Sometime between the last official beta and this one they changed the way that we do pnach files. We now have both a game patches directory AND a game cheats directory. Both of these directories take pnach files.
Additionally, at some point in the past they added a new feature to EE patching - extended mode. This mode will take any raw cheat code and use it directly - this includes jokers and mass search and replace codes!
So... what is the trick to mass importing all your favorite cheats for all your favorite games into pcsx2? It requires a few simple tools. Note: I will tell you what I use, but I will not provide direct links, you are responsible for doing your own google jobs. It's just the way I roll.
One: a cheat code site. My personal recommendations are GSHI.org and BSFree.org - both have massive libraries of codes for multiple cheat devices, and both use very minimal advertising in comparison to other sites... and, best of all, both are "Just The Codes" without any of that bologna that other sites like to call "cheats" or "codes" that are really just hints that belong in a faq or walkthrough. This last point also means that the cheats are all formatted in essentially the same way. For BSFree, that's a table with the leftmost cell being cheat name/description, middle cell being the codes, and the rightmost cell being reserved for giving credit to the hacker who first reported the code. All of the following will be for importing from BSFree... to import from another site, adjust the regex appropriately. I'd be happy to work out a set of regex for a given site if you post in a reply a decent sample of their standard code formatting. I will not, however, waltz around the internet trying to find every single possible code site in existence and post up regex for them. See above about "do your own google jobs" ... regex is simple to learn, take some time out of your day and learn to do it yourself, OR make things easier on people who already know regex and feed us samples, NOT links to other sites.
Two: For real streamlining of the process, you should use a so-called "programmers" text editor. The necessary features are mass search and replace with full regex support. My personal recommendation here is Notepad++.
Three: You will need OmniConvert. This is not optional. There are no replacements or other choices here. You MUST use OmniConvert. I can attest that it works great in WINE for systems that aren't running windows, so there's no excuse.
Hint: Once you open up OmniConvert and set your Convert From and Convert To, if you close it, you'll have to set them again, so just leave OmniConvert open until you are completely done with a given code import session.
Hint 2: I have dual 1920x1080 screens that I use while doing this, so while I don't have to "switch windows" as much, most of you probably will.
Hint 3: MOST of the codes on BSFree.org that say they're for CodeBreaker are for v7+ encrypted.
Step 1:
Start all your applications up. Firefox (or web browser of choice), Notepad++ (or programmers text editor of choice), and OmniConvert.
Step 2:
Browse using your browser to the codes you want to import. It's often best to repeat this step along with the following ones in chunks, since both BSFree and GSHI split their codes up by categories. (for some games more intelligently than for others *stares meaningfully at .hack for one of the stupid ones*)
Step 3:
Select a large chunk of codes. Make sure you stay within the table and select all the way from the beginning of the first code description to the end of the last hacker name.
Step 4:
Copy these codes into Notepad++.
Step 5:
Bring up Search and Replace (for notepad++ this is done using CTRL+H).
Step 6:
Switch Search and Replace into full regex mode ("Regular Expression" at the bottom left of the window in notepad++)
Step 7:
Type into the search box: "^([A-Z][a-z])" and into the replace box: "// \1" then hit replace all ... What this essentially means is search for a Capital letter immediately followed by a lowercase letter at the beginning of every line and put two "/" and a space in front. This turns the cheat name into comment.
Step 8:
Type into the search box: "\s+Hacker Name(s)" and into the replace box: "\r\n" and then hit replace all ... What this does is erase the credits and replace them with a windows style newline. If you're not using notepad++ and you know that your programmers text editor does this by default, you might be able to just use \n ... you can try it, and if step 10 looks funky in OmniConvert, you'll know you need to use \r\n.
Step 9:
Type into the search box: "\s\s+" and leave the replace box alone, hit replace all. This does the same thing as above, but for separating codes from code descriptions.
Step 10:
CTRL+A, CTRL+X, switch to OmniConvert, CTRL+V, hit convert.
Step 11:
Click over into the converted code section and hit CTRL+A, CTRL+C, and switch over to notepad++ and paste it back in.
Step 12:
Type into the search box: "([A-F\d][A-F\d]+)\s([A-F\d][A-F\d]+)" (the mess is actually just a very simple hex code search where the hex is repeated at least twice, has a space, and then is repeated again at least twice... isn't regex fun?!) and into the replace box: "//patch=1,EE,\1,extended,\2" (this comments out the cheats by default! remember to uncomment the codes you intend to use at a given time before starting up your game)
Optional:
If you do things exactly like I suggest, then you'll want to transfer all these codes to an appropriate .pnach file and rinse and repeat until you have all the codes for your game.
Step 13:
Start up pcsx2, and do most things normally, but in the "System" pulldown menu, make sure "Enable Cheats" is checked. Start up your game, then immediately close it. In the Program Log window, there should be a message about not finding a pnach, with a complete filename. Copy that filename and save your cheats to a pnach with that name. Make sure you include some decent comment lines in your pnach to remind yourself about some of the more unusual cheats you might be using! (At the minimum, you should put a comment at the beginning of the file with the name of the game and the word "Cheats" to remind yourself that you are using cheats. the format for a comment line is: comment="text goes here"
Step 14:
Once you've got all your codes in your pnach and the pnach saved, remove the "//" from any patch lines for codes you want to use.
