PS2 [Testers Needed] Open PS2 Loader with exFAT support (files above 4GB on USB)

[Acid_Snake]

Yet another upcoming feature for OPL 1.2.0 that needs the help of as many testers as possible.
This time we bring you support for USB devices formatted using the exFAT filesystem, which allows copying files above 4GB without needing to split it into the UL.cfg format, your plain old ISOs or ZSOs on the DVD folder as is will work.
It has been tested to work even with DVD9 games, so it's very promising so far.

Update: exFAT support is now part of the Official OPL repo.

You can find the latest download here:
https://github.com/ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader/releases/tag/latest

Always Download the latest OPL builds from the Official OPL Github Release Page.

 

[Haker120]

I had no luck running a game however exFAT formatted USB drives are detected.

EDIT: I wiped out config and MGS2: Substance runs and seems to stutter a bit less than from FAT32, wut?

 

[Acid_Snake]

I had no luck running a game however exFAT formmatted USB drives are detected.

EDIT: I wiped out config and MGS2: Substance run and seems to stutter a bit less than from FAT32, wut?

Really? People keep reporting that exFAT makes games run faster, but this to us developers is quite a mystery since the exFAT (or any other) driver is not loaded or running when playing a game, there should not be any difference, but if there is, it's a welcomed one.

Edit: ok so it seems this build has a new read-ahead buffer that helps reduce FMV suttering.

 

[Haker120]

I just tested heavy game and Crash Twinsanity loads as well so all seems good and well, from techical point of view I know nothing about that except it plays FMVs visibly better. Hopefully that won't break.

 

[Berion]

run and seems to stutter a bit less than from FAT32, wut?

@Haker120 Try highest possible cluster size and of course content defragmentation.

 

[Haker120]

I'm trying that now. XD

EDIT: With this cluster size console doesn't recognize USB but at least tries, led glows once and turns off.

 

[amirzaim]

Tried with USB mode - works well, FMV still stuttering although have some improvements.

Tried with BDM - OPL unable to create OPL folders, instead it creates empty ul.cfg file so I'm tried again with using USBUtil and result still the same as OPL also unable to detect ul.cfg files created with USBUtil program.

 

[Haker120]

Tried 16MB and 8MB cluster sizes, led blinks, console tries to load it but cannot.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Guys I've uploaded an update that fixes incorrect file creation.

Tried 16MB and 8MB cluster sizes, led blinks, console tries to load it but cannot.

That's too much, I believe 16KB or 32KB is the maximum, or somewhere along that line.

 

[Haker120]

Then why Berion asked me to check maximum cluster size? I usually leave 'default cluster size' or I format with SDFormatter from Panasonic.

Also, cluster size 4MB loaded list with games however none of them seem to load cover art.

 

[Acid_Snake]

Then why Berion asked me to check maximum cluster size? I usually leave 'default cluster size' or I format with SDFormatter from Panasonic.

Also, cluster size 4MB loaded list with games however none of them seem to load cover art.

Try the latest build, I've fixed some issues.

 

[Berion]

With this cluster size console doesn't recognize USB but at least tries, led glows once and turns off.

Oh, that's huge as hell. I was thinking 64KiB is the largest, not 32MiB.

 

[Haker120]

I'm trying cluster size 16MB again with new fix v3 because led blinks which means console tries to load it and well, after a long time it listed game list! So I just didn't wait enough, and game doesn't seem to load but at least covers work again.

EDIT: Nope, with cluster size 16MB games load but tend to hang on 'saving settings' info.

EDIT2: And yes, HUGE MGS2 startup FMV lags but not as bad as on older OPLs and with FAT32! (And I'm using REALLY crappy USB 2.0 flash drive without case. XD)

 

[Lauchon22]

Los juegos funcionan bien, pero las caratulas no cargan.
Caché BDM 16

The games work fine, but the covers do not load.

 

[Wesleyjor6]

still need to defrag the games?

 

[Acid_Snake]

still need to defrag the games?

Yes, you still need to defrag the files, we are working on a solution to this.

 

[Haker120]

Seems cluster sizes don't impact performance, except 32MB doesn't seem to work and 16/8/4/2/1 affect detecting time so which one to use? I guess 16kb is too small so 32/64/128kb?

I tested more games and indeed FMVs hiccup sometimes but this is much better than we had before when this could freeze console. MGS2's intro hiccups 3-4 times and this is really big video to transfer.

 

[Serdar]

Since I was using Samba connected to Asus Modem via ethnetnet, I couldn't move the console anywhere, it always needed to be close to the modem. I have been waiting for this good development for a long time.

I tried it, it recognized the Opl filesystem and it lists the games, I'll test it further. Thanks a lot great job.

 

[Berion]

@Acid_Snake Since we have first open exFAT support for BDM, could be possible implement it for internal HDD? But in APA logic, not MBR or GPT. I made some time ago a proof of concept of such idea, yet with quite serious issues ("once setup, never touch partitioning tools") for end user: APA Jail. However, just simple support exFAT as apa partition without all this voodoo which I designed still be handy and maybe just someone will write apa driver for Windows? So then exFAT partitions would be mounted automatically. This save user from cursed APA partition rounding to 128MiB, and in compare with *.zso, a lot of space.

BTW: What about exFAT implementation from Chinese HDD adaptors for Slim models? Forgot the name now (@Haker120 [?]) but they have such modules few years ago. Could they be useful or current implementation in OPL is part of BDM system?

 

[TnA]

I am so glad "read ahead" also works as intended and improves performance (in FMVs, etc.) even more.

OPL 1.2.0 Beta's new features are very interesting.