PS2dumperV2_bin.7z... Is it pure garbage or what ?

[dlanor]

ah yes, for some reason the dumper puts the CRC of each file in to the filenames, for the emulator to pick it up, they all have to have a similar structure to rom0 for it to see it, so taking out the CRC's should fix this.

So you mean that if I reduce the final part of each filename just before the extension, so that the main name of each file in the set for a bios are identical apart from their extensions, then the files made by the new dumper will satisfy PCSX2 so that it stops asking for additional files.

Is that it ?

I understand the principle of course, but it still seems doubtful as the emulator specifically asks for filenames with extensions that the new dumper does not use.

I guess I can give it a try again, though my gut feeling right now is to not touch that newer dumper with a 10-foot pole... The older one that vsub posted does the work properly without any such fuss, and it also works well with normal FAT32 USB drives, unlike the newer dumper.

Even if the 'new' bios files do work after some name-editing, the newer dumper should still be replaced ASAP, both in downloads and in documentation references, with one that dumps bios files that are directly usable with PCSX2 without any user editing, and which can dump them even for users who can't do it over LAN through PS2Link (most newbies probably can't handle that, and would prefer to both launch and dump via USB).

Best regards: dlanor

[Bositman]

I agree that the BIOS dumper has serious flaws. The problem is florin, the team member who solely worked on and developed this tool hasn't been around in years (since 2006) and I think there is no source code available either.
Still, the download DOES include the old v1 dumper (the exact same vsub posted) with a note to use that if the newer one fails.
In any case this is a problem with the emulator itself too, since we haven't agreed on a standard yet for bios filenames and if we will only accept certain filenames (to try preventing pirated files from being usable).
I never had problems with this dumper (apart from the p2b part which should be removed obviously). I had to try a couple of usb sticks until it worked but after I found one that worked it was a 2 minute job. They were all FAT32 formatted too.

Again, we are all trying our best here and you're not coming off really helpful bashing the whole thing. Yes it needs to be improved, yes there are problems with it but people are doing this on their free time. If you want perfectly working, ready to use out of the box software, this isn't it (it's free after all).

[dlanor]

I agree that the BIOS dumper has serious flaws. The problem is florin, the team member who solely worked on and developed this tool hasn't been around in years (since 2006) and I think there is no source code available either.

Yes, I assumed that he had 'disappeared' from this context, as he would otherwise have fixed those flaws himself as soon as it was decided that the new PCSX2 should not use the new ".P2b" format after all...

Still, the download DOES include the old v1 dumper (the exact same vsub posted) with a note to use that if the newer one fails.

Unfortunately the download you speak of, on the main pcsx2.net site was not available, and by all indications it still is not available, due to the DNS problems that have prevented access to most of the downloads.

The only downloads that worked for me here were those using links to "forums.pcsx2.net" (so mainly post attachments), and the ones I found for the dumper only contained the 'new' one by florin (until vsub attached a .rar with the older version for me).

In any case this is a problem with the emulator itself too, since we haven't agreed on a standard yet for bios filenames and if we will only accept certain filenames (to try preventing pirated files from being usable).

Sure, but unfortunately that dumper and the emulator do not agree on what files to use. The emulator demands "EROM" and "ROM2" files, even though that dumper is unable to produce them. Some files it does produce contains the same stuff, but apparently not in a form that pcsx2 accepts.

I never had problems with this dumper (apart from the p2b part which should be removed obviously).

I never said that I had any problems running the dumper (except for its failure to use my USB drives, requiring ps2link use instead). But pcsx2 will not run an emulation without error messages when using only the dumped bios files from that 'new' dumper. But using the files of the old dumper there will be no such error messages.

I had to try a couple of usb sticks until it worked but after I found one that worked it was a 2 minute job. They were all FAT32 formatted too.

Then I suppose it is just a matter of this elf using obsolete USB drivers, much like the early versions of USBAdvance and many PS2 homebrew applications did. These gave compatibility to a small fraction of all available drives, with some preference for obsolete drive types.

