Successfully used Batch Ripper with Virtual CD images and no "physical" loader?

[Land of Shadows]

I have been using dBpoweramp for a very long time in a "manual" fashion. But I have a large number of discs that I have acquired from thrift stores over the last year or two. And want to process them faster. I HAVE created virtual CD files from them already, created with CloneCD that have the files .ccd, .img, .cur and .sub.

Using ChatGPT and a couple other AI's I've been trying to build a process to rip them automatically now that I have them in digital image format.

I have been varying things like using batch files, converting them to EXE files visible or not visible, using "user" or "admin" context, run with or without "Administrator".
I have used "Virtual Clone Drive" by default and DAEMON TOOLS PRO for loading the images.

I have seen that when I run a batch file it can load an image and SEE the files on it, but when converted to an EXE it seems to load it but NOT see the files.

Really wondering if anyone has:
1) ACTUALLY accomplished this for vCD Batch Ripping and if so
2) Have any "recipes" for how to script mass sequential rips from a repository of audio CD virtual disc files.

[Spoon]

They already are ripped, but not securely (only a secure ripper working from the actual disc can re-rip to recover bad sectors). You would just need to extract the audio from those images.

[Land of Shadows]

My process for many years has been.
1. Image all discs of a batch to give me a “backup”
2. Use that image and dBpoweramp CD Ripper to get the the metadata and “rip” it to .flac format
3. Use AccurateRip to determine which discs are “accurate” and any that are not use the Physical discs and dBpowermp to do a more thorough rip with additional error correction hopefully to achieve an accurate album rip as the result

imaged discs are “digitized” but I didn’t think they were considered “ripped” as I still have to use CD Ripper to accomplish that part. And doing so manually on a disc by disc basis dBPoweramp:CD ripper has been fantastic.

Regardless of terminology, can you provide insight on using the dBpoweramp suite of products to achieve a “mass processing” to get them into FLAC format, with metadata/tags and created into folders to represent each album? Your help, would be greatly appreciated. Batch Ripper seemed to be the best approach but I don’t know how or if it’s possible. But I am open to using other tools.

[Spoon]

I do not think you will be able to automate the loading and unloading of the disc images easily.

Anyhow you can replace the load.exe and unload.exe with any programs you want to run, see:

https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/forum/other-topics/batch-ripper/325396-batch-ripper-custom-loader-using-python-script

[Land of Shadows]

I do not think you will be able to automate the loading and unloading of the disc images easily.

This has actually been the easy part. I've used both Virtual Clone Drive and DAEMON TOOLS PRO and both function perfectly through batch script or PowerShell.

I have been able to prove that Batch Ripper runs the batch files fine using the renamed cmd.exe trick mentioned in the article you linked. Thanks for that. I did find there is a gotcha in Windows 11 though. You need to:
a) Copy the language folder from C:\Windows\System32 to the folder where you are running a renamed copy of "cmd.exe" from AND
b) You need to copy within that language folder the "cmd.exe.mui" to the new name of the executable such as "Load.exe.mui", otherwise messaging errors pop up.

The challenge I am having now is that the majority of my batch files do not execute. I have included numerous logging lines such as "echo" out to log files to track the execution of all of them, when they start, when they end, when they do stuff. NONE of that happens when the batch files are called by Batch Ripper.
The LOAD command loads the first disc, I can get it to pull MetaData and rip it successfully. But then NO other commands appear to even attempt to execute? The unload command doesn't execute and it's the SAME executable successfully used in the LOAD which seems very odd. Various other commands do not execute such as TIMEOUT delays, or a move file command I use for tracking and controlling progression of execution of vCD's recursively through a repository.

I feel like I am SO CLOSE to having this working.

1. Any idea why it would execute the load command but then not run any further commands? I can run them manually with shortcuts mimicking the process of start, load, unload, load, unload, load, unload, exit batch and when I do that the scripts all execute as expected. But when run from Batch Ripper it loads the first disc and then because no other command work it just tries the same loaded disc over and over until it exits because I use exit on 2 failed disc loads.

2. Do you have any developer documentation for those that write drivers on how to pass things back and forth between the drivers and Batch Ripper such as error codes or other codes? How Batch Ripper passes control of the process back and forth to the five driver actions? Are they run in some unusual context that would prevent basic commands in the batch script from running?

3. I also noticed that even though I have "DefaultCmdLine.txt" for each action and they are very simple and just pass the arguments to call the batch files such as: /C "C:\Working_Files\vCD_Batch\Load.bat" which is working fine, Batch Ripper is still appending three parameters that I don't seem to be able to stop.
--drive="W"
--logfile="<path generated by Batch Ripper>"
--passerrorsback="<path generated by Batch Ripper>"
but I cannot find any detailed info on how to use "--passerrorsback" and what errors, format and content can be used. Is that normal that these are ALWAYS appended even when other command line arguments are provided through "DefaultCmdLine.txt"

Your assistance would be GREATLY appreciated. As i said, I feel I am VERY close to making this work.

[Spoon]

https://dbpoweramp.com/Help/BatchRipper/creating_drivers.html