GUI for Selfboot

[MasterPhW]

no you don't have to remake them.
sorry for the delay but im adding a lot of more features
Yeah, another great idea, made by MasterPhW... :P
Here it comes: there are some (weak) selfboot progz out there and they often add a pic on the right corner with a logo, like the emulator selboot things, you know?
It would be great, if you could insert a own bmp (for example for default it's black, but you can change it with every other bmp with the sizes) so every user can make his games a little bit more personally.
Hope you're progress is such great your prog is!

[Ex0skelet0r]

MasterPhW_DX i can't understand what you are talking about. can you send me one of those programs?



Version 1,31 is ready

- Added option to not remove any dummy file.
- Log windows shows now in the end the total duration.
- Fixed a bug when opening ExoBoot without a cd-rom in the first drive.
- Fixed a bug when an important file was missing from the ExoBoot\Settings folder.
- ExoBoot dispays now only the cd/dvd-rom devices.
- Some fixes in the code made the program faster.
- Other smaller bug fixed
- Fixed a bug with the option remove dummy files manually.new the program let's you to remove files from subfolders in a dreamcast game
- Extraction mode has change. For now on ExoBoot will use windows api for that.
- Save Settings,Quit and About button has been replaced by a menu
----------------

Can someone test it on the windows xp with service pack 2? i have greek windows xp and the service pack 2 it's not yet ready

EDIT: because i don't like to split the program in 3 parts im uploading again ExoBoot with only the needed files. If anyone has problem to run it then download the visual basic runtimes and install them. I have remove also daemon tools from the installation.

EDIT2: If anyone was getting an error message about a COMDLG32.OCX file, download it and put it on the ExoBoot folder.

[feartetsuo]

Ok I have a HUGE problem with you new update. When i click on next or close notes, nothing happens!!!!!! The only thing that works is the CD image button. Any one else have this problem?

[feartetsuo]

**actually, when i click on remove dummy file, thats when the program stops workng and doesnt go anywhere. When i click on manually or automatic, the program moves forward. Just not when i click dont remove.**

[Doomulation]

Can you tell why the hell it's so damn big? I mean, utilities are rarely over 1 mb. Poor 56k users to download 5 mb... something isn't right.
Or maybe I'm missing something here...

EDIT:
Oh yeah I was wondering... if one uses this "tool" to create a self-bootable, is it possible it would work on the *real* dreamcast if burnt the iso onto a cd?

[Ex0skelet0r]

Okay i fix the small bugs. I'm uploading again ExoBoot. If you can't run ExoBoot download the visual basic runtimes. I will upload in another server another installation with all those files but because a lot of people may find the size too big (5,5mb) i will keep this installation too.
Im expecting your opinion's about this release.

(i'm copying again here the message so you don't have to go in previous posts)

Version 1,31 is ready

- Added option to not remove any dummy file.
- Log windows shows now in the end the total duration.
- Fixed a bug when opening ExoBoot without a cd-rom in the first drive.
- Fixed a bug when an important file was missing from the ExoBoot\Settings folder.
- ExoBoot dispays now only the cd/dvd-rom devices.
- Some fixes in the code made the program faster.
- Other smaller bug fixed
- Fixed a bug with the option remove dummy files manually.new the program let's you to remove files from subfolders in a dreamcast game
- Extraction mode has change. For now on ExoBoot will use windows api for that.
- Save Settings,Quit and About button has been replaced by a menu
----------------

Can someone test it on the windows xp with service pack 2? i have greek windows xp and the service pack 2 it's not yet ready

EDIT: because i don't like to split the program in 3 parts im uploading again ExoBoot with only the needed files. If anyone has problem to run it then download the visual basic runtimes and install them. I have remove also daemon tools from the installation

vbrun60sp3.EXE (1,012.2 KB) (http://www.emutalk.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=18954)
VBRun60sp5.exe (1,019.7 KB) (http://www.emutalk.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=18955)
ExoBoot_v1_31.exe (1.28 MB) (http://www.emutalk.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=19059)

[MasterPhW]

Oh yeah I was wondering... if one uses this "tool" to create a self-bootable, is it possible it would work on the *real* dreamcast if burnt the iso onto a cd?
Yeah, it works and these tool is the best of all to create a working CD, which is selfbottable.

i can't understand what you are talking about. can you send me one of those programs?
I will make some screens and post them tomorrow to show you what I'm meaning and probably it's in the 1.31 release.

