--> Very Very confusing

[lexlth]

Hello,

I'm very very confusing about FMCB. I just found it here, and I was trying to figure it out how it exactly works and how.
I think it's time for somebody make a FAQ or a tutorial for this little program, since it seems to be very very cool, aboarding some points:
1) What it is and what it does. not in technical language, but for dummies....
2) What you can do with it
3) the requisites
4) Some tutorial to do common things with it
5) Contributions...

I've been searching for some answers to do some things I want at home, but did not find some clear explanations.
I have a PS2 Slim model, NTSC, with Matrix modded. But me and my 5 years old son use the PS2. We use to play games and watch movies, with SMS. I also use ulaunchELF sometimes witha Cd image, but I'd like to put it also on a MC.
Since he is very young to learn some things, I am trying to make things as most tansparent as I can for him.
At the present moment, we have a MC of 64Mb that stores all our savegames, but it is a little slow, and I cannot boot anything with it (pressing R1 - matrix feature). So I have a separated MC (original Sony) only with SMS to watch the movies. But this way we have to change the MC everytime we want to launch SMS.

So I'd like to have something that works for me like this (and hope FMCB could do this):
1) mc1:// will be my Savegames (64Mb slow MC)
2) mc2:// will be my FMCB with /BOOT containing ULE and SMS (original MC)
3) If there is a DVD on the PS2, them play it directly.
4) If there is not a DVD, boot from mc2:// directly SMS
5) If I press some special button then ULE is launched instead of SMS. I want this because I don't want my son starting ULE or another one I put there.

I've just formatted a MC card with FMCB and installed it, but when I booted my PS2 nothing happened, black screen. Is it because it is modded ?

Thanks for any help... If I remember something else I'll post here.

[OctaBech]

You seem to be in luck because Free Mc Boot solve most of these issues which I shared :D

1) mc1:// will be my Savegames (64Mb slow MC)

No problem, after installing Free Mc Boot on your Sony memory-card just move it to port 2 and it will still run the Free McBoot loader.

2) mc2:// will be my FMCB with /BOOT containing ULE and SMS (original MC)

Not a problem either, the path to these ELF aplications can be defined in the Free McBoot config file.

I'll be happy to do it for you, all I'll need is the exact names of the ELF files.

3) If there is a DVD on the PS2, them play it directly.

The newest Free McBoot already does this and it even skips the PS2 splash sceen :D Gotta love these scene guys

4) If there is not a DVD, boot from mc2:// directly SMS

Again just give me the names of the ELF files

5) If I press some special button then ULE is launched instead of SMS. I want this because I don't want my son starting ULE or another one I put there.

A shared problem, I have set the 'start' button on my PS2 to activate uLe.


EDIT: The changes are so small that it might be quicker if you just do them by yourself :)

1) Install the latest version of Free McBoot (1.4b) (http://psx-scene.com/forums/freevast/58292-official-free-mc-boot-releases.html) if you haven't already done this.

2) Now download "FREEMCB_CNF_file_example.rar" from the same thread where you got Free McBoot 1.4b and unpack it.

3) Open the "FREEMCB_CNF_file_example.cnf" file with Wordpad (that way it doesn't lose its formatting)

3) Make the following changes:

LK_Auto_E1 = OSDSYS -> LK_Auto_E1 = mc?:/BOOT/***.ELF (*** = your SMS ELF)

LK_L1_E1 = mass:/BOOT/BOOT3.ELF -> LK_L1_E1 =
LK_L1_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/BOOT3.ELF -> LK_L1_E2 =
LK_R1_E1 = mass:/BOOT/BOOT1.ELF -> LK_R1_E1 =
LK_R1_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/BOOT1.ELF -> LK_R1_E2 =
LK_L2_E1 = mass:/BOOT/BOOT4.ELF -> LK_L2_E1 =
LK_L2_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/BOOT4.ELF -> LK_L2_E2 =
LK_R2_E1 = mass:/BOOT/BOOT2.ELF -> LK_R2_E1 =
LK_R2_E2 = mc?:/BOOT/BOOT2.ELF -> LK_R2_E2 =

LK_Start_E1 = -> LK_Start_E1 = OSDSYS (so you still can handle your MC saves)

LK_Select_E1 = -> LK_Select_E1 = mc?:/BOOT/***.ELF (*** = your uLe ELF)

4) Save the file as "FREEMCB.CNF" and place it on your Free McBoot memory-card in the "SYS-CONF" folder replacing the existing "FREEMCB.CNF" file created by the Free McBoot1.4b installer.

That should do what you requested :) But do note that you'll need to have the SMS configuration on the 64MB memory-card.

[Billkwando]

Hello,

I'm very very confusing about FMCB. I just found it here, and I was trying to figure it out how it exactly works and how.
I think it's time for somebody make a FAQ or a tutorial for this little program, since it seems to be very very cool, aboarding some points:
1) What it is and what it does. not in technical language, but for dummies....
2) What you can do with it
3) the requisites
4) Some tutorial to do common things with it
5) Contributions...

I've been searching for some answers to do some things I want at home, but did not find some clear explanations.
I have a PS2 Slim model, NTSC, with Matrix modded. But me and my 5 years old son use the PS2. We use to play games and watch movies, with SMS. I also use ulaunchELF sometimes witha Cd image, but I'd like to put it also on a MC.
Since he is very young to learn some things, I am trying to make things as most tansparent as I can for him.
At the present moment, we have a MC of 64Mb that stores all our savegames, but it is a little slow, and I cannot boot anything with it (pressing R1 - matrix feature). So I have a separated MC (original Sony) only with SMS to watch the movies. But this way we have to change the MC everytime we want to launch SMS.

