Dumping Guide (redumper CLI)

From Redump Wiki

Revision as of 22:56, 6 August 2023

Note: This guide is for the Command Line Interface version of redumper, if you have no idea what that means, please use the GUI version (as it's much simpler): Disc Dumping Guide (MPF).

This guide is aimed at those who would like to dump supported systems using redumper

Drive Compatibility

Please see Optical Disc Drive Compatibility to see which drives are compatible.

First Time Setup / Tools

• redumper
• BurnOutSharp (Windows) - to scan for copy protections.
• MPF.Check (Windows) - not required but can make filling submission info easier.

Dumping: Windows

Dumping discs with redumper can be extremely straightforward. Simply put your disc in a drive, open up your command-line interface of choice, navigate to the folder containing your redumper binary and simply execute redumper. The program will detect and dump the disc, running through all of the appropriate steps, and output all of the files to an autogenerated name. You can then follow the process for submitting your dump in the "Submitting your Dump" section below.

Dumping: macOS

• Every time you download redumper, you'll need to reestablish permissions to allow the app to run: Right-click on redumper -> Open -> Open. The app will open in Terminal and you've successfully established permissions, now quit Terminal.
• macOS will only allow CLI apps to run from certain directories, put the redumper file into the following directory: /Users/[username]/bin/
• Insert a disc into your disc drive.
• Open Terminal and identify the drive number your disc is in with this command: diskutil list
• Unmount the disc with diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk[#]
• CD to the redumper app /Users/[username]/bin/
• Dump the disc with ./redumper --drive=disk[#]

Dumping with Additional Parameters

redumper has a number of additional parameters which may help you set up a smoother dumping workflow and be of assistance to more advanced users. A full list of these can be viewed by executing redumper --help. We have listed some of the more commonly-used parameters and their functionalities as follows:

• --verbose - enables verbose output, useful for checking for any errors or warnings during the dumping process
• --drive=VALUE - select which drive should be used for dumping
• --speed=VALUE - specify a drive read speed. Can be useful for dumping damaged discs
• --retries=VALUE - specify how many times redumper should try to reread a sector with an SCSI/C2 error. Please note that even successful retries are not a guarantee of a good dump - any disc with errors should be dumped twice and matching hashes obtained prior to submission
• --image-path=VALUE - specify a directory into which dump/log files should be output
• --image-name=VALUE - specify a name for the dump/log files

Submitting your Dump

Now that you've dumped your disc, it's time to gather the relevant information and make a submission to the redump database. Please first read the submission guidelines on the forum and note the following:

• For new discs, those with dumper status should always use the New Disc form. New dumpers can submit initial dumps to the New Dumps forum page
• Verifications should always be submitted to the Verifications section of the forum

There are a number of pieces of information that should be gathered prior to making a submission. If posting on the forums, please ensure that the information is formatted according to the Submission Template

Much of the required technical information such as Primary Volume Descriptor, write offset, etc. will be available in the .log file output by redumper during the dumping process. Some additional elements which are required are outlined below.

Submission Information

Title: The main title of the game. If there are multiple variants of the game title given, the in-game title should take precedence. Additional titles (e.g. on the box, spine, etc.) can be added in comments using the [T:ALT] tag.

If titles in multiple languages are present, the English title should take precedence. Titles in other languages can be added to comments using the [T:ALTF] tag.

Titles in non-Latin alphabets should be romanised. For Cyrillic, this should be done using the GOST 7.79-2000 system. For Japanese titles, a modified Hepburn romanization system is used, but there are some additional complexities.

Foreign Title (Non-latin): Titles in non-Latin alphabets can be provided as-is for this field

Disc Number / Letter: If the disc is explicitly numbered or lettered (1, 2, A, B, etc.) then provide this information here. If a disc is labelled e.g. "Disc 1 of 2", it is only necessary to provide the number 1.

Disc Title: If the disc is explicitly given a title such as "Install Disc" or "Bonus DVD" then include this information here.

System: Please select the appropriate system from the list of System Names

Category: Select as appropriate from the following list:

• Add-Ons
• Applications
• Audio
• Bonus Discs
• Coverdiscs
• Demos
• Educational
• Games
• Multimedia
• Preproduction
• Video

Region: The region in which the disc was primarily available for sale. This could be an individual country (Japan) or a broader regional designation (Europe). Use of the "World" region should be avoided - this is only added in exceptional circumstances where multiple matching dumps from all major regions are known.

Languages: These should be languages which are explicitly available in game. For PC, if multiple languages are offered during installation, it should be verified that the game is playable in each of these. If you are not sure, leave this field blank.

Disc Serial: Any serial number which is printed on the disc itself. Note that serial numbers printed on cases, sleeves, inlays etc. should not be included here.

Ringcode Information: Follow the Ring Code Guide

Barcode: If there are multiple barcodes present (e.g. on outer sleeve/inner jewel case) then add all of these and comma separate them

Error Count: This information can be found in the .img_EccEdc.txt file generated during the dumping process. If it reads "[NO ERROR] User data vs. ecc/edc match all" then enter 0 here, otherwise enter the number given after "Total errors:"

Comments: Any other relevant information that doesn't belong in a specified field goes here. Please see the list of Special Site Codes for some of the types of information that can be added here.

Contents: Completely optional, but if the disc contains any interesting contents other than the main game (demos, trailers, manuals, etc.) then this can be noted here.

Version: Any obvious version information should be included here. For the following systems there are standard methods to find the version:

• Sony PlayStation 2 - use the VER tag in SYSTEM.CNF
• Sony PlayStation 3 - use the VERSION tag from PARAM.SFO
• Sony PlayStation 4 - use the VERSION tag from PARAM.SFO

For IBM PC, version information can be found in many places. For preference, any version information displayed in-game should be used - this can often be found on title screens, menus, or credit sequences. If this is not available, other sources such as readme files, .ini files or installers can be searched.

Edition/Release: If a game is part of a particular named edition or special release (e.g. Limited Edition, Platinum Hits, etc.) then this information should be included here. For bonus discs bundled with a particular game (e.g. bonus DVDs or soundtrack CDs), the edition is always "[SYSTEM] Game Bundle"

Copy Protection: BurnOutSharp, although built as a Windows application, should be usable under compatibility layers such as WINE on other operating systems. Any copy protection information it detects should be included here.

Files to include

The only file which is absolutely required is your redumper .log file - this can either be uploaded to an external filehost (see below) or pasted into the comments field of the new disc form / included in a code block on the forums.

There are a number of additional files which may be included as part of your submission and can be helpful if debugging is required. These should be bundled into a single ZIP or 7Z archive and either attached to the forum post (if under 2MB) or uploaded to a supported filehost e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, MEGA.NZ. Do not upload logs to a site which: restricts number/size of downloads per day; requires creation of a user account to download; deletes files after a certain length of time.

The following files should be included in your upload:

• .log
• .cdtext (if generated)
• .fulltoc
• .state
• .subcode
• .toc

Track 0/A hashes

On certain occasions, redumper will detect and dump additional data in the disc lead-in / lead-out and create Track 0/00 and/or Track A/AA files. Hashes for these should be included as part of your submission if your disc contains audio tracks - for discs without audio tracks these can be excluded.

When submitting file hashes for your dump, please note that the redump database does not yet support these track numbers. You should manually extract these from the "dat:" section of the log and include them in the comments section instead.

Universal Hash

Universal Hash information will be generated for all discs. This should be included in your submission only for discs which consist entirely of audio tracks (primarily Audio CDs but there are some other examples such as GameShark updates which are mastered as audio).