How to Play PS2 Games from USB Using OPL | 4GB+ Games, Cover Art, & More!

This guide aims to cover everything to get your PS2 game backups up and running using Open PS2 Loader. Starting from backing up your disc based PS2 games, to setting up the USB drive, converting games to ISO, splitting games larger than 4 GB, downloading cover art, and finally setting up specific modes for problematic games on OPL. Although this tutorial is much longer than I originally anticipated, I wanted to cover everything I know about playing from USB on OPL and condense it into one video.

This video assumes you already have a modified PS2 console with access to OPL through a method such as FreeMCBoot, FreeHDBoot, FreeDVDBoot, Fortuna, etc.

#PS2 #PS2Modding #OPL

This video has been made with Fair Use in mind and has been created as an educational piece of media.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
2:51 - Prerequisites
6:21 - Backing Up Games
9:55 - Drag & Drop Transfer
11:19 - 4GB+ Games
14:56 - OPL Manager Setup
16:30 - Converting to ISO
17:34 - Game Configuration & Cover Art
21:25 - OPL USB Setup
24:07 - Setting Modes in OPL
28:31 - Summary

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Product Affiliate Links:

Fat/Phat PlayStation 2:

Slim PlayStation 2:

PS2 Memory Card:

Video Hardware I Use:

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Downloads & More!

OPL Manager:

ImgBurn:

USBUtil:

FAT32format:

OPL Compatibility List:

How to Update OPL for PS2:

How to Softmod Any Fat PS2 with FreeMCBoot & FreeHDBoot:

How to Install FreeMCBoot with FreeDVDBoot:

How to Install FreeMCBoot on Any PS2 Slim with FunTuna:

How to Install Fortuna with FreeDVDBoot:

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Social Media & More!

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Song Information
Artist: pyama
Song: bitter cold
Soundcloud: literalbagoftrash

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Any links specifically listed as affiliate links give me a small monetary kickback at no extra cost to you and no influence on the content.

[reiisthebestgirl]

Just a heads up, USButil doesn't like long game names so if you get stuck try shortening game title.

[stuartbentz]

Too hard to follow, accidentally overthrew the Bosnian government...

[MemorieBozo]

Is there a chance you can make a tutorial on playing ps2 games over a network? Heard its more faster than usb .

[monkbyblood]

What I really like about OPL is you can batch update all the ART via the Batch Actions menu. Not sure if this was part of 2.16 but it is in 2.17!

[ClaytonCLF]

Great tutorial! But, a few tips from a PS2 USB "veteran" if you will XD: first, choose the biggest allocation size allowed when formatting a USB drive for PS2 games. Every PS2 loader that I've tested boots games much faster with a that way, specially with 64KB.

Second: it's best to create the OPL folder structure *first* inside the USB root, before adding games and *then* create other folders. Even though it's common knowledge that flash devices won't have fragmentation issues, the PS2 *will* mind fragmentation on those devices for some reason, making load times and FMVs slower than they're supposed to be (but it's still slow regardless XD). Since folders are considered unmovable "files", they can become sort of stuck in the middle of the file structure, specially on small storage devices, so when moving a big file to it, Windows will surely fragment the file for it to fit if a folder is in its way, and OPL will have problems with it. So, it's also better to add the bigger games *last* on a small USB device, because if you want to add another game to the drive later, you'll just need to replace the last game you had, which will help on not fragmenting the structure. You can see what I'm talking about when using a disk defrag software and looking at the colored blocks (I recommend Auslogics Disk Defrag).

Third: it seems the OPL devs had removed modes 7 and 8 from the code, because now, they were either always enabled, or redundant. Also, Jak and Daxter 1 has the same issues as Jak 2 when booting over USB. But, as of yet, those are actually unplayable games on OPL over USB, because the first one 100% crashes while saving the game, and the second one crashes towards the end of the game. Those games are playable over USB only with PS2ESDL, using the same modes as OPL to "unhook syscalls" and "disable IGR".

TL;DR, the PS2's USB *is* a viable way of playing games, if you initially don't have any other options, and is a *reeally* patient person XD.

I've struggled with it for more than 8 months, trying to play heavy FMV games by compressing them, but discovering that many games are extremely difficult to get into the files for doing so, and also that they might not work quite so well after the compression. I then migrated to playing over SMB using a cheap Android Box, and I'll say, it's just so much better XD. It's actually possible to make games load too fast over that method, so there's OPL mode "1" for limiting the read speeds to the DVD drive's speed (Gran Turismo 3's initial FMV comes to mind). It's also possible to load games from a smartphone, or even directly from a router with a USB port, so I think it's better to look for other options rather than struggle with those old ports...

[krazycharlie]

Thanks for the tutorial, MrMario. I'm not exactly the main target for this video, given that I'm on a FAT 39001+PS2 network adapter+IDE hard drive. Even so, knowing there are alternative solutions for times when you can't rely on your favorites/most used ones is always better than not having alternatives at all. Now all that's left is a proper tutorial about how to play your PS1 games using the best emulators and/or alternatives for your PS2. Again, thanks!

[brandondorado]

Lol I use to do this but gran Turismo always freezing on me and I had a 1TB hard drive connected to it btw it was the (slim ps2 )

[PhilDrangus]

This was the first way I tried to play rips on my Fat PS2, since it required almost nothing (already had a FMCB mem card) but a flash drive. First game I tried was Kingdom Hearts, and I think it almost died just trying to get through the opening FMV. Immediately went and bought a SATA drive and the Network Adapter with SATA connector, lol.

[vovelus]

Mode 7 and 8 were actually removed from later daily builds as far as I know.

[jackmyowl]

This is very useful... I still use a PS2 Fat model with FreeMCBoot...
Can this run PS1 games??

[DeepAK-perk]

Hii i followed every step but when i open opl mine one is not showing usb games option any solutions??

[Bvi]

Thanks for the wonderful video

But I have a problem with USB when I put into the games according to the explanation it did not appear in the PlayStation 2 opl
And the usb it is fat32

[dreamybacon]

I hope you never change your desktop background.

[crysiscrysis]

I am playing thru smb but still gonna like cuz I know this is good content

[JTRAIN]

There were times that I have encountered an error, where the game is fragmented. I have converted 2 bin games into isos, but when I tried to launch it via OPL, it gives me an error where the game is fragmented. Any ideas on how to fix the issue on fragmented games.

[somaisumnerd_]

opl don't show any game in game menu!!! i dunno what must I do!

[Ghyxx]

Hi! Is there a way to put more than 1 game in the root of the USB stick? Beacause, when I tried, the ul.cfg file is replaced.

[peppermintpig]

Excellent tutorial! If you can, please consider a tutorial for HDD based storage for emulators and their games. I'd really like to wrap my head around it.

[Beyond]

If I were to start playing a ps2 game from usb, and then later continued playing it from the actual disc, would i be able to continue my save from the usb over on the disc?

[pain_steak]

There is an error message everytime i try to start a game that is over 4gb but every game under 4gb works fine i dont know why the over 4gb games dont work for me