How would searching for layer 1 change?
#1
Hi all,

So I like to mod one of my games (WWE Smackdown Here Comes The Pain, music, graphics, etc). It is an ISO file ripped directly from my own PAL disc using Expert Tools and have been mucking around with it for a while now.

Never really had an issues. Load ISO up and the game would start quickly and regularly. I know I have modded the same file more and more so I guess it's possible that has something to do with it but now, I have to wait 7-9 minutes for the game to start. PCSX2 just remains on the following line. Modding was basically mod files, then repackage using Expert Tools and patch file for use.

isoFile: searching for layer1...

After 7-9 minutes, the game starts and plays absolutely fine but it takes so long to get started now. Does anyone know why this searching for layer1 issue comes up and takes so long for the game to start?

Mod wise, I have been replacing music, textures and wrestlers so a lot has been done to it but I never really had a problem with it before.

Can anyone shed any light for me? Sucks having to wait 8 minutes for a game to start.

Thanks
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#2
Hmm, the only thing i can think of, do you have block dumping enabled? because that will write a 4gb file if it's looking for a second layer, which would cause that long of a delay.
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#3
After some quick reading (wasn't sure what you meant by block dump), I assume you're talking about the CDVD plugin. Mine was set to cdvdGigaherz and from what I read, it had to be another one to enable block dumping? If that's correct, then as far as I know, no block dumping enabled.

I'm not sure what to do. I mean, it always works and every single time but I have to wait that 7-9 minutes before it will. When I load up the original ISO without any mods, the game does load straight away every time so I'm guessing it has something to do with the modding I've done.

Just weird that I never had issues before and now do. Maybe I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling and see if that fixes it.

This is what I get when trying run the modded ISO. In case it gives any information.

Code:
Initializing plugins...
Init GS
Windows 10.0.16299
Init PAD
Init SPU2
Init CDVD
Init USB
Init FW
Init DEV9
Plugins initialized successfully.

Opening plugins...
Opening GS
Opening PAD
Opening SPU2
Current Renderer: Direct3D11 (Hardware mode)
Opening CDVD
isoFile open ok: D:\Retro Gaming\Games\Playstation 2\WWE Smackdown Here Comes The Pain2.iso
Image type  = DVD
isoFile: searching for layer1...

This is what I get when running the unmodded ISO.

Code:
Initializing plugins...
Init GS
Windows 10.0.16299
Init PAD
Init SPU2
Init CDVD
Init USB
Init FW
Init DEV9
Plugins initialized successfully.

Opening plugins...
Opening GS
Opening PAD
Opening SPU2
Current Renderer: Direct3D11 (Hardware mode)
Opening CDVD
isoFile open ok: E:\Wrestling\All Smackdown Games (ISO)\WWE Smackdown Here Comes The Pain (PAL)\SMACKDOWN.ISO
Image type  = DVD
* CDVD Disk Open: DVD, Single layer or unknown:
* * Track 1: Data (Mode 1) (2211360 sectors)
Opening USB
Opening FW
Opening DEV9
McdSlot 0 [File]: E:\Libraries\Documents\PCSX2\memcards\Mcd001.ps2
McdSlot 1 [File]: E:\Libraries\Documents\PCSX2\memcards\Mcd002.ps2
Plugins opened successfully.
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#4
You're not using CDVDGigaherz though. There is block dumping on the internal iso reader, but I can't remember where the option is to be honest.

it looks like your original ISO isn't a dual layer disc, but your remade one seems to go over the threshold. Are there any dummy files you can shrink on the disc if you're adding more to it?
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#5
Yeah, ISO size did increase.

Original was 4,422,720 and modded is 4,705,502 but the weird thing is, all the modded files exactly match the files they were replacing so the size gain has come from somewhere/something else.

Also, after the 7-9 minutes of waiting, the log does state that it couldn't find layer1. Still works though???

Code:
Initializing plugins...
Init GS
Windows 10.0.16299
Init PAD
Init SPU2
Init CDVD
Init USB
Init FW
Init DEV9
Plugins initialized successfully.

Opening plugins...
Opening GS
Opening PAD
Opening SPU2
Current Renderer: Direct3D11 (Hardware mode)
Opening CDVD
isoFile open ok: D:\Retro Gaming\Games\Playstation 2\WWE Smackdown Here Comes The Pain2.iso
Image type  = DVD
isoFile: searching for layer1...
isoFile: Couldn't find layer1... iso image is probably corrupt or incomplete.
* CDVD Disk Open: DVD, Single layer or unknown:
* * Track 1: Data (Mode 1) (2352751 sectors)
Opening USB
Opening FW
Opening DEV9
McdSlot 0 [File]: E:\Libraries\Documents\PCSX2\memcards\Mcd001.ps2
McdSlot 1 [File]: E:\Libraries\Documents\PCSX2\memcards\Mcd002.ps2
Plugins opened successfully.
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#6
The rebuilt ISO is always coming out slightly larger even those the replacement modded files are exactly the same file size.

Using expert tools to rebuild the ISO so maybe I'm doing something wrong. Test I can run later is if I extra the ISO and just rebuild it without any modded files, I wonder if that file will work.

Any ideas? Could it simply be ISO size? But how to rebuild the extracted files to the original ISO size?
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#7
Sounds like the tool you're using for ISO modification is enlarging the dummy spaces inside the ISO. Perhaps, it is larger than the capacity of a single layer disc so it attempts to treat it as dual layer, but because there is only a single layer of actual data, the first layer fails because it's just dummy space. Have you tried using NTFS compression on the ISO? It would be a bandage and not much of a fix, but it may bring it down to size.
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#8
Compressing already created iso file(ntfs compression)will change nothing in the image itself(files locations).PCSX2 will still treat the iso as the original size.
donkey33 what is the total size of all of the files inside.

And btw,you can enable some more options in the console to see more detailed information about what pcsx2 is trying to do(for this kind of thing,the default options are not very useful)
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#9
Is 1.4.0 being used? Try a 1.5.0-dev build - it uses a different layer break search algorithm that shouldn't require any waiting at all.
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#10
Thanks all for the replies. Thinking the size is creating the layer issue so hopefully I can figure this out.

So, I made a mistake last night though when I compared the modded files to the originals. I thought they were the same but I forgot to check a folder and overall they are larger which is creating the larger ISO size. In-game movies and music that have been modded and are increasing the size.

From what I've read, a PS2 4.7GB disc can really only hold 4.38GB and this modded ISO is at 4.48GB and I assume it's being seen as over the single layer limit.

(12-18-2017, 07:52 PM)turtleli Wrote: Is 1.4.0 being used? Try a 1.5.0-dev build - it uses a different layer break search algorithm that shouldn't require any waiting at all.

Downloaded the latest 1.5.0 (dev 2273) and the modded game fires up straight away  Biggrin

Maybe I should stick with the dev builds for the time being unless I can find a way to trim a little off the file size by taking out some edits.
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