I don't know what the status of DOSBox on RetroPie is, but it's quite likely that it doesn't have MP3 support. You should use OGG compression, or otherwise an uncompressed BIN/CUE pair.

Jorpho wrote:

I don't know what the status of DOSBox on RetroPie is, but it's quite likely that it doesn't have MP3 support. You should use OGG compression, or otherwise an uncompressed BIN/CUE pair.

Thanks for the quick response. You're likely correct re: MP3s. A couple follow up questions:

1. Am I correct in thinking that the first called MP3 above behaves like track 1 of an audio CD? Or am I way off on that? I think the original file format was aiff, so maybe I have to write my cue file that way?:

2. Would the correct format in my cue file be?:

FILE "2 (Solemn Theme).ogg" OGG [or FILE "2 (Solemn Theme).aiff" AIFF]
TRACK 02 AUDIO
INDEX 01 40:43:36

I'm not aware of what an uncompressed BIN/CUE file would be. Thanks for any continued help in advance.

hooperre wrote:

I think the original file format was aiff

It's not AIFF; it's "redbook CD audio". Redbook CD audio isn't exactly a "file format". Windows programs can sometimes access it as "cda", but I don't think there's any way of displaying the tracks on a mixed-mode CD (i.e. a CD with both Redbook CD audio and data files) as .cda "files".

Anyway, a BIN/CUE pair is a complete duplicate of all the data on the CD; the CUE file in such a case merely contains a reference to the BIN file, and the BIN file contains all the data about the track layout (along with all the files and audio data). You can easily make a BIN/CUE from your original CD by using imgburn.

ETA: But first: how did you make this .CUE file? Usually when audio tracks are provided as MP3s or OGGs, they are by convention paired with a .ISO file, but you have a "civ2.bin".

If you don't have your original CD (I misread that), then yes, it might be worth trying to covert each MP3 file to an OGG file, and then replace each instance of "MP3" in the CUE file with "OGG". It's easy enough to try, anyway.

Jorpho wrote:

hooperre wrote:

I think the original file format was aiff

It's not AIFF; it's "redbook CD audio". Redbook CD audio isn't exactly a "file format". Windows programs can sometimes access it as "cda", but I don't think there's any way of displaying the tracks on a mixed-mode CD (i.e. a CD with both Redbook CD audio and data files) as .cda "files".

Anyway, a BIN/CUE pair is a complete duplicate of all the data on the CD; the CUE file in such a case merely contains a reference to the BIN file, and the BIN file contains all the data about the track layout (along with all the files and audio data). You can easily make a BIN/CUE from your original CD by using imgburn.

Yeah and that would certainly be the move, but I don't have a CD drive on my Surface Pro in my current living situation... My CD drive is about 1500 miles away haha. But I have the disc on hand... I guess I'll have to figure something out. Thanks.

Whoops, I edited my post while you were replying. Please see above.

Jorpho wrote:

Whoops, I edited my post while you were replying. Please see above.

I downloaded the BIN/CUE file originally and subsequently edited it/converted audio files to MP3 files in an effort to get it to work, but I just found my old Civ 2 CD so I could work on making an ISO file... Just need to find a CPU with a CD drive to do it on. You didn't misread it... I just worded it poorly. I'll try the OGG first though. Though it doesn't sound like it will recognize any file formats I try since the cue was originally written as a mixed CD.

Thanks again.

hooperre wrote:

I downloaded the BIN/CUE file originally

When you download things from random places on the Internet, you run the risk of getting something incomplete or otherwise corrupted beyond what can easily be repaired. Often attempting to provide technical support in such situations is a futile waste of time.

and subsequently edited it/converted audio files to MP3 files in an effort to get it to work

Are you saying the download contained AIFF files? That would be extremely strange and I cannot conceive of any reason why that would happen.

You're right. I ripped the 'cda' files you referenced in iTunes (from the redBook CD audio portion of the CD) now that you mentioned it and they came out AIFF. I guess that's why I assumed it was the original format. Thanks for clearing up a bunch of misconceptions I had.

And yeah I hear you regarding random downloads, but I find things like that to be a fun challenge/learning experience often times.

I'm going to work on just creating an ISO file. Thanks again for your help.

stick with the CUE/BIN, there was no need to make mp3s.

Qbix wrote:

stick with the CUE/BIN, there was no need to make mp3s.

The original CUE/BIN did not work and said the CD-ROM was not inserted ONLY when I attempted to manage in game music. I don't think the audio was included in the original bin file somehow, so I added the MP3 files to the folder in an attempt to circumvent it.

hooperre wrote:

I don't think the audio was included in the original bin file somehow

That is extremely unlikely, especially if the BIN is several hundred megabytes.

The easiest way to check would be to open the BIN/CUE using Iso Buster.

The original CUE/BIN did not work and said the CD-ROM was not inserted ONLY when I attempted to manage in game music.

Then this is the problem that we should try to address. Did you use "imgmount" to mount the BIN/CUE image in DOSBox? If your Windows 3.x installation has a media player, can you use it to play the audio tracks?

Jorpho wrote:

That is extremely unlikely, especially if the BIN is several hundred megabytes. […]
Show full quote

hooperre wrote:

I don't think the audio was included in the original bin file somehow

That is extremely unlikely, especially if the BIN is several hundred megabytes.

