Sort Order From Original Releases
 

First post here....

Been an active reader for quite some time now.
Just wanted to know if it's possible to extract the sort order for a DC game from the image itself (eg. CDI). I know darkfalz has a SortTxt archive up, and this may benefit his cause and mine.

I also realise that some release groups never sorted their images before release, so this might only work for some of the release groups.

EDIT>>
After reading Darkfalz website, found out how to get the sort order from iso's. Tried this with a few of my discs and found that through my playing with the files on them, have totally stuffed the ordering (compared to original sort files from GD-Roms). If someone else has the original images of these release's, maybe you could try the method on Darkfalz website (using IsoBuster and listing files to a text doc). This might help with getting as many sort files and helping us guys that have scratched GD's.
EDIT>>

EDIT>>
Darkfalz, I will try and get the sorts for NBA2k and Urban Chaos tonight and send them through..
EDIT>>

Also, I can't seem to get a full image from any of my games. It always seems to stop recieving and spit garble in TeraTerm at random times (so I doubt it's a disc issue). Any ideas??

Thanks

MagicRat

I have a couple of sorts I didn't upload yet, I'll get around to those this weekend. My tutorial is fairly easy to follow, I hope.

As for your Teraterm problem, that's a problem I had when I started. There is a problem with either Dreamrip or Teraterm or maybe even windows that just causes it to stuff up midway though for no reason. Keep in mind it will also stuff up if you have a finicky laser that can't read a portion of the disc.

I find that I can usually get a successful rip doing it from a fresh boot, and not touching the computer while it is ripping. Of course this means not using the computer for hours on end, and disable the screensaver first.

This seems more of an issue with 9x boxes. I'm ripping a game right now in fact on XP and I've ripped another game on it before, and didn't experience the problem. I'm sure it can still happen, just less likely to happen since 2k/XP is better at priority management and multitasking.

Thanks for the advice.....

Good to see another aussie around here. I actually just pulled out my DC after months of neglecting it and decided it was time to fix the power supply (restarting randomly during games). Fixed that and about an hour later, had the laser go. Recalibrated that and now has been working fine.

I'm using XP and disabled Nortons and everything else running. Biggest file size I got was 49MB with Sega Bass Fishing. Got my cable from Lik-Sang about a year ago. Thinking of either a reformat, or Virtual PC. Will let you know if it works out okay.

MagicRat

I've never had that reset problem, it's weird. If you're usually getting the error around the same time on the rip then probably the disc is damaged. I doubt VirtualPC will do you any good.

Started Urban Chaos [PAL] around 1pm today (first attempt) and is still going (touch wood). Is up to 250MB out of 460MB, so morning may have it done.

I did a fresh format this morning and only loaded on the essentials. I was going to use Virtual PC to test software and load-in programs that may only use once or twice.

Bought the cable from Lik-Sang around a year ago, and read somewhere that they had a problem and were only set up for homebrew stuff. Believed it till now and glad I'm trying it out again.

Just out of curiosity, Darkfalz, how many originals do you have? I've got 10, but looking to increase with some title's I really want. And do you use the BBA or Coder's Cable??

MagicRat

I own about 70 originals, maybe a bit less, I could count right now but couldn't be bothered. Most are PAL but I do have a few NTSC games that either I wanted because the PAL versions sucked (50 Hz only) or I just snapped up a couple together cheap. I have about 20 more games I ripped from a friend, shame I don't know more people with a DC. And yes, all through the trusty old coder's cable at 10 kb/sec - so I know it can be done!

Make sure you keep your original ripped images (RAR them up) and maybe we can do a trade some day.

