[PS2] POPS stuff & POPStarter

[PS2] POPS stuff & POPStarter...

A topic dedicated to $ony's PS1 emulator for PS2 (known as "POPS" and "SLBB-00001") and to POPStarter (a homebrew launcher which is meant for it).

You may find POPStarter releases and tech support here...

Please keep this place free of illegal things. Example of files that can NOT be posted :
- Retail game dumps (and retail game files)
- PS1/PS2 System BIOS (or "boot ROM")
- POPStarter Revision 9, 10, 11 and 12 files (they all contain the POPS binaries, that are $ONY COPYRIGHTED)
- POPS launcher POC2 (which was released under the name "POPS-00001", POPS is also embedded in that thing)
- POPS decrypted files (POPS.ELF, POPS.PAK, POPS_IOX.PAK and IOPRP252.IMG)

The official POPStarter 13 package doesn't contain anything that belong to $ony. It's 100% free of $ony code and can be reposted anywere.
Please do not post direct links to the POPS binaries (POPS.ELF, POPS.PAK, POPS_IOX.PAK and IOPRP252.IMG) in this thread.


UPDATES :

CUE2POPS :
CUE2POPS v2.3 <- LATEST VERSION

POPStarter 13 WIP series :
POPStarter Revision 13, RIP 06 (2017/20/10) <- LATEST VERSION

POPStarter 13 Compatibility Lists :
Compatibility List (read-only) [Internal HDD]
The form for submitting reports [Internal HDD]

Compatibility List (read-only) [USB Device]
The form for submitting reports [USB Device]

Compatibility List (read-only) [SMB]
The form for submitting reports [SMB]

More POPStarter 13 useful stuff :
POPStarter Wiki with Tool(s) made by ShaolinAssassin <- USER GUIDE !
Cheat code list (PS1 codes converted to raw ps2rd codes)
A PS1 Action Replay / GameShark code list
Pfsshell - Transfer VCD files for Popstarter r13 - POPS emulator (a video tutorial made by Waats)
CDmage Version 1.02.1 Beta 5 (use this to merge your track .bin file)

IGR Textures :
dumpkin's set of replacement IGR images (English)

arkl1t32's packs of IGR themes (English, Polish and French)
arkl1t32's fixed version of dumpkin's set of replacement IGR images (English)
arkl1t32's set of replacement IGR images (Polish)

gledson99's texture packs (English, Portuguese and French)
gledson99's textures modified by ElPatas (Spanish)
gledson99's textures modified by ElPatas (English)

PPFs for injecting dumpkin's English IGR image / GXB's Chinese translation in POPS.ELF, by GXB
PPF for injecting Tao Pai Pai's IGR image in POPS.ELF, by GXB (Portuguese)

English and German IGR-themes, by LopoTRI

 

Thanx, great work!

 

Thanks! Great work! Only one question about BIOS. Which BIOS version is used? Original POPS or PSP 6.60? And if original maybe you can provide extracted and working elfs (or just ps2unpacker script) so we can alter BIOS in any time. Or just provide elfs and kelf with altered bios Why i ask for this purpose: because there is at least 3 games: Biohazard 3 Last Escape, Einhandler, Legacy of Kain... and maybe something else that is working on psp BIOS but isn't working at original BIOS.

 

Great work, krHACKen, thank you!

Did somebody try? Sadly CUE2POPS crashes everytime I launch it.... :grief:

 

Use it from your root drive C: or D: or whatever root.
Run cmd with administrator privileges.

It doesn't crash, but i get an error using it:

 

That's how I did try, but without any success. It crashes for me (I never get your error message).

 

Try downloading it again, maybe it's corrupted?

This is how my cmd looks:

The name of the .bin in the cue file is correct, it seems that cue2pops cannot find the path to the .bin file....

 

As for me everything is working fine!!! Great app!!! Thanks.

Tested on Win7 x86, winXp x86

 

Nice
I'm running w7 x64, could that be the problem?

Hmmm..
Same error on Virtual XP.

Where did you place your cue and bin files, in the same folder as cue2pops?

 

It's the original BIOS, minus the OSD/PS logo. Not sure but I think that the PSP POPS BIOS and the PS2 POPS BIOS have the same kernel. Got a US copy of Castlevania, I'll test it ASAP.

Please try this : CUE2POPS_v1_UNPACKED.zip

Occurs when :
- The .BIN file is not in the same directory than the .CUE file
or
- The cue sheet contains the full path of the .BIN file, but the user has moved it to another location (or the dump is some pirated CDRWIN image:wink-new.

Solution :
1) Open the cue in a text editor. If it has the full path of the .bin, truncate it and just leave the file name.
Example : BEFORE -> "C:\SOME DIRECTORY\THE GAME.BIN", AFTER -> "THE GAME.BIN"
2) Make sure that the .BIN and the .CUE are in the same folder.

The debug build may also help you to figure out what went wrong :

"BIN Path =" (below "CUE Path =") is the .BIN that the program takes as input, and it depends of what is written in the input cue sheet.



