Xenosaga + Swap Magic

Hi.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with splitting a DVD9 into separate layers and burning it onto two DVD5 discs.

More specifically, an NTSC copy of Xenosaga is on it's way from the States at this moment, along with a copy of Swap Magic 3.6 and a flip top lid for my PS2. (:D) I know that Swap Magic can't handle dual layer DVDs, and I also know that splitting the two layers of a DVD9 disc into two DVD5s can be done. The question is just how to do that. I'm pretty sure I'll need a patch, which I can't find.

I know that the TOC for Swap Magic 3.6 is 4.35GB and the size of the Xenosaga disc image 7.99GB, so one idea I had would be to rip the two layers into two 4GB images, then split them so that they overlap a little:

(assume 1GB is 1000MB and "-" represents 250MB)

Total disc length:

|--------------------------------| 

                8GB

Two ISO lengths after ripping from DVD9:

|----------------| |----------------| 

        4GB                   4GB

Two ISOs, each overlapping one another:

|-----------------|

                |-----------------|

        4.25GB     4.25GB        

Edit: Actually, it seems ridiculous that they would order data from start to finish, rather than in sectors. xD
Disregard that diagram please. :p

Will this work? Do they use a different means of storage, aside from a 'start to finish' ordering of data? I have no experience splitting ISOs or dealing with components of images, so any help is appreciated. Cheers.

www.videohelp.com

That is where I would look but because this isn't a video disc and is a game disc I don't know how well what you want to do would work. What if the maps were on one disc but the battle stuff was on the other? That would suck!

Had the same problem, gave up...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dreddz

Had the same problem, gave up...

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i thought this was ur thread:rolleyes2

Nein, Mine is a little further down.

Wow, I didn't even see your thread, Dreddz. I found some stuff that could be helpful though.

PPF patch, requires you to register at ps2nfo.com.
Instructions on downsampling and rebuilding a DVD image, no registration required; works for all PS2 models.
Some guy called black_Ice posted a nice tutorial on rebuilding images.

It seems like rebuilding the disc image is the way to go, though it looks like patching it will work.

If there are video files on the disc you could always us DVD shrink on them and make them about 1/3rd the size and fit the whole game onto one disc. That is another thought I just had.

Yeah, I read something like that on the AfterDawn boards. I don't think that it would shrink the game by half though - If I was to put the game on a DVD5, I'd need the image to be reduced from 8GB to 4.35GB.

Applying that patch, and re-burning to DVD9 should allow it to work with Swap Magic, though I'm going to have a go at rebuilding too, since that seems to be a useful skill.

Failing that, I'm just going to chip my PS2. :p

EDIT: Found this: Xenosaga rebuild tutorial.

EDIT 2: Got it working. No patches, no DVD9s, just that guide in my last edit, and a bit of experimentation and a lot of DVDs. :D