Sonic CD
Flavor:
Table of Contents
Usual Legal Crap
OMG Preface
Formats
- BIN + CUE
- ISO + MP3
- ISO + WAV
Important!
You own a real copy of Sonic CD, right? It's a great game, you should indeed pay for it.
Even if you don't own it on the original hardware, you can still buy it for the PC, or even the Nintendo Gamecube in the form of Sonic Gems Collection.
Honestly, it's worth the money, and then you can mess around with all this backup business to your hearts' content without being a dick to the guys who brought you this game.
If you don't own Sonic CD, go back to the main page and come back when you've paid Sega.
The guy who runs Sonic Stuff really had trouble hosting Sonic CD. Not just because of the bandwidth, but also because of people who didn't know how to use what is downloaded.
This page is designed to explain the different backups, and how to use them. Any Sonic CD backup questions should be answered on this page. If you still don't understand, you can contact me at heranbago[at]gmail[dot]com. I'd be happy to add to this page.
Sonic CD is currently available to download in two formats: BIN + CUE and ISO + MP3.
When you try to download a BIN + CUE backup of Sonic CD, you will be taken to a download page with many files like this. Files you'd find here would be a series of RAR compressed files (.rar, .r00, .r01, .00, .01), and perhaps a SFV (checksum), image file (CD picture) or NFO (info file). Since the entirety of the scene release is there assuming it is a scene release, I reccomend you get all of the files. However, All you will really need are the compressed ones.
Open the first file (.rar or .r00) with a RAR arch iver/decompresser like winRAR. I reccomend winRAR. Hot damn! Inside there are delicious files! One is a .bin file, the other is a .cue file. You must extract these! If there are other files in there, they're not so delicious.
The .bin is a perfect binary backup of the original disc. The .cue is a cue sheet. You don't realy care as long as it works, right? On to using these...
With a real Sega CD:
1) Open up the .cue file with a CD image burning program like Alcohol 120%. Alcohol 120% is a great progam for this, and they offer a free trial.
2) Double check and make sure you really own a real copy of the game.
2) Burn the file to a blank CD at the slowest possible speed.
With Kega Fusion:
1) File > Load Sega CD image.
2) It doesn't really matter which file type is selected , since you have both the important .bin and the kinda cool .cue.
3) Open it. If your BIOS are configured correctly, it'll play.
4) If they're not configured, refer to google. The Sega CD / Mega CD BIOS are hosted on SonAR. Don't get them unless you own a real Sega CD or Mega CD.
With Gens or a variant of Gens:
1) File > Open ROM.
2) Make sure you've selected the right file type!
3) Open it. If your BIOS are configured correctly, it'll play.
4) If they're not configured, refer to google. The Sega CD / Mega CD BIOS are hosted on SonAR. Don't get them unless you own a real Sega CD or Mega CD.
This format is designed to save disc space and therefore bandwidth. It id very effective at doing so, but in exchange it does unreparable damage to the audio quality. Thusly, I don't consier them clean or perfect dumps, and I'm unhappy having them on SonAR unless they are scene releases. On the plus side, the difference is bearly (if even) noticable durring gameplay, and the benefits of saving bandwidth and space could outwrigh the benefits of a "OMG clean dump."
When you try to download a ISO + MP3 backup of Sonic CD, you will be taken to a download page with many files like this. Files you'd find here would be an ISO or RAR (the backup of the disc's files, sans music), MP3s (the game's music!) and perhaps a SFV (checksum). The ISOs and the MP3s are all you need. Well, you could just grab the ISO if you want, but there would be no music in past or future levels. Download what you will (you may need to right-click/control-click and choose "save as" to download the MP3s). If there's a .RAR file, that the .ISO out of the .RAR using winRAR or something, and then get ready...
If you are using the MP3s hosted here, make sure you rename the ISO to "Sonic CD.iso"! If the first audio track is "Sonic CD 33.mp3", then the ISO should be "Sonic CD.iso". Make sure you don't mess up with spaces! If the disc image is "x.iso" then the audio must be "x #.mp3".
With a real Sega CD:
0) You will need to make a .cue file which contains the .iso as the main track and the mp3 files as CD audio tracks. I'm not sure how to do this, but all you will need is notepad. Google can give you more info though.
1) Open up the .cue file with a CD image burning program like Alcohol 120%. Alcohol 120% is a great progam for this, and they offer a free trial.
2) Double check and make sure you really own a real copy of the game.
2) Burn the file to a blank CD at the slowest possible speed.
With Kega Fusion:
1) File > Load Sega CD image.
2) It doesn't really matter which file type is selected , since you have both the all important .iso.
3) Open it. If your BIOS are configured correctly, it'll play.
4) The mp3s will play as the background music as long as they have the same file name as the .iso followed by a space then the track number (and .mp3 rather than .iso of course).
5) If your BIOS are not configured, refer to google. The Sega CD / Mega CD BIOS are hosted on SonAR. Don't get them unless you own a real Sega CD or Mega CD.
With Gens or a variant of Gens:
1) File > Open ROM.
2) Make sure you've selected the right file type!
3) Open it. If your BIOS are configured correctly, it'll play.
4) The mp3s will play as the background music as long as they have the same file name as the .iso followed by a space then the track number (and .mp3 rather than .iso of course).
5) If your BIOS are not configured, refer to google. The Sega CD / Mega CD BIOS are hosted on SonAR. Don't get them unless you own a real Sega CD or Mega CD.
I would never host this crap on SonAR. If I was wanted to host huge files, I'd host the .BIN + .CUE versions. Sure, .wav files have almost entirely lossless quality, but the benefits are not worth the cost if it's still going to be a bad dump.
Have fun. This game is very very fun.
