Newbs to Software: Guide to Isos

It has come to my attention that some people have attempted to make images of their games and X person has just said, "I hear this program is really good and try it". The newb tries to make an image and doesn't understand the file format of the image and then asks in the forums.

This has happened several times and recently occured in this thread. Everyone in the thread said "oh since he doesn't know what it is he must've downloaded it" and I have to say that the possibility of him not understanding the process of cd imaging was overlooked.

When I started fiddling around with CVGS back in the day I tried to make an image of my friends Breath of Fire 4 disc and I had no idea how to make an image. So like any intelligent person I ran it through a search engine hoping to get an answer. The first sites to appear would be shareware programs with new image formats that weren't entirely conventional and I was very confused when I couldn't get my blindwrite images to work.

Where am I going with this? I'm suggesting that its extremely likely a lot of people here are trying to make images of their legit games without understanding the programs for doing so. Therefore, I've taken this opportunity to conjure up a guide to remedy this issue.

So with no further adue.

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-----------------------Vanit's Guide to Isos-------------------------
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Note: If you made a cd image in a file type thats not iso or bin, go back and try again with this guide!

Introduction:

Chances are if you are reading this you have a shiny legit game in your hot little hands but you're wondering how to make it into an Iso! First let me tell you that there are many programs out there that have been written for this purpose, but theres a catch. Most of them have made their programs simply to be part of the burning scene and have come up with their own little bizarre formats to claim their own piece of it. But don't let that distract you because there are only 2 formats that should concern you!

*.iso
This is the most standard format for cd imaging simply because it was one of the first. For this reason all emulators are compatible with it and it is heavily recommended you record things in this format.

*.bin *.cue
Closely following iso is the bin format, which for the more picky also records some extra cd information that some programs like nero will ask for. The *.bin holds the data information and the *.cue holds the CD information.

Note: If you're experienced I'd personally recommend nrg (nero's format) because its far more 'accurate' (=works better).

Step 1
Got that? No? I'll continue anyways while you're rereading the introduction.

For simplicities sake I'm going to tell you to track down CDRWin (preferably around version 4) ... Yes I know its a bit outdated... but it doesn't get more simpler than that. Once you have it downloaded and installed open it up and you'll see a compact interface with a lot of buttons on it. The one you want is the 'Backup CD' button, third from the top left, so click it!

Note: CDRWin may be good for making images, but burning them is another story because its not very compatible. So go download a trial version of nero for burning.

Step 2

You'll probably get a Load Disc error when you press the button because you don't have the CD in the drive yet... so remedy that before or after pressing OK (it doesn't really matter... just don't try to make an image without the disc in the computer =/).

In the new window that pops up you'll see a lot of stuff... ignore most of it and only pay attention to 3 things:

'CD Reader' Drop Down Menu
Here you select which drive you put your CD into. If you're not sure, press the eject button to the right of the menu and see which drive opens... put your CD in that one and close it.

Note: If it doesn't detect it chances are you don't have/didn't put the PS2 disc (DVD) in a DVD compatible drive. Remedy this.

Image Filename
Here you will have to choose where to save the *.bin and *.cue. As long as you know where you're saving the files it doesn't matter... otherwise save them to somewhere obvious like your desktop or the PCSX2 folder.

Start
Now just press start.

It should come up with a small message saying 'Analysing Disc' and then it will start the copy progress bar. This should take a few minutes to complete.

Step 3
After its done simply close the program and you're done! Just load it up in PCSX2 or whatever with the appropriate plugin.

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Enjoy ^^.