ROM\MIKYWRLD.BIN
451889 , >:\ROM\MK.BIN
452913 , >:\ROM\MMOUSE.BIN
453169 , >:\ROM\MOONWALK.BIN
453425 , >:\ROM\MTALULU.BIN
453681 , >:\ROM\NHL94.BIN
454193 , >:\ROM\NZS.BIN
454449 , >:\ROM\OUTRUN.BIN
454961 , >:\ROM\OUTRUNA.BIN
455473 , >:\ROM\PAPRBOY2.BIN
455985 , >:\ROM\PHSTAR2.BIN
456369 , >:\ROM\QUACKSHT.BIN
456625 , >:\ROM\RACEDRIV.BIN
456881 , >:\ROM\RAINBOWI.BIN
457137 , >:\ROM\REVSHIN.BIN
457393 , >:\ROM\RISLANDS.BIN
457649 , >:\ROM\RISTAR.BIN
458673 , >:\ROM\RLTHUND2.BIN
459185 , >:\ROM\RSHINOBI.BIN
459441 , >:\ROM\RSTIMPI.BIN
459953 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102200.BIN
460977 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102201.BIN
462001 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102202.BIN
463537 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102203.BIN
464561 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102204.BIN
465329 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102205.BIN
466353 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102206.BIN
467377 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102207.BIN
468913 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102208.BIN
469937 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102209.BIN
470961 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102210.BIN
471985 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102211.BIN
473009 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102212.BIN
474545 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102213.BIN
476081 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102214.BIN
477105 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102215.BIN
478129 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102216.BIN
479153 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102217.BIN
480177 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102218.BIN
481713 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102219.BIN
482737 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102220.BIN
483761 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102221.BIN
484785 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102222.BIN
485809 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102223.BIN
486577 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102224.BIN
487601 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102225.BIN
489137 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102226.BIN
490673 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102227.BIN
491441 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102228.BIN
492465 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102229.BIN
493489 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102230.BIN
495025 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102231.BIN
496561 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102232.BIN
497585 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102233.BIN
498609 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102234.BIN
500145 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102235.BIN
500785 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102236.BIN
501809 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102237.BIN
502833 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102238.BIN
503857 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102239.BIN
505394 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102241.BIN
507442 , >:\ROM\S00001S00007102242.BIN
508210 , >:\ROM\SBAS2020.BIN
509234 , >:\ROM\SBOBBLE.BIN
509746 , >:\ROM\SDANCER.BIN
510002 , >:\ROM\SHADOWDANCER.BIN
510258 , >:\ROM\SHANGON.BIN
510514 , >:\ROM\SHARRIER2.BIN
510770 , >:\ROM\SHARRIER2A.BIN
511026 , >:\ROM\SHFORCE.BIN
511794 , >:\ROM\SHINOBI3.BIN
512306 , >:\ROM\SNOWBROS.BIN
512818 , >:\ROM\SONIC.BIN
513074 , >:\ROM\SONIC.TXT
513099 , >:\ROM\SONIC2.BIN
513611 , >:\ROM\SONIC3.BIN
514635 , >:\ROM\SONIC3D.BIN
516683 , >:\ROM\SONICCOMPILATION.BIN
518219 , >:\ROM\SOR3.BIN
519755 , >:\ROM\SPDBAL2.BIN
520011 , >:\ROM\SPIDRMAN.BIN
520267 , >:\ROM\SRAGE.BIN
520523 , >:\ROM\SSF2.BIN
523083 , >:\ROM\STHBLADE.BIN
523339 , >:\ROM\STRAGE2.BIN
524363 , >:\ROM\STRIDER.BIN
524875 , >:\ROM\STRIDER2.BIN
525387 , >:\ROM\SUBTERAN.BIN
526411 , >:\ROM\SYNDICATE.BIN
527435 , >:\ROM\TD2.BIN
527947 , >:\ROM\TFORCE2.BIN
528203 , >:\ROM\TFORCE3.BIN
528459 , >:\ROM\TFORCE4.BIN
528971 , >:\ROM\THETICK.BIN
529995 , >:\ROM\THUNDER2.BIN
530251 , >:\ROM\THUNDER4.BIN
530763 , >:\ROM\TIMEKLLR.BIN
531787 , >:\ROM\TINHEAD.BIN
532427 , >:\ROM\TOPGEAR2.BIN
532963 , >:\ROM\TOYSTORY.BIN
535011 , >:\ROM\TURBOOUT.BIN
535267 , >:\ROM\TURRICAN.BIN
535523 , >:\ROM\URBANSTR.BIN
536547 , >:\ROM\VECTORM.BIN
537571 , >:\ROM\VF2.BIN
539619 , >:\ROM\VFT2.BIN
540643 , >:\ROM\WARDNER.BIN
540899 , >:\ROM\WBOY3.BIN
541155 , >:\ROM\WBOY5.BIN
541531 , >:\ROM\WBOYMOWO.BIN
541915 , >:\ROM\WRESTWAR.BIN
542171 , >:\ROM\WWFRR.BIN
543195 , >:\ROM\WWFSW.BIN
543707 , >:\ROM\WWFWA.BIN
546267 , >:\ROM\XENON2.BIN
545755 , >:\ROM\X_MEN.BIN
432817 , >:\ROM\X_MEN2.BIN
546523 , >:\ROM\YS3.BIN

I would guess that the reason the disc fails to boot is that the 1ST_READ.BIN is not able to be read.

Unfortunately, it is not unusual to have a GD-R with no visible rot fail to dump. This would not be my first time seeing it.
It makes me curious if these discs are starting to deteriorate in some fashion that isn't visible, or if there have been some bad burns laying around dev houses that got mixed into collector's hands?