PS2 CD not converting to DVD because of LBA order

[mocroboy]

Hello all,

I am new to the whole concept of ESR. I already managed to backup 10 of my games, which work perfectly. Now I want to patch the game Tom & Jerry - War of the Whiskers. I already made a backup, but I still have one problem. Because Tom and Jerry is a cd based ps2 game, I have to convert it to dvd in order to work with ESR right?

Well, the problem is I'm already trying it for hours but can't seem to find a solution. I used dvdscan and cddvdgen to rebuild the iso and I also generated filelist(dot)txt because I was aware that the game had some lba checks. The patching works fine when I use cddvdgen for generating a cd-version. I only use a dummy file (at the end of the image) when converting cd to dvd. I use the pcsx2 emulator to test my backups before patching and burning them.

I think the problem is that the data of the cd originally starts at location 96 and whenever using cddvdgen to convert it to dvd I can only start from lba 896. I can't get any lower than 896 on DVD with cdvdgen and am therefore not able to set the correct lba order. Can I rebuild the lba to start 800 adresses higher? :S

Can someone please help me, I have no clue about what to do next? Thanks in advance.


PS. Can someone please tell me if the thread doesn't belong here?

[mocroboy]

Can someone please help me, or atleast point me to the right direction? I have no idea what to do

[Berion]

If executable ELF file (i.e SCES_12345) is on the first sectors, you can move it at the end - in this way you can save some LBA (CNF and ELF cannot be checking by game because they are "boot files", so it's save to move them where you want - even they are at the end of the DVD, PS2 will boot it ).

If not, and you are sure game checking LBA, you must found this or these table(s) and edit it/them (could be anywhere in executable files *.elf/*.irx or images (IOPRP)).


But to be honest, why are you bother this? Much handy could be launch it from USB, IDE or via SMB.

[mocroboy]

If executable ELF file (i.e SCES_12345) is on the first sectors, you can move it at the end - in this way you can save some LBA (CNF and ELF cannot be checking by game because they are "boot files", so it's save to move them where you want - even they are at the end of the DVD, PS2 will boot it ).

If not, and you are sure game checking LBA, you must found this or these table(s) and edit it/them (could be anywhere in executable files *.elf/*.irx or images (IOPRP)).


But to be honest, why are you bother this? Much handy could be launch it from USB, IDE or via SMB.

Hi, thank you for your help. The reason I bother is because I want all my backups converted to DVD's. I'm aware about launching from USB and IDE, but in my opinion I find the DVD's better, I don't know why .

ONTOPIC: The boot files are already at the end so I can't try this. I tried converting from cd to cd and that worked only in the case I set the files by the order of the original LBA. If I just drag the files to cddvdgen it won't work so it has an LBA check. And what do you mean by finding the LBA? Do you mean to set the files in the order the original LBA table suggests (which is not possible when converting to dvd). Or do you simply mean changing the LBA table i.e. set another LBA order? Whenever I choose "DVD-ROM MASTER DISC" in the cddvdgen program and click on the "Layout"-tab I see that the LBA can only start from 267. I need the LBA to start at 96 just like the cd. If I need to change the LBA table can you please help me with that, because I never worked with altering the LBA table.

[Berion]

Every game which checking LBA of files must reading it from somewhere. So, in one of the files there is a table with all of them. You must find it and edit.

I hope you know something about hex editors. ;']

[mocroboy]

Hi, thank you for your answer. I do know something about hex editing, but I never tried it with altering the LBA table. Is it easy to do? And how can I find the LBA table? Again, thank you for your help and time, I appreciate it

[Berion]

Open disc image in any application which offer you viewing LBAs. Look at some high LBA value (from end of the disc) and remember it. Open hex editor, convert it to Little Endian and good luck. If you found more than one (which is very possible, look next one (above or below) - if their match you found it). Based on address you can calculate sectors, having sectors you know in which file exactly they are.

There's no standard method as also there is no standard their format. It depends of human imagination, and this one is unlimited. This even could be not based on LBA.


BTW: If table is compressed and/or encrypted you will not find anything. And you left with disassm. Unfortunately.

[uszpdoz]

well is there any specific sector that we can use for references for lba editing on elf file?

[mocroboy]

I succesfully edited the lba table, so now the first files on original lba are the last. I changed the lba adress of each file BUT it still doesn't work. Altough I do believe that the problem is not with the lba only. First I thought that my patching wasn't done properly, but now I know what the problem is. It's the sceCdMmode that needs to be patched. Only have I no clue about how to patch this kind of thing. Is there a specific value or offset I have to look for? Thanks in advance.

[Berion]

You don't need patching media check. ESR do it on the fly better than Sonix tools (which in some cases could overwrite something else...).