Can't run most of the ps1 games, some are in cue/bin files, some are divided in tracks.

[Tackskull]

Hi there, I bought today a license of launchboc. The problem is that I am not able to run the most of the ps1 games. When scanning for games I let the program to unify the double names roms. Once my ps1 library has been scanned, a few games are able to run, but not the most of them. Some games are in cue/bin files, some are divided in tracks. So how can I let Launchbox/bigbox to read any game without problem?

 

I am using retroarch with beetle-psx

[neil9000]

43 minutes ago, Tackskull said:

Hi there, I bought today a license of launchboc. The problem is that I am not able to run the most of the ps1 games. When scanning for games I let the program to unify the double names roms. Once my ps1 library has been scanned, a few games are able to run, but not the most of them. Some games are in cue/bin files, some are divided in tracks. So how can I let Launchbox/bigbox to read any game without problem?

 

I am using retroarch with beetle-psx

Only import the .cue files. The games that are not loading are probably trying to launch with one of the bin files and that aint gonna work. Delete your PS1 platform but keep the media, then import again just using the .cue files.

[eacochran]

So if the game has "[Game Name] (Track 1).cue" and "[Game Name] (Track 2).cue", just drag them into LB and it should read it all as 1 game and run properly?

[Lordmonkus]

There really shouldn't be multiple cue files for a game unless it is a multi disk game such as Final Fantasy 7, those would have a cue file per game disk.

[eacochran]

So in this case, all I need is the due file? Not the bin files? I thought those were all cue files. Got the cue's and bin's mixed up. So would I just delete all of the bin files then? It's confusing.

[Lordmonkus]

You need all of the files, the bins are what contains all of the games data, the cue file tells the emulator what format the disk is. You just want to import the cue file into LB, that is the file the emulator needs to load the game.

[eacochran]

so if I left everything in one single folder, but only imported the cue files (while leaving the bin files where they are), I should be fine?

[Lordmonkus]

Yes. You need to keep the bins with the cue or else they wont work.

I would suggest that you have each game in their own folder though, just for organizational reasons. And put multi disk games such as FF VII in a single folder.

[eacochran]

Alright thanks for the help

[DeadVoivod]

For a better overview, and not having these multiple tracks in each folder, I always suggest to use CDMage to merge them into one single .cue and .bin file. Helps also with multiple disc games if you wanna create .m3u files. 

[Lordmonkus]

4 hours ago, DeadVoivod said:

For a better overview, and not having these multiple tracks in each folder, I always suggest to use CDMage to merge them into one single .cue and .bin file. Helps also with multiple disc games if you wanna create .m3u files. 

This makes no sense. It doesn't help with creating m3u files in any way, m3u files use the cue files only and you aren't reducing the number of cue files.

If you are going to go through the hassle of any converting you would be better off converting to .chd which would convert each disk image into a single file. It also wont change how m3u files work either though, you would still be adding each chd file to the m3u file.

[eacochran]

Yeah, I thought about doing the converting thing with CDMage, converting each game into one single cue file, but I'm not about to do that with over 300 games. Not worth my time.

[Lordmonkus]

Again, your disk images should only be 1 cue per game disk (not game). If you have multiple cue files for a single disk (not game) then you disk image is crap and should be replaced. If you have good disk images (ie: ReDump) then each game disk will only have a single cue + bin(s). Also, generally speaking games with multiple bin files should be kept that way, merging the bins into a single bin can break the game. It won't necessarily break the game to make it unplayable but it can break audio or other parts of a game, they are broken into bin files for a reason.

CDMage has had only one use in my time with emulation and disk images, and that was to fix busted Saturn images that aren't from ReDump or Dark Water.

If you want to convert to make your collection simpler then convert to chd.

[eacochran]

1 minute ago, Lordmonkus said:

Again, your disk images should only be 1 cue per game disk (not game). If you have multiple cue files for a single disk (not game) then you disk image is crap and should be replaced. If you have good disk images (ie: ReDump) then each game disk will only have a single cue + bin(s). Also, generally speaking games with multiple bin files should be kept that way, merging the bins into a single bin can break the game. It won't necessarily break the game to make it unplayable but it can break audio or other parts of a game, they are broken into bin files for a reason.

CDMage has had only one use in my time with emulation and disk images, and that was to fix busted Saturn images that aren't from ReDump or Dark Water.

If you want to convert to make your collection simpler then convert to chd.

crap, i meant to say bin files. My bad lol.  I completely understand bro. Didn't mean to sound repetitive. Tanks for all your help :))

[Lordmonkus]

No problem, but in any case if your disk image has multiple bin files they should be kept that way or converted to chd.

[Knowcontrol]

I'm a big fan of the CHD format. They are much smaller in size (around 65% compression -think of it as FLAC but for data). It's a single file rather than the multiple cue and bin files. Look up chdman on the Google.

[Lordmonkus]

CHD is great as along as the emulator supports but if a new (better) emulator comes a long and doesn't support CHD it can be problematic converting back to cue + bin. From what I have heard people say it can be very hit or miss when it comes to converting back to cue + bin.

Just something to keep in mind.

[Hifihedgehog]

I guess I have been lucky because it’s not an issue for me, at least. If anyone needs it, I have a script and bat set that I run that works flawlessly for converting CHDs to and from their native formats (.cue/.bin, .iso, .gdi) including Dreamcast, Saturn, and Sega CD. It’s worked for perhaps a thousand plus games on those consoles, so I think it is safe to say that it will work. I can say that if chdman is outdated, that may very well be problematic and the cause for the many reported issues.

[Hifihedgehog]

Compress CUEs and GDIs into CHDs.zip

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah it's not something I have ever experienced but I have never tried to go back from CHD to another format. I have only read that it can be a problem on occasion, not that it's a common issue.

Good to know that you haven't had any issues converting back from CHD and you have done it a lot, gives more confidence in it being a non issue.