I need help with FMCB before I can use the translated ffxii zjs

Hi, I've been playing the English-patched IZJS for a while and I seem to have encountered an problem.
I'm currently exploring the later portions of Henne Mines trying to get Zodiark. I saved my game at the orange crystal before the long route to Zodiark. Unfortunately, I have died multiple times in that area because of the crazy enemies there. Here's the problem: After the "Game Over" screen appears, it goes to the Square Enix screen and then the game just stops running. All I see is a black screen.
So, what I did was reset the system, load up Swap Magic, and play the game again. But, for some reason, the game doesn't completely load at all. Sometimes, it shows the Square Enix logo and then it quickly goes away. The game still doesn't load or anything beyond the logo shows up.
The weird thing is that after I give up for a few hours and I try it again, the game actually works until I happen to die in the game due to my own errors of judgment and the cycle repeats itself.
Has anyone gotten up to this part and figured out how to deal with this? Is this some kind of glitch/bug?
By the way, the game is burned onto a Sony DVD-R if that's relevant. Any advice is gladly appreciated!

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Originally Posted by triplexraider

Hi, I've been playing the English-patched IZJS for a while and I seem to have encountered an problem.
I'm currently exploring the later portions of Henne Mines trying to get Zodiark. I saved my game at the orange crystal before the long route to Zodiark. Unfortunately, I have died multiple times in that area because of the crazy enemies there. Here's the problem: After the "Game Over" screen appears, it goes to the Square Enix screen and then the game just stops running. All I see is a black screen.
So, what I did was reset the system, load up Swap Magic, and play the game again. But, for some reason, the game doesn't completely load at all. Sometimes, it shows the Square Enix logo and then it quickly goes away. The game still doesn't load or anything beyond the logo shows up.
The weird thing is that after I give up for a few hours and I try it again, the game actually works until I happen to die in the game due to my own errors of judgment and the cycle repeats itself.
Has anyone gotten up to this part and figured out how to deal with this? Is this some kind of glitch/bug?
By the way, the game is burned onto a Sony DVD-R if that's relevant. Any advice is gladly appreciated!

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To me your symptoms sound as if the SwapMagic boot method is not fully working like it should, though I'm not sure if this is due to some media read problems or due to some anti-SwapMagic disc checks of the game, or even due to an abnormal disc structure. Most Square (nowdays Square-Enix) game discs have abnormalities in their TOC, which might account for some swapping problems as well.

On my v18 PSTwo (where FMCB can't work) I use SwapMagic for booting, but I never use its disc-swapping features. I only use it to boot uLE from "mc0:/SWAPMAGIC/SWAPMAGIC.ELF", and then use uLE to launch ESR from "mc0:/BOOT/ESR.ELF" by inserting an ESR-patched game and then pressing a uLE menu button defined to launch "MISC/PS2Disc" (which auto-detects ESR patch and launches ESR for discs needing it).

This method should never fail, unless you have physical disc read problems.

Best regards: dlanor

Hmmm, I see. I have legit copies of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ and FFXII: IZJS and they work fine with the disc-swapping method. I have a SCPH-77001 PS2, so will I be able to boot uLE if I have a memory card with the program?

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Originally Posted by triplexraider

Hmmm, I see. I have legit copies of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ and FFXII: IZJS and they work fine with the disc-swapping method.

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Well, the FFXII discs really should behave the same, so that raises the possibility of some other error.

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I have a SCPH-77001 PS2, so will I be able to boot uLE if I have a memory card with the program?

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Sure, assuming that you use a reasonably recent version of SwapMagic. v3.6 and v3.8 can boot homebrews from a SWAPMAGIC folder either on mc0 or on a USB drive, and I think v3.3 could do it from mc0 only. But with a v15 console like that you really should be using FMCB for homebrews, and with FMCB you can boot ESR-patched backups as if they were original discs. Then you can forget SwapMagic, and just leave the ESR-patched backup in the drive non-stop. You can still boot into the FMCB menu or uLE for homebrew use, or use the ESR or PS2Disc commands to launch the game disc.

That's what I do with my v15 SCPH-77004.
(I use SwapMagic only on my V18 SCPH-90004, and only because that console model can't use FMCB)

Best regards: dlanor

Where would I place the .ISO files then if I were to use this method? In the main USB drive itself or in the SWAPMAGIC folder?

I just tried the FMCB method and for some reason, my FFXII: IZJS save file was gone. I'm wondering what the hell just happened. Though I do got another save file from the game in my other Memory Card. Argh, I don't know what happened.

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Originally Posted by triplexraider

Where would I place the .ISO files then if I were to use this method? In the main USB drive itself or in the SWAPMAGIC folder?

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I have no idea what ISO files on the PS2 you are talking about.
I assumed you were aware of what an ESR backup is, since you are posting in the ESR forum.

ESR backups are burned discs, made from ISOs same as normal game backups, except that they are patched with the ESR patcher before burning. With ESR installed on a PS2 console and correctly used this will allow that backup disc to be used, without any disc swapping, even on an unmodded console.

So the game ISO files only exist on your PC, as ripped from your original disc and then patched and burned to the backup disc. After that the ISOs are of no further interest unless you want to save them for long-term backup storage.

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Originally Posted by triplexraider

I just tried the FMCB method and for some reason, my FFXII: IZJS save file was gone. I'm wondering what the hell just happened. Though I do got another save file from the game in my other Memory Card. Argh, I don't know what happened.

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Neither do I, except that you must have made some kind of mistake (formatting MC in the FMCB installer perhaps ?).

Best regards: dlanor

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Originally Posted by dlanor

I have no idea what ISO files on the PS2 you are talking about.
I assumed you were aware of what an ESR backup is, since you are posting in the ESR forum.

ESR backups are burned discs, made from ISOs same as normal game backups, except that they are patched with the ESR patcher before burning. With ESR installed on a PS2 console and correctly used this will allow that backup disc to be used, without any disc swapping, even on an unmodded console.

So the game ISO files only exist on your PC, as ripped from your original disc and then patched and burned to the backup disc. After that the ISOs are of no further interest unless you want to save them for long-term backup storage.


Neither do I, except that you must have made some kind of mistake (formatting MC in the FMCB installer perhaps ?).

Best regards: dlanor

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Oops, yeah. I was wondering how to run the ESR-patched IZJS disc I burned through FMCB. I don't have ESR installed onto my PS2. I'm not too worried about the file loss since I already played the original FFXII and did almost everything possible. I'll start a new walkthrough sometime soon in the near future.
Thanks for the advice so far, dlanor!

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Originally Posted by dlanor

(I use SwapMagic only on my V18 SCPH-90004, and only because that console model can't use FMCB)

Best regards: dlanor

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You can use ESR in that PS2 without Free MC Boot. I found a way and I tested it in a normal PS2, but with FMCB disabled. You can found here an (spanish)tutorial
http://daxhordes.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1189

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Originally Posted by largeroliker

You can use ESR in that PS2 without Free MC Boot. I found a way and I tested it in a normal PS2, but with FMCB disabled. You can found here an (spanish)tutorial
http://daxhordes.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1189

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FMCB is the app that can't be used on the newer models PS2.
You can start ANY app by using any of the FMCB installation guides(including ESR).