Open PS2 Loader (OPL)

Open PS2 Loader (OPL) is an open-source game and application loader for PS2 and PS3. It supports the following storage devices:

1. USB mass storage devices
2. MX4SIO (SD card via memory card port adapter)
3. iLink (SBP2 compliant storage via IEE1394)
4. SMBv1 shares
5. ATA/IDE HDDs

Supported file formats include:

• ISO
• ZSO (Compressed ISO)
• USB Extreme (ul)
• Homebrews (Apps) in ELF format
• HDDs (supports HDLoader format)

OPL uses a specific directory tree structure across HDD, SMB, and USB modes. OPL will automatically create these directories the first time you launch it and enable a device:

For HDDs using the exFAT filesystem:

• MBR partitioning: Supports up to 2TB.
• GPT partitioning: Supports unlimited capacity.
• Important: When formatting for exFAT, set the Allocation unit size to Default.
• Fragmentation: Files should be added contiguously (e.g., drag and drop one at a time) to avoid fragmentation.

To add ELF applications using the legacy method, create a conf_apps.cfg file in the OPL folder on your MemoryCard or at the root of your storage device.

Each entry follows the format: DisplayName=DeviceID:PathToElf.

Device IDs:

• mass: (USB)
• mc: (MemoryCard)

Example:

OPL=mass:APPS/OPNPS2LD.ELF

Note: OPL is case sensitive.

For HDDs using the APA partition scheme with the PFS filesystem (up to 2TB):

• OPL creates a +OPL partition by default.
• To use a different partition, create a text file at hdd0:__common:pfs:OPL/conf_hdd.txt containing the preferred partition name (e.g., __common).
• All partitions created by OPL are 128MB. Do not attempt to enlarge them manually as it breaks LBAs; instead, remove and recreate them using uLaunchELF if a larger size is required.

To add ELF applications using the title.cfg method, follow these steps:

1. In the APPS folder, create a new folder named after the application.
2. Place the ELF file inside that folder.
3. Create a title.cfg file in the same folder as the ELF.
4. Add the following content to title.cfg:

title=Your App Name
boot=YOURAPP.ELF

Example structure: APPS/Open PS2 Loader/title.cfg and APPS/Open PS2 Loader/OPNPS2LD.ELF

title=Open PS2 Loader
boot=OPNPS2LD.ELF

Note: OPL is case sensitive.

OPL supports .cht files in PS2RD format. Store these in the CHT directory on your device. You can activate cheats via the OPL graphical interface under game settings.

Cheat Modes:

• Auto Select Cheats: Automatically enables and applies all codes in the .cht file.
• Select Game Cheats: Opens a menu when launching a game, allowing you to enable/disable specific cheats for that session. (Note: Mastercodes cannot be disabled).

When adding a new language string to the source code, you must first propose the change in lng_tmpl/_base.yml with appropriate comments.

For example, to add _STR_NETWORK_STARTUP_ERROR, update the base file with a structure like this:

- comment: Generic network error message.
  label: NETWORK_STARTUP_ERROR
  string: '%d: Network startup error.'

After updating the base template, run make languages to update the files in lng_src, then propose those changes to the Open-PS2-Loader-lang repository.

Warning: Do not rename or remove existing strings, as this requires manual updates to all language .yml files.

OPL can act as an NBD (Network Block Device) server to share the internal hard drive with a PC.

Setup:

1. Ensure OPL has an IP address (Static or DHCP).
2. In the OPL menu, select "Start NBD server". The screen will display "NBD Server running...".

Client Usage Examples:

nbd-client (Linux/WSL)

• List exports: nbd-client -l 192.168.1.45
• Connect: nbd-client 192.168.1.45 /dev/nbd1
• Disconnect: nbd-client -d /dev/nbd1

nbdfuse (Linux/WSL2)

• List exports: nbdinfo --list nbd://192.168.1.45
• Connect: mkdir ps2 && nbdfuse ps2/ nbd://192.168.1.45 &
• Disconnect: umount ps2

wnbd (Windows)

• Connect (Run PowerShell as Administrator): wnbd-client.exe map hdd0 192.168.1.22
• Disconnect: wnbd-client.exe unmap hdd0

OPL (v1.2.0+) supports compressed ZSO files. Use the ziso.py script (located in the pc folder of the repository) to manage these files. Requires Python 3 and the lz4 library.

Install dependency:

pip install lz4

Compress ISO to ZSO:

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

Decompress ZSO to ISO:

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

All translation files are managed in a separate repository: https://github.com/ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader-lang. To translate strings, ensure your .yml file does not contain untranslated strings in the following format:

  MENU:
  - untranslated
  - original: Menu

Instead, provide the direct translation:

  MENU: Menu_on_your_language

To test your changes locally:

1. Run make download_lng to fetch language files.
2. Make changes in lng_src/*.yml.
3. Run make languages to generate the language files.
4. Test the generated file located at lng/lang_*.lng.

OPL Freezes on logo or grey screen

This may be caused by config files from older OPL builds. Fix: Hold START while OPL initializes to skip config loading, then save your new settings.

Game freezes on white screen

This usually means the main game executable could not be found. Causes: The game is fragmented or the image is corrupted.

OPL does not display anything on boot

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