From 7922719f2bb15961b53a67ae425fc67744ad35a4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Chris Putnam Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2024 18:27:26 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Update README.md Additional help info and examples --- README.md | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 37 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index e491643..9c5544c 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -4,6 +4,42 @@ Source code available at: https://github.com/putnam/binmerge Tool to merge multiple bin/cue tracks into one. +## Usage + +To get the command line help for binmerge, use `./binmerge --help`. + +### Example: Merge a split image + +To merge a set of bin files for a given cuesheet: + +`./binmerge "/path/to/My Great Game.cue" "My Great Game (Merged)"` + +This will create two new files, "My Great Game (Merged).bin" and "My Great Game (Merged).cue". These will be created alongside your existing files in the same directory unless specified otherwise. + +To control the output directory, use the --outdir flag: + +`./binmerge -o "/mnt/stuff/merged-games" "/path/to/My Great Game.cue" "My Great Game (Merged)"` + +### Example: Split a merged image + +If you want to reverse the process and create split files again, binmerge supports that. But do note, for some games, the Redump cuesheet contains information that binmerge cannot reasonably preserve when merging. If you're trying to get back to a pristine Redump set, you may want to download the freely available cuesheets available on Redump's web site. + +To split a merged bin/cue: + +`./binmerge --split --outdir "/mnt/stuff/split-games" "/path/to/My Great Game.cue" "My Great Game"` + +This will create a new cue sheet and a series of .bin files, like this: + +``` +My Great Game.cue +My Great Game (Track 1).bin +My Great Game (Track 2).bin +``` + +As before, if `outdir` is not specified, the new files will be written alongside the existing files. + +## Rationale + Sometimes discs are ripped in such a way that they have a separate bin file for every track. One example that I know of is the Redump project, specifically for the Playstation 1 or PSX. Here is a cuesheet for the imaginary PSX game "Big Buddy". You can see it refers to several individual bin files, one for each track: @@ -33,7 +69,7 @@ FILE "Big Buddy (Track 05).bin" BINARY Some software cannot read this style of disc image, because they only know how to work with a single bin file or are unable to properly parse cuesheets according to the standard. -`binmerge` reads a cuesheet and its associated series of bin files and generates a new, single merged bin file and cuesheet. It is completely non-destructive; it will not touch your existing files. +`binmerge` reads a cuesheet and its associated series of bin files and generates a new, single merged bin file and cuesheet. It is completely non-destructive and does not touch your existing files. Here is the new cuesheet generated by `binmerge` with the above example: ``` @@ -54,6 +90,4 @@ FILE "Big Buddy.bin" BINARY INDEX 01 38:52:66 ``` -`binmerge` also supports reversing the process if you deleted the original files to save space. If you want to return to the split bin format you can instead pass a merged cue file with the `--split` parameter. However, for systems that have metadata tags (Dreamcast), these tags are currently not preserved by `binmerge` and will be missing. Complete cuesheet packs are available to download on Redump's site. - Have fun!