PSX, please remove .bin from the file types.

dabone

Can we remove .bin files from the default PSX file types? They are used in bin/cue images, and you launch using the .cue and not the bins anyway.

cafarellidigital

Are you asking about it being a change to the official RetroPie image? Or are you asking to make the change to your personal system? If the latter, you can do it by modifying the \etc\emulationstation\es_systems.cfg file. Find the psx system and remove .bin .BIN from the <extension> tag.

That line should look like this when you're done: <extension>.cue .CUE</extension>. Now only CUE files will show up in the list.

iconrumble

@dabone chek this post https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/545/multiple-psx-rom-names/
there are plenty of different solutions for this issue

dankcushions

you don't need a .cue to launch. you can launch .bins on their own. .cues are only 'needed' for emulation if the .bin has audio tracks.

so, we can't just remove .bin from the emulationstation config by default.

cafarellidigital

@dankcushions While that is true, once you use a CUE for one file, you'll want to use it for all of the PSX games. Otherwise, if you're mixing BIN's and CUE's in the same directory, you will inevitably have duplicate entries for those that use CUE's. Thus it's easier and better to just use CUE's for all of the games, regardless of if the game requires it for audio. This is what I've done, and it's worked great for me.

movisman

@dankcushions said in PSX, please remove .bin from the file types.:

you don't need a .cue to launch. you can launch .bins on their own. .cues are only 'needed' for emulation if the .bin has audio tracks.

so, we can't just remove .bin from the emulationstation config by default.

Agree with this, as some games are a single .bin file and can be launched without an accompanying .cue file, I can see why it shouldn't be removed by default.

I can see what the OP is saying though, when .bin files are enabled you then see all the audio tracks and everything in the games list if there are multiple .bins, which looks seriously untidy. Even if you put things into folders it isn't great. Personally I removed .bin from my es_systems.cfg because I have .cue files for all my games. This way my games list is tidy with only one entry for each, everything launches from a .cue.

dankcushions

@cafarellidigital said in PSX, please remove .bin from the file types.:

@dankcushions While that is true, once you use a CUE for one file, you'll want to use it for all of the PSX games. Otherwise, if you're mixing BIN's and CUE's in the same directory, you will inevitably have duplicate entries for those that use CUE's. Thus it's easier and better to just use CUE's for all of the games, regardless of if the game requires it for audio. This is what I've done, and it's worked great for me.

right, but what i'm saying is it can't be removed from the retropie default, as it would cause problems for some users. you can of course sort it out on your local machine as people have shown. i personally just use .PBPs, as they're just one file.

dabone

I didn't realize that people were using .bin files without the cues.
I guess they did this for single track games, and just said screw using the .cue file needed for burning software.
Personally, I just take it out of my es_systems.cfg

Learn something new everyday.

Later,
dabone

Lodan-Zark

I agree the bin format should be removed from official build, specially if you apply the best practices how to use cd's on rpi:

Rpi2&3 has only 1GB of RAM and CD images has around 600mbs, as result the emulator can delay the loading of game and some sounds...
The best practices are extract the audio to wave format, keep the data into bin format and create a cue file (which contain the list of the files and also the type and which order those should be played), that way only loads the required audio file instead load the entire "CD", which improve the loading times a lot.

The question is how to do that?

1- Pick an original CD or a CD image and open with isobuster (http://www.isobuster.com/)

2 - Extract data into a folder

3 - Rename the data track "track 1.iso" to "name_of_the_game_track 1.bin"

4 - Rename the sound files into "name_of_the_game_track 2.wav", "name_of_the_game_track 3.wav", "name_of_the_game_track 4.wav", etc. Try rename those in the right order.

5 - Generate the Cue file by using the sega cue generator (http://www.racketboy.com/downloads/sega-cue-maker.htm), works for all cd platforms don't let the "sega" name trick you

6 - Save the Cue file into the folder where the others files are, you can keep the name "game_of_the_game.cue"

7 - Edit the /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg and remove the ".bin" format from the platforms that uses CD's, to only show up the cue files on the game list, otherwise if you boot a bin file it wont load the sounds.

PS: it's important to rename the files, otherwise if you leave the files names simple as "track 1 and 2 and 3" it will overwrite with existent files from other games.

iconrumble

@Lodan-Zark I seriously doubt the full bin gets loaded into memory... It will function the same as a physical disk, data is accessed and loaded into memory as needed... so if the emulator needs a music track, it reads from the bin starting in the position stated in the cue, loading data into memory and clearing it as the sound is played. I don't see benefits in extracting the music tracks...

Lodan-Zark

@iconrumble
For instance try the MK Trilogy PSX version with single bin/cue and multiple files ways and you can see clearly the differences of loading times

iconrumble

@Lodan-Zark well, I used to play psx isos with bleem! on a 16Mb Ram system... guess the 700mb BIN would have to be all cranked up inside the 16mb RAM...
I'm just saying that the emulator does not load the full bin into memory

Lodan-Zark

@iconrumble I suppose the emulators can manage the memory in different ways, yet I did the test by myself and I found conclusive results, you should give a try by yourself ;)

PetroRie

@iconrumble said in PSX, please remove .bin from the file types.:

@Lodan-Zark well, I used to play psx isos with bleem! on a 16Mb Ram system... guess the 700mb BIN would have to be all cranked up inside the 16mb RAM...
I'm just saying that the emulator does not load the full bin into memory

I think the PSX had like 2MB ram. Emulators require more memory compared to the original console.