Retro GEM POPStarter Starter

Version 1.0

Overview

Originally designed with PS1 games and POPStarter in mind, Retro GEM POPStarter Starter is a simply PS2 app for use with HDD-OSD or PSBBN that launches any .elf file found in the current working directory and sets the Retro GEM Game ID accordingly.


Setting up POPStarter:

Follow this guide to set up POPStarter and get PS1 games running on your PS2 HDD: POPStarter Quickstart Guide (https://bitbucket.org/ShaolinAssassin/popstarter-documentation-stuff/wiki/quickstart-hdd).

All games should be titled in the standard format used by OPL, with the Game ID as a prefix, for example, SCUS_941.94.Gran Turismo.VCD, and placed in the __.POPS partition.


Setting up POPStarter-Starter:

1. Create a partition on your PS2 HDD with the prefix PP. followed by a name of your choosing.

2. Put the signed executable POPStarter-Starter.kelf into the root of the above partition.

3. Place the POPSTARTER.ELF file into the root of the same partition, making sure to rename it to match the .VCD file you wish to launch while keeping the .elf extension, for example, SCUS_941.94.Gran Turismo.elf.

4. Create the text file system.cnf. BOOT2 should be set to pfs/:POPStarter-Starter.kelf:

BOOT2 = pfs:/POPStarter-Starter.kelf
VER = 1.00
VMODE = NTSC
HDDUNITPOWER = NICHDD

5. Source a standard PS2 game icon or make your own. Rename it list.ico

6. Create the text file icon.sys. For example:

PS2X
title0=Gran Turismo
title1=SCUS-94194
bgcola=0
bgcol0=0,0,0
bgcol1=0,0,0
bgcol2=0,0,0
bgcol3=0,0,0
lightdir0=1.0,-1.0,1.0
lightdir1=-1.0,1.0,-1.0
lightdir2=0.0,0.0,0.0
lightcolamb=64,64,64
lightcol0=64,64,64
lightcol1=16,16,16
lightcol2=0,0,0
uninstallmes0=
uninstallmes1=
uninstallmes2=

7. Inject system.cnf, list.ico, and icon.sys into the header of your partition using HDL Dump. For example:

hdl_dump modify_header hdd<Disk Number>: <PP.PartitionName>


For PSBBN only:

8. Create the folder res in PP.PartitionName. This folder will contain all resources.

9. Inside the res folder, place the text file info.sys. Example file:

title = Gran Turismo
title_id = SCUS-94194
title_sub_id = 0
release_date =
developer_id =
publisher_id =
note =
content_web =
image_topviewflag = 0
image_type = 0
image_count = 1
image_viewsec = 600
copyright_viewflag = 0
copyright_imgcount = 0
genre =
parental_lock = 1
effective_date = 0
expire_date = 0
area = J
violence_flag = 0
content_type = 255
content_subtype = 0

10. Place jkt_001.png in the res folder. This picture will be used as the thumbnail for the game. It can be the same picture as used in OPL.


Notes:

This not only works for PS1 games with POPStarter, you can place any .elf file in the partition you created and it will be launched. The Retro GEM Game ID will be set to the first 11 characters of the .elf file's name.


Written by CosmicScale (https://github.com/CosmicScale)
Inspired by OPL-Launcher (https://github.com/ps2homebrew/OPL-Launcher)
Uses Game ID code based on the AppCakeLtd gameid-with-gem fork of Open-PS2-Loader (https://github.com/AppCakeLtd/Open-PS2-Loader/tree/gameid-with-gem)
