PS1/2 Planning to softmod a fat PS2.

[HeavyMetalLoser]

I plan on using FreeHDboot. My goal is to be able to play PS2 isos from the HDD. I plan on purchasing a PS2 Network Adapter with Sata inputs and a 320GB Hard Drive.

Is there anything else I need? Do I need a memory card with FreeMCboot? Any links to an up-to-date guide and the latest stable version of FreeHDboot? Do I need any other software to load PS2 isos?

 

[Ryccardo]

The best way to install FreeHDBoot (without the official HDDOSD = Browser 2.00, which would give you the official HDD save and game management, and can actually be used in place of OPL but it's not exactly for beginners, or people with many games), you can:

Spoiler: Install uLaunchELF (MBR KELF version) to HDD

https://bitbucket.org/AKuHAK/hdl-dump/downloads/ - download hdl-dump (rev 47), extract it to any folder, and also extract MBR.KELF from the ule442 zip (same page) to the same folder: it's outdated, but we'll be using it just as an entrypoint

Open a command line and navigate to the folder with the files you extracted

Run "hdl_dump list" to get a list of hard drives, it will be named "hdd1:" or something with a different number: identify the correct disk!

Run "hdl_dump initialize hdd1:" and it will write uLaunchELF as a browser replacement (wiping the partition table and some more things on that disk)

Spoiler: Format HDD and install FreeHDBoot

Now boot the console with the HDD in... (oh, never hotplug the network adapter itself, it's easy to blow the fuse for HDD power)

(You may notice that the HDD power cycles during the boot; that's a bug that happens since the console doesn't have the HDD flag enabled, which will get set by the FreeHDBoot installation)

It will boot uLaunchELF directly: now go to File Manager, MISC, HDD Manager, Menu, Format and it will create the PS2 APA partition "table", and the standard system partitions

Now grab a FAT32 flash drive, extract the FreeMCBoot installer package to the root of it; go to the INSTALL\BOOT folder, and:
- Grab a copy of the newest WLaunchELF (http://www.psx-place.com/threads/wlaunchelf-release-thread.13727/), rename as BOOT.ELF, and replace the existing file;
- Grab a copy of OPL, the backup loader, and copy its elf file here as a short name such as "OPL.ELF" (I'm not linking, just because there are plenty of build variants with and without advanced features such as virtual memory cards, video mode forcing, cheat engine,... and two main forks - one by psx-scene and the "daily builds" one by Jay-Jay/ps2-home, the latter being newer but having attracted drama)

Move that USB to the console too, and run the FMCBInstaller from the "mass:" drive. By changing pages with L1/R1 select "Install FHDB" and go on

Spoiler: Add OPL to the boot menu (or more)

Now, the official PS2 firmware will have more options

Go to the FreeHDBoot configurator; you can change various complicated-looking settings, but the main sections of interest are "OSDSYS" (the Browser/Configuration/uLaunchELF/... menu), and the "E1" for mapping an homebrew to a button (or even as autoboot!),
so you will likely want to add OPL (should be in hdd0:/__sysconf/BOOT/OPL.ELF or something similiar if you followed the above instructions) to at least one of those options -- and to save configuration to hdd0!!

Go run OPL, in its settings you will want to change the HDD start mode to "auto", to set the default view to HDD, and to enable write operations... and of course to save the settings afterwards

Put the disk back in the PC and install some games (using hdl_dump, hdl_dumb, or HDLGameInstaller) and fire them up!!!

You do not need FreeMCBoot if you use FreeHDBoot (although each has its advantages); also, most knockoff "network" adapters - including the second-best and option after original ones, the "Game Star" do not actually have network support and have some inaccuracies for HDD features, compared to Sony originals + a maxdiypower SATA conversion card

(If it wasn't too clear from this guide, FreeHDBoot is just FreeMCBoot signed for HDD instead of memory card, and with a different default configuration - and it was just updated today!)