[Davv13]

What is vbrun60sp3 and vbrun60sp5 for? Is it a update to visual basic 6?and which file is it. sp3 or sp5? I've already got that visual basic 6 the other day so do I still need to install one of these? and will they run on usa version winXP? well that probably won't make a diff. Do remmeber a few posts ago I was saying that I was getting that error of missing dLL and some other guy gave me a link to visual basic 6 and said it would fix this problem, cause you were using v b 6 to make your program that's basicly what sp3/sp5 extra files are correct to fix that error? But which one of these files fixes it cause you got two there and do I need two install both of them?

[Ex0skelet0r]

yes those 2 files have all the needed files that visual basic use. if you can use my program now (i mean you don't getting any error of missing files) you don't have to download them. those files are usefull not for my program only.for a lot of programs that are made by visual basic. if you have visual basic 6 you don't need to download them

[Doomulation]

Ah but I see some are the infamous vb runtime files.
Neat thing that this will work on the real thing. I gotta try this o_O
Btw, Ex0skelet0r: have you ever tried to make such a thing in C++? :P

[roxoxx]

Great Tool! but i have a little question...
When will be possible to create an image usable with Daemon's tools V3.47 (V 3.29 do not let use .nrg images )?
Anyway... THX exoskeletor...

[roxoxx]

[Davv13]

Boy am I getting fed up with this not working wasted like 3 hours. I was able to make my two last remaning non boot games fine. Then I wanted to remove the dummy files from my other games but did not work.I used mode 1 always. I went thru the same process as before and when I click next for it to start with the game in the tray it asked me to put a CD-R WTF? Over and over same crap. How can it ask me for it first when it did not even rip the data off the backup first? The only way it would work is if I put make selfbootable then it work fine but the game was selfboot already. Then to make matters worse it did not remove the dummy files from the disc and yes I had all things checked correctly. Can anyone comfirm this but is it possible the sound is just a tad more scratchy with the disc this program made? I guess I'll have to stick with my 700meg images. I hope you can do something about this. Yes I run xp home edition and with service pack 2 but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

[bouncerboy15]

Nice job on the new version. I was able to burn DoA 2 LE on a disk and play it on my DC. =D

[MasterPhW]

Hey Exo, reworked a lot of my games and here are some thing I discovered:
Powerstone 2 (mountet name: PS2_KAL) doesn'tz worked after reworking with your tool on chankast (with and without dummy removing), could be that the original image is a nero one but I want to have all my Images as a CDI, so I let change your prog my NRG to a CDI.
But Powerstone 1 (CHOPPY) has another very weird problem: it do not pass the select dummy files and/or make game selfbootable screen, because your prog crashes.
Then you can't make a image, when you select image is already selfbootable, because after 3 up to 20 seconds it's done (PIC) and no image is written. And hey, why is there no info text in the CD to CD or Image Dialogue only a Close notes command?
Why is it alowed to put only 16 letters in the game name box? Mine copy of MvsC2 (MARVEL_VS_CAPCOM2) has 17 letters as game name, why we can't use this?
Next thing: after exracting (for manually remove of dummy files) and selecting a files, your prog crashes, too. DOn't know why.
Another prob is your installer: it search for deamon tools, but deamon tools are removed in these (repack) install package for 1.31, so the activate after extraction thing should be removed, too!
The last thing is for the feature request by adding a bmp, for unique autoboot games, like some selfboot maker had done this. I've done a pic and here's a link for a tool, which does that effect: http://consolevision.com/members/fackue/tools/comdlg32.zip (should work, got it from the readme, mine version was from DCemulation.
Good luck with your new version and fixing the bugs.

[Ex0skelet0r]

MasterPhW_DX: can you tell me the error message when my program crash?
I can't understand why there are no info in the notes dialog..you mean that the text box is empty?
- Problem with the dummy files fixed. You can now remove them.
- Also i have fix the images.they look better now with any theme of xp you use
Download again ExoBoot from the 1st post in the top of this page.

Davv13: Are you trying to remove the dummy files from a selfbootable game or from a non selfbootable?

