Sega CD Has No Copyprotection?

[alec006]

BTW I've been told that you can just use conventional CD burning technology to back up your Sega CD's, and that all CD players can play off of CD-R's without any disc swapping or anything like that. Not sure what else there is for me to say about a topic that I clearly know nothing about...

Got this off of an Atari Age fourm tread,so is it true you can just copy the SegaCD Files off the disc along with the music files burn them to a CD-R and they will work on a Sega CD?

[Cryomancer]

you can't just copy the FILES over and do it that way as far as i know, but if you do a full disc image rip, yes you can backup your original discs and then burn to cd-r and it should work. I did this with a few of my titles.

[InsaneDavid]

You want to make a direct 1-to-1 copy of your games for proper archival. I actually had an e-mail about this I responded to a couple weeks ago so I put most of that information here. Please understand that I DO NOT ADVOCATE OR CONDONE PIRACY, so don't ask about SCD ISOs. Quoting the e-mail I wrote now...

"Now if your burner won't copy the discs properly or you come across the files online there are some things you need to know.

First, there are two formats - the first being BIN/WAV. BIN/WAV dupliates are EXACT dumps of a SCD and thereby are very large. The BIN file is the game data (track 1) and the WAV files are any segregated audio, the wav files are DIRECT duplicates of the original disc and thereby run perfectly. It's the native format of a SCD.

The second format is ISO/MP3 and it is far more common. The ISO file is the game data (track 1) and the MP3 files are the original WAV data compressed to take up less space. The problem with these is that when compressed into MP3's the audio changes just slightly in duration of time. So some audio might not be synched properly in cut scenes, there may be some audio cue lags, and some games (such as Lunar The Silver Star) will not load if their audio clips are not exactly the correct lengths of time.

Now to get ISO/MP3 files to work properly on a SCD or X'Eye there is a slight process involved using Sega Cue Maker but searching Google for how to play SCD backups on an SCD should point you in the right direction. Search around and read some tutorials if you're going to go that route. However making direct 1-to-1 copies of your games is far easier and will yeild more solid results - be sure to burn them slowly, around 8x or so."

[§ Gideon §]

If you don't condone piracy, you shouldn't be concerned with ISO/MP3, don't you think? Back-ups should always be done with a global image.

[InsaneDavid]

If you don't condone piracy, you shouldn't be concerned with ISO/MP3, don't you think?

As I said, that was parts of an e-mail I answered awhile back. ISO/MP3 information is useful if you have sealed copies of SCD games and would like to play the content without opening them.

[squirrelnut]

This is the real answer:

Yes you can just dupe 1-1 burns. Theres no copyright protection. Think of how many people had cd burners back then. I've done with with plenty of games. Nothing like drag 'n' drop piracy

[SkiDragon]

I have a sealed game that I would like to play. I downloaded the ISO/MP3, converted the MP3s to .wavs, downloaded an automatic .CUE generator, and burnt the .CUE file using Nero. Unfortunately, the SegaCD only recognized it as a music CD, and the music played. Do you know why it isnt working?

[squirrelnut]

burn it at the slowest speed possible 4x or below. check the disk in your computer. it should just have a bunch of random files on there.

[InsaneDavid]

I have a sealed game that I would like to play. I downloaded the ISO/MP3, converted the MP3s to .wavs, downloaded an automatic .CUE generator, and burnt the .CUE file using Nero. Unfortunately, the SegaCD only recognized it as a music CD, and the music played. Do you know why it isnt working?

Burn slow as possible, 12x or slower as squirrelnut said. How you name the files is what is important here. For insance...

You're burning Sonic CD from ISO / MP3. You need to rename the files as...

Sonic.iso
Sonic02.wav
Sonic03.wav
Sonic04.wav

And so forth. Make sense? The WAV files have to follow in sequence to what the name of the ISO file is. The ISO counts as track one. After you have things like that use Sega Cue Maker and then burn the .CUE file. Some games (such as Lunar: The Silver Star) will only work if the wav files are EXACTLY the length that the ISO will be looking for. Usually the audio is nipped and tucked here and there when converted to MP3 and back. However that's the only game I've come across like that.

