PS1/2 Open PS2 Loader mod

[WiiPower]

I don't know how many of you know about it, but there's an open source loader for Playstation 2 that loads from usb and network now:
http://bitbucket.org/ifcaro/open-ps2-loader/overview/

It's impossible for me to contribute to the original project for reasons i don't want to discuss here, so i have to create a mod with my changes. Until now i only changed network code, but i think it didn't went too bad and usb will always be awfully slow.

V1:
http://www.mediafire.com/?tzhnfzmnjzv
V2:
http://www.mediafire.com/?1jm0zn1wozj
V3:
http://www.mediafire.com/?hi0zqgdzge1
V4:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=STMN09ZO
http://rapidshare.com/files/325344806/open...rmodv4.zip.html
V5:
http://www.mediafire.com/?d2omny5mwmj

Readme of V5:
CODEThis is a modification of Open PS2 Loader r217:
http://bitbucket.org/ifcaro/open-ps2-loader/overview/

To apply the patch to the source, simply copy the patch to the 'open-ps2-loader' folder,
change to the folder and type: 'patch -p1 < stupid5.patch'. When it's done, delete the patch file.


List of changes:
- When receiving data from network, it writes from the 2nd packet per request on directly into the output buffer(->speed up)
- Reduced the actual network buffer size to 1460 bytes, while the loader requests 16384 instead of 4096 bytes(->requires more memory, but hopefully increases speed on ps3 wireless connection)

V5 is now using more memory than the original version, but should be a bit faster because it uses a bigger buffer. My main interest is if it increases the speed on ps3 with a wireless network connection. If anybody is really interested in details about the changes, ask.

Important note:
Do NOT bug the developers of Open PS2 Loader with this. I don't mean keep it a secret, that would be stupid. I mean this is a modidication of their source AND it's just taken from the repository and not from an official test version. Both are very good reasons to not bug the devs with any problems or anything, see it more as a preview of the next official release.

 

[Rock Raiyu]

I'll test it out if you want but it would be a good minute cause I let my friend borrow my PS2, unless this will also work on the PS3? I heard it does but I wasn't quite sure.

 

[WiiPower]

It works on ps3 too. But requires one of the ps2 compatbile models, also requires one special version of swap magic and only works with usb, which is awfully slow.

Edit: Removed useless rant that didn't belong here anyways. I don't care anymore.

 

[Glacius0]

Hi,

I visit both this forum and recently the ps2 loader forums too. I am posting here about this thread:
http://psx-scene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63132

Judging by this thread and from the perspective of a neutral bystander, I think bootlegninja is taking things a bit too far. Wiipower did nothing but trying to be helpful and attempted to provide what bootlegninja requested. He might not have done so in the exactly right way, but that is no reason to get angry. Trying to help but failing is not a crime. Was it really necessary to get angry?

Even when you presume wiipower did something "stupid" or "wrong", you should try to help. And if you feel like you can't help or say something constructive, then simply don't reply. Getting angry at someone for not doing exactly as you say is not very productive. You build a community by teaching and helping people, not by scaring off the people that don't understand enough.

I saw a similar occurrence with the ps2 loader compatibility thread. Some people were getting yelled at for making small mistakes in their submissions. You know what I think when I see that? I think "I'm not gonna bother submitting here if that's how I am gonna get treated". And I bet you that's what other people are thinking as well. The ps2 loader forums are more empty than they should be. Getting angry isn't helpful, positive feedback is.

I for one hope wiipower will continue working on the ps2 loader. My admittedly uninformed opinion is that streaming ps2 games through lan could potentially be quick enough to load games on full speed. At the very least it'll be faster than usb. This could be a major breakthrough in the ps2 scene. Any attempt on achieving this should be appreciated.

 

[WiiPower]

Thanks. But about the submissions, that's something that drives my crazy as well, mostly just "doesn't work" or "works", without mentioning why it doesn't work, or if there are slowdowns such as 30seconds loading time for a random fight and so on. And If you can't see in the post if the submitter knows what he is doing, you mostly can assume, that the game got only tested till main menu...

I tried to help there with questions and suggestions first, then looking at the code, but i only got no replies or got told that i'm doing wrong and should stop nagging... Either they don't like me or don't want to "waste their time" teaching "newbies" how ps2 loading works. Anyways, enough rant, that chapter is closed and there's no need to talk further about it. I will try to improve the loader further and i will release it here.

I don't know what speed the network adapter for ps2 is, but i fear it's 10Mbit/s and will only result in the same speed as usb1.1 loading. I tried everything that came to my mind to improve the speed, which got me ~25-30% more speed in one game. But still not smooth video playback. The worst is that increasing the buffer size further decreases the speed. There's either a bug, or the max is reached. Well the max speed at this possible bottleneck. Maybe tuning the lwip code gets more speed, i haven't given up on smooth video playback yet.

 

[DEagleson]

So this means that we can expect a PS2 USB HDD loader that boasts superior game compatability compared to similar software in the future?

Too bad they diodent include you WiiPower, just look at what you did with NeoGamma.
THat should be proof enough that you know what your doing.

 

[Rock Raiyu]

It works on ps3 too. But requires one of the ps2 compatbile models, also requires one special version of swap magic and only works with usb, which is awfully slow.

PS: Bootlegninja if read this: I'm disappointed in you. You closed the thread without giving me a chance to reply or even telling how much "not much if any difference in speed" you got with your stopwatch at final fantasy XII's intro video.

Well I have one of the old PS3 models, think its a launch console...and I have swap magic 3.6 would that work?

 

[WiiPower]

It works on ps3 too. But requires one of the ps2 compatbile models, also requires one special version of swap magic and only works with usb, which is awfully slow.

