Lunar: Silver Star Story (Another Backup CD Topic)

[Pumpster]

Hey.

I know there are quite a few topics about this, but I've recently hit the infamous brick wall - My Lunar: Silver Star Story backup CD freezes after the first two logos. However, I've worked hard to get this far.

I've encountered the "freeze after logo" problem, but I've taken all the necessary steps to get to a 1% functional backup CD. I named all the files correctly and used Sega CUE Maker to create the CUE. Using Audacity, I turned all the Monotreal (1-Channel) MP3's into Stereo WAV's.

I believe the final issue is finding a Freeware CD burner that has DAO (Disc-At-Once) capabilities. I don't want to pay for programs like FireBurner since it would cost the same amount to acquire the game itself. (I definitely don't want another copy in the house again - My original was stolen, and, after that, I've found that locking away the originals and using backups is much safer.)

So, can anyone help me? I've downloaded tons of CD Burning programs, and they always have a problem - Either no DAO support or no CUE support. I'm exhausted from downloading program after program, getting spyware and faulty software just for a shot at getting a functional backup disc. I figured I'd try pleading with fellow Sega CD owners in the hopes of getting more concrete results.

So, if you know of a good Freeware CD burner with both DAO and CUE support, post it.

Thank you for reading this long post and offering your assistance.

 

[Amon]

You could try alcohol 120% for the trial period which has both DAO and Cue support. However I heard it adds an audio gap between tracks when buring from CUEs.

Which regaurds to Lunar I havent been able to get any copy of that running on real hardware. It plays in emulators fine with the copys i have burnt. I even tried on my CDX (newer bios) and I found deals with scratched cds better than a reg sega cd.

Most likely the fault in Lunar is due to the audio tracks not in sync. Lunar 2 you can usually start a game but freezes right at the start. Not sure what would happen if you continued your game past that point.

 

[Pumpster]

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, any program that adds gaps cannot be used; Lunar's very strict about audio length. Any other programs available? I don't mind if they're trials, just as long as they have the necessary capabilities. (FireBurner's trial only runs in Test Mode, which renders it useless.)

 

[lordofduct]

You know why I like Nero? Because every CD-burner and DVD-burner in existence comes with it free, and it does the job pretty well. That and you don't have to convert the mp3's... it does it for you as long as your cue sheet is written properly.

I've never used Sega Cue maker... for some reason I just don't trust it, even though I haven't tried it.

 

[Pumpster]

I want to like Nero, but it never works. I have the latest Nero Burning ROM, but, whenever I load the CUE Sheet and click "Burn," it gives me an "unexpected exception" warning. Then, it gives me a poorly-written message about quality assurance. Therefore, it's useless. I have no idea why it dislikes the DVD Drive it came with, but, whatever the case, Nero sucks as bad as the trial software it came with.

It's a huge shame - I paid a lot for the DVD Drive and Nero, but Nero Essentials 7 was literally nothing but Trial software. (My big question is why a DVD Drive would only come with trial DVD Player software. Considering the fact that Windows Media Player doesn't have DVD-playing capabilities right out of the box, this is quite the omission on Nero's part.)

I have the horrid 7.9.6.0 version of the Nero Burning ROM. What version do you use, Mr. Duct?

EDIT: I downloaded Nero Burning ROM v7.0.8.2 and burned my ISO and Stereo WAV's (Disc-At-Once, of course) and I still couldn't get further than the first two logos! What am I doing wrong? Should I convert the 1-Channel MP3's into WAV's and combine them into a BIN/CUE? For those that have burned successful copies of Lunar, what is the best step-by-step method?

 

[lordofduct]

I use an even older version then you:

6.6.0.8

what are the details of the unexpected exception?

Step by step... what I did (I ripped mine from a legite copy as bin/mp3).

I named the files something distinct and easy in old DOS namespace.

i.e.

LunarSSS_SCD.bin

Lunar_TRACK02.mp3

Lun...

so on so forth

Then I manuall wrote my own CUE sheet in notepad like so:

FILE "LUNARSSS_SCD.BIN" BINARY

TRACK 01 MODE1/2048

INDEX 01 00:00:00

POSTGAP 00:02:00

FILE "LUNAR_TRACK02.MP3" MP3

TRACK 02 AUDIO

PREGAP 00:02:00

INDEX 01 00:00:00

FILE "LUNAR_TRACK03.MP3" MP3

TRACK 03 AUDIO

INDEX 01 00:00:00

...

so on so forth for all the audio tracks.