Modern PS2 homebrew USB drivers on the other hand, as used by FMCB, uLaunchELF and "Open PS2 Loader", have compatibility to appx 95%+ of all available USB drives, so I guess I have become a bit 'spoiled' by that...

Again, we are all trying our best here and you're not coming off really helpful bashing the whole thing.

I haven't bashed any individual in all of this, and I never would.

That was never my intention with any post in this forum, but merely to draw attention to a problem that needs to be fixed.

For I do think that this problem urgently needs fixing, as it can mess things up for many newbies who have no clue how else to get a legal bios dump to use with the emulator, and then they start asking for illegal bios attachments etc (as has happened many times already).

Yes it needs to be improved, yes there are problems with it but people are doing this on their free time. If you want perfectly working, ready to use out of the box software, this isn't it (it's free after all).

I understand all that, and sympathise completely, as I too am a homebrew developer, though not of pcsx2 stuff, as my homebrew software work is focused more on the real PS2 console (though partly usable in pcsx2 as well).

And I realize that it can be hard to fix this as well as we would like when the people who wrote the original dumpers have disappeared, and apparently the source code for those tools have gone the same way...

But some things can be done right away, even without access to any source code, to allow all newbies to do this right and get a bios file set that works perfectly (without false error messages).

One of those things is to correct the tutorial pages that currently tell people to use the new dumper as stated in the docs of that package. The docs which are no longer valid as the format they describe using was never adopted by the real emulator. This situation needs to be clearly stated in the tutorials, to clarify to the users what they need to do.

And then another package should be put together, containing both the old and the new bios dumper, and with instructions for how to use both of them and combine the files they produce so as to get a perfect bios file set.

In the end that is what I did myself. (After my previous post here.)

I took the files dumped by the new dumper program (except that silly ".bat") and to these I added the ".EROM" and ".ROM2" files dumped by the older program, and then I renamed all of those files to use the same name prefix (with CRC strings removed), so that they only differ in their extensions (within a given bios version set that is).

With the resulting combined file set I get the specific advantages of both the separate sets I'd tried before.

Just as with the files of the old dumper I can now run the emulator without any error messages, but I also get the bioses of the slim consoles correctly identified as european by pcsx2, which failed when using only the bios files of the old dumper (pcsx2 then saw those bioses as being japanese).

It should not be very hard or demanding at all for someone to write up a small text describing how to combine the file sets, and put that text file inside a ZIP (or '.7z' file) together with both of the two dumpers needed to get the complete bios file set that pcsx2 wants. And with that package added to edited versions of the tutorial pages this problem would cease to exist.

Of course some of the newbies could still mess up in other ways.
That sort of thing will always happen to some of them.
But at least it would no longer be caused by incorrect tutorials.

Best regards: dlanor

[Bositman]

Unfortunately the download you speak of, on the main pcsx2.net site was not available, and by all indications it still is not available, due to the DNS problems that have prevented access to most of the downloads.

The only downloads that worked for me here were those using links to "forums.pcsx2.net" (so mainly post attachments), and the ones I found for the dumper only contained the 'new' one by florin (until vsub attached a .rar with the older version for me).

Err the site displays the downloads from the forum posts (we are using mybb as a backend) so that's practically impossible
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-BIOS-Dump...-BIN--6834 <-- here it is, of course the exact same on site too. I guess you got the ISO release?
Are you still having DNS issues?

Sure, but unfortunately that dumper and the emulator do not agree on what files to use. The emulator demands "EROM" and "ROM2" files, even though that dumper is unable to produce them. Some files it does produce contains the same stuff, but apparently not in a form that pcsx2 accepts.

First, the emulator doesn't demand these files. They show up as errors in console but have no negative effect on emulation. This has already been taken care of in newer SVN builds, where the console displays these messages as simple notices.
EROM and ROM2 should NOT be available for all PS2 consoles. Especially ROM2 (unless you have a very old JAP console) should not be needed.
Quoting aumatt:

The Ps2's after that first model had the Dvd Player software installed in a separate ROM (EROM) which is encrypted.
The ROM1 is an additional part of the BIOS that contains some extra stuff like ID's for DVD Player version etc.
ROM2 is the same really but I think only available in Chinese PS2's.

