Questions on HD Loader and FMBC+ESR

[essily]

Hi, it's me again. I'm trying to install a hard drive in my fat, unmodded PS2 using HD Loader and Free McBoot. I also want to backup some of my old games to DVDs. I've read the SKSApps FMCB tutorials and some other guides and I still have some questions.

1. If I have someone else put FMCB on a memory card, after I install FMCB on my PS2 can I use the softmodded PS2 and a USB drive to make as many backups of FMCB to different memory cards as I want, without having to use Action Replay or another method?

2. If that doesn't work out, is Codebreaker still a good installation option?

3. With the Multi-Version install option, will it take longer to load up or have some other side effect?

4. After FMCB is installed, do I have to keep the install files on my memory card or keep the USB drive plugged in permanently?

5. Does HD Loader support DVD-9 games and different region games? I think it does, but will PAL resolution games be screwed up on my NTSC console?

6. Same questions for DVD backups with FMCB+ESR. Will it play DVD-9 backups and different region backups, with normal resolution and no weird clipping?

Thanks for any replies. Hopefully this will help other people who have the same questions.

[TnA]

1. If I have someone else put FMCB on a memory card, after I install FMCB on my PS2 can I use the softmodded PS2 and a USB drive to make as many backups of FMCB to different memory cards as I want, without having to use Action Replay or another method?

First of all,... FMCB is ever installed on the MC and not on the PS2. It changes nothing inside the PS2.

To answer your question,... Yes, you can.

2. If that doesn't work out, is Codebreaker still a good installation option?

See, "1.". It works. If not, and you have access to codebreaker, just use it.
It is 1 way, to reach the goal.

3. With the Multi-Version install option, will it take longer to load up or have some other side effect?

It might be a bit slower (while loading).
No (other) "side-effects", except the wished feature behind it.

4. After FMCB is installed, do I have to keep the install files on my memory card or keep the USB drive plugged in permanently?

No for both.
You don't need a USB-Stick plugged in and also not the install-files on mc (except, you want to install it to another MC).

5. Does HD Loader support DVD-9 games and different region games? I think it does, but will PAL resolution games be screwed up on my NTSC console?

Yes, it does support DVD9 (patched versions, or newer "retails") and other regions.
It outputs the tv-format, defined by the game.

6. Same questions for DVD backups with FMCB+ESR. Will it play DVD-9 backups and different region backups, with normal resolution and no weird clipping?

Same thing here (for now).

[dlanor]

Hi, it's me again. I'm trying to install a hard drive in my fat, unmodded PS2 using HD Loader and Free McBoot. I also want to backup some of my old games to DVDs. I've read the SKSApps FMCB tutorials and some other guides and I still have some questions.

1. If I have someone else put FMCB on a memory card, after I install FMCB on my PS2 can I use the softmodded PS2 and a USB drive to make as many backups of FMCB to different memory cards as I want, without having to use Action Replay or another method?

Like TnA said, yes you can, but he forgot to mention that it can't be done like a backup.
Simply copying the installed FMCB files and folders to another MC will NOT work.

In order to work on another MC the FMCB files needs to be placed there by the FMCB installer, just as when you installed on your first MC.

But since you have that first MC available for booting uLaunchELF, starting the FMCB installer for future installs is no problem. Just remember to put a new MC into slot 1 before giving the install command.

3. With the Multi-Version install option, will it take longer to load up or have some other side effect?

No, there will be no negative side effects. In fact the only effects are these two:

1: The MC will work for booting all PS2/PStwo console models of the same region
2: If you want to update FMCB on that MC to a new version, you will need to use the command "Uninstall-Multiversion" before giving the new install command.

Btw: Recognition of old Multi-Install could be added to the FMCB installer in some future version, and then we wouldn't even need to remember this 'uninstall' ourselves. But for the present it is necessary.

4. After FMCB is installed, do I have to keep the install files on my memory card or keep the USB drive plugged in permanently?

