HOWTO configure PCSX2 to run different games from shortcuts
#1
Can i watch what is it for?
Sure you can, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8lPapT65eQ

Can i watch how you do it:
Sure you can, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAyWcB4tC9s


This article is written with the use of 0.9.8 (r4600) version of PCSX2. Name of the application must be "pcsx2-r4600.exe" or you need to change the pcsx2.bat file.

One important thing to add. After ive made all instructional videos and wrote this article, ive found out that there could be much easier way to do it. Those are the parameters to use in command line with pcsx2-r4600.exe:
--cfg=file
Specify a custom configuration file to use instead of PCSX2.ini. It does not affect plugins.
--cfgpath=directory
Specifies the config folder. It applies to pcsx2 + plugins.

You can read more here:
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Auto-Boot...Separately
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-blog-The-...#pid118520

I will provide example for two games: Tekken 5 and King of Fighters XI. You may look throug this wall of text and say: "What? All this trouble to make two games run from single click? I can do it faster by playing with PCSX2 windows." Sure you can. But can you do it with 10+ games? Can you remeber each game settings after like 6 month since last playing with it? Do you have unused savestates slots left? Arent tired yet of searching on which memorycard are those saves for a certain game? No? Then read and do it like a boss.

You need to do steps 1 - 8 only for the first time to set everyting up. After that you only need to repeat steps 9 - 14 to add another game (if you use optional step 8, the whole process will be nice, fast and easy).

(OPTIONAL - step 8) In order to make a quick work of step 10 you will need to get FART.exe
You can have it here http://sourceforge.net/projects/fart-it/files/

You need to watch very carefully for characters like \ \\ " becouse simple mistake can ruin the whole process.


INSTALL_DIR
This is where PCSX2 is first installed. After you run and configure PCSX2 to proper usadge this directory contain subfolder "Plugins" and the PCSX2 application. This will not be used and can be deleted after end of this article.
In my case it is:
"I:\PCSX2 0.9.8"

USER_CONF_DIR
This is where PCSX2 holds configurations. After you run and configure PCSX2 to proper usadge this directory contain subfolders "bios", "inis", "logs", "memcards", "snaps", "sstates". This will not be used and can be deleted after end of this article.
In my case it is:
"C:\Users\fingo\Documents\PCSX2"

BASE_DIR
This is where core application folder will be. It means that you will use it as a base for copy of each individual game.
In my case it is:
"I:\!PCSX2\BASE_DIR"

CUSTOM_DIR
This is for individual game. It is copy of *BASE_DIR* with changed paths in configuration files.
In my case it is:
"I:\!PCSX2\Tekken 5"
and
"I:\!PCSX2\King of Fighters XI"

SHARED_DIR
This will be used by all *CUSTOM_DIR* you create for each game.
In my case it is:
"I:\!PCSX2\SHARED_DIR"

IMADGE_DIR
This is where the imadge of the game is being kept.
In my case it is:
"H:\ps2iso\Tekken 5\Tekken5.mdf"
and
"I:\ps2iso\King of Fighters XI (NTSC) PS2\King of Fighters [NTSC] PS2.ISO"


1. Make folders (described in above):
BASE_DIR
SHARED_DIR

In my case it is:
"I:\!PCSX2\BASE_DIR"
"I:\!PCSX2\SHARED_DIR"

2. Copy "Plugins" folder from INSTALL_DIR and "bios" folder from USER_CONF_DIR to SHARED_DIR.
In my case:
"I:\PCSX2 0.9.8\Plugins" -> "I:\!PCSX2\SHARED_DIR\Plugins"
"C:\Users\fingo\Documents\PCSX2\bios" -> "I:\!PCSX2\SHARED_DIR\bios"

3. Copy everything else from INSTALL_DIR and everything else from USER_CONF_DIR to BASE_DIR.
In my case:
"I:\PCSX2 0.9.8\" -> "I:\!PCSX2\BASE_DIR\" (excluding plugins folder)
"C:\Users\fingo\Documents\PCSX2\" -> "I:\!PCSX2\BASE_DIR\" (excluding bios folder)

