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How to get Skies Of Arcadia (echelon) working properly!!!!

Agozer

16-bit Corpse | Moderator
Like I've said a few times in the past, the current patcher only works for some people.
 

Sevilla_Forever

Naruto Fan #1 (¡Viva Sevilla!)
Why only it works for certain people? Problems of CPU, OS, ram...? There is some way to solve it?

PD: I feel to bother so much with this subject, but you must include/understand that it is a game that I have many desire to prove and is a great deception that SOAPatcher does not work...

PD 2: It could be a problem of the download? If it can be, I would like to have an alternative link of download to Emutalk, if it is possible. Thank you very much. Goodbye!
 
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aika-san

New member
Sevilla_Forever said:
Why only it works for certain people?
Because it was put together in a hurry. I don't get paid for this, and therefore I have to work a real job too. I didn't have the time or access to the equipment to test it properly.

Sevilla_Forever said:
Problems of CPU, OS, ram...?
We don't know why the patch is not working for some people. I've got a feeling it's because I'm using DOS access to do a lot of the tasks required for the patching. I think, therefore, that different versions/configurations of DOS commands on different systems are the cause of most of the problems.

Sevilla_Forever said:
There is some way to solve it?
I'm working on that now. I'm making a new version of the patch. The main goal is to make it more compatible. This new patch is already working. I still have more to do before I can release it though.

Sevilla_Forever said:
is a great deception that SOAPatcher does not work...
To say that it does not work is, erm, not true. It just doesn't work for you for the reasons stated above. The only way to fix the problem with the current patch is to try patching on a different system like i've stated a billion times before. It's either that or you wait for me to release the next version of the patch.

If you read the previous couple of pages of this thread, you would know all this. So I'm left asking myself, "Why am I answering questions that you, as a poster on this thread, should already know the answer to?"

I will not be posting again in this thread until the new patch is ready to be released.
 
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Mouser X

New member
Well, after reading all 45 pages (yes, I wanted to be thourough in making sure that my problem wasn't stated before), I have learned that I have a corrupt CD2. At least, based on the fact that others have had the same problem. I also downloaded CDcheck, and the culprit, most disheartingly, was "M04S.P16" (as has been mentioned previously). That file, contained in the "SOUNDS" directory, is over 50mb in size. I strongly doubt that I'll simply be able to replace it with another file in the sound directory. I haven't downloaded CDmage yet (which was also mentioned), but from what I can tell, the image itself is bad (I think it's 2mb short of the full thing).

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting my 2nd disc working? Call me crazy (I am half the time anyway), but if I copy that bad file from the GC version (if it's in there at all, that is), do you think that might work? While you may, or may not believe me, I have the GC version of this game in actual disc form. In fact, I've been playing it while waiting for the DC version to download and patch... The reason I wanted the DC version is because I went to the Skies of Arcadia Worlds site (the one done by Fina/Sam), and saw the screencaptures they had hosted there. Once I saw that, I couldn't stop thinking about. The pictures were so crisp and clear! So, I'm emulating it, not to play it again (I'm already doing that with the GC version), but because I want drop-dead-gorgeous pictures from this game. So, in that regard, I suppose it's not required that I have disc 2...

As for version 4 of this patch coming out, awesome! After reading through this whole thread (it took me like, 4 hours? And it's now somewhere around 5 or 6 am here... I wanted to be in bed around 1... DANGIT! Well, maybe that illustrates how much I wanted to fix this problem?), I can see how much work you've put into getting this game running better. Thank you VERY MUCH for the tips and tricks provided in the manual file.

The worst thing about my problem is that, I had from a year or 2 ago, CD2 on my drive. I deleted it maybe an hour or 2 before I read this thread... D: The reason I deleted it, instead of keeping it, is because it was in NRG format, and DT 3.29 can't mount that format (3.44 can, but I can't run the games using that version). It didn't occur to me that I might have a bad image... So my next request (yes, a poor one, I'm sure) would be, if possible, could you somehow provide a way to patch that faulty file in v4 of this patch? Apparently, based on the comments in this thread, a corrupt 2nd disc has started getting passed around somewhat recently (no one complained of the problem until around page 25-30. From there, it became more frequent). I really wish I hadn't deleted that CD2 NRG image now! At the very least, I might have been able to get a non-corrupted file off of it... I've thought about using some data recovery utilites to see if I can still find the file, but I'm fairly certain that I can't recover it because I've already written data to the drive... (maybe, though, since I had that image file on my drive twice, one as RAR, and one as NRG, I can recover at least one of them? Hmmm... worth a shot, if I can find some data recovery utilities...)

Well, crudders. Sorry for the long post. But thank you VERY MUCH for this awesome patch. The game looks stunning on my PC! Sounds like a cat getting run over, sure, but it looks great! Good luck with v4 coming soon. Mouser X over and out.
 
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aika-san

New member
Version 4 won't fix your cd2 problem. Both images will need to be the echelon version in .cdi format. Don't panic though. Version 4 will help you to locate the correct image files as well as perform stringent tests before patching to check that your image is correct and error free. If anything is out of place, you will not be able to patch with v4. Unfortunately I can't support different types of image, corrupted images, or even slightly modified images. This is one of the methods I am using to improve compatability with v4. I think with v3, some people have tried to patch modified/corrupted versions of the images. v3 doesn't check for this, and therefore it will attempt to patch the dodgy image which results in the patcher either freezing or creating an unplayable image file. v4 does not allow any of that. if v4 spots anything remotely suspicious about the image you tell it to patch, then you will recieve an error message and no patching will commence.
 

Mouser X

New member
Well, I just finished downloading 4 different copies of Skies of Arcadia. Of them, 3 were corrupt images. However, using CDmage, I somehow fixed one of the corrupted images. In all honesty, I don't know how I fixed it, since the files don't seem to be changed in any way... But, it works, and that's what matters. So, for now, I'm quite happy. :bouncy: Thank you again for the great patch! For those wondering it was a CCD image, and not a CDI image, that I fixed. For some reason, CDmage wouldn't load the CDI, but did load the CCD. Anyway, if there's anyone picking the echelon rip up, good luck getting it working. I definatly suggest that you have CDmage on hand, as it seems that almost all of the currently distributed copies are (very mildly) corrupted... Apparently, the original DC runs the corrupted images just fine, but Chankast can't boot them. As such, the corrupted images continue to be put into distribution, because most people run the game on the actual Dreamcast (at least, this is what it looks like to me). It looks like the patch is, in part, at fault for making a non-bootable CD image. When patching the CDs, it copies the files to the hardrive. But, since a 50mb+ file is corrupt on the disc image (it looks like the entire file is present in the CD image, there's just something slightly askew, somehow), it doesn't copy over properly, so the resulting patched image is missing that 50mb+ file. When you release ver.4 of this patch, I would bet that the bad file problem is easily fixable. It might be a good idea to look into this issue, because the bad images are becoming more and more prevelent, and the original non-corrupt images are becoming harder and harder to come by. Anyway, hopefully this will help someone else in the future... Mouser X over and out.
 
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Mouser X

New member
Just a quick update. I edited my previous message, but it didn't seem to display any difference when I did so. I just wanted to inform Aika-san that patching the corrupt discs looks like it wouldn't be to hard because the corruption is very minimal. Also, unaltered/non-corrupt copies are getting much harder to find, so this might be another reason to want to patch these botched images. Skim over my previous post for more details. Mouser X out.
 

Gubb

New member
I've got SoA echellon version with this disturbing opening text, so I tried the patch. All worked perfectly and i've the new cdi but they are not readable. I dont really know why?
 
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aika-san

New member
I've still got the original uncorrupted echelon version. This is what I've based SOAPatcher v4 on.

Thankyou for the info regarding the corrupted images Mouser X. Here's what I'm going to do just before releasing v4. I'm going to get the most popular version at the moment and update the patching to support this popular version. If it's corrupted then I will work around that problem. For the last week I've been having major trouble with my ADSL connection. Basically my download speeds have dropped 90% which makes it difficult to even reply to emails. Once I get that fixed I'll be able to continue.
 

