HD Loader
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HD Loader and the repackaged HD Advance are software for the PlayStation 2 video game console which allow users to play games installed to the optional hard drive peripheral available for the PS2. Rather than using a Mod Chip, games can be copied to the hard drive from an original game CD or DVD from within HD Loader, or installed using a PC and software such as HDL Dump (the PS2 hard drive uses a standard IDE interface and can be connected to almost any PC). The HD Loader software does not require an original Sony hard drive to function properly; most generic IDE drives can be attached to the PS2 using a Sony Ethernet adapter ( most Western Digital drives cannot be attached without physically modifying the network adaptor) and formatted for use by the software. This does not, however, allow the use of a non-Sony hard drive with PS2 games such as Final Fantasy XI, which require the HDD peripheral.
Sony's public stance on HD Loader is that it is not supported and is illegal (besides playing backups and homebrew games, it can also enable game piracy). In October, 2006, a federal court in California ordered defendants to pay in excess of $9 million in damages for Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations for selling HD Loader. Original HD Loader discs are no longer being produced, but a modified version called HD Advance is still being manufactured and can be purchased from many online retailers. HDLoader original discs are still available from only one source which you can find at the top of the listings on this HDLoader page.
HD Loader is not 100% compatible with all PS2 games. Some incompatibilities exist because game software depends on certain peculiarities of the PS2 drive hardware. There is a website which catalogs patches to modify game code to allow it to run from the hard drive. Additional incompatibilities arise from the use of dual-layer DVDs in some PS2 games, which are sometimes not parsed properly by HD Loader (incidentally, dual-layer games can only be installed from a PC, as HD Loader is only capable of ripping the first layer of a game directly on the PS2). Finally, there are intentional impediments introduced to some recent high-profile PS2 titles, such as God of War and Gran Turismo 4, to prevent them from being executed off the hard drive, however recent patches from the folks at PS2-Scene allows the playing of these dual layer dvd games.
In response to the limitations of HD Loader, a number of independent programmers have developed patches which extend the functionality of HD Loader to improve game compatibility. These include a fix to improve dual-layer support, one to implement a non-aligned data buffer (which allows Gradius V to be played from the HD), one to defeat newer copy-protection measures (popularly known as the God of War fix), one to support the new "slimline" SCPH-70000 series PlayStation 2 hardware and one to implement 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (which allows HD Loader to take full advantage of hard drives larger than 137 GB; or 128 GiB, as reported by HD Loader). These patches have been accumulated into new unofficial HD Loader releases, which is currently at version 0.8b as of June 2006. This release is popularly known as the Shadow of the Colossus fix, and allows games such as Shadow of the Colossus and Amplitude to be played. This was not possible with the previous 0.7c update.
In order to find out if the HD Loader or HD Advance will work for you, you need to determine the version of PS2 that you own. To find out which version of PS2 that you have, it is very easy by viewing this HD LOADER PS2 version guide.
For a list of compatible titles, please see: http://list.ps2hd.com
For a list of compatible third-party hard drives, please see: http://ps2drives.x-pec.com
