davidwhangchoi
Member
hey what's Free Mcboot?
sounds good. post some!I love that David is keeping this thread alive. Good for you.
Will post a semi recent pickup later tonight
PS2 Appreciation & Celebration Thread, long live the King!
- Thread starter Canis lupus
- Start date
Software on a memory card that let's you play backups from your own games you ripped, play imports, install games to hard drives, etc.
NormalFish
Banned
for the sake of pedantic clarity, FMCB doesn't enable those things. It enables you to run programs that do. Think of it like the homebrew channel on the Wii or HEN on psp/psvita.
NoFaceNico
Member
I didn't realize Chulip went up in price so suddenly. What gives? Did someone popular review it or something?
I think I have more than one copy and bought them for like $2 each. They always sold cheaply. Back when I was at my peak of collecting PS2.
I think I have more than one copy and bought them for like $2 each. They always sold cheaply. Back when I was at my peak of collecting PS2.
theSlacker
Member
If I had to guess I would say because some eceleb did a video about it. Not going to check though.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
So I decided to try OpenPS2Loader for the first time soon. I used to use HDLoader back in the day but switched to discs after ESR came out.
Things I didn't like back then were:
Instead I've settled for SD card, and I found a way to make the SD card port external pretty easily. I'll post some photos when I have stuff in hand and have it all hooked up but it's going to be:
SD Card -> SD to MicroSD extension cable (external to internal) -> MicroSD to SD card adapter -> SD to IDE 44pin adapter -> 44pin to full IDE/power -> PS2 network adapter
I'm going to mount the SD card slot on the network adapter with some double sided tape. This way I can remove and add games really easily, and eventually when SD cards get larger and cheaper I can upgrade the size no problem. Should be pretty good, I just hope this all works!
Things I didn't like back then were:
- Compatibility wasn't perfect. It's better now but apparently some FMVs can still be messed up?
- Hard drives being really slow to transfer games on and off
- Hard drives at the time were not that big. It was hard to compete with a fat stack of DVDs
- Any time you want to add a game it's unscrew the network adapter, remove hard drive, turn off computer, open computer, plug in hard drive, wait, go in reverse...
- Never really trusted hard drives to hold up long term
Instead I've settled for SD card, and I found a way to make the SD card port external pretty easily. I'll post some photos when I have stuff in hand and have it all hooked up but it's going to be:
SD Card -> SD to MicroSD extension cable (external to internal) -> MicroSD to SD card adapter -> SD to IDE 44pin adapter -> 44pin to full IDE/power -> PS2 network adapter
I'm going to mount the SD card slot on the network adapter with some double sided tape. This way I can remove and add games really easily, and eventually when SD cards get larger and cheaper I can upgrade the size no problem. Should be pretty good, I just hope this all works!
NormalFish
Banned
there are ways to transfer via LAN, though it's pretty fuckin' slow iirc. Dunno if you looked in to that. I couldn't get it to work when i tried it before, and I use my HDD only for a few things so i haven't really bothered since getting it all set up again.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
I did a couple times in 2006 and have not since. Just took way too long.
sixteen-bit
Member
Congrats on the new acquisition.
davidwhangchoi
Member
how much does those things cost.
davidwhangchoi
Member
oh, i better look into it. that's pretty affordable.
NormalFish
Banned
there are folks here who will send it to you at cost, though I'm not personally able (since i use a test unit) and the folks who i've seen mention it in the past haven't been posting recently (or changed their avatar so i no longer recognize them lol).
NormalFish
Banned
depending on how many loading points a game has, you can also try using a USB stick. HDDs are kinda hard to move files to since you gnerally need to either suffer through extremely slow speeds or use winhiip on a PC with a USB adapter.
Especially nice for testing if a rip or something is working well.
I thought you couldn't play original imports with Free McBoot?
Ok, fair enough. I should try to use Winhiip and get a big IDE hard drive. I heard a USB stick would be slow due to PS2 only doing 1.1.
Nope, only backups for imports.
PassiveObserver
Member
You can pay someone to send you a preinstalled memory card, or you can make a Free McBoot memory card yourself if you have a copy of 007: Agent Under Fire and follow a somewhat complicated process that involves removing your PS2 tray cover and ejecting the disc mid-game. That's what I did back in the day, should be pretty workable if you're good at following guides.
Ah ok, thought so, cool
So you can rip your own imports with it?davidwhangchoi
Member
thanks! i'll look into getting agent under fire
Yep, you surely can.=p I need to get more imports for myself though.Ah ok, thought so, cool
PumpkinSpice
Banned
It would be a lot easier and maybe even cheaper to just buy a memory card with it preinstalled.
Alternatively there's also FreeHDBoot where you can use a hard drive (or substitute like I'm going to use) to do the same thing from that.
I find it funny that Agent Under Fire is the game to soft mod both PS2 and Xbox(I used that game on my Xbox), lol.