If anyone was getting an error message about a COMDLG32.OCX file, download it and put it on the ExoBoot folder. (In the most cases and for the new users that hasn't already download ExoBoot they will not need this file.)

[Davv13]

yes from a self boot.

[bombjack]

First of all, thanks for the GUI. Really useful, i did 6 of 8 games bootable (which were claimed as selfboot but not in Chankast). I have ECCO and Virtua Tennis 2k2 which doesn't boot. ECCO can't be booted, an error appears in the DOS window when it tries to hack 1ST_READ.BIN because it doesn't have one. VT2k2 goes ok until you load it in Chankast, Echelon intro appears, pressing Start 2 times then a purple screen with an Echelon logo, then... freeze.
Anyone got rid of it?

Did i said Thanks ExoSkeletor? :party:

bj

[Ex0skelet0r]

My pleasure bj.
The ECCO must be a game designed in WinCE and ExoBoot doesn't support then.
The problem you have with the VT2k2 it is because maybe Chankast doesn't support this game or doesn't support this game with the echelon intro.So it's not from ExoBoot

[Davv13]

Hey exo did you ever hear any problems like I had with the program? I got a new drive. I'm only using one drive by the way so the both places that ask the drive # I just put 1,0,0 in both places? Have you heard anybody ever mention something about sound being more scratchy with the new selfboots? or is it just in my head?

[bouncerboy15]

Nice job on the program Ex0. I'm having a problem trying to boot Jet Grind Radio on my DC. It shows the Sega logo and all then it goes black. Does it have to do anything with the Echelon Intro?

[Ex0skelet0r]

i have check Chanka Compatability List and as i can see it should works ok.so it must be a problem with echelon intro.has anyone this game without this intro?

[Davv13]

Didn't you read my last post? Could you please comment on them.

[Ex0skelet0r]

oh sorry about that Davv13.yes you have to enter the same Bus id. Well i havent test it enough with audio tracks so i don't know a lot about the quality.But it should be the same cause ExoBoot extract's the tracks in "*.wav" format and then burn them again

[bombjack]

Thanks for your reply Ex0.
All in all your tool is near perfection :happy: besides the ****ed group releases and WinCE games. Do we expect more improvements on those?

bj

[Ex0skelet0r]

you must expect for now better error handling oi image creation and on the other operation's.Automaticly creation for WinCE games don't think that it's possible because they haven't a standart selfboot file.
On the echelon intros im trying to find a way to remove them

[bouncerboy15]

you must expect for now better error handling oi image creation and on the other operation's.Automaticly creation for WinCE games don't think that it's possible because they haven't a standart selfboot file.
On the echelon intros im trying to find a way to remove them
If you can figure it out, I will bow down to you. :party:

[bouncerboy15]

*bump

[Ex0skelet0r]

A very small update: Added option to check if the current version is the latest version

[K.T.E]

A very small update: Added option to check if the current version is the latest version

Ex0, did you see my PM? :bouncy:

[navinraj]

how i am going to create chankast dreamcast game cd.. i do have the dreamcast marvel vs capcom 2 files but it won't work ..why.. i am confused..
i tried to convert it to iso and load with deamon tool it didn't work as well



this is the file format
mvsc2.001
mvsc2.002
mvsc2.003
mvsc2.004
mvsc2.005
mvsc2.006
mvsc2.007
mvsc2.008
mvsc2.009
ip.bin

[cuda7171]

how i am going to create chankast dreamcast game cd.. i do have the dreamcast marvel vs capcom 2 files but it won't work ..why.. i am confused..
i tried to convert it to iso and load with deamon tool it didn't work as well



this is the file format
mvsc2.001
mvsc2.002
mvsc2.003
mvsc2.004
mvsc2.005
mvsc2.006
mvsc2.007
mvsc2.008
mvsc2.009
ip.bin

start a new thread

it is most likely a winrar archive
you might have to chabge the files to mvsc2.001.rar and unpack

[ryankind]

A very small update: Added option to check if the current version is the latest version


Wheres the link to the small update?

[Ex0skelet0r]

K.T.E.: i will reply to you soon.
ryankind: I haven't release an update for this small change. I will release an update later with more changes
cuda7171: It seems that your game is in a winrar archive as navinraj says but you might still need more files to open it like: mvsc2.rar and mvsc2.000

[Whirlinurd]

Navinraj Yes, the 001 to 009 are rar files. Rename the 001 to .rar, 002 to r00, etc. untill 009 is .r07. The separate ip.bin could be an modified boot file that doesn't include an intro so that it works in chankast. If this is true you could try to selfboot the contents of the cd with exoboot with the separate ip.bin. But this is just a guess.

