HOW TO BURN Ps2 games MDF/MDS on MAC OSX

[kimkimkimmykim]

Hi everyone,

I've tried exposing my situation on a lot of different forums but still got no solution. Someone told me that maybe somebody here would be able to help me. So here it is...

Ok, so where to start... Well first of all, you have to know that I am using a Mac computer.
I've tried EVERYTHING I could for those god damn .mdf files. The odd thing is that everytime I want to burn a .mdf file thats bigger than 700Mo (so destinated to a DVD and not a CD), I have no problem burning it with Toast and playing it on my Ps2. So all big files of no matter what type (.nrg, .iso, .mdf etc...) can all be normally burned with Toast.
For exemple, the last .mdf file I COULD burn weighted 2,2Go, and all I did was to manually change the extension from .mdf to .iso.

But every time I want to burn a small game (that weights under 701Mo), changing the .mdf to .iso does not work.

I also tried the Mac Disk utility, doesnt work. Also tried Toast, and by the way Toast wont just let me put a .mdf file into the burning window. And changing the extension to .iso will force Toast to accept it, but it still wont burn a bootable cd it if it weights under 701Mo.

Maybe someone here will be able to tell me WHY small .mdf games CANT be burned with any of the options I mentionned. It seems to me that only Alcohol 120% PC users can burn these small .mdf/.mds Ps2 games.

Kim

[redwudz]

Probably better asked in our Mac Forum. Moving you.

And welcome to our forums.

[tomlee59]

I don't know if this is your problem, but the numbers are suggestive. In the past, some drives treated DVDs with less than about 1GB on them as blank [Lite-On was one of them, but not the only one]. So, some software vendors reacted by either disallowing such small-sized files, or by giving you the option of filling the disc with enough extra (either garbage files or just multiple copies of the small, desired one) to get beyond the 1GB limit.

To see if this is the case in your situation, just try padding your files with extras to get past 1GB by a reasonable margin, and see if you can complete a burn that way. And see if there's a "compatibility mode" option somewhere in your software's prefs for doing this automatically.

[terryj]

kimkim,
you may take a look at this thread, and grab yourself a copy of Firestarter.
.mdf files on mac

[kimkimkimmykim]

tomlee59
Posted: Oct 29, 2007 13:46
I don't know if this is your problem, but the numbers are suggestive. In the past, some drives treated DVDs with less than about 1GB on them as blank [Lite-On was one of them, but not the only one]. So, some software vendors reacted by either disallowing such small-sized files, or by giving you the option of filling the disc with enough extra (either garbage files or just multiple copies of the small, desired one) to get beyond the 1GB limit.

To see if this is the case in your situation, just try padding your files with extras to get past 1GB by a reasonable margin, and see if you can complete a burn that way. And see if there's a "compatibility mode" option somewhere in your software's prefs for doing this automatically.

That really seemed like a good idea, but choosing DVD and trying to burn it, gives me the following message "CD-ROM XA or Audio tracks cannot be written to DVD"

And with an image file (of no matter what type, iso, nrg, mdf) there's no way to add more than 1 file to Toast. Anyway, even if there was a way to FORCE any burning software to burn more than one image file, I wonder what the Ps2 console would do with them? It's hard to imagine it would create a whole new menu with all the games (or garbage files) I put on the DVD.

I forgot to say that when I burn a game that works, Toast always shows me a copy summary that says for exemple :
"1.1GB UDF Bridge DVD"

and everytime I put a small .mdf game (that I changed to .iso) the copy summary says :
"Iso9660 CD-ROM XA"

So I guess Mdf files already have their format and information sort of "encrypted".
Maybe if I understood how to convert a Iso9660 CD-Rom Xa to a UDF Bridge DVD it would help. But trying to find these info with google, just gives a headache and still did'nt find how.

terryj
Posted: Oct 29, 2007 16:19
kimkim,
you may take a look at this thread, and grab yourself a copy of Firestarter.
.mdf files on mac

I did read the entire thread on that forum. Different methods worked for different cases. But I'm pretty sure everyone for whom changing the extension worked were trying to convert either a DVD file or a movie (wich is why a lot of them keep talking about VIDEO_Ts file)... but not a small Ps2 game.

I did download Firestarter and tried it right away.. but guess what?... it does not work either!

Its even worse than toast... cuz when one of these file is added to the window, the "burn" buton cant even be pressed. Plus, the software wont give me any kind of information about the file.

I want to thank both of you for giving me these alternatives.
If you find anything else (a thread, a software, any kind of information)... please send it to me and I'll try it!


Kim

[Case]

...a game that works, [it] says: "1.1GB UDF Bridge DVD"
and [for a] small .mdf game [it] says: "Iso9660 CD-ROM XA"

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but are you trying to burn a CD-ROM XA image to DVD media? 'Cause that won't work. CD-ROM XA is a format that requires CD media.

[kimkimkimmykim]

I tried both burning to a CD and a DVD. None worked.

The last thing I tried (this morning) seemed logical to me... but did'nt work either :

I put a game that works in my computer and checked what it looked like (there are a lot of files in there!). The only way to see all the files contained in the iso, was to mount the image with Toast and THEN burn its containt (that pretty much looked like the ok game) using the data burning option. From that section I tried both burning with the "UDF DVD" option and the "ISO 9660" option.

I thought if the image copying didnt work maybe the data could still be "readable" with my ps2, but again, I was wrong.

[kimkimkimmykim]

After over 2 weeks of trying and failing with every option there is, I found a way to burn a .mds file (and I really mean .mds cuz in that case you wont need the .mdf). Every damn convertion fails and even if you think you have a valid iso by converting a .mdf file, trust me, your Ps2 wont read the Cd!.
I never thought it would come to this, but the only way for a Mac user to burn these Ps2 games, is to install these two apps :

- Virtual Pc (version 7 works just fine and is pretty easy to "find")
- Alcohol 120% (I tried version 1.9.6.4719, and it works)
- and of course you have to have something like Swap Magic or a chip with your Ps2 console, otherwise, goodluck!

I wont tell you where and how to find and use these 2 applications, but know that I did find everything I needed on the Internet and its the only way that it really works!

In the end, it doesn't use too much space on my computer (by the way, Virtual Pc does NOT require the partioning of you hard drive!, it's really just like a conventional application. And after only one day, I can tell you that you'll find the whole thing pretty easy to use!

Finally it works!!!!

Kim