Making a working disc?

[electric_jimi_]

Hi everyone at ps2-scene!

Could someone be kind enough to explain to me how to make a working disc for the PC Engine/T-16 emulator? I'm a bit lost on how to do it even after reading the "read me" file.

If someone could give me a step by step, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

[zabolyx]

Seems to me tht it has a buildt in browser.. just place the files on the CD in theor own directory.... also not that when testing mine with the roms I have from MC... about half of the games don't work... I have maybe 30 working ROMs with it...

Also make sure that you have a modchip.... this has been discussed a billion times.... or use a slide card.

[electric_jimi_]

Thanks for the reply!

I do use the swap method, so I'm set for booting it. I am familliar with the "Memory card exploit" too.(I have PGEN & the cog swap on a memory card)

I did put together a disc that does work with a "SYSTEM.CNF" file I made (what you do is make a text file and open it, put this inside:

BOOT2 = cdrom0:\PS2.ELF;1
VER = 1.00
VMODE = NTSC

(put PAL instead of NTSC for VMODE if you have a PAL PS2)

save the text file and then rename it SYSTEM.CNF.

I used the PEFU alpha2 program, only problem is that it makes a text file and renames all of my roms to 01.PCE, 02.PCE, 03.PCE etc and it put them in folders.


I'm going to try just a "Roms" folder with all of my games in there so I can tell the games apart. If I'm reading the "readme" right it should work.

So it should go like this in CDGENPS2:

SYSTEM.CNF
ps2.elf
Roms (folder)


then click the "img" button at the side and name it (whatever you want)and save it on your desktop. (I use Alcohol 120% to burn my stuff.)

I was really surprised with the emulator! I think it's a great piece of work! Props to the author. Thank you.

[balla_fan]

Sorry for digging up such an old post, but I've tried the method described by electric_jimi_ for creating a disc containing PS2PCE emu and roms but it just won't load..... all I get is a black screen however the disc continues to spin freely.

I'm using swap magic 3.6 on my slimline PS2 and have not had any problems loading PGEN, PSMS or SNES Station from CD's I created myself, but try as I may, I can't seem to get PS2PCE to work.

The way I have been trying to create the CD is by firstly creating a SYSTEM.CNF file exactly like how described above with the exception of changing VMODE from NTSC to PAL.

This is followed by moving the file to CDGENPS2 first followed by PS2.ELF and than the ROMS file. Each of the roms have been renamed in 8.3 format with all files (rom files, system and elf files) being named in CAPITAL, does this effect the loading of the program at all?

I'm fairly new to all this so sorry if that sounded like a stupid question, but any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.....

Then I use CDGENPS2 to create a ISO file and save to my desktop. This is then followed by burning the ISO file to a CD in 4x burn.

I sort of winged it with the other emus and managed to pull them off (surprisingly) quite easily but PS2PCE is frustrating the crap out of me.

Please help.

[electric_jimi_]

Hi,

I took some time and made this step-by-step guide:


*NOTE - I have an older model (not a slimline) PS2, and I use the "cogswap method" to load the emulator.


How to make a working disc for PS2PCE
----------------------------------------------



1.You need to make a "SYSTEM.CNF" file for booting it on a CD.
What you do is make a text file in Windows and open it, put this inside:

BOOT2 = cdrom0:\PS2.ELF;1
VER = 1.00
VMODE = NTSC

(put PAL instead of NTSC for VMODE if you have a PAL PS2)

**I have an NTSC/US PS2, but I tested the SYSTEM.CNF file with the VMODE as PAL
and it boots fine. (The README says ps2pce was designed for PAL so there shouldn't
be any problems if you have a PAL machine)**

save the text file and then rename it SYSTEM.CNF




2.If you are going to have more that 135 roms for your disc, split them
into folders. (The reason for this is if I remember right, ps2pce cannot handle more than 135 roms per folder).

*Ps2pce has buggy support for zipped roms.

