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Contents:

1) Basics information

2) System requirements

3) Plugin setup

4) Some tips

5) Known problems

6) License

7) Contacts

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1) Basics information

Blade_Arma_CDR_Plugin – plugin for PSEmuPro-based emulators (ePSXe, SSSPSX, 
PSXeven, PCSX, AdriPSX, etc.), a part of the rbpse project. It emulates the 
CD-drive.

introduction:

I guess I should write a few words about the cdr plugin. Practically it's not a 
normal plugin, emulator plugin is - a part of the code, which is responsible 
for emulating some kind of console subsystem, which is inserted in the dynamic 
library. For example GPU plugin gets access to both ports/dma/memory of the 
graphical subsystem and is fully responsible for the output picture. Cdr plugin 
in this case is just a library tool, making it easier to read sector/playing 
the CD-DA music for the emulator. It means that any wizardry in a term of 
messing up with a cdr plugin in the psemupro interface won't make the emulation 
better, this task is relied solely on the emulator.
So the stated tasks while writing this plugin were:
• Accessibility of CD selection. Personally I like more images and not the 
virtual devices, made by other programs. Plugin allows you to select devices, 
from which the CDs should be read and the directories with the images. To 
launch a game you should just double click the mouse. To make the search easier 
there is a filter, in which we can insert a part of the game's name and all the 
similar named games will be displayed.
• Playing CDDA music.
• Using subchannel data in sub/sbi/m3s formats.
• PPF usage.

Supported image formats:
«cue/bin», «ccd/img», «mds/mdf», «toc/bin».

Installation:

Unpack the cdrBlade.7z archive to the emulator directory.
(or where your distribution stores psx emulator plugins.)

Download and install the GTK+ runtime, it is needed for the configuration GUI.
Windows: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gtk-win/
Linux: Install from you distribution's repository (in an unlikely case that you 
don't have it installed)

Download and install OpenAL for playing the CDDA music:
Windows: http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/Downloads/oalinst.zip
Linux: Install from you distribution's repository (in an unlikely case that you 
don't have it installed)

Reboot.

Select the plugin in the emulator.

If you want to do everything manually, you should know this:
The CDR plugin «cdrBlade.so»/«cdrBlade.dll» should reside n the plugins 
directory («./plugins»). The plugin configuration GUI 
«cdrBladeGui»/«cdrBladeGui.exe» and settings file «cdrBlade.ini» should reside 
in the configurations directory («./configs»).

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2) System requirements

Software:

– OS Linux, kernel 2.6 or newer / OS Windows 2000 or newer.
– Gtk 2.16 or newer for gtk gui.
– OpenAL.

Hardware:

– CD-drive.
– OpenAL compatible sound card.

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3) Plugin setup

«SETTINGS» TAB

«CD SELECTION» TAB

«Recently opened ->»
List of recently opened CDs.

«Edit CD-ROM's list / cd images directory list»
Triggers a window, in which you can edit the list of CD devices and image/demo 
directories.

«Update»
Refresh the list of CD images.
(If CD images were added when plugin settings dialog was started already.)

«Get ID»
Get ID of a disc in format XXXX-XXXXX.
(SLUS-00330, SLPS-01300 and so on.)

«Calc md5»
Calculate MD5 control sum of a CD.

«Filter»
A string, inserted with a help from a keyboard. It allows the filtering of 
images, which are not compiant with stated name.

«CD-ROM PROPERTIES» TAB

«Play CDXA music»
Most games use music in CDXA format. You may disable it if you don't like the 
in-game music.

«CDXA volume level»
(Possible values: 0 - 100.)

«Play CDDA music»
Quite a few games use CDDA music. Do not disable this if you want to hear it.

«CDDA volume level»
(Possible values: 0 - 100.)

«Enable PPF sector patching»
Enable sector patching if there is a PPF with the same name as an image.

