dots on a disk.. resurfaced disk maybe?

[kenshin-dono]

so ive been getting a lot of ps1 rpgs lately on ebay. After getting a copy of lunar 2 that looked like a bad car wax job i have started asking people before bidding if their disks are resurfaced. I know that there are professional machines out there that supposedly do a good job tut i just dont like it, its grinding a layer off the disk. Anyway, i recently got a disk that looked alright. Just a few scratches but there is a weird thing ive never seen before. there are a series of little dots along the outer edge that go around the entire disk in a circle. It almost looks like someone put a lot of tiny fingerprints right next to eachother ina full circle.

its kinda hard to explain and even hardter to take a picture of. i took a few pics of it

http://home.comcast.net/~kenshindono/ju ... rface1.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~kenshindono/ju ... rface2.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~kenshindono/ju ... rface3.JPG

they're evenly spaced like that and in a complete ring

what the hell are these? i havent seen them before. I looked at several of my personal disks and they dont have those. Neither do any of the other used games ive bought. I need to test the game for an hour or 2. I just popped it in briefly and it seems to work ok but seemed to lag a bit durring battles when some moves were taken (its tactics ogre btw so i dunno if its just suposed to do that or if it was a fluke)

So does anyone know what the heck those dots are? is it an effect of resurfacing? How can you tell if a disk IS resurfaced? Obviously when its poorly done it looks swirly and cruddy. But the professional machines suposedly make it harder to tell, i hear they leave kinda a ring on the outer edge or something, but ive never heard about these dots

btw its not dirt, i did my standard light hand soap and water rinse, followed by an alochol wipe with a microfiber cloth and they are still there

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Basically the previous owner smoked and the smoke damaged the plastic part of the discs.

I see it at work all the time when people who smoke bring in games. Cigarettes have some nasty chemicals in them.

EDIT!: Upon further review of the pics it may not be cigarette damage, but it's still something weird.

[Weekend_Warrior]

Wow. Looks like bullet holes. Perhaps the previous owner was a rapper?

[(-_-)]

Tiny alien crop circles. Totally. Except not crops...

[dedalusdedalus]

I just purchased a copy of Persona 3 at Gamestop, and it had the same pattern on it. Needless to say, I exchanged it for a better copy.

I concluded it was a particular brand of resurfacer. The cheap resurfacers always leave a pattern. I know the MadCatz resurfacer leaves densely packed overlapping circles, and the Disc Doctor leaves densely packed curves. I've had the displeasure of owning both of these.

So I'm 95% sure this is a resurfaced disc, I just happen to not know which cheapo brand of resurfacer leaves a pattern like this.

You should probably ask for a partial refund.

[CRTGAMER]

Never seen a resurfacer leave dots. Could happen I guess.
Only just "tire tracks" going from center to edge.

Sell it on E-Bay as a holy message.

EDIT

Probably "cooked" in the car sun visor holder, or game inside a sleeve left in the car?
If you don't go the "Holy Grail" route should be able to polish it out.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 93#p240393

[kenshin-dono]

lol holy grail to alien crop circles, to bullet holes eh?

Im seriously perplexed at what this could be, and worried about the integrity of the disk.

@dedalusdedalus Was teh copy of persona 3 new or used?

It is worth mentioning that under casual light you dont even see them. Only when you hold it up to direct light and turn it at certain angles do they become visible. And actually its not just one ring like that as i first though. Theres actually TWO sets . right underneath each one you see there is another little identical fingerprint looking ring. So theres 2 perfectly aligned sets of these going in a ring around the disk. ... wtf?

I dont think smoking would do it in such a perfect pattern. Someone sugested it was heat damage.. would that leave it in such a perfect pattern?

I am worried that it may have been resurfaced, but i have never seen a resurface like this. The bad resurface jobs look like poor car wax jobs with circle swirls. Ive also seen theem where they leave a ring on the outer edge (not just residue, it doesn't wipe off) I also usually see bad resurface jobs in any kind of regular light. this one only shows up in bright direct light at the right angle

does anyone know any other tell tale signs to find out if a disk has been resurfaced? Id like to know what to look out for. Someone on another forum said they doubt its resurfaced and have never seen anything that would leave odd marks like that.

i definatly dont want to try polishing it out or anything i just want to know what the heck these are. Any other ideas?

Not really sure what to do with it. The case and manual are in great shape and other than these rings the disk itself looks pretty good with just a few light scratches. I'll have to test it thoroughly but im gonna be out and about most of the weekend. Like i said it seemed to load hard and pause for a second durring character turns for the brief moment i played it. I'll have to double check

Has anyone played/owned tactics ogre? is it supsoed to have slight loading pauses durring the moves?

[dedalusdedalus]

@dedalusdedalus Was teh copy of persona 3 new or used?

That Persona 3 was used.