The easiest way to check would be to open the BIN/CUE using Iso Buster.

The original CUE/BIN did not work and said the CD-ROM was not inserted ONLY when I attempted to manage in game music.

Then this is the problem that we should try to address. Did you use "imgmount" to mount the BIN/CUE image in DOSBox? If your Windows 3.x installation has a media player, can you use it to play the audio tracks?

Not at my Pi, but I'll answer what I can. I'll verify all this when I'm home.

1. Will try the media player... didn't think of that.

2. BIN file was about 180-ish MB (about the same as the CD volume).

It seems weird, but when I insert the actual CD in my gf's mac, it shows 2 volumes or partitions. The first is Civ2 and the other is 'Civilisation II'... which is extremely bizarre that it's spelled wrong. It automatically brings up iTunes and shows a 40 min track 1 then lists all the audio files. I tried ripping the volume to a .cdr using the disk utility (I'm woefully inexperienced using a Mac) but got an error about 3/4 of the way through the process every time.

3. I did use imgmount and (from memory) my mount command was something like: imgmount ./civ2.cue -iso -t iso. I installed the game using the original bin and cue files. Does it matter whether I mount the BIN vs the CUE file? I'm fairly sure I mounted the CUE file.

hooperre wrote:

2. BIN file was about 180-ish MB (about the same as the CD volume).

It may be useful to check other downloads to see if they're the same size, but then other downloads may easily come with other problems.

It seems weird, but when I insert the actual CD in my gf's mac, it shows 2 volumes or partitions. The first is Civ2 and the other is 'Civilisation II'...

It could be a "hybrid" CD with both PC and Macintosh versions of the game, or it could be that it's just showing the different filesystems on the disc. I haven't used Macintoshes lately so I wouldn't know.

If you can't use Imgburn on this Mac, then you should look for an equivalent utility. Looks like Firestarter FX might work.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11417/app

3. I did use imgmount and (from memory) my mount command was something like: imgmount ./civ2.cue -iso -t iso. I installed the game using the original bin and cue files. Does it matter whether I mount the BIN vs the CUE file? I'm fairly sure I mounted the CUE file.

Yes, you're supposed to mount the .cue file. I assume you mounted your Windows directory on drive C and your CD-ROM on drive D?

Jorpho wrote:

I assume you mounted your Windows directory on drive C and your CD-ROM on drive D?

Yeah. I'll post the config file when I get back to check it out.

Original Cue File

1FILE "Civ2.bin" BINARY
2  TRACK 01 MODE1/2352
3    INDEX 01 00:00:00
4TRACK 02 AUDIO
5    INDEX 01 40:43:36
6TRACK 03 AUDIO
7    INDEX 01 41:23:07
8TRACK 04 AUDIO
9    INDEX 01 42:12:24
10TRACK 05 AUDIO
11    INDEX 01 43:56:55
12TRACK 06 AUDIO
13    INDEX 01 46:06:30
14TRACK 07 AUDIO
15    INDEX 01 48:13:71
16TRACK 08 AUDIO
17    INDEX 01 51:04:22
18TRACK 09 AUDIO
19    INDEX 01 53:48:00
20TRACK 10 AUDIO
21    INDEX 01 55:40:32

Config File

1imgmount d /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/Civilization2/Civ2.cue -t iso -fs iso
2mount c /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/Windows3x/
3C:
4call civ2.bat
5exit

Didn't see any sort of media player installed already to see if the audio works.

Come to think of it, that might be the cause of the problem. You should try simply:

1imgmount d /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/Civilization2/Civ2.cue -t cdrom

A DOS-based CD audio player suitable for testing should be easy to find. (I suspect one has probably been mentioned on these boards already.)

Dang. Still says "This option is not available unless the Civilization II CD is in the CD-ROM drive," with the -t cdrom change.

Also, I just checked the bin and it's only 600 MB. The bin files created from my CD are each 570 MB the TOC contents are the same in both BIN files.

Trying to burn the img on the mac again with a different program... this has officially become an adventure.

Update: Currently uploading two different .bin files to put on my PC right now. One is 'Civilisation II' and the other is 'Civ 242'. After doing some reading, it looks like Civ 242 may be a patch on internet archive.

hooperre wrote:

Also, I just checked the bin and it's only 600 MB. The CD is 801 MB.

What makes you think the CD is 801 MB? That would exceed the practical maximum capacity for a CD. 600 MB is an entirely reasonable size for a BIN including application data and CD audio.

Next question: where did this Windows 3.1 installation come from? If there is no media player, then it's possible it lacks the necessary components for Windows 3.1 to play CD audio at all, and that is what is generating the error message.

Did you not find a suitable DOS media player? http://www.opus.co.tt/dave/sound.htm has a couple. Just install it in DOSBox, mount your .CUE, and see if it can play the audio tracks.

Sorry my CD's bin files were both 570 MB. Install was fresh using Win 3.1 disks.

Thanks again for sticking with me.

Ugh. Tracks sure as shit play using one of the MS-DOS CD Players. I could throw up. Would it be worth attempting to write a CUE file for my new BINs and see if that works?

I may just not know the correct program needed to check to see if I can play it in Windows.