General cd image overview
A quick description of the various image types used for Dreamcast backup images
After you unpack the files, you will probably have one of the following formats:
.CDI (may contain UNPACK.EXE/INJECT.EXE) (Padus Discjuggler 2/3 image)
CDI's are exclusive to DiscJuggler and are the defacto standard for Dreamcast games. CDI's, as a rule, are almost always selfbooting games, meaning that no Dreamcast Boot CD is necessary to play the game. DiscJuggler was the first program discovered that could easily backup the DC game's specialized CD layout information, and thus making the copied games able to selfboot. Nero can also burn selfbooting games from an image, but DiscJuggler was favored by the ripping community and became the standard.
.CUE/.BIN with UNPACK.EXE (GoldenHawk CDRWin/generic image)
CUE/BIN packed games are a generic format and require a Boot CD to play. CUE/BINs and the programs that support them lack the ability to duplicate the special cd layout needed to make a game selfbooting. CUE/BINs, however, are more versatile in that you can burn them with many different programs (CDRWin, Fireburner) and also able to unarchive them to view/hack/patch the files within the game. The CUE file is plaintext and can be viewed with Notepad or any other text editor, and contains the layout information for the BIN binary image.
Sometimes when CUE files are loaded, the burning program will error and ask the path/where to find certain files, such as game data, or mp3/wav files for audio tracks. Whoever packed or repacked the game may have screwed up and not bothered removing their personal path information out of the .CUE. You must exit out and manually edit the .CUE file with Notepad or another text editor. When you view it, you'll see that some of the entries have directory paths before the filename. Directory paths are NOT necessary in this case... delete them, leaving only the filenames, save the CUE and reopen it in the burning program.
.ISO (generic image)
ISO files are also generic formats much like CUE/BIN, and can be burnt from CDRWIN, Adaptec Easy CD Creator, Fireburner, and many other programs. While the community would probably never release a DC game in ISO format, knowing what an ISO file is is helpful when it comes to manually dummying files, patching and manually burning games.
Formats can sometimes can converted to other formats, which can be helpful if you run into problems burning a game, or need to patch a game. CDI2Nero, available from http://cdirip.cjb.net will convert a DiscJuggler image to a Nero image. Please note that image size does NOT matter. MANY game images are over 700MB, and can be burnt to 80min/700MB CDRs with NO problems. At the time of this writing, no game has been released that requires larger than a 80min/700MB CDR, although 90Min/800MB and larger DO exist. Images much smaller than 700MB, like 100-200MB or so and usually in CUE/BIN format are games that have NOT been dummied.
