Looking for advice please (HDD/MC/Homebrew)

[Four1Fool]

Default: 03-15-2009
Blue: 03-22-2009
Magenta: 04-25-2009
Orange: 07-15-2009

If anyone would like assistance, please feel free to message me now that the boards are back up. I have run almost the entire gamut of commonly requested tasks regarding PS2 and USB drives, will be glad to help.

Hello, I'm a new member to these forums. I spent years modding PSX systems and my regular PSXs now live happily ever after. A few years back I tried to mod a few PS2s, but the process wasn't nearly as easy. I'm versed with soldering, but I'm no pro and I ended up killing two of my PS2s (I actually still have those systems and the chip in my basement). I ditched consoles for a few years and went back to computers, but ended up purchasing a new slimline silver SCPH-79001 NTSC a while back.

I recently purchased Swap Magic Coder and now have been diving through sites and forums wanting to do more.

Goals (sorted by priority):

1. Load games from an external USB drive -completed
2. Transfer MC data PSTwo ↔ Computer -completed
3. Update AR code list on computer and port to PS2 -completed
4. Boot PSTwo from MC to do everything – Play games, run homebrew, MC management -completed
5. Possibly have games save MC data to USB device
6. Read/write the data on the PSTwo via network -completed
   
7. Edit save states
8. Properly convert PAL to NTSC -completed
9. Keep all of my apps and files updated regularly
10. Skins -completed

From my research thus far it seems almost all of this should be possible. Has someone done all of this already and do they have any advice? Is there a particular place that has all of this information compiled? Does someone have a best method, process or order?

I know this questions is a tall order, but any advice is appreciated.
__________________________________________

I thought I would post a quick update on what I've been able to accomplish thus far:

Using your SwapMagic Coder disc, you can follow the Guide for installing Free McBoot:
http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tutorials/fmcb/
1. I purchased a USB to IDE/SATA converter cable for $7
http://www.eforcity.com/pcabusbx0017.html
2. I followed the tutorial for booting the installer for SwapMagic Coder 3.8, formatting a 40GB 2.5" Toshiba laptop hard drive to FAT32 to install FMCB. This was rather irritating since according to what I've read I need FAT32 to install FMCB, but NTFS for USB Advance. I received a missing BOOT.ELF error during installation, but proceeded anyway.
3. I checked, and the PSTwo successfully boots from the MC, but no USB Advance.
4. I went back and redid the FMCB installation to include USB Advance, this time following the n00b guide.

-Load games from an external USB drive
Include USB Advance in your INSTALL folder for FMCB
5. I used USB Extreme to rip a game from disc onto the laptop drive.
6. I connected the drive to the PSTwo and booted, but no games were recognized by USB Advance.
7. I formatted a different drive, WD2500JB - A Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" desktop drive to NTFS, copied my ripped USB Extreme game files to the drive, but again no games were recognized by USB Advance.
8. I attempted to use USB Extreme to format the drive, since I presumed this was why USB Advance would not recognize my game. The formatting procedure failed. I checked and the drive was set to dynamic. I converted it over to a basic disk, and was successful in formatting the drive using USB Extreme. I then copied over my game files that I had previously ripped with USB Extreme from disc, and checked, still no games recognized by USB Advance.
9. I ripped the same game, this time from ISO using USB Insane, and was successful in booting the game using USB Advance. I presume it failed before because my original rip was to a FAT32 drive. The game I ripped is Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle. The game was laggy from the start since it goes directly to a Koei logo FMV followed by an intro video. However once past that jazz, there were no problems, I played the game for a while, and saved and loaded numerous times without any problems. I'll add it to the compatability list after some further testing since it was not already present there.

So this is where I am sitting now. There were a lot of redundant steps involved. I'm going to throw down a turorial of my own since there are redundant steps I took, as well as between the 'booting the installer' and FMCB installation guides.

Right now I'm booting my games by turning on the PSTwo, which launches FMCB. Then I'm going into ULE and browsing to MC0 and starting up USB Advance.

Therefore, my next immediate goal is to either get USB Advance on the main selection window, or set it to launch from an L/R button. I'll report back after I get that figured out.

Pretty good post.... As for adding Items to the main Browser screen check out my youtube videos, I've made a few different tutorials.. " Adding items to the Browser Screen " DJ

http://www.youtube.com/user/djflexmaster79

Please leave a comment...

Thanks to Djflexmaster79 and his YouTube videos I was able to easily get this step done.

-Transfer MC data PSTwo ↔ Computer
Using uLaunchELF and a USB dvice, you can transfer any file, except actual PS2 Games.
Ok this way quite easy, using the McCopy option inside of uLE
Default: Browser to your memory card MC0 or MC1, find the save game file and mark it (x), press R1 to open the submenu, select Copy (o), then browse to copy location, press R1, select PasteMC (o).

