UPDATE: The feedback I've received over the past 24 hours has been overwhelmingly in favor continuing development on the XEB+ neutrino Launcher, so that is exactly what I'm going to do. Thank you all for your support.
The best outcome would be you partnering with the guys that develop the uopl software and integrate your best feature , the safestate grouping, into their project.
uOPL doesn't have any dedicated developers at the moment, unless I'm mistaken. if you plan to keep maintaining the plugin, I'd use it over uOPL for that reason alone also! managing VMCs is a headache, so I really appreciate your save compatibility feature. I think it's a pretty slick solution and a good motivator to document games with linked saves.
Please don't stop the development of the plugin. I simply LOVE the XMB style of the XEB+, I love your plugin and how it allows you to list games right on the XMB interface just like POPSY-X. The idea of having an XMB type of interface that allows you to do pretty much everything you need on the console it's just magic and your plugin just adds to it like a cherry on top ❤
I like the XMB layout and having my PS3, PSP, and PS2 all have the same UI is a nice thing for me. I don't use that many features since I just want a way to load games but the one that made we switch to your plugin was the memory card groups as the per game memory cards of my Memcard Pro were annoying me. So from a feature point of view for me right now I can either have Memcard Pro support in uOPL or have your memory card groups with your plugin. Also this video made me realize I forgot to update my username so that's why my name is different.
The best solution would be for 8bitmods to integrate the "memory card groups" function in their product with a firmware update.. It should also work with simple cd's.. I think i will write them a mail :) @sync-on-luma (Y) The XMB Pro "Theme" looks gorgoues and please try to work with Hiro Tex together :D
Having PS3/PSP looking menu is a killer feature itself. When i first got my hands on an unmodded PS2 not that long ago, i thought - hey, it's slow and cheap, but it has to be user-friendly like later consoles, right? I couldn't believe that ps1-esque menu was real on the thing that was supposed to be a media center. Please don't drop the project, ps2 deserves a proper modern launcher.
@@Grishanofyou have to download themes to make it not look like one of the bootleg 100 in 1 consoles. i have a pretty nice theme on mine that looks pretty good imo but this interface in the vid is way better.
Personally, the XMB style fascinates me. I think the pro skin has a little more polished finish than the official one, but I prefer a thousand times an interface like the one you present rather than one like OPL or BB. In the worst case scenario if you abandon the project I would love you to publish the complete code so that the community can follow the effort you have dedicated to it. Whatever you do thank you very much for all the work you have put into it
I want to say thank you for your efforts. Your launcher interface and the way it works has been a dream for me and approaches the "official" feeling I've always wanted out of my PS2 library backup.
@@extremistcontentfan1236 Doesn't PSBBN require a HDD? Not all of us have HDDs.. Some people have PS2slims... plus UDPBD is better compatibility than HDD
@QbertKraft you need an official network adapter and a sata conversion kit for it, ps2 slims often suffer from stuttering during fmv playback in many games using almost any method to load games backups in my experience. not familiar with udpbd but having everything in one spot on a hard drive and not needing a lan connection to something else seems more convenient
@@extremistcontentfan1236 well the key thing is you are not familiar with udpbd. What you said is true until UDPBD hit the scene. UDPBD is absolutely the best option for loading games. FMVs do not stutter at all and load times are super fast. With sync-on-luma's plugin I can run the entire library without any compatibility issues on my PS2 slim. I already have a Retronas server running on my Unraid machine so this is the most convenient thing for me. That way I only have to maintain my library in one location. I use my backups not just for PS2, but also for PC via emulation and on my backwards compatible PS3 via PS3netsrv. Running all the games off an HDD would require maintaining my library in multiple locations. I do still think the HDD is useful though as you can't play any network/online games if UDPBD is using the network port.
Fully believe you should continue development, as uOPL is no longer being actively maintained, so we’ll ultimately end up in the same boat we were stuck in with the original OPL down the road. We need active developers in the scene at all times pushing forward progress, so I heartily encourage you to maintain course and stay active for the benefit of progress.
XEB+ Neutrino needs per game GSM support. The 480p/1080i modes look fantastic and remove/heavily reduce deinterlacing artifacts and the Retrotink 4K can fix the weird scaling/ aspect ratio issues it brings. You can even just disable the PS2's flicker filter if you want by setting the GSM mode for the game to "NTSC". The Simpsons Hit & Run and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 look absolutely incredible with the flicker filter disable and look even better with forced 480p.
Bro don’t stop I love the new UI. If you want to be the best one, create an ps3 style like OS type for ps2 save stats etc. This Projekt ist the best I ever seen
PS2BBN is awesome (I'm running it on my fat) but the thing is you need a hard drive to use it. XEB+ (which I run on my slim) is compatible with basically every model PS2
uOPL may be great in functionality but it suffers from the same thing that makes me not want to use it in the first place : bad interface. XEB+ and PS2BBN if developed further can in fact overthrow even uOPL (which i heard is already dead because there's no active developer for it) and that's what this community needs right now.
