The PBP compression allows multi disc games to be inside only one PBP file, like Chrono Cross.PBP containing both discs inside it, in the PSP, there’s an option when you press home to switch discs when prompted by the game or when you press reset, you can pick a disc to start, like opening the real PSX tray and chaning discs.
Is there a way that mednafen PSX can handle multi discs in a PBP file?
Not the same as multi-disc PBP files, but it kinda works out. I haven’t tested this myself because I favor BIN/CUE files but I see no reason right now why it shouldn’t work.
Make a playlist. Just a plain text file with the .m3u extension that lists the individual disc pbp files, one on each line. Plop this file into the same directory as the pbp files.
[game_name].m3u
The file contents are as such [game_name] (Disc 1).pbp [game_name] (Disc 2).pbp … etc etc.
This means you’ll have to re-cook your pbp files to be separate files for each disc, but you retain the compression for the most part.
I know in LaunchBox you can add the m3u file as the main file to be loaded and add individual pbp files as additional applications to directly go to each disk. To switch disc, just use the retroarch quick menu and change disks.
Give’r a shot.
I second the above solution.
When using .m3u playlist instead of single disc .cue files, you’ll get pretty much the same functionality you’re asking for: being able to switch discs straight from the in-app menu.
You don’t need to use m3us. If you’re on a recent enough build of the core, you can just load a multi disc pbp file and use the disc open/close, disc next and disc prev hotkeys to swap discs. Check Settings, Input, Hotkeys to see what they are.
Really? Man, when did I miss that, since when is this working? Well it doesn’t matter, I’ll check it out, thanks for letting me know!
I just converted Riven from 5 separate discs to 1 PBP that includes all 5 discs and tried it in game, I reached the second CD, which is really fast btw, I opened the tray, picked CD 2 (just the number actually), than closed the tray, it worked! To make sure, later, I tried switching to disc 3 or 4 and it prompted for the disc 2, when I put the correct number (2) it loaded OK, so it’s working like a charm, no need to create m3u files.
Thanks for your support guys.
Is there a way to quickly combine PBP files? lol Or am I going to have to decompress, and then recompress them together to achieve this?
I’m afraid you’ll have to decompress them before combining, I’ll do this, I noticed I have few multi disc games here, if you already have a working way with m3u, maybe you’ll think twice, I never created m3u files so I’ll just combine the multi disc games now.
Pretty soon after pbp support was initially added by Zapeth I think 
Ok… I didn’t know this 
What benefits does PBP have over M3U, since you can swap discs from the menu in both cases? Or are they both equivalent solutions?
[QUOTE=spinningacorn;48502]Ok… I didn’t know this
What benefits does PBP have over M3U, since you can swap discs from the menu in both cases? Or are they both equivalent solutions?[/QUOTE]
PBP is a compression, originally for use in the PSP from PSN downloadable PSX titles, it’s now a widely used compressed iso for emulators, it saves space, doesn’t need decompression and can store multi discs into a single file, this is why I use PBPs.
[QUOTE=spinningacorn;48502]Ok… I didn’t know this
What benefits does PBP have over M3U, since you can swap discs from the menu in both cases? Or are they both equivalent solutions?[/QUOTE]
Minimally nothing. But I’m still very new to RetroArch so maybe there’s a benefit/detriment beyond just file sizes.
M3U basically allows you to make a playlist of files that Mednafen will treat as discs, they can be CCD, CUE, PBP etc. I didn’t know about the multi-disc pbp support until this thread. Like I said earlier, I use BIN/CUE for my sets. One, for portability and two, for less possible track issues. Some games (Twisted Metal for one) have their music or other pieces of data set on different tracks/sessions on the disc and a single image file doesn’t always work with those. Unless converting to PBP files has gotten better over the last few years I don’t know how well that’s handled.
Anyway, PBP allows you keep your roms in a compressed state when playing. Many game ISOs are just padded with 0’s, compression can help fix that. That said, NTFS compression exists if you need it for BIN/CUEs.
[QUOTE=vitz3;48506] Some games (Twisted Metal for one) have their music or other pieces of data set on different tracks/sessions on the disc and a single image file doesn’t always work with those. Unless converting to PBP files has gotten better over the last few years I don’t know how well that’s handled. .[/QUOTE]
Multi track games need to be converted to single track bins first, then to PBP, I can tell it’s not the most practical way to play PS1 games, because I did it, with a batch file all multi track games became single track (placebo effect, all extra tracks are housed inside the main bin anyway, it just “organized” my set, most people don’t want to do it since it’s like ruining good dumps), then turned into PBPs, I don’t recommend doing this, I just had some more free time and patience when I did that.
I made sure games like that still had working music after I converted them to pbp before converting my collection over. PSX2PSP will only convert single bin dumps, so you have to convert multi bins to single with a virtual drive and ImgBurn first. Haven’t had issues with any CDDA games missing audio after that process. But in the latest build of the core my pbps of Wipeout XL and 3 started freezing. I’ve heard Diablo also has issues in pbp format. So you definitely want to test your games after conversion to make sure they work.
Anyway, I’m posting a print so you guys can see how a PSX set in PBP looks like:
Note that there are no multi discs in this picture, the ones I left separate that I remember by heart is Street Fighter Collection 1 and 2 and Resident Evil 2, since they aren’t sequential discs, they were released together but are standalone, all other games that are sequential are merged inside a single PBP file, when a game prompts to switch to another disc, I use the open tray and change the disc number inside the home menu. Also the multi track games works flawlessly, but like Awakened said earlier, you have to test them before you remove the original bins.
Does this pbp stuff work with the “scan directory” feature so you get this nice psx playlist with cover art?
This I don’t know, I use Hyperspin as frontend, which shows covers and CDs, etc. I have a thread over there with themes I created last year.
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/11681-new-themes-all-aspect-ratios/