PS1/2 PS2 FreeMCboot Questions

[Prior22]

Considering buying a PS2 with freehdboot. However I'm curious about actual gameplay. Do games running from the hard drive have longer than usual load times or become prone to freezing? Overall I'm curious if there's any actual advantage to using a burned disc, as opposed to loading from the hard drive.

Also I've read about Ps4 controllers being compatible. Any issues in terms of vibration not working, or other incompatibilities like that? Thanks.

Edit: Thread title should be hdboot, not mcboot.

 

[Snomannen_kalle]

Considering buying a PS2 with freehdboot. However I'm curious about actual gameplay. Do games running from the hard drive have longer than usual load times or become prone to freezing? Overall I'm curious if there's any actual advantage to using a burned disc, as opposed to loading from the hard drive.

Also I've read about Ps4 controllers being compatible. Any issues in terms of vibration not working, or other incompatibilities like that? Thanks.

Edit: Thread title should be hdboot, not mcboot.

Games generally load faster when you load them from an internal HDD, as the interface permits faster read speeds than the optical drive. I have never experienced freezing with the games I've tried (with OPL); however not all games are compatible (and some games have certain features that is broken), you could check this list regarding compatability issues with OPL

 

[Ryccardo]

Overall I'm curious if there's any actual advantage to using a burned disc, as opposed to loading from the hard drive.

Yes, a proper backup (ie not ESR patched) is the most accurate format after the original disc (which can be noticed in things that do MagicGate encryption like the official utility discs), though the alternatives certainly have their merits for the titles that are compatible

Thread title should be hdboot, not mcboot.

They are just homebrew entrypoints and have no influence in backup loading, which is done by a separate program like, in your case, OPL

Also I've read about Ps4 controllers being compatible

Like memory card emulation, it's hit or miss - there are no less than 3 different drivers (each with multiple different versions) the original game devs could have chosen from to access controllers, each with their own differences - and every driver (including the added custom optical-to-HDD, HDD, IDE, network adapter, ... ones) has to fit in memory (which the base game is fairly free to use as desired, assuming nothing else will be trying to share with)

 

[Prior22]

Games generally load faster when you load them from an internal HDD, as the interface permits faster read speeds than the optical drive. I have never experienced freezing with the games I've tried (with OPL); however not all games are compatible (and some games have certain features that is broken), you could check this list regarding compatability issues with OPL

Decided to take the plunge and purchase a PS2 with a two TB drive filled with games. Having built in code breaker and not having to switch disks should be great. I'm a bit nervous about HDD compatibility though.

You said you haven't experienced freezing during gameplay. What about cutscenes? Any of the games you play cutscene heavy? I seem to recall reading about some cutscenes playing from the hard drive occasionally freezing.

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Yes, a proper backup (ie not ESR patched) is the most accurate format after the original disc (which can be noticed in things that do MagicGate encryption like the official utility discs), though the alternatives certainly have their merits for the titles that are compatible


They are just homebrew entrypoints and have no influence in backup loading, which is done by a separate program like, in your case, OPL


Like memory card emulation, it's hit or miss - there are no less than 3 different drivers (each with multiple different versions) the original game devs could have chosen from to access controllers, each with their own differences - and every driver (including the added custom optical-to-HDD, HDD, IDE, network adapter, ... ones) has to fit in memory (which the base game is fairly free to use as desired, assuming nothing else will be trying to share with)

If you had to give me a ballpark estimate what do you think the compatibility rate is for PS4 controllers with OPL? More than half the games working? Just wondering if its worth buying a ps4 controller for this purpose. And when a game is compatible does vibration work too?

 

[YOUCANTSTOPME]

I don't know anything about the PS4 controller on a PS2, but as far as games on the hard drive is concerned, I wouldn't worry about it. Compatibility was perfect when I tried it out, but I didn't try many games.

The laggy cutscenes is an issue with playing games off USB because it still uses the 1.1 protocol (too slow).

tl;dr: Enjoy your PS2 loaded with games.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Decided to take the plunge and purchase a PS2 with a two TB drive filled with games. Having built in code breaker and not having to switch disks should be great. I'm a bit nervous about HDD compatibility though.

You said you haven't experienced freezing during gameplay. What about cutscenes? Any of the games you play cutscene heavy? I seem to recall reading about some cutscenes playing from the hard drive occasionally freezing.

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If you had to give me a ballpark estimate what do you think the compatibility rate is for PS4 controllers with OPL? More than half the games working? Just wondering if its worth buying a ps4 controller for this purpose. And when a game is compatible does vibration work too?

Don't worry about freezing, that's more of an issue when loading from USB.

 

[Skrbek42]

One thing I would like to know is if you change player stats in the middle of a season mode, like NHL 2K3 for example with fmcb?