PS1/2 PS2 FMCB 1.966 says "DVD player is not yet set up" + Other QQ

[DPtheGod]

Hey everyone! I'm new here, but love the support I've seen throughout this site for various things, including this. I am relatively new to Free McBoot (in fact, just got the memory card I ordered today), and have typically used SwapMagic 3.6 for my needs. However, I've recently decided to go full ISO only because I want to preserve my PS2 discs as much as possible. This includes DVD9 games, such as my Wild Arms Alter Code F, Xenosaga Episode I, etc. that cost a fair penny to replace. SwapMagic 3.6 has been able to suffice for everything, with the exception of DVD9 games / DVD+R DL games. So, I decided I would give the Free McBoot + ESR combo a try and see if I could use that method to play the DVD9 collection.

My memory card I purchased with FMC notes it includes the following:

Included Applications

• uLaunchELF: File browser for the PS2
• OPL
• ESR
• HD Loader
• Simple Media System
• PSX Launcher
• COGSWAP

I used ESR to patch Xenosaga Episode I and burned it at the slowest speed my drive allows (3x), but when I put the disc into my PS2 Slim (has flip top installed), I see the Free McBoot logo but it defaults to the browser saying "DVD player is not yet set up." When I back out to the main Free McBoot menu, I go to ESR and try to load the DVD that way, but I land on the pink screen where it stays stuck until I shut down the console. Since these games are rather cut scene heavy, I think running off of USB would be an insufficient way to play. Does ESR not work for DVD9 discs? I have the DVD5 3-disc file for Xenosaga Episode I that seems to play just fine on my PS2, but until I get far enough in the game I don't feel confident in knowing for sure.

I've seen some people reference downgrading Free McBoot to version 1.95 to fix the DVD player issue, but how in the world would someone do that? It's been so long since I've used the USB ports on a PS2, but I bought a flash drive from Amazon that is USB 2.0, backwards compatible with 1.0, specifically to use with the PS2; however, should it be popping up in the browser?

I may be doing something wrong with the ESR patcher, or perhaps the app is not designed to run DVD9 games, does anyone have any insights onto this?

Also, I had a couple of other QQ's I was hoping someone could enlighten me on the applications on this memory card?

1. With OPL, I know I can run games from my network, and I've seen people mention this a few times as the preferred method to play games. Is there a good, step-by-step tutorial out there that outlines this process? I have my laptop in the room where my router is, and could hook my PS2 up there, but it's not that strong of a laptop - is that going to be a problem?
2. With PSX Launcher, can I use this application to run PSX games on CD-R discs? Or, does it have to be off of USB?
3. I've read that COGSWAP is like SwapMagic. If I use any random PS2 game (for example, Madden 2005) can I use COGSWAP to "boot" the real PS2 disc and then swap the disc to a backup and play that way?

Thank you so much for your time, everyone!

 

[Ryccardo]

I see the Free McBoot logo but it defaults to the browser saying "DVD player is not yet set up."

That vague error means the (movie) dvd player software failed to load, usually due to not being correctly signed (note that your ESR patched backups are by definition the shortest valid DVD-Videos, and that FMCB always decrypts a dummy DVD Player on every boot as it's the required action to enable such discs to be read)

It suggests that your FMCB is corrupted and/or for the wrong MagicGate region (try reinstalling it using the official installer, from USB of course, on a freshly formatted memory card - one which must implement MagicGate correctly)

In fact with the new FreeDVDBoot exploit you could have easily made a known good one from scratch yourself at home!

[USB] Should it be popping up in the browser?

No!
(Though of course, if in the proper format (MBR, single FAT16 or 32 partition) it should be accessible in *LaunchELF and other homebrews as "mass:")

Is there a good, step-by-step tutorial out there that outlines this process? I have my laptop in the room where my router is, and could hook my PS2 up there, but it's not that strong of a laptop - is that going to be a problem?

A first generation raspberry pi is more than sufficient (to the point some people fit one inside their PS2!) - in general you have to set up a SMB1 share (and that's the "complicated", OS-specific part) containing the same CD, DVD, CFG etc folders as you would have for loading backups from USB, and configure the PS2 with details on how to access that

wLaunchELF is already a great PS2 swap facilitator program - you insert the original disc of your choice (must match CD or DVD), swap to the desired one, then run the executable from the file manager (cdvd:/the file named after the titleid)
Of course you are still limited by TOC issues (the original disc shall be larger than the target one), something quality commercial swap discs handle for you
Swapping to a PS1 game is possibly more complicated (you may need a different launcher - I don't know - and TOC issues are more prevalent due to the exixtence of CDDA audio streaming games)