PS2 General

Thanks for the help. So I will need a way to put files on the HDD and then a way to run the installer. Wasn't the point of the disk-swap method to avoid needing uLaunch?

theisozone.com/downloads/playstation/tools/fmcb-194-complete-n00b-install-package/

Blank DVD is necessary since you should be replacing files in the MGS3 iso and burning that to make it work properly. At least, that's what I remember doing with Night Fire. Still looking for the exact guide I used…

Disk Swap is your entry point to using uLaunch for installing FMCB. You'll still want it on your install just to be able to launch any random elf you download, like homebrew games or other applications. FMCB comes with it's own basic menu though, so you don't have to rely on it the whole time.

I know this is a stretch but there is no method for Crazy Taxi is there? Because IIRC Crazy Taxi is a CD based game and I also have that

Yeah, disc swapping is viable. But if you don't already have some discs to burn things to, it's another expense compared to just being able to buy what you actually need and using alternate methods of getting FMcB on the card. The way I set my drive up for loaders, I didn't physically need anything but my PS2, an IDE drive, a means to connect the drive to the computer, and a network adaptor (connects the drive to the PS2, allowing data transfer and powering the drive from the system's own power), all of which but the last already being fully required. Digitally, I just needed a few files as well. From there to installing FMcB on the card, I just needed a flash drive and a memory card, both of which I had already anyhow, and the installer files.

I'm not sure as I don't know if it will have the same unsafe loading as the other games will.

How did you get FMCB installed without using a swap disk? I didn't think there was any way to run uLaunch/the installer without doing a disk swap or getting a chip.

Is it viable to just buy a freemcboot memory card on ebay?

I imagine so since the hardest part is getting FMCB on the memory card to begin with. If I can't find my old 8MB card then I will probably just buy one with FCMB already on it online since I might as well at that point

Actually, yes. It's just a little more expensive than what I would have wanted to spend since I got a spindle of DVD-Rs for cheaper, but this removes one large headache and you can install FMCB onto any other memory cards you might have just for back up.

Basically, I got my drive set up, with the guide I was using having a step for a modpack in the process. Said modpack came with a number of applications that were installed in the process for the drive setup, including uLaunchElf. From there, you can just enter the PS2 browser, go into the drive, and run uLE to access the FMcB installer on a flash drive, and run that to install the files on the memory card. As long as you have access to uLaunchElf, be it on a card or the drive itself, you can do that. But that either requires you to have uLE on the memory card (IE: You already have FMcB on a card anyhow), or have a drive set up with it as an application.

I was actually initially using loaders to run games without needing Free McBoot, but due to errors I was encountering (initially audio issues, and then freezing) on now out-of-date loaders, the easiest way to update those seemed to be to go ahead and put Free McBoot on the memory card, and put the new versions of the loaders on the card as well. As an added bonus, I no longer have to go through the browser and wait as the system takes a lengthy time to load all the files in the display (the more games you have, the slower the time, and earliest added applications (IE: preinstalled ones, like the old loaders I had been using), were all the way at the bottom. Set up a shortcut to the loaders and other apps, and you don't have to wait.

Yes. However, you might be careful about what cards people are selling. I could be wrong, but I think I've heard that FMcB was intended for use with Sony's official card (so, the 8MB), so I'm not sure how viable it is with larger offbrand ones. Also heard something about those larger offbrands being more prone to corrupting (something about compression), but I can't personally speak on that as I've only ever used official cards.

Install being the keyword there, as you can't just copy the files between cards to my knowledge. Just figured I'd mention that for the sake of other people about it.

As in web browser? I didn't think you could just navigate to the HDD with stock software.

Yes, that's true too. You can't just copy the files, you need to run FMCB's installer. Thanks for the clarification.

No, from the PS2 menu screen (IE: no disc inserted), there's a "Browser" option. Selecting that will take you to the storage select screen, allowing you to access contents of what it can find. If you have your HDD set up to work with the PS2, it's a matter of the following:
I'd been doing so to run loaders before getting my memory card set up. Main annoyance there is that, again, earlier files are placed lower in the drive than new ones, meaning you have to sit through the system determining what everything above them is, and when the current screen is full, it still has to load each new line of files as you move down the menu. By placing a loader on the memory card itself, and shortcutting it into the FMcB menu, you bypass that step waiting.

Holy shit, I didn't know that. That would have saved me a lot of trouble when I was first modding. I think I had the network adapter and HDD ready just thought I had to swap disk to get FMCB installed. Well fuck me.

Honestly, I had been a bit worried as to whether or not I was going to need to take the drive out and connect it to a computer for the loader updates I needed, and as I read more on it it sounded like a pain in the ass to try to install the new application file to the HDD itself. Most answers I'd find said just to stick them on a FMcB'ed memory card, which left me feeling out of luck. Until I had the realization I already had uLaunchElf on the drive itself. Tried using that to install Free McBoot and it worked just fine.

So in effect, while the intended idea was that you need to have bought, already have, or know/contact someone with Free McBoot to install it on your card, it's much more that you need a way to access uLaunchElf, in order to run files from the USB port. While a FMcB'ed card can readily do so (and indeed, I want to say the install outright comes with it bundled, but it's been a while so I can't say for certain off the top of my head), you can bypass that if your HDD had a modpack containing the app installed on it

What kind of degenerate are you?
I ask seriously. Also, that does count as a question, you FUCK.

You can write a disc image to an hdd that boots ulaunchelf and install fhdb from there.

I just got myself official svideo cables for my ps2 on the crt. Looks reeeel nice.

Well, now we are talking about PS2, I'm playing Rogue Galaxy and I was wondering for a good spot to get money so I can fuse weapons over and over and over again.

it's better that you burn it to the ground

bumping for more ps2 gems

Beatdown: Fist of Revenge.

Is a cool beat'em up/gang game where you choose between 5 characters and you play a campaign with them, leveling up, learning new tecniques and customizing the character any way you want with both cosmetic surgery and many clothstores.

bump

You could at least bump with some content.

Latest update (posted 7/03/17) on Tales of Destiny (PS2): Director's Cut Translation effort:
a0t.co/2017/07/03/july-2017/

Strikes me that swapping standard text for the targeting menu to Icons is indeed a smart move for displaying the same information while retaining space (given how kanji can say more in less space consumed than English). However, I'd also say pulling the "Weaknesses" and "Resistances" words forward to be in front of the icons, or scaling down the icons slightly, might work better from a visual standpoint, so the contents aren't overlapping the category names.

What are you even talking about?