4. Change registry settings for PCSX2. Go to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PCSX2] and set:
"DocumentsFolderMode"="Custom"
"UseDefaultSettingsFolder"="disabled"

5. Go to BASE_DIR and make pcsx2.reg file. It will be used to reset custom settings for each game.
It should contain the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PCSX2]
"CustomDocumentsFolder"="*BASE_DIR1*"
"SettingsFolder"="*BASE_DIR1*\\inis"
"Install_Dir"="*BASE_DIR1*"
"ThemesFolder"="*BASE_DIR1*\\themes"

6. Go to your folder named BASE_DIR and make pcsx2.bat file. It will be used to run custom game.
It should contain the following:

REM SET REGISTRY ENTRIES FOR CUSTOMIZED PCSX2
start regedit.exe /s "*BASE_DIR2*\pcsx2.reg"

REM START PCSX2
cd "*BASE_DIR2*"
start pcsx2-r4600.exe "*IMADGE_DIR*"


7. Copy settings from below. Go to BASE_DIR\inis and edit PCSX2_ui.ini file. Paste it in apprioate place. Go to your BIOS directory and copy the name of your bios file. Edit PCSX2_ui.ini file. Paste your bios file name in apprioate place. Go to your SHARED_DIR folder and copy its path. Edit PCSX2_ui.ini file. Paste path in apprioate place.
(remeber to use \\ instead of \)

[Folders]
UseDefaultBios=disabled
UseDefaultSnapshots=disabled
UseDefaultSavestates=disabled
UseDefaultMemoryCards=disabled
UseDefaultLogs=disabled
UseDefaultLangs=disabled
UseDefaultPluginsFolder=disabled
Bios=SHARED_DIR\\Bios
Snapshots=*BASE_DIR1*\\snaps
Savestates=*BASE_DIR1*\\sstates
MemoryCards=*BASE_DIR1*\\memcards
Logs=*BASE_DIR1*\\logs
Langs=*BASE_DIR1*\\Langs
PluginsFolder=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins
RunIso=
RunELF=*BASE_DIR1*
[Filenames]
GS=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins\\gsdx-sse4-r4600.dll
PAD=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins\\lilypad-r4600.dll
SPU2=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins\\spu2-x-r4600.dll
CDVD=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins\\cdvdGigaherz.dll
USB=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins\\USBnull.dll
FW=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins\\FWnull.dll
DEV9=SHARED_DIR\\Plugins\\DEV9null.dll
BIOS=SHARED_DIR\\Bios\\name of your BIOS file


8. (OPTIONAL)
Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/fart-it/files/ and download fart.exe. Put fart.exe in your BASE_DIR. Create fart.bat. This wont work now. It will be complete only after you edit it in step 11.
You need to set the following:

REM FIND AND REPLACE STRINGS (PING USED FOR DELAY 2s)
cd ""
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.reg "*BASE_DIR1*" ""
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.bat "*BASE_DIR2*" ""
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.bat "*IMADGE_DIR*" ""
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- inis\PCSX2_ui.ini "*BASE_DIR1*" ""


9. Copy folder BASE_DIR, paste and name it with the name of your custom game.

In my case:
"I:\!PCSX2\BASE_DIR" -> "I:\!PCSX2\Tekken 5"
"I:\!PCSX2\BASE_DIR" -> "I:\!PCSX2\King of Fighters XI"

10. Go to each CUSTOM_DIR and edit pcsx2.reg pcsx2.bat PCSX2_ui.ini files. You need to open each file and replace directory paths. (make sure to use // for .ini and .reg, and / for .bat)

You can use notepad and ctrl+H (slow)

Find what: *BASE_DIR1*
Replace with: your path to customized game folder using \\ as separator (in my case:I:\\!PCSX2\\Tekken 5)

Find what: *BASE_DIR2*
Replace with: your path to customized game folder using \ as separator (in my case:I:\!PCSX2\Tekken 5)

Only for pcsx2.bat:

Find what: *IMADGE_DIR*
Replace with: your path to imadge file with ps2 game (in my case:H:\ps2iso\Tekken 5\Tekken5.mdf)

(OPTIONAL) Or you can use fart.bat file (fast)
Edit fart.bat in each folder of your custom game. You need to set the following:

REM FIND AND REPLACE STRINGS (PING USED FOR DELAY 1s)
cd "your path to customized game folder using \ as separator"
start -i fart.exe -- pcsx2.reg "*BASE_DIR1*" "your path to customized game folder using \\ as separator"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start -i fart.exe -- pcsx2.bat "*BASE_DIR2*" "your path to customized game folder using \ as separator"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start -i fart.exe -- pcsx2.bat "*IMADGE_DIR*" "your path to imadge file with ps2 game"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start -i fart.exe -- inis\PCSX2_ui.ini "*BASE_DIR1*" "your path to customized game folder using \\ as separator"

In my case:
For the 1st game I go to "I:\!PCSX2\Tekken 5" and edit fart.bat:

REM FIND AND REPLACE STRINGS (PING USED FOR DELAY 2s)
cd "I:\!PCSX2\Tekken 5"
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.reg "*BASE_DIR1*" "I:\\!PCSX2\\Tekken 5"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.bat "*BASE_DIR2*" "I:\!PCSX2\Tekken 5"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.bat "*IMADGE_DIR*" "H:\ps2iso\Tekken 5\Tekken5.mdf"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- inis\PCSX2_ui.ini "*BASE_DIR1*" "I:\\!PCSX2\\Tekken 5"

For the 2nd game I go to "I:\!PCSX2\King of Fighters XI" and edit fart.bat:

REM FIND AND REPLACE STRINGS (PING USED FOR DELAY 2s)
cd "I:\!PCSX2\King of Fighters XI"
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.reg "*BASE_DIR1*" "I:\\!PCSX2\\King of Fighters XI"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.bat "*BASE_DIR2*" "I:\!PCSX2\King of Fighters XI"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- pcsx2.bat "*IMADGE_DIR*" "I:\ps2iso\King of Fighters XI (NTSC) PS2\King of Fighters [NTSC] PS2.ISO"
PING 127.0.0.1 -n 2
start fart.exe -i -- inis\PCSX2_ui.ini "*BASE_DIR1*" "I:\\!PCSX2\\King of Fighters XI"

11. Run modified fart.bat in each custom game folder.

12. You must start PCSX2 with pcsx2.bat file to make it work.

13. Check if you gained custom settings for each game. Change PCSX2 settings for each custom game respectively.

14. Make shortcut to pcsx2.bat.

15. After you configure your gamepad, you can copy LilyPad.ini from your CUSTOM_DIR to your BASE_DIR.


If you liked this article and want to thank me, you can visit my youtube channel, watch, rate and comment my videos @ http://www.youtube.com/user/jimbojamb

PS. Special ask for moderators, if people like this thread, will you put the link in FAQ?
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#2
I've always loved this idea, and thought of all kinds of ways to work it. I think in the long run PCSX2 will probably have something to this effect implemented, but for now there are several commands for our needs. Smile

Interesting structure. Good job making point of some of those common mistakes, and I do like the option of a tut vid. But, I can't help but feel this is a longer route (registry and all) to the results of my guide from the Useful Links of the F.A.Q., or a lot like just having multiple PCSX2 apps installed.

Auto-Boot and Pre-Configure Games Separately

I can see where some might prefer this method, though. After all, the use of commandline is all about customizing your approach. I don't think your thread will get stickied (there's a lot there already), but I'd be happy to link your thread on mine. Smile
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#3
Yes, the shortcut way, using parameters to target inis folder will be much easier.

Unfortunatly when ive been writting this article i didnt know aboute it. When you change paths in registry, you need to target application folder, hence the need of coping whole application. But i separeted BIOS and Plugins which saves a lot of space on HDD.

Once again i say using shortcut with --cfgpath="" should be easier, but i spend a lot of time making those instructional videos. Maybe in the future ill make one for using only shortcuts.

Anyway, thanks for linking your article. I putted the link in my description.
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