Problem trying to convert with raw2adpcm

[RetromanX]

Hello, sorry for the poor English, I'm not a native speaker, so I used a translator.

I've been trying to play games with CDDA and the sound is choppy.

I'm using one card to adapt the Dreamcast's disc drive port to a SATA HDD and one 1TB SATA SSD.

I read that the best thing to do would be to convert the audio from RAW to WAV using raw2adpcm.bat, and I read about the isomake tool.

I downloaded version 2.4 of isomake, but it doesn't work for me; nothing works except optimize_gdi.bat.

I downloaded version 2.3 today, and I managed to convert it using raw2adpcm.bat, but it generated .raw.wav files, like this:

Sega Rally 2 v1.003 (1999)(Sega)(US)[!].gdi
track01.bin
track02.raw.wav
track03.bin
track04.raw.wav
track05.raw.wav , etc...

I tried running it like this and there was no sound, no music. So I edited the .gdi file to match the tracks, changing everything from .raw to .raw.wav, but still no music in the game.

Then I tried removing the .raw from the track names and leaving only .wav, ran it and nothing. After that, I put all the track names back in .raw and changed the files to .raw as well, still no music during the game.

I repeated these processes by running the gdi optimizer before and after, I don't know what else to do, can anyone help me? Thank you.

[Elgor4uk]

1. Convert the GDI image to GDI OPT using optimize_gdi.bat
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-2981.html
2. Use the latest version of Dreamshell 4.0.3 and the loader v0.8.3
3. Use the startup settings:
DMA TRUE IRQ 0x8c001100 DIRECT CDDA DMA DMA TMU2 Adaptive WinCE

[RetromanX]

(12.01.2026 22:31)Elgor4uk писал(а):  1. Convert the GDI image to GDI OPT using optimize_gdi.bat
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-2981.html
2. Use the latest version of Dreamshell 4.0.3 and the loader v0.8.3
3. Use the startup settings:
DMA TRUE IRQ 0x8c001100 DIRECT CDDA DMA DMA TMU2 Adaptive WinCE

Thanks for the answer, Sorry for not sharing all the settings I'm using with the loader earlier.

1. Convert the GDI image to GDI OPT using optimize_gdi.bat
(http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-2981.html)

I've already done this with all the games, and all the ones I've tested that aren't CDDA work perfectly.

2. Use the latest version of Dreamshell 4.0.3 and the loader v0.8.3

I'm using this version.

3. Use the startup settings:
DMA TRUE IRQ 0x8c001100 DIRECT CDDA DMA DMA TMU2 Adaptive WinCE.

I was already using some of these settings, but I was unsure about the others because I couldn't find the exact same name in the loader options.
DMA TRUE - Enabled
IRQ - Enabled
0x8c001100 Enabled
DIRECT CDDA - Is this the Direct option in the BIOS tab? If so, it's already enabled.
DMA Enabled
DMA Enabled
TMU2 Enabled
Adaptive WinCE - Is this an Binary OS option? Katana, Auto, Wince? If so, it's already activated.

*EDIT*

I just did a test, I converted the .raw audio files with raw2adpcm, and the converted files ended up with the .raw.wav extension.

Again, when I try to test without audio, I tried renaming them, removing the .raw, then running it, editing the gdi file so that the tracks now use .wav, then I ran optimize_gdi.bat, so I get the audio now, but it's worse than the original game without any conversion, it goes crazy, out of nowhere it only comes out on the left side, then only on the right side, the volume decreases and it becomes almost inaudible, then out of nowhere the volume increases and it gets very loud.

Here's a video to see how the audio turned out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG2QG-hDCyw

One thing I noticed is that when I click on a game with CDDA and the cover appears inside DreamShell, a track from the disc starts playing, if I exit and then click on the game once, the next track plays inside DreamShell and so on successively.

When I converted the file and there was no audio, in the Dreamshell menu, when I clicked on the game, I either received no audio at all, or only static, so consequently when I loaded the game there was no audio at all.

