Game not booting

[Burneddi]

Hello!

I just installed Free McBoot on my PS2 mainly to play various backups of my games, several of which have been damaged to unreadable state.

So, to test it out I burned a functional game (Ratchet and Clank 3) on a DVD by first ripping the .img with DVDDecrypter, then patching it with ESR Patcher and burning it back on a disk (I used Nero if that mattters, however I suppose it really doesn't, burned at 8x speed).

Ok, then I insert the disk into my PS2 disk drive, and open up ESR-gui. It says that the drive contains "PS2DVD" or something. I hit "Launch CDVD", several colourful flashes come up (the last one displayed is cyan, I suppose it might matter as I read they're some debug info), and then just blackscreen.

What did I do wrong?

PS: This isn't related to this at all, but will a normal IDE-hard disk work for the PS2? I mean, I got several of those sitting in old useless computers and wondered if I could use them for something.

E: Console is SCPH-39004 (Therefore I guess it's V7) and I bought it back in 2004 or 2003 or something. I can't remember.

[loki7777]

To use ide hdd You also will need network adapter.
You also should give use name of this game, maybe it isnt compatible with esr

[dlanor]

I just installed Free McBoot on my PS2 mainly to play various backups of my games, several of which have been damaged to unreadable state.

So, to test it out I burned a functional game on a DVD by first ripping the .img with DVDDecrypter, then patching it with ESR Patcher and burning it back on a disk (I used Nero if that mattters, however I suppose it really doesn't, burned at 8x speed).

Ok, then I insert the disk into my PS2 disk drive, and open up ESR-gui. It says that the drive contains "PS2DVD" or something. I hit "Launch CDVD", several colourful flashes come up (the last one displayed is cyan, I suppose it might matter as I read they're some debug info), and then just blackscreen.

What did I do wrong?

Nothing of what you described above is wrong in itself, except for your description of the disc status message:
"PS2DVD IN DRIVE" means that you have an original PS2 disc in the disc tray (or an active modchip)
"PS2DVDV IN DRIVE" means that you have an ESR-patched backup in the disc tray

For us to understand your situation your description of such things MUST be precise, which I suspect it was not in this case.

Another potential cause of problems, perhaps the MOST common such cause, is inferior quality of the backup media (like Philips, or Memorex, and many other brands).

Personally I always prefer Verbatim (really Mitsubishi-made) while others like Sony or TDK or other high-quality brands.

PS: This isn't related to this at all, but will a normal IDE-hard disk work for the PS2? I mean, I got several of those sitting in old useless computers and wondered if I could use them for something.

You've not mentioned your PS2 model, or any extra equipment it may have, so we have no idea if you can use any IDE HDD. This will require either having a 'fat PS2' with the network adaptor add-on (includes IDE interface), or a 'slim PSTwo' of model v12 or v13, both of which have product codes in the range SCPH-700xx and which then also require an add-on expansion kit soldering the IDE interface connections to its motherboard.

Assuming you have an IDE interface, of either of the kinds mentioned above, then you can use any normal PATA IDE HDD with that console, though it will require total reformatting to the PS2-specific format. So you can not also keep any old partitions you might have on those drives.

Without such an IDE interface you can only connect an HDD by USB, which will require either a dedicated USB HDD or a USB adaptor that allows connection of an IDE HDD. (I've used both myself with good results). But the USB interface of a PS2 is only USB 1.1, and barely able to live up to even that speed definition. So such HDD usage will be very slow for all large-file transfers, including the launching of backup games from such an HDD.

Edit:
I see that you added your PS2 model code, which makes things a little clearer. I have exactly the same model myself by the way.

For me this works fine both with ESR and HDD usage (through a network adaptor of course), though it does have some reading problems with dual layer backups (tried both "DVD-R DL" and "DVD+R DL"), but that is not unexpected in consoles this old. Dual layer reading is much more demanding than single-layer reading, if not quite as bad as RW reading (which is definitely the worst, and can even damage the laser).

Best regards: dlanor

[Burneddi]

[insert long message here]

Thanks for fast reply!

Indeed, I re-checked the "Status"-box and it does say PS2DVDV after all. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The backup media used was a Sony DVD+R disc. It has some AccuCORE-logo on the packaging, perhaps that's the "model".

EDIT: I live in Finland by the way, so the game and everything is PAL. I'm not sure if it has any matter in this, though.

EDIT2: ...might also be worth mentioning I used the "Noobie package" of FMCB for installation.

[dlanor]

Indeed, I re-checked the "Status"-box and it does say PS2DVDV after all. Sorry for the inconvenience.

That is what I thought, meaning that the ESR program has recognized the ESR patch on the disc.

The backup media used was a Sony DVD+R disc. It has some AccuCORE-logo on the packaging, perhaps that's the "model".

I'm not so familiar with Sony discs myself, but generically for DVD+R discs we also have the booktype issue to consider. I'm not sure how this would affect things though, as I've never used them myself, except for dual layer discs and then always booktyped to DVDROM.

EDIT: I live in Finland by the way, so the game and everything is PAL. I'm not sure if it has any matter in this, though.

I live in Sweden myself, so there is just a little water between us
(plus lots of ancient conflicts of course, but I hope you don't hold a grudge over that )

I too have PAL region for most things (except some import games), and the model of my main console is exactly the same as yours, so anything that works for me should also work for you. That is assuming that your CDVD laser is still healthy...

