[PS2] POPS stuff & POPStarter

POPStarter Revision 13, WIP 01, 2014/07/11

The first public build of POPStarter 13 is out !
Download Mirror 1
Download Mirror 2

The decrypted POPS files are (c)$ony, so they cannot be posted here. For now they can be downloaded from the links that are written in the Pastie #9401415.
Reuploads of the decrypted POPS files are welcome, but remember to NEVER post direct links to them in this forum since it's not allowed.

If you don't have CUE2POPS, get the v2.0 here, because I didn't update it and it is not included in this POPStarter 13 package.


This POPStarter build comes with a very basic Engrish documentation, explaining briefly how to install and use it.
I'll tell you more about the other advanced features in this topic...

This build does not allow you to mount VCDs that are in your USB mass storage device. I must contact the PFS wrapper author before we decide to either enable that feature in the next public build or not...

POPStarter 13 is a work in progress and new public builds will surface as soon as it gets significantly updated.

AlGollan84 and I made a new compatibility list for the POPStarter 13 WIP series. The list needs a few arrangements before its publication.

Thank you all for being very patient and for your POPStarter r12 compatibility/bug reports.
Especially thanks to ElPatas for the many compatibility reports he made, and to AlGollan84 and DaSA for betatesting the new POPStarter.

 

First page!

I'm gonna test it now, thanks a bunch KrHacken!

 

I can't believe it! It's finally here! 14-07-14 a date to engrave.

 

Thank you very much for your long and hard work krHAKen, take your coffe break

Kind regards.

 

A cutscene fix (compatibility mode 0x05) for the following Resident Evil editions is integrated (automatically activated) in WIP 01 :
- Bio Hazard v1.1 (SLPS-00222)
- Bio Hazard: Director's Cut (SLPS-00998)
- Bio Hazard: Director's Cut: Dual Shock Ver. (SLPS-01512)
- Resident Evil (SLUS-00170)
- Resident Evil: Director's Cut (SLES-00969)
- Resident Evil: Director's Cut (SLES-00970)
- Resident Evil: Director's Cut (SLUS-00551)
- Resident Evil: Director's Cut: Dual Shock Ver. (SLUS-00747)
... with a very HIGH risk of side-effects. I played each one for a while without noticing anything wrong, but I didn't clear the entire game :/ .

If I remember correctly, I found that the compatibility mode 0x05 isn't suitable for the following versions :
- Resident Evil (SLES-00200)
- Resident Evil (SLES-00227)
- Resident Evil (SLES-00228)
... since it causes an endless speech loop when Barry gives you the lockpit. So there's no cutscene fix for them yet .


Ape Escape PAL now. The Paradox LibCrypt cracks for the UK, Spanish and French versions break the compatibity. When running a patched copy, you get a lot of graphic glitches during the intro animation, then a crash just before the main menu is shown.
WIP 01 has built-in cracks for the UK, the Spanish and the French versions. Install an unaltered copy and it should run no problem.

As for the Italian and the German versions, I made two cracks (not integrated in WIP 01) but I can't test them since I don't have the games.

Yes. Now it's supported. Put your BIOS.BIN in __common/POPS/ instead of __common/POPS/GAME PARTITION_NAME/ and it will be used with all your games.

I don't have a multitap so I can't try, but you should take a mtap irx, rename it as MODULE_0.IRX, put it in the POPS directory and see if it works. I really don't think it may work just by doing this, but who knows... perhaps no hardcore hackery is needed.
Yeah, POPStarter 13 allows the user/h4x0r to load up to 10 modules after the IOP was reset with the POPS IOPRP. Modules have to be named MODULE_0.IRX, MODULE_1.IRX... up to MODULE_9.IRX and put in the "POPS" folder (which is in the __common partition).

 

Looks confusing. Can't I just replace the pops folder with this new elf and have it run? Or do I have to go through all of these steps to get this new version working. As I am completely confused.

 

All the steps are requirements. The decrypted POPS files have to be copied to __common/POPS/.
I'll PM you the files in a few minutes...

 

Thank you very much

I have a question, is possible add an remap feature for those games that don't have analog support? would be amazing in many early games.

Greetings!

 

Thanks for rev13!

 

Glad to hear the new version is out! Thanks and hope to try it soon

 

Yep, I didn't try but should be possible in theory...
Get the latest version of PS2 Controller Remapper;
Get the latest version of ps2rd GUI;
Get the "POPS Enable Code" (aka Mastercode) in this list .

Open POPS.ELF with PS2 Controller Remapper;
Set "Remapping routine address" to 01700000 (01400000 to 01700000 is POPStarter reserved);
Remap the controls;
Add the POPS Enable Code and the PS2 Controller Remapper RAW code to your ps2rd codelist.