[Ex0skelet0r]

this is strange.why to rename 001 to .rar? if the 001 is the .rar file why it has other name?

[Keppel]

no need to rename shit , the dude doesn't know what he's talking 'bout

[Whirlinurd]

Sorry 'bout that incorrect answer earlier about those 001 files. These files are spanned rar files split into parts. I have found this. Drag the .001 file into winrar and extract to a location. The reason why the files do not have the normal .r00 extension is not completely clear. I think that they rar the files and then use some program like HJSPLIT or simular to split the rar file into smaller pieces.

[MasterPhW]

All wrong... Whirlinurd.'
That are 7zip files. Since 3.2 you can open them with winrar, too.
So be happy, now you can open your warez. And now PLEASE stop talking about it, back to exos great tool!

[General Plot]

Arrrr, aye matey, pirates aren't welcome in this vast sea. To create games that you don't own of which the likes of ye have never seen is just not seaworthy.
Seriously, panhandle your tired old warez somewhere else. This tool is awesome and shouldn't be dragged down by posts that insinuate "I got free games". Not to mention it is off the topic.

[Treybonew]

This is a question that I posted on another forum, but since this is where the prog came from, I thought that someone here may be able to help me with this. I am copy/pasting everything that I typed there for reference. The original topic was putting custom music into Marvel vs Capcom2 and then making the images selfboot:


hi, when i put my image.bin file into bin 2 boot gui, i get this message from windows saying something about the program is not suitable to run in 16-bit does or something like that. Has anyone gotten a message like this? Im using windows XP. Is there a way to get around it? HELLPP, it went so smooth until now and im almost done with it! Thanks

I have the same problem. I am using XP Pro SP2 and this is the error message verbatim:

______________________
|16-bit MS-Dos Subsystem| <---blue banner at top of message
Command Prompt - bin2boot mvc2.bin
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application

_____ ______
|Close| |Ignore|

Sorry about the crappy buttons, but you get the idea.



You could try getting a bin2boot without the gui, and run it from the command prompt, you just put

bin2boot image.bin
(assuming they're in the same folder)

I don't think that any version of bin2boot will work. Bin2boot is meant to run with a 16bit version of dos, and it looks like it just isn't compatibe with XP (I hope this isn't true :mad: ). I have been using b2b ever since it came out, but I had stopped just before I got my new pc, and now I can't use it. I have tried every version that I have and nothing. Exoboot might work, I am going to try it out now.

UPDATE

I just got through using Exoboot and I get the same error message that I get with bin2boot; plus, just above the line "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT.", there is another line of text that says: "C:WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CMD.EXE". The only difference is that when I click ignore the program tries to continue to finish making the image file. When the program finishes, there is no image and it doesn't tell me if it was successful or not. I did a search on my pc for the image file and it isn't there, so I am left to believe that it didn't make the image. I don't know what I need, but there is something that I am missing. I even tried to change the compatability settings for exoboot to win2k, but to no evail. If anyone can help with this I would greatly appreciate it, because to make it this far just to be stuck here just plain sucks.

Oh yeah, this is my OS:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 2002 Service Pack 2

PC:
AMD Athlon XP2800+
1gig ram

[jeffkong]

hmm... More people need to know about this great program

I've contacted some sites about this, I encourage others to do the same and spread the word.

[bleeder]

exo, nice work on this program, I'm using it for all my games and its really easy and actualy works.

I have a problem with the game Trickstyle, though.
It works fine after making the image, but I get no in game music.

See, the music are on tracks 2-14, while track 1 is the game files which only makes out 80mb (what the image comes out to) from ~400mb cd.

Btw, the cd I am using isn't selfbootable.

Is there a way to make an image keeping all the extra tracks? Another note, that if you use a cd player, you can play the music on those tracks.