So yea the old BIOS dumper created some unnecessary files

Then I suppose it is just a matter of this elf using obsolete USB drivers, much like the early versions of USBAdvance and many PS2 homebrew applications did. These gave compatibility to a small fraction of all available drives, with some preference for obsolete drive types.

If that's the case it would be a pretty easy fix and I bet would fix most problems users have with the dumper. Too bad we still can't do much with it...

I haven't bashed any individual in all of this, and I never would.

That was never my intention with any post in this forum, but merely to draw attention to a problem that needs to be fixed.

I understand but posting as title that a tool made from the team is 'pure garbage' doesn't help at all and it DOES sound insulting, even if it was said just to draw attention.

One of those things is to correct the tutorial pages that currently tell people to use the new dumper as stated in the docs of that package. The docs which are no longer valid as the format they describe using was never adopted by the real emulator. This situation needs to be clearly stated in the tutorials, to clarify to the users what they need to do.

Agreed, I'll see what I can do in that regard since I'm mainly in charge of documentation and support.

[dlanor]

Err the site displays the downloads from the forum posts (we are using mybb as a backend) so that's practically impossible

But I already told you that I didn't use those links at the main site, since the main site was not accessible at the time. So the post attachments I found and used were not the same ones you refer to. Some of them were not even on this site, as the main tutorial also refers to ngemu.com for some of the downloads, and they have only the original release archive of dumper v2, without the addition of the old dumper that you have made to the copy available here.

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-BIOS-Dump...-BIN--6834 <-- here it is, of course the exact same on site too. I guess you got the ISO release?

No. I got the original non-ISO release package, which does not include the old dumper. The one linked here, with the old dumper added to the contents is an improvement over the original I found, which only contained three files. (7za.exe, ps2dumper.elf, README.txt)

However, I must say that merely adding the old dumper into the existing V2 archive is obviously not a sufficient fix. That archive still contains Florin's original README.txt file, describing in excruciating detail exactly how to make a ".P2b" file, and describing that as the only valid bios format for future (== current) pcsx2 versions. That text is bound to mislead a large number of new users, unless you remove it or at least add another text file explaining that the old one is no longer valid.

Are you still having DNS issues?

Not now, and hopefully that problem won't come back. I can now reach the main pcsx2.net site both for browsing and for downloads.

First, the emulator doesn't demand these files.

Error messages in red text warning the user that something is wrong will be seen as a 'demand' by every normal user, even if the program also accepts commands without that demand being met.

They show up as errors in console but have no negative effect on emulation. This has already been taken care of in newer SVN builds, where the console displays these messages as simple notices.

Good. But I think those messages too should be eliminated, for those BIOS versions that are not supposed to have those files. The emulator has to be 'aware' of this at some level (else the emulation of those PS2 aspects would fail), so it should never ask for those files if the main bios version code (from the rom0:ROMVER file in the BIOS) indicates that they should not be present. But as long as the messages are mere notices it is no big deal.

EROM and ROM2 should NOT be available for all PS2 consoles. Especially ROM2 (unless you have a very old JAP console) should not be needed.

I am aware of that, but apparently the init routine of pcsx2 is not aware of which bios versions this applies to, and complains about missing files even for bios versions not supposed to have them. This should not be hard to fix, as other parts of the emulator must already have this 'awareness'. But changing the error messages to mere notices like you say is fine too.

----- re: obsolete PS2 USB drivers in the dumper

If that's the case it would be a pretty easy fix and I bet would fix most problems users have with the dumper. Too bad we still can't do much with it...

Yes, it should be quite simple to give a new dumper compatibility to nearly all USB drives, but without working dumper sources it is no go... Someone really should start over from scratch with this, or at least start a new project based on some older dumper sources, as I assume that some of them are still available.

If so I think they may just need some adaption to the specific needs of current pcsx2 versions, plus addition of latest USB drivers, to provide a better alternative than either of the currently available dumper elfs.

