Open PS2 Loader

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

Introduction

Open PS2 Loader (OPL) is a 100% Open source game and application loader for the PS2 and PS3 units. It supports three categories of devices: USB mass storage devices, SMB shares and the PlayStation 2 HDD unit. USB devices and SMB shares support 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 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 using the NTFS file system on USB or SMB; DVD9 images must be split and placed into the device root if using the FAT32 file system on USB or SMB	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 for the config entry "hdd_partition" to use as your OPL partition. If not found a config file, a 128Mb +OPL partition will be created. You can edit the config if you wish to use/create a different partition. All 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).

USB

Game files on USB must be perfectly defragmented either file by file or by whole drive, and Dual Layer DVD9 images must be split to avoid the 4GB limitations of the FAT32 file system. We do not recommend using any 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.

You also need a PC program to convert or split games into USB Advance/Extreme format, such as USBUtil 2.0.

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 with the bonus that DVD9 images don't have to be split if your SMB device uses the NTFS or EXT3/4 file system.

HDD

For PS2, 48-bit LBA internal HDDs up to 2TB are supported. HDD should be formatted with the APA partition scheme. OPL will create the +OPL partition on the HDD. To avoid this, you can create a text file at the location hdd0:__common:pfs:OPL/conf_hdd.txt that contains the preferred partition name (for example __common).

NBD Server

A NBD server replaced 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. The main advantage of using NBD is that the client will simulate a similar interface to the OS as if the device was plugged directly into your machine. All your favorite software that worked with the device directly connected to your machine, will work with the device accessible through the network.

Currently, only export for HDD is supported by the server. You can use hdl-dump, pfs-shell, or even directly edit disk in some hex editor. Example, how to install HDL game to the HDD: Connect with your choosen client, then hdl_dump inject_dvd ps2/nbd "Test Game" ./TEST.ISO and when you're done, disconnect the client.

So you need a NBD client. Here we list some known compatible clients and how to use them.

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