Big Bowl of Questions!

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06-16-2011, 10:14 PM
Tallgeese3

Big Bowl of Questions!

Hi all. Somewhat of a long post I know... but that's just how I do things =D . For those of those who can stomach my sense of humor and long text and take the time out to reply thanks.

1. Is it possible to compress Ps2 iso's?

1.)As a former psp user I would compress all my ISOs before placing them on my memory stick. The process was fast and I never experienced any problems from the games after. Are there some subtle technical differences in the ISO formats preventing the same process from working or what?

From what I've read so far the closest thing you could do is rebuild an ISO to remove dummy data BUT that only works if your going to burn it on a CD and it won't work for every game. Can anyone shed some light on this subject please.

2. My harddrive is the stock one that comes with FFXI. I've used it for FFXI so it may or may not have all the install data on it. How much space does the FFXI install use + any other additional files that might be lurking inside/ What's the best way to reformat/Would I need to reinstall anything after a reformat (I still have all the disc that came with it).

2.) Once I found out I could hack my ps2 and place games on the HD I went straight to doing that and never took the time to reformat it or get rid of the FFXI stuff. One night I was fooling around with ulanchelf and supposedly removed 3 FFXI folders like the minigame tetra whatever, and two main folders but it didn't seem like it freed up any space. Now that I'm so tight on space if the FFXI stuff or other junk is still on there secretly and taking up valuable space a reformat might be warranted.

3. I used Free McBoot 1.8b Noobie Package []SKS Apps - Exploit Systems - Wii Ps3 Ps2 Apps - Homebrew Game Downloads when I hacked my ps2 and to this day I only know how to use hdloader and ulaunchelf! Do there happen to be any programs to trick out the PS2 that I should know about or surpass the ones that come in that package?

4. When I transfer over ISO's I use LAN and hdl dumb 0.8.3. . I get an average transfer rate of 1.4 . Any other recommendations as far as lan options go?

5. Anyone know what happened to the site called exploitstation.com? They were a great site and without the help of the nice people from the forum I would have never been able to make a boot disc from scratch and mutilate my ps2 so I could hack it. I wish I could have said goodbye :( .

6. Rate my game list. 1. Tekken 5, Burnout 4, Street fighter Anniversary collection, Soul Calibur 3, Marvel Vs Capcom2.

6.) As you can see I tried to collect the best/ most popular 2-player games I could find. The main purpose of me hacking my system was so I could take it over to people's houses (always super impresses non hackers lol) to game with or so when people/kids come over there's always something to play. Pretty sure I've got all the classics but if you know of any gems please let me know and I'll give them a try!

6.b)Games I've tried so far:

DBZ Budokai Tenkachi 3 - I love this game in 1-player, feels just like the show, but in two player its kind of meh. My nephew really likes it but I have it on my wii also so it is somewhat redundant. Recently got the boot to make space.

Burnout 3: I once played this over someone's house while we were getting high and I remember thinking how much I liked it back then but then I totally forgot about the next day. Then a few weeks ago a girl I'm trying to get with told me how she was into racing games with boost and it made me remember this game!(true story). So that same day I looked around for what I thought was the newest/best burnout and got it. I was really blown away at how fun the game was, especially since I've never been into racing games. This got the boot so I could try number 4. I'm hoping number 5 will be even better but reviews are pointing to no. I still haven't shown the girl burnout and leaning on going back too 3 due to it being so newb friendly. Only backdraw to this is I'm in the process of making her a new mixtape and I'm using a few of the songs from the Burnout 3 soundtrack and I won't seem nearly as cool if I give her a cd of music I obviously found on a game :crazy: .

Gran Turismo 4: Got this mostly for a friend who told me he liked racing games. I was impressed by immense amount of cars and the graphics but truthfully I've never been much for racing. This got the boot when I remembered about the burnout series and decided to give one a try.

Metal Slug Anthology - METAL SLUGGGGGGGGGGG!!!! I love this game to death. Got the boot cause of space restraints. If I can find the space it may make it back into the roster though.

Mortal Kombat :Armageddon - My brother liked this fighting game (probably because he stood the highest probability of actually winning) but I thought it was so-so. Tons of characters each with signature moves, fun little driving minigame, but the combat just didn't seem as fluid as what I was use too so I tossed it.

Naruto Shippuden 5: Liked it but I figured no one is really gonna play it besides me. Also wasn't proportioned correctly due to me converting it from pal.

Virtua Fighter 4: EVO - I was really psyched to get this game after reviewing reviews but I was let down. Felt like a mix of Soul Calibur and Tekken but not nearly as good as either one. Might have liked it more if I had someone to play and train with but that's not the case so it got tossed.

