PS1/2 Whats better OPL or HDLoader

[thetechbros]

Going to be hacking my fat ps2 and wondering whats better?

 

[Berserk_Fury]

HD loader by a mile. Load times and cut scenes are terrible on OPL.

 

[Foxi4]

I find OPL to be a far superior and more modern solution, you'll only ever run in to problems with cutscenes if you load from USB since the PS2 ports are USB 1.1, I've never had any issues with Ethernet loading and HDD loading is a built-in feature. You can use both, but I don't see a reason to hold on to HDL. OPL also appears to have better compatibility overall.

 

[retrofan_k]

HD loader by a mile. Load times and cut scenes are terrible on OPL.

HDloader is totally redundant and obsolete. OPL has far more compatibility and runs perfectly fine, so for you to comment on slow loads times, you must be using USB 1.1, as OPL via internal HDD or over a network has no issues at all.

 

[Foxi4]

HDloader is totally redundant and obsolete. OPL has far more compatibility and runs perfectly fine, so for you to comment on slow loads times, you must be using USB 1.1, as OPL via internal HDD or over a network has no issues at all.

The only advantage of HDL is the ability to dump games directly to the HDD using the disc drive, unless that was added in later OPL revisions. It's been a while.

 

[zfreeman]

HDLGameInstaller allows the user to install PS2 games onto the HDD at a faster rate. http://ichiba.geocities.jp/ysai187/PS2/HDLGameInstaller.htm

HDL (in)compatibility list: https://www.absoluteanime.com/hdloader/0

OPL :https://github.com/ifcaro/Open-PS2-Loader
Official build: https://github.com/ifcaro/Open-PS2-Loader/releases
Nightly build (and the night before): https://akuhak.github.io/test_build/
Daily build: http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=35268#p35268

 

[invaderyoyo]

One more vote for OPL. Never had any problems with cutscenes. I do have a problem with Guitar Hero, though. There's this loud tone that'll suddenly start playing mid song.

 

[uyjulian]

OPL is actively supported, and there is a developer actively debugging games that have issues.
Check http://www.psx-place.com/forums/open-ps2-loader-opl.77/

 

[thetechbros]

awesome thanks guys

 

[ym2612]

i prefer to launch my HDL-games from the browser directly, but as i understand it OPL gives you more options like virtual memory card and gsm (videomode tweaks), so i installed it on the hdd as well.

to transfer the games to the ps2 hdd over network, using HDLGameInstaller.elf (PS2) and HDLGManClient.exe (PC) works like a charm (and the games work without fixing on HDDOSD), attaching the hdd locally to the computer gives you faster transfer speeds, but when using WinHIIP you have to fix the games with HDLGameInstaller.elf (if you want to launch them on HDDOSD).

in a nutshell:

1. dump the game on the computer = iso
2. transfer the iso to the ps2 hdd either locally attached to the computer or over network = hdl-game install
3. launch your hdl-game install either directly from the browser (if HDDOSD) or with OPL

hope this helps you with modding your phat ps2.

i would also recommend to use a internal hdd with the original sony network adapter. also recommended is to mod your original sony network adapter from ide to sata. this way i was able to install a sata ssd 120gb hdd without any hassle. game loading times are really fast and cutscenes work perfectly, even dual-layer DVD9 games like God of War install/run fine.

 

[BiggieCheese]

OPL, definitely. Avoid the stable build (0.9.3) though as it’s beyond outdated at this point, try one of the daily builds of it instead, OPL’s better than ever and it’s still getting a ton of under-the-hood improvements to this day.
http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=83&p=35410#p35410
I’d recommend going with any of the the latest ifcaro builds for now, but the DB-TA_all ones are fine too.

 

[smf]

I switched to a ps2 slim and ethernet loading because the fat ps2 with an internal hard drive is just too loud.

At that point OPL is the only option. I don't play games with lots of cut scenes anyway, so if it is a problem then it's not important to me.

At least you can report bugs to OPL.

 

[ym2612]

I switched to a ps2 slim and ethernet loading because the fat ps2 with an internal hard drive is just too loud.

At that point OPL is the only option. I don't play games with lots of cut scenes anyway, so if it is a problem then it's not important to me.

At least you can report bugs to OPL.

how are eth loading times compared to hdd?

 

[smf]

how are eth loading times compared to hdd?

It's slower than hdd but faster than usb.
However hdd is faster than dvd, so there is some leeway.

 

[uyjulian]

If the PS2 is too loud, you might want to replace the fan and add some noise dampeners.

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello .

HDLoader - if you have an intact PS2 DVD Drive and no PC thats the one and only solution.

HDL Image Installer (WinHIIP) - is the easiest way to get your images on a ready to play HDD WITH a PC.

 

[Ryccardo]

HDL Image Installer (WinHIIP) - is the easiest way to get your images on a ready to play HDD WITH a PC.

Winhiip is not really recommended for installing PS2 discs (it creates partitions with nonstandard names, has a list of games to which apply some default settings that are counterproductive for OPL/miniOPL) - hdl_dump or hdlgameinstaller are superior for everything except the scan and relink partitions feature (because they don't have it - but even Winhiip's implementation has its problems if you have official DNAS protected software on the disk); hdlgameinstaller can in fact install/rename games without even using a PC (and it's the best for use with miniOPL!)

 

[Alexander1970]

It´s like USB Sticks on the Wii.It works perfect or not.
And as said it´s the EASIEST way.

 

[Foxi4]

It´s like USB Sticks on the Wii.It works perfect or not.
And as said it´s the EASIEST way.

USB loading on the PS2 sucks, the built-in controller can't keep up. SMB for the win, best balance between capacity, compatibility and speed. Fat PS2's, as nice as they are, are quite loud and a pain to maintain.

 

[uyjulian]

are quite loud

You can put in new fans and noise dampeners to reduce the noise

a pain to maintain.

How are they a pain to maintain?

 

[Foxi4]

You can put in new fans and noise dampeners to reduce the noise

How are they a pain to maintain?

They're generally poorly built and tend to have random hardware faults in my experience. Slims are just better. The Slims have the obvious problem of no IDE connection (although some still have it in the board), but compared to USB Ethernet is serviceable.