Need info on disc images - Writing a tutorial

[Ziggy]

Basically, I'm writing a tutorial on burning disc images and I want it to be as accurate as possible. I also plan to write a guide about the different disc images (when/what they should be used for, what they do, etc). I want these two guides to work in tangent to be a definitive "answer all" guide for disc images. I'm also trying to use all free software in the burning tutorial (which doesn't include pirating any software).

My first question is about PS1 games and copy protection:

I need a little info on PS1 copy protection and using Clone CD (CCD, IMG, SUB, CUE) for backing up PS1 games. As I understand it, Clone CD is able to copy the raw protection found on some later PS1 games to make an exact 1:1 copy (which is why it's the standard for PS1 games). My work around to use free software is to rip the image to BIN/CUE so that it can be burned in ImgBurn (I've done this successfully with a few games). My question is, does ripping a CCD PS1 game with copy protection into BIN/CUE break the copy protection?

I thought FF8 had some hardcore protection, so I used that to test. I ripped a retail copy of disc 1 to CCD, IMG, SUB, CUE then mounted it in a virtual drive and re-ripped it to BIN/CUE. Then I burned the BIN/CUE to a disc and played it in my PS1. It booted fine (I only started a new game and watched the opening and some of the conversation in the start of the game). I'm wondering if...

1) Clone CD copied the copy protection from the retail CD. Ripping it to BIN/CUE did not break the protection. The image is fine.

or

2) Ripping it to BIN/CUE broke the protection. The game will boot but there's spots in the game that check for the protection and will halt game play (or something).

Or does the protection only have to do with the ripping of the game? Once the game is successfully ripped, converting it to another image format doesn't matter?

My second question is about CDI Dreamcast images:

So I've read that CDI Dreamcast images are able to self boot, but BIN/CUE Dreamcast images are not. I've ripped many CDI's to BIN/CUE and they've all self booted. Can any one shed any light on this matter?

[CRTGAMER]

Burned PS1 discs will only work on a modded PS1. So maybe some boot protection schemes are not copied over.

Dreamcast CDR bootable discs I think include a secondary session that has a sound file, something to do with self booting.

[CRTGAMER]

More info on Dreamcast CDR.
http://mc.pp.se/dc/cdr.html

[RCBH928]

i cant help you
but when u r done i hope the guide is featured on racketboy as a reference for me

[Ziggy]

Burned PS1 discs will only work on a modded PS1. So maybe some boot protection schemes are not copied over.

Yes, but heard about the later games that had some type of hardcore copy protection. Some games can even detect a mod chip (they called them anti mod protection I think) which is why the latest PS1 chips have a stealth mode.

And then when I was trying to Google for this info, I found someone's thread about something weird. They said they were playing a burned game on a PS1 (I forget which) and when they talked to a certain character in the game they were told "Your game disc is not legit, you will be locked out of some areas of the game" (or something to that extent). So that's what I'm wondering about.

And then there's some outdated info that's confusing me. I was reading that the PS1 discs have some kind of copy protection where the data will actually be corrupt when you're reading the disc to an image. In this case, the image will have to be patched in order to work. I know that Clone CD is capable of making an exact 1:1 copy of the game (while other image formats are not) so I guess what my question is: If you convert a 1:1 CCD image to BIN/CUE will it still be a 1:1 perfect image of the game?

More info on Dreamcast CDR.
http://mc.pp.se/dc/cdr.html

Ah, OK. I thought that BIN/CUE was not multi-session, but I guess it is otherwise half my Dreamcast burns wouldn't work. I mean, I understand why most systems have a standard image for the games (CCD for PS1, BIN/CUE for Saturn, etc) but if BIN/CUE works perfectly find for Dreamcast games (as far as I can tell) then why is the standard CDI?

i cant help you
but when u r done i hope the guide is featured on racketboy as a reference for me

That is my intent.

edit: So I was just reading the CDRWIN Wiki page and saw this:

CDRWIN was mostly used during the Playstation era. People could backup Playstation games quickly and easily, and soon discovered that its unique cuesheet operations allowed them to alter the TOC for any CD being duplicated, provided the CD-Writer supported writing an invalid TOC. Most CD-Writing software could not make copies or images of the CD if the TOC was invalid. This problem was overcome when CloneCD was released and duplication was made more accessible when Nero Burning ROM was updated to support this type of copying.

So I don't know how true that is. But if that info is correct, then I think I'm write about something. If you image the game using CCD it'll be fine, re-ripping it to BIN/CUE wont break anything.

[CRTGAMER]

I think in the case of later PS1 games it simply looks for that non copyable boot sector during game play.

Dreamcast CDI being just a hard drive image, I think could be self booting and non self booting images. Luck of the draw. 2 sessions needed for multi boot on the Dreamcast. Not sure why images are predominately CDI compared to say Nero NRG. Maybe just popular. There is a CDI to NRG converter for Nero.

[Hobie-wan]

Actually, I thought that was the case on all PS1 games. There are intentional bad sectors on the disc that the system or the game checks for. Most disc burning software will try to correct the read errors when burning.

[Niode]

Actually, I thought that was the case on all PS1 games. There are intentional bad sectors on the disc that the system or the game checks for. Most disc burning software will try to correct the read errors when burning.

That is correct.

[CRTGAMER]

I think the later PS1 games would constantly check that "protection sectors" through out the gameplay. If I'm not mistaken, the earlier ones only did it at bootup hence Mod Chip working.