So I'd like to have something that works for me like this (and hope FMCB could do this):
1) mc1:// will be my Savegames (64Mb slow MC)
2) mc2:// will be my FMCB with /BOOT containing ULE and SMS (original MC)
3) If there is a DVD on the PS2, them play it directly.
4) If there is not a DVD, boot from mc2:// directly SMS
5) If I press some special button then ULE is launched instead of SMS. I want this because I don't want my son starting ULE or another one I put there.

I've just formatted a MC card with FMCB and installed it, but when I booted my PS2 nothing happened, black screen. Is it because it is modded ?

Thanks for any help... If I remember something else I'll post here.

I'm not modded and I got the black screen. I think it might be best to wait for the next release.

Edit: or do what the guy above said.

[lexlth]

OctaBech,

Thank you for the help.
I modified the CNF for search for SMS.ELF and uLaunch.ELF
But if you send me some CNF that do all of these, I may adapt for my needs, if I add another ELF...

[lexlth]

Sorry, Octabech, didn't see the rest of the post ! I'll modify mine CNF right now !

[lexlth]

Another doubt I have is that I have a friend that just bought a PS2 Slim and it is no modded. As she does not have enougth money to mod it yet, FMCB may be used to play backup games ?

[OctaBech]

Here, just place it in the root of your Free McBoot memory-card

http://www.megaupload.com/dk/?d=VCXOC7HP

Auto-boots mc?:/BOOT/SMS.ELF

Press 'start' to launch the PS2Browser

Press 'select' to launch mc?:/BOOT/uLaunch.ELF

And it's set to auto boot inserted games (AutoBoot_Disc = 1) if no button is pressed.

NB: TnA told me earlier today that Free McBoot won't read the pressed buttons if you got two controllers connected.


EDIT:

Another doubt I have is that I have a friend that just bought a PS2 Slim and it is no modded. As she does not have enougth money to mod it yet, FMCB may be used to play backup games ?

Dunno if we are allowed to talk about this:

Yes but she'll need ESR from ffgreiver (SP?) which is still in beta.
And she'll also need something like Swap Magic because Free McBoot installed with your PS2 won't work on other PS2s yet (the scene devs need to enable cross linking for that to bepossible, perhaps in the next release).

[dlanor]

Another doubt I have is that I have a friend that just bought a PS2 Slim and it is no modded. As she does not have enougth money to mod it yet, FMCB may be used to play backup games ?
FMCB itself only allows you to boot homebrew software on an unmodded console, but a newly released homebrew software called ESR does allow you to run specially patched game backups on an unmodded console. So your friend can save her money, as a physical console mod is no longer needed. But she may need your help to install FMCB on her memory card, as it is much easier to do this on a console which already can run homebrew.

Best regards: dlanor

[suloku]

You can use swap inside ule and it will work, or run some swaping elf for full compatibility (but swap is needed).

Instead of using swap magic, you can boot with a mc with fmcb 1.2c which has crosslinking, then run 1.4 installer from it.

[OctaBech]

You can use swap inside ule and it will work, or run some swaping elf for full compatibility (but swap is needed).

Instead of using swap magic, you can boot with a mc with fmcb 1.2c which has crosslinking, then run 1.4 installer from it.

Yeah but all the links to Free McBoot 1.2c were taken down because it broke the copyrights and it isn't easy to install.

I'd suggest he wait till the next release before helping her, after all the guys behind Free McBoot are working quite fast.

[lexlth]

Thank you for the answers...

I tried the new configuration at home and I got a black screen. No boot at all.
I tried the MC alone, on slot 1, slot 2, with another MC, disabled Matrix, nothing worked.

I think I'll have to wait for the next version...

[OctaBech]

That's odd, it would make sense if the screen turned Green (though I disabled that option).

I'll re-test the CNF file when I get back home.

[lexlth]

The screen was black, but I could see some oscilations, like it was trying to do some changes. Seemed like brightness changes, or those oscilations when the console is trying to change resolutions.

[TnA]

How did you install FMCB?

Btw: Sorry, I didn't re-read the whole thread and probably miss something.

[lexlth]

I put the .ELF that I downloaded here on my Pen Drive, booted uLaunchELF and run it.
A screen apeeared and I choosed Install.
Then, I copied the new .CNF over the one that was installed.

[OctaBech]

Trying to replicate your problem I downloaded the CNF file from MegaUpload but it works just fine on my PS2 (apart from the fact that I goof had set uLe to be triggered by 'select' which also triggers uLe's configuration when held down a tad too long).

I also tried to rename the RAR file to FREEMCB.CNF instead of decompressing it(sorry, not trying to insult anyone :) Only being cautious) but not even that would cause a black screen (it just skipped straight to the PS2browser).

Sorry that I can't be of more help :( Perhaps your mod-chip is causing interference?

----------------------

TnA, is it a well known bug/issue that Free McBoot doesn't load from mc1 (slot 2) when there are two controllers connected?

As soon as the second controller is detached Free McBoot loads just fine from mc1.

[lexlth]

I also tried toi disable it, but who knows.

My console may have something different. I never managed to make Codebraker work in it.

This weekend I'll try to install FMCB on another MC.

[TnA]

TnA, is it a well known bug/issue that Free McBoot doesn't load from mc1 (slot 2) when there are two controllers connected?

As soon as the second controller is detached Free McBoot loads just fine from mc1.

It is known, that there are a few bugs, with the Controler-Handling, but this is new to me.
Please post it to the BugReports (Jimmi will see it.). :)


@lexlth: Did you test to configure uLE-Option "Disc-Control" to "off"?

[OctaBech]

Ups seems like I was a tad too eager.

Redid it and this time with debug on (green screen); seems like McBoot is read and that it's just the old key input issue.