Quick Question

[BtDaG]

Hello

New to the community - guaranteed to be a stupid question but i can't seem to find a simple answer anywhere.

I'm basically looking for the easiest way to transfer a save from my PS2 memory cards to my computer. I've just found some decent emulation software and want to play all my old games again but i'm getting bored of starting them from the beginning.

Any ideas? Links? Tips? etc to get me started?

The PS2 isn't chipped/softmodded etc. I'm familiar with the process from modding my xbox but i'm sure it's vastly different for the PS2. Can yo let me know if this is necessary as well?

Cheers

[NuclearAqua]

Hello

New to the community - guaranteed to be a stupid question but i can't seem to find a simple answer anywhere.

I'm basically looking for the easiest way to transfer a save from my PS2 memory cards to my computer. I've just found some decent emulation software and want to play all my old games again but i'm getting bored of starting them from the beginning.

Any ideas? Links? Tips? etc to get me started?

The PS2 isn't chipped/softmodded etc. I'm familiar with the process from modding my xbox but i'm sure it's vastly different for the PS2. Can yo let me know if this is necessary as well?

Cheers

Your best bet would be to softmod your PS2 with SwapMagic or having someone installing FMCB on your memory card and then run uLaunchELF to copy your saves to a flash drive. I think SwapMagic disks are cheap nowadays.

[wmxp]

There's a lot of different methods to get your save data. As just mentioned, SwapMagic or FMCB along with uLaunchELF; used in conjunction with a flash drive works great as one example.

-FMCB = Free Memory Card Boot. The ever popular universal PS2 softmod for running homebrew. You need some way to get the files on your memory card in the first place though. This is probably the most time consuming method unless you have a friend with a modified PS2 already, or you want to mail your memory card to one of the scene community members who do free installs. This is the most feature rich route, but if you have no interest in tackling your PS2 anymore then perhaps not ideal.
Free McBoot Home

-SwapMagic = Commercial product consististing of pressed discs for loading burned media on a PS2. One of it's bonus features is the ability to load homebrew executables off various sources including USB flash drives.
Welcome to Swap Magic 3 Official Web Site

-uLaunchELF (ULE) = .ELF is the executable format of the playstation. Think .EXE on your computer. This application is a complete file manager for the PS2 packed to the brim with more features that you can shake a stick at. FMCB/SwapMagic are just methods to get this application to run. With it, you can easily copy the contents of your memory cards to a flash drive, or even FTP them directly to your computer if your PS2 is network enabled.
Just like the Xbox though, the PS2 saves to memory card with a GameID labelled folder and a mess of files within. It's somewhat disorganized to skim through. ULE will simply copy the folders verbatim.
=============================================

A much easier method, not going the homebrew route is to use a commercial game cheat product such as an Action Replay or CodeBreaker. These products, in their later revisions have memory managers allowing you to easily backup your memory card to a flash drive, but in labelled container files for better organization. EBGames, GameStop, craigslist, etc should have a few of these kicking around still. You don't need anything fancy, just the most basic cheat disc such as an Action Replay MAX, without any memory card addon. Then all you need is a plain old generic flash drive, 4 gigs or less. (PS2 does not support high capacity mass storage)


This utility handles most if not all the major container formats, and allows you to easily extract or convert one format to another:
PS2 Save Tools - PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox360, Memor32, save hacking, tools, game saves and more

[TnA]

Your post is clear, consistent and most of it true, except this...

Then all you need is a plain old generic flash drive, 4 gigs or less. (PS2 does not support high capacity mass storage)

The PS2 does support bigger USB-HDDs and USB-Flashdrives...

[wmxp]

It's hit or miss in my experience. Most high capacity drives I've tried don't work. ULE works with more devices, since it's had several USB driver tweaks but cheat device software is a lot more picky with what it will work with. *shrugs*

[TnA]

Indeed! It is a problem of the Cheatdevice-Software(s), respectively their USB-Device- and/or Storage-Drivers.

...but the PS2 itself still supports drives bigger than 4GB. heh

[BtDaG]

Wow thanks for the quick replies and wealth of information.

I'll have to boot up my Action Replay Max again and explore it's features. I only have a 16GB flash drive so i'll give that a go and see if it works.