HD Loader reviews?

[quote name='daphatty'][quote name='aminerva']I understand that most people use their PS2s as game machines, but for me it functions more as a DVD player. I do play games, but not nearly as much as I watch movies/tv shows on DVD. I also have a relatively small HDD in my laptop (40gb) so if I could use the PS2 HDD to store more of my music it would be of more interest than the video game loading time (which I've never been bothered by).

I realize I'm in the minority here, my condo is tiny so space saving is a huge issue.[/quote]

I'm not sure how you plan on transfering your music to the PS2 HDD unless you have the PS2 linux kit (like I do.) :D[/quote]

If HDLoader were to offer such a function it shouldn't be much problem to remove the disc once HDLoader is in memory so as to allow audio CDs Red Book or MP3/Ogg/etc. files) to be placed in the drive.

DVD's are another problem. It is very common for video DVDs to use both layers these days and so far HDLoader cannot handle game DVDs that do the same. What isn't clear from their site is whether tha problem is in the reading from the disc or from trapping the disc access calls the specifiy the secondary layer. They have to do something of the sort just for the stuff that already works since I greatly doubt most developers are bothering to make their games do drive redirection.
 
Well I just bought one off Ebay for less than what the "Official US Distributor" is charging. You know, sometimes Buy It Now is actually useful. I'll give you guys a review once I get it in.
 
Check out what the Official PS2 boards have to say about HD Loader.

Hi Everyone,
We have received some clarification from SCEA legal on the HDLoader status on these forums.

"The HD Loader is a circumvention device. The distribution and receiving of circumvention devices is illegal. In the Rules of Conduct governing these boards, we ask that you do not discuss illegal activities."

Please read the message board rules of conduct here, specifically, rule #5 for clarification on this issue.

Thanks,

PlayStation.com Forum Moderation Team
Click to expand...

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=hdd&message.id=20736
 
For Sony this must look like the second coming of Bleem!

I was hanging around the Bleem! booth at E3 the forst time Sony tried to threaten them. They were so heavy handed that many of us had no choice but to openly mock them and suggest they not make groundless threats. Ultimately they never actually won against Bleem! They only exhausted their financial ability to mount a defense.
 
Okay, I've been tooling around with mine for a week or so, and here's my 2 cents.

1. I pre-ordered mine from Divineo, it took them a week after the thing was reelased to ship it to me, but once shipped, it arrived in 2 days.

2. You cannot save DVDs, Music, or other to the drive. Let me try to explain why this is. When you first boot the PS2, it tries to determine what type of media is in the drive, then it enters a operational mode for that media type. The HDloader disc is a PS2 media type, so the PS2 goes into PS2 Mode, thus you cannot play PS1, Music CD, or DVDs using HDloader.

3. Certain games do not work, and I suspect that it is because the code in the games directly addresses the DVD Drive, rather than an "offset" location. Programmers will know what I'm talking about. If this is the case, then comanies will be able to control whether or not their game will be usable via HDloader. Notable games that do not work at this point include Soul Calibur 2, and Splinter Cell:pandora Tomorrow.
3a. My guess is that using Linux and dd it might be possible to modify the game code on the HDD to use offset addressing rather than hardcoded addressing. Look for this to start happening soon.
3b. If that does happen, it will be interesting to see how the game copying war will play out.

4. Though not mentioned on the hdloader site, a number of people (myself included) are having difficulties getting the blue backed, cd based games, to copy. Whether this is by design or a bug, I don't know.

5. For the games that do work, load times are reduced by about half. I played VF4:Evo, and the load time between fights was about 3 seconds. For DDRMAX2, the "Stage " screen barely flashed up on the screen before the song started.

All in all, I'd give it an 8 out of 10.
 
[quote name='epobirs']For Sony this must look like the second coming of Bleem!

