John Riselvato

As the years go by, it gets harder and harder to use older home-brew tools. This is totally the case for the PS2 scene as most of it’s tools are from 2008. I just bought from japan “Initial D: Special Stage” last week and it finally came in the mail. Well to my surprise, with Free McBoot and all of it’s ELFs you can’t run Japanese games from the disc on an American PS2. So where does that leave us?

If you have a Ps2 specific hard drive + the Ethernet port installed into your PS2 you can use a few tools to rip backup of your legally owned games straight to the hard drive for play with HDLoader. So I’m going to show you how to do that since the data to actually get this working is scattered all over the place. Also, I won’t be hosting any of these files but I will tell you the exact versions I am using. Just google em, they are out there.

TOOLS/Apps will need:

•  HDL Dump GUI V2.3 – Window/Linux Application
• Ethernet cable to connect PS2 to PC
• Open PS2 Loader 0.93 Beta
• Window or Linux OS (I used windows 10)
• Free MCBoot or some way to load the PS2 apps
• HDLoader – for after you install the game you can play it.

PART 1: Setting up Open PS2 Loader (OPL)

I won’t go into details about how to install Open PS2 Loader or how to run it, it’s expected you have that figured out.

First boot up OPL and go to settings. Make sure your settings look like this:

Specifically:

• Enable Delete and Rename actions – ON
• ETH device start mode – Manual

Next we’ll set up the Network Configuration. Make your Network Settings look like this (we are still in OPL):

For PS2 Network Settings:

• PS2 IP: 192.168.10.10
• PS2 Netmask: 255.255.255.0
• PS2_Gateway: 192.168.10.64

For PC Network Settings:

• PC IP:  192. 168.10.64

After this, select “Save changes”, this is important. Now if you saved, you should see Run HDL Server under “Save Changes”. Select it and the PS2 will now start the server. You know the server is working because it’ll show this screen (HDL SERVER Running.. Press [O] to stop):

Part 2: Setting up your PC (Windows 10)

Connect your Ethernet cable to the PS2 Ethernet port and to your PC. Next turn off your computers Wi-Fi and make sure it’s only connection is to the PS2.

Next we’ll need to config your computer’s IP. This is important because without this step the PS2 won’t talk to the Computer. So to do that load your Network connections, right click “Local Area Connection” and Select “Properties“.

Next find in the “Networking” tab the item “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” select it. Then select “Properties“. A screen with various fields should be seen (below):

Now select “Use the following IP Address” button and enter the following:

• IP Address: 192. 168.10.64
• Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
• Default Gateway: 19.168.10.10

Then press OK to save it. This is important that these numbers are exact.

IMPORTANT: Now after you do this, you’re computer should ask you if you’d like to “Make This PC discoverable”, you want to enable this. Without this your firewall will never let you talk to the PS2. That’s it for configuring the PC

PART3: Setting up HDL Dump GUI 2.3

Now that we’ve configured both the PS2 and PC we can load up HDL Dump on your PC.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the HDL Server is running on your PS2 at this point.

Now set your PS2 Ip in HDL Dump to: 192.168.10.10 and press connect. If you’ve done all the above steps correctly you should be able to connect to your PS2 and see this screen:

You also can see your hard-drive’s total space at this point. That’s how you know you’ve connected!

Now under the “actions” section, select your CD drive with the PS2 game you want to copy to the hard-drive. Name it if you want and press “Install” at the bottom. This install might take a few minutes as most games are about 3-4Gigs.

Here’s the screen you’ll see while it installs.

After it installs, tell HDL Dump to disconnect and then your PS2 will turn off.

To play your new installed game use HD Loader and your game should be seen in the HDLoader list if it installed correctly!

Finished!

Hopefully everything worked out for you! I’m off to play Initial D now 😛

To help inspire scenes for my screenplay, GT Racer, I play a lot of Gran Turismo 3 on the Playstation 2. The bulk of the plot is about a character, Alex, and his journey from Simulator racing to Driving professional Rally. It helps me to get into the mood of writing this screenplay by taking a few races every day. Well today I was getting really frustrated at my inability race at the professional level. So I googled “How to Drive properly in GT3” and came upon an article about how Gran Turismo Experts are not allow to race in real life because… Well they are too fast. Crazy huh?

So in that article I also found out about Lucas Ordonez, a spanish GT expert who actually went from gamer to professional racer for Nismo! What are the chances someone actually experienced what I thought would make an amazing plot for a short film. In any case I think if anything it helps validate my idea as a plausible story.

In any case, turns out keeping your hands at 9 and 3 and keeping both break and peddle as smooth as possible is how you can increase your skill. So I put it to the test and I actually finished a race in the fastest time yet. So any hand over hand motions are really not making my turns any better. I need to learn how to gage both speed, breaking distance and turning better. If your interested in more here’s the video I watched to learn this… from Lucas himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1MQFchpmuc

I don’t know when GT Racer will be finished because I’m now working on Earth X but stick around for more details about both screenplays soon!

I’m working on a screenplay about how a new technology is accidentally activated on Earth. I’ve been writing an introduction to the script over the weekend but today I ran into a video on how to build a character using Character Trees. This is my first attempt at a Character Tree but I know finishing one for the main character, Steven, will create a better plot, believable dialog and better underlining story.

So below is a table I put together for Steven. It contains 7 fields that each make up a part of the character.

