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Open PS2 Loader

Copyright 2013, Ifcaro & jimmikaelkael Licensed under Academic Free License version 3.0 Review the LICENSE file for further details.

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Introduction

Open PS2 Loader (OPL) is a 100% Open source game and application loader for the PS2 and PS3 units. It supports five categories of devices: USB mass storage devices, MX4SIO (SD card connected to memory card port via adapter), iLink (SBP2 compliant storage devices via IEE1394), SMBv1 shares and the PlayStation 2 HDD unit. USB/SMB/MX4SIO/iLink support both USBExtreme and *.ISO formats while PS2 HDD supports HDLoader format, all devices also support ZSO format (compressed ISO). It's now the most compatible homebrew loader.

OPL is developed continuously - anyone can contribute improvements to the project due to its open-source nature.

You can visit the Open PS2 Loader forum at:

https://www.psx-place.com/forums/open-ps2-loader-opl.77/

You can report compatibility game problems at:

https://www.psx-place.com/threads/open-ps2-loader-game-bug-reports.19401/

For an updated compatibility list, you can visit the OPL-CL site at:

http://sx.sytes.net/oplcl/games.aspx

Release types

Open PS2 Loader bundle included several types of the same OPL version. These types come with more or fewer features included.

Type (can be a combination) Description
Release Regular OPL release with GSM, IGS, PADEMU, VMC, PS2RD Cheat Engine & Parental Controls.
DTL_T10000 OPL for TOOLs (DevKit PS2)
IGS OPL with InGame Screenshot feature.
PADEMU OPL with Pad Emulation for DS3 & DS4.
RTL OPL with the right to left language support.

How to use

OPL uses the following directory tree structure across HDD, SMB, and USB modes:

Folder Description Modes
CD for games on CD media - i.e. blue-bottom discs USB and SMB
DVD for DVD5 and DVD9 images (if filesystem supports +4gb files) USB and SMB
VMC for Virtual Memory Card images - from 8MB up to 64MB all
CFG for saving per-game configuration files all
ART for game art images all
THM for themes support all
LNG for translation support all
CHT for cheats files all

OPL will automatically create the above directory structure the first time you launch it and enable your favorite device.

For HDD users, OPL will read hdd0:/__common/OPL/conf_hdd.cfg which contains one line: hdd_partition=+OPL to use as your OPL partition. It is recommended to use __common or +OPL. If a config file is not found, a 128Mb +OPL partition will be created. You can edit the config if you wish to use/create a different partition. Partitions created by OPL will be 128MB. It is not recommended to enlarge partitions as it will break LBAs, instead remove and recreate manually with uLaunchELF at a larger size if needed. Be warned, it is wise to format and create the desired OPL partition first before adding games as resizing, deleting, and adding partitions out of order is not recommended and may break the software.

USB/MX4SIO/iLink

Game files should be ideally defragmented either file by file or by whole drive, and games larger than 4gb must use USBExtreme format if device uses FAT32 format (see OPLUtil or USBUtil programs). We do not recommend using any defrag programs. The best way for defragmenting - copy all files to pc, format USB, copy all files back. Repeat it once you faced defragmenting problem again.

NOTE: partial file fragmentation is supported (up to 64 fragments!) since OPL v1.2.0 - rev1893

SMB

For loading games by SMB protocol, you need to share a folder (ex: PS2SMB) on the host machine or NAS device and make sure that it has full read and write permissions. USB Advance/Extreme format is optional - *.ISO images are supported using the folder structure above.

HDD

For PS2, 48-bit LBA internal HDDs up to 2TB are supported. The HDD should be formatted with the APA partition scheme, recommended tools are listed below. OPL will create the +OPL partition. To avoid this, before running OPL the first time, create a text file at the location hdd0:/__common/OPL/conf_hdd.cfg that contains the preferred partition name (for example hdd_partition=__common).

It is recommended to FIRST create the desired partition and conf_hdd.txt file. Edit the file with hdd_partition=__+partition of choice here before loading the drive up with homebrew/games. Adding/removing out of order can and will break the software that is loaded on the drive therefore, if deciding to REMOVE partitions/games, it is recommended instead to wipe the drive and start over. Anything you wish to save should be backed up. NOTE: partitions that start with 2 underscores such as __common are considered protected IE can not be deleted. Files/Folders within however can be added/removed. Partitions that start with + are UNPROTECTED, meaning they can be deleted.