No. The only things that need to remain are the files and folders that were installed to the MC by the FMCB installer. Normally this is restricted to three folders and their contents, those folders being:

1: "B?EXEC-SYSTEM" (where ? is region dependent) - Contains the main FMCB boot file(s)
2: "BOOT" - Default location for the default applications (uLE, ESR, HDL, SMS)
3: "SYS-CONF" - Homebrew system configuration folder,

SYS-CONF includes the FMCB configurator and CNF file, and it is also the default location for CNF files of uLE and many other homebrew programs

5. Does HD Loader support DVD-9 games and different region games?

Yes

I think it does, but will PAL resolution games be screwed up on my NTSC console?

The console does not care once you bypass the CDVD check, which is done automatically with HDL and ESR games. But your TV/Monitor may still have problems displaying PAL resolutions. But that is another matter, beyond the scope of this post.

6. Same questions for DVD backups with FMCB+ESR. Will it play DVD-9 backups and different region backups,

Yes

with normal resolution and no weird clipping?

Are you asking for miracles ?

If the games are designed to run in PAL resolution, then that is what they will do, regardless of the console region. And since PAL resolution has 100 scanlines more than NTSC, all of those scanlines can not be displayed, unless your TV/Monitor has PAL compatibility so it can adjust the displayed resolution accordingly. Nearly all PAL TV sets have such dual compatibility for NTSC, but very few NTSC sets have compatibility for PAL.

Without such hardware you are forced to use patching software which tries to trim the picture for minimum losses after forcing the game to set NTSC mode. The only reason why this sometimes works well is that many PAL games were in fact designed with the NTSC market in mind, so they never use the entire resolution of the PAL standard for significant display, like having neutral borders at top and bottom. Such games work well with forced NTSC and Y-fix methods, centering the used part of the picture so that only border lines are 'lost'.

Best regards: dlanor

[essily]

Perfect! Thanks very much for the responses, they pretty much clear everything up. Obviously I don't know a lot about PAL, lol. What it comes down to is, the console plays different region games fine, but the TV needs to be compatible.

Edit: Okay, I spoke too soon. I just reopened this to check something and realized I forgot to ask a few things. Sorry to bother you again.

1. I never asked how compatible FMCB+ESR is with DVD backups in general. Like how HD Loader is around 95%, or that's what I read anyway. How compatible is FMCB+ESR generally? The only compatibility list I can find is this one, and it's hard to find info on specific games.

2. Do I need the network adapter start up disc to use HD Loader? If so, does it matter which version, whether it matches with my network adapter or not? Mine didn't come with any discs.

3. Hopefully the last question. I read this list. What's a good large hard drive over 300 GB to use, and where can I get it? Maxtors seem to be generally hated and Seagate has some old network adapter compatibility issues. Hitachi any good? I can't find any of these available except this Seagate. My network adapter has a serial number beginning with 5, so maybe the Seagate would work. But I heard it's pretty noisy.

[essily]

bump

[ps2dragon]

1. I never asked how compatible FMCB+ESR is with DVD backups in general. Like how HD Loader is around 95%, or that's what I read anyway. How compatible is FMCB+ESR generally? The only compatibility list I can find is this one, and it's hard to find info on specific games.

Yea that's the main compatibility list, but there were also two other threads started about the same topic here and here. However, the first link only has one game added to it's list, and the second link lacks detail in it's list.

2. Do I need the network adapter start up disc to use HD Loader? If so, does it matter which version, whether it matches with my network adapter or not? Mine didn't come with any discs.

The "Network Adapter Start-Up Disc" is not needed if you intend to use HDLoader with your hard drive. Just make sure the HDLoader version you are using the lastest version 0.8c and is patched correctly for your PS2 version and hard drive size. You can always patch HDLoader yourself from these threads: DOS Patcher or Windows Patcher. You will also of course need to format the hard drive in PFS (playstation file system) format. This can be done either from within HDLoader (patched to work with bigger drives), or from a Windows utility like WinHIIP (latest version 1.7.6).

3. Hopefully the last question. I read this list. What's a good large hard drive over 300 GB to use, and where can I get it? Maxtors seem to be generally hated and Seagate has some old network adapter compatibility issues. Hitachi any good? I can't find any of these available except this Seagate. My network adapter has a serial number beginning with 5, so maybe the Seagate would work. But I heard it's pretty noisy.

I'm only using a 300GB in my PS2, so I can't recommend anything bigger, but I find it odd the 500GB Seagate drives are noisy, since my 300GB is pretty quiet. I noticed the Maxtor drives were noisy though in comparison.