-Update AR code list on computer and port to PS2
yes, there is a free app you can use on the PC to get the new codes, then use your USB stick to transfer to the PS2 with uLaunchELF. Website
Haven't figured this out yet / can't find the right tool(s)
I have abandoned this idea for now and started playing with CB_launch with the intention of using Day1 files to keep it updated and playing CB games with ESR, since I do not see an option that will wok with my slim and USBAdvance.
Okay, I have tackled and resolved the roadblocks with this issue. I used a retail copy of CB10, and ripped it to my hard drive, and extracted the ELF file. I then used the day-1 patch on the file, but was not able to get CB to boot. After that I went on to P2P and DL'd a pack with ELFs of every cheat device, and proceeded to try those without success. The issue was finally resolved when I figured out that I cannot have the USB device attached if I want to be able to run CodeBreaker. I was successful in using every version of CB since having removed the USB HD from the mix. Therefore, if you do you a USB HD, and you want to use CB with CB_launch, you will probably want to ESR patch your game, burn the game, remove the USB HD, load CB and CB_launch to MC, boot up, launch CB, then launch game from disc.

-Boot PSTwo from MC to do everything – Play games, run homebrew, MC management
Install Free McBoot, read the Noobie Guide, get the Noobie Package and use your SwapMagic disc to install it.
Completed, but for some reason my OSDSys options in FMCB disappear when I move the FMCB MC to 2nd MC slot. I've checked the config, can't figure out why.
Resolved, there was a loose fit for the MC into the slot, thank you JNABK.

-Possibly have games save MC data to USB device
There is an app called VMC (Virtual Memory Card) you can check out, but involves editing each game you want to use it for.
I haven't done this, I instead opted to just copy saves to mass0 or PC to free up memory card space. I didn't want to mod the games and then have an issue when trying to save to MC if I'm running the game elsewhere.

-Read/write the data on the PSTwo via network
uLaunchELF has the best file transfer, called Host......much faster than FTP protocols.
I figured this out, but right now I can only seem to see the network from uLE inside the PS2, cannot see by browing to ftp://address
For some reason this magically worked today, I could browse to ftp://myps2address and it came up. It does however, seem to time out really easily. What are others using beyond Windows Explorer ftp browsing?

-Edit save states
I've poured through tons of threads, found a few tools, and it appears that I need to do something about checksums otherwise this won't work right. I tried following a post saying to just use a hex editor. I saved a few states seconds apart, each time copying over my save file and using PasteMC and getting it over to the PC. I then used a hex editor to compare the files. I narrowed down the value I wanted to change and changed it, saved, used PasteMC to copy it back to the memory card. Unfortunately the game gave an invalid / corrupted save error when I tried to load the save. Does this method work?

-Properly convert PAL to NTSC
I've managed to do this, but it only works for a handful of games. If I first patch a game for ESR and then convert to PAL, will that kill the game? I rip almost all games from ISO to my USB drive first, and test them in USBAdvance. If they have tons of video I burn them. I've noticed that most of the games I rip, don't work with PAL conversion, but if I burn the game, it will work fine. Does USBAdvance have some issue with converted games? I'm primarily using ps2_pal2ntsc_yfix v1.06, but I have tried others.

-Keep all of my apps and files updated regularly
I updated to the newest ESR beta and a new version of uLE. I used uLE over network to update the file, which works fine. I'm finding it hard to keep track of which apps and files are updated, but I am on the lookout for a page that has all of the apps and MC files updated and well organized.
It was nearly impossible to find which apps had been updated and get answers to my questions with this site down. Is there another place everyone congregates when PSX-scene is down?

[JNABK]

Using your SwapMagic Coder disc, you can follow the Guide for installing Free McBoot:
http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tutorials/fmcb/


-Load games from an external USB drive
Include USB Advance in your INSTALL folder for FMCB

-Transfer MC data PSTwo ↔ Computer
Using uLaunchELF and a USB dvice, you can transfer any file, except actual PS2 Games.

-Update AR code list on computer and port to PS2
yes, there is a free app you can use on the PC to get the new codes, then use your USB stick to transfer to the PS2 with uLaunchELF. Website

-Boot PSTwo from MC to do everything – Play games, run homebrew, MC management
Install Free McBoot, read the Noobie Guide, get the Noobie Package and use your SwapMagic disc to install it.

-Possibly have games save MC data to USB device
There is an app called VMC (Virtual Memory Card) you can check out, but involves editing each game you want to use it for.

-Read/write the data on the PSTwo via network
uLaunchELF has the best file transfer, called Host......much faster than FTP protocols.

[Four1Fool]

Thank you JNABK, that is exactly what I was looking for.
Another Q: What is the largest HD size currently recognized?

[Bootlegninja]

With a 48bit patched HDL, 2TB and up to 256 games. Whichever comes first.

[TehJawknee]

With a 48bit patched HDL, 2TB and up to 256 games. Whichever comes first.

