V-Note's Chronicle
HIGH RESOLUTION PRINT-READY ILLUSTRATED GUIDES, MAPS, WALKTHROUGHS, TIPS AND TRICKS
V-Notes
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TurboGrafx-16
Arcade
Other Systems
Additional Notes
How To Burn A PCE CD-ROM
Notes
- TurboGrafx & PC Engine CD games are Mixed Mode CDs.
- At the time that these games were produced, CDs were of 650MB capacity.
- These games were produced for playback on 4X media and hardware.
- Commercially produced CDs are pressed on a laser engraved glass master.
- Most emulators, including Magic Engine, will play a disc image that is mounted on a virtual drive.
DAO: Disc At Once
With two DAO compatible burners and DAO compatible software, you'll likely find that simply copying the disc is the best choice for creating a backup of your precious TG-16/PCE CD-ROM. Remember - brand name 650 MB media at 4x speed! This process can also potentially generate a playable disc, utilizing your burning software's error correction, in a situation where your master is scratched, cracked, or otherwise unplayable.
From RAR Files
A .RAR is an archive file that must first be extracted before it is mounted or burned.
Extract the RAR files - WinRAR for PC, or UnRARX for Mac. Generally, by beginning extraction with the RAR indicated as number 1, your unraring app will automatically complete the procedure.
The resulting files may be in any of the following formats - BIN & CUE, IMG, ISO, MP3/ISO, or WAV/ISO. Move on to the steps listed below to process the resulting files.
From BIN & CUE
A BIN & CUE is ideal, as it will require no fiddling. Open your CD burning app - Nero for PC, Toast for Mac. The BIN & CUE should be in the same folder.
Nero
From Burning Rom, select Folder/Open, than select the CUE sheet. Select the Disc-At-Once/96 write method. Assuming the BIN/CUE was properly prepared, all of the CD tracks will load properly. Burn at the slowest speed, 4x is ideal as the TG-16/PCE CD-ROM is a 4x device. There are reports of premature wear to NEC hardware using discs which are burned at faster speeds, particularly to the laser's lense. There are still manufacturers who produce suitable replacements for these lenses.
Always verify a burn by checking the "Verify Written Data" box, before the burn is complete. This goes for everything from CD-ROMs to DVD-Video. If you have issues burning a BIN & CUE with Nero, try CDRWin
Toast
I imagine, just as with Nero, you would simply open the CUE file. Let me know. : )
From ISO/CUE/MP3
An MP3/ISO folder can work with emulators such as MednafenX-PCE for XBox. Some emulators utilize the CUE sheet, allowing the use of MP3/ISOs or WAV/ISOs, however MagicEngine does not. Simply select the CUE sheet, within the emulator, to run the game. To create a usable CD-ROM you will need to convert the MP3 files to 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo PCM WAV tracks.
From ISO/CUE/WAV
Most important is the ISO file, which contains the actual game, PSG sounds, etc. The WAV files, naturally, contain the ADPCM audio tracks. You can create a playable disc without the WAV files - sans awesome music.
Track 1 contains the format warning notice. Track 2 is the game ISO. Track 3, and beyond, contain the game's audio tracks. Finally, the last track on the disc may contain a duplicate of the ISO, added to improve seek times, followed by a leadout track. This second ISO track is typically found in NEC's Super CD ROM line of games.
For proper burning of a TG-16/PCE CD-ROM, you need a CUE sheet to instruct the burning software with the proper in/out points for the audio tracks.
Burning a Mac .DMG or .IMG Image File on a PC
Put a blank disc in your burner drive. Drag the image onto the drive in My Computer. Click 'Burn the Contents to CD'.
CUE Sheet
A Cue Sheet is a text file with a .CUE file extension. Also known as a Cue File, this document's purpose is to instruct CD authoring software how to indicate tracks or indexes during the burn process for access during playback. This file is essential in the case where the data is stored in a single Image file, such as a .BIN, where you cannot see the tracks to write your own Cue Sheet.
In the situation where you have all of the isolated audio and data tracks, make sure the filenames of the sound and data files match the names given in the Cue Sheet.
TOC File
The TOC (Table Of Contents) file is used by emulators. It contains the track's name, type (audio-0 or data-1), start time, and Logical Block Address (LBA). The TOC is a text file with a .LSN or .TOC file extension.
I honestly don't understand this file. A TOC is also a portion of an optical disc that is contained within the disc's Lead-In portion.
CUE & TOC Archive
Necstasy.net
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