ESR - bug reports

[kevstah2004]

ICO US cd version was reported as working though.

[cablenut8286]

Has anyone had any luck booting Star Wars Battlefront II SLUS-21240GH NTSC-U? All I'm getting is a pink screen on all versions of ESR. Possibly an IOP problem?

-cablenut8286

[lee4]

Originally Posted by kevstah2004

ICO US cd version was reported as working though.

I thought is was ICO PAL version working as DVD?
correct me if I'm wrong?

Originally Posted by lee4

Not all PS2 CD based can be converted to DVD format,
specially D3 games like Example Zombie Hunters

Note: D3 is not typo, is a a company name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D3_Publisher

[ffgriever]

What have to be done to move files to proper sector locations depends on what application you use to build the image and if this applications allows such action.

ICO NTSC works just fine also.

@lee4

With a little bit of effort, every cd game can be converted to dvd. Zombie hunters you mentioned also. If a game uses fixed lba table, you just have to patch the executable to match new locations... or even better - sometimes, like in ZH2, there is huge gap before the files, so you can just simply move files to match the original locations... though, this is quite rare. Note, that on cd files can start at lower sectors than on dvd... so you cannot just push them down during conversion unless the developer was kind enough to put the first files at higher sectors (or by placing meaningless to lba tables files first, like the main executable, so there a simple swap can be done - meaningless files at the end, meaningful at their proper positions; note, that "meaningless" means only that they're not accessed through LBA fixed table ). Usually patching of the table is needed. Note, that games with fixed lba table are minority. Most of them will work just fine if you'll simply drop the files without any special order.

Note, that sometimes the files themselves are "invisible", so you'll have to copy sector ranges directly (if you use fixed lba table, there is no need for the files to exist in the usual way... you know where they're stored anyway).

[katananja]

Originally Posted by ffgriever

Most of them will work just fine if you'll simply drop the files without any special order.

Yeap, I confirm that.
I've build a six PS2 CD games in one DVD and all games functions works fine without problem what so ever, witch proves that those fixed lba table games are rare and so there is no need to go crazy about LBA's.

[kevstah2004]

Originally Posted by lee4

I thought is was ICO PAL version working as DVD?
correct me if I'm wrong?

The US version is a CD the PAL European version is a DVD both versions are reported as working though.

I'm not crazy I have working cd conversions also
I just want a guide to problematic ones that don't seem to work for me rather than being given half the details about putting the files in this or that order and fending for myself wasting discs is it that hard to give out the full process you used step by step to get the discs working

Originally Posted by ffgriever

What have to be done to move files to proper sector locations depends on what application you use to build the image and if this applications allows such action.

ICO NTSC works just fine also.

@lee4

With a little bit of effort, every cd game can be converted to dvd. Zombie hunters you mentioned also. If a game uses fixed lba table, you just have to patch the executable to match new locations... or even better - sometimes, like in ZH2, there is huge gap before the files, so you can just simply move files to match the original locations... though, this is quite rare. Note, that on cd files can start at lower sectors than on dvd... so you cannot just push them down during conversion unless the developer was kind enough to put the first files at higher sectors (or by placing meaningless to lba tables files first, like the main executable, so there a simple swap can be done - meaningless files at the end, meaningful at their proper positions; note, that "meaningless" means only that they're not accessed through LBA fixed table ). Usually patching of the table is needed. Note, that games with fixed lba table are minority. Most of them will work just fine if you'll simply drop the files without any special order.

Note, that sometimes the files themselves are "invisible", so you'll have to copy sector ranges directly (if you use fixed lba table, there is no need for the files to exist in the usual way... you know where they're stored anyway).

How?

[ffgriever]

@kevstah2004

I really don't feel like writing in depth step-by-step tutorial. It's useless. Try to teach someone programming or hacking by writing few hundreds of words? It's impossible. Just read every documentation available and learn for yourself. If someone can't even find out where to change file locations, then the rest of it (like patching actual tables in executables) is most likely beyond the person's reach. Sorry.

[ffgriever]

I'm getting a little bit angry. I'm wasting a lot of time trying to get some games reported as "not working", then burning them, testing... only to find out they do work perfect (that is especially true for CD->DVD conversions as most people do not have enough experience to do it properly). I guess that public beta wasn't such a good idea. Most people neglect to see that actually the only problem are *THEMSELVES*. Is it really so hard to tell real application error from bad media quality or laser quality problems? It's true that ESR is a little bit more picky on media quality than i.e. swap magic (and especially more than modern modchip solutions). Unfortunately it cannot be helped too much (I already did all I could, it's much better than it was at the beginning, right now it doesn't matter too much), because of the internal working of PS2, games and the ESR itself. I already wrote about it few times. Note, it doesn't only apply to this list, but also to the previous one. Just a bad mood after few weeks of hard work, I guess.

But, to the point. Some updates on the error reports:

Star Wars Battlefront 2 - both versions I checked do work fine (US/EUR)
Shin Megami Tensei - Nocturne - works just fine
.hack//GU vol.3//Redemption - works just fine
Asterix at the Olympic Games - went past the point where it supposed to crash, no problems.