I'm really interested in UDPBD and XEB+ so far is best option for this. In opl I have to run server in virtual Linux machine and use external usb drive for partitions. But for XEB+ there is great Windows server that allows streaming games from PCs SSD. Only thing that important to me as a scaller user is GSM support. It would be great to have seemless GSM experience like opl does,but I know it's not in your priority list. Thank you for your great work! Keep it up
Im currently in the process of designing my own PS2 portable and I've personally found XEB+ and your plugin to be one of the more robust and optimal options for me when it comes to PS2 software. That paired with the customizable nature of XEB+ (theme wise) seems to be the cherry on top I can certainly understand the difficulty of deciding whether or not to continue with development based on the reasoning youve pointed out in this video but I can say for certain that your contributions are very much appreciated by myself and the community as a whole!
And what sound will be implemented on the PS2's XEB+ when starting it? Will it be the same sound as the PS2 intro? And you will put a short video of the game's gameplay in that little square that shows the image of the game! And also, will it be possible to select all video output resolutions, just like the PS3?
Hi there sir. Over the past few years I have been trying to get every console I own in a state where it can boot up and load any game from my entire library with ease. This proved quite easy for basically every console i own by either booting games via network (best option if possible), using a flash cart, using an ODE, or hacking the console and installing my backups on the internal drive (or external connected storage). Unfortunately the PS2 was surprisingly the most difficult device to achieve this goal with as each method had a decent amount of compatibility issues. With the slow USB 1.1 ports, the next best option for me was SMB. This works out well as I run a retronas server and have all my backups hosted there. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of games that have difficulty working properly via SMB. I hear that a HDD is a great option as well, but unfortunately I have a PS2 slim (which I guess I could technically hook up a HDD if I modded it with this model), but I also hear that HDD isn't perfect compatibility either. Lo and behold, UDPBD came on the scene and worked perfectly for my use case. Compatibility was amazing, loading times were fast, I only need to manage my library at one central location on the server - everything was great, except there wasn't a good way to easily sit down and scroll through my available games and launch them. The best option at the time was to set up the script on the server on a game by game basis and manually adjust it every time I wanted to switch games. This was not ideal at all for obvious reasons. I decided to just sit patiently as I was sure a better option would arise. Eventually, I encountered your plugin for XEB+ and, combined with the work from MegaBitmap, I suddenly had everything I ever hoped for. As of v.2.3 of your plugin, I basically have everything I need. Scrolling through the list is a little sluggish with artwork enabled, but I can always turn the backgrounds off if needed to improve performance. Otherwise, this set up meets all my needs and looks slick as hell. The work you have done on the Virtual Memory Cards is incredible - just the research itself without even considering any of the development time spent is already a monumental contribution to the community. As cool as this feature is, I personally haven't upgraded to this version yet as I am concerned it will break my current UDPBD configuration - (you mentioned: "VMCs (and this update by extension ) will NOT work unless the games on your server are stored on an exFAT formatted drive.") I currently have all my PS2 ISOs hanging out on my NAS so I can load them from PC emulators /PS3 via ps3netsrv as well, so I would prefer to not need a dedicated exFAT drive to host all my backups just for UDPBD. Again, your plugin + MegaBitmap's work has been the only solution so far that allows me to do this (with ease & elegance). Sorry for this super long ass comment, but getting my PS2 experience to this point has been a multi year journey, and I just wanted to let you know, you (and MegaBitmap [and whoever else invented neutrino and UDBPD and XEB+]) were there to help me finally get over the finish line. I guess in a way, I truly have everything I need as of v 2.3, but I would still encourage you to continue your work on this. I wasn't aware of uOPL, and without doing any research yet, I'm not sure how well it will handle my use case. I will definitely check it out though and see how it goes. In any event, Thank you for everything you've done so far! I will be ok if you end development, but I will be voting YES as I will continue to use your implementation for the foreseeable future and would love to see it continue to improve. Thanks again
My friend you create this amazing stuff you need to finish it the best possible way, maybe is not the best but is one of the best. I would like to see the migration to XMB pro with all you signature or maybe you can create an OPL base but with XMB style with your signature.
hey, i am very happy i got your video recommended (i am not a regular viewer) PS2 is the only console that interests me that i decided it would be easier to just play through emulation and not bother with real hardware anymore due to all the limitations of OPL. But i was unaware of uOPL and XEB+, now you just sparked interest towards PS2 modding again. Now for what i would choose, it's hard, it seems better for everyone to merge everything into one project, but that xmb man...
the BB dashboard is cool but the need for a linux os to even install it is kinda meh so if they ever manage to make that work on windows its gonna be a default for most
Thank you! I thought I was taking crazy pills with people on reddit saying OPL and the grim doomer fork was working fine for them but was unusable and slow for me. I'm highly looking forward to this.
