[PS2] POPS stuff & POPStarter

I tested more PAL games which have the LibCrypt protection and patched for it, added to
the compatibility list, for some games i describe here more detailed and long explanations
about the problems caused by the LibCrypt than the ones i wrote in the list:

Gekido: Urban Fighters
Le Mans 24 Hours
Moho
N-Gen Racing

Saga Frontier 2: at the start of the game, after the intro battle when the king takes his born son,
it freezes in BSOD before it shows the savegame screen, with the BSOD the music still works.


This is Football: the LibCrypt protection make it freezes in the loading screen for play, but if freezed
first at the initial loaging in BSOD, then i tried it with the PSP 6.60 or a PAL BIOS and passed this
freeze, this is the first game which i encounter that have a freeze with the built-in BIOS and needs
another BIOS for fix it.

About how the emulation works, the game have a graphical glitch in the floor when is working some camera views.
But the most noticeable is the one which affects all the players, the glitch make them to seem
levitate or fly, with their arms putted to back, stupidly fun.


Need for Speed Porsche 2000: In Evolution mode with submodes (Tournament & Weekend Races),
after 12 seconds of playing, kicks you to the Evolution menu.
In Quick Races mode with submodes (Time Battle, Chase & Capture the Flag) after 12 seconds
of playing, kicks you to restart again the race.
In Factory Driver mode when you turn for the first right curve the game freezes.
Unfortunately this game not works in PopStarter, freezes from initial loading with BSOD.


TechnoMage Return of Eternity: LibCrypt makes it freezes at the final of the second area
(Steamertown city) when you enter to the crater is showed a video, and then it loads
the next third area (The Hive), is in the loading screen when it freezes.

Before enter the crater is needed solve a puzzle with a water tanks, the emulation have a graphical
glitch which not shows the blue color in the tanks for regulate the level of the water, and
is very important if you don't know the puzzle.
Also for exit the game with the in-game reset, you need deactive the analog control if you are using
it for play, if not the screen of reset freezes.

This game do not have any patch, never nobody' made one, i played it in ePSXe wit the SBI file of
redump.org, an then in popstarter until the freeze of the LC protection.
This is a great hidden gem of action RPG, i hope it can be fixed, is not well know, probably not helped
that is only published in PAL format.


Lucky Luke Western Fever: this one is another case like TechnoMage, there is not any patch,
played in ePSXe wit the SBI file of redump.org, an then in popstarter until the problem caused
by the LC protection.
From the start of the game, you arrive to a mexican guy sleeping in the floor in front of a bridge
blocking the path, the LC protection causes that this mexican never wake up for give you a key
needed for open the door of the hotel, and continue playing later through the bridge.


This is all for the LibCrypt games, i bought the original PAL version of the game Die Hard Trilogy
(SLES-00445) and the in-game audio CD tracks not works, the music only works in some menus.
I encountered that the PSP BIOS 6.60 fix the sound of the two first logos, the Import player OSD
also fix this sounds, but do not fix the in-game audio CD tracks.

Regards.

 

Is there a chance that the messed up graphics of games like Ridge Racer, Rage Racer, Grand Tour Racing 98' could be fixed in future versions of POPSLoader?

 

The GTE emulation is appallingly bad, unfortunately the test programme there is for it crashes the emulator bad. Also it's for PAL so the bottom of the screen is cut off.

If I had the source and could modify and build it then I'd take a look.

 

I don't know wich is the program you refer, but you can use GSM 0.23x for center
the screen the best possible, it serves for programs and games.

Regards.

 

http://psx.amidog.se/doku.php?id=psx:download:gte

The only emulation that I found to pass is MAME/MESS, that includes all of Sony's emulators (although I haven't tested the hardware PS2 emulation yet).

 

gave Digimon world 3 a try (SLUS-01436)
battle for the most part is fine,
text entry in naming your player is fine you can leave teh first city just fine but. going upstairs in the Inn and Lamb chop crash (used POPStarter rev 12)

havent tried with the PSP 6.60 bios though.

 

From what i see is an exe file, i don't know how to be used, but i hope you can try it.

Regards.

 

In an IMAGE0.VCD (as PSX.EXE) or as an OSD.BIN. I tried to run it as a OSD.BIN, got a BSOD, oh well. Can't try it as a CD-ROM image with a retail BIOS atm, as I'm working to something else...