Is there a specification anywhere of exactly what bios files the pcsx2 emulator really needs, and the precise form it wants them in ? This will be needed if any PS2 homebrewer is to make a new dumper (not necessarily myself, though I might have a go at it).

----- re: bashing...

I understand but posting as title that a tool made from the team is 'pure garbage' doesn't help at all and it DOES sound insulting, even if it was said just to draw attention.

Insulting to whom ? It was not directed against any person or team, but merely against a dysfunctional package, and was in any case in the form of a question, not of a statement. so I was open to the possibility that it was just some misunderstanding of mine that made it seem to be garbage.

But knowing what I do now, I still think the dumper package as-is must be considered badly broken, as long as it instructs the user to produce a bios file in a format that is unusable. But I no longer consider it 'pure garbage', as the files dumped do have a use, provided the user ignores the instructions of the README file. But much of that text IS pure garbage and reduces the usefulness of the package as a whole to zero for those who attempt to follow its instructions.

However, I am not bashing any person about it, including Florin who made that package, since I fully understand that he did his best with the information available and valid at the time. I am only 'bashing' the end result, and only because it needs to be fixed, one way or another...

You might not see this as 'helpful', but that is still how it is intended.

----- re: Necessary amendment of tutorials in regard to bios dumping

Agreed, I'll see what I can do in that regard since I'm mainly in charge of documentation and support.

Good, then it should also be simple for you to add another text file into the dumper downloads, to ensure that people who use that package without reading the tutorials closely also get the message.

And you might also want to inform some other-site admins of that change, especially on those sites that you link to from tutorials here at pcsx2.net. They too will need to update their dumper downloads.

Best regards: dlanor

[ikazu]

Great, even i thought that red sentence should be eliminated (or at least do some colour change to simple white). I agree with u dlanor. Why don't we modify the dumper itself since it will cause much misunderstanding to the user who downloaded it ? But by adding a new text file to warn the user.. that could help too.

[Shadow Lady]

They were changed a long time ago in the public betas and SVN.
0.9.6 is kinda ancient already you know...

[dlanor]

They were changed a long time ago in the public betas and SVN.
0.9.6 is kinda ancient already you know...

I do know that, but what is or is not available through SVN is not really relevant here, as I was speaking of the released downloads available to the general public. And at present v0.9.6 is the only recent stable pcsx2 release available to the average users, who do not participate in SVN-based developments. And it contains no bios dumper at all, neither old nor new versions. That has to be downloaded separately, and the package recommended by the current tutorials is one of those that misleads the users, by only describing how to make a non-working bios file (the .P2b kind).

The public beta binary pre-releases of pcsx2 do not help here, as they have no new bios dumper, nor any new text files describing how to do it right. I recently installed r1888 myself, so I know for a fact that it contains nothing new in this regard.

As you say, this is no problem at all for participants in the SVN branch of the project, many of whom are probably co-developers themselves, but that is only a very small percentage of the total user base. And it is the others, and primarily the newbies, who need this problem fixed.

Best regards: dlanor

[Shadow Lady]

Well I think you misunderstood my post as I was just replying to ikazu about the "red sentence" being eliminted but...

Almost first thing we do to "average users" seeking help in the forums is recommend using the betas (since there's so many improvements since the stable anyway)... so yes it is relevant and they are available to the public and they don't have the "red sentence".

I didn't mention the dumper at all on that post so I have no idea why you're whining to me about it xD

I actually don't see what your huge problem with the dumper is really, the very few users who have a problem with it come ask how to get it right then they get it and don't bother with it again as it's a tool to be used just once usually (other users would just search the forums and know how to get things working).
All I see here is a huge rant about minimal stuff.. yeah the documentation is wrong maybe and it may bother a few users but is it such a big deal? I would thing making a big deal about how many users have to come and make posts about how their settings not saving or memcards not being made being much bigger, really this affect A LOT more users.

But oh well... I think you would just like to continue insulting the tool and there's not much to do there.