i think if uopl is allowing third party help it'd be cool to tinker on that launcher rather than continue with neutrino. or possibly find another interesting thing like a emulation station like thing
I mean uOPL is apparently out AND dead, so maybe it'd be interesting to see you tinker with that, too? Apparently UDPBD on uOPL is not entirely tested and very likely janky af. IDK if it is even possible because idk the terms on which Krah left the project, but you seem more than capable of at least forking that project and adding your magic touch to bring it to a more feature complete status, too. If not, I'll probably keep using this version of XEB+ or perhaps XEB Pro in the future since I'm not the biggest OPL fan as a PS2 Slim user.
(I know I'm a bit late to the party, but) I'm going to be honest: uOPL is dead, and having someone new on the scene who can actually maintain and document their project (you) is invaluable. PS2 homebrew scene, while having gotten better in recent times, is still a mess, and while your project is nowhere near finished, it's what the community needs. I really hope XEB+ gets completed and properly open-sourced too, because this might, if not kick OPL's development into overdrive (two staple projects "competing" or something), provide people with something they can actually use without frying their brains.
Is it possible for you to fork uopl and port your UI to it since your XMB UI is way nicer? As you say you need to refactor your code anyway why not just refactor it to the uopl?
No. For one, XEB+ is not my interface. @howlingwolfandchelsea is the lead developer, I've merely created an add-on for it. Second, most of XEB+ is written in Lua and runs on the Enceladus interpreter, whereas OPL and it's derivatives are developed in C with the PS2SDK. The two codebases are not directly comparable, and even if they were, rewriting an application to use an entirely interface is no small task. If you really want to use an XMB style interface with OPL, a theme would probably be your best bet. I don't know if the OPL theme framework is flexible enough to accommodate a full XMB menu, but I have seen some pretty impressive things done with it over the years.
I guess instead of developing this it should be possible to port feature in Uopl. You shoul even be able to port xmb as a theme of opl i guess. If you can you should make a video of the best homebrew setup from ps2, right now the scene is big the lack of documentation. I think you done a good job btw.
Well, uOPL is dead now, so I'd say it would be great if you could continue working on this project, whether it be through XEB+ or XEB pro. The progress you've made has been incredible to see, and it only looks like the project could get even better (especially with XEB pro).
Competition only benefits the users. Who knows what you and uOPL could come up with if trying to be the better loader. But if you’ve already asserted you’ll never reach that…
It was unusably slow with larger drives. Constant lag and up to 30 seconds to switch pages sometimes. Having to keep the drive perfectly defragmented also didn't help.
4TB HDD, but I switched to a 1TB SSD to see if it would improve things and that was somehow even worse. The only drives that haven't given me issues with it are 500GB and below.
Having a USB drive connected has no bearing on MX4SIO compatibility. OPL uses app forwarders to launch POPS games, and I assume the same thing works in uOPL. There's also a POPS plugin for XEB+ called POPSY-X.
The same way you install any other version of OPL. There's plenty of guides online. The one limitation I've encountered with uOPL is that it doesn't fit on a standard 8MB memory card, so you either need a larger memory card, or to install it to a different device.
If uOPL is the way to move forward then so be it. :) Wrt to youtube content, I would primarily be interested in guides and news about high bandwidth (stutterfree FMVs...) PS2 game loading (MX4SIO, MemcardPro2, UDPBD, SMB, ...) and high compatibility PS1 game loading (DKWDRV but with music ...). Thanks for your hard work! :)
Standard OPL uses APA partitions for hard drives, whereas every current implementation of neutrino requires exFAT. You have to reformat your drive and copy everything back over to it if you want to switch.
not saying you have to do it full time but there's not really any reason to shut it down because you never know if all those alternatives gets pulled your work ming be the only one standing. not sure how plausible this outcome is but better safe than sorry
Personally working on XEB+ is a dead end until an CFHW release a full build. uOPL is ....odd. Also retrogem users are still stuck on Cosmic Scales version. I really want a replacement for OPL or for them to cleanup IE remove an iLink and USB functionality. USB should be dead. UDPBD SHOULD replace SMB but the dev there isn't going to fix the cd race condition....and biggest problem is that PS2SDK/DEV is broken.....as for VMCs I think they should also be dropped since we have MCP2 and SD2PSX.
Asking to remove iLink is questionable, removing USB is downright silly. It is still the most convenient way to load games, not much people want to spin up a server just for the skipped cutscenes
I don't agree with VMC being dropped, I for one have two MCs, and I don't need more to keep track of, as having two is perfect for me. Having VMCs on my HDD is a lot easier for me since I can choose which one I want a game to save to, without needing to search for a different physical card. And that's even dealing with the rare case of games with save issues like SC3, where I'd like a dedicated card just for that game. Also the fact that it seems my PS2's first MC slot has issues detecting a memory card from all the use over the years.
