PS2 [MX4SIO/SIO2SD] SD Card Adapter and SD-driver for the PS2 SIO2 interface

[chromium]

With BDM4 did you format your MicroSD / SD card to exFAT (with 16k allocation unit size)?

For me BDM4 works better with exFAT, also we aren't limited to maximum of 4GB ISOs, with BDM4 we can place any size game in the DVD folder, no longer do we need to use USBUtil to split larger than 4GB ISOs to smaller parts.

Also with BDM4 we now can use VMC for MX4SIO and the game saves are placed in the VMC folder on the MicroSD / SD card.

I was using FAT32 32KB clusers. I'll try exFAT 16KB

Edit: I tried it and it's exactly the same, Ridge Racer V opening FMV stutter

Edit: Tried a different MicroSD and it seems good now

 

[Workz_777]

I was using FAT32 32KB clusers. I'll try exFAT 16KB

Edit: I tried it and it's exactly the same, Ridge Racer V opening FMV stutter

Edit: Tried a different MicroSD and it seems good now

Oh that's interesting, please could you let us know what MicroSD had the stutters and which one is now good for the Ridge Racer V opening FMV? Many thanks bro

Also @Algol says using modes 1+2+3 seems to help alot with BDM4, or at least using modes 2+3 should give some good results.

 

[chromium]

Oh that's interesting, please could you let us know what MicroSD had the stutters and which one is now good for the Ridge Racer V opening FMV? Many thanks bro

Also @Algol says using modes 1+2+3 seems to help alot with BDM4, or at least using modes 2+3 should give some good results.

I was using a 128GB Lexar U3, swapped to a 64GB Samsung Evo. I've tried a few games on BDM4 and they all seem to work great so far, no stutter or anything.

The Lexar works fine on BDM3 though

 

[witchcult]

I was using a 128GB Lexar U3, swapped to a 64GB Samsung Evo. I've tried a few games on BDM4 and they all seem to work great so far, no stutter or anything.

The Lexar works fine on BDM3 though

Did you format 64GB Samsung Evo to exFAT or FAT32?

 

[chromium]

Did you format 64GB Samsung Evo to exFAT or FAT32?

exFAT 16KB, I didn't try anything else

 

[MrThisucks]

I'm not sure if this is the right place but I just got my mc2sio and have been trying to put some games on my onn 128gb microsd card (fat32) and have been trying to use usbutil (v 2.2) to put the 4gb+ iso's and so far none have been able to be created properly. I already tried to shorten the file names and that doesn't work. Defragging them doesn't either. It just stops at 100%. other fixes i've
have been unsuccessful. usbextreme doesn't even detect any of my drives.

 

[Workz_777]

I'm not sure if this is the right place but I just got my mc2sio and have been trying to put some games on my onn 128gb microsd card (fat32) and have been trying to use usbutil (v 2.2) to put the 4gb+ iso's and so far none have been able to be created properly. I already tried to shorten the file names and that doesn't work. Defragging them doesn't either. It just stops at 100%. other fixes i've
have been unsuccessful. usbextreme doesn't even detect any of my drives.

So you will want to format your MicroSD card to exFAT (and 16 kilobytes allocation unit size) and use OPL BDM4.

Because with BDM4 and exFAT there is no ISO size limit (like there is with FAT32) so all games, no matter how large or small all go into the DVD folder on your MicroSD card.

Also with BDM4 you can use VMC for game saves.

Download OPL BDM4 from TnA's post here:-
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/m...-ps2-sio2-interface.29210/page-61#post-342808

Then for all the games (ISOs) you just add them to the DVD folder on your MicroSD, then while it's still connected to your PC - open OPL Manager so it can check if the Game Titles are correct, if they are not correct then OPL Manager can rename them for you. The correct Game Title Format = Game ID then Game Name, like this example:- "SLES_511.99 4x4 Evo 2".

OPL Manager will rename your games correctly like this, also you have to keep the total number of characters to 32.

 

[Haker120]

How so? I'm calling my ISOs just Game Name.iso without game ID and all works.

 

[Workz_777]

How so? I'm calling my ISOs just Game Name.iso without game ID and all works.

It's because i am using OPL Manager, and it will automatically want to change a game title that is (for example):- "4x4 Evo 2.ISO" to "SLES_511.99.4x4 Evo 2.ISO"

Don't you use OPL Manager? It also makes adding VMC files for each game so quick and easy.