I think he's talking about USB Advance. I don't know if it's the same compatibility.

I ditched consoles for a few years and went back to computers, but ended up purchasing a new slimline silver SCPH-79001 NTSC a while back.

[djflexmaster79]

@Four1Fool, you do need to keep in mind, that just because it takes that size of HDD, and that many games, the load up time is going to increase dramatically with any size of HDD 320GB and over... And also the possibly of overheating...DJ


EDIT:...... I see that shi* now, he does have a slim line........ Anyway, more knowledge, to the Noobie's...

[Bootlegninja]

bleh.

[Four1Fool]

I thought I would post a quick update on what I've been able to accomplish thus far:

Using your SwapMagic Coder disc, you can follow the Guide for installing Free McBoot:
http://bootleg.sksapps.com/tutorials/fmcb/
1. I purchased a USB to IDE/SATA converter cable for $7
http://www.eforcity.com/pcabusbx0017.html
2. I followed the tutorial for booting the installer for SwapMagic Coder 3.8, formatting a 40GB 2.5" Toshiba laptop hard drive to FAT32 to install FMCB. This was rather irritating since according to what I've read I need FAT32 to install FMCB, but NTFS for USB Advance. I received a missing BOOT.ELF error during installation, but proceeded anyway.
3. I checked, and the PSTwo successfully boots from the MC, but no USB Advance.
4. I went back and redid the FMCB installation to include USB Advance, this time following the n00b guide.

-Load games from an external USB drive
Include USB Advance in your INSTALL folder for FMCB
5. I used USB Extreme to rip a game from disc onto the laptop drive.
6. I connected the drive to the PSTwo and booted, but no games were recognized by USB Advance.
7. I formatted a different drive, WD2500JB - A Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" desktop drive to NTFS, copied my ripped USB Extreme game files to the drive, but again no games were recognized by USB Advance.
8. I attempted to use USB Extreme to format the drive, since I presumed this was why USB Advance would not recognize my game. The formatting procedure failed. I checked and the drive was set to dynamic. I converted it over to a basic disk, and was successful in formatting the drive using USB Extreme. I then copied over my game files that I had previously ripped with USB Extreme from disc, and checked, still no games recognized by USB Advance.
9. I ripped the same game, this time from ISO using USB Insane, and was successful in booting the game using USB Advance. I presume it failed before because my original rip was to a FAT32 drive. The game I ripped is Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle. The game was laggy from the start since it goes directly to a Koei logo FMV followed by an intro video. However once past that jazz, there were no problems, I played the game for a while, and saved and loaded numerous times without any problems. I'll add it to the compatability list after some further testing since it was not already present there.

So this is where I am sitting now. There were a lot of redundant steps involved. I'm going to throw down a turorial of my own since there are redundant steps I took, as well as between the 'booting the installer' and FMCB installation guides.

Right now I'm booting my games by turning on the PSTwo, which launches FMCB. Then I'm going into ULE and browsing to MC0 and starting up USB Advance.

Therefore, my next immediate goal is to either get USB Advance on the main selection window, or set it to launch from an L/R button. I'll report back after I get that figured out.

-Transfer MC data PSTwo ↔ Computer
Using uLaunchELF and a USB dvice, you can transfer any file, except actual PS2 Games.
Ok this way quite easy, using the McCopy option inside of uLE

-Update AR code list on computer and port to PS2
yes, there is a free app you can use on the PC to get the new codes, then use your USB stick to transfer to the PS2 with uLaunchELF. Website
Haven't figured this out yet / can't find the right tool(s)

-Boot PSTwo from MC to do everything – Play games, run homebrew, MC management
Install Free McBoot, read the Noobie Guide, get the Noobie Package and use your SwapMagic disc to install it.

-Possibly have games save MC data to USB device
There is an app called VMC (Virtual Memory Card) you can check out, but involves editing each game you want to use it for.

-Read/write the data on the PSTwo via network
uLaunchELF has the best file transfer, called Host......much faster than FTP protocols.[/QUOTE]
I figured this out, but right now I can only seem to see the network from uLE inside the PS2, cannot see by browing to ftp://address

[djflexmaster79]

Pretty good post.... As for adding Items to the main Browser screen check out my youtube videos, I've made a few different tutorials.. " Adding items to the Browser Screen " DJ

http://www.youtube.com/user/djflexmaster79

Please leave a comment...

[Four1Fool]

Pretty good post.... As for adding Items to the main Browser screen check out my youtube videos, I've made a few different tutorials.. " Adding items to the Browser Screen " DJ

http://www.youtube.com/user/djflexmaster79

Please leave a comment...

Very nice videos Flexmaster, much appreciated, it makes that step super swift. I've been swamped with work so I haven't had time to play with it much.

Next Q:

How can I use FMCB to boot an international, backup or created disc, so I don't have to use SwapMagic to do it?