Master Phruby Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Greg is right, it will copy the disc to the HDD in about 2-3 minutes. I find that actually works better than downloading an iso and copying it over. I had a Jax & Daxter iso that wouldn't work correctly on the hdd. I copied it from my disc instead and it works great. Probably a bad iso. Edited January 23, 2015 by Master Phruby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I've made some changes to my PS2 unit. I've redone the hard drive to be bootable. Now I don't need a memory card to soft mod the PS2. A lot of my ripped games will still work. Here is the HDLoader compatibility chart http://www.absoluteanime.com/hdloader.html?page=r So what do all those utilities do? Is there a list somewhere? I think I need three things: HDLoader Open PS2 Loader Free McBoot Installer (just in case I ever need to make a Free Mcboot memory card again) That pre-installed image seems like it would be the easiest way to go, but it also has a lot of other stuff I don't need on it. I don't know if it would be easier to just install the things I need (not sure how hard that is) or install this image and delete the things I don't need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Phruby Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 (edited) I don't see any reason to delete anything in the image. It's not like your hurting for storage space and the entire image only takes about 10gb. I believe there are only seven utilities on the image anyway. If you need to you can remove things once the image is created by using winHIIP. I would get rid of SMS player and POPs emulators. Preinstalled Applications: - uLaunchELF Version 4.42_Evil - Open PS2 Loader Version 0.9.1 + GMS 0.37 - HD Loader Version 0.8c 48Bit (I'm not sure if its 48bit or 28bit, if its not 48bit, you can add it.) - ESR beta r9b (GUI) - GS Mode Selector Version 0.37 - SMS Player Version 2.9 - Memory Card Annihilator Version 2.0 - Sony PlayStation: POPS Emulator (Size set to 768mb, so you can one game to it. Note: I added a 30mb game to it.) - Gradius Gaiden (POPS Emulator) - Free McBoot Installer (Does not work.. ok it does work, it just can't see all the files needed.) Edited January 27, 2015 by Master Phruby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RARusk Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 So what do all those utilities do? Is there a list somewhere? I think I need three things: HDLoader Open PS2 Loader Free McBoot Installer (just in case I ever need to make a Free Mcboot memory card again) That pre-installed image seems like it would be the easiest way to go, but it also has a lot of other stuff I don't need on it. I don't know if it would be easier to just install the things I need (not sure how hard that is) or install this image and delete the things I don't need. You don't need HDLoader. Open PS2 Loader is far superior - has more options to make your games run better from the drive and doesn't make incorrect timestamps on game saves which often led to corrupted saves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Is there any game that only works with HDLoader and not Open PS2 Loader? On that note, I'm mostly into RPGs. Are there any major RPGs that don't run with Open PS2 Loader? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RARusk Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 To my knowledge I know of no game that works only in HDL but not Open PS2 Loader. I also don't know if the hard drive compatibility for games was improved with the appearance of Open PS2 Loader. Technically you can fix game save timestamp issues in HDL but you have to do that manually for each game through the menu. Not all games will flake out with incorrect game save timestamps but I do know for a fact that both GTA3 and Vice City had serious problems with it. Open PS2 Loader doesn't make incorrect timestamps so that is something you never have to worry about. It also has multiple hard drive speed settings so you can tweak things just right in case you have problems when running certain games. And you can customize the menu background and even have custom icons for your game so you can have a really slick looking setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I use HDLoader because OPL would never see my games. Since HDLoader worked with most of my games I never bothered doing much troubleshooting with OPL. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RARusk Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Interesting. I never had that problem. Then again, I used WinHiip for all of my installs - maybe HDL does their installs slightly different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 OPL is still in (somewhat) development, so there have been improvements. HDL has a nicer GUI, but it's not been updated in years, so if there are compatibility issues on games that's never going to be fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Interesting. I never had that problem. Then again, I used WinHiip for all of my installs - maybe HDL does their installs slightly different. I was using WinHiip as well. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectrexroli Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Here I show my PS2 harddrive setup, I am using a 500GB SSD and that setup works great: http://youtu.be/h8QjQBWRTYQ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Something I just thought of, granted you need the Network Adapter to install a HDD into the PS2. But did PS2's come with the rails and such for the HDD? I know the OEM kit (SCPH-20401) had them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectrexroli Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I didn´t get any installation material with my original network adapter nor the fake Chinese SATA one. But it is not really a big issue as long as you don´t carry your PS2 around. The SSD HD I am using is not really that heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Phruby Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 True, you don't get rails with the network adapter. You do get them with Final Fantasy online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 True, you don't get rails with the network adapter. You do get them with Final Fantasy online. Ah, so that's where mine came from. I was wondering about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I see them included with the official 40GB HDD on ebay, as well. That's what caused me to ask. Would a generic fit in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Phruby Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Looking at the ones on my drive, I don't think a generic one will fit. There are some differences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Any hints on how to get the rails off the original PS2 hard drive? I know they're not needed, but I'd like to use them. The stupid screws are some tiny little star shaped thing that I've never seen before and none of my bits fit. Also, I used the program to install OPL and those other apps and that seems to work just fine, but Winhiip doesn't see my drive now. Why is that? EDIT: Figured it out, you need to make sure the Run As Admin box is checked in properties. Damn Windows! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Any hints on how to get the rails off the original PS2 hard drive? I know they're not needed, but I'd like to use them. The stupid screws are some tiny little star shaped thing that I've never seen before and none of my bits fit. Also, I used the program to install OPL and those other apps and that seems to work just fine, but Winhiip doesn't see my drive now. Why is that? EDIT: Figured it out, you need to make sure the Run As Admin box is checked in properties. Damn Windows! Sound like torx screws, and you need a special screw driver. You can usually get bits of various sizes when you buy a driver set that is meant for small electronics work. I think T6, T7, and T8 are typical sizes. No idea what the PS2 rails used... haven't gotten around to messing with it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I think the smallest I had was a T10 which was too big. It's not a big deal, but I'd like to use the rails for support. I have another question: I used Winhiip to add a bunch of ISOs to the HD and the work through HDLoader but OPL doesn't see them at all. I also have to scroll through all the files to get to the HDLoader program, is there a way to add it to the start menu? Speaking of the menu, if I try and start the PS2 with my Free McBoot memory card it won't detect the HD at all. Why is this? I was hoping to add OPL and HDLoader to a start menu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 So doing some research I guess there's something called FHDB that will install Free McBoot to the hard drive. Once Free McBoot is on the hard drive I need to add program entries to the PS2 browser menu. Has anyone tried this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Yes, there's an app in Free McBoot called "free mcboot configurator" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I installed Free Mcboot to the HD using the program and it does indeed show the Free McBoot menu but after that I just get Browser and Configuration options on the menu. I loaded the Free McBoot configurator (from a USB stick) and edited the HDD CFG file and saved it back to the HDD. However when I reboot nothing I entered showed up. Am I doing something wrong or does this not work with the HDD (all the examples I see are Memory Card menus)? EDIT: I'm guessing that the problem is that I'm not assigning the correct .ELF files to the menu entry. Looking at the one on the MC it's looking for things like HDLOADER.ELF and all I see on my HD image is EXECUTE.ELF in the HDLoader directory. The programs work correctly when run from the HD so I'm not sure what this means. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Ok I can get OPL to launch from Free McBoot on my MC but not from the HDD (same file). I guess it just doesn't like being loaded from the HDD when using Free McBoot for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I have another question: I used Winhiip to add a bunch of ISOs to the HD and the work through HDLoader but OPL doesn't see them at all. I also have to scroll through all the files to get to the HDLoader program, is there a way to add it to the start menu? This is the exact issue that I have. Post if you figure out a fix for it. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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