@@Grishanof As USB is THE WORST way to play and we have MX4SIO and now MCP2 and SD2PSX have in beta a possible better way....yes drop USB. iLink has the fewest consoles applicable to it. Spending dev time on it is a waste.
@@rezenclowd3 USB works just fine. MX4SIO is a crutch at best and its compatibility is lacking. Any other wires are extra unnecessary effort each time you turn on the console.
How do PS1 games work with uOPL and how compatible are they? I had to downgrade from GrimDoomer's OPL because it basically had zero PS1support. How do you add them to the drive?
PS1 games are not directly compatible with any PS2 backup loader. On the PS2, PS1 games are loaded via the POPS emulator. OPL can "support" PS1 games by listing POPS forwarders in the APPS section, and XEB+ has a POPS loader plugin that acts as a self-contained forwarder.
@sync-on-luma Alright yeah, I can make sense of that. But I don't think I've been able to find any good guide on how to set up POPS alongside any of the newer branches of OPL, including uOPL. I've read the documentation on the uOPL page, but haven't gotten anything to work yet. You don't happen to know any forum or git posts, or video to point me in the right direction? I don't like spoon-feeding but I did spend a good couple of days when GrimDoomer's OPL came out, trying to get POPS to work alongside it, including making seperate volumes in FMC, etc. for each front-end. No luck.
Edit: Perfection would be being able to use a free mcboot card with the neutrino launcher instead of PS2BBL (too limited with only booting to OPL, and a DVD Boot disc will likely let alllow soemone to make a free mcboot card instead *shrug*). I'm not sure why anyone would make a PS2BBL card with DVD Boot instead of a Free McBoot card. OPL was still excellent, some games just needed some settings changed to run like they should. THPS1 is a prime example of tweaking an OPL setting to takeit from unplayable to no different to running an original disc of it. The neutrino menu is really cool, but the rest are all steps backward from an FMCB card. Now that uOPL is out, I think it's safe to say you've lost motivation to continue - the previous OPL was entire the reason you started this project and it's no longer an issue. If you can make a neutrino plug-in for Free McBoot and have it use uOPL as it's game/boot loader - you win for best PS2 soft mod 🤷♂🙂 Perfection would be a netrino front end that uses the new uOPL as it's boot launcher. At least I solved the 4GB flash drive-only issue in the meantime (=
Booting XEB+ with FreeMCBoot has always been possible. The limitation is that FMCB doen't have native exFAT support, so if you want to load games off an USB drive, you need to either use PS2BBL or add BDMAssult to FMCB.
UPDATE:
The feedback I've received over the past 24 hours has been overwhelmingly in favor continuing development on the XEB+ neutrino Launcher, so that is exactly what I'm going to do.
Thank you all for your support.
@sync-on-luma It's by far the easiest and best solution for me, so thank you for the work!
The best outcome would be you partnering with the guys that develop the uopl software and integrate your best feature , the safestate grouping, into their project.
the dev that modified uOPL aka KRAH is out of the scene now starting this year.
uOPL doesn't have any dedicated developers at the moment, unless I'm mistaken. if you plan to keep maintaining the plugin, I'd use it over uOPL for that reason alone
also! managing VMCs is a headache, so I really appreciate your save compatibility feature. I think it's a pretty slick solution and a good motivator to document games with linked saves.
Please don't stop the development of the plugin. I simply LOVE the XMB style of the XEB+, I love your plugin and how it allows you to list games right on the XMB interface just like POPSY-X. The idea of having an XMB type of interface that allows you to do pretty much everything you need on the console it's just magic and your plugin just adds to it like a cherry on top ❤
I like the XMB layout and having my PS3, PSP, and PS2 all have the same UI is a nice thing for me. I don't use that many features since I just want a way to load games but the one that made we switch to your plugin was the memory card groups as the per game memory cards of my Memcard Pro were annoying me. So from a feature point of view for me right now I can either have Memcard Pro support in uOPL or have your memory card groups with your plugin. Also this video made me realize I forgot to update my username so that's why my name is different.
The best solution would be for 8bitmods to integrate the "memory card groups" function in their product with a firmware update..
It should also work with simple cd's..
I think i will write them a mail :)
@sync-on-luma (Y) The XMB Pro "Theme" looks gorgoues and please try to work with Hiro Tex together :D
Having PS3/PSP looking menu is a killer feature itself.
When i first got my hands on an unmodded PS2 not that long ago, i thought - hey, it's slow and cheap, but it has to be user-friendly like later consoles, right? I couldn't believe that ps1-esque menu was real on the thing that was supposed to be a media center.
Please don't drop the project, ps2 deserves a proper modern launcher.
Free McBoot with optional neutrino plug in menu running uOPL as the game launcher = perfection.