If it does not work, try the 2nd scePadRead hook address.
If it still does not work, try with the default remapping routine address (which is 000fd000).


Here's the list of the games that have their emulation/compatibility improved in WIP 01 :
http://aybabtu.chez.com/PS2/POPS_SHIT/PS13_WIP01.TXT
It does not mean they're now 100% bug-free. POPStarter recognizes the VCDs and applies compatibility modes so several emulation problems are getting solved.
An example with Gran Turismo 2 : Now you can hear the BGMs, the navigation in the options is fine, BUT the cars still don't have their textures.

 

Wow! I can't believe! Thanks a lot for the new version and of course for your hard work krHACKen! Testing now!

Greetings!

EDIT:
Oh, I just notice the new version contains not USB support, so, I guess I will not be able to test it yet... Sorry...

Anyway, I will keep waiting for it, I just hope you can contact Delcro and solve this soon.

 

How are those POPS cheats done? Some kind of conversion from Gameshark codes or?

 

Yes. These codes are Raw PS1 GameShark codes converted to Raw PS2 Codebreaker codes.
POPS puts the virtual PS1 RAM at $01000000. So for porting PS1 Action Replay cheat codes, we have to add $01000000 to the adresses and comply with the code type definitions of the target PS2 cheat engine.
Examples :
PS1 code 800ABCDE 1234 = PS2 code 110ABCDE 00001234
PS1 code 300EDCBA 0021 = PS2 code 010EDCBA 00000021

I made the above list last year, using multiple GS/AR/PAR codelist and abusing of text editor macros and scripts lol. It was pretty hard to do with the stuff I've used.
ps2rd code types
PS1 Action Replay/GameShark V3 code types


The POPStarter 13 compatibility list is here :
Compatibility List (read-only)
The form for submitting reports

 

@krHACKen and those who helped congrats with and thx for releasing rev13.

Some test results:

settings:
- rev13 with recommended setup
- internal hdd
- 660 bios (psp) for all games
- ntsc-u
- cue2pops 2.0 vcd's (no vmode)
- pal ps2 v7 (fat)
- lcd tv with rgb-scart cable

Spyro 2
- Mode 1: fixes bgm. mode3 no difference
- Hiccups, minor slowdown and tearing. A demo starts when no buttons are touched at start screen, slowdown is very perceivable there.
- Mode 1 and 4 combined might be better than only mode 1, but might be placebo. Very playable.

Breath of Fire IV:
- Serious slowdown in town (i.e. Sarai). Flickering at title screen
- Overall: Music and gameplay ok. Playable
- Compatibility modes: no difference

FFIX:
- Mode 4: fixes black artifacts in battle, so game is now playable (at least up to and inside awakened forest)
- Minor hiccups, minor slowdown and tearing (sound hiccup, i.e. when pressing continue button at start screen)

@krHACKen, some questions:
- is the slowdown that some games have something that can be improved?
- can fragmentation on the hdd cause trouble?

 

Button remapping test

Mmmm, so I've remapped the controls like this :


Built a trojan file and copied it in the VMC folder of Ape Escape;
Plugged a SCPH-1080 controller and started Ape Escape...

The D-Pad goes mad apparently. Since I'm a complete noob in the button remapping stuff, I guess I did it wrong... Perhaps I have to hook the routine to the second scePadRead, or stop messing with the kernel reserved k0 & k1 and use a proper cheat engine instead.


EDIT :

My bad, Gentlemen. I just figured that it's disabled by default. If ya need to enable this feature, patch your POPStarter ELF/KELF with ENABLE_IRX_LOADING.PPF, then YOLO.

 

That is awesome, I didn't know that could be done! Thank you so much for that

 

Dear krHACKen - thank you so much for your continued hard work in developing POPStarter. I only recently softmodded my PS2 and added a hard drive to it so that I could start using it for things like this and I was very excited when I learned about POPS and POPStarter because I knew that running PSX games from HDD natively was not possible and so emulation is required.

I've been playing around with rev 12 for the last week or so, adding around 10 games to my HDD so far, and I have been keeping notes on which games work and which ones have issues. I was going to submit them to the compatibility list but now that rev 13 is out I will upgrade then start over and report the results. I will also add the rest of my games and start testing those as well, so look forward to many compatibility reports from me!

 

Listes libre d'accès ...

Bonjour Toute et Tous.

---> Annulé, listes libres d'accès pour vous tous. Remplissage par les formulaires.

Thank you for your comprehension …


TIA.

 

All mtap irx files just give me -200 error code. I tested freemtap.irx, MTAPMAN.IRX ver 3000 and ver 2500