PS1/2 I'm soo confused by the ps2 modding scene

Corrosive · Jun 17, 2013

I've read countless articles and posts about being able to play ps2 games and I'm getting such mixed answers.

So I want to buy a ps2 fat, to put the network adapter/HD in. Would nearly any hd work, and would nearly any ps2 fat work?

Once I get that done, do I need to mod my ps2 at all in order to play backups? Do I need an exploited game or an action replay max? Do I need any further modifications in order to play back up games from the HD, that's what i'm confused on.

Do I need to do something special to an official ps2 mem card, or put something special on a usb drive?

All I want to do is be able to play backed up ps2 games without having to burn them.

Please be aware: I have the games in question, they're just scratched to sin from being so old, but kept due to the nostalgia.

blaisedinsd · Jun 18, 2013

Well I just took the plunge on this a week or so ago.

I installed FreeMcBoot on my memory card which allows you to run homebrew like HDloader that lets you play games off an internal hard drive.

To do so I went the cheapest method possible, I burned a copy of MGS3 and replace an elf file in the iso, burned it, booted the original game and hot swapped the burned copy in then launched the elf. The instructions are on the FreeMcBoot site. It installs to a memory card (official ones work the best)

There was a list of Harddrive compatibility I saw while googling but almost any 3.5 inch IDE hard drive should work. I have had to keep HDloader on a usb drive, the only way I got it to work. FreeMcBoot on the memory card allows me to launch HD loader from the USB drive.

You can play burned backups using ESR, you just have to patch the iso before burning and it tricks the PS2 in to thinking the game is a DVD allowing you to launch it and play normally.

HD loader lets me rip games to my hard drive straight from a non scratched disc. I can also hook the drive up to a computer (if you have the cables) and use a program called Winhiip to transfer iso's to the drive.

OPL let you run games over a network connection. I have not tried this yet.

Avery Singh · Jun 22, 2013

Any HDD as long as it's IDE. Also it would have to be formatted by HD Loader already, so if you just put in a normal hdd it'll read but be unacessible and considering you haven't modded the system before you use it=unusable. You can mod your ps2 using various methods, an exploited game I'm not too sure, but the easiest ways consist of using Swap Magic or AR Max Evo. As for your other questions, they come in when installing Free McBoot and it depends which method you choose to show what will be involved

Foxi4 · Jun 22, 2013

OPL is the best launcher there is as of today (and the only one in active development as far as I know) - it will allow you to launch games over USB, SMB (Network) and HDD, the latter two being superior methods.

Avery Singh · Jun 22, 2013

Yeah but I'm pretty sure he has to install Free McBoot first. He's asking from beginning of setup not from launching it at the end

blaisedinsd · Jun 22, 2013

Foxi4 said:
OPL is the best launcher there is as of today (and the only one in active development as far as I know) - it will allow you to launch games over USB, SMB (Network) and HDD, the latter two being superior methods.

I didn't realize OPL used the internal HDD. I will have to try it and see if it's any better than HD loader.

Foxi4 · Jun 22, 2013

blaisedinsd said:
I didn't realize OPL used the internal HDD. I will have to try it and see if it's any better than HD loader.

The general consensus is that OPL is compatible with some games HDLoader isn't compatible with and vice-versa, so if that's your default method of loading, it's worth to have both installed.

Fear Zoa · Jun 22, 2013

Here is a hard drive compatibility list for PS2 in case you want to make sure.

Avery Singh · Jun 25, 2013

Generally on an all based standard OPL works best, but HD Loader has managed to just about get all the hard or odd games too. In essence their both 100% good and it's just switiching from 1 program to another and their both together under 2mb

blaisedinsd · Jun 25, 2013

I have OPL on my memory card that came with FreeMcboot Noobie package, I can not figure out how to make it work. I changed some settings trying to make it recognize the HDD but it reports an error when trying to save the settings.

Avery Singh · Jun 25, 2013

Check where you're trying to save your settings. And send me a full comeup of everything you did/are doing. Videos and pictures would help

MatioMania · Aug 19, 2013

Is there any update on HD Loader for the PS2 to get more games to work

Outrun 2006 Coast2Coast is one of my games won't run

Avery Singh · Aug 19, 2013

Well HD Loader wise, if you got 8c, that's the last version, however OPL (Open PS2 Loader), does have different compatibility and works with HDD,SMB and USB. The latest version, 0.9 supports dual layer discs (DVD9) images and even support for .iso if you're using USB or SMB. For HDD, install the game as you would for HD Loader, then try it on OPL, it has different settings too, so try to play with all of them

blaisedinsd · Sep 18, 2013

I was installing Free McBoot on a memory card for a friend and my installer package wasn't working so I redownloaded and it worked fine except now the package installed HD loader instead of OPL.

It seems to work fine and it is nice I don't need the USB plugged in anymore. (I couldn't get HD loader to run off the memory card when I tried installing it myself)

I am wondering if there is a way I can play PAL games on my US PS2. WInhiip told me the image was bad when I tried to put it on.

Corrosive · Sep 19, 2013

Are any PS2 phats compatible with free mcboot, etc.?

nl255 · Sep 19, 2013

All PS2 phats are compatible with freemcboot. For best compatibility, internal hard drives should be under 127GB. I have a 120GB in mine and it works fine.

Foxi4 · Sep 19, 2013

nl255 said:
All PS2 phats are compatible with freemcboot. For best compatibility, internal hard drives should be under 127GB. I have a 120GB in mine and it works fine.

That capacity limit no longer applies - you're free to use larger drives.

nl255 · Sep 19, 2013

Foxi4 said:
That capacity limit no longer applies - you're free to use larger drives.

Though won't you have problems with hdloader?

Foxi4 · Sep 19, 2013

nl255 said:
Though won't you have problems with hdloader?

HDLoader is the distant past, OpenPS2Loader is the current loader of choice. Having HDLoader on-board is practically a compatibility precaution, something you have installed "just in case".

nl255 · Sep 19, 2013

Foxi4 said:
HDLoader is the distant past, OpenPS2Loader is the current loader of choice. Having HDLoader on-board is practically a compatibility precaution, something you have installed "just in case".

Well unless they fixed it recently OPL has problems with Deus Ex, specifically sometimes it will fail to load a save or new area and dump you back at the title screen. Have there been any recent fixes for that?

PS1/2 I'm soo confused by the ps2 modding scene

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