PS2 Mod 2016-19: USB & HDD Loading, PS1 via POPS, Emus

[liquid]

I've read back over the entire thread again because I want to get POPS working on HDD via OPL. It looks like this was not achieved in the thread, maybe nobody is bothered any more. Eventual aim is to have one HDD that boots directly to childproof OPL, you get a list of PS2 games, then push "right" for another list of PS1 games.

I have POPS working from the HDD in ULaunchElf. So much fun playing the old games again.

The games show up in OPL & OPL tries to load them, then I get a blank screen. Interestingly the POPS IGR dialog shows up when prompted.

From waaay back in the thread:

Even if I decide on a dedicated HDD over USB for PS1/POPS, I will likely load HDD stored game files from uLaunch (assuming you can see them under HDD in uLaunch). It looks like a pain to get the game files to correctly hook in order to show in OPL. You even have to change out the main FMCB boot.elf file.

What is this about changing boot.elf? Can you point me towards any further reading? If not I will continue to trawl and report back if I get it working.

[Jagosaurus]

nightrnr got it working. He ven discovered one of the Duke Nukem games works off HDD but not USB. I never really gave it try. On my list still! Have several spare IDEs now.

This was recently posted regarding POPS & HDD. Best YouTube tutorials out there on the subject IMO.
https://youtu.be/XWjSWFWsQpY

This is the one I linked in OP for OPL & POPS:
https://youtu.be/Q2ekdw7BtrM

Hope that helps!

[liquid]

It looks like there is some developer drama between POPStarter and OPL, and the former's dev has blocked the ability to load from OPL.

http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=936&start=170

When I get home I will be trying older versions of POPStarter to see if this helps.

EDITED

Ignore the above I'm an idiot.
The OPL daily builds have a known bug in loading POPS from HDD. They "recommend to continue using OPL 1005_DB until this issue is fixed".
Tried it and it works. YES

The POPStarter drama above appears to be a potential problem in future rather than now. BETA 17 still works, and that's still the newest stable build.

Now to start converting those PS1 games!

[harper]

After some annoying trial and error, and probably more time than it should've taken me to figure it out, I am now playing games in opl via the SMB lan connection. Which is pretty cool. Most games I've tried have worked, with the exception of Virtua Cop: Rebirth and Biohazard: Code Veronica. Not sure if there's any way to get those games working. They may just not be compatible at all.

What I would really love is some way to play ps1 games completely digitally. Yes, I have POPS can play most games flawlessly via USB. But the lack of light gun support is disappointing. And PS2PSXE doesn't have light gun support either that I'm aware of.

Any knowledge of a workaround for this? Or is it something I'll just have to get over? Haha

[liquid]

There are plenty of known issues with POPStarter but it's the best we've got. Even worse, the developer appears to be packing it in.
https://assemblergames.com/threads/ps2-pops-stuff-popstarter.45347/page-111#post-952484

There's a wishlist thread on PS2Home where adding irx files for peripheral support is discussed but it doesn't really reach a conclusion.
http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1424

You might just have to use original discs + backward compatibility for certain PS1 games. I do so for Gran Turismo 2 where POPStarter renders all the cars in black.

[harper]

There are plenty of known issues with POPStarter but it's the best we've got. Even worse, the developer appears to be packing it in.
https://assemblergames.com/threads/ps2-pops-stuff-popstarter.45347/page-111#post-952484

There's a wishlist thread on PS2Home where adding irx files for peripheral support is discussed but it doesn't really reach a conclusion.
http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1424

You might just have to use original discs + backward compatibility for certain PS1 games. I do so for Gran Turismo 2 where POPStarter renders all the cars in black.

Yeah I've seen that before but it seems like more trouble than it's worth for something that may or may not work. Maybe one day when I'm feeling adventurous I'll try my luck. haha

[Jagosaurus]

Have you looked into PSIO for using a SD card on a PS1?

[nightrnr]

For the record, when I tried pops from HDD via ulaunch (the one that launches vcd converted isos directly) it was only from there. I have not run it from OPL at all and don't feel a need to at present.

As for PSIO, I highly recommend it (if the cost and wait is agreeable). They should have another round of orders coming up.

As for Guncon and Light gun games, I wonder if the Wii has any options for PS1 games using the wiimote?

[harper]

As for Guncon and Light gun games, I wonder if the Wii has any options for PS1 games using the wiimote?

Unfortunately wiisx doesn't make it easy or (that I know of) possible to configure the wii remote to work as a light gun. And even more unfortunately, almost every light gun game I've tried in wiisx runs horribly.

Another option though with the whole wiimote method is using epsxe on PC and using a program like touchmote. I've gotten it to work great for stuff like mame. But epsxe doesn't quite want to cooperate. Though I'm sure it's possible.

[nightrnr]

That's too bad and a big missed opportunity in the hacking scene.
Still, light gun games may have renewed interest in the future, when / if CRT's are harder to come by. For now I guess there's just no beating a good CRT.

Sorry I've been so quiet (actually, I'm usually quiet);
I've been into PS3 stuff again. I finally got a system on REBUG (bought a 3.55 OFW system from someone here, I forget who but it is being put to good use) and am quite impressed with how the scene has progressed. I even hear that there's a 4.81 (possibly 4.82) hack on the horizon. That could be neat and useful for my "legit" system.

I'll get back to PS2 eventually.

No wait!,
I did recently rebuild an ISO of Guilty Gear X2, removing the Dummy files to make it ~1.8GB (as opposed to ~ 4GB), so that was cool. The process I used is similar to what they did to convert CD to DVD format (I used Isobuster, DVD Gen, and Apache, just skipped using and/or creating a dummy file). It was a nice refresher on how to FTP it to my PS2 too (and smaller file copies faster ). I just wish PS1 and PS2 files copied the same way. It's hard to remember everyhting. I'm starting to leave notepad instructions (with links) with every new program that I have to learn (good advice from me-->to me and any other hacker).
Not sure I'll shrink too many games (maybe the Soul Caliburs as I'm Kookoo for that series) but it's yet another neat hacking option, especially if you are limited on drive space or only use Flash Drives. Note that not a lot of games have dummy files and a few don't work without them.