 

I tried it as IMAGE0.VCD with the PAL BIOS 7502 but freezes at the Zony's logo,
is possible exit with the normal reset, well i'm not sure if i make well the things.

Apart from that i tested 3 more PAL games with the LibCrypt protection:

Mission: Impossible
Sno-Cross Championship Racing
Theme Park World

Added to the compatibility list.

Regards.

 

US version. Actually, it was not me who removed the track, a friend of mine have a hacked version of this game (it's some of these crappy "translated" versions) but the thing is it does work on Popstarter 12, of course with no music since it hasn't the CDDA track. I compare this image with my SotN dump and from what I saw they have the same LBAs. I don't know how the track was removed from image.

That's the problem. :moody: I've been seeing that's a hard task: Rebuild a PS1 game from the scratch with CDDA tracks.

 

Ok, so I wonder if you guys (the dev side) can answer a couple questions for me. I love how this was finally exposed and I'm very happy with the progress that has been made. I am simply wondering what do you think the future holds for this piece of software (if that is, at all, answerable)? Can it be expected to eventually have a high compatibility with PS1 games or do you guys think it will mainly be more of an enthusiast's software. I'm just asking as I've seen what it has morphed into, and although very pleasing, I don't know if there are potential "brickwalls" since as I see it, it is a modified program that Sony made back in the day, and since I know nothing of code, I can only assume how much of the leak is useful. I guess what I mean, is PS2 POPS expected, or optimistically geared to one day be as simple, and as compatible as it's PSP counterpart? Or even possible, considering Sony seemed to give it up?

I look forward to future developments, and by no means did I intend to post anything harmful, I'm just a code-ignorant lurker who is interested in the overall impact of the very interesting work done here.

 

I tested 6 more PAL games which have the LibCrypt protection:

Barbie Race & Ride
Barbie Super Sports
Disney's Story Studio: Mulan
Galerians
Mike Tyson Boxing
Prince Naseem Boxing

Added to the compatibility list.

Regards.

 

Thanx
I received Die Hard Trilogy (USA) last week, bit busy lately.
When i find some time i'll try to test this one...

 

Oki you can check if the in-game audio CD tracks works for the NTSC-U version
or not like happens in the PAL one.

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I tested 10 more PAL games which have the LibCrypt protection, at last the latest ones:

Asterix: Mega Madness
Actua Ice Hockey 2
Men in Black: The Series Crashdown
PGA European Tour Golf
Ronaldo V-Football
Sydney 2000
The Italian Job
Urban Chaos
*OverBlood 2 ?
*World Championship Snooker ?

Well is not sure about the last two games if have the LibCrypt protection.

For OverBlood 2 there is two patches from bad and chenchotronk supposed to remove
a LC protection, i have the original game and i checked it with the tool from redump.org
for scan and find the sectors with LC protection and not encountered nothing.
But is possible the tool not detect more advanced LC protections.
Playing a little the game without patches i not encountered a freeze or a problem, but this
game is a long Adventure-RPG-Action containing 2 discs, and if really have LC protection
is possible you can encounter a problem in more advanced level of play.

About the game World Championship Snooker the group paradox made a LC2 patch fix, but
all the reports on the net says that the people played the game without any issues if the
patch is not applied, i played it also a little without encounter a freeze but who knows...

krHACKen if you can check this two games for see if both have LC protection like you made
with the game The FA Premier League Football 2001, would be great for be definitively sure.

Regards.

 

Well, I am keeping an eye on a progress too. Here what I tested so far:

(Rev Build - rev.12, CUE2POPS - v2.0, Launcher Type - EXECUTE.ELF)

Command & Conquer: Red Alert Retaliation NTSC-U SLUS_00665

Command & Conquer: Tiberium Dawn PAL SLES_00531 (In-game sound is twitching a little. Game speed is more faster than original (game speed is ok with GSM force PAL mode, but sound in this case will twitch a LOT).)

