PS1/2 Questions about OPL devices compatibility and speed

[Windows_10_User]

Is USB more compatible than SMB even if the latter is faster? And between HDD, SMB, USB, MX4SIO, i.LINK and UDPBD, which are more compatible and faster? Can someone sort them all regarding the compatibility and speed from the highest to the lowest?

 

[Ryccardo]

Is USB more compatible than SMB even if the latter is faster?

In theory alone, yes - commercial titles expect 100% control on both CPU and coprocessor (IOP) side, so any additions (like OPL drivers, but could also be standalone GSM, action replay, etc) come with a risk of conflicts, and in particular OPL needs a lot of code in proportion to the 2 MB IOP side memory, but the whole USB stack + FAT16/32 is smaller than expansion port + network adapter + tcp/ip + SMB

Speed usually doesn't matter for making or breaking something as (decent) disc software is OK with slowdowns (dirty/scratched discs)

Can someone sort them all regarding the compatibility and speed from the highest to the lowest?

That's much harder, in great part because there's nothing close to a complete compatibility list (implementations evolve, for better and worse, with OPL updates so individual lines in lists get outdated) and, secondarily, because all sorts of individual interfaces/servers can be used in a single category

I think, but am not sure, that firewire and SD adapters are both BDM implementations?

 

[Windows_10_User]

In theory alone, yes - commercial titles expect 100% control on both CPU and coprocessor (IOP) side, so any additions (like OPL drivers, but could also be standalone GSM, action replay, etc) come with a risk of conflicts, and in particular OPL needs a lot of code in proportion to the 2 MB IOP side memory, but the whole USB stack + FAT16/32 is smaller than expansion port + network adapter + tcp/ip + SMB

Speed usually doesn't matter for making or breaking something as (decent) disc software is OK with slowdowns (dirty/scratched discs)


That's much harder, in great part because there's nothing close to a complete compatibility list (implementations evolve, for better and worse, with OPL updates so individual lines in lists get outdated) and, secondarily, because all sorts of individual interfaces/servers can be used in a single category

I think, but am not sure, that firewire and SD adapters are both BDM implementations?

I was told SMB is more compatible than USB but is it actually the opposite?

 

[Ryccardo]

I was told SMB is more compatible than USB but is it actually the opposite?

I had a CECH-C PS3 with the PS2 GPU, so it can run ps2_gxemu which is much superior, statistically, than the software emulation (ps2_netemu) any PS3 can do... except for OutRun 2006 having terribly broken graphics on gxemu, guess what it's one of the maybe 7 PS2 games I care about
(In fact I've bought 2 PS2s since then and, combined, both run all those games fine from both HDD and USB)

The point is: you need to look (or quite likely try on your own) the individual titles you care about

 

[Windows_10_User]

I had a CECH-C PS3 with the PS2 GPU, so it can run ps2_gxemu which is much superior, statistically, than the software emulation (ps2_netemu) any PS3 can do... except for OutRun 2006 having terribly broken graphics on gxemu, guess what it's one of the maybe 7 PS2 games I care about
(In fact I've bought 2 PS2s since then and, combined, both run all those games fine from both HDD and USB)

The point is: you need to look (or quite likely try on your own) the individual titles you care about

OK, but the HDD is known as the most compatible device, I have a PS2 Slim and a PS3 Slim and I use SMB on the former and not USB.

Also, why did you buy 2 PS2s instead of a single one and does the PS2 model matter compatibility-wise?

EDIT: I found this interesting video but unfortunately it doesn't mention i.LINK and doesn't talk about PS2 game compatibility. Also, I didn't know there was a speed difference between PS2 models on the same devices (mainly MX4SIO and USB, but also SMB). I thought the HDD was always the fastest device but it seems UDPBD can be as fast or even faster than it in some games and SMB and MX4SIO can be as fast as it in some games as well.

EDIT 2: OPL's GitHub repository main page was finally updated and now it mentions i.LINK and MX4SIO, but this page, whose link is mentioned in the former, still doesn't mention MX4SIO.

EDIT 3: It seems these OPL forks support a new protocol called "MMCE", which is meant for MCE devices like MemCard PRO (only the MCP002 model), MemCard PRO2, SD2PSX, PSxMemCard, PSxMemCard Gen2, PicoMemcard+ and SD2psx. These devices are able to run PS2 games via microSD card just like MX4SIO but allow the user to save the game progress on them and may be inserted in both MC slots (MX4SIO can only be inserted on the second MC).

EDIT 4: The latest official OPL Beta versions now support + 2 TB internal HDDs/SSDs/SSHDs formatted as GPT and exFAT and they appear as a BD called "HDD (GPT/MBR)". Only OPL's GitHub repository main page mentions it, not this page (it also doesn't mention OPL supports MX4SIO).