Sort text help
 

make shure you label your sort correctly if using mkisofs it has to look like this
data/000DUMMY.DAT 80000
data/1ST_READ.BIN 79000
data/AUDIO64.DRV 78000
data/GENERICSOUNDFX.KAT 77000
data/MP.TXT 76000
data/LANG.TXT 75000
data/SHADOW.LVL 74000
data/SYSTEM.TXP 73000
data/SYSTEM.LVL 72000
data/TITLE.TXP 71000
data/TITLE.LVL 70000
data/BACKDROP.TXP 69000
data/CREDITS.TXP 68000
data/SEFTON.TXP 67000
data/CREDITS.LVL 66000
data/SEFTON.LVL 65000
data/TESTMAP.TXP 64000
data/TESTMAP.LVL 63000
data/CHAL7.TXP 62000
data/WAD.TXT 61000
data/CHAL7.LVL 60000
data/CHAL6.TXP 59000
data/CHAL6.LVL 58000
data/CHAL5.TXP 57000
data/CHAL5.LVL 56000
data/CHAL4.TXP 55000
data/CHAL4.LVL 54000
data/CHAL3.TXP 53000
data/CHAL3.LVL 52000
data/CHAL2.TXP 51000
data/CHAL2.LVL 50000
data/CHAL1.TXP 49000
data/CHAL1.LVL 48000
data/ALIEN.TXP 47000
data/ALIEN.LVL 46000
data/SHADOW.TXP 45000
data/BACKDROP.LVL 44000
data/MPTANKS.TXP 43000
data/MPTANKS.LVL 42000
data/ICE.TXP 41000
data/ICE.LVL 40000
data/CITY.TXP 39000
data/CITY.LVL 38000
data/CANYON.TXP 37000
data/CANYON.LVL 36000
data/VOLCANO.TXP 35000
data/VOLCANO.LVL 34000
data/ARENA16.TXP 33000
data/ARENA16.LVL 32000
data/ARENA15.TXP 31000
data/ARENA15.LVL 30000
data/ARENA14.TXP 29000
data/ARENA14.LVL 28000
data/ARENA13.TXP 27000
data/ARENA13.LVL 26000
data/ARENA12.TXP 25000
data/ARENA12.LVL 24000
data/ARENA11.TXP 23000
data/ARENA11.LVL 22000
data/ARENA10.TXP 21000
data/ARENA10.LVL 20000
data/ARENA9.TXP 19000
data/ARENA9.LVL 18000
data/ARENA8.TXP 17000
data/ARENA8.LVL 16000
data/ARENA7.TXP 15000
data/ARENA7.LVL 14000
data/ARENA6.TXP 13000
data/ARENA6.LVL 12000
data/ARENA5.TXP 11000
data/ARENA5.LVL 10000
data/ARENA4.TXP 9000
data/ARENA4.LVL 8000
data/ARENA3.TXP 7000
data/ARENA3.LVL 6000
data/ARENA2.TXP 5000
data/ARENA2.LVL 4000
data/ARENA1.TXP 3000
data/ARENA1.LVL 2000
data/HYDRO.TXP 1000
data/HYDRO.LVL 900
data/VOLCANOBOSS.STR 800
data/VOLCANO.STR 700
data/TRIP2.STR 600
data/TITLE.STR 500
data/LEVELCOM.STR 400
data/ICEBOSS.STR 300
data/ICE.STR 200
data/HYDROBOSS.STR 100
data/HYDRO.STR 99
data/HAPPY.STR 98
data/FREAKTOR.STR 97
data/FIBS.STR 96
data/CITYBOSS.STR 95
data/CITY.STR 94
data/CANYONBOSS.STR 93
data/CANYON.STR 92
data/BRIEFING.STR 91
data/ALIENBOSS.STR 90
data/ALIENBASE.STR 70
data/0GDTEX.PVR 1


you have to have them in proper sort order not a-z and the higher the number the first file on the cd i use this method and my sorts always make the cd in perfect order not 1 file out of place but make shure every file listed in the sort text is in the dir to iso if 1 line in your sorttext contains a file that isnt thier mkisofs will just trash the list and arrange a-z ignoring anything left in the sort

i think that yes on some game YOU have to use a sorttxt
But for faster loading you need to use the size of the files listing the smaller files first and the larger files last so pushing the big files to the outer edge so u get faster reading and yes the games do load faster

DCP
#DC-chat

Do you have a tool that will make a sorttxt based on file size rather than lba?