How I Backed Up Ice Age

[lamster]

NTSC, Region 1
Title 1 (VTS 7) is the widescreen movie
Title 2 (VTS 8) is the fullscreen movie

Rather than compress it, I decided to keep just the fullscreen movie. The menu is in the widscreen VTS, so I had to keep VTS_07_0.VOB, but I deleted the rest of the VTS_07_*.VOB, and used IfoEdit's Get VTS Sectors to fix up the references. (All editing was done using IfoEdit.)

(Unfortunately, I did this back in May when I was just learning this stuff, and my notes are a bit spotty; if anything's missing, let me know and I'll fill it in.)

First, in the VMG Overview, scroll down to the menu language units, and select Delete Playback for each menu using a VOB ID greater than 4. This kills the "FBI Warning", "Attention", "Views Expressed", and "Rated PG".

Next, in the Menu PGCI table, I changed the second Post cmd of PGC menu 14 to jump to title 2 rather than title 12. This starts right into the movie, rather than going to the aspect ratio selection menu.

I also modified the first play PGC to init GPreg 9 = 200 (0xC8) rather than 100 (0x64). I think this was based on what it got set to if you selected fullscreen in the aspect ratio selection menu; I don't recall if this change was actually necessary or if that was part of my initial tries before I figured out that changing PGC menu 14 was the key.

[jeanl]

Thanks for the info! The problem I was having at the time was that I was trying to find a reliable/systematic way to do that (jump to the movie or the main menu) and not break the DVD playback. The problem with jumping straight to the movie (or the menu) is that you might miss some gprm or sprm initializations. Your solution was to jump from a menu, so I'm guessing all the initializations had already been done (except for gprm(9) but you added that) so playback was normal.
In most cases, you'll find that jumping to an arbitrary place in the DVD causes playback problems. Of course, after a while you get used to it and you more or less know just what to do . BTW you will find that using pgcedit simplifies the process a whole lot!

Jeanl

[2COOL]

@lamster

Have you tested your edits on when you intially select a chapter in your scene selection menu? BTW, I have a new guide on this matter to hopefully eliminate the time on analyzing the commands.

[jeanl]

2COOL, about your guide to skip the language / aspect ratio menus, can you explain why you decided to let the menu play (for a duration of 0) and force the command as a cell command, rather than, for example, killing the menu playback and copying the appropriate button command at the end of the procommands (but before the final jump/link)?
I'm puzzled, there's probably something I'm missing...
Jeanl

[lamster]

Originally posted by jeanl
In most cases, you'll find that jumping to an arbitrary place in the DVD causes playback problems. Of course, after a while you get used to it and you more or less know just what to do .

Well, I don't just "jump to an arbitrary place"; I like to trace through the PGC's and understand what's going on before I make any changes. You can save yourself a lot of work this way. For example, lots of the Disney DVD's start up with the previews (after the usual nonsense), and you have to press the Menu button on your remote to get out of that and get to where you want to be. I hate that. In many of them it initializes a register to be the title number to be played next, and changing the First Play PGC to init the register (often reg 9) to 1 is all that's needed to start right up in the movie.

BTW you will find that using pgcedit simplifies the process a whole lot!

It sound like I need to start learning about all that it can do. Thanks.

[2COOL]

@jeanl

I believe I've mentioned about this with jsoto in another thread but with your proposed method, it wouldn't work with Joe Dirt's aspect Ratio Menu which is in Cell 5 of 7. You can't just kill playback on that whole PGC. Even the main menu is in cell 1. See step 6 on this page.

[lamster]

Originally posted by 2COOL
@lamster

Have you tested your edits on when you intially select a chapter in your scene selection menu? BTW, I have a new guide on this matter to hopefully eliminate the time on analyzing the commands.

Hi 2COOL,

I assume you're referring to my post in the "Van Wilder" thread. Note that I specified at the top, (I generally pick a register that gets set to some value by the target PGC.)