Here's a picture of the original cd
http://www.emutalk.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=18256&stc=1




yes this is a problem that i have.i am using mkisofs to create the images and mkisofs creates only data cd images without audio tracks. Im trying to find a way to create images with audio tracks (of course only with one click ) in the next version i will add an option to save your settings (so you will not have to enter them every time you're using ExoBoot) for now the only thing that i can tell you is: use a cd-rw disk to burn the image and then create an image Has anyone test it with games that have other bin file than 1st_read.bin? Stay tuned

Has this come up in the 20 pages? I haven't checked, but I might try the CD-RW idea, since I'm trying to do this now.

[jerbear]

I'm still unclear on all this :huh: . I've read some of the tutorials and guides here but none are helpful (for me). Right now I have exoboot and I think it's my best bet. Also, I can't seem to install Daemon Tools 3.29. It restarts my computer at the end of the installation. And then when I boot back up, my computer finds new hardware (some BIOS thing :huh: ), and Daemon Tools gives me an SCSI error. I'm running Windows XP Service Pack 2.

I have only 1 cd drive, it's a dvd drive/cd burner. It's not a dvd burner.

I also have a Sonic Adventure 2 cdi file (i didn't rip it, just torrented it. I have the original game legally so don't worry :P) .

I'm not sure but I think that I need to have a bootable cdi file, and I don't know if the game I have is bootable. How do I make it bootable?

Once it's bootable (if that's required), do I have to turn it into a VCD file so I can mount it on my virtual drive? If so, how do I make it a VCD?

So if I'm right about all that, then do I mount the VCD version of SA2 onto my virtual drive, and choose that drive in Chankast?

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: I'm also confused about the Reader and Writer buses. I don't know which to put where.

[scythe000]

Any new updates?

[MasterPhW]

Any new updates?
Yeah, exo had lost the source, because his hdd died a long time ago and now he wanted to rewrite the tool, but not before january, because he's really busy atm...
All news atm.. sorry!

[soccerboi]

Very nice tool exo! I'm loving it.

[leonardo_k]

Yesss, Exoskeletor, I FINALLY got to play Resident Evil Code: Veronica on my PC thanx to your outstanding tool! I want to be just like you when I grow up, Exo!!! :borg:

[Resolver1]

It always gives me an error saying " please select your cd-rom" umm i dont see any options like that.

[Resolver1]

I get this " please chose you cd-rom drive" but im trying to make CDI to bootable iso. What the hell is cd rom has to do with it, plus there is no option to select it.
http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/1919/blkeh0fw.jpg

[Don Ramon]

Hey guys, i'm having a problem: I was trying to do a marvel backup with different songs but when i tried to create the final image (.cdi) it turned in a corrupted one. I'm sure i've done the correct process regarding the songs, but something occurred while making the image. I used 2 methods: The exoboot (Data to Image Mode) and Nero + Bin2boot (.nrg, then change it to .bin, then bin2boot). If someone knows how to solve plz let me know. Thx in advance :plain:

[mowgli]

hello, im trying to make my dc cdi file self bootable with exoboot1.31. but i get a message saying that my file has no bin files . how do i find out and if not what do i do .thanks

[primoitt]

I got an error using your Exotool. It's a MS-DOS error and appears while is runing the BINHACK. This is the messenge error "THE CPU NTVDM found an expection not treated..."
Take a look

32353

So everytime Exotool create a selfboot iso/cd that Chankast shows like an AUDIO-CD!
I have try a lot of games and got a lot of same results:(


PLZ HELP ME!!!=]

Sorry about double post

[paulpsomiadis]

I'm just thinking @Exoskeletor - your tool doesn't support 'sorter.txt' yet...:(

This is a .txt file that allows mkisofs to sort the files in the ISO so they are the same order as the original GD-ROM disc.:matrix:

(improves loading times quite a bit!)

At the moment, your tool generates an ISO like this...

Mkisofs -C 0,0 -V DOA2 -l -o data.iso "F:\Exoboot\data"

...with sorter.txt it looks like this...

Mkisofs -C 0,0 -V DOA2 -l -sort sorttxt.txt -o data.iso "F:\Exoboot\data"

(I'm using DOA2 as an example)

If you don't know what I'm going on about, I can email or PM you a document that explains the procedure of how to create 'sorttxt.txt':matrix:

(It should only be created from an original GD-ROM for obvious reasons...but you can create it by hand also...)

One of these sorttxt.txt files is necessary to prevent texture problems in Soul Calibur...at least it was for me!:unsure: