Not booting with utopia :(

[thegeorge43]

As i mentioned in previous posts the utopia disc or exoboot did not help me. I think i hav a simalar problem to some people in posts but mines a little different.

Every time i load utopia disc with daemon tools (in the right drive selected and with the right settings) it works perfectly when loaded then when i change to a game (sonic adventure 1, not sure about that if its made by eichalon or something, don't think so) it jumps to the disc loading screen with the spinning silver animal and the utopia disc in rotating in the background which i'm pretty sure it's supposed to (right?) but then it just sits there. Nothing else happens just keeps loading from that screen.

I'm sure my image is ok and not fake or anything but i'm not sure what image format it must be in daemon tools. Do i hav 2 change it with Exoboot or is there something else wrong.

plz help. Thanx

 

[thegeorge43]

*sigh* is this a quadrupal post or something cause I have tried searching this...
or is there not enough info to help?

If so then i've tried running it in these formats on daemon tools and alcohol 120% with the utopia boot disc v6.1 (VI.I) [on chankast 0.25)
Am I using the wrong format?

.iso: sits at the utopia disc loading screen and doesn't load
.cdi: can't use it in either programs. Invalid format.
.bin: same result with .iso format
.nrg: same with .iso and .bin format
.img: same " "

Not sure about any others.

I'm also using the spanish bios so every time I come on it's in spanish even if I change it.

I'm using Windows XP Home. Not great specs: Pentium M 1.4 G processor
512 megs of ram
Intel Extreme Graphics 2

This sounds desparate but i've tried searching for the solutions and where there were answers that I found I've used with no results.

Please tell me what I am doing or if there is any way I can make this easier to solve. C'mon I know you guys are great helping other people. It just seems like I'm the only one left with the same old problems and don't know anything.

You don't have to help me. Just tell me something, anything. That I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to search or is to lazy to find threds with info(which I have searched and read on, nothings helped) Just plz don't leave me in the dark.

 

[thegeorge43]

ugh! ok i missed something... dt or alco120% cant mount it as a cdi.
i cant make it selfbootable in exoboot. Did everything correct. Said it couldnt do anything in any format i changed it to. this is sonic adventure 1. im sure there is something wrong in what i've done. read the faq, still not sure.

plz dont tell me i got a fake/corrupt image cause i can't go into the cd when i mount it as a:

.iso
.bin
.img
.cdi
.mdf(dont no if i can even mount it)
.mds

Uuuuuugh! There's no end to this!

I really give up after this if it doesn't work

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

What was the original format that you downloaded the Utopia disc in? If it was anything but CDI, then that's a problem, and you need to find another place to get it as a native CDI, as that's the only way I've found it to work. Also, the latest version of Daemon Tools works great with the Utopia disc as well as other DC CDI images. What version of DT are you running? If it's the new version, then there's no reason that it shouldn't run CDI's.

 

[thegeorge43]

Damn, i hardly hav a idea of wat it was. i think .st or that mite hav been part of the name. i think .st i have no idea wat that is. every image format but .cdi works. strange. but it cant be fake cause it goes to the music player in chankast. but dont boot with utopia disc bla bla bla... this isnt rite. icant make it selfbootable in exoboot.

Daemon 3.47 and 3.29(tried both)
and alchohol

eish. any of this help

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

If your uptopia disc goes to the DC Bios screen or the music CD selection, it's not working properly and you need another version.

Unless... perhaps you're not loading the image in the correct order? This will sound dumb, but you have to load the Utopia disc before running the emulator. You're probably already doing this right, but it's worth a mention.

 

[thegeorge43]

I am loading the utopia disc b4 opening chankast. I am loading it in .nrg format. is that rite?

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

I would suggest finding a different copy of the utopia disk, and this time, make sure that it comes in a CDI format. The other uptopia disks I've found that were not CDI didn't work.

 

[thegeorge43]

Yes, thanks for pointing that out. I found i downloaded the utopia disc in a nero image format. But unfortunately that did not solve the problem. It still seems to get stuck on the loading screen. (i also noticed every few seconds it freezes for another second. don't know if that will help) Is there any other way to make the image self bootable? (besides exoboot) will other programs make a difference.

Thanx for the support so far. Gaining hope...:bunny:

 

[thegeorge43]

i can't get it into cdi format cause exoboot can't make a image of it.

Error: either the file(s) are not dreamcast games or the file is not in the right format. No bin files located.

what format is it talking about? If i change to .bin it freezes.

Any simalar errors anyone?

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

Check your private messages. I sent one regarding some of the trouble that you're having.

On another idea, what's the game image format? CDI, ISO, etc... You do know that you can't just change a format by changing the file extention (exe, cdi, iso, etc...) to something else, right? That doesn't change the file, that just changes the "sign" that tells programs how to manage it.

ex: if you have a TXT file, and you rename it to an RTF file, it won't work because it's still a TXT file, you've just changed it's "sign" that says: "Read me as a TXT file" to saying: "Read me as an RTF".

 

[thegeorge43]

Yes, I no, i was testing it to see if it works as an cdi. Which it doesn't. Which means ur rite.

And ya i did get the PM. no difference

Isn't there another program that specializes in formatting cdi images or converting to cdi.

This is getting bleak

Any way im taking my best guess im doing something simple wrong. does the bios affect the booting?

 

[thegeorge43]

I can mount it as anything but a cdi and a few others. it's original format was .st i think. thats getting me stuck. i hav no idea wat that is...

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

I would suggest starting over. Use the game in its original format, use the boot disk its orignal format, and use Daemon 3.47 (latest). Whatever the format is, there's no reason that it shouldn't work with Daemon. If it doesn't work, just say what it does. Don't change any formats or anything.

I know that this will probably not make it work, but at least starting over will make sure that everything is unchanged, and the way it should be. A clean slate is always the easiest to fix.

 

[thegeorge43]

I just found out what the format is: I hav no idea wat it is. it figures .st was just part of the sites adress.

it seems there really isn't any real original format.

Bah. i'm lost now.

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

okay... um... in that case, I'm kinda lost, too. I can't say that I know how to help unless I know that the files are in working order.

Maybe you should download the game (which game is it, btw?) again, or maybe from somehwere else.

But just out of curiosity, when you load the Utopia disk, and then run ChanKast, do you get an image of a spinning deer/moose? Or does it go to the DC BIOS, or music CD screen? If it goes to either one of those, you'll need to get another bios. You'll want the PAL version. I wish I could say where to get it, but... forum rules, you know?

 

[thegeorge43]

As i said b4 in the other posts yes i saw the reindeer and yes it loads correctly. I'm pretty sure the game ( which is sonic adventure 1) can work. Its also as big as a normal image. Its just that the site was in a different language and did not have a download help section. Translated, it still did not make too much sense.

Unless i'm supposed to do something or use a certain program mayb. Too bad i can't read from the site. but i'll try.

Thanx alot for the help though. Its steered me in the right direction. I'll post here if i find anything els. Plz post anything that u find out anything els about it.

I'll also post if i get it working so then we'll know our efforts were worth it

Thanx alot man, I really hope i can repay it someday.(But I doubt it, I'm useless at running emulators harder to work with than ePSXe)

 

[Neat Hedgehog]

Oh, ok. In the other posts it just said that you got to the loading screen. Could have just meant the BIOS screen. But you did mention that in the first post... my bad. I missed it.

Yeah, if it's not loading even after the utopia screen, you'll probably want: A Europian PAL bios (so that it's in English), and if that doesn't fix it, try a different download site for the game, like I said before.

Hope you get it working.

 

[thegeorge43]

as a matter of fact i think the image is actually ok. Cause i gave the file to someone who managed to get it so that he could actually go into the disc.
But he never knew the rest of it. He said something that some aspi drivers will help(he doesn't have windows 2000) do you know anything like that. Its getting me confused:/