PS2 Hacking the PS2

[CountDuckula]

I run FHDB and OPL, no HDDOS. 1.5TB drive via a sata adaptor, 2TB is the maximum.

I copied the latest FMCB installer to USB and ran it from uLE. Press R1 to change page to the FHDB installation option.
This formats the HDD and sets it up with FHDB so you no longer need the FMCB card, other than as a backup.

The +OPL partition will be automatically created when you run OPL the first time, its quite small by default (at least on 0.9.3). You can then expand it to fit plenty of VMC files (2-4GB or so): http://www.ps2-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2906

I manually edited hdd0:__sysconf/FMCB/FREEHDB.CNF with notepad++ to add OPL and a few other options to the FHDB menu, there's the configurator but I found editing the file easy enough.

If you're running games from an SMB share then yep I'm pretty sure its SMB1. I did set up a rpi to host the share for a ps2 slim a while back and that worked fine. With a short patch cable between pi and PS2 its was quite neat and means you dont need to worry about enabling SMB1 on your PC.

If you're installing games to internal HDD you dont need to worry about it though, HDLGameinstaller isn't using SMB.

Other IPs should work fine as long as the given app uses DHCP, or you've set the app's network config with that IP.
Network works for me in HDLGameinstaller, uLE and OPL and I normally dont have a memory card plugged in, I used 192.168.0.10 as it seemed to make it simpler. Cant recall having any connectivity issues

 

[Mortiferon]

Alright, thank you. I have installed FHDB, expanded +OPL to 4GB and I have changed the IP to 10.0.0.2 in both uLE and OPL (but amber light on its router switch port persists, not seeing it anymore on the router either; no idea why not, all network and share settings are what they need to be on my PC apart from that SMB1 is still disabled - also 300 error in OPL as before).

I sadly don't have a Raspberry Pi (yet?).

And unfortunately, HDLGameInstaller's mediafire has been stuck with:

"Upload still in progress...
Download not available yet because the upload for this file is still in progress. Approximate completion time below.
Download ready soon..."

For hours and hours and I can't seem to find an alternate source. Do you reckon if I tried HDL Dump Helper GUI that I may run into issues switching to HDL Game Installer later?

Looked at OPL Manager too, is it "Local PS2 HDD" we need to set it to for IHDD use or Network?

 

[ShaolinAssassin]

And unfortunately, HDLGameInstaller's mediafire has been stuck with:

"Upload still in progress...
Download not available yet because the upload for this file is still in progress. Approximate completion time below.
Download ready soon..."

For hours and hours and I can't seem to find an alternate source.

Also for me. @sp193 : it seems your mediafire for v0.818 is broken.

@Mortiferon here is v0.813 : http://www.mediafire.com/file/a18imo94h2hpn3z/[170226]HDLGameInstaller-0813-bin.7z

 

[Mortiferon]

Thank you for that. I'll give that one a go if the other falls through.

Wild how this network thing works on these, never in my 20 years of computing seen the like ... totally ghosted and looks like its not connected lol. But HDL Dump Helper GUI 2.3 certainly sees it (router absolutely doesn't at all now. Just that once, long enough to grab the MAC addy - needed to reserve IP - but hasn't been seen there since). Successfully installed Baldur's Gate. Had to launch the "hdld_svr_086" off the USB through uLE (black screen, suppose that's why there's a console turn off on the app). SO, if you can't see your PS2 NA in your router's attached devices don't pass bricks... its likely reachable and all you just won't see it where and how you'd expect to be able to.

For others that might come along with a similar dilemma, I had to resort to *STATIC* IP, not DHCP, for OPL network settings. It absolutely just would not work the other way (you can't manually change the IP in DHCP and I had to have 10.0.0.X IP subnet). I suppose the same would also apply if you already have the default 192.168.0.10 in use and it's not assigning another automatically (beats setting dozens of other devices to something else, IMO). That is in addition to the uLE network configuration.


Well, think it's all actually working now. ~28% into the first jobs list of 6. Though the network connection is rather iffy... I have to shut it off, close out of HDL Dump Helper GUI and then launch hdld_svr_086" off the USB through uLE again to install more or I get connection errors.