I was hanging around the Bleem! booth at E3 the forst time Sony tried to threaten them. They were so heavy handed that many of us had no choice but to openly mock them and suggest they not make groundless threats. Ultimately they never actually won against Bleem! They only exhausted their financial ability to mount a defense.[/quote]

Considering they just came off a huge victory against Connectix and their Virtual Game Station for the MAC I'm not surprised that they tried to put the smack down on Bleem. The VGS was way better than Bleem and ran PS1 games perfectly. I worked for Sony Test when they had us try the software. They were shitting their pants when they saw just how accurate the results were.
 
[quote name='daphatty'][quote name='aminerva']I understand that most people use their PS2s as game machines, but for me it functions more as a DVD player. I do play games, but not nearly as much as I watch movies/tv shows on DVD. I also have a relatively small HDD in my laptop (40gb) so if I could use the PS2 HDD to store more of my music it would be of more interest than the video game loading time (which I've never been bothered by).

I realize I'm in the minority here, my condo is tiny so space saving is a huge issue.[/quote]

I'm not sure how you plan on transfering your music to the PS2 HDD unless you have the PS2 linux kit (like I do.) :D[/quote]

Because I'm not interested in using this for downloaded music (I don't download music, legally or otherwise) but in copying my personal CD collection onto the HDDof the PS2. If I could fit all or most of my music on my PS2 HDD, I could then use that as my stereo as well. Later if I wanted to move music from that HDD to my computer or another device I could look into the linux kit.
 
[quote name='abrannan']
3a. My guess is that using Linux and dd it might be possible to modify the game code on the HDD to use offset addressing rather than hardcoded addressing. Look for this to start happening soon.
[/quote]

I'm not quite sure I follow. Was "dd" a typo or an abbreviation? Also, do you mean Linux on a PC or the PS2 Linux kit (which I have)? :D
 
[quote name='daphatty']Well I just bought one off Ebay for less than what the "Official US Distributor" is charging. You know, sometimes Buy It Now is actually useful. I'll give you guys a review once I get it in.[/quote]

So what did you actually pay? My order from ConsoleSource came to $31.99 including shipping and they conveniently accept PayPal.. A bit surprising since a lot of other stuff on console source is outrageously overpriced. They listed 'Mojo' for Xbox, a game I've never seen for more the $19.99 at retail, as selling for $54.95. These prices are all presumably US dollars since that is how HDLoader's cost was drawn from my account.
 
[quote name='aminerva']Because I'm not interested in using this for downloaded music (I don't download music, legally or otherwise) but in copying my personal CD collection onto the HDDof the PS2. If I could fit all or most of my music on my PS2 HDD, I could then use that as my stereo as well. Later if I wanted to move music from that HDD to my computer or another device I could look into the linux kit.[/quote]

Then you would need to get the PS2 Linux kit. AFAIK, it is the only software available that will be able to play back MP3's on PS2. I hope you are good with linux because the kit is pretty barebones and Linux configuration isn't for newbs (at least not a newb like me.)
 
[quote name='epobirs']So what did you actually pay? My order from ConsoleSource came to $31.99 including shipping and they conveniently accept PayPal.. A bit surprising since a lot of other stuff on console source is outrageously overpriced. They listed 'Mojo' for Xbox, a game I've never seen for more the $19.99 at retail, as selling for $54.95. These prices are all presumably US dollars since that is how HDLoader's cost was drawn from my account.[/quote]

Well you paid less than I did but I think that is because HD Loader was originally going for $29.99. They've since raised the price to $34.99. :evil: I got mine for $34.20 shipped. Not much of a savings but better than the new regular price.
 