«Read subchannels data»
If not read from the disc, subchannel data is “forged” by the plugin. Some 
games hang or do not start at all without real subchannel data. And you should 
enable this for copy-protected games.

«Speed limitation»
CD-ROM speed limitation.
(Possible values: 0 - 32, 0 - unlimited.)

«Try again on error»
Number of read retries in case of a CD read error.
(Possible values: 0 - 16.)

«Spindown time»
FIXME

«Caching strategy»
Enable/disable caching of data read from a CD.
Disabled – caching disabled.
Read one sector at a time – sectors from a CD can be cached in the RAM. This 
can reduce slowdowns when you run a game right from a CD. And it is almost 
useless if you run a game from an image on a hard drive.

«Cache size»
(Possible values: 10 - 100000 sectors, 1 sector = 2448 bytes.)

«MISC» TAB

Hot keys:

«Configuration dialog»
Set the button to call the plugin configuration dialog.
('Ctrl+Alt+C' by default.)

«Show status»
Set the button to show/hide the in-game plugin status display.

«Toggle CDXA»
Set the button for enable/disable CDXA playing in-game.

«Toggle CDDA»
Set the button for enable/disable CDDA playing in-game.

«Decrease CDXA volume»
Set the button for decreasing CDXA volume in-game.

«Increase CDXA volume»
Set the button for increasing CDXA volume in-game.

«Decrease CDDA volume»
Set the button for decreasing CDDA volume in-game.

«Increase CDDA volume»
Set the button for increasing CDDA volume in-game.

«Open cover»
Set a button for opening the CD tray cover in-game.

«Close cover»
Set a button for closing the CD tray cover in-game.

«CD swapping»
Use this button to change a CD.
- virtual drive cover opens.
- then you choose a new disc.
- and the cover closes.

Other:

«Show status»
Enable plugin status display on startup.

«Cover opened»
Open the CD tray cover on startup.

«Call dialog on emu start»
FIXME

«Enable logging»
Enable debug output logging (cdrBlade.log).

«Save dialog parameters»
Enable saving of the dialog window position and size on exit. (If disabled 
dialog will show up in the center of the screen with the default size.)

«Save the settings on exit»
Save all the settings on exit, like volume level, cover state, showing 
additional on-screen info, etc.

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4) Some tips

Default plugin settings are optimal. If you don't understand what the setting 
does, better don't touch/change it.

Images («bin», «img») with multiple tracks (for example, CDDA music) need the 
corresponding «cue» or «ccd» to work correctly. Image file, subchannel file and 
cue-sheet all should have the same name. («Final Fantasy 9.img», «Final Fantasy 
9.ccd», «Final Fantasy 9.sub»)

CD image in «toc/bin» format can be created with readcd/readom.
To get CD drive IDs run:
  readcd -scanbus
And to dump an image:
  readcd dev=x,x,x -clone -noerror retries=4 f=~/cdimage.bin
Main channel and subchannel data are saved to «cdimage.bin». Disc TOC is saved 
to «cdimage.toc».

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5) Known problems

«iso» is an image of a disc in Mode 1, with sectors 2048 bytes long. And PSX 
CDs are in Mode 2/XA, with sectors of 2352 bytes. If you’ve  got Mode 2 images 
with «iso» extension it’s better to rename them  to «bin» and find a 
corresponding cue-sheet. Or, better yet, find proper «ccd» and «sub» files, and 
rename the image into «img». :)

Not all CD/DVD drives support disc reading speed limitation.

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6) License

This program is freeware and cannot be sold. Also this program cannot be 
distributed without written permission. This program cannot be used for any 
commercial purposes. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble 
the enclosed software. Authors are not responsible for any damages that this 
program may cause, and are also not responsible for anything this plugin will 
be used for.

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7) Contacts

http://forum.emu-russia.net
irc://irc.newnet.net:6667/emu-russia
mailto:edgbla@yandex.ru

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