Now just a matter of figuring out VMC's and the OPLM art stuff (and I can't find much on setting up and using OPLM).

 

[sp193]

Wild how this network thing works on these, never in my 20 years of computing seen the like ... totally ghosted and looks like its not connected lol.

It's because games also need to have some additional data written. So there has to be a additional steps taken, something which you cannot do with plain FTP.

(router absolutely doesn't at all now. Just that once, long enough to grab the MAC addy - needed to reserve IP - but hasn't been seen there since).

It might be because you're using static IP now. It won't show up in a DHCP client list, if it isn't making DHCP requests.

Had to launch the "hdld_svr_086" off the USB through uLE (black screen, suppose that's why there's a console turn off on the app).

No video or unrecognized signal?
If it is the latter, it might be that your TV does not support 240P video. At some point, the homebrew libdebug library was using 240P output by default, and this library was a favourite for drawing text on the screen.
Modern TVs are like that. I have already changed the library to use standard NTSC/PAL quite a long time ago, but this piece of software was written over 10 years ago.

Anyway, it only prints the IP address, if I remember right. Does not allow you to do anything else.

For others that might come along with a similar dilemma, I had to resort to *STATIC* IP, not DHCP, for OPL network settings. It absolutely just would not work the other way (you can't manually change the IP in DHCP and I had to have 10.0.0.X IP subnet).

But that IS the point. When you use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), you let your router automatically decide on a working IP configuration that the PS2 shall use. It will give it a few things: IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS address.

Well, think it's all actually working now. ~28% into the first jobs list of 6. Though the network connection is rather iffy... I have to shut it off, close out of HDL Dump Helper GUI and then launch hdld_svr_086" off the USB through uLE again to install more or I get connection errors.

I was hoping you would use the v0.9.3 server package by AKuHAK, not v0.8.6 (which was released over 10 years ago). Unless you have issues with it.
That also used to be my work, which offered a new SMAP (Ethernet) driver that had DMA support. Homebrew software used to have an incomplete driver port from PS2Linux, which was just slow and sometimes had auto-negotiation issues.

The new standard for transfers is 5MB/s, although HDLDump v0.9.1 (and versions based on it, like v0.9.3) uses UDP to get such performance.

There are limitations, associated with the use of the UDP protocol. Which is why I made HDLGameInstaller, which uses TCP from the 300MHz EE, rather than doing everything from the 36MHz IOP (which feels... 1989-ish again). By running HDLGameInstaller from the EE, we've been seeing things like 7MB/s.

Some people can't make it work reliably, however. For now, it is presumed to be due to some network equipment manufacturers not supporting Ethernet flow control (properly), as HDLGameInstaller reports that flow control cannot be enabled. Due to the PS2 being designed in 1999, it isn't very suitable for handling unregulated 100Mbit transfers with equipment from the 2010s.

Now just a matter of figuring out VMC's

Create it in OPL's options for each game (press TRIANGLE), and start using it.

 

[Suriyan]

Hi I have a Playstation2 of slim model SCPH 90004 which is modded (MATRIX INFINITY)
My laser disc is not working now , but i can play games using pendrive and ps2 memory card.
My question is i dont have ulaunchelf FILE browser to copy data from pendrive to ps2memory card and from memory card to pendrive
I have tried many different methods like converting ulaunchelf iso file using USBUTILL and when i insert the pendrive in playstation nothing comes up .
Can someone here help me out to use file browser in ps2 ...
Thanks in advance......

 

[Peppe90]

Some people can't make it work reliably, however. For now, it is presumed to be due to some network equipment manufacturers not supporting Ethernet flow control (properly), as HDLGameInstaller reports that flow control cannot be enabled. Due to the PS2 being designed in 1999, it isn't very suitable for handling unregulated 100Mbit transfers with equipment from the 2010s.

As far as I'm concerned, I've the eth flow enabled on pc (Windows 10), but it's off on Ps2. If I enter the HDLGameInstaller's options it seems to be enabled, but once I connect with HDLGManClient the status page shows flow-control disabled.

