Custom MvC2 - Extract Marvel Data

Extracting Data from the ROM

In order to modify the game, we need to have a copy of the game files. So we need to extract out the data from the disc image once. After you do that once, just make a copy of this data any time you want to make a new image - or use a previous mix you made as the new template.

Starting with a self-booting MvC2 Dreamcast CD

You have two options if you're starting with a self-booting MvC2 CD: use ISOBuster or use Windows Explorer.

If you want to use ISOBuster you can:

Use File :: Open Image and point it to your CDI file.
Expand the CD :: Session :: Track listing so you can see the game data. That will contain subfolders like DPETC, DPFONT, and so forth. Right-click on that folder and use "Extract" to extract that all out to some place you want to work from.
That's it! You've now got all the game data where Windows can understand it.

If you want to use Windows Explorer, all you have to do is insert your Self Boot copy of MVC2 into your CD drive.

Now when the window pops up to chose what you want to do, click "open folder to view files". Your data will open in a Windows Explorer folder. View

Now copy and paste all the data from the CD into your "data" folder in your "selfboot" directory - except the "dummy file". That is usually named 0.bin or dummy.bin and is the only huge file among all the files you see in the window. So just select everything but the dummy file to be copied to your "data" folder. You can copy the dummy file if you want, but it's very large and will not be used.

Starting with a CDI version of Dreamcast Marvel

If you are starting out with a CDI (Disc Juggler Image File) you can still use that to extract your MvC2 data. If these steps don't work for you, use ISOBuster as specified above. If you get an error like "Windows can't access this disc" after mounting the CDI then you will need to use ISOBuster to extract it instead.

Download Daemon Tools and install the program. Once the program is installed you will see a Thunder Bolt icon near the clock in the lower right corner of your computer. View

Then right click on the icon and select the top menu item "Virtual CD/DVD-Rom", then select "Device 0: [E] No Media" and finally select "Mount Image". It will then ask you to navigate to your image file, select your MvC2 CDI file. Give it a second then it will either automatically open the contents of the CDI in a Windows Explorer, or it will ask you what you want to do with the CDI, select "open folder to view files". View

Then just copy and paste all the data into your "data" folder in your "selfboot" directory except the "dummy file". (That dummy file won't be used, so it's quicker to just ignore it.)

Starting with a CUE/BIN version of Playstation 2 Marvel

Playstation 2 images are sometimes available as a BIN (archives) and CUE (burn instructions). You can use ISOBuster to easily extract the contents of that BIN file.

Once you've done that, you will now have a MARVEL_VS_CAPCOM2 folder. Go to the PS2 folder in there and you will see a bunch of AFS archives. We will use AFSPacker to extract those AFS archives. To do this, use the command line: afspacker.exe -e AFS002.afs outputfolder (AFS002 has the files we care about: you can extract the others if you want.)

That's it! You should now have all the PS2 data files needed here in your output folder.

Starting with a PKG version of Playstation 3 (PSN) Marvel

Start with the US PSN Marvel vs Capcom 2 PKG. Get any PS3 PKG Viewer / Editor. I was using Smart Game Tech's PS3 PKG Viewer (password is actually "Smart Game Tech": some sources have the wrong password), but that appears to be offline. TrueAncestor PKG Repacker should work as of January 2024.

Now open the MVC2-PSN package in your PKG Viewer. Extract out the content: you want the data in the NPUB30068 folder. Then the PS3 color files can be found under "NPUB30068\USRDIR\gdrom" in that folder. Point PalMod there using Load Directory :: MVC2 :: PS2.

Starting with a CHD version of Dreamcast Marvel vs Capcom 2

A CHD (Compressed Hunk of Data) can contain any number of things. We will presume that it contains a GDI.

You will need to use MAME's CHDMan.exe to extract this. Follow the guide at RetroPie. You want to use the "Extract CHD to GDI.bat" script in there. That simply runs:
for /r %%i in (*.chd) do chdman extractcd -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.gdi"

There will now be a GDI file and the three data tracks from the disc in that directory. Now use the "Starting with a GDI version of Dreamcast Marvel vs Capcom 2" steps.

Starting with a GDI version of Dreamcast Marvel vs Capcom 2

How do you have a GDI? We stopped using these so long ago! (Looking at you, Fightcade.)

To extract the contents of the GDI files, we will use Gdi2Data. Download that tool from the link there.

The BAT file is broken there and doesn't work right. Most of the BAT files online don't seem to work right. So let's just ignore that and do our own thing!

What we really wanted from that package was bin2iso.exe and extract.exe. Now that we have that, do the following:

Open up a Windows command prompt (cmd.exe)
Browse to the location your GDI files are in. Make a directory called "data" there. Now run:
Now you have an ISO you can work with. You can extract the files using Extract.exe . Extract will extract the files to whatever directory you run it in. So run this now:

Congrats! You have now extracted the files from your GDI. Follow the rest of the steps now.