ESR only works sometimes. Question...

[moo]

Hello,

Upon learning about the FFXII IZJS English patch, I completed all the steps to play it on my PS2, but it will only load about 10% of the time. I usually get "Unknown Media in Drive" in ESR. I'm confident I burned the game properly, I must have if its loaded twice so far and I was able to play for several hours.

Is there anything I could do to get it to load better or is this usual activity for ESR?

Other info if necessary:

PS2 model: (old fat ps2) SCPH-30001
ESR Beta 9
Free MC Boot 1.8

IMGBurn used to make ISO of both games (US and JAP)
ffgriever's eng patch used
ESR_disc_patcher_GUI_v0.24a applied
IMGBurn used to burn it to DvD-R

Any info that can help reduce the "Unknown Media in Drive" is appreciated.


Thanks!


P.S. ffgriever are you taking donations for the work you did? I'd love to toss a few bucks your way for the work you did so we can play this in English!

[XJointheAznX]

Your PlayStation 2 is at least eight years old. It's perfectly normal for the laser to be a bit worn/weak. You may want to re-adjust the laser pots, replace the laser, or even get a slim. This problem also occurs on my oldest PlayStation 2, which is why i have been using HDLoader for the past year.

[dlanor]

@moo:
Possibly it is indeed the laser getting 'tired' in its old age, but it could also be a problem with the DVD-R disc quality. PS2 consoles are notoriously demanding when it comes to disc quality, so cheap discs that would work fine for PC backups are out of the question for a PS2 backup.

Personally I always use Verbatim AZO 16X DVD-R discs, and they never let me down.

In fact those discs are made by Mitsubishi (product code MCC03RG20), but the point is that they are top quality. There are other brands and disc types that will also work fine, but cheap no-name discs should always be avoided.

It may seem like a good deal to use cheap discs, when you look only at the immediate price tag. But it is really the most expensive and otherwise rotten deal you can make, as bad disc readability can ruin your enjoyment of the games for months or even years to come, and the bad readability will also cause your console to increase the laser current, which will shorten the lifespan of your laser.

Best regards: dlanor

[ffgriever]

Unfortunately the PS2 has some serious issues reading the very beginning of the DVD disc. In most cases it would have no problems reading the game content, but the udf descriptor and DVDVideo data placement (inner area) on the disc makes the whole thing harder for the laser. You should try some of the best media and experiment with the writing speed (different for various combinations of burner, disc and ps2 model... though with verbatims dvd+/-r and good burner it most often is either x8 or x12).

Eventually, like XJointheAznX wrote, you can feed up the laser, but you have to know the risk - it will wear down really fast (much faster than it did to this time, but it would give you maybe a year of gaming, depending on how much time you spend playing games).

P.S. ffgriever are you taking donations for the work you did? I'd love to toss a few bucks your way for the work you did so we can play this in English!

No. Never did, never will. It's fun, not work. I didn't really waste any other resurce than my free time. Plus, it wasn't such a waste (as I wrote, I had fun).