@@joekickarze OPL looks like a menu from nes cartridge with 999 games, not very fancy either
@@Grishanofyou have to download themes to make it not look like one of the bootleg 100 in 1 consoles. i have a pretty nice theme on mine that looks pretty good imo but this interface in the vid is way better.
Personally, the XMB style fascinates me. I think the pro skin has a little more polished finish than the official one, but I prefer a thousand times an interface like the one you present rather than one like OPL or BB. In the worst case scenario if you abandon the project I would love you to publish the complete code so that the community can follow the effort you have dedicated to it. Whatever you do thank you very much for all the work you have put into it
All the source code has been available since the very first release, so there's no risk of anything getting lost.
@@sync-on-luma I did not know that! I'll keep an eye on it :)
I want to say thank you for your efforts. Your launcher interface and the way it works has been a dream for me and approaches the "official" feeling I've always wanted out of my PS2 library backup.
This isn't really for me as UDPBD seems broken at the moment but It's wild how many options there are to bring life to the PS2 in the last year
I'm honestly really glad the PS2BBN English translation is pretty usable now because it fits in SO nicely with the PS2, it looks perfect
fr idk why anyone would use anything else at this point, psbbn integrates so nicely
@@extremistcontentfan1236 Doesn't PSBBN require a HDD? Not all of us have HDDs.. Some people have PS2slims... plus UDPBD is better compatibility than HDD
@QbertKraft you need an official network adapter and a sata conversion kit for it, ps2 slims often suffer from stuttering during fmv playback in many games using almost any method to load games backups in my experience. not familiar with udpbd but having everything in one spot on a hard drive and not needing a lan connection to something else seems more convenient
@@extremistcontentfan1236 well the key thing is you are not familiar with udpbd. What you said is true until UDPBD hit the scene. UDPBD is absolutely the best option for loading games. FMVs do not stutter at all and load times are super fast. With sync-on-luma's plugin I can run the entire library without any compatibility issues on my PS2 slim. I already have a Retronas server running on my Unraid machine so this is the most convenient thing for me. That way I only have to maintain my library in one location. I use my backups not just for PS2, but also for PC via emulation and on my backwards compatible PS3 via PS3netsrv. Running all the games off an HDD would require maintaining my library in multiple locations.
I do still think the HDD is useful though as you can't play any network/online games if UDPBD is using the network port.
Fully believe you should continue development, as uOPL is no longer being actively maintained, so we’ll ultimately end up in the same boat we were stuck in with the original OPL down the road.
We need active developers in the scene at all times pushing forward progress, so I heartily encourage you to maintain course and stay active for the benefit of progress.
XEB+ Neutrino needs per game GSM support. The 480p/1080i modes look fantastic and remove/heavily reduce deinterlacing artifacts and the Retrotink 4K can fix the weird scaling/ aspect ratio issues it brings.
You can even just disable the PS2's flicker filter if you want by setting the GSM mode for the game to "NTSC". The Simpsons Hit & Run and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 look absolutely incredible with the flicker filter disable and look even better with forced 480p.
Bro don’t stop I love the new UI. If you want to be the best one, create an ps3 style like OS type for ps2 save stats etc. This Projekt ist the best I ever seen
PS2BBN is awesome (I'm running it on my fat) but the thing is you need a hard drive to use it. XEB+ (which I run on my slim) is compatible with basically every model PS2
having a very hard time finding how to install PS2BBN to a fat, is there a github or instruction guide anywhere?
uOPL may be great in functionality but it suffers from the same thing that makes me not want to use it in the first place : bad interface.
XEB+ and PS2BBN if developed further can in fact overthrow even uOPL (which i heard is already dead because there's no active developer for it) and that's what this community needs right now.
I'm really interested in UDPBD and XEB+ so far is best option for this. In opl I have to run server in virtual Linux machine and use external usb drive for partitions. But for XEB+ there is great Windows server that allows streaming games from PCs SSD. Only thing that important to me as a scaller user is GSM support. It would be great to have seemless GSM experience like opl does,but I know it's not in your priority list. Thank you for your great work! Keep it up
The UI of the XEB+ is far superior in my opinion to all the alternatives. I will use it for that reason alone.
Would be awesome to confirm the XMB UI from XEB+ neutrino launcher with all the functionality of uOPL
Im currently in the process of designing my own PS2 portable and I've personally found XEB+ and your plugin to be one of the more robust and optimal options for me when it comes to PS2 software. That paired with the customizable nature of XEB+ (theme wise) seems to be the cherry on top
I can certainly understand the difficulty of deciding whether or not to continue with development based on the reasoning youve pointed out in this video but I can say for certain that your contributions are very much appreciated by myself and the community as a whole!
i like your interface , and thats how i would like my ps2 to launch
uOPL is already dead. It doesn't have anyone seriously working on it.