Now that's frustrating. I've encountered a critical bug that was fixed in the previous POPStarter revision. For some reason it surfaced again :
[video=youtube_share;DjdSOHgZkZM]http://youtu.be/DjdSOHgZkZM[/video]
The partition name is PP.SYPHON_FILTER_UK
The created VMC folder is SYPHON_FILTER_UKS

A character came out of fucking nowhere... I don't know how or whjy it happens yet. Mmmm, if that random char isn't an ASCII char, it could potentially prevent POPS from saving/accessing the VMCs.

 

Same error with the debug exe, can you post the contents of your Castlevania.cue file?

 

Thanks krHACKen, I found my mistake, thanks to your debug screenshot.

I was running in cmd :

instead of

A way better with it!

Hope you can fix your new problem. Too bad...

 

Thanx!
It's workin' now (I feel stupid...)

 

Ok succesfully convert the games but... but i cannot launch any game with portable and launcher bundles. I was change path to PP.POPS-00001. When I launch any elf - it shows me just black screen.
__common/POPS/disc0
PP.POPS-00001/IMAGE0.VCD
PP.POPS-00001/EXECUTE.ELF

IMAGE0.VCD - just simple renamed disc0 (for tests)

When I launch one of 2 elfs (of course with changed PP.POPS-00001 and then zero bytes) it just show me black screen. And yes it creates save folder __common/POPS/POPS-00001/ with 2 saves.

very weird - cause PSone logo can be used as simple debug message. - If there is PS logo that means that you everything make right except image. But for know error handling is almost impossible (black screen just black screen).

 

I got same result as you with both elfs, AKuHAK.

I wasnt sure about my elf edit, so I created a partition named PP.I_AM_THE_GAME_PARTITION_NAME and used the unedited portable & launcher elfs, without any success too.

Btw, what do you mean by "mount" a partition? Create it? Coz I dont find any option in uLe to mount.

 

Done. SLUS-00067 BSODed after I pressed START at the title screen. L1+Start+Select still works.

Apparently happens only with the KELF. LAUNCHER and PORTABLE bundles didn't put that stupid "S". Since my packer outputs ELFs that can run in a KELF, EXECUTE.KELF uses a special payload. That payload might be responsible of the bug...

Like said in the other topic, the tool supports drag & drop. So if you don't want to specify a command and an output file, you can simply drag and drop the cue to the CUE2POPS.EXE:very_drunk:. It will output the file as "NAMEOFTHECUE.VCD" in the BIN/CUE directory. For example, if the cue name is "tekken 3.cue", it will output the file as "tekken 3.VCD".

Strange that you both encountered that problem. I've tested the launcher ELF and the portable ELF with Bishi Bashi and a UK copy of Syphon Filter without any problem...
[video=youtube_share;LCCIIRln-vE]http://youtu.be/LCCIIRln-vE[/video]
LAUNCHER.ELF :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I meant open/enter/go into. uLe does not have a user option to mount partitions, it mounts the partition by itself when the user selects it. I've used the term "mount" in the README in case the user manipulates the PS2HDD with a command line client...

 

I get a corrupted icon when i create the partition.

Partition (size 128MB):
PP.SLPS-02034

inside:
IMAGE0.VCD (= converted game SLPS-02034) and
EXECUTE.KELF

Edit:

i tried with the portable launcher, but just BSOD.

With LAUNCHER.ELF it looks like the EXECUTE.ELF is launched, because the HDD spins up, but then BSOD.

L1 + START and SELECT not working...

 

Yes, I could make it work (on the PP.I_AM... partition)!

:dejection:Shame one me, I missed one step, that's why it did not work previously...:dejection:

__________

When I was testing Sotn with the POPS-00001 emulator version, I had to wait like 10 minutes until the game begins (Black screen too)...

__________

Thanks for the tip buddy, I forgot about that.

__________

Ok about "mounting". I was affraid I missed something.

__________

Did you make some compatibilty comparaison between your POPStarter and the POPS-00001 emulator version?

 

It's Cotton Original, right ?
Did you write "Fantastic Night Dreams" as title0 and "Cotton Original" as title1 ? If so, that may be the cause of the corrupted icon. title0 and title1 can't have more than 16 characters.
Otherwise, I've posted 3 sample partition headers in Pastie #7438881.

Other than WipeOut XL and the JPN version of Tekken 3, no. Some games that froze at the PS logo with POPS-00001 should work now.
Like AKuHAK said, it got difficult to know where in the boot sequence a game freezes, since I've totally removed the PS logo shit. The HDD activity LED and the video signal change help a little, haha.
I didn't see a game that worked with POPS-00001 and doesn't work with POPStarter. I hope that the OSD code removal didn't break the compatibility...

Oh by the way, did anyone get GSM to work with that POPStarter release ? Or does the POPStarter code crash/override/destroy it ?

 

Got it working I guess, because the only PAL game I tried is displayed centered with it. .