Maybe I need to save the settings (flow-control is actually disabled by default?), but I can't 'cause I don't have any partition on the HDD (aside mbr, HDL and +OPL), indeed HDLGameInstaller fails to save when exiting the options.

In any case it seems to work fine, it extract Always at full speed. The only problem I have is that it seems almost incompatible with games installed with HDL dump. I extracted about 5,6 games and they are Always extracted uncorrectly. All but Crash Bandicoot TWoC, I can extract correctly this game with HDLGameInstaller even if this game has been installed with HDL dump.

 

[sp193]

Ethernet flow control is enabled by default in smap.irx and HDLGameInstaller. Failure to negotiate for flow control is caused by the network interface that the PS2 is connected to not advertising support for flow control.

In what way were your games "extracted incorrectly"?

 

[Suriyan]

HI Sp193 Can you help me out to install ulaunchelf in my ps2

 

[Peppe90]

Ethernet flow control is enabled by default in smap.irx and HDLGameInstaller. Failure to negotiate for flow control is caused by the network interface that the PS2 is connected to not advertising support for flow control.

Maybe I'll temporary create the common partition (or whatever the program needs) to can save and so enable the flow-control. Btw I think that the problem is not caused by this.

In what way were your games "extracted incorrectly"?

Md5 doesn't match (extracting the same game multiple times, the MD5 is Always the same incorrect one) and games don't work.

i.e. Ferrari challenge freezes at the horse logo
State of Emergency freezes in a white screen at boot (it's not related to debug colors, I have them disabled), etc...

Obviously I can perfectly extract all my games with HDL dump, and their MD5 match the redump.org ones.

I extracted many other games (both CD and DVD games), but so far Crash TWoC is the only one that works (and gives me the correct MD5).

 

[sp193]

Hi I have a Playstation2 of slim model SCPH 90004 which is modded (MATRIX INFINITY)
My laser disc is not working now , but i can play games using pendrive and ps2 memory card.
My question is i dont have ulaunchelf FILE browser to copy data from pendrive to ps2memory card and from memory card to pendrive
I have tried many different methods like converting ulaunchelf iso file using USBUTILL and when i insert the pendrive in playstation nothing comes up .
Can someone here help me out to use file browser in ps2 ...
Thanks in advance......

I'm not sure what you tried to do. Were you hoping that something would happen in the browser when you plug in the USB disk?
Unfortunately, the PlayStation 2 has no support for USB on its own, which is why this will not work.

Since you have a Matrix modchip, you can use its "DEV2" function to boot an ELF directly from your USB disk. So you can use that to boot LaunchELF (BOOT.ELF).

Then once you have that done, you can install FMCB on your memory card if you want. Although your modchip allows you to boot an ELF directly, its code likely cannot initialize the PlayStation 2 correctly, resulting in settings not getting loaded (i.e. language selection does not work).

Maybe I'll temporary create the common partition (or whatever the program needs) to can save and so enable the flow-control. Btw I think that the problem is not caused by this.

It's a hardware compatibility problem with the other network adaptor. Or that other adaptor is working as designed, whereby it really has no support for hardware flow control.

By default, the SMAP is allowed to negotiate for flow control. It's likely not being done because the other end says it's not supported.

Md5 doesn't match (extracting the same game multiple times, the MD5 is Always the same incorrect one) and games don't work.

But is it able to extract its own games correctly? Or do you not know?
It's possible that the structures we use are not exactly the same. I got my structure from OPL and by studying my own HDD.

 

[Peppe90]

It's a hardware compatibility problem with the other network adaptor. Or that other adaptor is working as designed, whereby it really has no support for hardware flow control.

By default, the SMAP is allowed to negotiate for flow control. It's likely not being done because the other end says it's not supported.

Anyway I think even with flow-control the thing would remain the same. Games are Always perfectly extracted, every time with the same (wrong) md5.

But is it able to extract its own games correctly? Or do you not know?
It's possible that the structures we use are not exactly the same. I got my structure from OPL and by studying my own HDD.

