A Detailed Guide for unmodded NeoCD use

[LD50]

This is a detailed How-To to get NeoCD Emulator and a game you own to run from your completely unmodded PS2 (Tested on a v9) via HDD/HDA. This is a very simple process so don't try to make it seem like more then it really is. Stress, frustration will just make it that much harder. I'm sure there are other ways of doing this so if you know one post it.

Overview of whats needed for this Guide:
------------------------------------------
Playstation side:
PS2 Console (bet you didn't know that )
Hard Disk Drive (Original or 3rd party will work)
Network Adaptor
HDAdvanced/Exploit PS1 Game

PC side:
IDE Ribbon Cable/CAT-5 Cable (or any other means of connecting your HDD/PS2 to a PC)

Application/Programs:
neocd_ps2.zip
CDGenPS2
WinHiip, HDL Dump/Dumb etc.

Misc:
Neo-Geo CD Game
------------------------------------------

Instructions:
---------------
#1 : Once you have an Image of a Neo-Geo CD game you own you need to create a new ISO image out of it.
-
#2 : Mount the image you made onto a virtually drive with tools like Dameon, Alcohol, Nero etc. or if you have a program that will allow you to view the contents of an Image and transfer data from it that will work aswell.
-
#3 : Once the Image is mounted double click on it or the drive to view the contents of the disc, from here you should be able to Drag-and-Drop data from the Virtual Drive or Program onto your PC's Hard Drive. Make a new folder (Name it something you will remember like NeoCD) on your PC. Nexted highlight all the files and Drop them into the folder you created on your PC. NeoCD v0.6b does not support CDDA from the HDD.
-
#4 : Nexted you need to create a new ISO Image out of the Data in the newly made folder you created and the files located in the NeoCD_PS2v0.6b zip you also need the NEOCD bios (Posting on where to get this will be ignored and probably get you banned so please don't). The following files will be used out of the NeoCD zip file.

NEOCD.ELF
SYSTEM.CNF
NEOCDPS2.TXT

#5 : When you have all the files ready you will be re-creating the image using CDGenPS2 just follow these simple steps.

1 - Open up CDGen and click on the VOL button under Name: change it from CDGENPS2 to NEOCD click OK when done.
2 - Nexted highlight the NEOCD.ELF, NEOCD.BIN, SYSTEM.CNF and NEOCDPS2.TXT, Drag-and-Drop these into CDGen.
3 - When done go to the NEOCD folder you created on your PC and extracted the data from the disc. Highlight all of these files and Drag-and-Drop them into CDGen.
4 - Click on the IMG button and where it says "Save as type:" change it from BIN files (*.bin) to ISO files (*.iso) save your work some place where you will remember where it is located.

#6 : Your all done!. Transfer the newly made ISO Image with whatever you plan on using to get it to your HDD and run it using HDA.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question & Answers (Q&A)

Q: Will this work for my PSTwo slimline if I use USBXtreme/ADV.
A: I don't know as I have no PSTwo to try it on and I'm not sure how the campatiblity is with the new loader.
(If someone does try this out please post or PM your results.)
-
Q: Can I fit more then 1 game in the new ISO Image I created.
A: Nope, for every game you wish to install onto HDD/HDA you must redo this entire process.
-
Q: evilo has released a new version of his Emulator how can I update my current Images with the new version.
A: Delete all/some of the Neo CD games you currently have installed onto the HDD from HDA and re-create the Image again using the latest version of the NEOCD.ELF and SYSTEM.CNF files.

EDIT: For future reference If you where able to access the HDD from PC with something like FlashFXP and could open the ISO Image and delete and add files to and from it you probably could update the versions without having to delete them all.
-
Q: The Image I just created is showing up larger in HDA then the original Image I created on my PC why.
A: HDA creates an Image in increments of 128MB onto your HDD so games that could be smaller might end up bigger since it doesn't write the image using 1MB increments.
-
Q: Will this work on a patched version of HDA.
A: Yes.
-
Q: My system is unmodded what ways can I get these Images transfered to my HDD and use them with HDA.
A: For this to work on a completely unmodded system you will need a way of transfering these Images to your HDD for use with HDA check the overview (PC Side) above to see ways you can accomplish this.
-
Q: Can I use Nero or another program to make this Image.
A: Yes, check the included text document located in the NEOCD.zip file for further info.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Credits: Go out to...
evilo and his amazing work.
PS2-Scene and all the wonderful/helpful people.

I hope this guide helps.

[boule]

Thanks!

i splitted the thread where you posted this and stickied it.
hope you're ok with it

[zabolyx]

for an HD Loader image it shouldn't be nessicary to edit the LBA... Also I've used this method in the past and it didn't work.... does it work with the new patched HDL 0.7c.

also currently EXEcFTP cannot mount a HDL partition.

[LD50]

Thank you for your input. Its a force of habbit with the LBA, thank you for clearing this up. Yes it does work with the new HDL 0.7c patch, checked out the following options (/N /C /V /S /B /F) no problems.

The info about FlashFXP was just tossed up incase someone someday made it possible to access the Images threw it would be easier then re-doing the entire process.

[evilo]

hey, great job !!

thank you very much :P

[phoangkhoae]

Can you create another guide for swap magic 3.6

[red_icculus]

It is awesome that it can be used on the hard drive, but it made me sad that there is no CDDA. This is so easy.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[TheForge]

WOw! Thanks for the tuts but that was alot of stuff to feed just to play just one CD games?

Well worth it I guess. Now I do have a question though, I have lots of NeoGeo Games in ROMS format. So I'm out of luck?

Thanks.