Games I want:

Dynasty Warriors 6 - Super hyped to play this but not nearly as hyped as I was to play Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (DL'ed it put it on HD then found out it doesn't work at all for hdloader /wrist). My experience with Dynasty warriors has been mixed; Played one constantly on my computer using a gba emu and then bought one years later for my psp and played it once :P. Hopefully this will get more love but that's only IF I can find a good working copy. I've already Dl'ed and installed two different copies and both failed to work.

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven - Always wanted a cool ninja game and after reading reviews I'm set on getting this one. Sadly the first ISO I tried didn't work!!! Got a new one that I'll try after posting this that will hopefully work.

Well this is the end for now folks. Hope I made the long read entertaining. Thanks again for taking the time to read and I appreciate any and all feedback yall want to give. Love and peace!
06-18-2011, 07:41 AM
Yuki

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

Hi all. Somewhat of a long post I know... but that's just how I do things =D . For those of those who can stomach my sense of humor and long text and take the time out to reply thanks.

1. Is it possible to compress Ps2 iso's?

1.)As a former psp user I would compress all my ISOs before placing them on my memory stick. The process was fast and I never experienced any problems from the games after. Are there some subtle technical differences in the ISO formats preventing the same process from working or what?

From what I've read so far the closest thing you could do is rebuild an ISO to remove dummy data BUT that only works if your going to burn it on a CD and it won't work for every game. Can anyone shed some light on this subject please.

In a word, no. The PS2 lacks the CPU power to decompress a game at runtime, unless this was specifically implemented by the developers, in which case it'll already be compressed. For example, some homebrew software such as uLE uses a "runtime packer" to minimise the amount of space it uses up on an MC.

I've only rebuilt ISOs for PSP before but I don't see why it would affect the ability of the game to run from HDD or LAN so if you want to experiment with this feel free.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

2. My harddrive is the stock one that comes with FFXI. I've used it for FFXI so it may or may not have all the install data on it. How much space does the FFXI install use + any other additional files that might be lurking inside/ What's the best way to reformat/Would I need to reinstall anything after a reformat (I still have all the disc that came with it).

2.) Once I found out I could hack my ps2 and place games on the HD I went straight to doing that and never took the time to reformat it or get rid of the FFXI stuff. One night I was fooling around with ulanchelf and supposedly removed 3 FFXI folders like the minigame tetra whatever, and two main folders but it didn't seem like it freed up any space. Now that I'm so tight on space if the FFXI stuff or other junk is still on there secretly and taking up valuable space a reformat might be warranted.

The quickest and easiest way to manage and reformat your PS2 HDD is to connect it to your PC, either using a caddy or directly to the motherboard. You'll need the WinHIIP software to read/write to the special file system that the PS2 uses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

3. I used Free McBoot 1.8b Noobie Package []SKS Apps - Exploit Systems - Wii Ps3 Ps2 Apps - Homebrew Game Downloads when I hacked my ps2 and to this day I only know how to use hdloader and ulaunchelf! Do there happen to be any programs to trick out the PS2 that I should know about or surpass the ones that come in that package?

It really depends on what you want to do with your console. If you're interested in media playback then SMS (also included with the Noobie Package) is worth looking at. If you're purely interested in gaming then Open PS2 Loader offers HDD/LAN/USB loading with higher compatibility than HDLoader and there are a whole host of emulators too. Just check out the PS2 Homebrew/Dev/Emu Scene Forum

I would also advise you to reinstall FMCB as the Noobie Package from SKSApps is out of date. Grab the latest official package from http://freemcboot.info/downloads/Noobie_Package.rar as this includes the aforementioned Open PS2 Loader in place of HDLoader. Personally, I still keep both for the occasions when I want to install games from disc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

4. When I transfer over ISO's I use LAN and hdl dumb 0.8.3. . I get an average transfer rate of 1.4 . Any other recommendations as far as lan options go?

This is a limitation of the PS2 I/O processor, as the Network Adapter doesn't have a DMA facility. The only way to get faster transfer speeds than this is to connect your PS2 HDD to your PC as I mentioned above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

5. Anyone know what happened to a site I believe was called hackstation? They were a great site and without the help of the nice people from the forum I would have never been able to make a boot disc from scratch and mutilate my ps2 so i could hack it. I wish I could have said goodbye :( .