Dark Mits

Eternal Darkness
Maybe a stupid question, but a question nevertheless:

Is it possible that a cdi image which was patched ok with SoAPatcher v3 will not be patched ok with SoAPatcher v4? I still have back-ups but I just wanted to ask (and to also bring this topic in the front page ;D )
 

Agozer

16-bit Corpse | Moderator
Dark Mits said:
Maybe a stupid question, but a question nevertheless:

Is it possible that a cdi image which was patched ok with SoAPatcher v3 will not be patched ok with SoAPatcher v4? I still have back-ups but I just wanted to ask (and to also bring this topic in the front page ;D )
Someone already asked this very same question on this thread IIRC, and the answer was that you can't re-patch an already patched image.
 

diablo2121

teh diAbLo
And there is no point in patching a patched image. The purpose of v4 is to assist those that couldn't get v3 working. You're good for now.
 

Dark Mits

Eternal Darkness
You didn't understand me. I meant that I have patched it already with version 3, BUT I still habve back-ups. If I patch another copy of the original UNPATCHED with v4, is it possible that it won't work, even though v3 did?

--EDIT--

And besides, if aika-san manages to fix some bugs (even though these are emulator-related, not image-related) why would I want to miss those fixes?
 
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Mouser X

New member
aika-san said:
You should wait. I can't guarantee that I will be able to fix the sound. You'll only need to get the echelon again if I can fix the sound, or make any other improvements on the game itself. To begin with a v4 patched game will operate exactly the same as a v3 game. The big difference will be that the v4 patch should work on everyone's computer. After that's done, I will be working on the sound bug. You will know if I fix it because I'll be keeping everyone up to date on my progress in this thread.

This is the best I could find, but I'm fairly certain it's already been said that v4 is just like the v3 patcher, but that it will run on more computers. So, as far as the end result (a patched Skies of Arcadia disk) goes, there will be no difference between a v3 patched image, and a v4 patched image. Hopefully that answers your question. Mouser X over and out.
 

Dragengard

New member
Sorry for my bad english but ...
I have a corrupted CD 2 of SOA (M04S.P16).I taken a new one arquive but, with BootDreams a creat a new .CDI image of non patched CD2 with non corrupted arquive in place of the old one.When monted (in Daemon 3.29) the SOA Patcher don't recognize the image.I tried, first patch the corrupted CD2, and make new image with BootDreams.But, when emuled with Chakanst 0.25, after the Sega's logo the game crash.
I tried for two days to make this CD2 playable.
Thanks for the atention.
 

Mouser X

New member
Do you still have the original, corrupted CD image? The one that you downloaded, unaltered? If yes, then search for "CDmage." I had the EXACT same problem as you (look through the thread here, it's actually becoming more and more common). Look for my posts (Mouser X). I talked about the problem a little more than most people. Anyway, take a look at some of my posts, and search for "CDmage." I used CDmage, and it successfully repaired the damged CD2 (before patching. It WILL NOT work after patching). The other method you could try is to continue searching for a non-corrupt CD2. I downloaded 4 copies of SoA, and only 1 of them was a non-corrupt copy. Since then, I've downloaded at least 1 more, but haven't been able to test it to see if it's corrupt or not.

On a similar note, I currently have in my torrent queue a non-echelon rip of SoA. Meaning, the one in my queue won't need patching. However, it's 4 CDs, so I don't expect it to run very well. I only got it because I plan on attempting to rip the audio files from the non-echelon copy, to see if I can play them in Winamp. If I have any luck, I *might* even attempt to replace the crappy music in the Echelon rip (do not hold your breath for that one. I doubt it's likely).

Anyway, hopefully CDmage can repair the bad image for you. If not, good luck finding a non-corrupt CD2. I'd help you out if I could, but posting links to ROMs (in this case, CD images) is against the rules. Understandably, of course, and I fully agree to it being in place. Hopefully this helps though. Mouser X over and out.
 

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