Most probably it will correctly extract its games correctly (as it does for every other people that installed games with it). But I'm scared to install something with it now '^^

I could test it with another HDD.

 

[Md Hesam]

ps2 super slim datecode 2b
dvd drive is broken can I play game without disc

 

[jolek]

ps2 super slim datecode 2b
dvd drive is broken can I play game without disc

WOW, I didn't know that there was a super slim version?!
You mean SCPH-9000X with 2B datacode.

Date code	Year production	ROMVER	Can boot on FMCB
7C	2007	v. 220	YES
7D		v. 220	YES
8A	2008	v. 220	YES
8B		v. 220	YES
8C		v. 220/v. 230	YES (ROMVER is v. 220)/NO (ROMVER is v230)
8D		v. 230	NO
9A	2009	v. 230	NO
9B		v. 230	NO
9C		v. 230	NO
9D		v. 230	NO
0A	2010	v. 230	NO
0B		v. 230	NO
0C		v. 230	NO
0D		v. 230	NO
1A	2011	v. 230	NO
1B		v. 230	NO
1C		v. 230	NO
1D		v. 230	NO
2A	2012	v. 230	NO
2B		v. 230	NO
2C		v. 230	NO
2D		v. 230	NO

http://psx-scene.com/forums/f153/sc...ed-information-63103/index15.html#post1203774.

You console is not compatible with FMCB.

Some modchips have DEV1 to launch homebrew e.g. from memory card:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140331230843/http://sksapps.com/index.php?page=matrix/matrix_tut.html.

 

[Md Hesam]

WOW, I didn't know that there was a super slim version?!
You mean SCPH-9000X with 2B datacode.

Date code	Year production	ROMVER	Can boot on FMCB
7C	2007	v. 220	YES
7D		v. 220	YES
8A	2008	v. 220	YES
8B		v. 220	YES
8C		v. 220/v. 230	YES (ROMVER is v. 220)/NO (ROMVER is v230)
8D		v. 230	NO
9A	2009	v. 230	NO
9B		v. 230	NO
9C		v. 230	NO
9D		v. 230	NO
0A	2010	v. 230	NO
0B		v. 230	NO
0C		v. 230	NO
0D		v. 230	NO
1A	2011	v. 230	NO
1B		v. 230	NO
1C		v. 230	NO
1D		v. 230	NO
2A	2012	v. 230	NO
2B		v. 230	NO
2C		v. 230	NO
2D		v. 230	NO

http://psx-scene.com/forums/f153/sc...ed-information-63103/index15.html#post1203774.

You console is not compatible with FMCB.

Some modchips have DEV1 to launch homebrew e.g. from memory card:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140331230843/http://sksapps.com/index.php?page=matrix/matrix_tut.html.

Thank you for reply

 

[amirzaim]

ps2 super slim datecode 2b
dvd drive is broken can I play game without disc

Check your console whether special modchip like Matrix Infinity are installed.

If your console only equipped with plain generic modchip, you're out of luck.

 

[TnA]

Btw.: If your Modchip supports DEV.1 and you want to use FMCB, you can install FMCB and then use the ELF which starts the OSDSYS-Update via placing it as BOOT.ELF into the BOOT-Folder.

You have to move wLE elsewhere however and relink it in the config.

 

[Md Hesam]

Btw.: If your Modchip supports DEV.1 and you want to use FMCB, you can install FMCB and then use the ELF which starts the OSDSYS-Update via placing it as BOOT.ELF into the BOOT-Folder.

You have to move wLE elsewhere however and relink it in the config.

My ps2 modchip is High Tiger-3
doesn't work using this modchip?

 

[TnA]

This might help:

http://psx-scene.com/forums/f257/ps2-modchip-help-148062/

 

[amirzaim]

My ps2 modchip is High Tiger-3
doesn't work using this modchip?

Hmmm...it seems like a plain generic modhip that barely functioned to run backups and bootlegged games. I'm afraid there's nothing you can do except fixing the disc drive unit.