No idea, sorry 3:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

6. Rate my game list. 1. Tekken 5, Burnout 4, Street fighter Anniversary collection, Soul Calibur 3, Marvel Vs Capcom2.

6.) As you can see I tried to collect the best/ most popular 2-player games I could find. The main purpose of me hacking my system was so I could take it over to people's houses (always super impresses non hackers lol) to game with or so when people/kids come over there's always something to play. Pretty sure I've got all the classics but if you know of any gems please let me know and I'll give them a try!

If you're a fan of fighters (which it looks like you are :3) then I'd recommend some of the more cult Japanese titles such as Guilty Gear and Melty Blood, they're a lot of fun and more challenging than your average Tekken or Street Fighter.

Regards,

-Yuki
06-18-2011, 07:25 PM
spiderman

Compressing a PS2 iso by rebuilding it is pretty easy and I'd definitely recommend it if your worried about space on your hdd. It works on about half of the games, and can save a surprising amount on some games (I think Star Wars Battlefront loses more than 2 gigabytes). To see if a game is a good candidate, pop it in your computer. Look at the size of the disk, then look at the size of the files on the disk. If there is a big difference, you might be able to shrink that game. If your a little more adventureous, you can look for and delete dummy files or foreign languages.
06-18-2011, 10:38 PM
spud42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yuki

I would also advise you to reinstall FMCB as the Noobie Package from SKSApps is out of date. Grab the latest official package from http://freemcboot.info/downloads/Noobie_Package.rar as this includes the aforementioned Open PS2 Loader in place of HDLoader. Personally, I still keep both for the occasions when I want to install games from disc.

not strictly necessary , FMCB itself has not changed nor has ESR. to update all you need to do is to get the latest uLE 4.42a and the latest SMS and OPL and put them on a USB stick. then using the uLE you already have copy them to the boot folder and overwrite . next boot of FMCB will have the newest versions. this is also the way to add emulators and other homebrew either to the MC or you can use uLE tor launch them from the USB stick.
06-22-2011, 01:54 AM
Tallgeese3

Thanks for the replies so far guys!

@yuki: thanks for the feedback. Got the latest programs now and I'll probably give melty blood (reminds me of Blazblue which I love) or guilty gear (played on gba and have yet to play a faster 2d fighter >.>) a chance. Also melty blood reminded me of bloody roar series which I totally forgot about till now =P.

@spiderman: I'm looking into rebuilding now so hopefully that goes well. I'll be sure to save not kill the next spider I see in my house in memory of you!

@spud42: Probably would have taken me an hour to realize I could just simply overwrite the old files by placing the new ones in the same folder so thanks for saving me a headache.

Only questions I have now are.....

1. Best way to reformat ps2 HDD when my ONLY connection option is LAN.

1.) I'm researching this now bu I'll check back here periodically.

2. Best 2-player games.

2.) While I do like traditional 2d fighters, the main reason I have them in my game lineup is that they're the most accessible to gamers and non-gamers alike. The backdraw to fighters are that they become less fun the larger the gap in the players fighting ability and honestly I'm merciless. With that being said if you know any fun games especially co-operative ones then please let me know!
06-22-2011, 05:10 AM
spud42

all the lego games are co-operative. batman,starwars,indiana jones, pirates.....etc.
06-22-2011, 07:32 AM
No.47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

While I do like traditional 2d fighters, the main reason I have them in my game lineup is that they're the most accessible to gamers and non-gamers alike. The backdraw to fighters are that they become less fun the larger the gap in the players fighting ability and honestly I'm merciless. With that being said if you know any fun games especially co-operative ones then please let me know!

The same question has been asked some days ago: http://psx-scene.com/forums/f20/co-o...e-games-88312/ ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by spud42

all the lego games are co-operative. batman,starwars,indiana jones, pirates.....etc.

Unfortunately LEGO Pirates isn't available for PS2. But the other three (or four, since there are two star wars games) are great :)
06-22-2011, 09:04 AM
spud42

Quote:

Originally Posted by No.47

The same question has been asked some days ago: http://psx-scene.com/forums/f20/co-o...e-games-88312/ ;)

Unfortunately LEGO Pirates isn't available for PS2. But the other three (or four, since there are two star wars games) are great :)

true. i forgot that was a Wii version we have...
both of the incredibles games and gi joe are co-op... my son and i have a good time with them....
kung fu panda is good. you can fight each other as the characters...
probably more but i cant think of any right now.....
06-23-2011, 06:14 AM
Tallgeese3

Could really use some help now guys! After formatting my PS2 by using the HDDManager I ran into some strange issues...

