SP193 is back to share a new PS2 creation with the world. This one helps boot games from external storage devices!

If you want to load a PS2 backup from an external HDD or flash drive, PS2ESDL is one of the most popular tools to get the job done. SP193 has just recently updated the program to finally include support for super slim model consoles with an EE core. Essentially what that means is, even some of the newer version systems can enjoy external storage benefits. Many bugs are to be expected in this open beta release, but you can check out the onslaught of improvements and changes below!

I've finally done it: I've fixed up the "Super slim" EE core design, and MVC2 works properly. I hope that other games that mysteriously stop working time and again won't be affected by this change.

Since I don't have the resources to test many games on it, I need the help of others to help test it.

I've spent too long with trying hard to fix v0.823. As a result, there is a great chance that I've left some code behind that was formally used for debugging... which might cause problems.

Also, CDVDMAN and CDVDFSV probably had severe rewrites done to them. I don't know whether I've forgotten to fix anything.

But anyway, the point is the new EE core. Hopefully, it won't cause new incompatibilities. This is not a good build to test the new EE core with, however, as even the IOP modules got changed.

The plugin format has been changed. As a result, it is not possible to use the old i.Link plugin with it.

Changelog for v0.824 (All revisions of v0.823 combined):

1. The screen will now be automatically re-centered when the 480P mode is used. (Fixed)
2. Fixed many logic errors that could impede stability.
3. PS2LOGO can now be (optionally) launched. This will only work if the game's logo section (first 16 sectors) is decrypted. Currently not doable with any versions of PS2DCDMP.
4. Fixed graphics mode switching. No more garbled graphics.
5. Corrected the RGBA values used with loaded PNG images. The reason why I could never get the alpha values right was because of a bug in the PNG loading function in gsToolkit. It didn't invert the alpha values.
6. Due to the above, the alpha test (Which was really too aggressive) is no longer needed and was removed.
7. Replaced my old quicksort algorithm with a call to the C qsort() function.
8. Fixed one bug related to calling AllocSysMemory() and FreeSysMemory() without suspending interrupts in cdvdman.c (According to my understanding of the Sony technical documentation, AllocSysMemory() and FreeSysMemory() are critical sections and need to be run with interrupts disabled).
9. PS2LOGO can now be (optionally) launched, so that the player's play history will get updated and hence the "towers" on the Sony Playstation 2 screen will grow and multiply as they should.
10. The redundant SourceDevice field in the configuration structure has been shifted into the SkinDisplayData structure.
11. Fixed many, many bugs related to calling AllocSysMemory() and FreeSysMemory() without suspending interrupts (According to my understanding of the Sony technical documentation, AllocSysMemory() and FreeSysMemory() are critical sections and need to be run with interrupts disabled).
12. CRITICAL: Fixed support for disks of sector sizes >2048 bytes. The call to AllocSysMemory() in sectorIO.c was faulty as the first and second parameters were swapped around.
13. Changed the EE core again with a new design that is more compatible. Old plugins are now unsupported.
14. This new EE core uses a customized UDNL module that shuts off all DMA channels before the final phase of the IOP reset, to avoid memory corruption by interfaces like USB.
15. Removed the Sony debugging modules from the banned modules list as DECI2.IRX doesn't exist as a standalone IRX and I don't know what SNMON.IRX is.
16. Changed where the temporary buffer for disks with sectors larger than 2048 bytes is created, for better performance.

The old plugin format is now unsupported. If this version of PS2ESDL is stable, the plugin creation tool might see an update. IGR may be brought into PS2ESDL too, with credit given to s0ck3t.

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