PS1 psx-comBINe New V5 Release!

[ADBeta]

psx-comBINe, the opensource multi-bin .cue .bin file combiner program has a new version release!
New with Version 5, comes a corss-platform GUI mode, for simple, user-friendly, and blazing fast combining of multi-bin games.

Check out the GitHub: https://github.com/ADBeta/psx-comBINe for more information, source files and Windows Exectuables. (32bit AND 64bit)
This program works on any 32bit or 64bit System, running Windows Vista or newer, and requires only 4KB of free Memory. Thoroughly tested on many systems and architectures.

Enjoy Get in touch if you have any ideas, complaints, or feedback in general.

 

[Lukesrb2]

What is the main difference from that program and using a cd "manager"? (Like daemon tool and imgburn)

 

[ADBeta]

What is the main difference from that program and using a cd "manager"? (Like daemon tool and imgburn)

It's much more user friendly, you don't need to select any settings or use a specific mode. It only lets you select .cue files, and only does that one job.

Because of it also being very specialised, the .exe is very small, it only needs 4kb ram and it's much faster than the alternatives I've used in the past (imgburn and cdmagic). On my laptop, it finished dumping 500mb in 0.9 seconds.

The code base was designed to be small enough that other people can put it in their emulator or other app, so the user never has to bother with combining images again.

Overall it's just faster, easier, and more specific

 

[Lukesrb2]

It's much more user friendly, you don't need to select any settings or use a specific mode. It only lets you select .cue files, and only does that one job.

Because of it also being very specialised, the .exe is very small, it only needs 4kb ram and it's much faster than the alternatives I've used in the past (imgburn and cdmagic). On my laptop, it finished dumping 500mb in 0.9 seconds.

The code base was designed to be small enough that other people can put it in their emulator or other app, so the user never has to bother with combining images again.

Overall it's just faster, easier, and more specific

Cool, so there's no bugs when it merge the archives,right?

 

[ADBeta]

Cool, so there's no bugs when it merge the archives,right?

I assume you mean when it combines the binary files (not archives)??
If so, yes I've done my best to test it on multiple systems, multiple OS's and it's been downloaded over 2,000 times, and no one has had issues, so it seems stable

If you find any bugs, let me know

 

[Lukesrb2]

I assume you mean when it combines the binary files (not archives)??
If so, yes I've done my best to test it on multiple systems, multiple OS's and it's been downloaded over 2,000 times, and no one has had issues, so it seems stable

If you find any bugs, let me know

Ok, thx about the information

 

[CrashRS]

@ADBeta thanks for your efforts here. Seems like a much nicer UI and experience than CDMage.

With CDMage some games still have had problems, such as Tomb Raider 1 & 2, Rollcage Stage II, after the .bin were combined.

However, converting these same source files with pop-fe-ps3 did not encounter these same problems.

Would you expect the output using psx-comBINe to not have the same issues that remain when using CDMage, or is it fundamentally the same activity "under the hood"?

 

[Berion]

That's because of these games using different pregaps than usual AFAIR. If I remember correct, @haxxxen made patch for emulator on PS3 to deal with that (or I mislead him with someone else, sorry ^^"). Maybe @alexfree would be interested in that too, since that issue can affects disc burning.

Test yourself. Output merged image, should be binary the same. Compare calculated checksums of image which you know it works, with image output by this app and you will have the answer without testing game.

 

[CrashRS]

Test yourself. Output merged image, should be binary the same. Compare calculated checksums of image which you know it works, with image output by this app and you will have the answer without testing game.

Great suggestion. I have compared the SHA-256 of the combined .bin (and the .cue's to be sure) for Rollcage Stage II created using both CDMage and psx-comBINe. They matched, which answers my question. This is good consistency! But yes, unfortunately I would still expect the error using either method.

 

[ADBeta]

Great suggestion. I have compared the SHA-256 of the combined .bin (and the .cue's to be sure) for Rollcage Stage II created using both CDMage and psx-comBINe. They matched, which answers my question. This is good consistency! But yes, unfortunately I would still expect the error using either method.

psx-comBINe is custom built code from the ground-up so it's quite coincidental that it would have the same issues as CDMage, but I guess both of us developers stuck tightly to the spec of CUE formatting.
Always good to have input about the project! I will look into these games and the patches mention by @Berion and see if I can fix psx-comBINe to make it convert those games correctly.

Thank you for the compliments, and the ideas

 

[Berion]

On second thought... Always combined image will be the same (except *.vcd) because it is *.cue which is modified (files with tracks are simply merged together one by one), and it is *.cue based on which, target application recreating TOC. Sorry for misinformation in that matter. But still, these games used non standard pregap which must be preserved in new *.cue to work correctly on PSX or emulator.

