CDVDGHZ not loading images or game not booting

[Peter Steele]

Hi,

I have always used PCSX2 together with image loading tools like Daemon Tools and Alcohol to rip my original discs, and to load the images into the virtual drive, and then using PCSX2 to load the drive directly within the plugin. Suddenly my PCSX2 program is not recognizing the images or drive any longer. The error popping up is that there is no recognizable image or boot sector, then the game does not boot any longer, none of my games.

There are the usual steps i took to play my 100+ games I own.

1.) Rip image from original DVD into .MDX format for Daemon tools.
2.) Load the .mdx image using Alcohol or Daemon Tools onto virtual drive F:\.
3.) In PCSX2 i use the CDVDGHZ plugin to use drive F:\ (Where it has always seen the game files in the image on the virtual drive)
4.) The game boots fine.

5.) But recently the game doesn't boot after one of the updates to PCSX2. What has changed? Why is it incompatible?

I would like to get this fixed, since it will be very hard to change 100+ .MDX images over to .ISO format due to hardrive space and time constraints, it took me weeks to rip all my disks (I know PCSX2 can load normal .ISO images directly, but my images are all on .MDX format (compressed) and not in an .ISO file format, due to the high compression of my .MDX files. It is a lotta files!!!) I will appreciate any help, even if it means I will have to redo all my images. Can someone tell me what changed? I've been doing the same thing for aeons. Oh, and I use a virtual drive (RAMDRIVE to copy the image from the HDD onto the RAM Drive R:\ and then loading from there onto virtual drive F:\ for speed purposes.) But the game does not boot and CDVDGHZ does not see the images any longer whether i load from the RAM drive or directly from my harddrive. I think the problem is 1.) CDVDGHZ itself and 2.) the way PCSX2 cannot see images like .MDX compressed or otherwise.  

I am posting a log file next, cauz I konw i will be asked for one.

Here is the log file: (I have also attached it)

/////////////////////////////////////////////
PCSX2 1.5.0-20180118230450 - compiled on Jan 19 2018
Savestate version: 0x9a0d0000

Host Machine Init:
    Operating System =  Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (build 9600), 64-bit
    Physical RAM     =  16281 MB
    CPU name         =  AMD FX™-9590 Eight-Core Processor
    Vendor/Model     =  AuthenticAMD (stepping 00)
    CPU speed        =  4.714 ghz (8 logical threads)
    x86PType         =  Standard OEM
    x86Flags         =  178bfbff 3e98320b
    x86EFlags        =  2fd3fbff

x86 Features Detected:
    SSE2.. SSE3.. SSSE3.. SSE4.1.. SSE4.2.. AVX.. FMA
    SSE4a

Reserving memory for recompilers...

Loading plugins from D:\Emulators\PS2\PCSX2\plugins...
    Bound   GS: GSdx32-SSE4.dll [GSdx 20180118230450 (MSVC 19.00 SSE4.1/AVX) 1.1.0]
    Bound  PAD: LilyPad.dll [LilyPad (20180118230450) 0.12.1]
(GameDB) 9714 games on record (loaded in 232ms)
    Bound SPU2: Spu2-X.dll [SPU2-X 20180118230450 2.0.0]
    Bound CDVD: cdvdGigaherz.dll [cdvdGigaherz 20180118230450 0.11.0]
    Bound  USB: USBnull.dll [USBnull Driver 20180118230450 0.7.0]
    Bound   FW: FWnull.dll [FWnull Driver 20180118230450 0.7.0]
    Bound DEV9: DEV9null.dll [DEV9null Driver 20180118230450 0.5.0]
Plugins loaded successfully.

HLE Notice: ELF does not have a path.

Initializing plugins...
    Init GS
    Init PAD
    Init SPU2
    Init CDVD
    Init USB
    Init FW
    Init DEV9
Plugins initialized successfully.

Patches: No CRC found, using 00000000 instead.
Opening plugins...
    Opening GS
    Opening PAD
    Opening SPU2
    Opening CDVD
 * CDVD: Opening drive 'F:\'...
 * CDVD: setSpindleSpeed success (3600KB/s)
 * CDVD: IO thread started...
 * CDVD: KeepAlive thread started...
 * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytesTrack 1 start sector: 0
 * CDVD: Disk Type: CD-ROM
 * CDVD Disk Open: DVD, Single layer or unknown:
 * * Track 1: Data (Mode 1) (725520 sectors)
 * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI
short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short
transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0
bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD:
SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short
transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0
bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes * CDVD: SPTI short transfer of 0 bytes(IsoFS)
Invalid partition descriptor encountered at block 0x10: ''
Closing plugins...
    Closing SPU2
    Closing PAD
    Closing GS
3.x GL context successfully created
OpenGL information. GPU: GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2. Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation. Driver:
NVIDIA 388.71
INFO: GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic is available
INFO: GL_ARB_gpu_shader5 is available
INFO: GL_ARB_viewport_array is available
INFO: GL_ARB_shader_image_load_store is available
INFO: GL_ARB_clear_texture is available
INFO: GL_ARB_direct_state_access is available
INFO: GL_ARB_texture_barrier is available
INFO: GL_ARB_get_texture_sub_image is available

Current Renderer: OpenGL (Hardware renderer)
Available VRAM/RAM:3840MB for textures
GSdx Lookup CRC:0
Delete 0 Shaders, 34 Programs, 28 Pipelines
Plugins closed successfully.
Shutting down plugins...
Plugins shutdown successfully.
File not found.
Path: IsoFileSystem
(pxActionEvent) IsoFS could not find the root directory on the ISO
image.(thread:EE Core)
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[CK1]

Moving to general support.

