PS2 Model Question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd6GmpTrN7w

Runs from the modchip, has higher compatibility than the loaders

 

On 700x like Bad Ad said you can install the ide hack it needs 44 or 48? wires and there was a few products that made it "easier" to use that involved ribbon cables, I did a few, they worked and was a pain to install, had some glitches like you needed a special version of HDD Loader els it would want to format the drive constantly, was a lot of fun.

You can actually get HDD(With a IDE interface) support on newer systems like 7500-9000, using a "HD PRO 90xxx" its basically a enclosure with a interface that connects to a normal modbo chip and you need to solder in parallel with M,N,O,P,Q,T,U,V,R,W, never used or tested one, but considering the fact that there official website is down , it doesnt help us much...

As for reliability:

SCPH390x/500x > SCPH7000 (Simply because the mechicon is crap on 700x and had this habit of commuting suicide and taking the laser with it)

SCPH390x/500x < SCPH 7500 to SCPH 900x , but my personal favorite is still SCPH 7900x it has the smaller motherboard like 900x but the power supply is still external making it the best of both worlds.

Edit: Really wish I could find some pics of the HD Pro installed on a slimline 9000 but there site is down, it was released in 2009...

Edit 2: Found a blog with some installation instructions, it would give you more or less an idea of how it worked http://jremos-hdpro.blogspot.com/2009/10/cara-instalasi-hdpro.html

 

If you're doing swap tricking before hand, that's what caused this. I never liked the idea pulling at the drive door like that. The original PS2 drive is stupid I agree with that, mainly because it's so fucking weak. I got one of the later original models, with the better build, the early ones were horrible!

For the door slamming shut, it has to be the belt.. the tray is pretty flimsy too so maybe bending it a bit inwards and pushing the drive it might knock some sense into it. Works on PS2s that have given me trouble before.

 

Hasn't Open PS2 Loader already surpassed Toxic OS in compatability? As far as I can tell, it works with the majority of games that worked on Toxic OS but not HDLoader. The only completely incompatible game that I have encountered was Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance; both Toxic OS and HDLoader work with that, but not Open PS2 Loader.

 

Not ran OPL any time recently - so maybe.

But cant go wrong with a legit chip over a clone that doesnt save settings etc.

Can still run OPL if required as well

 

Just commenting about HD PRO (the thing that uses the BIOS points to interface an HDD to the PS2):

EXTREMELY BOG SLOW. Yes, it has similar speeds than that of USB, because it uses the BIOS chip select pin to perform PIO access on the harddrive. :shrug:

Extremely non user friendly. It uses an frail flat cable and some connectors that can make the install very frustrating.

The modchip it uses as "host" (MODBO 4.0) is by all means anything but a big pile of dung.

Finally, you need hacked/customized loaders to use it. Avoid at all costs !

 

Noted, like I said I never tested one, it was too close to the end of the PS2's lifetime for us to bother with it...

PS Modbo 4 isn't that bad, considering the fact there is nothing els available anymore...

 

"I myself tend to lean towards the models with fire-wire or the Sony iLink port (I use it for Kermit), but you also have the option of using a fire-wire hard drive (if you can find one)."

How exactly do you use an external Firewire hard drive on the PS2? Can you just plug it in and use Free McBoot and HD Loader? Thanks.

 

I hope this helps, but there is this program/ELF file PS2ESDL (PS2 External Storage Device Loader) that has iLink support. @l_oliveira might be able to tell you more about it. I've just seen mention of it in the link, but I don't own an iLink hard drive (nor have I ever seen one) so I wouldn't know how good it is.

 

Because I don't own a iLINK capable HDD enclosure, I never used PS2ESD through it. The only use I ever gave to the iLINK port was Kermit. :shrug:

I'd be itching to try if such enclosures were easy to find here ...

 

Oh sorry. I just thought that I had seen your name on psx-scene regarding this topic :shrug: , i must have been mistaken :redface:.

Edit: YAY 400 posts. :clap:

 

For what it's worth, I did what some people suggested, and tried that Open PS2 Loader program. I was able to play Shadow Hearts: Covenant longer than with HD Loader (by about 20 minutes), then I hit the first boss, killed him, and the game froze. I think God is telling me somehow I shouldn't play this game.

 

you could try some of the modes in OPL there are 6 try them one at a time
and if that fails try a clean rip

 

I did (the clean rip anyway). Ripped the actual game disk with my laptop, using WinHIIP, and put it on my hard drive.

Apparently, it's a problem with some arcane function in the "CDVDMAN module", or something. There's a forum topic on thee game here if anyone cares to look. It's *very* frustrating to deal with this (especially since I have 2 copies of the game).

 

that is kinda fascinating

i suggest the modes then GT4 has issues with OPL the controller wont work until you unplug and replug it
works fine in HDDLoader but in OPL set to mode 6 works just fine

so im willing to bet one of the mode settings will work
if not on PSX-scene there is a thread where you can post issues with the games not working

 

This is why I have a modchip in my PS2. HDLoader and related beauties are great for reducing load times, but not at the cost of simply being unable to finish the game.

And +1 to Phats being more failure prone. After seeing the last 4 slim revisions lately it is very clear the design eliminated a LOT of problem parts. Though I don't like the lack of HDD and the lid feels cheap to me. The Phats are easier to find spare parts for though (no clue why!).

 

Its clearly a programming error in one of the game's IOP modules, and a blatant one at that :banghead:. I have no idea how that could slip through a code review, provided there ever was one on this module.

The game even acts weird on backwards-compatible PS3s, but usually recovers from this state after some seconds. I did not investigate why this fails on homebrewn CDVD emulators, I was just happy when I could finally play it with ODEM on my TOOL. That may be another reason why the timing is still screwed up for some people, even with my fix; the TOOL HDD reacts significantly different than the one I use in my retail PS2.

If you know programming, you can also see that the fix (to the CDVD emulator) is not really a fix. Its a mere workaround that reduces the likelyhood of the bug showing up, by sacrificing load times for safety. Its up to you how safe you want it to be, and the needed delay constant may very well depend on your console and HDD.

If there was significant interest, I could clean up my latest patches for ODEM and get a maintenance release out. I cannot guarantee that this'll fix the thing, though, or not even introduce more problems.