Usb extreme? How to get started?

[Kronosome]

Ok here it is; I have a pstwo ( the slim one, v12 right?), but I bought it in north america(canada) and I'm living in France now...
The prob is that european(pal ?) games don't work on that ps2, I guess it's cuz of the area or something like that ... Anyway I was looking for a solution and I found out about Usb Extreme... I'd rather have an external hard drive than a chipset cuz i'm kinda bad at those kind of things, and I heard about some chipsets screwing up w/ ps2 s ... Ah well I don't want a chipset that's all, and I heard you can browse, run apps and stuff like that, like on an action replay with a hard dirve :P

I eventually found something on eMule : "Usb Extreme Cracked", that caught my attention . Anyway I extracted it and I found the following files :
-usb advance.bin
-usb advance.cue
-txt (very funny btw) =D
-USBAdvance-PC-Software.rar, in which I found 2 exe: ul_format and ul_install
-a nfo file where I found the adress of this site :O

But since I'm a BIG newbie, I have a few questions for ya ;D

Bin and cue? for burning ? ... Anyway, how do I install that? Do I burn it to a dvd? Do I have to copy files to a hard drive that I'll connect to my ps2 with a usb cable (?)
Questions: -How to get started? What do I need ?
-How does it work ?
-Is it totally free (well I mean, it's not as if I couldnt buy the necessary stuff ya?) ; is a hard drive and a usb cable all I need?

All right, that'll be all, any help would be appreciated, thanks

[unclejun]

Hello,
it's nice to see some french living people here, are you from quebec? (for us french people, it's the country of the "funny accent french speaking people"!
i used to know some people who emigrates there, and they were happy, hope i can visit your country some time)

you could burn the disc but there is no way your pstwo will recognize it without a modchip or a swap magic, so you'll better need to buy the usbextreme disc although it's a crappy product:

-the loading times are longer than with a disc, original or backup, as the USB1.1 is slower than the CD/DVD drive...
i only try with metal slug 3 or 4, the only game that fits in my usb key, (less than 256M), and the loading was really slow for a game like this that has a few data to load,and the music freezes often.

-the compatibility list is smaller than with hdl/hda, well you can check it here (*** OFFICIAL GAME LIST ***)

Check this post http://psx-scene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41383 (USBadvance - i need help here !)
you can launch usbextreme with swap magic 3.6 by copying the the usbextreme elf on the usbhdd, just read the post...

you need a hdd 3.5" or 2.5" with an external usb enclosure and you're set.

this product is easy of use, of course you need a computer to format and installing the games on the hdd, you can find the user guide and a windows software on the official site, just do a usbextreme google search.

One last advice, if you're in Paris, you can find all your hardware need filled in the 12th district, rue montgallet and rue de charenton, two streets filled with computer stores, you can check the prices here http://www.rue-montgallet.com/

[onimushaclan]

I wouldn't play any PAL games on your NTSC machines if i where u, but it will work using an RGB Scart lead, the games will be abit slower (17.5% slower) and will have borders looking like wide screen meaning the games are not runningat full potential unless there's a 60hz mode on it you'll be lucky

[Kronosome]

Thanks a lot for the answers guys
So... Looks like usb hard drive isn't THAT cool after all ... Too bad, having a few games on a hard drive and appz and stuff seemed so cool ... To tell the truth I tryed hard drive on a friend of mine's xbox and it was awsum.

'pisses me off... I mean, I was so bored I needed a ps2 fast, it was an emergency and I bought that slim shit expensive ass console XD
So there's no way to boot it w/ a free method ... Screw it, guess I'll just install a matrix infinity on it and stick to Dvds :O
Uuh I'll go check the modchips section, thanks again for the answers

P.S: Sinon le québec c'était une tentative d'imigration ratée :/ En fait j'ai tjrs vécu en france moi, j'ai pas pris l'accent la bas ms j'en ai profité pr améliorer mn anglais Au fait merci pour le site, j'irai rue mtgallet la prochaine fois que je monte sur Paris, j'habite Bordeaux

[unclejun]

Si tu cherches un bon forum ps2 en français, va voir lÃ*:
http://www.metagames-fr.com/

[Lurkar]

I have a different problem. I have the same USB Extreme copy and I've installed some games to the USB HD with my PC. However when I run the CD, it starts loading, the screen goes black and that's it. The disc spins like no tomorrow, but nothing happends.

I have a PAL V14 and Matrix Infinity. Is it because USBExtreme is NTSC and my PS2 is PAL?

Edit: Read the solution here. Turned off Makro-fix and it works.

[Lurkar]

Ok that led to another problem. I've installed the games thru the PC. I get Extreme running. When it came up it says, Insert USB device which has been there all the time. After 15 secs or so it pops up and I can boot a game. And then the problem arise. The screen just goes black, the Extreme CD spins and nothing happens.

Another issue I have is trying to install a back-up version of SSX on Tour but it fails after 43.50MB. However it runs fine on the PS2.

Edit: Hmmm, once I got my brain working, I have USB Advance. Shouldn't I have Extreme with my V14 or should Advance work?

[young_meezy]

I can't get the PC software to work. It keeps saying "source drive is invalid". I'm really frustrated since I spent $130 on an external HDD. USBadvance recognizez the HDD fine. JUst can't rip the games to it.

[unclejun]

Are you using a real dvd drive as a source drive?
What is your OS?
Can you make an ISO of the game with dvd decrypter, install the daemon tools,
mount your iso in the virtual dvd drive and use it as a source for ul_install?

[MindChild]

Try disabling DLA (from Sonic recording program) and see if that helps. also try disabling Drag & Drop recording for that drive and see if that works, i did those two things and it let me install using the drive as the source