Now, after doing the procedure I described above, the .wav track converted with raw2adpcm plays normally in the Dreamshell menu, even seeming like it was converted correctly, but in the game it's as shown in the video.

[aldair]

(12.01.2026 22:21)RetromanX писал(а):  Hello, sorry for the poor English, I'm not a native speaker, so I used a translator.

I've been trying to play games with CDDA and the sound is choppy.

I'm using one card to adapt the Dreamcast's disc drive port to a SATA HDD and one 1TB SATA SSD.

I read that the best thing to do would be to convert the audio from RAW to WAV using raw2adpcm.bat, and I read about the isomake tool.

I downloaded version 2.4 of isomake, but it doesn't work for me; nothing works except optimize_gdi.bat.

I downloaded version 2.3 today, and I managed to convert it using raw2adpcm.bat, but it generated .raw.wav files, like this:

Sega Rally 2 v1.003 (1999)(Sega)(US)[!].gdi
track01.bin
track02.raw.wav
track03.bin
track04.raw.wav
track05.raw.wav , etc...

I tried running it like this and there was no sound, no music. So I edited the .gdi file to match the tracks, changing everything from .raw to .raw.wav, but still no music in the game.

Then I tried removing the .raw from the track names and leaving only .wav, ran it and nothing. After that, I put all the track names back in .raw and changed the files to .raw as well, still no music during the game.

I repeated these processes by running the gdi optimizer before and after, I don't know what else to do, can anyone help me? Thank you.

adpcm is for the SD serial port.

[RetromanX]

(14.01.2026 04:20)aldair писал(а):  

(12.01.2026 22:21)RetromanX писал(а):  Hello, sorry for the poor English, I'm not a native speaker, so I used a translator.

I've been trying to play games with CDDA and the sound is choppy.

I'm using one card to adapt the Dreamcast's disc drive port to a SATA HDD and one 1TB SATA SSD.

I read that the best thing to do would be to convert the audio from RAW to WAV using raw2adpcm.bat, and I read about the isomake tool.

I downloaded version 2.4 of isomake, but it doesn't work for me; nothing works except optimize_gdi.bat.

I downloaded version 2.3 today, and I managed to convert it using raw2adpcm.bat, but it generated .raw.wav files, like this:

Sega Rally 2 v1.003 (1999)(Sega)(US)[!].gdi
track01.bin
track02.raw.wav
track03.bin
track04.raw.wav
track05.raw.wav , etc...

I tried running it like this and there was no sound, no music. So I edited the .gdi file to match the tracks, changing everything from .raw to .raw.wav, but still no music in the game.

Then I tried removing the .raw from the track names and leaving only .wav, ran it and nothing. After that, I put all the track names back in .raw and changed the files to .raw as well, still no music during the game.

I repeated these processes by running the gdi optimizer before and after, I don't know what else to do, can anyone help me? Thank you.

adpcm is for the SD serial port.

I didn't understand, is it an IDE mod adapted to use an SD card? Is it faster than the one I'm using, which is a SATA SSD? It seemed to be working fine in the video, but I don't know if it's the recording; it sounded like the track volume would decrease and then increase.

*EDIT*
I just saw your message: adpcm is for the SD serial port.

So, any game whose audio I convert with raw2adpcm will only work if I play it on the SD card via the serial port?

In theory, the serial port is slower than the IDE mod, right?

So, the games with CDDA should have run smoothly without audio stuttering, shouldn't they?

[aldair]

https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/1005010077109307.html?
[/quote]

Sega Rally 2 v1.003 (1999)(Sega)(EUA)[!].gdi
track01.bin
track02.raw.wav
track03.bin
track04.raw.wav
track05.raw.wav , etc...

GDI OPTIMIZADA
disk.gdi
tack01.iso
track02.raw
track03.iso
track04.raw
track05.raw

[SWAT]

(14.01.2026 04:28)RetromanX писал(а):  *EDIT*
I just saw your message: adpcm is for the SD serial port.