[quote name='daphatty'][quote name='aminerva']Because I'm not interested in using this for downloaded music (I don't download music, legally or otherwise) but in copying my personal CD collection onto the HDDof the PS2. If I could fit all or most of my music on my PS2 HDD, I could then use that as my stereo as well. Later if I wanted to move music from that HDD to my computer or another device I could look into the linux kit.[/quote]

Then you would need to get the PS2 Linux kit. AFAIK, it is the only software available that will be able to play back MP3's on PS2. I hope you are good with linux because the kit is pretty barebones and Linux configuration isn't for newbs (at least not a newb like me.)[/quote]

If HDLoader offered music copying/playback, I would obviously not need the Linux kit b/c HDLoader would be offering that ability for me. I would (again in theory) put my own CD into the drive bay, and copy the music just as I would copy a game onto the HDD; and then playback of music (just as with games) would be by browsing titles.

But as HDLoader almost certainly does not offer this ability, it's a moot point.
 
[quote name='daphatty'][quote name='epobirs']For Sony this must look like the second coming of Bleem!

I was hanging around the Bleem! booth at E3 the forst time Sony tried to threaten them. They were so heavy handed that many of us had no choice but to openly mock them and suggest they not make groundless threats. Ultimately they never actually won against Bleem! They only exhausted their financial ability to mount a defense.[/quote]

Considering they just came off a huge victory against Connectix and their Virtual Game Station for the MAC I'm not surprised that they tried to put the smack down on Bleem. The VGS was way better than Bleem and ran PS1 games perfectly. I worked for Sony Test when they had us try the software. They were shitting their pants when they saw just how accurate the results were.[/quote]

The same reason the Connectix emulator worked so well was the same reason they got busted. They used the Playstation BIOS code. Major no-no. If they'd remembered IBM's attempts to put Compaq out of business long ago they'd have known better. Perhaps they stupidly thought they could evade Sony's notice.

Bleem was entirely legal since it was a black box emulation. Rather than start with a hardware spec and try to build a software replica the Bleem! coder would run games until they failed and see what went wrong. This is a long tedious process but it completely avoid proprietary knowledge of a product. The more he continued the process the more code ran until whole games became functional. It's somewhat like the old saw about sculpture. If you want to make a block of marble into a statue of a horse you chip away everything that isn't a horse until all that is left is the horse.

This approach has passed legal muster many times and Sony knew it. If you look at some of the motions they made in court it became obvious they were stalling for time because they knew they had infinitely deep pockets for retaining lawyers compared to the Bleem! guys.
 
[quote name='aminerva']

If HDLoader offered music copying/playback, I would obviously not need the Linux kit b/c HDLoader would be offering that ability for me. I would (again in theory) put my own CD into the drive bay, and copy the music just as I would copy a game onto the HDD; and then playback of music (just as with games) would be by browsing titles.

But as HDLoader almost certainly does not offer this ability, it's a moot point.[/quote]

If HDLoader goes this routes it's likely they won't handle the coversion from CD audio to compressed files. They're already facing a legal assault from Sony and most of the commercial audio formats (pretty much everything except Ogg) derive most of their licensing fees from encoders while allowing playback for free to make the encoder have value. So you'd probably have to encode the files with a separate app on a PC and burn them to a CD-R to becopied to the hard drive by HDLoader and played by same.

The HDLoader folks could license the encoders but this would add unnecessary expense for people who are interested in that feature.
 
[quote name='epobirs']If HDLoader goes this routes it's likely they won't handle the coversion from CD audio to compressed files. They're already facing a legal assault from Sony and most of the commercial audio formats (pretty much everything except Ogg) derive most of their licensing fees from encoders while allowing playback for free to make the encoder have value. So you'd probably have to encode the files with a separate app on a PC and burn them to a CD-R to becopied to the hard drive by HDLoader and played by same.

The HDLoader folks could license the encoders but this would add unnecessary expense for people who are interested in that feature.[/quote]

Or you could buy the PS2 Linux kit and save yourself the Hassle. :lol:
 
I was temped to buy the loader and a HD , but I'm sure sony will make the HDloader obsolete very soon. I sure its as easy adding a couple of lines of code so you can't copy games to 3rd party devices.
 
Sony: "Damn these HDLoader people! They make my product better and more convenient for its users!"

