Getting into PS2 dev

[Jedimace1]

I have been developing video games, 2d and 3d, low level and high level, powerful and slow, for 4 years. As I am lead through game development, I am brought to the world of PS2 development. If you haven't heard the news, PS2 games can be commercially released without having to contact Sony. So that is why I am here. I want to know how to dive into PS2 development. I have found a guide on this site to compile and setup a PS2 development library, as seen here. I want to get into PS2 development as soon as possible, but need to know what this software is capable of and what it already accomplishes for you. What can it do? From what I saw, it looked like it handles internal PS2 functions, PS2 controller input, sound and networking. Does it actually have graphical and physics functions, too? Can I use an existing engine like Irrlicht for graphics and/or physics if it doesn't? I could mod Irrlicht to utilize the PS2 development library too, if needed. And I should be using C++ for PS2 development, correct? Also, I don't want to have to mod my PS2 to run games. I will use an emulator for testing, but I want to be able to run the game on the PS2 like any other PS2 game(through burning a CD or DVD). Can you please explain this to me? Thanks for any help, and sorry for the long post.

-Jedimace1

[J.F.]

If you haven't heard the news, PS2 games can be commercially released without having to contact Sony.

Only if you use an official Sony development kit. All that has changed is you can have a third party press the discs for you instead of Sony. I doubt this applies to the homebrew toolkit as Sony still doesn't make any other method of running the app than an official, protected disc.

However, if you want to work with the homebrew toolkit, people would love to see things like a conversion of Irrlicht for the PS2. The existing toolkit has low-level graphics functions, and there is also an incomplete OpenGL driver called dreamgl in the repo. Irrlicht could probably be modified to use that. C or C++ are the main languages for the homebrew toolkits. Either is fine.

The easiest way to run a program on the PS2 without a mod is with new versions of Swap Magic that allow you to run a program from a USB stick. I wouldn't know anything about getting a third party pressed disc, though.

I would suggest reading through old threads here looking for more info. Look at some of the already released PS2 homebrew, like PGEN and uLaunchELF and SMS. It'll give you an idea of what can be done and the way it is done on the PS2.

[jbit]

All that has changed is you can have a third party press the discs for you instead of Sony. I doubt this applies to the homebrew toolkit as Sony still doesn't make any other method of running the app than an official, protected disc.

Do you have a source for this? The only information I've seen is http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=20866 which says they're just going to remove most of the red tape of getting your game pressed (concept approval), but otherwise the process will be the same (DADC make the discs).

[J.F.]

All that has changed is you can have a third party press the discs for you instead of Sony. I doubt this applies to the homebrew toolkit as Sony still doesn't make any other method of running the app than an official, protected disc.

Do you have a source for this? The only information I've seen is http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=20866 which says they're just going to remove most of the red tape of getting your game pressed (concept approval), but otherwise the process will be the same (DADC make the discs).

I'll try to locate it, but I'm guessing the gamasutra article is correct while the one I read wasn't. In any case, Sony still making the discs just means that it's even more likely that this only applies to official PS2 devs; they've just decided to be more lax in what they'll allow to be published.

[jbit]

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/ ... orm/?biz=1
Seems to go into much more detail...

Bain reports that there is no cost to become a licensed developer, but dev kits do cost. In some cases, Sony lends dev kits.

Bain told his audience that if they were working on a smaller casual title, they could alternately use debug units which are less expensive – 10 percent of the cost of a full dev kit.

All sounds quite positive. Although this still all implies (as it should) that your company would need to go through all the normal legal proceedings (NDAs, etc). I don't think this implies in anyway that just anybody can go and get knighted by them.

[J.F.]

Which was my point. I don't think Sony is going to make a disc for someone writing with the homebrew toolchain and sdk. It's still Sony-only, it just sounds like they're making it cheaper and less restrictive.

[cosmito]

The easiest way to run a program on the PS2 without a mod is with new versions of Swap Magic that allow you to run a program from a USB stick.

Not anymore. If you know already someone who has a modded PS2 or uses the swap magic method or any other to run homebrew, ask him/her to do a mcboot for you. You can find more information over the psxscene forums and the release thread is http://www.psx-scene.com/forums/freevas ... eases.html .

Basically, the PS2 is able to execute code from memory card at boot time, as long the code is encrypted. Some gifted guys found a way do get through this (they didn't broke the encryption) and as a result, a PS2 is able to boot uLaunchELF or other executable at boot time. And it's a free method (the source is also available)

[J.F.]

The easiest way to run a program on the PS2 without a mod is with new versions of Swap Magic that allow you to run a program from a USB stick.

Not anymore. If you know already someone who has a modded PS2 or uses the swap magic method or any other to run homebrew, ask him/her to do a mcboot for you. You can find more information over the psxscene forums and the release thread is http://www.psx-scene.com/forums/freevas ... eases.html .

Basically, the PS2 is able to execute code from memory card at boot time, as long the code is encrypted. Some gifted guys found a way do get through this (they didn't broke the encryption) and as a result, a PS2 is able to boot uLaunchELF or other executable at boot time. And it's a free method (the source is also available)

Okay, that is slick as all hell get out. :) Thanks! That's even better than the ID exploit I currently use to run ULE.

[ifcaro]

Although I do not know much programming, I am ready to help you if possible. I've always liked to develop and that's why I'm trying to do some things.