Shenmue 2 issues.

[Smeedom]

I stumbled across a cheap Shenmue 2 on eBay and figured there was no harm in buying it.

So... I play disk 1 without any problems - and then it comes to disk 2. After the first "cut scene" I get this "data read error" which complains about some 0008_015.Snd file. The eBay listing did say that disk 2 had light scratches, but he neglected to mention that those light scratches would lead the game to not work.

I left things until the morning and figured I'd try again. Behold... it worked. No data read error - at least not for a few minutes. I went to the fortune tellers and when I left, I got the same error about the same file. The file can't be completely screwed 'cause it loaded before.

I then wondered if the issue was my DC. If it was, why would it play disk 1 without any problems - and why would it play other games without problems? Either way... I did some research on how to calibrate the GDROM drive to slow down the reading which is supposedly more accurate. No joy.

Through leaving the DC completely powerless for a few hours, loading, playing shortly & saving, I've gotten so far into the game, but the problem is the same each time - just with different .Snd file names.

To summarize: After being on for so long, the DC has problems reading (sound?) files from disk 2 only. If I put disk 1 in after, disk 1 works fine.

What could the problem be? My DC or the CD? Would it be worth buying a CD cleaning kit? If all else fails, the guy who sold it has said he'll refund me if I send it back to him so I'm not worried. I'd just prefer to get the game working.

Thanks in advance.

[JKKDARK]

Probably it's the second GD. It has many scratches?

[Smeedom]

Aye. The disk is pretty much covered in them, but they're only light. I would've put it down to the 2nd disk from the start, but the fact that it sometimes loads confused me.

[Elven6]

Hmm, try to run the disc under some water and wipe it with a soft cloth. If that dosen't work try a CD cleaner.

[Smeedom]

I've tried next to everything - including putting it in the freezer. No dice. My thoughts are that a cleaner may help polish off the disk to get rid of the scratches, but... I dunno if it's beyond repair.

[OneThirty8]

I would try a CD cleaning kit. I've had luck with that in the past, so it's worth a try.

[Xiaopang]

i agree. i also had success with repair kits. i also had issues with disc 2. seems that it is created in a way that is already a burden for the dc to read, so a few scratches can disrupt the loading process easily, even if they only seem to be light. the reason why it sometimes loads is simply because the gd-rom has no absolutely constant performance. the speed of the drive, the intensity of the laser and the accuracy of how the laser is reflected by the pits and lands always varies slightly (that affects all drives by the way, not just GD-drives). in this case this variation is enough to make the disc sometimes readable and sometimes not.

why did you put the disc in the freezer? what's that supposed to do? never heard of people doing that

[quzar]

Be wary of CD cleaning products. There are two different philosophies to their working.

The first requires that you use a special liquid they come with, and work by filling in scratches with a liquid that bonds to the disc.

The second works by shaving away thin layers of the disc to level the surface with the scratches. The problem with this is that it effects the way the laser reflects and can cause the entire disc to become unreadable or just extremely fragile after multiple uses.

Most cleaning machines such as "Dr. Disc" or whatnot are of the second type, most cleaning kits are of the first.

[Xiaopang]

quzar is right. i had good experiences with cleaning fluids, but quite some bad ones with the ones that shave off parts of the layer

[Smeedom]

Thanks for the replies, yo.

Aye... I was curious about the workings of the cleaners. To a degree, the theories make sense.

The one I bought is...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180201424479&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=008

Any advice for how I should go about using it?

I was really curious about why the disk would sometimes load & sometimes not. As I mentioned before, it seems that when the DC has been running for 2+ mins, it has issues. Why would slowing down/speeding up the GDROM drive not make any difference?

As luck should have it, someone is selling spare Shenmue 2 disks on eBay. If the CD cleaning doesn't work, I can always just buy those & get the guy to refund me for that instead of the whole set.

[edit]

About the freezer: I read it in some files someone sent to me a few years ago. When my VC++ 6 disk got messed up, I shoved it in the freezer as suggested and the drive read the disk fine. I guess the idea is either temporarily filling the gaps with ice or... something to do with expanding/contracting. Dunno. ;D

[Xiaopang]

Any advice for how I should go about using it?

it should come with a manual.