EDIT2: ...might also be worth mentioning I used the "Noobie package" of FMCB for installation.

Good to know, as it clarifies exactly what you have.

Anyway, I would suggest that you try burning a normal DVD-R disc of suitable quality and/or double check the booktype setting used for your DVD+R discs.

You might also want to try replacing (after backing it up of course) your current ESR.ELF file in the "mc0:/BOOT/" folder with the "ESR beta r9b dvdv direct.elf" variant from ffgriever's release package "ESR beta r9b.rar" found in the first post of the "ESR - public beta" thread in this subforum. In this replacing you should of course rename the new elf to be "ESR.ELF" just like the old one, and simply copy it into that folder using the uLE FileBrowser (which I hope you have learned how to use) so that it overwrites the old one. (Which is why I told you to back it up first, so you can switch back later if you want to.)

That elf will directly boot an ESR disc in tray (if possible), without requiring any user interaction at all. Many people (including me) prefer that elf for its convenience, and it might give you some change in the problem behaviour, so it is worth trying.

Best regards: dlanor

[Burneddi]

You might also want to try replacing (after backing it up of course) your current ESR.ELF file in the "mc0:/BOOT/" folder with the "ESR beta r9b dvdv direct.elf" variant from ffgriever's release package "ESR beta r9b.rar" found in the first post of the "ESR - public beta" thread in this subforum. In this replacing you should of course rename the new elf to be "ESR.ELF" just like the old one, and simply copy it into that folder using the uLE FileBrowser (which I hope you have learned how to use) so that it overwrites the old one. (Which is why I told you to back it up first, so you can switch back later if you want to.)

This did the trick!

Thank you, alot! Game boots and runs fine.

On a side note, is it legal to torrent games that I own but which have been scratched into borkage? I have Star Wars Battlefront 2 which was a very good game, but it has this online thing and I read somewhere that online games require some additional tweaking to work... The disk loads on the PS2 but that's about it - there's a plenty of graphical glitches and stuff.

So I read that to make this kind of games run you need some files from the original disk. The files concerned might be undamaged by scratches, so would it in theory be possible to make it work?

[Bootlegninja]

On a side note, is it legal to torrent games that I own but which have been scratched into borkage?

I don't want anything of that here.

[dlanor]

----- re: replacing ESR GUI elf with 'dvdv direct' elf

This did the trick!

Thank you, alot! Game boots and runs fine.

I'm glad to hear it. While the GUI program is intended to work the same way as the specialied non-interactive ESR elfs when properly used, it doesn't always work out that way. For some few games one or the other can be more compatible. At least so I've heard, but for me anything that failed with the specialized elfs also failed with the GUI, so I tend to stick to the specialized ones, with the 'dvdv direct' installed for default use and using uLE to launch the others when needed. (especially the 'mcard' variant when I want to browse an ESR disc from uLE)

On a side note, is it legal to torrent games that I own but which have been scratched into borkage?

This has been discussed many times before, and generally we discourage such discussions here.

If you truly own the disc, then there is of course no moral change of any kind if you access a duplicate of the files you already own by other means. But it would be too easy for kids to claim that they own all kinds of stuff and then turn these forums into a general meeting place for downloaded game swapping, IF we were to allow such discussions at all.

And that is the reason why all such discussions are forbidden here, and will remain so.

I have Star Wars Battlefront 2 which was a very good game, but it has this online thing and I read somewhere that online games require some additional tweaking to work... The disk loads on the PS2 but that's about it - there's a plenty of graphical glitches and stuff.

So I read that to make this kind of games run you need some files from the original disk. The files concerned might be undamaged by scratches, so would it in theory be possible to make it work?

Possibly, but if it involves any discussion of how to download games and manipulate those downloads, then it is a forbidden topic.

Pure discussion of how to handle your own files taken from your own discs is another matter, as there is nothing wrong with that. And personally I believe that it might well be possible to extract such files from your original disc, even where a full install from the disc consistently fails.

The chance of success at such extraction is especially good if you use a good ISO-handling tool like IsoBuster to extract the tricky files. This even allows you to choose which filesystem to go through, which might make a difference for critical cases, as IsoBuster is one of the few tools that is able to display the different parallel filesystems of an Iso file (or physical disc) independently.

And that allows you to make separate extraction attempts through the ISO9660 directory and the UDF directory, which might help for some cases, even though the real data sectors of the files are normally the same. But if one of these directories is damaged, while the other is not, then it is the latter you need to use, and that is a choice the other tools won't allow you to make. (They only show a single filesystem.)

Best regards: dlanor

[ffgriever]

This did the trick!

Nice it worked for you. It is quite weird though. The whole IOP core and virtually all EE core (one simple change to get rid of default options used by the non gui versions - in gui version the options can be simply set) are the same in both gui and non gui versions of ESR. But it's not that impossible after all. Try launching the ESR Gui using uLE instead of the FMCB launcher (yes, I know it works for you now, I'm just curious - I did some mistakes in previous versions that gave similar results, so I probably didn't fix everything as I thought I did).

[luisoman2000]

I know the issue is resolved and all, but i wanted to add a little something: since you have the original game, why not take it somplace to get repaired? There must be a few places where you live where they can repair scratched discs.