Me: "Make the damn load times lower, and I wouldn't have ordered an HDLoader. You don't see me asking for a GameCube (even if it HAD an HDD) or an Xbox version because I can swap games and be playing within 30 seconds. I barely swap my PS2 games because it means at least a minute or more of lag time watching your crappy BIOS boot-up sequence."

Sony: "HDLoader is for theives!"

Me: "I don't plan on theiving, I can get my PS2 games cheap enough as it is. I just don't want to get off my ass and change games all the time when they take forever to load."

Sony: "It encourages use of unlicensed third-party HDDs!"

Me: "Perhaps if you weren't so busy 'servicing' your PS2 users with a $100, slow-as-shit 40GB HDD, you'd realize we want more space and better performance. Look at the HDD everyone gets now for $80... it has THREE TIMES AS MUCH SPACE and is 1600RPM faster with a much larger cache! YOU SUCK!"

Sony: "Punk"

Me: "And where's my damn SOCOM update? I didn't buy this shit for FFXI, sucka"

Sony: "..."
 
[quote name='TiKi2']I was temped to buy the loader and a HD , but I'm sure sony will make the HDloader obsolete very soon. I sure its as easy adding a couple of lines of code so you can't copy games to 3rd party devices.[/quote]

Okay, so you spend $34 on the Loader, but look at all the games you can save on your HDD as of right now. I'm sure companies will try to find a way to block the Loader, but that's not the case with existing games.

I think it's worth the price easily.
 
Considering that the PS2 is winding down, I'd say it's worth the $35 investment. The number of games coming out for PS2 between now and the next system is far less than the number of games this thing supports. Certainly a decent trade off.
 
So do you guys think we should expect something similar to this to come out soon after the next-gen consoles come out? Or do you think the Big Three will try to squash these companies before they release their new consoles?
 
[quote name='daphatty'][quote name='epobirs']If HDLoader goes this routes it's likely they won't handle the coversion from CD audio to compressed files. They're already facing a legal assault from Sony and most of the commercial audio formats (pretty much everything except Ogg) derive most of their licensing fees from encoders while allowing playback for free to make the encoder have value. So you'd probably have to encode the files with a separate app on a PC and burn them to a CD-R to becopied to the hard drive by HDLoader and played by same.

The HDLoader folks could license the encoders but this would add unnecessary expense for people who are interested in that feature.[/quote]

Or you could buy the PS2 Linux kit and save yourself the Hassle. :lol:[/quote]

Nah, if I wanted to deal with that I'd build a SFF PC and have a full bore media center for not much more money than the total PS2 package with drive and HDLoader. I've built a few for clients but I just don't care enough about that sort of thing for my own use. If I didn't already have a RePlayTV I might find the idea more appealing for DVR stuff.

Alternatively, I'd use a modded Xbox. The same Linux option exists there without the roadblocks imposed by Sony. The amount of Xbox media handling apps is truly impressive, especially used with the Friendtech upgrade to 1.4 GHz and 128 MB. All it takes is money and obsession.
 
[quote name='daphatty'][quote name='abrannan']
3a. My guess is that using Linux and dd it might be possible to modify the game code on the HDD to use offset addressing rather than hardcoded addressing. Look for this to start happening soon.
[/quote]

I'm not quite sure I follow. Was "dd" a typo or an abbreviation? Also, do you mean Linux on a PC or the PS2 Linux kit (which I have)? :D[/quote]

dd is a program/utility on Linux (regardless of platform). It accesses the HD byte by byte. Neither a typo nor an abbreviation. You just got the linux kit as a novelty, huh?
 
[quote name='Grave_Addiction']So do you guys think we should expect something similar to this to come out soon after the next-gen consoles come out? Or do you think the Big Three will try to squash these companies before they release their new consoles?[/quote]

Well, the next Xbox isn't going to have a HDD at all. My guess is due to the amount of piracy that goes on with the existing Xbox HDDs. If we do see this on the next generation, it will definitely require some form of mod chip.
 