Would it be possible to add MMCE support to your plugin? MMCE compatible devices like the sd2psx, PSxMemCard Gen2 ect could benefit from it 🔥
And what sound will be implemented on the PS2's XEB+ when starting it? Will it be the same sound as the PS2 intro? And you will put a short video of the game's gameplay in that little square that shows the image of the game! And also, will it be possible to select all video output resolutions, just like the PS3?
Hi there sir. Over the past few years I have been trying to get every console I own in a state where it can boot up and load any game from my entire library with ease. This proved quite easy for basically every console i own by either booting games via network (best option if possible), using a flash cart, using an ODE, or hacking the console and installing my backups on the internal drive (or external connected storage). Unfortunately the PS2 was surprisingly the most difficult device to achieve this goal with as each method had a decent amount of compatibility issues. With the slow USB 1.1 ports, the next best option for me was SMB. This works out well as I run a retronas server and have all my backups hosted there. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of games that have difficulty working properly via SMB. I hear that a HDD is a great option as well, but unfortunately I have a PS2 slim (which I guess I could technically hook up a HDD if I modded it with this model), but I also hear that HDD isn't perfect compatibility either.
Lo and behold, UDPBD came on the scene and worked perfectly for my use case. Compatibility was amazing, loading times were fast, I only need to manage my library at one central location on the server - everything was great, except there wasn't a good way to easily sit down and scroll through my available games and launch them. The best option at the time was to set up the script on the server on a game by game basis and manually adjust it every time I wanted to switch games. This was not ideal at all for obvious reasons. I decided to just sit patiently as I was sure a better option would arise.
Eventually, I encountered your plugin for XEB+ and, combined with the work from MegaBitmap, I suddenly had everything I ever hoped for. As of v.2.3 of your plugin, I basically have everything I need. Scrolling through the list is a little sluggish with artwork enabled, but I can always turn the backgrounds off if needed to improve performance. Otherwise, this set up meets all my needs and looks slick as hell.
The work you have done on the Virtual Memory Cards is incredible - just the research itself without even considering any of the development time spent is already a monumental contribution to the community. As cool as this feature is, I personally haven't upgraded to this version yet as I am concerned it will break my current UDPBD configuration - (you mentioned: "VMCs (and this update by extension ) will NOT work unless the games on your server are stored on an exFAT formatted drive.") I currently have all my PS2 ISOs hanging out on my NAS so I can load them from PC emulators /PS3 via ps3netsrv as well, so I would prefer to not need a dedicated exFAT drive to host all my backups just for UDPBD. Again, your plugin + MegaBitmap's work has been the only solution so far that allows me to do this (with ease & elegance).
Sorry for this super long ass comment, but getting my PS2 experience to this point has been a multi year journey, and I just wanted to let you know, you (and MegaBitmap [and whoever else invented neutrino and UDBPD and XEB+]) were there to help me finally get over the finish line. I guess in a way, I truly have everything I need as of v 2.3, but I would still encourage you to continue your work on this. I wasn't aware of uOPL, and without doing any research yet, I'm not sure how well it will handle my use case. I will definitely check it out though and see how it goes.
In any event, Thank you for everything you've done so far! I will be ok if you end development, but I will be voting YES as I will continue to use your implementation for the foreseeable future and would love to see it continue to improve. Thanks again
My friend you create this amazing stuff you need to finish it the best possible way, maybe is not the best but is one of the best.
I would like to see the migration to XMB pro with all you signature or maybe you can create an OPL base but with XMB style with your signature.
hey, i am very happy i got your video recommended (i am not a regular viewer)
PS2 is the only console that interests me that i decided it would be easier to just play through emulation and not bother with real hardware anymore due to all the limitations of OPL. But i was unaware of uOPL and XEB+, now you just sparked interest towards PS2 modding again. Now for what i would choose, it's hard, it seems better for everyone to merge everything into one project, but that xmb man...
Do it man. This looks amazing and it will be the definitive way to play PS2.
the BB dashboard is cool but the need for a linux os to even install it is kinda meh so if they ever manage to make that work on windows its gonna be a default for most
Yeah most people aren't going to install a second OS on their PC just to run BB.
Except it's terrible for large lists of games...Coverflow is an abomination
@rezenclowd3 it caches the artwork after scrolling through the list once
put linux mint on a Bootable usb, done
@@extremistcontentfan1236 That's not my concern. Its seeing multiple items at once and coverflow of any ui is lacking in that dept.
Thank you! I thought I was taking crazy pills with people on reddit saying OPL and the grim doomer fork was working fine for them but was unusable and slow for me. I'm highly looking forward to this.
i think if uopl is allowing third party help it'd be cool to tinker on that launcher rather than continue with neutrino. or possibly find another interesting thing like a emulation station like thing
Not to mention uopl contains neutrino
I mean uOPL is apparently out AND dead, so maybe it'd be interesting to see you tinker with that, too? Apparently UDPBD on uOPL is not entirely tested and very likely janky af. IDK if it is even possible because idk the terms on which Krah left the project, but you seem more than capable of at least forking that project and adding your magic touch to bring it to a more feature complete status, too. If not, I'll probably keep using this version of XEB+ or perhaps XEB Pro in the future since I'm not the biggest OPL fan as a PS2 Slim user.
