Very late DMS3 buyer needs help

[tinpanalley]

I just got a DMS3 V2 chip for my PS2. Yes, I know very late for getting that chip. It was offered to me at a really great price and since the clone chip I had in there wasn't working properly I jumped at the opportunity to have a DMS chip.

Most of the information floating around about this chip is rather old naturally and there's a lot of confusing posts about which apps are best to run on your PS2 with this chip installed. I was wondering if anyone could help me with the following questions. Thing is, at a certain point, once a chip has been around for a long time (much like PS2 modding for that matter) certain well established software and applications come to be used by most people because they have proven to be the best for all needs. So, i was hoping I could get some opinions from those of you who have had this chip or others for a long time and have kept up to date with PS2 modchip apps.

My PS2: 39001 (vers. 7)
Chip: DMS3 V2
HDD: Maxtor 80GB
Network Adapter plus wired connection to my router.

My questions:
1. I am currently running LaunchElf 3.57 from my memory card with a PSX title as a trigger. Is there a better or at least nicer looking launcher for programs and apps? Anything like XBOX Media Center for the XBOX? How is "myPS2"? This seems to be the only one I've come across.
2. Is there any reason why I would want the DMS Explorer from the DMS website? Or is it basically the same as Launchelf?
3. How do I adjust the settings of my DMS3 chip? PAL/NTSC, startup options, etc.
4. What program is everyone using for FTPing iso's to the harddrive so that they work with HDLoader?
5. Are elfs on memory cards the only way to run apps? Can these elfs be run off my HDD in any way? I'm just trying to avoid having to use the PSX trigger disc to make things simpler.

Any help on any of these things would be very much appreciated.

Thank you so much everyone!

[spedmetal]

yeah the DMS3 has Dev1 and Dev2 mode. I would ether install ULE to your memory card in mc0:BOOT/BOOT.ELF and launch it with the DMS3's Dev1 option or in Dev2 mode on the HDD. ULE is the best app launcher/file manger the PS2 scene has ever seen and it just keeps getting better and better. With ULE you can also launch apps from the HDD and you can configure it with custom skins.

To put games on your HDD forget about the FTP options and stick with winhiip on your PC.

The attached document is the readme from the last DMS3 flash update that I know of.

[tinpanalley]

Hey spedmetal,
Thanks for the reply. Just a couple of questions...

1. "launch it with the DMS3's Dev1 option or in Dev2 mode on the HDD"

This is what I can't seem to understand. How do I get to a menu where I can actually choose these dev options? I have the chip in there working fine, but I never get any kind of menu that allows me to change settings on my chip. Is there some program that I'm supposed to install? Is that what DMS Explorer is? If that gets installed will that run instead of the ULaunchelf that I have on my memory card right now? Or am I completely lost about all of this?

2. Is the "Launchelf 3.57" that I have the same as the ULE that you're talking about or is it another program altogether?

3. "forget about the FTP options and stick with winhiip on your PC"

I set up PS2NET on my Launchelf 3.57 and then I have "HDL_Dump Server 0.8.3" on the PS2 and "HDL_Dump GUI 2.1" on my PC. Is your way better? Or perhaps the better question is, how is your way (Winhiip) different?

Thanks again!

[spedmetal]

I'm sure you have seen this link

http://www.dms3.com/cgi-bin/dms3/site.pl

That in addition to the document I posted tells you how to access it all.

If I was you I would boot execftps on my PS2 and FTP into my memory card (since you are already ftp-uploading your files you should have the network thing figured out) and install the most current version of uLaunchELF (ULE) which can be found here and install it to mc0:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF

You can then boot ULE in dev mode by holding triangle at startup. This will of course be done with out a PSX trigger disc (I always find if funny when people that have a Dev chip use the exploit) to launch ULE. After this has been done you can use ULE's own FTP option to FTP back into the PS2 and install HDL wherever you would like (MC,HDD,MASS) then direct ULE to launch it.

If you are comfortable with the slow process of uploading games to the HDD over FTP stick with it. However with winhiip you can transfer games to the HDD at blazing speeds right on your PC with out the need for your PS2 at all. Also winhiip has some other very useful features.

good luck

[tinpanalley]

This question might not make sense but how do I get my chip to know that there is something on my memory card that I want it to start in dev mode?

Where and using what software do I assign a certain app to Dev mode 1 and Dev mode 2 (oh, and mode 2 the website makes no mention of at all).

Is this what DMS Explorer is for?