This is a total longshot, so please forgive me for not knowing what the hell I'm talking about.

Hypothetical situation. I have Sly Cooper 2 for Playstation 2. I want to put that game into my computer, find the audio files from the disc, and convert them into some sort of MP3 (or similar type of) file so I can burn them to an audio CD.

Does anyone know what programs I need to download to do this? Or does anyone have any suggestions or tips? Instead of recording the audio from the game while it's playing, I'd like to get at the original audio files on the disc.

I've done a little bit of this so I can give you somewhat of a idea what you want to do:

Probably the most important factor is what file type is used for the music on the game disc. Some games use XA. files (I know for a fact Mega Man X4~X6 use this format as I have ripped the music from the discs myself using a certain program) and for the most part if the game uses this format the music is pretty obtainable by any common joe with the right program in hand. This program also lets you rip the streamed music and videos as well, which other methods (those below) don't allow. I can give you the program for ripping XA. files and you can try it. I'm not sure if it'll run on a mac though.

The other method is the programs used by those who make the psf rips, which from my understanding is a nightmare to do unless your into and understand various assembly languages. I've tried it myself and I was completely lost. Those who rip these files don't like to take request for what to rip next either (I don't see a rip for Sly Cooper 2 anywhere at the moment) but that is understandable as you can't please any and all request to begin with.

I use to dabble in game-rips before I started buying the real deal.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, lemme answer.

You need to understand that there are two types of audio that a PS2 game may have.

1.) Sequenced audio.
- This type involves a set of sequence files (think MIDIs) and a set of sample banks (think soundfonts) - there is code in the game that basically tells which sequence to play back with which sample bank, and voila, music is born. (Final Fantasy X, X-2, XII, Kingdom Hearts 1, 2, the .hack series, and many, many more use this type of audio programming.
- There are a ton of custom drivers for sequenced PS2 music, but for general purpose, they are separated into two chunks - one being CSL (.bd .hd and .sq files) and the second being "everything else" - I can create PSF2 files out of the former, but the latter requires PS2 assembly knowledge in most cases, which I don't have.

2.) Streamed audio.
- This is the type you're hoping and praying for, because in the vast majority of cases, it's easily ripped.  This is where most of my oddigy-style monolithic rips come from, because it's basically a little bit of futzing and two clicks, and out pours a huge chunk of audio. :)  Streamed audio is the equivalent of .wav files, hanging out on a PS2 disc.  They use a common codec (Compressed ADPCM) so Windows (maybe a Mac too) is already equipped to play it back.  It just requires a little bit of information to tell the system how the file is supposed to be played back (...ok, getting confusing)

How do you tell?

Pop the game disc into your PC's optical drive.  Note the filenames on the disc.  Anything with BGM or MUSIC or SOUND in the title is a dead giveaway.  The larger the file is that contains one of those magical strings, the more likely that it's streamed, and probably easily rippable (except if it's a Tri-Ace or EA game, thank you proprietary codecs, bleh.).  If you see something like SQ.DAT that is maybe 2MB, the music is most likely sequenced.

In the event that the game data is either not visible on the disc except for a few few-KB files (thanks, Square Enix), or stored in one gigantic DATA.BIN (countless others), then some spelunking with a hex editor is needed, but I'm not going to go into that unless I have to.

I've never played Sly Cooper.  I want to know what the filenames on the disc are.  Here's how you can post them.

I hope you're running Windows. :)

Go to Start, Run
type cmd (hit enter - so it brings up a command (dos but not really) window)
type Z: (and hit enter - where Z is the letter of your optical drive that contains the PS2 game, probably D or E)
type dir /s *.* > c:\slycooperfiles.txt  (and hit enter - where gamename is really whatever you want, just make it something you can find later)

Paste the contents of slycooperfiles.txt (now found in your C drive) here, or email them to me or something, and I will tell you how I think we should proceed.

Awaiting next command. :)

I threw Ar Tonelico in my DVD drive, and it has an audio folder with a 9MB AFS file and a 670MB AFS file.  This game has a LOT of music.  What's the best program to rip and play them back?  Are there plugins for Winamp?

Download PSound from zophar.net.  It's what I've always used for converting AFS/ADX files.

The homepage for PSound was recently purged (well, within the last year or so), probably due to the author (snailrush) getting pissed off at people who ask him stupid questions, so don't ever expect another updated version.

Also, if Ar Tonelico is like every other Gust game I've ever seen, the 670MB AFS file is actually voice acting, and the music is stored inside that big ol ... other file that's 200MB or so.  data.bin or data.lzr or data.pak or something like that.  Sequenced music.  Not easily ripped.  Compressed with some unknown algorithm that I haven't been able to decode... custom driver, the whole nine yards.

Then again, that's what all of the Atelier games I've seen are like; maybe Ar Tonelico is different, but I doubt it.  I'll take a look when I get home, if I remember.

Anyway, for AFS/ADX, PSound is what you use.

If you want to get fancy, there's a program out there called AFSExtract that lets you rip apart AFS files and see the innards. (AFS is actually a container file, ADX is where the music hangs out; ADX is almost always inside AFS.)

Damn! Thanks, Amber! I'll try to bring the disc into work sometime this week. I'm on a Mac at home.

Wow, the BGM is totally in \SOUND\STREAM\STREAM.AFS

PSound is all you need to play it back, just open stream.afs in it.

Pretty cool.

Hey TC, I know it's after 3 years already but, were you successful on ripping the music? Right now I'm really looking forward to getting "Morning Dew Melts" from Ar tonelico. Have you made it already? If you do, can you please send it to me? Thanks.

Also oddigy, where is this \SOUND\STREAM\STREAM.AFS you were saying? Is it from somewhere in the internet?

So, I know this an old post, but...
How can I rip the music from the 2016 DOOM PS4 game? And what program would I need?