This was actually a really good exercise because I knew I wanted Steven to be a burn out but I didn’t really mold a character yet. I think the most helpful was the Right Cheek (the Ethics and Soul) and the Crown (Who are they). I’ll probably revise this again but here’s the first attempt at a Character Tree.

If this interests you and you’d like to create your own Character Tree, here’s the example I used as a guideline. Thanks RocketJump for creating the Film School and providing these resources.

ONE day I’ll take part in a WRC race. It’ll be with a 2004 WRX, Subaru, White and Mint Green paint Job with #272727 color wheels. This dream is on hold… but because of that I started writing a Screenplay. A screenplay about a kid who learns to drive rally though Gran Turismo simulation (sounds familiar). This led me down a rabbit hole of the lovely world of film.

In high school I had two things on me at all times, something to draw with and a camera. I have skits going back to 2007 still floating around Youtube that remind me of a time I relied on creativity to get through the day. At some point in my last year of high school I threw that all away. Maybe it was due to failing Algebra 2 or because I THOUGHT in the real world, creativity was not accepted. If I was going to get a decent job and survive in the world I needed to buckle down. So instead I learned how to program iPhone apps and lead myself to where I am today… Sitting in a cube wishing I could be building something creative and entertaining.

So to fill in that gap in my life, I’m going to pick up creating short films and screenplays for a hobby. I’ve already bought a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera to start. I’ve been researching all aspects of film creation, from lighting, color grading, lenses to Jabs. I thought WRC would be expensive but the tools the film industry have are crazy…

In any case, I’ve decided to put my first screenplay off to the side and start a new one. One about a man who sees the world change before his eyes and doesn’t have the chance to experience it, Earth X. They say your first film, screenplay, etc, etc, etc will most likely suck… Which shouldn’t matter because it’s all about the learning process and what you gain from it. So I want to put a hold on the WRC script for a while before I attack it. I think I might record my progress more often so look out for that. Wish me luck and future self don’t let anyone take that creative spark you have.

For those of you from my generation you’ll know the huge demand and hope for a Ruby and Sapphire remake. Yesterday, May 7th, 2014 (which also happens to be my cousins birthday, Happy Birthday Alex), Nintendo/Pokemon release a short trailer (above) with the good news, thanks Lord Helix. For now we do know that November 2014 the game will be out in North America!

Ruby has been my favorite Pokemon game since the first day I played it. Originally my friend in middle school, Connor, had the first generation Gameboy Advance. I was still stuck on the Gameboy Color days because my parents always wanted us to save up our money. Connor came to school one day showing off his new Pokemon game, Pokemon Sapphire, and I was in loved. The updated graphics, the new mechanics, and Pokemon just wounded me in an adventure I wanted to take part of.

Connor was my best friend at the time so luckily he let me borrow his translucent purple advance along side Pokemon Sapphire and right away I knew I had to get it too. I remember sitting in a car repair shop with my father sitting there glued to the world of Pokemon. I don’t know how I exactly ever got my hands on my own version of Pokemon Ruby or Sapphire but I remember I caught all 386 pokemon one holiday break at my cousins. Then some how I got my hands on Ruby and lost Sapphire bringing me to like the Ruby version better through childish reasoning.

Now that we got my history of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire out of the way I want to get the main focus of this post, creating a prediction and wish list.

So here are my Pokemon Omega Ruby And Alpha Sapphire Predictions:

• Personally I love wonder trade. I think for Nintendo to kill such a feature wouldn’t make sense.
• Mega-evolutions
  • I’ve seen some speculation about a NPC that studied a mysterious stone actually turning out to be megastones. that would be cool forshadowing
  • Hitmon set mega-evolutions would be killer
  • As the cover of the new games look Kyogre and Groudon look different which also insinuates mega-evolutions
  • Also since the starting Pokemon are different each of these should have their own Mega-evolution

Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip, all expected starters.

• 3D graphics like X & Y
  • I’m really interested in the art style that comes with this generation. I hope our main characters look the same from the original series but obviously to todays standards
  • Also Pokemon Trainer May and announcing in the month of May? Oh Gamefreak/Nintendo
• Full 3D compatible gameplay
  •  This might be a lost cause because I think the strain on kids eyes is to much, so Pokemon limits the 3D modes because they already know long hours of gameplay awaits
• PokeBank compatibility
  • For some reason fans are worried PokeBank will not connect with these new games.
  • I’m pretty sure Nintendo is making some bank off PokeBank with it’s subscription payments. It would be foolish for them to drop it.
  • With this said, I’m going to also suggest Black and White to Ruby and Sapphire is a possibility
• External Accessory
  • I missed the Gold and Silver Remake Accessory due to not having a DS at the time (really I bought my 3DS only for X and Y but Bravely Default has been a top class game)
  • I don’t know exactly what kind of Accessory but It would be a nice added feature
• Secret Bases!
  • I don’t know how i forgot about this feature but I loved in these games building my own Secret Base.
  • Now with wifi, streetpass and all the wireless features the 3DS beings, it would make Secret bases so cool.
  • I’ll have to find my copy of Ruby and post a screenie of my secret base. I know it’s filled with a bunch of glitter and slider touch pads.

As more come to me I’ll add them here. I know I’ll probably be getting both Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and maybe a second copy of Omega Ruby. Just because it seems every Pokemon game retains it’s worth after a few years.