HDloader v HDadvance (FAO lufcfan)

[CEOrko]

Thanks snake.

Okay, it's been about five and a half days since HD Advance 2.0 came in (still waiting for HD Loader... damn UPS) and I've uploaded and tested several of my games on it. Most of them worked (GTA:SA;VC;3, Virtual On Marz, Prince of Persia:WW, Sims Bustin' Out, Monster Hunter, DBZ Budokai, Devil May Cry, etc.) and most worked rather well. Of these, Tenchu Wrath of Heaven was the only game that didn't run correctly. Rikimaru's game didn't even start up and in Ayame's the control was so lagging that you could tap triangle and have to wait a second or two for her to use an item. Impossible to work with if you intend of doing anything. Multiplayer still seemed to be intact though and ran rather well, but without any real advantage over using the CD.
I was a bit worried about San Andreas not working because I keep hearing reviewers say that it is a dual-layered DVD and the only other PS2 game I know of that is dual-layered is Champions of Norrath, which you need to load using your computer's DVD-ROM. However it worked and besides the shorter load times, the only glitch I have observed was when I was yelled at for blocking traffic the first time I did after loading the game, the voice of the driver sounded like he was sucking helium. I have, however, had no repeats of this glitch. Also, Prince of Persia:WW would not load if there was a disc in the disc tray when you started up the game, but once there's no disc, there's no problem.

After playing a few games I went into the browser for the HDD (I think only official Sony HDDs have this option) and to my disgust, the icons for all of the uploaded games used the HD Loader logo in their stead. Three words: Theiving, unoriginal bastards. It's not like I didn't know HD Advance and HD Loader, but it is like their just rubbing it in (whether or not it is at Sony or the HD Loader software is anyone's guess) that they just used HD Loaders original program code. I hope HDLoader gets here soon so I can just start using it, but I will still download to my HDD using both programs to see if there are any compatability issues between the two that could be useful for others wishing to get either product. *cough* HDLoader *cough*

And one more thing. Looking into the instruction manual for HD Advance 2.0, it has a section on copying backup and import games discs. While this sounds good, there have been plenty a time that someone has lied or rather bent the truth to sell something, and from what I know...
[Shutup, Orko, you're rambling. You don't know whether or not you need hardware of software to eliminate region code scanning.]
[Shh! This is my moment of triumph!]
[What triumph? You're just sounding like an idiot. Drop it while you can and back away or it'll come back and bite you in the ass.]
[You blind fool, you'd never understand! *knifes the Ego of Orko*]
...I'm not entirely sure a region code scan can averted without a mod chip. This could likely be a way of saying you can backup imported and burned discs without mentioning that you need a mod chip to do so. I'd test this, but I've not a DVD burner so I'm going to have to cooperate with several friends to find this out. No large obstacle, but I'm not the most social of persons and this will likely take much longer than it should.

Just some points of my current experience with HD Advance 2.0, and sorry for dragging it out so long.
WHERE ARE YOU HDLOADER!?

[spedmetal]

Well CEOrko it sounds to me like your doing this in a some what of an attempt to put HDL and HDA to a head to head comparison. You will find that they work in exactly the same way as we all know HDA is a direct copy of HDL with just some minor graphical alterations. The HDA 2.0 will have some advantages over the original HDL but these advantages where also stolen from the members of the dev scene that are free to download and apply to your HDL. HDA is nothing but a rip off from top to bottom. The only advantage that HDA has over HDL is that to use the patches I spoke of previously you need to then after patching HDL burn your own CD-R of HDL. This of course you would need a mod chip to boot. So the rip offs at HDA are making money off you because you are too cheap to get a mod chip and do it yourself. Also with the 4th generation chips you can load your patched HDL to your memory card and boot it with out any disc in your disc drive at all. This also allows you to add any new patches that might become available to HDL in the future as all you would need to do would be to patch HDL again and re-install it to your memory card again with out the need of sending your hard earned money to rip off artists. Also, this isn’t important to some, but you can patch HDL with your own custom graphic making it look just how you would like it. So hopefully now everyone will understand that HDA isn’t anything special but just a continuation of what HDL would have surely done on there own if Sony hadn't busted them.

The HDL HDA saga goes much deeper then this in fact. From what I know about this crap I will try and make a short summery.

HDL was originally developed by sjeep who was involved in many dev applications and has been doing so for some time. Supposedly sjeep saw the release of HDL as a money making endeavor when many believed he should have released it as a free dev app. On top of this it’s also rumored that sjeep used the works of other dev creators in the creation of HDL with out crediting them or sharing in the revenue. Well despite all of this HDL was released anyway and shortly after Sony put an end to it.

Shortly after HDL was stopped we started seeing HDA surface which is supposedly backed by the folks at ownz. Around this same time it’s rumored that sjeep was no longer welcome in the ps2 dev groups that he once was involved with. Sjeep at some point teamed up with the DMS crew. The DMS crew around this same time teamed up with the folks at ownz. See where I'm going with this.

DMS as you all know has there new DMS4 chip that is a dev only chip when you receive it from the supplier like most of the high end chips now are. There is a group called "Toxic" that has created a hacked bios for the DMS4 that will allow you to play back-ups and blah blah. Well guess who is rumored to be behind the Toxic group....... you guessed it sjeep. Sjeep and crew not long after releasing the Toxic bios released the Toxic OS which can be installed to the DMS4 Pro's on board flash which is nothing more then a reconfigured HDL that loads to the DMS4 Pro. Guess where they announced the news of this stuff when it was released..... You guessed it ownz.

All this is just more drama then I care to deal with or care about and all I have to say it that thank GOD HDL was created and released regardless of all this crap!!!

This has to be my longest post ever!

[lufcfan]

Ownz are responsible for the DMS4 then... (well, in a fashion)?

Yet another reason to stay away from that crap...