I've added a note at the end indicating that if the target PGC doesn't already reset the register, then you need to add an additional command to set the register to a different value, which I'd guess is your concern.

(To answer your question, I've never seen a problem selecting a chapter; that's one of the things I test before burning a final copy.)

[jeanl]

@2COOL
OK I understand. Killing the PGC would kill all the menus, BAD! Now I see why you take the extra steps! Pretty cool.
@lamster
Like I said, you seem to have done so many of them you know exactly where to go and what to do! That's pretty cool! I never noticed register 9 being used for that in disney movies! Quite an easter egg .

Jeanl

[2COOL]

@lamster

I'm glad things worked out for you. In a way, you remind how I was tackling each DVD and documenting everything, whether old or new method. After doing so many, I started noticing certain authoring trends. That's why I came out with a generic guide of dual Aspect Ratio DVDs. It's nice to see people here trying to understand complex navigations. It's twice as nice to be interfacing with fellow NTSC users too!

[lamster]

Originally posted by jeanl
[BI never noticed register 9 being used for that in disney movies! Quite an easter egg .[/B]

Well, that's the most common one; sometimes another register is used. (E.g., Eloise at the Plaza used reg. 4.) The key is that there's a branch table in one or more of the VIDEO_TS.IFO's menu PGC's based on the value of this register - e.g., (from Finding Nemo's PGC menu 2):

1.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> > (cmp-val)<99> then (LinkPGCN) Link PGC 3	[20 d4 00 09 00 63 00 03 ]
2.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> >= (cmp-val)<40><' then Goto line# 84	[00 c1 00 09 00 28 00 54 ]
3.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> >= (cmp-val)<30><' then Goto line# 64	[00 c1 00 09 00 1e 00 40 ]
4.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> >= (cmp-val)<20><' then Goto line# 44	[00 c1 00 09 00 14 00 2c ]
5.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> >= (cmp-val)<10><' then Goto line# 24	[00 c1 00 09 00 0a 00 18 ]
6.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> != (cmp-val)<1><' then Goto line# 8	[00 b1 00 09 00 01 00 08 ]
7.Pre Command	(JumpTT) Jump to Title: 1	[30 02 00 00 00 01 00 00 ]
8.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> != (cmp-val)<2><' then Goto line# 10	[00 b1 00 09 00 02 00 0a ]
9.Pre Command	(JumpTT) Jump to Title: 2	[30 02 00 00 00 02 00 00 ]
10.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> != (cmp-val)<3><' then Goto line# 12	[00 b1 00 09 00 03 00 0c ]
11.Pre Command	(JumpTT) Jump to Title: 3	[30 02 00 00 00 03 00 00 ]
12.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> != (cmp-val)<4><' then Goto line# 14	[00 b1 00 09 00 04 00 0e ]
13.Pre Command	(JumpTT) Jump to Title: 4	[30 02 00 00 00 04 00 00 ]
14.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> != (cmp-val)<5><' then Goto line# 16	[00 b1 00 09 00 05 00 10 ]
15.Pre Command	(JumpTT) Jump to Title: 5	[30 02 00 00 00 05 00 00 ]
16.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> != (cmp-val)<6><' then Goto line# 18	[00 b1 00 09 00 06 00 12 ]
17.Pre Command	(JumpTT) Jump to Title: 6	[30 02 00 00 00 06 00 00 ]
18.Pre Command	If GPreg<9> != (cmp-val)<7><' then Goto line# 20	[00 b1 00 09 00 07 00 14 ]
19.Pre Command	(JumpTT) Jump to Title: 7	[30 02 00 00 00 07 00 00 ]
[...etc...]

Also, it's not always set in the first play PGC. But, it's a good thing to look for, since by examining the branch table and initializing the register appropriately, you can start in any title you like with very little effort.

[2COOL]

@lamster

You really oughta try using PgcEdit. You'll see it's so much easier if you're into command editing. IMO, there's even got info dumps that more more pleasant to copy, paste, and read. Just noticing that you are posting with IfoEdit's layout.