Recommended tools (no affiliation): PS2: Official wLaunchELF or wLaunchELF_ISR (File Browser and Editor /FTP Server) PC Windows: OPL Manager and PFS Batchkit Manager (PC Tools to Manage the HDD and fetch OPL assets)

NBD Server

OPL now uses an NBD server to share the internal hard drive, instead of HDL server. NBD is formally documented and developed as a collaborative open standard.

The current implementation of the server is based on lwNBD, go there to contribute on the NBD code itself.

The main advantage of using NBD is that the client will expose the drive to your operating system in a similar way as a directly attached drive. This means that any utility that worked with the drive when it was directly attached should work the same way with NBD.

OPL currently only supports exporting (sharing out) the PS2's drive.

You can use hdl-dump, pfs-shell, or even directly edit the disk in a hex editor.

For example, to use hdl_dump to install a game to the HDD:

  • Connect with your choosen client (OS specific)
  • Run hdl_dump inject_dvd ps2/nbd "Test Game" ./TEST.ISO
  • Disconnect the client.

To use the NBD server in OPL:

  • Grab the latest beta version (OPL 1.1.0 (current stable) has some bugs in the NBD server) - go to the Releases section and grab the one at the top.
  • Ensure OPL is configured with an IP address (either static or DHCP).
  • Open the menu and select "Start NBD server". Once it's ready, it should update the screen to say "NBD Server running..."
  • Now you can connect with any of the following NBD clients.

nbd-client

Supported: Linux, Windows with WSL and custom kernel

nbd-client requires nbd kernel support. If it isn't loaded, sudo modprobe nbd will do.

list available export:

nbd-client -l 192.168.1.45

connect:

nbd-client 192.168.1.45 /dev/nbd1

disconnect:

nbd-client -d /dev/nbd1

You'll generally need sudo to run this commands in root or add your user to the right group usually "disk".

nbdfuse

Supported: Linux, Windows with WSL2

list available export:

nbdinfo --list nbd://192.168.1.45

connect:

mkdir ps2
nbdfuse ps2/ nbd://192.168.1.45 &

disconnect:

umount ps2

wnbd

Supported: Windows

WNBD client. Install, reboot, open elevated (with Administrator rights) PowerShell

connect:

wnbd-client.exe map hdd0 192.168.1.22

disconnect:

wnbd-client.exe unmap hdd0

Mac OS

Not supported.

ZSO Format

As of version 1.2.0, compressed ISO files in ZSO format is supported by OPL.

To handle ZSO files, a python script (ziso.py) is included in the pc folder of this repository. It requires Python 3 and the LZ4 library:

pip install lz4

To compress an ISO file to ZSO:

python ziso.py -c 2 "input.iso" "output.zso"

To decompress a ZSO back to the original ISO:

python ziso.py -c 0 "input.zso" "output.iso"

You can copy ZSO files to the same folder as your ISOs and they will be detected by OPL. To install onto internal HDD, you can use the latest version of HDL-Dump.

PS3 BC

Currently, supported only PS3 Backward Compatible (BC) versions. So only COK-001 and COK-002/COK-002W boards are supported. USB, SMB, HDD modes are supported.

To run OPL, you need an entry point for running PS2 titles. You can use everything (Swapmagic PS2, for example), but custom firmware with the latest Cobra is preferred. Note: only CFW supports HDD mode.

Some notes for DEVS

Open PS2 Loader needs the latest PS2SDK

OPL Archive

Since 05/07/2021 every OPL build dispatched to the release section of this repository will be uploaded to a mega account. You can access the archive by clicking the mega badge on top of this readme

Frequent Issues

OPL Freezes on logo or grey screen

Sometimes OPL freezes when loading config files made by older OPL builds.

hold START while OPL initializes to make it skip the config loading, then, you can save your own settings. fixing the issue.

Game freezes on white screen

Main game executable could not be found. Either game is fragmented or image is corrupted

OPL does not display anything on boot

You may have selected a Video Mode which your TV does not support. Hold Triangle and Cross while OPL initializes to reset your video mode to "Auto".