Un Selfboot a game

Oxfam · #1 05-07-2003, 17:57

hi

I have a selfboot game that i would like to make unselfbootable (so that it would need the utopia disc)

I know everyone wants it the other way round and its a strange question but is there a way of doing this?.

Thanks

Darkfalz · #2 05-07-2003, 19:17

It's easy, but perhaps if you tell me why you'd want to do this, I can offer a better solution.

Oxfam · #3 05-07-2003, 19:36

hi

Well i want to do it as i want to give this to some of my dreamcast friends in England and other parts of Europe now that we have found at PBA Bowling works Online.

But the game does not work on PAL dreamcast and ive tried everything possible and used patches but it still wont work

So as a last resort i want to take out the selfboot part and then load it up using the Utopia disc, i know its a long shot but its the only thing i can think of to get this game working on PAL consoles

Thanks

itoledo · #4 05-07-2003, 20:18

if the game is in cdi format, use cdirip to get the tracks.
if you get one audio track and one data track, you're ok. if it has many audio tracks you have to do some nasty stuff to make it work.

take note of the lba of the 2nd track (data)
isofix it:

Code:

isofix tdata02.iso 11700

now extract it using isobuster
copy the bootfile.bin (created by isofix) to the game dir (created with isobuster) with IP.BIN as the filename
now you have two options:
1. hack the 1st_read.bin and the other bin files with binhack or other tools, then do this:

Code:

mkisofs -C 0,0 -l -o hacked.iso -V "game label" GAME_DIR

typical GAME_DIR is GAMENAME_ECH or something like that (it was created with isobuster)
burn that iso file and that's it.

2. create an iso file with the same offsets as the first file:

Code:

mkisofs -C 0,11700 -l -o out.iso GAME_DIR
isofix out.iso 11700

the advantage of this method is that you can use this if you have a game that can't be hacked (skies of arcadia, ...)

the key of a boot-disc game is the IP.BIN. if you don't put it, you're screwed. also remember to hack the files.

of course replace the 11700 with the LBA you game has (typical values: 11700, 11702, 45000)

also check xeal.cjb.net, that site rules. it has many tutorials for this stuff.

jeffma68 · #5 06-07-2003, 01:28

it is very easy
just copy all file to Data folder
then binhack 1ST_READ.BIN to 0
burn with NERO

binhack
enter the name of binary : 1ST_READ.BIN
enter the name of bootsector: IP.BIN
enter the lba: 0

then burn with NERO Level2 Mode1 ISO9660

Oxfam · #6 06-07-2003, 05:53

Thanks for the help m8s

It looks hard to me as im not a Dreamcast expert like you guys

djgarf · #7 06-07-2003, 07:32

it will not work!
it's nothing to do with it being selfboot it's to do with the fact that it's a wince game and hard coded to ntsc systems only!
i would like to try this too but i doubt i will get the chance

Oxfam · #8 06-07-2003, 08:02

I know it probbly wont work but while im doing it im going to have a mess around with the LBA and see if that changes anything.

Only problem is i cant understand how to use ISOFix as when i type in the file name nothing happens

and when i press enter it shuts down

Oxfam · #9 06-07-2003, 09:10

HI jeffma68 when i open first read bin i get around 6.000.000 numbers and words, i looked for the LBA string with HEX Workshop but i couldnt find what i needed to change.

Sorry for making this thead biger and bigger but im very very new to this kind of stuff

Megalexxx · #10 06-07-2003, 11:00

Even if you boot it with the boot disc, the protection will still be there...

Oxfam · #11 06-07-2003, 11:15

Ahh thanks Megalexxx

So there will never be away to play this on PAL consoles then?

Thanks

Darkfalz · #12 08-07-2003, 02:23

Codebreaker is the only device I know that can actually boot a system in any region (that actually works) but it doesn't work with backups. Besides you can't actually select the region, it will pick the region of the detected GD.