Syphon Filter NTSC-U SCUS_94240 (Slowdowns when zooming with sniper rifle)

Syphon Filter 2 NTSC-U SCUS_94451 (Minor slowdowns in some areas (e.g. near waterfall in first level). Slowdowns when zooming with H11 or sniper rifle)

Syphon Filter 3 NTSC-U SCUS_94640

Driver 2 PAL SLES_02993 (Music playing is very fast. Save/load screen is messed - can not see the elements, only background)

Tobal 2 NTSC-J SLPM_86033 (HUD in quest mode are flickering. Slowdowns in open areas (quest mode). Vibration function missing)

Doom NTSC-U SLUS_00077 (Not works! Stuck at loading screen. This issue can be seen in other emulators, probably because of CDDA)

Herc's Adventures NTSC-U SLUS_00298

Civilization II NTSC-U SLUS_00792 (In-game music is twitching (though music playback in save window and throne room is ok))

Legend of Dragoon PAL SCES_03043 (NTSC patcher not works. Some sounds have echo)

Fighting Force PAL SLES_00731 (Slowdowns if many enemies at once on screen. No sound at intro video (fixed by changing bios))

Nuclear Strike NTSC-U SLUS_00518

Dune 2000 NTSC-U SLUS_00973

Jet Moto 3 NTSC-U SCUS_94555

Grand Theft Auto 2 PAL SLES_02458

Twisted Metal NTSC-U SCUS_94304

Twisted Metal 2 NTSC-U SCUS_94306 (Sometimes there are slowdowns. Especially when rear mirror are turned on)

Twisted Metal III NTSC-U SCUS_94249 (FPS lower than normal. No sound at intro video (fixed by changing bios). Menu sounds is messed. Strange squeaking noises in game)

Twisted Metal 4 NTSC-U SCUS_94560

Twisted Metal - Small Brawl NTSC-U SCUS_94642 (Vibration function missing)


-PAL games need NTSC patcher to better fit.

^^^^^
Should be added to compat list.

 

Hello krHACKen, very grateful for the work you do

I wonder if it is possible to replace the internal bios because if I put the bios bin's, start the licensing screen and is where some games do not advance, I want to test whether these changes can run more games but that screens ruin it (this is the osd, I think)

Also a suggestion, why do not you replace the emulator bios for the psp pops (eg v6.60 [6.60, 6.39, 6.35, etc. are the same]) I get better results, giving a revision hex apparently removed unnecessary parts to emulate and therefore work best, are also multi region (are based on the scph-100 or Japanese psone)

Otherwise, you could include some option to disable sound effects in games (but not the music) I've tried games that work perfect but upon entering some sounds it sounds like the sound is corrupted and the game crashes (for example devilman, dbz legends, etc..) this would increase the compatibility.

I do not write much but I'm always on the lookout, big greetings from "elotrolado"

 

For multi disc games, Shalma made a disc combining kit at Emuforums http://forums.ngemu.com/showthread.php?t=118402

It does away with disc swaps and creates one image. This may solve the issue of trying to transfer saves between each disc.

Not sure how well pops will handle games bigger than a normal CD, but these work well on epsxe. Some of the bigger games , Fear Effect, Fear Effect 2, FF8 and FF9 require a DVD_5 plugin for epsxe for those games to work fully.
And by the way, fantastic work on this, much appreciated.

 

There is a new version that allows you to select which tests to run using the controller. He has also released a CPU and GPU test.

I haven't tried them on pops or real hardware yet, if the controller doesn't work then it's because none of them set the controller baud rate.

 

Hello, I decided to register to ask a question. Hopefully this hasn't been covered in the past, though I don't believe it has (I've read a majority of the thread).

From my understanding, POPstarter can only work with HDDs equal or less than 136GBs. I've been under this understanding for a while now until I've read this French guide written by ShaoliAss (DaSA),
http://www.metagames-eu.com/forums/...-rev-12-emulateur-ps1-sur-ps2-hdd-133098.html

When translated through google translate it states under the Warnings and restrictions,
"hard drives larger than 120 GB are supported (driver replaced). POPStarter is confirmed functional and safe for your HDD up to 320 GB Beyond that, it is at your own risk."

This confuses me...Did krHACKen manage to fix this issue with the later revs? Is it safe to use POPStarter Revision 12 on a 200GB HDD?

Hopefully you guys can help clear this up for me.
Thank you for your time.

 

I've downloaded the zip on that site and it looks to be the same one krhACKen uploaded, so I'm sure it only works in 28bit.
He is most likely saying that he tested it on a 320gb HDD and worked fine, but POPS will only see/use 136gbs of it. You can use your 200gb HDD, it just needs to be formatted in 28bit (136gb) not 48bit (over 136gb) POPStarter is not work on any 48bit HDDOSD as it only works in 28bit. (It mostly for being safe, as going over and f-up your HDD data.)