How is your game compatiblity with that Game Title format you are using? For me game compatiblity is like 90% good.

 

[Haker120]

I'm using OPL manager and this one thing annoys me as OPL, even DB does support new naming so why forcing user to change it? I'm usually change the name of one game to trick it to download covers and stuff and rename back to, for me, cleaner names. And nope, I'm not using VMCs, I personally don't like them. And I noticed no problems, for example, what works for MX4SIO works for me so what's the deal?

 

[cause_of_chaos]

With BDM4 did you format your MicroSD / SD card to exFAT (with 16k allocation unit size)?

For me BDM4 works better with exFAT, also we aren't limited to maximum of 4GB ISOs, with BDM4 we can place any size game in the DVD folder, no longer do we need to use USBUtil to split larger than 4GB ISOs to smaller parts.

Also with BDM4 we now can use VMC for MX4SIO and the game saves are placed in the VMC folder on the MicroSD / SD card.

Spoiler: Configuring VMC Game Save Files with OPL Manager

Configuring VMC Game Save Files with OPL Manager

⦁ Before configuring VMC for each of your games on your MicroSD, now that your MicroSD card (exFAT) can handle game ISOs larger than 4GB, make sure you have added all the games you want to the DVD folder on your MicroSD before we configure each game's VMC.

⦁ Please note:- you can also create a VMC file for each game via the PS2 > OPL > Games List > Options > Configure VMC. However it's much slower this way to create a VMC file per game (takes about 1 minute) when compared to creating a VMC file using OPL Manager on your PC. So only revert to creating a VMC file for a game via OPL on the PS2 if the save file when playing the game doesn't work, which should be very rare.

⦁ With your MicroSD still connected to your PC, and your games already added to the DVD folder, now open and run OPL Manager from your PC.

⦁ As OPL Manager loads up it should now show you all the games you have added to the DVD folder on your MicroSD, so now start at the top of the list and click on the first game to select / highlight it.

⦁ Now look to right hand side of the OPL Manager window and click on Edit CFG box, this should bring up a new window with some options.

⦁ Look around the center for where it says Virtual Memory Cards (VMCs) and put a tick in the box just under #0 and now click New

⦁ A little window should now pop up "Create new VMC" click on "Create" and give it a few seconds to create the VMC file and then press OK once done via the next "Information" window that pops up.

⦁ Now finished creating the VMC file for that game we are going to move to the next game on the list, by pressing the right arrow icon at the bottom of the OPL Manager main CFG Editor window (bottom right hand corner) it will then ask you do you want to save - click Yes

⦁ Repeat these steps for creating a VMC file for each game on your list until you have done them all.

Cheers for the reply! I formatted my Samsung Evo SD card in exFAT. Both BDM3 and BDM4 cause music to stutter in Ridge Racer V.
Some say BDM3 has smooth audio for Ridge Racer, but I've never had that.
No issues with the audio in other games though! Maybe I need to rip the ISO again.

 

[MrThisucks]

So you will want to format your MicroSD card to exFAT (and 16 kilobytes allocation unit size) and use OPL BDM4.

Because with BDM4 and exFAT there is no ISO size limit (like there is with FAT32) so all games, no matter how large or small all go into the DVD folder on your MicroSD card.

Also with BDM4 you can use VMC for game saves.

Download OPL BDM4 from TnA's post here:-
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/m...-ps2-sio2-interface.29210/page-61#post-342808

Then for all the games (ISOs) you just add them to the DVD folder on your MicroSD, then while it's still connected to your PC - open OPL Manager so it can check if the Game Titles are correct, if they are not correct then OPL Manager can rename them for you. The correct Game Title Format = Game ID then Game Name, like this example:- "SLES_511.99 4x4 Evo 2".

OPL Manager will rename your games correctly like this, also you have to keep the total number of characters to 32.

What do I do with the BDM4 file? Do i just put it in the sd card?

 

[chromium]

Cheers for the reply! I formatted my Samsung Evo SD card in exFAT. Both BDM3 and BDM4 cause music to stutter in Ridge Racer V.
Some say BDM3 has smooth audio for Ridge Racer, but I've never had that.
No issues with the audio in other games though! Maybe I need to rip the ISO again.