 

[CrashRS]

The plot evolves! I was reading a different thread where an unrelated patch suggestion was recognised as being needed to deal with emulator shortcomings, not the conversion process. Regarding Rollcage Stage II, further to the above I was wondering why the pkg method worked but not the combined bin. Thinking pkg would have been using netemu, and cue/bin whatever the default emulator was, I realised I hadn't tried cue/bin with netemu - and sure enough, it was fine with netemu! Looks like it's an issue with the emulation. This would be worth updating on psdevwiki right?

Does anyone know of a definitive list of games that will NOT be successful with combined bin files alone?

 

[Berion]

All are combined properly. Maybe not all apps producing proper CUE. Not all emulators can make TOC from CUE as intended due to lack of support fully CUE or broken CUE in the first place.

 

[60fpshacksrock]

So this is basically a replacement for CDMage?

 

[CrashRS]

All are combined properly. Maybe not all apps producing proper CUE. Not all emulators can make TOC from CUE as intended due to lack of support fully CUE or broken CUE in the first place.

Good point. My wording should not focus on "combined bin" as that's not really the issue, perhaps instead I should say "is there a list for all games that need treatment different to what CDMage or psx-comBINe does?" or a better question description someone can suggest. My intention is to use CDMage / psx-comBINe for all of my games that can be successful converted this way, since they will stay in the same list with the vast majority of my others as cue/bin, rather than separate them to pkg. However, it seems difficult to have confidence about which games will not be OK this way, other than checking psdevwiki, and simply playing until an error is encountered, if any.

So this is basically a replacement for CDMage?

There might be a bit more to it than that, but in terms of output yes it looks to be the case with my brief experience, no change there. However, the UI and navigation is much much better on psx-comBINe, and I understand it's quicker / uses less memory as well.

 

[CrashRS]

@ADBeta, I've come across one set that has crashed psx-comBINe when clicking the "combine" button, but was processed fine through CDMage. Is there a log file or similar I can provide that would give you useful information?

 

[ADBeta]

@ADBeta, I've come across one set that has crashed psx-comBINe when clicking the "combine" button, but was processed fine through CDMage. Is there a log file or similar I can provide that would give you useful information?

Unfortunately not. I was thinking of adding something like that but haven't gotten to it yet.
What game was it? Also what games do you know of already that do not get converted correctly. I am planning on making an upgrade plan for a new version and i can roll a lot of these ideas into one version soon.

 

[ADBeta]

So this is basically a replacement for CDMage?

CDMage can do a LOT more things than my software can. If you need some of the other things that CDMage provides, then no, psx-comBINe will not 100% replace CDMage.

If you only need to combine psx games, then yes, psx-comBINe is a replacement for CDMage, ImgBurn, DeamonTools, etc.
The codebase for CDMage is many years out of date and does things in a very unoptimized way, so psx-comBINe is much faster, more efficient, has lower overhead by a large margin, is a smaller program, is totally portable without needing installation, and is cross-platform for Windows and Linux.

Like @CrashRS says, It is compatible with all the games CDMage can convert. There are some that have been mentioned which do not convert correctly, but I intend to patch those very very soon in order to make psx-comBINe the only tool you'll ever need to make PSX game files

Hopefully that answers your questions

 

[ADBeta]

On second thought... Always combined image will be the same (except *.vcd) because it is *.cue which is modified (files with tracks are simply merged together one by one), and it is *.cue based on which, target application recreating TOC. Sorry for misinformation in that matter. But still, these games used non standard pregap which must be preserved in new *.cue to work correctly on PSX or emulator.

I have downloaded EUR and USA versions of Tomb Raider 1 and 2, and Rollcage Stage II, all of which looks like they are using the same pregap as all the other games I have tested. Do you have any more information or places for me to start looking into these issues?

 

[CrashRS]

I have downloaded EUR and USA versions of Tomb Raider 1 and 2, and Rollcage Stage II, all of which looks like they are using the same pregap as all the other games I have tested. Do you have any more information or places for me to start looking into these issues?

Bear in mind it looks like Rollcage Stage II was more an emulator issue as its worked with netemu.

Unfortunately not. I was thinking of adding something like that but haven't gotten to it yet.
What game was it? Also what games do you know of already that do not get converted correctly. I am planning on making an upgrade plan for a new version and i can roll a lot of these ideas into one version soon.

It was ISS Pro Evolution 2, SLES-03321. I haven't yet checked the checksum against e.g. Redump, but I wouldn't expect that to be the problem here regardless