Does uOPL has active developer?
is there a u or wlauncherELF that can read the internal HDD when formated as exFAT?
Neither. There is a fork of wLaunchELF that can read exFAT USB drives, but currently no version supports exFAT hard drives.
YES, I would love features like igr path
(I know I'm a bit late to the party, but) I'm going to be honest: uOPL is dead, and having someone new on the scene who can actually maintain and document their project (you) is invaluable. PS2 homebrew scene, while having gotten better in recent times, is still a mess, and while your project is nowhere near finished, it's what the community needs. I really hope XEB+ gets completed and properly open-sourced too, because this might, if not kick OPL's development into overdrive (two staple projects "competing" or something), provide people with something they can actually use without frying their brains.
Does the VMC feature in UOPL and Neutrino have better compatibility than standard OPL?
It doesn't look like they've made any changes to the VMC system, so I'd assume not. Though, using the neutrino back-end might make difference.
Is it possible for you to fork uopl and port your UI to it since your XMB UI is way nicer? As you say you need to refactor your code anyway why not just refactor it to the uopl?
No.
For one, XEB+ is not my interface. @howlingwolfandchelsea is the lead developer, I've merely created an add-on for it. Second, most of XEB+ is written in Lua and runs on the Enceladus interpreter, whereas OPL and it's derivatives are developed in C with the PS2SDK. The two codebases are not directly comparable, and even if they were, rewriting an application to use an entirely interface is no small task.
If you really want to use an XMB style interface with OPL, a theme would probably be your best bet. I don't know if the OPL theme framework is flexible enough to accommodate a full XMB menu, but I have seen some pretty impressive things done with it over the years.
@sync-on-luma thanks, that makes a lot of sense. Hopefully XEB+ can bring in the features from uopl
I guess instead of developing this it should be possible to port feature in Uopl. You shoul even be able to port xmb as a theme of opl i guess. If you can you should make a video of the best homebrew setup from ps2, right now the scene is big the lack of documentation. I think you done a good job btw.
Well, uOPL is dead now, so I'd say it would be great if you could continue working on this project, whether it be through XEB+ or XEB pro. The progress you've made has been incredible to see, and it only looks like the project could get even better (especially with XEB pro).
I vastly prefer the xmb interface so I'd rather use that
Competition only benefits the users. Who knows what you and uOPL could come up with if trying to be the better loader. But if you’ve already asserted you’ll never reach that…
xmb pro looks amazing
What issues were you having with Grimdoomer's OPL?
It was unusably slow with larger drives. Constant lag and up to 30 seconds to switch pages sometimes. Having to keep the drive perfectly defragmented also didn't help.
@@sync-on-lumaWhat size? I use a 2TB SSD in my PS2 with about 700gb worth of games and OPL runs fine
4TB HDD, but I switched to a 1TB SSD to see if it would improve things and that was somehow even worse. The only drives that haven't given me issues with it are 500GB and below.
Does any of those can launch mx4sio if the usb is connected or play popstarter games directly like the 10th anniversary opl?
Having a USB drive connected has no bearing on MX4SIO compatibility.
OPL uses app forwarders to launch POPS games, and I assume the same thing works in uOPL. There's also a POPS plugin for XEB+ called POPSY-X.
How do we install the uopl im interested in both as I have multiple drives one for opl and one for xeb
The same way you install any other version of OPL. There's plenty of guides online.
The one limitation I've encountered with uOPL is that it doesn't fit on a standard 8MB memory card, so you either need a larger memory card, or to install it to a different device.
@@sync-on-luma yeah, i heard u could compress the elf files to be around 1.6 mb ish but i havent tried it for myself yet
There is a pre-compressed version you can download, I haven't tried it either though.
Do UOPL, XEB+ and Neutrino all have PADEMU support?
There are several version with PADEMU.
I wish you do more development for UOPL
If uOPL is the way to move forward then so be it. :) Wrt to youtube content, I would primarily be interested in guides and news about high bandwidth (stutterfree FMVs...) PS2 game loading (MX4SIO, MemcardPro2, UDPBD, SMB, ...) and high compatibility PS1 game loading (DKWDRV but with music ...). Thanks for your hard work! :)
XMB Pro looks straight out of PS3! I don't use PS2 but if I did, would probably use that
It reminds me more of a PSP, since it has that solid wave instead of the PS3s shimmering one, but i mean yeah it's the same thing and looks lovely.