[quote name='BigNick']I wonder how many people have teh block buster flip pass and the hD Loader...... hmmmmm[/quote]

If you erase the games after your three months are up is there really any foul?
 
[quote name='BigNick']I wonder how many people have teh block buster flip pass and the hD Loader...... hmmmmm[/quote]

I seriously debated it, but the BBs near me don't have enough selection to make it worth it.
 
[quote name='abrannan']You just got the linux kit as a novelty, huh?[/quote]

Actually no. I bought it because I missed out on the Net Yarouze that Sony released during the PS1 days. I've always wanted to fiddle around with console programming. Unfortunately, the learning curve from PS1 hardware to PS2 hardware was gigantic. Not to mention that Linux is not an easy OS to learn. I never got to the programming part because I wasn't spending enough time learning the OS.
 
[quote name='Grave_Addiction']So do you guys think we should expect something similar to this to come out soon after the next-gen consoles come out? Or do you think the Big Three will try to squash these companies before they release their new consoles?[/quote]

I doubt it. They actually have a FREE HDloader out there but it requires a little more than using just the CD. But, it doesn't require your PS2 to be modded either. When the next gen consoles come out, they'll probably find a way to use it using the existing HDloader right now.
 
Oh, in case you're interested in how its done..here's the link LINK REMOVED. I was actually thinking about it myself instead of spending $36.99 but I don't want to do that knife/cog method on my PS2 and end up with a broken tray drive or something.
 
[quote name='PrinceNeil']Oh, in case you're interested in how its done..here's the link LINK REMOVED. I was actually thinking about it myself instead of spending $36.99 but I don't want to do that knife/cog method on my PS2 and end up with a broken tray drive or something.[/quote]

I want to keep this discussion clean (not to mention open) so please refrain from posting links like that one.
 
I have the HDloader and had it for a while. Very good program, less hassle, faster load times, and just pplain better. I jsut leave the HDloader disc in my ps2, start up my ps2 and bam i have 30+ games at my disposal :). I would hurry up and get it if interested because Sony has the choke hold on the distributers. PS2ownz.com cleans their site of HDloader related threads, because sony threaten them. :) I bought 2 of them and sold on to my friend.
 
I just got my HD loader yesterday, i ordered it for gocyber. It works really well, alot of people that are having problems with some of the games that "don't work" Need to hit 'select' on the selected game and enable some of the modes b/c some games will freeze up unless a mode 1,2. or 3 is activated. I.E. Champions of Norrath

Anyway, i'm in love with the thing, the only reason i really got it was to backup my most important games to me b/c i do have a nephew who's always over and he scratches shit up. Granted i don't usually let him, its nice for the load time cuts alone. Usually i would buy the Xbox game b/c of the load times, most of the time b/c of High Definition, but with the HD loader it cuts the loads time to virtually none. I loaded up GTA VC and the opening screen was unbelievably fast. CoN load screen maybe for 2 sec.. Gitaroo Man, MAYBE 1 sec. Disagea NONE. FFX so much better with out those 3 seconds of loading b4 a battle. So i would give it a 9.8 out of 10. Anyone that gives it below that is a moron in my opinion b/c the gentlemen who designed this are brilliant. NO sodering, NO slip peices, NO opening your PS2, and relatively cheap.

My only gripe is that out of the box without a MOD chip installed you can't put import games onto it, that sort of annoys me, but there is news of a possible upgrade via internet. Also i would have liked to burn my PS1 games to my PS2 ala FF chronicles, Chrono Trigger with no load times anyone? :p:p:p

good lucky ordering one guys i just happened to order it the day b4 the official announcment of sony saying no more

if you want to know where i got it you can IM me at Mrbungley i will not post the link do to respect for the Mod's wishes

THX

(V) 3 `/ |\| 3 |2 |)

for all you non l337 members thats MEYNerd god i was bored
 
It arrived today and I'm doing my first install right now. The setup was about five minutes and most of that because I'd never handled a PS2 Network Adapter before and purposely went slow to take care.