[xtc-king]

hello to everyone in this psx scene forum.
i am new here, i have visitet this very good site before,
everything relatet to playstation you will find it here.

i have registered my self in here, because i find it nessecary to have some sort of connection with the people outhere in psx scene, if u own a playstation and whant to change/mod/ or something in that category.

with all respect. i have a question , that i really hope it gets answered a little fast.. its about NEOGEO CD EMU for PS2.

My ps2 is not modded with a chip, i only own a swapmagic 3.8 coder +. nor i have installed the magic keys, i really cant figure it out. even that i have watched lots of videos on youtube, i did not find any1 helpfull, some of them bad quality, some is earthquake like shaking cameras, and so on.

i have installed Free MCBOOT. that was easy. i have sega & snes emu on my usb stick, playable with roms in directory.

my problem is, that i have followed almost every tutorial/guide exactly on this site relatet NEOGEO CD INSTALLING/CREATING/BURNING.
none of them help.

then i copyed neogeo emulator to my usb stick, and i can run the .elf from there, & closin the cd tray with my newly burned neogeo cd in there, it still ask for a cd (insert cd & press X)

i have followed another tutorial, on the net, its about transformatin your USB stick into a USB HDD. (your comp thinks its a ext usb hdd) i dont know if the ps2 will think its a ext usb hdd, but i then followed another tutorial on how to install neogeo cd on your hdd, so i tryed it with my transformatet USB stick/HDD

nothing at all helped..... any help from you all will be much apreciatet...
and sorry for my english... i am from DENMARK.

and again sorry for this long life story hehe.

[dlanor]

with all respect. i have a question , that i really hope it gets answered a little fast.. its about NEOGEO CD EMU for PS2.

I never used that emu myself, but I do know quite a bit about some other stuff you mention, and think I can help you with those.

i have installed Free MCBOOT. that was easy. i have sega & snes emu on my usb stick, playable with roms in directory.

Good. For an unmodded console FMCB is the best way to get access to homebrew programs of any kind, whether used from USB, MC, HDD, or CDVD.

then i copyed neogeo emulator to my usb stick, and i can run the .elf from there, & closin the cd tray with my newly burned neogeo cd in there, it still ask for a cd (insert cd & press X)

On an unmodded console the CDVD controller (aka: mechacon) will refuse access to almost all burned discs. That is why a modchip is traditionally needed to make backup CDVD discs useful. SwapMagic is another way around this problem, by tricking the mechacon into validating the SM disc, and then replace that disc with another without having the mechacon notice that disc swap.

And the most recent method is to use ESR, which causes the mechacon to believe that a burned disc is a DVD-Video movie, for which read access is always permitted even on a burned disc. Then the ESR driver helps all other software, both commercial games and homebrews, to access those discs as normal DVD-ROM discs (disregarding the dummy DVD-Video stuff).

Using that method you could build a NeoGeo boot disc iso, just as it was originally intended to be used, but before burning it to disc you apply the ESR patch to it (using the ESR patcher by ffgriever). And later when you boot that disc you do so as if it was an ESR game backup. For a properly installed FMCB with all standard utilities included, this simply means that you boot it the same way as an original disc. Unless you have your configuration setup to boot into FMCB menu or uLE by default. Then you will need some additional commands to launch a disc (in uLE just use "MISC/PS2Disc" either in FileBrowser or as a launch button shortcut)

i have followed another tutorial, on the net, its about transformatin your USB stick into a USB HDD. (your comp thinks its a ext usb hdd)

This mainly matters to some USBAdvance game installers, who will accept only the 'HDD' group of USB devices but not the normal 'Removable Media' group which all normal memory sticks by default belong to. To some applications it doesn't matter at all, because they don't discriminate drive types.

i dont know if the ps2 will think its a ext usb hdd,

The change you made is probably not on the USB device at all, but only affects the Windows registry. So the PS2 will not see it as any change at all. At least if you used the same method I've tried. (There is another too, which does set a bit in the flash drive, but that method usually doesn't work at all, even under Windows...)

but i then followed another tutorial on how to install neogeo cd on your hdd, so i tryed it with my transformatet USB stick/HDD

Methods intended for HDLoader seldom work with USB at all, and even then you would have to launch the installed ISO using a USB game loader, similar to how you would use HDLoader for an IDE HDD. (Naturally the installation would also need to be done as for USBAdvance, as HDL installations have NO compatibility to anything else.)

But the traditional USB game loader USBAdvance has very poor compatibility to homebrews, so that might not work out too well. The newer development "Open USB Loader" recently renamed to "Open PS2 Loader" (no longer USB-specific) has much better results with homebrews, though I have not tried it with your emulator. But it is doubtful if existing NeoGeo iso files will work as-is. It might take some trial-and-error to build a working iso for any USB game loader. The ESR method is probably the quicker road to success, though that too may require some experiments.

nothing at all helped..... any help from you all will be much apreciatet...
and sorry for my english... i am from DENMARK.

Your english is not as bad as some other examples I've seen in these forums.
I had no problem understanding what you wrote, and that is the main thing. Nobody here cares about a few innocent errors in spelling or grammar here and there, as long as the main content is clear.

and again sorry for this long life story hehe.

Again, I've seen lots worse, and written some too, as I have a tendency to ramble on sometimes. (Btw: I'm swedish myself, so I probably could understand you even in your home language too, despite the 'sundering' of the nordic tribes... )

Edit: It's no big deal, but normally you should not revive a thread that's been dead for four years, just to add some questions unrelated to the original post of that thread. Since you are NOT posting a new detailed guide, and are NOT asking questions about details in that old guide, your really should NOT have posted in this thread. You should have created a new thread, with a thread title more relevant to your problems, like "How can I use NeoCD on an unmodded console without IDE HDD ?".

Best regards: dlanor