PSX emulator issues in the DDR games

I may have posted this in the Let It Out thread, but I thought it might be better to give it its own thread.

Since last year, I've been playing DDR 3rd Mix (and all the games running that engine) and Konamix on ePSXe. Then I tried playing the first two mixes on ePSXe but it somehow doesn't work properly than it should've. I've read that the first two DDR games have a multi-track format, like multiple .bin files. (which can also explain why it was possible to play those CDs on a CD player?), and I've read a number of guides telling me to compile those files into one big BIN file, but even though I followed the procedures, ePSXe still couldn't load the games properly, like there is no music and all. Could anyone give me advice? It would be appreciated.

I've read these guides below, but it doesn't seem to be working for me.
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f177/multiple-tracks-bins-psx-roms-multiman-4-20-04-what-do-help-113840/
http://www.theisozone.com/tutorials/psx/general/multiple-tracks-bins-on-psx-games-what-to-do/
https://www.emuparadise.me/News/comments.php?id=646

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Make sure that you have the latest version of the emulator, I've play all those PSX mixes in EPSXE and PSX to rip them for themes and they worked fine. You could try othe emulators too, like pcsx.

So I've checked the emulators that I have. ePSXe is in its most recent version, 2.0.5, and I don't know what I did with PCSXR cause it somehow overclocked the games (in 3rdMIX onwards). But the thing is that they still don't load 1st and 2nd Mix properly. It either gets stuck on the warning screen (PCSXR) or it works fine on ePSXe but the music won't load. Maybe it's the way I grouped the individual .bin files?

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I assume you haven't tried Mednafen. It's the best psx emulator for DDR games. Steps are on-sync with the music unlike pcsxr, epsxe and other emus.

As for the issues you are encountering, it looks like you got bad copies of the iso/bin.

Try the psx emulator, is nice http://www.emuparadise.me/Sony_Playstation_Emulators/Windows/PSX/41 also for the games I have them in multiple bin files and one cue track. In the emulators you need to pick the cue file, if you pick the bin files, the 1st file will be stuck in the warning, and the other files won't boot.

So I tried following your instructions, and it works! Well, in ePSXe at least. PSX 1.13 still gets stuck on the warning screen for some reason. I did load the .cue file in ePSXe for 1st and 2ndMIX and they worked fine now. The only issue I've having, though, is the somewhat poor audio quality, like it sounds buzz-y and (I don't know the term, not properly ripped?) and crumpled? I don't know the terms, but at the very least, the games work properly now. Thanks, MadKat!

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No, the audio in those games WERE made entirely of (additional) CD tracks, so the engine of the game literally looks for a CD, with tracks to play. Since there's no CD inserted, no audio plays. Track 1 was data, and Tracks 2-34 (IIRC?) were the CDDA that plays. And they always were low-bitrate; I think 128 kbps was the common format then, compared to today's 320 kbps.

But you aren't missing out on anything. The games were horridly off-sync for PSX (which added a silence buffer at the start of every track that threw the timing off, because 1998-era CD burners were like that, and usually maxed at 4x burn speed). Bear in mind, this was when Napster was a thing, and three tracks at 128 kbps still took 10 hours to download.

You can get most of the essential experience of these games (apart from it's weird song select divisions) by playing DDR BEST HITS and 3rd Mix anyhow, unless you *really* like Strictly Business. 3rd Mix contained *every* Konami Original song to date in its "3rd ReMix" Mode; and BEST HITS contained most of the licensed songs you'd care to play from 1st and 2nd Mix, but synced up with the polished 3rd Mix engine.


Fun Fact: Maybe it was just me - but anytime I tried to play PARANOiA MAX (in roulette) on 2nd Mix... I would get the last 4 second of PARANOiA MAX, a slight pause, and a segue right into KEEP ON MOVIN' in the audio. But the stepchart worked normally.

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I agree with Nightime that Best Hits is your best bet.

Well, I've played Best Hits already (and USA and EuroMix 1) and they've worked properly. I dunno. It's probably the nostalgia that made me want to play 1st and 2nd Mix with a clearer quality. I did play 1st Mix and so far, there weren't any other issues aside from the audio.

2nd Remix on the other hand... so far, there are a bit more issues than in 1st. When I play a song, it starts a couple bars in advance(?) and then I occasionally have a problem like Nightime's where after I finish a song, the game freezes, plays the next track in the game's files, and then the game works again to show the "CLEARED" screen like in the video. Other times, the song finishes like normal, or in a few cases, the game completely freezes at the last arrow and starts playing the next track. I did a test video showing my experience with the game.

Other than that, the game works fine. Wanna know my secret? I just take off my headphones before every song lol. That's how I was able to make my videos in the first place.

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That's just how 2nd Mix PSX played. *shrugs* Nostalgia your ass off!


ALTERNATIVE REALITY: There's always X3 vs. 2nd Mix, too. That's really a thing, and *considerably* more polished (for instance, it runs at 60 fps and is consistently in sync).

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