So, any game whose audio I convert with raw2adpcm will only work if I play it on the SD card via the serial port?

In theory, the serial port is slower than the IDE mod, right?

So, the games with CDDA should have run smoothly without audio stuttering, shouldn't they?

You don't need to convert audio tracks if you play on SATA/IDE. Just optimize .bin tracks or download already optimized here:
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-3851.html
Also you need to use latest DreamShell 4.0.3 for this game.

[RetromanX]

(14.01.2026 09:43)SWAT писал(а):  

(14.01.2026 04:28)RetromanX писал(а):  *EDIT*
I just saw your message: adpcm is for the SD serial port.

So, any game whose audio I convert with raw2adpcm will only work if I play it on the SD card via the serial port?

In theory, the serial port is slower than the IDE mod, right?

So, the games with CDDA should have run smoothly without audio stuttering, shouldn't they?

You don't need to convert audio tracks if you play on SATA/IDE. Just optimize .bin tracks or download already optimized here:
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-3851.html
Also you need to use latest DreamShell 4.0.3 for this game.

Thanks for the reply, I downloaded the version from the link you sent me, it's still the same as the version I downloaded and optimized before trying to convert the audio tracks. The game runs, but the audio stutters; in fact, all CDDA games have slight hiccups. It's not just this one; the soundtracks of games other than this CDDA play perfectly.

I'm using the latest version, 4.0.3.

I tried the conversion because I read that games with CDDA have this problem because the soundtrack files are too large for the Dreamcast to load, something along those lines.

[SWAT]

(Вчера 06:00)RetromanX писал(а):  Thanks for the reply, I downloaded the version from the link you sent me, it's still the same as the version I downloaded and optimized before trying to convert the audio tracks. The game runs, but the audio stutters; in fact, all CDDA games have slight hiccups. It's not just this one; the soundtracks of games other than this CDDA play perfectly.

There may be subtle glitches in playback, but you shouldn't notice them a lot. If you do, something's wrong with your setup.
Try native IDE instead of SATA. CF card for example.

(Вчера 06:00)RetromanX писал(а):  I tried the conversion because I read that games with CDDA have this problem because the soundtrack files are too large for the Dreamcast to load, something along those lines.

This is only necessary for SD cards. IDEs have much higher speeds than needed for playback. This doesn't affect performance in any way.

[fafadou]

You can also give a try with the 0.8.1 loader in your 0.8.3 version, Elgor4uk noticed better performance with wince games.

[SWAT]

(Вчера 12:32)fafadou писал(а):  You can also give a try with the 0.8.1 loader in your 0.8.3 version, Elgor4uk noticed better performance with wince games.

Yes, this can happen in some games. Because in 0.8.3, the CPU is blocked when transferring data to sound memory on WinCE games. Otherwise, the sound would crash after a while. But this blocking is literally less than 1ms and not on each frame. Let me remind that at 60 fps, which WinCE doesn't have, one frame takes ~16ms, for 30 fps it's ~33ms. In games with poor performance, it might get even worse. In games with good performance it's not noticeable at all.

[Elgor4uk]

(Вчера 12:32)fafadou писал(а):  You can also give a try with the 0.8.1 loader in your 0.8.3 version, Elgor4uk noticed better performance with wince games.

Exception: SEGA Rally 2 + CDDAon only works with v0.8.3. CDDA SEGA Rally 2 does not work with version 0.8.1.

[SWAT]

(Вчера 15:30)Elgor4uk писал(а):  

(Вчера 12:32)fafadou писал(а):  You can also give a try with the 0.8.1 loader in your 0.8.3 version, Elgor4uk noticed better performance with wince games.

Exception: SEGA Rally 2 + CDDAon only works with v0.8.3. CDDA SEGA Rally 2 does not work with version 0.8.1.

Anyway in all WinCE games music can crash on older versions than 0.8.3 after some time. That's why I added this CPU blocking.
WinCE does not track SPU DMA by registers; it does this by its internal software variables, which is a problem.