[SkiDragon]

I always burn at 4x, which is my slowest speed. The converted .wavs have the same name as the MP3s, but I'll double check the filenames. I have directly copied some of my other games and those work fine. I dont know if the CUE generator I used is "Sega Cue Maker", so I'll have to double check that too.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Also, note that standard (as in, officially released) SegaCD games don't have copy protection. But GoodDealGames supposedly added it to one of their releases... I think it was that Chu Chu Rocket knockoff they did.

Note, I say supposedly. I never played the game, but I recall reading about it on their website. I could be wrong.

[SkiDragon]

I wanst using "Sega Cue Maker", I was using a different program. I made a new cue using "Sega Cue Maker". This time the Sega CD recognizes the game. The specific game I am trying to burn is Shining Force CD. For some parts there is normal music, like in the title sequence, although the narrator's voice lags behind the words. However, in the game, instead of normal music there is the most horrible digital noise I have ever heard. I converted the mp3s to wavs, and they sound fine on my computer. I dont know why I get this horrible noise.

[InsaneDavid]

I wanst using "Sega Cue Maker", I was using a different program. I made a new cue using "Sega Cue Maker". This time the Sega CD recognizes the game. The specific game I am trying to burn is Shining Force CD. For some parts there is normal music, like in the title sequence, although the narrator's voice lags behind the words. However, in the game, instead of normal music there is the most horrible digital noise I have ever heard. I converted the mp3s to wavs, and they sound fine on my computer. I dont know why I get this horrible noise.

Some games (such as the first Lunar) require the audio files to be the EXACT same length as they were on the original commercial release. The compression / expansion from .wav to .mp3 and back to .wav again throws this off. That's why there are audio cue problems. Lunar The Silver Star for instance won't even get past the "Working Designs Presents" screen unless the audio tracks are the correct length. You could try recutting them to fit the originals (I don't have track lists for this, sorry) but it doesn't always work.

The junk output you are getting could be internal game sounds (non .wav file stuff) crashing due to an audio track not being the proper length the program file is looking for.

Although not always ideal, 1-to-1 duplication is really the only true route to making accurate Sega CD backups.

[Cryomancer]

iso/mp3 is probably the cause fo your problem. try and find a bin/cue version of the game you want, it'll burn as is and work better. yes it will be larger, but it's more accurate and reliable.

[chaoticjelly]

I wanst using "Sega Cue Maker", I was using a different program. I made a new cue using "Sega Cue Maker". This time the Sega CD recognizes the game. The specific game I am trying to burn is Shining Force CD. For some parts there is normal music, like in the title sequence, although the narrator's voice lags behind the words. However, in the game, instead of normal music there is the most horrible digital noise I have ever heard. I converted the mp3s to wavs, and they sound fine on my computer. I dont know why I get this horrible noise.

Make sure your burning at the lowest speed possible.. it is TRUE that with Sega CD/Mega CD if you burn at a high speed it will have great trouble reading it, video will jerk and audio may skip.

With the problem with the horrendous audio.. is it like a screehing/squealing/not of this earth kind of noise?

If so, id recommend opening the audio files in your most favourite audio editing program, and checking that they are 44.1 kHz, I found with Saturn (you can get ISO/MP3 for that too, so its quite similar) if the kHz is off, you'll get horrendous screeching/squealing..

Good luck!

And if all else fails.. purchase the original game

[SkiDragon]

They all say 44 kHz. Is this just a rounding error or should it actually say 44.1 kHz?

Thanks.

[dj898]

playing burnt game with sealed original always remind me what someone said long time...

"...it's like lock up your brand new Ferrari in air tight storage and drive someone else's Ferrari without telling nor paying them..."

[chaoticjelly]

They all say 44 kHz. Is this just a rounding error or should it actually say 44.1 kHz?

Thanks.

44 sounds right.. 44, 44.1 its all the same really

[InsaneDavid]

They all say 44 kHz. Is this just a rounding error or should it actually say 44.1 kHz?

Thanks.

44 sounds right.. 44, 44.1 its all the same really

Yeah, it's probably track length stuff, I've seen some pretty interesting/random problems with audio due to them in the past.

playing burnt game with sealed original always remind me what someone said long time...

"...it's like lock up your brand new Ferrari in air tight storage and drive someone else's Ferrari without telling nor paying them..."

For me I play duplicates (even of games I have that are open) so I don't have to screw with the fragile SegaCD cases.