In the readme it says have the rom extension in uppercase - rom.PCE, now all of the roms I put on a disc were lowercase - rom.pce, which worked fine.

Make as many folders as you need - I'm not sure if there is a limit though... (I had enough
roms for 2 folders so I named them):

ROMS_0-L
ROMS_M-Z




3.In CDGENPS2, drag the files in this order:

SYSTEM.CNF
ps2.elf
ROMS_A-L
ROMS_M-Z



Here's an important part:


The PS2 WILL NOT read a cd if it is too small. I think the minimum is 35mb, so if you
have at least that many roms you should be o.k.

If you don't have that many do this:

In CDGENPS2, right click your SYSTEM.CNF file, and a box will pop up. Check the little box beside "Fix LBA" and put in 52435 and click ok. This will make your image big enough for the PS2 to read.




4.Now click the "img" button at the side and a box will pop up, for "File name"
put ps2pce and for "Save as type", save it as .bin on your desktop.
You will have a .bin and a .cue file which you can burn. (I use Nero)




I hope this works for you. Let me know, and I'll try to help some more if you need it.

[balla_fan]

Thanks for your quick reply and taking the time out to write a tutorial.

Unfortunately the disc still doesn't load but on a positive note, Swap Magic is no longer rejecting the disc as "Not a valid PS2 disc".

The disc does spin but unfortunately does not stop spinning and load anything, so I've been left with quite a few drink coasters.

I don't have many rom files, so I changed the 'fix LBA' box as you described to build a bigger image, I also changed the VMODE to PAL, but besides those alterations, I followed your instructions to the word.

After all this experimenting, I've narrowed it down to two things :
1.Leave the 'fix LBA' box as is and increase the number of ROMs (or)
2.Face reality that PSPCE just won't work on the slimline PS2.

I'm also going to try with leaving the VMODE as NTSC to see whether that will work on my machine.

Strangely, I checked my copies of SNES Station and PGEN, and their System file has the VMODE set to NTSC (?)

Funny since both my PS2 and Swap Magic 3.6 are PAL versions, SNES Station and PGEN load fine.

Either way, I can't experiment any further at the moment since I'm out of CDRs (and its 2.30am in the morning here down under), so I'll have to wait until I can get some more CDRs.

To be continued (very shortly)..........

[balla_fan]

Well after two more drink coasters, I've finally managed to put together a working disc, albeit the games are all very buggy.

Needless to say that I'm a bit disappointed but then again, what do you expect from an incomplete project?

Anyway, what I did was:
1.Create SYSTEM.CNF file as described above with VMODE set to PAL.
2.Put 100 roms into a ROMS file.
3.Used CDGen to create an ISO containing SYSTEM.CNF, PS2.ELF and ROMS without changing the 'fix LBA' box.
4.Burnt disc and voila! Loadable PSPCE and ROMs.

I did try originally with only a small number of ROMs and changing the 'fix LBA' as described above, but that didn't seem to work.

Having VMODE on either PAL or NTSC didn't seem to make a difference either, I did however rename my ps2.elf to PS2.ELF, so maybe that might have had something to do with it?

I've got PS2PCE v0.7 and most of the games load but come back with no sound or sprites missing (try playing a shmup with invisible enemies!)

Just curious what version are you guys using?

BTW, thanks electric_jimi_ for all your help with this.

[electric_jimi_]

Hey Balla_Fan,

glad to see you got a disc working! I guess the method is slightly different for every PS2 user. Whenever I have to make a disc for the PS2 that ends up being small (I made another exploit disc so I could try out the Launch Elf program - which is fantastic btw) I use the fix lba method, and it has never failed me.

I wish the emulator was better also, but oh well...
Anyways, I believe the version of the PS2PCE emulator I use is v0.7.

Oh, I noticed this while playing: be careful when you save a game! The save shows up as CORRUPTED DATA on your memory card. My Midnight Club 3 save was corrupt after this, and I had to start my 67% complete game over again!!

[balla_fan]

Thanks for the tip on the game saves.