Game settings screen

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[Default values are marked in bold]

Note : OPL 0.9.3 uses per-game configuration files. Instead of storing in-game compatibility settings into a global configurations file like in previous OPL versions, it now stores such data as compatibility modes, VMC, and any applicable DNAS data inside per-game configuration files named <game ID>.cfg (i.e. SCUSxxx_xx.cfg) which will be stored in the CFG folder on the device your run your games from (either mass:/CFG or smb:/your_shared_folder/CFG or hdd:/+OPL/CFG). If you are running an official OPL 0.9.3+ beta, these <game ID>.cfg will be stored in a CFG-DEV folder instead.

(TODO: image file 2093241865-game-settings.png is missing)

Game settings screen :

  • Compatibility Modes :

Though OPL has a very high compatibility rate using the default settings, some games might need a compatibility mode to run correctly. Press the select button to enable (ON) or disable (OFF) a mode.

Mode

Mode name

Description

Device

1

Accurate Reads

Emulate the reading performance and behaviour of the CD/DVD drive, without ever needing to use some slow transfer mode like MWDMA mode 0. Required by buggy games that glitch when exposed to the higher transfer rates and the synchronous nature of HDD mode.

All

2

Synchronous Mode

Makes OPL read data synchronously (read immediately upon receiving the request) instead of asynchronously (in the background). Reads will take place immediately from the calling thread. Some games will need this because of their design.

All

3

Unhook Syscalls

OPL will not remain resident in EE RAM after the game resets the IOP with its IOPRP image. Required for games that can overwrite OPL or can somehow confuse OPL’s SifSetDma hook. When this mode is used, mode 6 (disable IGR) must be disabled. GSM and PS2RD cannot be used either.

All

4

0 PSS mode

Changes the reported sizes of PSS video files to 0 (make .PSS files dummies), so that they will be skipped. Useful for slow devices like USB and SMB. Useful if the game contains a lot some PSS file you want to skip . This mode fixes some games that freezes due to timing issue with videos (Max Payne).

All

5

Emulate DVD-DL

Emulates DVD-DL for flatterned DVD9 images to DVD5 image using rip kits. DVD-DL support must be emulated because OPL will otherwise treat such a disc image as a regular single-layer disc.

All

6

Disable IGR

Disable In-Game Reset (IGR). IGR may cause problems for some games, hence disabling it may be necessary.

All

7

High module storage

For games that need OPL to store its modules elsewhere, to avoid a memory conflict (Fatal Frame). Meant to shift the module storage of OPL from 0×00097000 to 0×01C00000.

All

8

Hide DEV9 module

A bit like “Disable Network support” mode of some HDL versions. For HDD mode, CDVDMAN reports itself as “dev9” so that games with network support will not lose their network support. But it appears that some games like Need for Speed: Underground 2 will not work if dev9 is visibly resident.

All

Note : some compatibility modes changed since OPL 0.9.2 – and some even changed during 0.9.3 developpement.


  • Configure GSM : leads you to GSM screen page – will allow you to force video modes in-game. Read more about GSM here.

  • DMA mode : < no values / (see list below) > – allows you to set the transfer mode that will have an impact on HDD reading speed. It may help some problematic games to run better. Indeed, some (buggy) games break down when data is transferred at a higher rate. Not available for USB and ETH games.

Mode

Speed

Note

UDMA-4

66MB/s

Internal HDD default reading speed.

UDMA-3

44MB/s

UDMA-2

33MB/s

UDMA-1

25MB/s

UDMA-0

16MB/s

MDMA-2

16MB/s

MDMA-1

13MB/s

MDMA-0

4MB/s

MDMA mode 0 offers the closest transfer rate to the CD/DVD drive’s transfer rate, although it is still a little faster.


  • VMC screen section : allow you to create a VMC file or assign / configure an existing one to a selected game. Read more about VMC here.


  • Game ID : < not set / > – press the select button without a disc in the tray and you can input a Game ID for online DNAS authentication. You can not play Online from Network Games, since the network is already in use to run the game.

  • Load from disc : allows you to get the ID from your original game disc by inserting the disc in the tray and pressing the select button.


  • Custom ELF : < not set > – this option lets you define a path to a custom ELF within multi-ELF games, compilations, and PS2 Demo discs. You can enter whatever ELF name is required to launch the demo/game. This is only needed when the startup ELF inside the ISO is NOT THE SAME as the game prefix (ex: SCES_xxx_xx). For example, the well known 4 Edges demo has a startup ELF named “4EDGES.ELF’. In that case, name the ISO as “The Black Lotus – 4 Edges.iso” and then put “4EDGES.ELF” as the custom ELF.


  • Save changes : will save any changes you made on this screen.

  • Test : allows you to try a mode/setting without saving it. Runs the game immediately.

  • Download defaults : allows you to download defaults records reported by users from OPL-CL site (<game ID>.cfg files including compatibility modes, settings, game data…). Read more about this in the Network update section.

  • Remove all settings : will revert all the settings to the default settings and auto-save.


  • title or image1 (according to the select button you choose in the settings screen) – returns you to the previous screen without any changes made.