Step 15:
Start playing your game with your cheats enabled!
Additionally, at some point in the past they added a new feature to EE patching - extended mode. This mode will take any raw cheat code and use it directly - this includes jokers and mass search and replace codes!
So... what is the trick to mass importing all your favorite cheats for all your favorite games into pcsx2? It requires a few simple tools. Note: I will tell you what I use, but I will not provide direct links, you are responsible for doing your own google jobs. It's just the way I roll.
One: a cheat code site. My personal recommendations are GSHI.org and BSFree.org - both have massive libraries of codes for multiple cheat devices, and both use very minimal advertising in comparison to other sites... and, best of all, both are "Just The Codes" without any of that bologna that other sites like to call "cheats" or "codes" that are really just hints that belong in a faq or walkthrough. This last point also means that the cheats are all formatted in essentially the same way. For BSFree, that's a table with the leftmost cell being cheat name/description, middle cell being the codes, and the rightmost cell being reserved for giving credit to the hacker who first reported the code. All of the following will be for importing from BSFree... to import from another site, adjust the regex appropriately. I'd be happy to work out a set of regex for a given site if you post in a reply a decent sample of their standard code formatting. I will not, however, waltz around the internet trying to find every single possible code site in existence and post up regex for them. See above about "do your own google jobs" ... regex is simple to learn, take some time out of your day and learn to do it yourself, OR make things easier on people who already know regex and feed us samples, NOT links to other sites.
Two: For real streamlining of the process, you should use a so-called "programmers" text editor. The necessary features are mass search and replace with full regex support. My personal recommendation here is Notepad++.
Three: You will need OmniConvert. This is not optional. There are no replacements or other choices here. You MUST use OmniConvert. I can attest that it works great in WINE for systems that aren't running windows, so there's no excuse.
Hint: Once you open up OmniConvert and set your Convert From and Convert To, if you close it, you'll have to set them again, so just leave OmniConvert open until you are completely done with a given code import session.
Hint 2: I have dual 1920x1080 screens that I use while doing this, so while I don't have to "switch windows" as much, most of you probably will.
Hint 3: MOST of the codes on BSFree.org that say they're for CodeBreaker are for v7+ encrypted.
Step 1:
Start all your applications up. Firefox (or web browser of choice), Notepad++ (or programmers text editor of choice), and OmniConvert.
Step 2:
Browse using your browser to the codes you want to import. It's often best to repeat this step along with the following ones in chunks, since both BSFree and GSHI split their codes up by categories. (for some games more intelligently than for others *stares meaningfully at .hack for one of the stupid ones*)
Step 3:
Select a large chunk of codes. Make sure you stay within the table and select all the way from the beginning of the first code description to the end of the last hacker name.
Step 4:
Copy these codes into Notepad++.
Step 5:
Bring up Search and Replace (for notepad++ this is done using CTRL+H).
Step 6:
Switch Search and Replace into full regex mode ("Regular Expression" at the bottom left of the window in notepad++)
Step 7:
Type into the search box: "^([A-Z][a-z])" and into the replace box: "// \1" then hit replace all ... What this essentially means is search for a Capital letter immediately followed by a lowercase letter at the beginning of every line and put two "/" and a space in front. This turns the cheat name into comment.
Step 8:
Type into the search box: "\s+Hacker Name(s)" and into the replace box: "\r\n" and then hit replace all ... What this does is erase the credits and replace them with a windows style newline. If you're not using notepad++ and you know that your programmers text editor does this by default, you might be able to just use \n ... you can try it, and if step 10 looks funky in OmniConvert, you'll know you need to use \r\n.
Step 9:
Type into the search box: "\s\s+" and leave the replace box alone, hit replace all. This does the same thing as above, but for separating codes from code descriptions.
Step 10:
CTRL+A, CTRL+X, switch to OmniConvert, CTRL+V, hit convert.
Step 11:
Click over into the converted code section and hit CTRL+A, CTRL+C, and switch over to notepad++ and paste it back in.
Step 12:
Type into the search box: "([A-F\d][A-F\d]+)\s([A-F\d][A-F\d]+)" (the mess is actually just a very simple hex code search where the hex is repeated at least twice, has a space, and then is repeated again at least twice... isn't regex fun?!) and into the replace box: "//patch=1,EE,\1,extended,\2" (this comments out the cheats by default! remember to uncomment the codes you intend to use at a given time before starting up your game)
Optional:
If you do things exactly like I suggest, then you'll want to transfer all these codes to an appropriate .pnach file and rinse and repeat until you have all the codes for your game.
Step 13:
Start up pcsx2, and do most things normally, but in the "System" pulldown menu, make sure "Enable Cheats" is checked. Start up your game, then immediately close it. In the Program Log window, there should be a message about not finding a pnach, with a complete filename. Copy that filename and save your cheats to a pnach with that name. Make sure you include some decent comment lines in your pnach to remind yourself about some of the more unusual cheats you might be using! (At the minimum, you should put a comment at the beginning of the file with the name of the game and the word "Cheats" to remind yourself that you are using cheats. the format for a comment line is: comment="text goes here"
Step 14:
Once you've got all your codes in your pnach and the pnach saved, remove the "//" from any patch lines for codes you want to use.
Step 15:
Start playing your game with your cheats enabled!