[FlatOut]

Did you try using older PCSX2 versions(v1.4.0, older v1.5.0 builds)? If this is due to something changing in PCSX2 recently you should be able to track down which update triggered it.

[turtleli]

It's due to a combination of factors:
1. cdvdGigaherz is intended for reading from actual optical disk drives.
2. DVD sectors are 2048 bytes in length.
3. CD sectors are 2352 bytes in length (excluding subchannels, etc.).
4. Commit c9abec7cbed3e6200de9597bb2d8e9008a0085c9 improves reading from actual CDs by always doing 2352-byte CD sector reads, instead of allowing it to do 2048-byte reads when requested (they don't always work).
5. Your virtual disk drive is kinda emulating a drive with a CD in it (or at least a drive that doesn't quite match the behaviour of an optical drive).

So basically cdvdGigaherz recognises your disk image as a CD, tries to do 2352-byte reads and fails to do so. Not sure what to do about that...

[FlatOut]

Not sure what to do about that...

The only logical thing to do is complain to the virtual drive developer.

[Peter Steele]

Moving to general support.

Yes, I have tried using an older PCSX2 version. It works with older versions, roundabout since December. But this means that I can never use a newer version of PCSX2.

If I never use another/newer update of the emulator, then I will never see the increase in speed and compatibility and bugs.

It is crucial that I find a way out of this predicament, since the emulator will one day/month/year (or decade  ) reach speeds/frame rate closer to 100% of the actual games on a real PlayStation 2, and also have no visible bugs in the graphics (GPU Plugin), and have all games compatible. (Before I die ).

So...playing on an older version indefinitely is not a solution, only temporary, to cure my addiction to PS2 games.

I hope the bug gets fixed, or somebody advises me on howw exactly to fix this problem.

Thanks for the tip.

[FlatOut]

The issue is with Daemon Tools, not PCSX2. But until it's fixed you can still keep using the latest PCSX2, you just need to copy the old CDVDGigaHertz plugin to the latest PCSX2 version.

[Peter Steele]

It's due to a combination of factors:
1. cdvdGigaherz is intended for reading from actual optical disk drives.
2. DVD sectors are 2048 bytes in length.
3. CD sectors are 2352 bytes in length (excluding subchannels, etc.).
4. Commit c9abec7cbed3e6200de9597bb2d8e9008a0085c9 improves reading from actual CDs by always doing 2352-byte CD sector reads, instead of allowing it to do 2048-byte reads when requested (they don't always work).
5. Your virtual disk drive is kinda emulating a drive with a CD in it (or at least a drive that doesn't quite match the behaviour of an optical drive).

So basically cdvdGigaherz recognises your disk image as a CD, tries to do 2352-byte reads and fails to do so. Not sure what to do about that...

1.) It might be intended to read from optical disk drives, but it always worked fine reading mounted images, mounted in a virtual drive like Alcohol120% and Daemon Tools Ultra, it even reads PS1 images, whether they are MDS/MDX/MDF compressed or not compressed.
5.) Why would my virtual drive emulate a ripped PS2 DVD to behave like a CD? It has never done so before. The DVD's I load onto Alcohol and Daemon Tools always work for my computer, they are mostly DVD's. Same for my Dolphin emulator and also the DVD's I rip shows correctly as DVD's in Windows explorer, in the PCSX2 emulator log window(Earlier versions) and even in the Device manager.

I still think it is not my Alcohol or Daemon Tool apps, they have not changed, I am using the same versions for years, they do not get updated often, and all my emulators work with them (Dolphin/Gamecube/PC games/Older PCSX2 versions, PS1(Epsxe / Pcsxr) and my PS3 PSP and Sega Saturn disks all work fine.

It is just PCSX2. I think it is the plugin.

Thanks for the tip/analysis.

[vsub]

Yes, I have tried using an older PCSX2 version. It works with older versions, roundabout since December. But this means that I can never use a newer version of PCSX2.

If I never use another/newer update of the emulator, then I will never see the increase in speed and compatibility and bugs.

The emulator is one thing,the plugins are another.
Nothing is stoping you from using older version of some plugin on a newer version of pcsx2.

I also had some weird problems with Gigahertz before but they were fixed after some gigahertz update...some games did not want to work in any way(including reading from the physical disk while using Gigahertz)other than by making an image of the disk(that image also did not work when mounted)and use the build in iso selector/loader

[pandubz]

Is there anything stopping you from using the built in disc image loader, instead of the CDVD plugin? Might just be simpler to cut out all the abstraction that's adding.