Thursday, April 23, 2009

HOW TO: Play PS2 games from a Hard Drive

This guide will show you how to set up your PS2 to play games from an IDE hard drive without using any kind of modchip or internal modification.

I plan on making a video that shows how these processes are done. They are not as complex as they may seem.

To do this you will need the following:
An American Fat (not slim) PS2
A PS2 Network Adapter
A PS2 Memory Card
A copy of Resident Evil 2 *Leon disk* (if you are using the system file from my memory card)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING UP YOUR MEMORY CARD:

The way the HDLOADER works requires a modified PS2 System File to be present on the PS2 memory card. I personally have never created the file on my own. Instead I received the file through a friend of mine who programmed the file himself. Eventually I plan to host the file that is currently on my memory card. For now if you need the file, just ask me and I'll copy it to your memory card.

The modified version of System File on the memory card tells the PS2 to boot the HDLOADER program that is stored within the System File whenever a specific PS1 game is inserted into the system.

For the exploit on my memory card, whenever I insert the Leon disk of Resident Evil 2, the system will boot from the HDLOADER program within the system file rather then booting from the game.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SETTING UP YOUR HARD DRIVE:

Here is an old old old list of harddrives that will work with the Network Adaptor and PS2 HD Loading software:
http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/?p=list

I personally haven't run into any problems with any of the hard drives that I have used in the past.

Make sure your Hard drive is an IDE drive. DO NOT USE A SATA DRIVE.

You must first make sure that the hard drive is set as the MASTER drive in the Jumpers setting.

Attach the hard drive to the Network adapter and insert it into the back expansion slot of the PS2.

Make sure to screw the network adaptor in securely.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR FIRST TIME BOOT:

With the hard drive connected to the PS2 and the modified System File on the memory card, attach the memory card to the Player 1 memory card port, turn on your PS2 and insert the PS1 game that will trigger the exploit (in my case, Resident Evil 2 Leon disk)

The screen should go black and then it'll start to load the exploit.

You will then arrive at a screen with a giant empty rectangle in the middle and some green/white text at the top.

Press R1 on the controller

A menu will pop up, select "MC0".

You will see a list of directories now.

Select BADATA-SYSTEM/

Next select HDLOADER.ELF

A splash screen should pop up that says PS2 OWNZ on it. This is the splash screen for the HDLOADER program.

If the hard drive that is currently in the system is new or has not been used for this purpose, it will ask to format the drive. Allow the drive to format.

After the drive formats you will see the main menu with no games on it.

There is a tool bar on the right side of the screen that gives you the the following options:
Play (Play the currently selected game)
Install (Install a game from disk)
Remove (Delete a game from the list)
Rename (Rename a game on the list)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADDING A GAME

There are two ways to add games to the hard drive: the PS2 way and the Computer way. As a side note: PS1 games cannot be played off the hard drive.

THE PS2 way: (NOTE: Only official PS2 games released in the US can my copied this way. Imports cannot be copied via this method

At the main menu in the HD LOADER program, select INSTALL.

The program will ask you to insert a PS2 game.

After inserting the PS2 game hit Continue.

Give the game a name and hit END.

The PS2 will copy the game to your hard drive.

After copying the game will be available to play via the hard drive.



I will describe the Computer way for adding games in a later or modified post.
Feedback is appreciated on any errors or technicalities. I hope this is helpful.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Eric this is Emmanuel and I am interested in getting a copy of that modified Ps2 file for the HD loader for the memory card. If you still nave that copy, my email address is enothis@yahoo.com. Thanks man

Unknown said...

Why can't you put a link to the modified system file? And what's the computer way?