PlanetWeb Multi Game CD Tutorial
This is a basic tutorial on how to load multiple games on one cd using the Planetweb browser. This assumes you have knowledge and experience selfbooting DC Backups with the Echelon Selfboot Kit.
Things You Need
- Planetweb Browser
- Echelon Selfboot Kit
- A CD Burner
- Isobuster or CDMage
- Game Files
The Process
Go ahead and extract the Echelon Selfboot Kit to a "selfboot" folder. Create a "data" folder in the "selfboot " folder. It should look something like this on your PC drive,
C:\selfboot
C:\selfboot\dataNow go to megagames.com/dc and download Planetweb Browser 2.6. Put the .cdi in ISOBUSTER or CDMAGE and extract the files into the "data" folder. The data folder should look like this,
data/PWBROWSER/ -- Directory
data/1ST_READ.BIN -- Main Boot BIN
data/GINSU.INI -- Game Launcher Setup File
data/GINXFER.BIN -- Game Launcher BINNow create folders in the "data" folder that will be the name of the game(s) you want to boot from the browser. Example: If you wanted to put Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Capcom vs SNK 2 on a disc, then make a folder called "MVC2" and "CVS2" and put ALL the files of those games in their folders.
You can use Isobuster or CDMage to extract the files from an image or just use Isobuster on a backup disc of the game. Now the "data" folder should look like so,
data/PWBROWSER/
data/1ST_READ.BIN
data/GINXFER.BIN
data/GINSU.INI
data/MVC2/
data/CVS2/Now you need an IP.BIN. It doesn't matter where you get it just as long as it points to the 1ST_READ.BIN. Optionally, you can use a tool called, "IP Extractor" to get the IP.BIN from the Planetweb .cdi image.
Now put the 1ST_READ.BIN of the "data" folder in the "selfboot" folder (up one level). BINHACK it to the correct LBA, which would either be 11700/11702. (You can find this out by burning the Audio.RAW file. then use the " -msinfo " option in CDRECORD).
Put the 1ST_READ.BIN back in the data folder. There might be other .bins you have to binhack. To find out what these .bins are, open the .bins in a hex editor and do a search for files containing the text string, " CD001 ". Once you find that reference, a little bit after this, you should see something like, "gdfs" after it. If you do, it is a bootbin that you need to BINHACK. So go ahead and binhack those files, but ignore files in a, "WINCE" folder. (more on that later) There are games with in-game web browsers. The .bins are 2_dp.bin, sg_dpldr.bin, and maigo.bin These files are used to load an in-game web browser of the game. You can go ahead and BINHACK 2_dp.bin. But DON'T binhack sg_dpldr.bin or maigo.bin.!! Even though they have "CD001" references, they don't have "gdfs" following it. Which means they are actually not bootbins, but are neccessary files in order to load the browser. If the games you're trying to load don't have these files, just binhack the 1st_read.bin.
***I have not been able to successfully load a web browser from within a game after loading the game from the Planetweb browser. Maybe you can only load one bin at a time, i guess. I'll have to do more tests.
*** If you burned these or any game with the echelon method and your burner always puts out an lba of either 11700 or 11702 after you burn the audio.raw session, then you don't need to binhack those files unless they have a different lba than 11700/11702. If you have to binhack them, do so and put the files back in their game folders.
Now re-BINHACK the 1st_read.bin in the "data" folder. GINSU.INI Now we have to edit the GINSU.INI file. Open it up in Notepad. Don't mess with anything already there. Instead, go to the bottom and put this in.
[MVC2] Ginsu.
Path =\MVC2 Ginsu.
Command =\MVC2\1ST_READ.BIN
Ginsu.FirstGDDA =4 [CVS2]
Ginsu.Path = \CVS2
Ginsu.Command =\CVS2\1ST_READ.BIN
Ginsu.FirstGDDA =4The name in the brackets is the game folder you want to execute.(more on that later.) Just put the name of the game folder here. The 'Path' is the game folder, and the "Command" is the boot file in the game folder which is the 1st_read.bin. FirstGDDA is the starting track of the CDDA of a game. If a game doesn't use CDDA, just leave it at 4. It works fine. Now save the file. If you want to access the in-game web browsers, you also have to put that in the ginsu.ini. Put some thing like,
[CVS2WB]
Ginsu.Path =\CVS2
Ginsu.Command =\CVS2\2_DP.BIN
Ginsu.FirstGDDA =4Now save the file. START PAGE EDITING Now we have to edit one of the html pages in the "PWBROWSER" folder. Open up DRMCST.HTM in notepad. Delete the META lines at the top. Scroll to the bottom after < /table>. (Optionally, you can just create a whole new page and name it DRMCST.HTM, replacing the old page.) We have to make links to the executables in the ginsu.ini file. like so,
< href="x-avefront:/ ---.dream/exec/CVS2">Capcom vs SNK 2< /a>Of course without the spaces. See where it says CVS2? That's the name that appears in the brackets in the ginsu.ini file. Do the same for the other games execs. Make another link for MVC2 and if you made one for the web browser, CVS2WB. Optionally, you could just type the x-avefront link in the url bar of the Planetweb Browser.
BURNING THE DISC
Now you're set. If you haven't done it already, burn the first audio session of your cd, make an ISO of the data folder, IPINS, and burn your 2nd session. Basically, just follow the Echelon tutorial.
TESTING THE DISC
When it's done, pop it in your DC and once it loads up to the main page, scroll down and click the link you made. If its all good, your game should load. If it doesn't, try to backtrack and see if you did anything wrong or missed a step and try again.
**NOTE - This doesn't work with CDDA games(game will boot, but without music) You can try using CDDA.EXE on Planetweb's 1ST_READ.BIN to hack it. Then burning the CDDA to the cd and putting the start track of the CDDA in the ginsu.ini file. Also, most Echelon releases with intros, or homebrew stuff don't work with this. That includes emulators, mp3 players, etc. If you find out how, let the world know.
WINCE GAMES
If You are trying to load WINCE games this way, the "WINCE" folder has to be in the root of the cd along with it's game files. It should look like this in the "selfboot" dir.,
C:\selfboot\data\WINCEThen the game files will go in the "data" folder. NOT IN THEIR OWN FOLDER. If, you're trying to load more than one WINCE game, all the WINCE files for both games must be in the same "WINCE" folder. Some WINCE files might have the same filename and ask you if you would like to overwrite the files, select, "yes to all". AND all game files must be on the root of the cd. (the "data" folder). If the name of the WINCE bootbins have the same filename, you have to rename one and be sure to specify it in the GINSU.INI.
