Need help. new to PS2 exploiting. need advice on ESR loader please!

[betrayed olive]

I heard one of the easiest methods to playing back ups on PS2 is a program called ESR loader. I have a memory card, a USB stick, and obviously a PC. this is what I was told I needed. I looked all over google and asked everybody and nobody seems to know anything. Can someone give me a tutorial how to use ESR loader? I read the sticky here but it does not talk about ESR loader.

[betrayed olive]

bump

[dlanor]

I heard one of the easiest methods to playing back ups on PS2 is a program called ESR loader. I have a memory card, a USB stick, and obviously a PC. this is what I was told I needed. I looked all over google and asked everybody and nobody seems to know anything. Can someone give me a tutorial how to use ESR loader? I read the sticky here but it does not talk about ESR loader.

You will find an entire subforum dedicated to ESR inside the main forum named "PS2 Homebrew/Dev & Emu Scene"

Brief Description:
ESR is really an alternate CDVD device driver which allows use of burned game discs whose ISO files were patched in a special way before burning to DVD-R (or DVD+R) discs. The ESR patch makes the CDVD controller in the PS2 believe that a PS2 game disc is a DVD-Video movie, which the console allows playing from burned discs. But the ESR driver allows the game launching routines to see the original non-patched game disc content and thus run the game.

Running backups this way does not require any physical modification of the console, but it does require your PS2 to have the ability to launch the homebrew ESR driver (at least), and for this you will need some special launch method.

For consoles older than the latest model (which is SCPH-900xx where 'xx' is just region code), the preferred homebrew boot method is named "Free MC Boot" (== FMCB), and relies on putting a special boot folder containing special boot files on your PS2 memory card. These boot files will then be used by your PS2 at each reset/power_on and will allow you to start homebrew programs including ESR to run backups from burned discs.

Making the initial FMCB install is a hurdle for many users, and to help with that there is an installation service available through which volunteers will do the work for you at cost only of package and postage there and back to you again. You will find a 'sticky' thread dedicated to this service inside the FMCB subforum found inside the same main forum I mentioned above (the one with "Homebrew/Dev" in its title).

A normal FMCB installation includes both ESR and some other homebrew stuff, such as uLaunchELF (== uLE), "Simple Media System" (== SMS) and "Open PS2 Loader" (== OPL), which latter is the dominant loader program for PS2 games nowdays. It allows running backup games stored on internal HDD, or on external USB drive, or on a PC or NAS (using network to access the game ISOs).

All of these applications have their own project subforums inside the main forum I mentioned above, so browse there if you want to learn more about them.


However, if you have an SCPH-900xx model with the newest bios (which all consoles made after september 2008 do have, but none of the ones made before July 2008), then Sony has blocked the ability of your console to boot from MC, so the FMCB boot method will not work on those consoles. For such a case the best soft-mod solution is to buy the "SwapMagic v3.8 coder" boot discs, as they allow indirect booting of a homebrew program either from a USB stick or from a PS2 MC.

That will allow you to boot uLaunchELF (== uLE), almost as if you had done it through FMCB, and once you have uLE running you can use it to run most other homebrews (including all those mentioned above), just as if you had booted through FMCB.

I use this method myself on the one of my consoles that has the new bios (thus making FMCB boot impossible). But on the others I always use FMCB for booting uLE.

So either one of those methods, FMCB or SwapMagic, is what I would recommend for you, depending on which console model and bios version you have.

Best regards: dlanor

[betrayed olive]

I'm confused. what exactually were you just saying? could you link me in the right direction? I would rather do the ESR method, not a swap magic disc method(unless it's possible I can burn a swap magic disc)

[dlanor]

I'm confused. what exactually were you just saying?

I answered your original question, by explaining what ESR is and the normal context for its use, as well as where to find additional information.

could you link me in the right direction?

I already told you where to go to find all the information you need, so a direct link should not be needed. You found your way into this forum named "SwapMod, NoMod& Exploit Discussion", didn't you ?

So in the same main forum listing where you found the link to this forum, you should also find one to a similar forum named "PS2 Homebrew/Dev & Emu Scene", like I told you in my last post. And that forum is a bit special in that it contains not only threads, but also additional subforums dedicated to each of the major homebrew projects having their 'home' here at psx-scene.

And that includes subforums for ESR, FMCB, uLaunchELF, and many other vital projects.

Linking you directly into only one of the subforums or only one of their threads would not be a good way to help you, as you would then miss out on lots of crucial information. It is better that you learn how to find the important stuff on this site by navigating it yourself, for which the first and most important step is to navigate your web browser into the forum named "PS2 Homebrew/Dev & Emu Scene" since that contains the other PS2 homebrew subforums.

That main forum is the only one I will link here, though you really ought to be able to find that too on your own.

I would rather do the ESR method, not a swap magic disc method(unless it's possible I can burn a swap magic disc)

I never said that you had to use any specific method, since I have NO clue as to what console model you have, and therefore do not know if you can use FMCB or need SwapMagic to be able to boot homebrews. (And burned SwapMagic discs do NOT boot on an unmodded console.)

You also seem to be misunderstanding the role of ESR here completely.

There is no such thing as an ESR boot method for the PS2 console.
ESR is just a device driver allowing game launching to use burned discs.
But you can't even start that device driver without first booting another homebrew.

One common method to do that is to use the FMCB boot method, but for the latest consoles made (all after September 2008) that method is blocked by Sony, so for those consoles SwapMagic is the most popular soft-mod.

That is why you need either FMCB or SwapMagic or a hardware modchip, to perform the basic boot of the console into a suitable homebrew. Else you will not be able to run any useful game loader (since they are ALL homebrew programs).

Once you have booted a suitable, homebrew program, such as the FMCB menu (modified version of Sony's OSDSYS), or uLaunchELF, then you can use these to launch either the ESR device driver or some more complex game loader, and these will then work the same way regardless of what method you used for the initial boot of the console.

Best regards: dlanor