The weird thing was how ConsoleSource chose to ship it. I get lots of packages so I wasn't surprised when the delivery guy handed me a large box. A box with text identifying it as intended for shipping 3" wide three-ring binders to give you an idea of its size. It weighed almost nothing. I'd have thought it empty if not for an object rattling inside.

HDLoader comes in a DVD case just like a PS2 game. So did put anything inside the huge box to act as stuffing? Some crumpled newspaper or styrofoam peanuts?

Nope.
 
lmao that reminds me i didn't even get mine in a dvd case just the disk the jacket and the instruction manual and on the box it said childrens shoes rofl


meynerd
 
[quote name='ChrisXE']I have the HDloader and had it for a while. Very good program, less hassle, faster load times, and just pplain better. I jsut leave the HDloader disc in my ps2, start up my ps2 and bam i have 30+ games at my disposal :). I would hurry up and get it if interested because Sony has the choke hold on the distributers. PS2ownz.com cleans their site of HDloader related threads, because sony threaten them. :) I bought 2 of them and sold on to my friend.[/quote]

So you have to have the HDLoader disc in there for it to work, huh? Too bad. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to swap out my SOCOM2 disc at any point in the near future. The number of times I have opted out of playing one of the games in my backlog because I didn't want to swap out the SOCOM disc just to swap it back in an hour is staggering. I'd have finished three or four more games by now.
 
Take out the SOCOM disc and put it somewhere inconvenient if you're so addicted. Otherwise stop buying games until the charm of SOCOM wears off. What's the point of building a library larger than you can ever use?

I can say from my own experience that it is an evil addiction. Buying cheap games, that is. Not SOCOM. Haven't played it and don't plan to but you can insert any number of other games that produce obsessive attachment, especially with online play. The CAG addicition is universal and platform independent. I've got games from the 16-bit era I still intend to play someday. If they'd only stop offering me brand new games for pocket change I might even get that done some day. Those bastards!
 
In other news: It works, it works! What a beautiful thing. Now if only there were a way to make it boot from a memory card...
 
well I just recieved mine today from the same oversized box that consolesource seemed to ship it in. I was definately suprised by the relative ease of the whole set-up and installation products of the system and I definatley give it atleast a 9/10. Just watching some of these load times wiz by is amazing....
 
[quote name='Battousai1002']Uhhh... That'd only work with games 8 mb or lower, which is probably like nothing.[/quote]

You misunderstand. I meant make HDLoader boot from the memory card. I'd gladly dedicate a card just to this if necessary.
 
For those asking about PS1 game compatibility for HDLoader, forget it. THere is nothing the developers can do in this regard. The PS1 functionality is completely cut off from the bus used by the Network Adapter and hard drive. Exposing this to the PS1 memory map would play havoc with compatibility for no useful purpose in Sony's PS2 plans.
 
Could someone with HD Loader please tell me if the disc to boot HD Loader is a DVD or a CD? I can't get any of my CD games to read on my PS2 but my DVD games work just fine. I ordered the HD Loader program and I just hope it will boot up on my PS2.
 
I'm guessing its a CD, no way for me to tell though, looked at the case and the disc itself. I'm guessing that because there is a clear line where the end of the burn is, and its less than half way, how much code could it possibly take? half a dvd? no way.
 
Does it have a blue back though? It seems like the CD's with the blue backs are the ones that are giving me trouble.
 
Hassy, Call sony and explain your DRE issue if you can't play CD based games they SHOULD provide a code for a free repair after going through a short diagnostic routine.

According to a faq I read on another site it is indeed a CD.

"The HD Loader comes in a DVD boxed case with a printed manual for 5 languages (no Greek unfortunatly) and a pressed disc (CD)."
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll give Sony a call and see what they have to say. I'd like to get this thing working.
 
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