Phenomenal Flea
Member
Ah ok, thought so, cool
I've been out of the scene for a while, so I don't know if I'm still up to date, but I thought that you couldn't rip your imports on your PS2 itself, and you had to do that via your PC. I remember ripping isos with my PC's disc drive, plugging an ethernet cable into my PS2, and transferring those isos to my PS2's HDD with hdl_dump, and finally being able to boot them with HDLoader.
davidwhangchoi
Member
thanks SheepyGuy, i'm going to take a look now that i'm settled in. i saw a hard drive at a retro store hmm interesting. might give me an excuse to pick it up. i just grabbed a ps2 slim remote for 5 bucks shipped off ebay =) it's so nice to grab these accessories.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
I bought NIB copies of GTA3 and Vice City on a whim. I haven't played a GTA game in a long time but I wanted to give these another shot since I played the crap out of these two in 2003/2004.
These boxes feel super cheap though. I thought they were fake until I opened them up.
Still they were actually super cheap so it's hard to complain too much.
I was actually going to buy the Xbox versions of these games but I remember the Xbox version of Vice City having some issues, like crashy issues. I watched a comparison online and apparently the Xbox release was rushed or low budget or something, cause it's missing some effects the PS2 version had and aside from reflections added to cars it kinda looks worse. Plus the controls are different.
These boxes feel super cheap though. I thought they were fake until I opened them up.
Still they were actually super cheap so it's hard to complain too much.
I was actually going to buy the Xbox versions of these games but I remember the Xbox version of Vice City having some issues, like crashy issues. I watched a comparison online and apparently the Xbox release was rushed or low budget or something, cause it's missing some effects the PS2 version had and aside from reflections added to cars it kinda looks worse. Plus the controls are different.
That's odd. Though the Xbox version of GTA 3 is superior to the PS2 one with much better character models and such.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Yeah that port seems to have gotten a lot more love.
This is the comparison video if you're interested. He talks about the hands being better in this port as well but some of the animation doesn't seem to take it into account and it looks kinda disjointed.
davidwhangchoi
Member
i prefer ps2 because of the pressure sensitive buttons on the dual shock 2.
same for metal gear solid 2/3 and HD collection on ps3 vs. xbox.
theSlacker
Member
What is the best way/version to play the 3 ps2 era GTAs anyway? I would assume for SA it would be the pc version before the patch that took away stuff. I still need to get the original collectors edition of it that comes with the pregame movie thing that makes the start of the game make more sense.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Yeah so I was thinking about that before I bought these. I actually have Vice City on PC.
I've started to come around to the idea that most games are best enjoyed on the platform for which the original developers intended it to be played. So even when there are ports to other platforms, in most cases a game like GTA3 was made and made well for PS2, it controls well, it's mostly bug free and is the original vision, so I would kind of rather play it there. You could certainly do it on newer platforms and get higher resolution, but the game was designed around 480 lines. You could get shinier graphics and I guess that's nice but it looks pretty good with the original style, kinda more cohesive without added stuff or modded textures.
I was thinking about all the HD Remakes I have on PS3 as well. Honestly they're nice but in most cases I kinda dread starting on them. I have PoP: Sands of TIme on PS3 but if my PS3 downloads anything in the background it crashes on boot. That certainly didn't happen on PS2, Xbox, or GC. Resolution aside (and maybe framerate) they just made the port worse than the original. The budgets for ports tends to be pretty low, and bugs seem like they are more likely to be left as "shippable" in port-jobs. There are even some visual effects on PS2 and XBox can't be properly replicated on other platforms.
NormalFish
Banned
Honestly that was the biggest reason i originally decided to commit to my PS2 collection. Lack of faith in remasters.
If the PS2 version is in 480i I would so prefer getting a remaster over the original version, like Jak 1 and Ratchet and Clank 1 and Sly Cooper series. Otherwise I don't mind.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Yeah I can understand that. Jak 1 on PS3 seemed fine from what I played, but I think if I were to dive into that again I might just go back to the PS2 version despite being 480i.
I played REmake on GameCube in the last week despite it being 480i & despite having it on PS3 (via that humble bundle) mostly because I knew the GC version was legit and wasn't sure if there were any problems with the PS3 version. Well that and the superb Type C controls playing really well with a GC controller.
See I used to be cautious of remasters but I actually like most of the ps3 ones.
Ratchet and Clank trilogy is one of my faves
NormalFish
Banned
yeah, the ratchet one seems quite good. The Jak one in particular just turned me off, though.
I'm getting that Ratchet and Clank trilogy someday.
What's wrong with the Jak one?
NormalFish
Banned
reportedly has some performance issues as a result of the games really being coded for the PS2's specific hardware.
Yeah, but how often is it bad? If it's not too often then I don't see that as a huge problem, though I hear the Vita version is definitely problematic with framerate.
NormalFish
Banned
I do not own it.
I'll still buy it!!! I need to anyways as I only rented the games and not own them until next year.
davidwhangchoi
Member
since we're talking GTA, i never played this.. i picked this up last week but the ps4 pro came and i forgot to post it.
I'm so getting the PS4 version of that game.
RadarScope1
Member
Hell yeah. Love this game. That's what I last played on my PS2 not too long ago. CRT and a great 2.1 sound system. Looks and sounds ace!!!
MattyH
Member
Wanna incorporate a 2.1 setup into my retro setup soon amy recommendations
Is this the same as Outrun2 on the Xbox? Or is it another game?
MikeHattsu
Member
It's another game that was released on Xbox as well.