PS2 [Testers Needed] Open PS2 Loader with ZSO support (compressed ISO)

I haven't tested the other options, but with an internal hard drive, all games run perfectly without any FMV stutter (including Devil May Cry 1). Games load very quickly and there are no issues.
A 2TB hard drive is the maximum size and holds about 1000-1100.
If it's not important for you to play from a slim console, I don't see why you should bother - just buy a fat console, HDD adapter and a 2TB hard drive.
 
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about the compression level of ZSO ("ziso.py"), what is the ideal level? I opened a discussion on GitHub about it but I would like to ask here too.

high levels may result in overhead and low levels I'm not sure of the benefits.

I use USB and there is a difference using ZSO.
 
ZSO levels haven't been thoroughly tested regarding performance and compression-ratio.

Most of the time the highest compression seems to work fine.
 
BloodRaynare said:
You didn't specify what device are you using to run the game.
HDD? USB? SMB?
Also specify the cache size you're using on OPL settings for each devices.

And have you tried to using compatibility modes such as mode 1 or 2?
Click to expand...

USB, no fiddling with compatibility modes
 
For my part, I cannot recommend the ZSO formats in combination with OPL.

I use a PS2 Slim with an MX4SIO SD card adapter and the latest OPL and wLaunchELF versions.

OPL -> https://github.com/ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader/releases/tag/latest
wLaunchELF -> https://github.com/israpps/wLaunchELF_ISR

In OPL, all games on the SD card (via MX4SIO) are displayed correctly, but practically none of my games can be started. The screen goes black at startup and that's it. The blue LED on the MX4SIO also only flashes briefly, after which no more data transfer is visible (the blue LED would then flash quickly). Only a few games such as DOA2 Hardcore work in this combination and the ZSO format.

Also with wlaunchELF 4.43x_isr I notice considerable stability problems compared to the normal 4.43 version. When I navigate in the menu and copy files here, the program always falls into a kind of autofire mode, i.e. the keystrokes are carried out a dozen times in succession without being asked and you can hardly work with it. This is not the case with the normal 4.43 version, but this does not read exFAT and SD cards via MX4SIO.

I have no choice but to convert the games back to the usual ISO format via OPL Manager, as I have never had any problems with this. With wlauchELF I probably have no other choice but to make do with the unstable 4.43_isr version.

Unless someone knows another solution to these problems.
 
TnA said:
Please tue Debug colors on.
Try Mode 1/Accurate reads!
Click to expand...

That's the first thing i tried -> no success. Also tried the other options -> no success.

Edit:
It seems that if you activate and save mode 1 via the OPL app, this change is not applied (although I explicitly saved after the change). Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't.

If I edit the CFG's for the games via PC and OPL Manager and activate and save mode 1 here, then it works for the most games (although this doesn't help with Metal Slug 3, for example).

So I find it a) annoying that nowhere is it pointed out that this mode 1 must be activated for ZSO images, and b) that this change is often not saved via the OPL app.

I will probably switch back to ISO images anyway, because everything works reasonably reliably there.
 
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It should work just fine via OPL... Try to clean your port and maybe bend the contacts a bit up.
 
Now I have activated mode 1 via OPL Manager for all games, and it actually works better for most games, whether ISO or ZSO.

I actually assumed that the network update function in OPL would download the optimal CFG files for all installed games. However, mode 1 is rarely active for these, although this mode is extremely helpful.

I have now even prepared 2 different micro SD cards, one with all the games in ISO format and one in ZSO format (I copied the ISOs from my original disc games myself). I even use them with several MX4SIO SD adapters on different PS2 consoles, so there are no possible MC port or adapter problems.

Conclusion:
With ISO images it runs noticeably smoother than with ZSO images, these are recognized and started more reliably.
 
