PS1/2 PS2 Modding, looking for guidance and mostly patience

[SucioLegacy]

Hi guys! Wanted someone could help me with PS2 soft modding since I'm pretty lost even reading all the comments on the forum. I can't post a link where found many information about this.

The thing is like this, I'm looking to play PS2 games. I've read that slim ain't a good idea since usb is 1.1 and it's damn slow. PS3 ain't option neither since the re scale makes them look horrible and the entire Ratchet saga ain't compatible, so, I guess my best aim it's a PS2 phat with internal HDD. But I get lost at this point, what's exactly everything I need to do it? Since I've read at the post I mentioned above that I need a network adapter, no idea what are they talking about. Any pic or guidance? I'm aware I need this so far:

-Memory card for FMCB
-OPL
-Burn disc with FMCB (I think)
-Pendrive with files needed for modding
-Popstarter for PSX games (yes I want to play them here too since PS3 looks horrible too)



Anything else? I've read so many methods that I'm Damn lost and Idk what the hell start buying. Also I read that exist two adapters but I have no idea of which one I need. I just want to play games without using discs, directly from HDD with the apps needed if necessary, just like ps3 with multiman. I hope you can help me so I start seeing where put my money and no wasting it since it'll be a gift from my GF.

Extra question, best way or accessory to play PS2 in a led TV without losing quality like in ps3? The hdmi adapter looks nice but I have already all hdmi selector ports occupied and my cats will break it if it's too exposed, TIA.

 

[Alexander1970]

Hi guys! Wanted someone could help me with PS2 soft modding since I'm pretty lost even reading all the comments on the forum. I can't post a link where found many information about this.

The thing is like this, I'm looking to play PS2 games. I've read that slim ain't a good idea since usb is 1.1 and it's damn slow. PS3 ain't option neither since the re scale makes them look horrible and the entire Ratchet saga ain't compatible, so, I guess my best aim it's a PS2 phat with internal HDD. But I get lost at this point, what's exactly everything I need to do it? Since I've read at the post I mentioned above that I need a network adapter, no idea what are they talking about. Any pic or guidance? I'm aware I need this so far:

-Memory card for FMCB
-OPL
-Burn disc with FMCB (I think)
-Pendrive with files needed for modding
-Popstarter for PSX games (yes I want to play them here too since PS3 looks horrible too)



Anything else? I've read so many methods that I'm Damn lost and Idk what the hell start buying. Also I read that exist two adapters but I have no idea of which one I need. I just want to play games without using discs, directly from HDD with the apps needed if necessary, just like ps3 with multiman. I hope you can help me so I start seeing where put my money and no wasting it since it'll be a gift from my GF.

Extra question, best way or accessory to play PS2 in a led TV without losing quality like in ps3? The hdmi adapter looks nice but I have already all hdmi selector ports occupied and my cats will break it if it's too exposed, TIA.

Hello.

Slow and Step by Step for you.

First: a PlayStation 2 with HDD Bay:



Second: the HDD/Network Adapter:

For IDE HDDs original Sony:



For IDE HDDs 3rd Party:



or for SATA HDDs only 3rd Party:



and finally a Memory Card (original 8 MB Sony recommended) with FreeMc Boot on it.Or a Friend with an already Modchipped or Softmodded PlayStation 2 to make this for you.

That is the Basic Equipment.

A PC with an Network Card,maybe Windows 7,a Network Cable,an FTP Programm for Data Transfer from/to the PlayStation 2 is also recommended.

Open PS2 Loader or HD Loader to play your Games from HDD.

If you have more Questions please feel free to ask.
Thank you.

 

[Ryccardo]

I've read that slim ain't a good idea since usb is 1.1 and it's damn slow.

It's objectively the least performing option, but it doesn't mean it's unusable - all depends on your expectations (and individual titles), my favorite games (Everybody's Golf and OutRun series) are playable fine

(The original 70xxx and 71xxx slims can also have a proper "internal" HDD installed, if one really wants to do that)

-Memory card for FMCB
-Burn disc with FMCB (I think)

If you're going for an HDD, no need to bother with FMCB - you can write a premade FHDB disk image to it, which is far from ideal for actual use, but sufficient for running homebrew that will allow you to properly format the disk and install HDDOSD and/or FHDB on it

Do get an original network adapter (the American model with 56k modem has no known clones and is in fact cheaper than an European ethernet-only design, lol) and you won't regret it, if you really want SATA you can replace the connectors with a ~$10 conversion card

Extra question, best way or accessory to play PS2 in a led TV without losing quality like in ps3?