Run Nero, click on 'burn CD from image', then select the CUE sheet (making sure cue sheet, bin, and mp3s are all in the same directory), pop in my trusty Taiyo Yuden CD-R, and click burn at whatever speed I feel happy with that day.

Usually around 40X speed... this disks tend to be disposable, so I don't care about them lasting me the next 3 years and just burn to play that week.

2 minutes later pop the bitch out and I'm ready to game.

 

[Pumpster]

Thanks for the help. As far as the "Unexpected Exception" goes, it doesn't elaborate. It doesn't matter, though - the older version of Nero I downloaded replaces the newer one nicely.

As for Lunar, I have the Hustler/Cool version, which, I'm guessing, is the buggy one that's been going around. I'll just have to deal with Emulation in this case.

 

[TascoDLX]

Let's see if I can explain this....

Lunar for the Sega CD requires pregaps [a.k.a. pregap indices] on its audio tracks. For the rarely informed, a pregap is just a length of time (two seconds, commonly) before an audio track officially starts. The pregap can contain any audio but, for Sega CD games, should contain silence.

The reason that Lunar freezes when pregaps are missing is quite peculiar. The program uses a seek command to cue an audio track and then waits for the track number to match the one requested (i.e., seek to track 03, wait until track number equals 03). But it never will. Why?

When it seeks to track 03, the drive is pointing just *before* the start of the track. When the pregap exists, the drive points to the end of the pregap within track 03. When the pregap is missing, it's actually pointing to the end of track 02! So while the program is waiting for track 03, the drive is holding on track 02.

That explains why it freezes, but the other complaint is that the audio is out of sync.

When ripping a disc into separate audio tracks (whether it's MP3 or WAV or whatever), there are basically two methods:

Method A : Rip each track so the pregap is at the start of the file.

Method B : Rip each track so the pregap is at the end of the previous file.

Since the official start of a track comes *after* the pregap, Method B would seem to make more sense, especially for the emulators. However, the prefered method for burning is Method A because it's much easier to create the CUE sheet.

For Method A, the CUE sheet should look something like this:

FILE LUNAR.ISO BINARY

  TRACK 01 MODE1/2048

    INDEX 01 00:00:00

FILE LUNAR-02.WAV WAVE

  TRACK 02 AUDIO

    INDEX 00 00:00:00

    INDEX 01 00:02:00

FILE LUNAR-03.WAV WAVE

  TRACK 03 AUDIO

    INDEX 00 00:00:00

    INDEX 01 00:02:00

FILE LUNAR-04.WAV WAVE

  TRACK 04 AUDIO

    INDEX 00 00:00:00

    INDEX 01 00:02:00

...

To make an accurate CUE sheet for Method B, you would need to find the length of each track, subtract two seconds to get your INDEX 00 time, put each TRACK and INDEX 00 reference before the FILE reference of the coresponding... uh, nevermind.

For Method B, just make it look something like this:

FILE LUNAR.ISO BINARY

  TRACK 01 MODE1/2048

    INDEX 01 00:00:00

FILE LUNAR-02.WAV WAVE

  TRACK 02 AUDIO

    PREGAP 00:02:00

    INDEX 01 00:00:00

FILE LUNAR-03.WAV WAVE

  TRACK 03 AUDIO

    PREGAP 00:02:00

    INDEX 01 00:00:00

FILE LUNAR-04.WAV WAVE

  TRACK 04 AUDIO

    PREGAP 00:02:00

    INDEX 01 00:00:00

...

It won't be accurate but it should be in sync. It will also extend each track by two seconds but hopefully you won't do something stupid, like burn it, rip it again (Method B), burn it, rip it again, burn it, rip it again, etc.... then wonder why there are ten second gaps between each track.

So, which Method was your copy ripped with? Don't know?

Just play the audio files. If each one begins with two seconds of silence, then congratulations, it's Method A. If the music or dialogue starts immediately, it's Method B.

Now you know why everyone prefers the BIN/CUE format.