Can I transfer my HDD phat ps2 from OPL to Neutrino without having to add my game images to the drive again? I cba haha
Standard OPL uses APA partitions for hard drives, whereas every current implementation of neutrino requires exFAT. You have to reformat your drive and copy everything back over to it if you want to switch.
You sound like Atomic Purple. If you are, can I ask why you stopped uploading on that channel?
yeah, i remember watching his windows 7 gaming pc video and wondered where i knew this voice from
I don't hear the similarity tbh. It sounds more like they have the same accent. But if they are, that'd be interesting
not saying you have to do it full time but there's not really any reason to shut it down because you never know if all those alternatives gets pulled your work ming be the only one standing. not sure how plausible this outcome is but better safe than sorry
Not a fan of the iPod style 3d album art in the PlayStation BB interface
Personally working on XEB+ is a dead end until an CFHW release a full build. uOPL is ....odd. Also retrogem users are still stuck on Cosmic Scales version. I really want a replacement for OPL or for them to cleanup IE remove an iLink and USB functionality. USB should be dead. UDPBD SHOULD replace SMB but the dev there isn't going to fix the cd race condition....and biggest problem is that PS2SDK/DEV is broken.....as for VMCs I think they should also be dropped since we have MCP2 and SD2PSX.
Asking to remove iLink is questionable, removing USB is downright silly. It is still the most convenient way to load games, not much people want to spin up a server just for the skipped cutscenes
I don't agree with VMC being dropped, I for one have two MCs, and I don't need more to keep track of, as having two is perfect for me. Having VMCs on my HDD is a lot easier for me since I can choose which one I want a game to save to, without needing to search for a different physical card. And that's even dealing with the rare case of games with save issues like SC3, where I'd like a dedicated card just for that game. Also the fact that it seems my PS2's first MC slot has issues detecting a memory card from all the use over the years.
@@KiroteHikari This is where SD2PSX and MCP2 come into play....
@@Grishanof As USB is THE WORST way to play and we have MX4SIO and now MCP2 and SD2PSX have in beta a possible better way....yes drop USB. iLink has the fewest consoles applicable to it. Spending dev time on it is a waste.
@@rezenclowd3 USB works just fine. MX4SIO is a crutch at best and its compatibility is lacking. Any other wires are extra unnecessary effort each time you turn on the console.
that's interesting
So this is probably more for fat ps2s or something?
Plz get some people cal help make the launcher go fast i wish i could help but coding the ps2 nightmare
Well uOpl died...
wow great innovation! seems like we're very close to downloading games from the internet directly onto the PS2 hard drive... :)
I don't think we're close to that at all.
How's PS1 backups handled?
How's XMP/ network share handled?
How do PS1 games work with uOPL and how compatible are they?
I had to downgrade from GrimDoomer's OPL because it basically had zero PS1support.
How do you add them to the drive?
PS1 games are not directly compatible with any PS2 backup loader. On the PS2, PS1 games are loaded via the POPS emulator. OPL can "support" PS1 games by listing POPS forwarders in the APPS section, and XEB+ has a POPS loader plugin that acts as a self-contained forwarder.
@sync-on-luma Alright yeah, I can make sense of that. But I don't think I've been able to find any good guide on how to set up POPS alongside any of the newer branches of OPL, including uOPL. I've read the documentation on the uOPL page, but haven't gotten anything to work yet.
You don't happen to know any forum or git posts, or video to point me in the right direction?
I don't like spoon-feeding but I did spend a good couple of days when GrimDoomer's OPL came out, trying to get POPS to work alongside it, including making seperate volumes in FMC, etc. for each front-end. No luck.
Edit: Perfection would be being able to use a free mcboot card with the neutrino launcher instead of PS2BBL (too limited with only booting to OPL, and a DVD Boot disc will likely let alllow soemone to make a free mcboot card instead *shrug*).
I'm not sure why anyone would make a PS2BBL card with DVD Boot instead of a Free McBoot card. OPL was still excellent, some games just needed some settings changed to run like they should. THPS1 is a prime example of tweaking an OPL setting to takeit from unplayable to no different to running an original disc of it.
The neutrino menu is really cool, but the rest are all steps backward from an FMCB card.
Now that uOPL is out, I think it's safe to say you've lost motivation to continue - the previous OPL was entire the reason you started this project and it's no longer an issue.
If you can make a neutrino plug-in for Free McBoot and have it use uOPL as it's game/boot loader - you win for best PS2 soft mod 🤷♂🙂
Perfection would be a netrino front end that uses the new uOPL as it's boot launcher.
At least I solved the 4GB flash drive-only issue in the meantime (=
Booting XEB+ with FreeMCBoot has always been possible. The limitation is that FMCB doen't have native exFAT support, so if you want to load games off an USB drive, you need to either use PS2BBL or add BDMAssult to FMCB.
@@sync-on-lumaI have for example been using FCMB without any major issues