Gitaroo Man - indeed, there are some problems during FMV playback. I believe I'll be able to correct this (it's amazing it doesn't just crash, but works anyway). Edit: it will be fixed in r9b.
Ape Escape 2 - Exactly as above. Will be fixed in r9b.

I've tested one of the bandai games: Mobile Suit Gundam - Seed Destiny (Rengou vs Zaft 2 Plus). This one works fine, so it is not just the bandai problem. Unfortunately I was unable to get any of the two games that were reported as not working, sorry.

Going to check today or tomorrow:
Jak and Daxter - Precursor's Legacy - I made some changes to the r9b gui version to save as much memory as possible, will try this game soon). Edit: It works only in synchronous mode.

[tomstone]

Sorry man, I am gonna burn it a 4th time and if it wont work then, then I give up. You are right that there are a lot of noobs out there, but dont you need the feedback in order to find the errors? I am a bit more experienced in those things, but without knowledge of the colors its hard to tell where it get stuck, just that it got stuck.

Edit: It Worked! And I feel like such a noob now and havent gotten any smarter. I didnt do anything different this time either.

[skiller]

Well i had 3 games Go to Japan Lang on me .. Even thought there NTSC U/C games
1 Game Just Ejects on me ..


Games that Swap Lang to Japan Are games that have Multi Lang Picking enabled .

Jak 2
Jak 3
Sonic Riders Zero Gravity.

Game that Ejects it self after all the Colors have gone ..
Jak 1 (AKA: Jak and Daxter - Precursor's Legacy ) It looks like u are looking into this one ffgriever thanks ..

Do u know why the games with Multi Lang Picking get set back to the Japan Setting ?

[ffgriever]

The language swap shouldn't occur on new versions of fmcb. I tried the jak games and they do work just fine. Maybe you're just using some very old version of FMCB? Or maybe memento with ESR? If you're using memento, then just format your memor32 card and install FMCB 1.5/1.6.

[mrflip]

hello there I have a SCPH-30001 model PS2 I have a few patched games to work with esr but for some reason they just won't boot in my console!(esr loads but the game refuses 2 start)How ever they work fine with Cogswap!.The other day my friend brought over his slim ps2 over 2 my house and those same games that wouldn't boot when I use esr on my ps2...work on his slim ps2 with no problem!
(by the way i used the latest esr available the dvd direct,dvd direct off,and memory card version on my ps2,also I put my memory card which had free mcboot into his ps2 and loaded it fyi!)what is going on here why won't they work on my console?

[ffgriever]

Go into browser (unmodified, just pull out the FMCB card), put your patched game in and check if it will be recognized as valid DVDVideo game.

If it doesn't, or it takes terribly long, you most likely didn't set booktype of DVD+R media to DVD-ROM (and that's the reason it works with cogswap - mechacon still thinks there is DVD-ROM in drive).

Older (was it pre V7? I will check) PS2 models require DVD+R and DVD+RW media booktypes to be changed to DVD-ROM (DVD-R will work just fine).

If you did change the booktype or you're using DVD-R media and it still isn't recognized, then probably there is something wrong about your laser (DVDVideo structure, that's read to identify the disc is placed at very low sectors, which may be under some circumstances a little bit harder to read if burned with some recorders).

[mrflip]

Oh ok...and here i thought its cause I didn't put that dvdinject stuff on the memcard but ill try and put in the game without the card inserted and see what happeans(and yes the games are set 2 book-type dvd-rom

[Cirno]

Same problem for me on 30004 model and DVDPLE file. Sadly the DVD-R are not recognized in the ps2 browser

Edit: Would it help to update the DVD Driver? (since I've seen a FAQ where somebody updated to some 4.xx drivers)

[krptnyt]

I'm a little new to this so I may be missing something obvious but...

Console: NTSC-U, v4 (I believe), SCPH-30001, FreeMCBoot 1.6, uElfLaunch 4.15, ESR DVD Direct.elf rev 9b, rev 9a, rev 9
Game: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri, burned with ImgBurn at 4x, Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-7640a firmware JD05, Sony 16x DVD+R (Media code: D21), book type DVD-ROM (verified with DVD Identifier), patched with ESR disc patcher GUI v0.24a
Result: I tried several times to get it to boot, but ESR would just give me a black screen. However, one attempt, it actually went through the colours and got past cyan, then it just stayed black. I've tried to repeat that, but so far no luck.

Does all of this point to the laser as the source of the problem?

[TnA]

Yes, that might be one fact (you have a really old PS2-Model), but it also could be your DVD-Writer,...
I assume, a 16x-DVD-Writer will give you better results.

[krptnyt]

Originally Posted by TnA

Yes, that might be one fact (you have a really old PS2-Model), but it also could be your DVD-Writer,...
I assume, a 16x-DVD-Writer will give you better results.

Are you saying that I might have better results if I burn at 16x?

Also, assuming that it is the laser, what can I do to remedy that?

[TnA]

You can try it.
Burn a DVD-R with 8x, or 12x.
Not so sure about the Sony-D21.