Hello & a question about .cdi compiling...

[Jackie Harris]

Hello! I've been lurking for a while, but this is my first post. Really glad to see people keeping the spirit of Shenmue alive! There's so much great research & work stored here.

I've been trying to educate myself on Shenmue hacking by searching the dojo & elsewhere, trial & error, etc. I don't like wasting people's time with obvious questions, but I'm stumped enough to ask for help on this:

What's the best way to recompile ripped .cdi files back into a .cdi? For example let's say I have the contents of Shenmue disc 1 - all the folders, FIGHT, FONT, HANGON, etc. - and I've changed some textures or whatever. How do I take the disc contents & recompile them back into a .cdi for running on an emulator or burning to disc?

I've seen a few clues online but usually in old guides with unclear instructions. What do you guys recommend as the best way to do this?

Sorry if this is obvious but I'm new to this. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[wude]

well, the best way is to get the GDI versions and use the shentrad tools.

[Jackie Harris]

Hi Wude

Okay, I got the GDI versions and downloaded the shentrad tools. I then used Gdi2Data to extract the files from the GDIs.

Now I've got the same thing as before - the same folders (FIGHT, FONT, HANGON, etc.) plus 0GDTEX.PVR, 1ST_READ.BIN, DISCNUM.BIN. I know I can use the shentrad tools to extract files, change them, whatever. However, I still have the same problem - how do I recompile all these files back into an image I can either run on an emulator or burn to disc?

I appreciate your help but can you please be more precise than "use the shentrad tools"? I'm a beginner. Thanks.

[wude]

you can use the selfboot_DATA to create a non bootable nrg image that you need to mount using alcohol or daemon tools, you can also use bootmake to create a cdi file.

[Jackie Harris]

Sorry, I'm still not getting it...

selfboot_DATA: I'm guessing this is the Dreamcast Test Environment included in the shentrad tools (it says it's based on the Selfboot Data Pack). So I put my extracted GDI files in the 'data' folder, make sure there's an IP.BIN in the root folder, and run makedisc.bat. Result: error message saying -

"mkisofs: Invalid argument. Open by 'devname' not supported on this OS. Cannot open SCSI driver.
mkisofs: Invalid argument. Unable to open previous session image data1.iso"

So no nrg image is created. It just fails. I can't find anything online that explains why.

bootmake: I downloaded bootmake 1.1, select source directory (root of GDI files), select IP.BIN, select destination file. The .cdi is created, no problem. When I run the .cdi in NullDC it gets to the Sega logo then hangs. Nothing else happens.

I'm having no luck so far! Any idea what the problem could be?

[wude]

"mkisofs: Invalid argument. Open by 'devname' not supported on this OS. Cannot open SCSI driver.
mkisofs: Invalid argument. Unable to open previous session image data1.iso

wow! what os are you running?

as for bootmake, it dosen't work 100%.

[Jackie Harris]

Win XP. Nothing exotic!

Bootmake - oh well, will have to try to find something else.

[wude]

try asking the shentrad team

http://www.metagames-eu.com/forums/dreamcast/projet-traduction-des-sous-titres-de-shenmue-1-et-2-a-320-65066.html

[Jackie Harris]

I'll do that. I'll report back if I figure it out.

Thanks for the help!

[silversons100thaccount]

You probably have it down by now but if not

Check out the tutorials on snesorama by the member TuxTheWise. There is one tutorial from getting the files from a GDI rip., and another for getting those files into a bootable CDI. Only thing that worked for me because I searched all over for this exact kind of thing not too long back.

[wude]

links?

[silversons100thaccount]

http://snesorama.us/board/showpost.php? ... ostcount=1
http://snesorama.us/board/showpost.php? ... ostcount=1


Very long, and has a lot of information that isn't necessary.