What to do about a non working game disc (Valkyrie Profile disc 2)?

[erehwon]

I'm playing through Valkyrie Profile and I've finally gotten to the second disc. It stops working when I go from world map to any place on the map. The bottom of the disc doesn't look that bad. I'll try cleaning it off, but that doesn't work, I'll take it to gamecrazy and try their disc buffer.

Do you have any other advice? I'm hoping I don't have to track down another copy of disk 2. The only other thing I can think to do is to download an iso of the disk and play it in an psx emulator. That wouldn't work very well since I don't think I can transfer my save from my ps2 to my computer.

This sucks. I was really wanting to get farther in and see the A ending.

[gepeto]

I say try another machine before the resurfacing. I have a copy of csi for the xbox it won't work in one of my xbox. I thought it was the cd ,cd player turns out to be a fluke with the system board. I have had no other problems with any other games but that one. Good luck of all the games for this to happen tooooo. Couldn't happen to a sports game it had to be valkrye.

[erehwon]

I say try another machine before the resurfacing. I have a copy of csi for the xbox it won't work in one of my xbox. I thought it was the cd ,cd player turns out to be a fluke with the system board. I have had no other problems with any other games but that one. Good luck of all the games for this to happen tooooo. Couldn't happen to a sports game it had to be valkrye.

That didn't work. I managed to find my ps1 and power that up real quick. Get the same thing. It was a good idea to try. I wonder if I should try cleaning the disk with the same cleaning solution and cloth that I use to clean my glasses?

[BocoDragon]

Unless there is a deep crack or you melted it or something, you can usually restore it to new. Since you say the disc doesn't look too bad, there may be hope!

Just look for one of those disc restoration places. Perhaps a used DVD/game store or video rental place will have the service.

This way, I've had near unplayable games restored to good-as-new.

[udisi]

yeah, might as well try and buff it. it's useless unless ya try, you can't make it worse.

[8Ways2Tuesday]

I'll second (or third, or fourth) taking it to a rental place and having it buffed. I had a near-perfect copy of Grandia Xtreme that just wouldn't go past the loading screen... sent it out through the local rental... and a week later, the game was flawless looking and worked perfectly.

[Mr. Smashy]

Having the disc resurfaced probably won't hurt it but it may just be a waste of time. Try holding the disc up to a lamp and looking at the bottom to see if any bright spots of light shine through the data layer. If there are you should be able to spot any damage that has been done through the label side of the disc. Alternately, you could try using a program like Nero CD-DVD Speed. It has a scandisk feature that'll tell you whether some parts of the disc are difficult to read or completely unreadable. I just ran a check on my Valkyrie Profile disc 2 and there were no problem sectors on the disc at all.

[Wolf]

I am not trying to claim this as fact or anything, but there is a rumor around ( and someone also included it in a faq ) that the original VP1 discs are ULTRA senstivie to scratches, to the point even a minor scratch can render it unplayable, it seems highly odd to me but it is possible, I guess I just don't see how a ps1 disc which is pressed like any other would have a unique problem like this.

This is taken from gamefaqs psp version ( but has everything to do with the topic at hand ) from Captain K's walkthrough:

=================================
2) Frequently Asked Questions
=================================

Q: Why is this game so expensive?

A: Supply and demand. Only 73,000 copies were sold in North America. In
addition, the game is extremely sensitive to scratches. The smallest scratch
can make it unplayable, so not all of those copies work. Combine that with
excellent word of mouth that this is a must-play game, and the game is
suddenly impossible to find for less than $100.

[BocoDragon]

Q: Why is this game so expensive?

A: Supply and demand. Only 73,000 copies were sold in North America. In
addition, the game is extremely sensitive to scratches. The smallest scratch
can make it unplayable, so not all of those copies work. Combine that with
excellent word of mouth that this is a must-play game, and the game is
suddenly impossible to find for less than $100.

Maybe that was just a obvious explanation of how disc games get destroyed easily, rendering the amount of copies even smaller, and increasing rarity?

[Wolf]

Nah, he states "The smallest scratch
can make it unplayable" well I dunno his exact view on the smallest scratch, but what alot consider the smallest scratch on a ps1-2 disc normaly means it plays fine, deep scratches or whatnot would normaly cause nasty skips or it not even working at all.

I have never read anyone use a description like this for games let alone on a faq and I have read about this so called issue wth vp1 before.

Look at rental dvd's those buggers are scratched to shit half the time and still work, again no clue if his faq is true on this aspect but it is possible I guess.

[BocoDragon]

Nah, he states "The smallest scratch
can make it unplayable" well I dunno his exact view on the smallest scratch, but what alot consider the smallest scratch on a ps1-2 disc normaly means it plays fine, deep scratches or whatnot would normaly cause nasty skips or it not even working at all.