The general answer is "minimize the number of conversions, and if inevitable, do them in a decent way";
(those "designed for PS2" $10 hdmi converters violate the above points and don't even support all PS2 video modes)
Try a decent quality (shielded) YPbPr cable, if that's satisfactory to you (which will also depend on the quality of your display's ADC and scaler) better to stick with that

 

[SucioLegacy]

Hello.

Slow and Step by Step for you.

First: a PlayStation 2 with HDD Bay:

View attachment 182619

Second: the HDD/Network Adapter:

For IDE HDDs original Sony:

View attachment 182622

For IDE HDDs 3rd Party:

View attachment 182625

or for SATA HDDs only 3rd Party:

View attachment 182624

and finally a Memory Card (original 8 MB Sony recommended) with FreeMc Boot on it.Or a Friend with an already Modchipped or Softmodded PlayStation 2 to make this for you.

That is the Basic Equipment.

A PC with an Network Card,maybe Windows 7,a Network Cable,an FTP Programm for Data Transfer from/to the PlayStation 2 is also recommended.

Open PS2 Loader or HD Loader to play your Games from HDD.

If you have more Questions please feel free to ask.
Thank you.

HI! Thx for the pics and reply, it helped a lot, so I was mostly located with the data I got, I was unsure of which model pick up since I've read that slim does an average work and I don't want the games to run slowly or not work at all. And I think, for now, last question, which app or configuration should I touch in ps2 to check the IP of the console to connect it through Filezilla? I was checking of using a sata to USB 3.0 adapter to pass the games

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

It's objectively the least performing option, but it doesn't mean it's unusable - all depends on your expectations (and individual titles), my favorite games (Everybody's Golf and OutRun series) are playable fine

(The original 70xxx and 71xxx slims can also have a proper "internal" HDD installed, if one really wants to do that)


If you're going for an HDD, no need to bother with FMCB - you can write a premade FHDB disk image to it, which is far from ideal for actual use, but sufficient for running homebrew that will allow you to properly format the disk and install HDDOSD and/or FHDB on it

Do get an original network adapter (the American model with 56k modem has no known clones and is in fact cheaper than an European ethernet-only design, lol) and you won't regret it, if you really want SATA you can replace the connectors with a ~$10 conversion card


The general answer is "minimize the number of conversions, and if inevitable, do them in a decent way";
(those "designed for PS2" $10 hdmi converters violate the above points and don't even support all PS2 video modes)
Try a decent quality (shielded) YPbPr cable, if that's satisfactory to you (which will also depend on the quality of your display's ADC and scaler) better to stick with that

HI! Thx for the reply, OK I'll go with YPbPr then, Idk how It looks, I'll check for a video, but it's the less filter I can do since HDMI ain't an option. And my TV it's a led, it'll give bad image if I use RCA? And about the USB 1.1, that's what I read, but I'm unsure, I meant, I guess the hack won't even be considered if it just works badly, I would like to see a comparative of fat hdd vs slim usb to see myself the real difference or a list of the games that are affected in a bigger way than loading screens

 

[Ryccardo]

I was unsure of which model pick up since I've read that slim does an average work and I don't want the games to run slowly or not work at all.

Performance of fat vs slim vs superslim is pretty much the same, all other factors being equal (ie comparing USB to USB, SMB to SMB, and HDD with HDD (with the caveat in my previous post - ignore any "HD Pro" modchip based HDD solutions for newer models which have poor performance and compatibility, the previously described HD Connect for 70/71xxx models is good but very tedious to install and not bootable))

which app or configuration should I touch in ps2 to check the IP of the console to connect it through Filezilla?

Better to manually assign your console a static IP (this is the de facto standard for PS2 homebrews, not many of them integrate a DHCP client and there is a conventional file location on memory card 1 for static IP settings)

And my TV it's a led, it'll give bad image if I use RCA?