1. I can no longer properly connect to my ps2 using lan/ftp with [my computer].

1.) If you're confused about what I'm referring to then read this - SKS Apps - Exploit Systems - Wii Ps3 Ps2 Apps - Homebrew Game Downloads
starting from Connecting to the server: (I use a router not crossover cable). Before I did the format, the only problem I had with this method was random instability from time to time. Now whenever I try to use this option, instead of opening up a new ftp folder page in [my computer] it automatically opens up firefox instead and tries to connects that way. While fiefox does detect and connect to the ps2 there's nothing you can do but look at the files so its useless. I am aware of other methods of connecting over ftp but this was by far the simplest and quickest method so if anyone has a clue how to fix it I'd be grateful for your insight!!!

2.After formatting a new partition named boot was created. Are there any programs that allow you to edit partitions size like winhiip BUT can be used with a lan(router) method of connection.

2.) Now on one hand reformatting finally got rid of the 3 garbage FFXI partitions I had on the HD but then a new large and useless partition named boot was randomly created! What kind of random BS is this. HONESTLY! SO long story short, I'm looking for a partition editing program similar to winhiip that I can use to get rid/minimize these useless partitions and squeeze out the extra 2gb their taking up.

Thanks for your time peeps!
06-24-2011, 07:39 AM
dlanor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallgeese3

Could really use some help now guys! After formatting my PS2 by using the HDDManager I ran into some strange issues...

1. I can no longer properly connect to my ps2 using lan/ftp with [my computer].

That ability has absolutely nothing directly to do with the HDD formatting. It has to be an indirect effect of some kind, such as your connection clients responding to a partition being missing that existed before, and which they try to access. Failure in that access may then cause various secondary responses. But none of those are tied to the HDD formatting as such, but only to how this may have changed (removed) previous HDD content.

Quote:

1.) If you're confused about what I'm referring to then read this - SKS Apps - Exploit Systems - Wii Ps3 Ps2 Apps - Homebrew Game Downloads
starting from Connecting to the server: (I use a router not crossover cable). Before I did the format, the only problem I had with this method was random instability from time to time. Now whenever I try to use this option, instead of opening up a new ftp folder page in [my computer] it automatically opens up firefox instead and tries to connects that way. While fiefox does detect and connect to the ps2 there's nothing you can do but look at the files so its useless. I am aware of other methods of connecting over ftp but this was by far the simplest and quickest method so if anyone has a clue how to fix it I'd be grateful for your insight!!!

Are you seriously suggesting that a reformat of the HDD in the PS2 is the direct cause of which applications your PC launches...?

At a guess the link shortcut (or BAT script) you are using to make the FTP connection points to an access location in a partition that no longer exists. The built-in FTP client of Windows Explorer may then automatically fall back on the installed Web browser instead, which detects the FTP error message for an absent path and backs up to the root of that path instead. This is just guesswork of course, but is one of the few rational explanations for what you describe as happening.

In any case, if you insist on using FTP I would recommend using a proper FTP client program instead.

You might also consider using a HOST server on the PC side, and do all the file transfers from the uLE FileBrowser, alternating between PC folders in the "host:" pseudo device and your local "hdd0:" partitions and folders, skipping between them using shortcuts in the R2 submenu of the uLE FileBrowser. This is what I do when I want to transfer files over LAN, as it is a lot faster than FTP.

Quote:

2.After formatting a new partition named boot was created.

No. You probably mean the standard partition "__boot". The "__" prefix is significant here, as it indicates a standard system partition.

Quote:

Are there any programs that allow you to edit partitions size like winhiip BUT can be used with a lan(router) method of connection.

I'm not sure what they can do. HDL-Dump/HDL-Dumb has some commands visible which are not all fully implemented.

Quote:

2.) Now on one hand reformatting finally got rid of the 3 garbage FFXI partitions I had on the HD but then a new large and useless partition named boot was randomly created! What kind of random BS is this. HONESTLY!

I don't understand what you mean by 'random'. It is one of the standard PS2 partitions used for all bootable HDDs. It is even one of the few standards that all modchip makers agree on (the modchip DEV2 feature always boots "hdd0:/__boot/boot.elf). So there is absolutely nothing 'random' about this. I can understand that you dislike having it take up a lot of space, especially if your setup can't boot from HDD, but that's no reason to call it 'random'.

Quote:

SO long story short, I'm looking for a partition editing program similar to winhiip that I can use to get rid/minimize these useless partitions and squeeze out the extra 2gb their taking up.

I suggest using WinHiip to do that job this once anyway. And if you have one of the new computers without any PATA IDE interface, you can always use a USB to PATA IDE adapter for doing it. WinHiip works fine with those interfaces too.

Best regards: dlanor