I have never read anyone use a description like this for games let alone on a faq and I have read about this so called issue wth vp1 before.

Look at rental dvd's those buggers are scratched to shit half the time and still work, again no clue if his faq is true on this aspect but it is possible I guess.

Don't see how that could be. CDs are CDs. Any game with streaming data should have an equal chance of failure... and VP only has voices, not stream heavy at all.

[PapaStu]

There could just as easily be a problem with the data itself from the intial burn not just because there are scratcheson the disc. I've had similar issues with other PS games (Mega Man Legends, wouldn't load a specific area of the game without crashing and there were no surface or topside scratches), CD's DVD's and pretty much anything thats on a disc based medium. A buffing is about all that you can do.

[erehwon]

Having the disc resurfaced probably won't hurt it but it may just be a waste of time. Try holding the disc up to a lamp and looking at the bottom to see if any bright spots of light shine through the data layer. If there are you should be able to spot any damage that has been done through the label side of the disc. Alternately, you could try using a program like Nero CD-DVD Speed. It has a scandisk feature that'll tell you whether some parts of the disc are difficult to read or completely unreadable. I just ran a check on my Valkyrie Profile disc 2 and there were no problem sectors on the disc at all.

I did go out earlier today and had a guy at gamecrazy use their resurfacing machine on the disc. It didn't work. The guy was nice enough to not charge me anything since it didn't work.

I also tried that nero tool you suggested. The surface scan showed 97.1% good and 2.9 damaged. That was the read test. I tried the C1/C2 test and it showed like 5.1% damaged with some actual red spots (though bad shows still at 0%).

One thing I was wondering was if I could make a copy of the disc to get around those scratches. I think a ps1 I got from a garage sale has a modchip in it. I normally don't like this idea, but right now I just want to play it. I can track down a working disc later. I really want to get through this game since I just picked up VP2 from Circuit City for $30.

[geneshifter]

Are you against emulation at all? If you have a physical copy of the game, I wouldn't hesitate to use an emulator for it. Just an idea.

I did go out earlier today and had a guy at gamecrazy use their resurfacing machine on the disc. It didn't work. The guy was nice enough to not charge me anything since it didn't work.

I also tried that nero tool you suggested. The surface scan showed 97.1% good and 2.9 damaged. That was the read test. I tried the C1/C2 test and it showed like 5.1% damaged with some actual red spots (though bad shows still at 0%).

One thing I was wondering was if I could make a copy of the disc to get around those scratches. I think a ps1 I got from a garage sale has a modchip in it. I normally don't like this idea, but right now I just want to play it. I can track down a working disc later. I really want to get through this game since I just picked up VP2 from Circuit City for $30.

[erehwon]

Are you against emulation at all? If you have a physical copy of the game, I wouldn't hesitate to use an emulator for it. Just an idea.

I'm not against emulation. I just like to play from original disk if possible. Not to mention I was talking about making a copy of the disk. I didn't want to make it sound like that was something I'd do alot.

[erehwon]

Does anyone here have any advice on playing a backup ps1 disc on a ps1 or ps2? I'm not going to make a habit of playing with backups, but I really want to continue on with this game.

I took a look at that ps1 of mine. It does look like it has a modchip. I didn't take it apart completely, so I could only see some wires on the bottom of the motherboard with some duct tape over it. Should a chipped ps1 just play backups or do you have to do something special for that to happen? This thing is being rather finicky, which might be why they were getting rid of it. I've tried the backup, but it doesn't work. It goes to a white sony screen, to a black, and it doesn't get beyond that.

I'm wondering if it is worh it to continue with this option? If I could do ps1 backups and ps2 imports on my ps2, then it might. I might just have to find someone to trade with for another copy of that game.

[erehwon]

Thanks for all the advice. I was examining my disk a little closer today and I noticed something that might explain why I wasn't able to fix the disk. When held up to a light, I can see light through two little holes. I'm guessing there's nothing I can do to remedy that.

[Hwj_Chim]

Yes holes are very bad, That is how I lost a SOTN disk. your best bet would be to find a iso on the web, burn it and use the modded playstation you have to play it

[Wolf]

Before I bought my j ps2 I found an ( seriously ) almost mint psx ( old bulky model ) for $2 at a yard sale, I also had an old code breaker disk, having these two things and crazy glue gives you a region free psx.

Basicly ( as long as you dont care and who would they are worthless ) you crazy glue down the disc spring opener ( or you can do the pain in the ass way by making one out of a paper clip ) and whenever you boot up the psx with the cb disc you just hit start and insert your na, j or burned psx disc and it plays.

It is not 100% perfect but it has worked for me almost every time, you just gotta be fast with swapping the disc.