RCA only means the round coaxial "phono/cinch" connectors, both composite video and YPbPr commonly use RCA connectors (not to mention plenty of other formats that don't normally use them but nothing prevents their use)

Composite (yellow plug, the cable bundled with every PS1/2/3) is the worst video output supported by the PS2, RGB and YPbPr are the best, S-video is in between (but a little more towards the high end than exactly in the middle);
that comment of quality however applies to the video format itself - you also have to consider your display's ADC and scaler logic (which may actually vary between the supported inputs), and there's no predictions that can be made about that, you'll have to see yourself

I would like to see a comparative of fat hdd vs slim usb to see myself the real difference or a list of the games that are affected in a bigger way than loading screens

There isn't one - or at least, nothing that can be generalized to other titles than the individually tested ones
You could try to look up OPL compatibility lists, but thanks to the two OPL lines, other drama, no single to-go site for the PS2 scene, quality reviews being at least in part subjective, and both OPLs being far from abandoned projects they are not to be taken too literally

Worth mentioning that USB performance was non-negligibly improved due to a discovery made at the start of this year (which will of course only apply to homebrews developed/compiled after that, pretty much meaning OPL and Popstarter), while for obvious reasons most opinions were built on the older drivers with non-functional caching...

 

[SucioLegacy]

Performance of fat vs slim vs superslim is pretty much the same, all other factors being equal (ie comparing USB to USB, SMB to SMB, and HDD with HDD (with the caveat in my previous post - ignore any "HD Pro" modchip based HDD solutions for newer models which have poor performance and compatibility, the previously described HD Connect for 70/71xxx models is good but very tedious to install and not bootable))


Better to manually assign your console a static IP (this is the de facto standard for PS2 homebrews, not many of them integrate a DHCP client and there is a conventional file location on memory card 1 for static IP settings)


RCA only means the round coaxial "phono/cinch" connectors, both composite video and YPbPr commonly use RCA connectors (not to mention plenty of other formats that don't normally use them but nothing prevents their use)

Composite (yellow plug, the cable bundled with every PS1/2/3) is the worst video output supported by the PS2, RGB and YPbPr are the best, S-video is in between (but a little more towards the high end than exactly in the middle);
that comment of quality however applies to the video format itself - you also have to consider your display's ADC and scaler logic (which may actually vary between the supported inputs), and there's no predictions that can be made about that, you'll have to see yourself


There isn't one - or at least, nothing that can be generalized to other titles than the individually tested ones
You could try to look up OPL compatibility lists, but thanks to the two OPL lines, other drama, quality reviews being at least in part subjective, and both OPLs being far from abandoned projects they are not to be taken too literally

Worth mentioning that USB performance was non-negligibly improved due to a discovery made at the start of this year (which will of course only apply to homebrews developed/compiled after that, pretty much meaning OPL and Popstarter), while for obvious reasons most opinions were built on the older drivers with non-functional caching...

I see, that's a lot of nice info, I'll take my time to process it when I have time and investigate a bit more, I have plenty of time to check since I still have to get one ps2 based on what you say, I can get a slim model. And be aware of new HB that comes out based on such discovery you mention. Besides I'll save some money for accessories I would use for fat, and I'll try to get YPbPr and see how it goes, I'm not expecting HD, I just want to look clean and no re escalated images like Play3, I tried Urban Rein yesterday, and ugh, it looks horrible, jumping screen, barely readable fonts and not clear bg. Well, in synthesis, I'll go with slim and start from there. I saw some tutorials but didn't pay much attention since I can't do anything yet and I'm still finishing learning play3 matters.

 

[Shadicluigi]

Why use FTP? just get an IDE to USB or SATA to USB

 

[Alexander1970]

Why use FTP? just get an IDE to USB or SATA to USB

Hello.

If you use the PlayStation 2 with HDD Adapter you have to pull the HDD evertime in and out if you want to copy or delete Games on it.
Also with Network/FTP it is easier to get the Covers,Cheats,Game Infos and so on for the OpenPS2 Loader on the HDD.

It has its advantages.
Thank you.