I had the same issue with my 128GB Lexar card on BDM4, BDM3 was fine. Then I used a 64GB Samsung Evo Plus U3 and Ridge Racer V has no stutter on BDM4. Formatted to exFAT 16KB cluster size. Maybe try a different MicroSD

 

[chromium]

BDM4 seems really good. Not only does it work best for me with MX4ISO, it also works better for internal hdd.
From internal hdd Ace Combat 5 and Zero wouldn't boot for me at all on any 1.1.0 or 1.2.0 builds I tried and both Super Bust A Move 1 and 2 would crash after the first level. All seem to work great from internal HDD with BDM4.

 

[crimesdog]

Long time lurker first time poster, I tried my hand at getting a FMCB card working with BDM4 and MX4SIO and I'm running into an odd issue.

FMCB card is a magic gate certified card on version 1.966, running on an SPCH-70012 using an OEM DS2 controller. The MX4SIO card is using an amazon special "Silicon Power" card (128GB) as I couldn't get my Samsung EVO+ (32GB) card to show up, it's formatted as exFAT with 16kb allocation size.

All of the games load up fine (after configuring their settings and VMC in OPL Manager - for some reason using the in-OPL VMC manager just corrupts the blocks) but several longer games are simply freezing after a certain point. If I load up Arcana Heart I can play a bunch of rounds with friends or in the arcade mode just fine but if I load up Silent Hill 2 or Sly Cooper they'll eventually freeze at the same point- for SH2 it's right after the graveyard cutscene and for SC it's right after the first level. In both cases the game will simply freeze with no controller input and the card access light never comes back on. No amount of waiting before these points fixes this so I think it's related to game asset management and not a time-out of some sort. I've tried running the games in various combos of mode 1 + 2 + 3 to no avail.

I've combed through and haven't seen anyone with this specific issue, was wondering if anyone else experienced something similar or if I'm just a dummy missing something obvious.

 

[latinking]

Greetings everyone.

A few months ago I got my hands on a MC2ISO adapter from Heldergametech and downloaded the recommended OPL listed on the site. I was initially running into an issue where the games would run fine in OPL for the first play session, but the next time I tried booting them they were all nearly guaranteed to fail after the green-purple-orange screens. I solved the issue by keeping any 4gb+ games on one micro SD card and any DVD-type games on a separate card. As an extra precaution, I made sure to turn off my PS2 only after removing the sd card in the OPL menu at the end of every session. Things were working fine this way and I was content until I discovered Megaman Anniversary Collection didn't work at all with the OPL I was using.

When I looked up the compatibility list, I learned that the game worked with something called "BDM3". My google search led me to this thread (page 15) with a download link to "BDM3". My first attempt at using this failed with no clue what I did wrong. Megaman Collection would still not work but curiously, the games that did work now had a black screen for a few seconds prior to booting properly instead of the green-purple-orange screens. Eventually, I found a youtube video with a detailed guide in its description that had me install two different versions of OPL to get "BDM3" to function. And sure enough, I got Megaman Collection to work flawlessly last night and the colored screens were back. For those who want to see the guide, it's in the description of the following link: youtube.com/watch?v=yt0ZlLhFUZ0

I've posted all of the above in order to try to get an understanding and clarity on several things:

• What does "BDM" stand for?
• To have BDM3 working, do I really need to keep the 2 versions of OPL that were given in the detailed guide?
• Do I still need to keep DVD games, 4gb+ games and possibly CD games on separate SD cards to avoid the issues I had at the very beginning, despite using BDM3?
• What exactly was happening with my games where keeping them all in one card led to them not booting up after 1 play session?
• Does BDM3 make the OPL featured at Heldergametech obsolete or are there games that can only boot with the latter? Are there better options for my MC2ISO adapter?

Thank you.

 

[Workz_777]

Long time lurker first time poster, I tried my hand at getting a FMCB card working with BDM4 and MX4SIO and I'm running into an odd issue.

FMCB card is a magic gate certified card on version 1.966, running on an SPCH-70012 using an OEM DS2 controller. The MX4SIO card is using an amazon special "Silicon Power" card (128GB) as I couldn't get my Samsung EVO+ (32GB) card to show up, it's formatted as exFAT with 16kb allocation size.

All of the games load up fine (after configuring their settings and VMC in OPL Manager - for some reason using the in-OPL VMC manager just corrupts the blocks) but several longer games are simply freezing after a certain point. If I load up Arcana Heart I can play a bunch of rounds with friends or in the arcade mode just fine but if I load up Silent Hill 2 or Sly Cooper they'll eventually freeze at the same point- for SH2 it's right after the graveyard cutscene and for SC it's right after the first level. In both cases the game will simply freeze with no controller input and the card access light never comes back on. No amount of waiting before these points fixes this so I think it's related to game asset management and not a time-out of some sort. I've tried running the games in various combos of mode 1 + 2 + 3 to no avail.

I've combed through and haven't seen anyone with this specific issue, was wondering if anyone else experienced something similar or if I'm just a dummy missing something obvious.

For VMC i find it easier and faster to create each game's VMC via OPL Manager

Spoiler: How to create VMC files via OPL Manager

Configuring VMC Game Save Files with OPL Manager

⦁ Before configuring VMC for each of your games on your MicroSD, now that your MicroSD card (exFAT) can handle game ISOs larger than 4GB, make sure you have added all the games you want to the DVD folder on your MicroSD before we configure each game's VMC.

⦁ Please note:- you can also create a VMC file for each game via the PS2 > OPL > Games List > Options > Configure VMC. However it's much slower this way to create a VMC file per game (takes about 1 minute) when compared to creating a VMC file using OPL Manager on your PC. So only revert to creating a VMC file for a game via OPL on the PS2 if the save file when playing the game doesn't work, which should be very rare.

⦁ With your MicroSD still connected to your PC, and your games already added to the DVD folder, now open and run OPL Manager from your PC.

⦁ As OPL Manager loads up it should now show you all the games you have added to the DVD folder on your MicroSD, so now start at the top of the list and click on the first game to select / highlight it.

⦁ Now look to right hand side of the OPL Manager window and click on Edit CFG box, this should bring up a new window with some options.

⦁ Look around the center for where it says Virtual Memory Cards (VMCs) and put a tick in the box just under #0 and now click New

⦁ A little window should now pop up "Create new VMC" click on "Create" and give it a few seconds to create the VMC file and then press OK once done via the next "Information" window that pops up.

⦁ Now finished creating the VMC file for that game we are going to move to the next game on the list, by pressing the right arrow icon at the bottom of the OPL Manager main CFG Editor window (bottom right hand corner) it will then ask you do you want to save - click Yes

⦁ Repeat these steps for creating a VMC file for each game on your list until you have done them all.

For games freezing while playing, maybe for testing purposes you could reformat your MicroSD card back to FAT32 and use BDM3 to see if that fixed any games that were freezing, to test the difference?

 

[crimesdog]

For games freezing while playing, maybe for testing purposes you could reformat your MicroSD card back to FAT32 and use BDM3 to see if that fixed any games that were freezing, to test the difference?

Ah forgot to mention but this is how I started out! Initially I was on the beta release of OPL (can't remember exactly which, it was a couple weeks ago) but moved over to BDM3 as part of my testing while the card was still formatted in FAT32. Games were still freezing and I was having VMC save issues corrupting the card so I moved up to BDM4 and exFAT. One thing I haven't tried yet is taking a save file from beyond that point and loading it up in game to see if it instacrashes or plays through.

 

[Workz_777]

• What does "BDM" stand for?Thank you.

Block Device Manager

• To have BDM3 working, do I really need to keep the 2 versions of OPL that were given in the detailed guide?

Use the new BDM4 only, now we can use exFAT and VMC with BDM4
Download it from TnA's post here:-
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/m...-ps2-sio2-interface.29210/page-61#post-342808

• Do I still need to keep DVD games, 4gb+ games and possibly CD games on separate SD cards to avoid the issues I had at the very beginning, despite using BDM3?

Use BDM4, there is no ISO size limit now with BDM4, and all games go into the DVD folder on your MicroSD card

 

[longsun_zhao]

I'm having a hard time finding things that are broken with BDM4. Star Wars Battlefront 1 doesn't load missions. Evangelion Ayanami Raising Project hangs on boot. Other than that it's been very much smooth sailing.

I haven't had any luck with virtual memory cards though. No matter if I make them in OPL or in OPL Manager, I get the same messages about them being fragmented or corrupted or whatever about half the time.