PS: Bootlegninja if read this: I'm disappointed in you. You closed the thread without giving me a chance to reply or even telling how much "not much if any difference in speed" you got with your stopwatch at final fantasy XII's intro video.

Well I have one of the old PS3 models, think its a launch console...and I have swap magic 3.6 would that work?

If you would look at the official guides:
http://home.comcast.net/~jnabk2/openps2/index.html

"You need to have a retail SwapMagic 3.6+ or 3.8 disc. (currently there is no other option available)"

I guess that means no. Anyways, on ps3 it's usb only and that's awfully slow. Do you know how fast backup launching from discs on Wii is? That's 3x speed(instead of 6x on retail discs), 3x dvd speed = ~4MB/s. Usb loading on playstations is usb 1.1 which is ~1.1 MB/s. Well that's the THEORETICAL max speed, i think i read somewhere that it's actually 800 KB/s. On Wii some games are unplayable with 3x speed, because stuff you do very often takes 10 seconds, like opening a door in Metroid for example. I really hope the network loading is not restricted to 10 MBit/s like i said earlier, because that would mean the same for network loading then. Hmm, wikipedia says the Playstation drive is a 4x drive, which means it's somewhere around 5MB/s.

 

[WiiPower]

Yay, i got it to boot games faster, 20 seconds in Shadow Hearts for example. I'm not releasing this yet, as i hope to find more stuff. Also it does not speed up loading in-game, not even 0.5 seconds.

To everybody capable of compiling themselves, i reduced TCP_SYNMAXRTX to 1. The loader always tries something on game boot process that always fails*. Too bad i can't ask the devs about it.

edit: Maybe it's just not getting an ACK it expects and everything else is fine.

 

[WiiPower]

Released V2. I'm not using TCP_SYNMAXRTX=1 as this could produce problems in case there's really something that need to be resend.

 

[sepinho]

You rock! I'm really gonna have to hook up my PS2 to my home network now, this is so much more convenient than going thru stacks of DVDs to find the right game to play.

Next stop: Some fancy Loader GUI like the Wii ones?

 

[WiiPower]

You rock! I'm really gonna have to hook up my PS2 to my home network now, this is so much more convenient than going thru stacks of DVDs to find the right game to play.

Next stop: Some fancy Loader GUI like the Wii ones?

As you should know, i'm only interested in technical details, so no GUI improvements. But the loader has some (to me good looking) GUI already. Right now many games are playable from network, but have major speed problems. I'm yet to see a stutter free video. Well except on Singstar, that seems to work fine. To me network loading is mostly there to revive playstations, i have 2 full dead lasers, and 1 that only reads CDs now.

 

[WiiPower]

Edit: Removed useless rant that didn't belong here anyways. I don't care anymore.

 

[WiiPower]

Ok, i didn't do any progress in tuning the loading, but i think i can post some updated infos and theories.

1. The LAN adapter seems to be a 100MBit/s one. Since that would mean a max speed of around 10MB/s and the dvd drive only around 5MB/s(4x), the loading should be even faster than with disc. To me it loos like the CPU is the limiting factor here. The main optimization i did only reduces the CPU load and directly results in a good speed up. To me it looks like: less CPU usage => more speed, which equals to me: the CPU load is near 100% now.

2. I think narrowed down the slow game boot process, or i found a 2nd issue related to it. When i put an endless loop in tcp_ConnectSMBClient at the point where no answer was returned by the server, it always freezes. Sometimes when getting the games list, mostly somewhen during the loading. I guess the way the games are booted requires a reboot of the modules and with that a reconnection. But i wonder why it never works on the 1st try. I have next to zero knowledge about network stuff, so i can't say what's causing this, if it's normal and if or how it can be fixed. But i will of course check the new core for this, once it is released.

 

[cobleman]

Are you useing cat7 cable i know its more expensive but it might just give you that bit more speed with less cross talk the smaller the lead the better

 

[WiiPower]

Are you useing cat7 cable i know its more expensive but it might just give you that bit more speed with less cross talk the smaller the lead the better

What exactly makes cat7 better? Is it just higher quality==less packet loss on high speed? All we need is half max speed of 100Mbit/s.

 

[jalaneme]

last time i tried a usb loader on my 60gb ps3 90% of the ps2 games never loaded up, i don't even know why the developer of that loader wasted their time making a usb loader, what makes this loader any better?

 

[cobleman]

The wires are individually wrapped pairs giving less what you call crosstalk between the other wires that run in the cable. Yes you should get less packet loss considering the cables are rated at 30 gbytes

 

[WiiPower]

last time i tried a usb loader on my 60gb ps3 90% of the ps2 games never loaded up, i don't even know why the developer of that loader wasted their time making a usb loader, what makes this loader any better?

It's open source and including the latest knowledge about ps2 (homebrew) coding. While usb advance was closed source and development stopped eventually.

QUOTE(cobleman @ Dec 20 2009, 03:03 PM) The wires are individually wrapped pairs giving less what you call crosstalk between the other wires that run in the cable. Yes you should get less packet loss considering the cables are rated at 30 gbytes

If i knew if there's any packet loss, i could tell if this will speed up the loading or not. But i think the software has enough room for improvement to get almost all videos stutter free. The test results from the private beta test for the new core sound really promising. That and the fact that one of my optimizations can still be done to the next core makes the waiting for the new version very hard for me.

 

[olliepop2000]

The wires are individually wrapped pairs giving less what you call crosstalk between the other wires that run in the cable. Yes you should get less packet loss considering the cables are rated at 30 gbytes

UTP cat5e with correctly terminated ends cable runs away fron other cables and sources of interference will be fine up to 100m.