Hardware PS1/2 Connect PS2 to PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jae99
  • Start date Start date
  • Views Views 1,645
  • Replies Replies 8
It doesn't exist to the level of being able debug stuff to my knowledge but there is a function the PS2 has known as the host filesystem which if the game supports it (very few do and if they do, patches / custom executables are required to enable it) allows you to set up the game's files on a shared local network on your PC and the PS2 can load from it instead of the disc. Typically devs would burn a disc, and then the ps2 would read the executable and related stuff from the dvd and then optionally, they could redirect where certain files that are normally on the disc were read from, typically a package file that contained the game's assets would exist on the dev's workstation simultaneously, and if they needed to test small changes to files without having to burn a whole new disc they would set the ps2 to read that package file from the host via ethernet. When games were being developed, devs certainly took advantage of this but doing it with retail software and using real hardware has never been attempted.
The only games I know that have been given this functionality at all are Gran Turismo 3 and 4, and Persona 4, and they were disabled functions restored by modders for modding purposes.
If you are developing a homebrew software you could make use of the host filesystem I guess, but realistically development would just happen entirely on PCSX2 and then you would make test builds occasionally to confirm that there are no issues with real hardware running it.
From a modding perspective this is also how it has to be done
 
  • Like
Reactions: shadowflare7799
Not with the standard PS2, unless you were planning to simply using it with it's Linux for PS2 install, but that doesn't help much with debugging.

A devkit would be what you're looking for, or the debugging PS2 "TOOL". It ran a custom RedHat Linux.
But then again, you would be almost entirely running the PlayStation 2.
 
The only way I've seen it is for the game library; I've never found anything about that anywhere. As far as I know, its system is closed.
 
https://www.instructables.com/ps2link-Tutorial/

You can use PS2link for debugging homebrew applications. This is one of the earliest ways of doing so. Not sure if there are any modern alternatives for that.
Still very much in use to this day.

I still use PS2Link as do many devs. It's how I updated crystal chip last year for MMCE and other features I wanted....oh look that picture in instructibles has a CC 1.1 or later as well! I just wish the user there put on a clean pillow case :-)
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum