problem with neogeo/ps2 6b emulator

[evilo]

Ok, here is my idea about the swap, just tell me if I'm wrong (never used it since I had both of my ps2 premodded).

When using swap method, only the TOC of the first disc is seen. So when, after, you insert the neogeo game, the emulator only see the swap magic TOC (so without CDDA).

-> TOC is not refreshed with swapmagic ??

is this coherent for you ? I'd like to understand and to find a workaround for this.

I checked again in the emulator, and the code is doing (more or less) :

1. check for a neogeo CD (swap screen)
2. load games files (*.spr, *.fix, etc..) from the cdrom
3. init audio (audsrv)
4. init & check for cdda tracks

and this is correct...

let me know,
evilo

[Ps2fanatico]

This is a very good theory Evilo,
I think it might be the problem; Since, like you said, the emulator is loaded without cdda.
But what if you could make the cdda from the emulator already activated, instead of turning on once you boot it.
This could probably solve the problem or perhaps We could give it a try.
Good thinking Evilo.
Let me know if could be posible to release 6b with the cdda on. And I will try it my self.
Thanks,
Evilo

[evilo]

the CDDA is turned on by default in the emulator code (in last version ->0.6x).

You have to turn it on, because it has been turned off by default in previous version and saved like this in your memory card (where option are saved).

If you trash you ngcd save on the MC and then start the emu, cdda will be turned on by default.

evilo.

[evilo]

Also, about the TOC issue,

while browsing the internet I found this about the swap magic 3.6 :

# TOC refresh mechanism allows the PS2 Swap Magic 3.6 to play all of those large TOC games which could not be played before.

so... if I understand well, if you manage to burn your neocd game with a TOC larger than your swap magic, it could work ??

damn... we don't have any swap expert here...

mod your consoles guys

[Gan1664]

Hello !

I'm not an expert but i have a little experience with swapping:

PS2 and PSone cd are mode2 cd, and no game is bigger than 621 Mb ( 72 min ). But breaker pro is compatible with both systems, it is a 100 min PSone CD.
Yes when you swap, the console use the TOC of the first CD to boot the second.
I use swap magic 3.0 and there is no TOC refresh.
I use independance exploit ( and cogswap loader ) with breaker pro for big cd.
Both discs are mode2 CD.

Now the big problem is: the PS2 ( and i think PSone too ), don't recognise mode1 CD ( only with a mod, maybe on the last version?), and the NeoGeo CD are all mode1 mixed-mode.

To make it work, i copy all files on the pc, make a mode2 CD with them and the emulator, and swapping with Swap Magic or other.
For CDDA, i try CDrom mode 2 XA to put the audio tracks but no audio is working ( only sounds FX ).
I think swapping is not compatible with CDDA, as you said, we need a mode 1 cd working with ps2 and having audio tracks on it.

Maybe with swap magic 3.6 ??? It would be very nice !

[Gan1664]

Evilo,

my dream is the emulator can read iso of the games and have a browser.

If there is a browser and the ability to read iso, we could put many games on a CD or DVD.
With this options, all nomod users like me could have CDDA working unless it will be impossible ( i think ).

Thank you either for you really good job, i prefer play without music instead of not playing at all.

PS: Most of CD i have make for 0.5 version with the emulator inside don't work with 0.6 ! ( boot 0.6 and swap with old CD )

[evilo]

So still about the swap and the toc refresh issue,

After a few investigations, tries and talks, it appears that it's impossible to bypass the ps2 routine to read the toc (I wanted to make a raw read of the sector, but since the area where the TOC is stored is a special one, it cannot be accessed that way, and you must use the getToc function of the drive).

So my next try will be to try to force the TOC refresh , altough I still don't know how to do this...


Else Last chance is to find a way to make it working, maybe with swap magic 3.6 that allows to refresh the toc ?

So at this point, tell me if I'm wrong, but CDDA are working only on modded PS2 ?

If neocd is launched from the MC (using the exploit for i.e.), it is not working ?

sorry,
evilo.

[evilo]

Evilo,

my dream is the emulator can read iso of the games and have a browser.

If there is a browser and the ability to read iso, we could put many games on a CD or DVD.
With this options, all nomod users like me could have CDDA working unless it will be impossible ( i think ).

Thank you either for you really good job, i prefer play without music instead of not playing at all.

PS: Most of CD i have make for 0.5 version with the emulator inside don't work with 0.6 ! ( boot 0.6 and swap with old CD )

Yeah, now that the emulation is almost complete (cdda is almost done), I was thinking about adding iso support MAYBE in a futur version, once I would have a bit more of free time to work on it.

Then with iso support there is two solution :
ISO + MP3 : but the ps2 is not powerfull enough to emulate the neocd and play mp3 tracks
full ISO (including CDDA) : yeah, that way the audio stream (for music) would be read from the ISO file, instead of the CDDA track and would allow nomod user to benefit of the music. But since full ISO images are big, that would only be possible on a DVD (I mean to have more than 1 game per cd/dvd).

anyway, even if having this and a little browser would be great, it's not for tomorrow, sorry but I don't have the time to implement this right now, but I keep it in mind for later !!

and Thank you very much for your support

[Dmnj]

we need a mode 1 cd working with ps2 and having audio tracks on it.

mode 1 = data mode only (one track)
mode 2 = data track + audio tracks
There's no way to put audio tracks on a mode 1 disc.