Switching CDs in multiple CD games?

[paravantis]

I realize that there exist a couple of older posts that deal with the question of switching CDs in multiple CD games, be that original CDs or ISO files properly ripped from original CDs. I also realize that ISO files downloaded from the Internet, besides being illegal are oftentimes improperly ripped so they are not faithful copies of the original PS1 disks.

I am currently looking around the Internet for (a) Dracula Resurrection and (b) Dracula The Last Sanctuary to purchase BUT since both of them are TWO CD GAMES, I am a bit apprehensive. Will they play properly, i.e. will I be able to proceed with the 2nd CD?

From past experience, it seems to me that File > Eject CD does not really do anything and, in any case, it does not help continue with the 2nd CD!

So my question boils down to: are there pSX users out there who have SUCCESSFULLY PLAYED 2-CD GAMES on pSX? Will you please report on your experience?

Moreover, did you succeed in playing 2-CD games when dealing with ISO images (properly and legally ripped from original CDs)?

[paravantis]

I would like to elaborate a bit on "past experience".

I have -in the past- tried to play Dracula Resurrection from images borrowed from a friend. I did not rip those images myself BUT I suspect both images were good because when I inserted the 2nd image, the game gave me the message "This is CD 2 - please insert CD 1".

When I reached the end of the 1st CD, the game prompted me to insert CD2 (without allowing me to save first), I chose "Eject CD" from the File menu (nothing visible happened on behalf of the pSX) and then I chose "Insert CD image" from the File menu and selected the image of CD2. Well, pSX did nothing - I could even hear the noises from the last game scene of CD1 and there was no progression to CD2. I waited for a few MINUTES - no good, CD2 was not being read.

I tried mounting these images with Daemon tools - same deal.

(I should mention that I had also saved the game just before the end of CD1 on the memory card but that did not seem to be an issue because I never managed to progress to CD2 where I could attempt to load the saved game from the memory card.)

Could it be that the images were faulty? Again, the CD1 image played perfectly to the end of the part of the game stored on CD1; CD2 was recognized by pSX as being the second CD. I just could NOT progress from CD1 to CD2.

Apologies for being so verbose.

I would be interested in hearing from users who have had success with playing 2 (or more) CD games to the end, either from original CDs or ISOs ripped from original CDs.

[paravantis]

(Mistakenly, I posted the same message twice.)

[Melanogaster]

From what I can remember, I've finished Driver 2, Metal Gear Solid and Syphon Filter 2 using images and I had no problems swapping discs (apart from MGS, but that was with an older version of the emulator). Once I've finished a certain game I usually delete the images from the HD and, since I had to test both Driver 2 and Syphon Filter 2 later for whatever reason I can't quite remember, I ended up having to swap discs using the CDs; worked fine as well. So problems while swapping discs are more likely due to specific incompatibility rather than the emulator's feature not working at all, since it does work for a number of other games as well, I believe.

[paravantis]

Melanogaster, thanks for posting.

I still think there is an issue with pSX and CD drive letters.

I tried playing Dracula Resurrection with ePSXe, where you can FORCE CD ROM letter to a letter of your liking, e.g. reflecting a virtual drive of your choice (supported my Daemon of Alcohol). While ePSXe failed to proceed to CD2 with images, IT WORKED when I mounted the drive via Daemon!

Unfortunately, one cannot advance from CD1 to CD2 of this game in pSX: both ISOs and Daemon virtual drives fail to recognize the disk change.

I am hypothesizing that adding the capability of forcing the drive letter to a specific choice will solve such problems and increase game compatibility. It would be interesting for either pSX Author or more experienced and technically minded forum users to respond.

I finish by adding that using pSX Frontend to select drive letter did not work either.

[Ultima]

I've played a bunch of multi-disc games without issue in pSX -- the 2 most recent ones being FF9 and Chrono Cross. Not sure what to say about it not working for you -- upon loading a new drive/image in pSX, it immediately recognized that I basically ejected the old disc and inserted a new one. The games proceeded as expected after the new disc was loaded.

[paravantis]

Dracula Resurrection works well in ePSXe, i.e. the programs understands that a new CD has been inserted and proceeds. The catch is to load the CD images via Daemon tools and NOT via ePSXe.

Unfortunately, none of the two methods works with pSX.

Your postings show that is may be a game-related issue. Who knows. Pity I cannot play it in pSX -- the graphics are astonishingly faithful to the console!

Again, thanks are due to members who were kind enough to respond and report their experiences.

[cmdreamer]

I'm getting an issue, but with pSX not recognizing my DVDROM drive on Fedora 9 Linux, I just get an empty list from the Drive Selection option, even though the disc has been inserted and mounted properly by Nautilus. The drive option on the psx.ini file is set to -1.

On Windows the drive is recognized without any problem, so I'm totally lost.

About the mulidisk issue, I've played Metal Gear Solid on Windows version and had no issues changing from CD1 to CD2 when prompted by the game.

I'm using pSX 1.13.