ape escape (pal) copy protection

[bemaniak]

OK, I have a legit Australian copy of ape escape, and a PC game pad, analog controls configured, etc.

but as you know, it has copy protection that stops me from doing anything on the main menu screen (where it say new game and load game)
are there any ways to patch an ISO made from this CD to get rid of the protection?
or will I have to wait until I get my new PS2?
please! I can't resist the nostalgia!

[patrickp]

Have a look on MegaGames for patches, bemaniak.

If by ISO you mean an .iso format rip of your game, use a better format, as the .iso format doesn't support multi-track reading, which means sound/music/video etc may be messed up on many games. .bin/.cue is Ok for many unprotected games, but for copy protected games, you're much better off using .ccd/.img/.sub or .mdf/.mds - in fact, the game may even play without patching in these formats. These two formats also seem to run non-protected games better than .bin/.cue, so they're generally the best formats to use.

It really depends on your optical drive and driver: even if you have a drive that's capable of reading subcode (necessary to defeat copy protection), Windows' IOControl driver doesn't support subcode reads, so is useless for playing or ripping protected games. Linux' IOControl drivers generally seem fine with subcode. However, the sort of application that will rip to .ccd/.img/.sub or .mdf/.mds (i.e. CloneCD or Alcohol - Alcohol do a free version of their Alcohol 52%) will also use its own drivers, so if your drive's OK with subcode, this should work. Unfortunately, if you're using Linux, there don't seem to be any native applications that will run in Linux that rip to these formats - you'll need to use Windows for ripping. Ripping is about the only reason I keep a Windows version running now.

Generally, -RW drives (doesn't matter if they're DVD or CD) are better at reading subcode than -ROM drives, so if you have a burner, try that for ripping/playing.

For playing protected games directly from CD in Windows, if your drive can read subcode, try ASPI reading. Get a copy of wnaspi32.dll from the Nero site and put it in your pSX folder; then select ASPI reading on the CDROM tab of your pSX configuration. If this doesn't work, then it's probable that your drive doesn't support reading subcode.