Has anyone converted gdi to chd?

[ckp]

I have Dreamcast .gdi games inside .rar files. I'd rather use .chd to keep the games small, but not have to unzip before playing.

Has anyone used a gdi to chd converter tool successfully? Is so, where did you get the tool and were you able to do this in mass (like using a script or batch file)?

Thanks.

 

[ckp]

Hey @SentaiBrad , you used something for DC right?

[SentaiBrad]

I use gdi's actually, not CHD's. At least for Dreamcast. I would try NTFS Compression for them and see if you get a good enough decrease. Like other compression, it can lead to slower load times, but so can a CHD I believe.

[ckp]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't want to use NTFS compression. I just want to shrink the games (remove padding) and have one file for the game, but not have to unzip the game before it launches. Surprised if nobody has converted to CHD?

Edited February 17, 2017 by ckp

[SentaiBrad]

Probably because most people don't know it, or don't want to do it. NTFS Compression will be the easiest method and save you some space, and you wont have to re-import or change paths. Are you having an issue with getting the CHD convertor to work or haven't tried yet?

[ckp]

Nah, I'm well versed with NTFS compression. There can be a lot of problems with using NTFS that I'd rather avoid. There are a lot of known issues using NTFS compression.

I haven't tried a gdi to chd converter yet because I have barely found anything out there and what I have found doesn't seem to have much talk about it.

CHD seems ideal for what I want. Reduce game file size, while not impacting game performance, and no unzipping before playing. But there doesn't seem to be much evidence about the reliability of the somewhat hidden tools I've comes across.

So, I was hoping someone who has actually tried a specific tool might have had good success before I think about getting into it for DC. Or if someone had a bad experience, that would be helpful too. It seems, for some reason, I see much less on the internet about doing this type of thing to DC games, while I've come across a lot of good resources on tools to use for some other console games.

[DOS76]

I don't know if this has anything to do with anything but even MAME doesn't make software list chd's for DC games so maybe that is why there is no tool the MAME people haven't even started on this system yet?

[Gowayn]

On 14/2/2017 at 5:49 AM, ckp said:

I have Dreamcast .gdi games inside .rar files. I'd rather use .chd to keep the games small, but not have to unzip before playing.

Has anyone used a gdi to chd converter tool successfully? Is so, where did you get the tool and were you able to do this in mass (like using a script or batch file)?

Thanks.

 

I perform this process years ago with my entire collection, it works perfectly and I have never had problems with the chd that were created.

I used Dreamcast GDI to CHD.exe does not have mass converter but works really good.

[ckp]

@Sir BLaDE , thanks that's good info!

 The only converter I found so far online is chdman.exe (it does include some mass batch convert autohotkey script as well. But I don't know of its reliability. Where can I get your chd.exe?

[Gowayn]

I do not remember where I got it, but is this:

If you can not find it, let me know and I upload for you.

it is just a frontend for chdman

Edited February 17, 2017 by Sir BLaDE

[ckp]

yeah i have that same exact zip! thanks!

[ckp]

i haven't tried yet, but something like this command line or batch file might work for mass conversion:

for /r %%x in (*.gdi) do chdman -createcd "%%~nx" "%%x.chd"

Edit: I tried the command above and it works great, but the shrinking isn't anywhere near as close as my .rar format. These particular games shrink massively (over 1GB for many of them) with winrar. So, now I suppose, instead of doing this to all 347 games, I'll just hand pick the games I like most, since they don't shrink a lot.

Edited February 17, 2017 by ckp
fixed command so extension isn't .gdi.chd

[ckp]

Actually I'm seeing some games shrink very nicely with this. Might do entire set after all.

[ckp]

Testing one of the CHD's, I see Demul doesn't seem to like it or know what to do with .chd. Maybe it's just some settings in Demul.

Edit: yup, changing Demul from image to chd in the settings works. i guess it can't work with both file types.

Edited February 17, 2017 by ckp

[ckp]

As I'm unzipping , it is looking like i have about 10% in .cdi format and 90% .gdi.

Can Demul work with both, without changing the gd-rom plugin every time you switch?

Or is there also a way to convert the .cdi to .chd also?

Or is there a Demul command line option to use in LB for the ones that are .cdi so Demul uses the image plugin for those?

Edited February 17, 2017 by ckp

[SentaiBrad]

I only have GDI's, so I am unsure. I have other systems that use CHD's, all in the same emulator, with the associated platform command lines all different, and the demul settings the same. Everything loads up off the same settings. GDI for dreamcast, CHD's and zips for everything else.

[ckp]

Actually there were only a few CDIs and they were awful games anyway so I won't even use those. But if you want to use both gdi and chd games for DC with DEmul, you would have to manually switch the Demul plugin every time you load the other type.

Almost done converting all my gdi to single chd. Tried a few in LB and they work great with no lag or unzip before loading.

[malacai]

On 2/17/2017 at 11:57 PM, ckp said:

Actually there were only a few CDIs and they were awful games anyway so I won't even use those. But if you want to use both gdi and chd games for DC with DEmul, you would have to manually switch the Demul plugin every time you load the other type.

Almost done converting all my gdi to single chd. Tried a few in LB and they work great with no lag or unzip before loading.

hello! im new here, and i did convert all of my dreamcast games to CHD.. but cant get them to load in LB, using demul. i got naomi and atomisvawe to work but not the chd images... is there a way to add file extention *.chd`?

[DOS76]

which gdr plugin are you using to use CHD you need to be using the chd plugin not the demul or image plugin. If you are already using that then I don't know @ckp reported being successful maybe he can help you trouble shoot

[malacai]

1 minute ago, DOS76 said:

which gdr plugin are you using to use CHD you need to be using the chd plugin not the demul or image plugin. If you are already using that then I don't know @ckp reported being successful maybe he can help you trouble shoot

hello, im using gdrCHD, and it works flaw to load from demul