PS2 Mod 2016-19: USB & HDD Loading, PS1 via POPS, Emus

[Ziggy]

I did recently rebuild an ISO of Guilty Gear X2, removing the Dummy files to make it ~1.8GB (as opposed to ~ 4GB), so that was cool. The process I used is similar to what they did to convert CD to DVD format (I used Isobuster, DVD Gen, and Apache, just skipped using and/or creating a dummy file).

I shrunk a PS2 game before, I had a game that included a demo for another game. I found another way to do it. I used 7-Zip to extract the ISO, then I deleted the stuff I didn't want, then I used ImgBurn to rebuilt the ISO.

[liquid]

I shrunk a PS2 game before, I had a game that included a demo for another game. I found another way to do it. I used 7-Zip to extract the ISO, then I deleted the stuff I didn't want, then I used ImgBurn to rebuilt the ISO.

Good idea. I think Tony Hawk's 3 has a demo of Shaun Palmer on it. Confuses OPL

[Jagosaurus]

So I've been wanting to get into some original Diablo lately. I was looking for some patches to run it on Windows 7 or 8... then I remembered nightrnr testing it out. Yes! Will save the PC troubles & $40 from buying the PS1 hard copy

For no real reason other than it's slick, I've been wanting to try POPS within OPL... . You guys still just booting the PS1 .elf files within ulaunch? Can I boot PS1 within OPL via USB or do I have to move to HDD?

Here's a video on FTP from Project Phoenix Media which is where I got much of my tips for my PS2 mods. Wanted to share. Another one I still need to try...
https://youtu.be/xaZAX5HH6eQ

[nightrnr]

Oh totally, pops from OPL would be slick, especially if dedicating a PS2 to PS1 games.
It will be an experiment for another day for me though.

Before that venture though, I still need to dedicate a flash drive to CD based PS2 games. Just seems neat to me to put all the best small games on a USB stick and use a slim model for it. You could probably fit like 50 CD games on one 32gb stick!

Diablo is playable discless and possibly on modern pc's, but does take some trickery. I haven't tried it (and have no links), but will have to if I ever want to use the Hellfire content.

PS1 Diablo is great though. It's 2-player as well (not that I could get anyone else to play something so old, not with BG: Dark Alliance I/II at the ready).

[benderx]

Which is faster ps2 retropie to ethernet to ethernet? Or methods of loading the games faster. For both PS2 slim and phat.

[s8n]

hi guys , i can say you can boot PS1 games from OPL but with the latest release of POPstarter the coder has implemented code so that you can't. Although there are some guides on PS2-Home forums to bypass this. Also i can say that i run PS2 and PS1 isos over a Network , USB is slower i get a max of about 1.5 megabytes a second over Network.

btw this is my setup for Network....... External USB Hard Drive connected to PC with PS1 PS2 and PS3 isos on it , i turn on the USB Hard Drive and wait a minute then turn on my PS2. When OPL loads off my USB Stick all my games show up , and yes with CFW for PS3 you can stream games as well.

[liquid]

I love the network setup, really impressive. It would be great with a tiny NAS such as a raspberry pi to keep it all as portable as possible.

Having it all run from OPL can look really slick given the right skin and all the artwork.

Don't bother running POPStarter from OPL using the internal HDD, unless you are really desperate to. There's a known bug which afaik has not been fixed yet. It means you have to stick with OPL 1005_DB. No such problems with USB/SMB. Also the _POPS partition kept randomly disappearing from the internal HDD on mine so I've just bought a big USB stick and will be doing like Jagosaurus.

The issue mentioned by s8n - the POPStarter + OPL devs fell out. POPStarter's dev, in his prototype versions, started blocking OPL from directly opening POPStarter. This meant you either stuck with non-prototype POPStarter, or just launched your PS1 games from ULE. As s8n says there is now a workaround by OPL called the "POOOF Project" and the full tutorial is here:
http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=3664

[nightrnr]

Okay, so I finally got around to testing out disc-changing.
The thing actually works, very well I'd say.

https://bitbucket.org/ShaolinAssassin/p ... multi-disc

Tried it out with Lunar SSSC. I was able to load any cut scene (had a save file at the end of the game with item that let's you view them).

Anyways, there is no indication that you are changing discs with the shorcuts, but it sure works when you hit the close lid combo.

I was going to try some image combining, but I'm not sure that I see any need now.

Now I just need to pinpoint compatibility with all the multi disc (no save before swap) games for PS2 POPS.

[Jagosaurus]

So Lunar has no save at end of disc 1, or it does?

Trying to get a hold of which method you tested. Awesome progress! Think I just mentioned this in another thread but the 2 disc games scare me. Still have Lunar on my shelf after a big PS1 purge sale for this reason

Also, might be fixed now but I remember the Lunar cut scenes' audio being off in emulation for Sega CD.

[nightrnr]

So Lunar has no save at end of disc 1, or it does?

No Save.
That's one that I do remember (and one of the few together retros that I participated, kind of). Played on a PSone system I think. But correct, gives no chance to save. Lunar 2 is the same from all I've read.

Trying to get a hold of which method you tested. Awesome progress! Think I just mentioned this in another thread but the 2 disc games scare me. Still have Lunar on my shelf after a big PS1 purge sale for this reason

I just used the method that I linked. You make a text file called "DISCS.TXT" In it you put the names of both Images (or up to 4 images).

Like this:

Lunar_1.VCD
Lunar_2.VCD

Copy this to each discs VMC folder. Then just use the shortcut inputs from my link in gameplay to simulate "open lid, "switch disc", and "close lid".
You could and should try loading disc 2 and playing until it forces you to switch back to disc one (about 30 seconds into the game), then use the button combos to test. Just remember that with Lunar, the opening Video is on both discs (so don't let that fool you, wait until you get to the change disc screen).
VCD files need to be in the root of the same POPS partition.

Of course from what I've read, some games are more compatible with a combined image, some as separate images, and some don't work at all on POPS. I imagine I'll have to combine at least one game at some point. I'll link that method if/when I get to it (already copied some resources, but at a different PC right now). 4 disc games won't work as combined at all though, since it exceeds 2GB (apparently that's a problem with the format).

Also, might be fixed now but I remember the Lunar cut scenes' audio being off in emulation for Sega CD.

I haven't delved far enough into Sega CD emulation, I mostly use an emulator on Xbox for that and only have a few games copied. Not sure it was perfectly in sync to begin with even on the real thing though.
For PS2 Sega CD emulation, you practically need to copy it to an HDD partition (cut scenes pause frequently using USB). I don't use it much though, as it stretches (Squeezes actually), the image on my CRT TV's. Probably looks fine on a widescreen LCD though.