I was really curious about why the disk would sometimes load & sometimes not. As I mentioned before, it seems that when the DC has been running for 2+ mins

i know this problem. i sometimes experience it when ripping badly scratched video-dvds. holding them under cold water seems to help in some rare cases. might also be just a coincidence.


it has issues. Why would slowing down/speeding up the GDROM drive not make any difference?

oh it might very well make a difference. so you think about recalibrating the laser? if all other discs work without problems, then it's really just that disc and i
wouldn't mess with the laser. after all, to my knowledge modifying that poti changes the intensity of the laser and not the drive speed.




About the freezer: I read it in some files someone sent to me a few years ago. When my VC++ 6 disk got messed up, I shoved it in the freezer as suggested and the drive read the disk fine. I guess the idea is either temporarily filling the gaps with ice or... something to do with expanding/contracting. Dunno. ;D

i see, that makes sense in a crazy way, but due to the contracting i would fear to rather damage the disc even more.

[wolfpack]

maybe use Game Doctor?
that may help, it works though it makes the disc extremely blurry until you buff it with the fuzz cloth that comes with it

[Smeedom]

Well...

CD cleaning kit arrived today. Good news is that I can now support claims that cleaning kits produce results. The bad news is that... the results were misplaced.

Rather than going all-out on a rare DC game with a CD cleaner that may not work, I got out 2 of my PS1 games that haven't worked for centuries & one game that has always worked.

First test was FFIX which has a disc 1 that refused to even load. I put the cleaning fluid on the pad, did some turning and... the disc worked perfectly.

Test 2 was Formula 1 which has always worked, but is severely scratched (strangely). I wanted to use this so see if the polish technique would make a game worse. The polish pad left circular scratch-like marks all over the disk, but the game worked as good as before (if not better) afterwards.

#3 was Fear Effect. Same situation as FFIX - never worked, but now does after a quick clean.

So... with these positive results, I decided to put the cleaning kit to the use it was purchased for. I tried the normal cleaning with the fluid on Shenmue 2... and it didn't work. I tried the polishing and that didn't work. I think it's fair to say that the disc is beyond hope.

Thanks again for all the support & such. I'll probably hang around these forums and post progress/results on some of the DC mods I have in mind. ;p

Anyone have any after thoughts, etc?

[quzar]

If there is any spot on the disc where you can see clear through, that is unrecoverable damage, and odds are it will never work. Any scratch that you can feel easily due to it's depth, is generally so deep that it will never work.

Barring those two things, cleaning products tend to work, with the most important thing being to make sure to actually clean the disc with alcohol or water prior to using the cleaning kit on it.

One last insane thing that I've heard is to heat the disc up (most definetly not in a microwave) possibly with a very small open flame. This of course would only be reccomendable on a disc in which conventional methods have failed, and the problem area is noticible.

[Smeedom]

Funny you should say that. The guy I bought it from has said that I can boil the disc in water for 30 seconds and see if that fixes anything before I send it back to him. Will probably give it a try tomorrow.

(I love all the crazed yet sometimes effective methods of fixing things.)

[beetroot bertie]

This might not help you but I've repaired non-readable CDs with Brasso and Cream Car Polish.

I apply a dab of Brasso to a clean cloth wrapped around a finger and work it in around the scratch in small circular movements. I've had to repeat this several times in some instances but do a test after each one. Anyway, I work it in for a while, not pressing too hard, then wipe it off with a dry cloth or dry area of the same cloth. It usually leaves very light scratches since it's abrasive, but after a while smooths out the problematic scratch.

I then give the whole disc a work over with cream car polish (Simoniz Autopride Cream Polish in my case). I put about about 5 pea sized blobs around the disc and again work around it in small circular motions until it's all covered. I then carry on working around the disc until it's all dried up. I wipe the dry residue away with a soft cloth and it comes up very shiny.

There are sometimes some extremely light scratches left behind, but it tends to work a treat. Bigger scratches or pin dot type holes have usually required Brasso first.

As Quzar mentioned if you hold it up to light and can see light through a scratch, then the top side of the disc has been damaged and it's probably stuffed.

[robatfreedomhouse]

I have almost the same problem!

At first it only happened at one point, but after waiting round for a while it got past that stage.

But 2 days later, after carrying out the books, just as I finished it happened again (which was very annoying as I am trying really hard to get all the books out by 12!).

Only disc 2

By the way my discs are IMMACULATE

[JKKDARK]

I have almost the same problem!

At first it only happened at one point, but after waiting round for a while it got past that stage.

But 2 days later, after carrying out the books, just as I finished it happened again (which was very annoying as I am trying really hard to get all the books out by 12!).

Only disc 2

By the way my discs are IMMACULATE

Don't use backup, paly with the GD.