Update:

In the meantime, I have completely switched back to the familiar ISO formats for the games. The ZSO formats take up considerably less space, but they are not really reliable.
Whether via USB, SMB share or MX4SIO, games in ZSO format simply don't run smoothly. The most common problems are stuttering videos or crashes when loading. It's simply no fun if videos don't run smoothly and you constantly have to reckon with the risk of the games crashing or getting stuck when loading.
With the good old ISO format, this is much less of a problem and the games run reliably and without problems in most cases.
 
Consider ZSO "Beta", although @Acid_Snake (probably) doesn't work on it anymore. Some OPL in-game stuff seems prone to "race conditions" to begin with and his implementation actually seems to be so performant that it can trigger it easier!

This might also be an indicator that other compressions would work as well though and even work better due to slower performance during unpacking and I know that this sounds weird!
 
Mr.Ash said:
Update:

In the meantime, I have completely switched back to the familiar ISO formats for the games. The ZSO formats take up considerably less space, but they are not really reliable.
Click to expand...

Yes, I found the same thing a while back when I spent ages converting my entire collection. An important thing to note is that Mode 2 (I think?) needs to be turned on for every game, otherwise it will black screen at boot. This is another annoyance with ZSO.

There are a few special cases where certain games save heaps of data however and don't affect anything in-game too badly, like games without much FMV or streaming going on. The Eyetoy games come to mind. Paired with the MX4SIO or UDPBD and ZSO can be worth while in some circumstances, often you're better off with just the ISO though.
 
Mr.Ash said:
Update:

In the meantime, I have completely switched back to the familiar ISO formats for the games. The ZSO formats take up considerably less space, but they are not really reliable.
Whether via USB, SMB share or MX4SIO, games in ZSO format simply don't run smoothly. The most common problems are stuttering videos or crashes when loading. It's simply no fun if videos don't run smoothly and you constantly have to reckon with the risk of the games crashing or getting stuck when loading.
With the good old ISO format, this is much less of a problem and the games run reliably and without problems in most cases.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ on the "reliability" part, there's games that refuse to boot as ISO but work just fine as ZSO, one prime example of this is MGS2 Substance on USB (at least on a PS3, which is what I mostly use these days). Also on HDD, ZSOs perform well and have great compatibility.

In any case, I don't understand why you went through all the trouble to figure out something that everyone already knew.
ZSO is a compressed format, meaning it has to be decompressed on the fly if you wannt to play directly from them, and on the PS2 this decompression is done by the PS1 CPU itself with its glorious 66MHz and awesome 1MB of RAM, most of which is already taken up by the game itself. When you have to mix that with SMB or MX4SIO where the PS1 CPU is already at full capacity or close to it then you only really need to connect the dots. 100% compatibility and speed was never the goal here considering the very narrow and tight work environment, whereas on HDD the drivers are lighter and leave more room, also the storage itself is faster so there's more time we can use up compared to DVD.

This is a "why can't my PC from 1995 run Crysis" type of complaint. The only way to get around this is by using more powerful hardware with more RAM (i.e. deckard or EE, or a PS3).
 
Anyone here who tested CD based games in ZSO format ?
So i have the Monopoly party, i ripped it to bin/cue and then i dropped it to CD folder in my HDD. The OPL couldn't find it. Then i remembered that OPL manager has a tool to convert CD to iso. Boom ! OPL recognized the game. So far so good, it was working.

Then i decided to compress it to ZSO using the tool from OPL manager. OPL can find the game in the HDD (both folders CD and DVD) altho they give me black screen whenever i start them.

It happened with the specific game or CD games are not meant to be compressed to ZSO ?


EDIT: I got it working with MODE 1
 
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The problem with .zso is POWER. a kingston64gb-exodia cant run zso on a slim model, but it runs perfect on a fat model.
a 16gb of any mark runs a zso well on any model, but a 32-64gb+ depends of the mark or model of the pendrive.
 
the exfat format and the iso images are the combination 99% accurate these days, when factorys are cutting costs and making junky devices .
every problem after that is a hardware problem.
 
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