HDLBATCH 1.16

HDLBATCH is intended as a batch game installer for the Playstation 2 HDD using HDL_DUMP as the main mechanism for transferring games. It supports CUE/BIN files for CD games, and ISO files for DVD games (including dual- layered DVDs, aka DVD9). CDs may also be in ISO format (e.g. converted to be compatible with OPL Manager), or even a mix of both CUE/BIN and ISO formats.

Game titles can either be specified by a gameid.txt file formatted as:

• SCPS_510.01 Moto GP 2 
• SCPS_510.04 Bravo Music 
• SCPS_510.05 Samurai 
• SCPS_510.06 Alpine Racer 3 
• SCPS_510.08 Wave Rally 
• SCPS_510.09 Underwater Unit 
• SCPS_510.10 Shikigami no Shiro 

and a copy has been provided with this release. Please note that some titles, however, have far more characters than will fit on the OPL game menu, making some discs titles more difficult to distinguish. Examples such as "Xenosaga Episode III - Also Sprach Zarathustra [Disc 1]" and "Xenosaga Episode III - Also Sprach Zarathustra [Disc 2]" suggest that these two discs would appear identical on the OPL menu if only a fixed number of characters are displayed. For those games, it is recommended that the titles be adjusted. Perhaps:

    Xenosaga Ep. III (D1) - Also Sprach Zarathustra

would suffice to keep titles distinct even if OPL menu shortens them. The gameid.txt file does not need to be sorted, but if multiple entries exist for a game, it will use the first found entry. The gameid.txt file provided herein is sorted by region code and numerical ID for organizational convenience, and is based off of the master list at PS2 OPL CFG.

NOTE: If your game title needs to include an exclamation mark (!) make sure that all exclamation marks are preceeded with a caret (^) symbol.

For example:

    SLUS_209.45 Destroy All Humans^!

is the entry for the game "Destroy All Humans!" (this is required to work around a quirk with batch files and delayed expansion).

The batch file is setup up to always do a test run first! The test run simply displays the game type (CD vs DVD), game ID, and title. All users should use a test run to check that their games will install correctly. There are several things to look out for:

1. Every game MUST have a valid game ID. If HDLBATCH cannot find a valid game ID, then chances are, your game file is corrupt.  Verify that the SHA-1 or MD5 checksums match those found on redump.org
2. Make sure that you are happy with HDLBATCH's game titles for your game.

After you are satisfied with the output of the test run, edit the single option called TEST to enable the actual installation.

PLEASE TAKE ALL PRECAUTIONS THAT YOU SELECT THE CORRECT DRIVE TARGET!

For network installations, run hdl_svr_093.elf on the PS2, and then select option 4 (network). Enter in the IP of the PS2 when prompted. Note that network installations will most certainly depend on your network connection. For large installations, a network installation is NOT recommended (250 games totaling ~625GB takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to install when attaching the PS2 HDD to the motherboard).

Lastly, because HDLBATCH calls HDL_DUMP, which scans your hardware for PS2 HDDs, you must run with administrator rights. Right click on the batch file, and select "Run as Administrator" and follow the prompts.

(You may also want to disable your computer's power management so that your computer does not put itself to sleep in the middle of an install!)

Speeds:

• PS2 HDD attached to PC motherboard via SATA    100MB/s - 150MB/s
• PS2 HDD via USB3 adapter (varies by adapter)    ~70MB/s
• PS2 HDD via ethernet                ~5MB/s

F.A.Q.

1.    Why HDLBATCH when HDL_HDD_Batcher and HDL Dump Helper GUI already exist?

    a) HDL_HDD_Batcher requires CDs and DVDs in two separate directories, and CDs must be in ISO format. CUE/BIN is more appropriate for CD rips. Dual-layered (DVD9) games are installed incorrectly 100% of the time.

    b) HDL Dump Helper GUI requires Java. On modern hardware and newer versions of Windows, the EXE file fails to find a runtime environment even if one is installed, although users may open the .jar file manually. Batch installing is also tedious; each file must be added to the job list. Also, HDHG uses HDL_DUMP 0.9.0, which seems to be much slower at writing to drives attached via USB.

    HLDBATCH uses a newer version of HDL_DUMP which is faster  for USB-attached drives, and handles all CD and DVD games  (including dual-layered ones) in one directory. You just run the batch file, answer a few questions, and walk away until all games are installed.

2.    What about WINHIIP?

    WINHIIP fails to install many games properly. It has a  hardcoded limit of 255 games (which can be bypassed by tediously renaming existing game partitions). It does not support 2TB drives. And if users should ever run its  "repair" feature, games whose titles share the same first <x> characters will have collision (i.e. later partitions will overwrite previous partitions; this is often an issue with multi-disc games or games within a series that have long series names).

3.    HDLBATCH said one of my games was not a CD/DVD even though OPL loads and plays it fine by USB/SMB. I can even view the ISO or CUE/BIN file on my PC. Should I be concerned?

    Chances are, your game file is corrupt. This might mean absolutely nothing if, say, dummy filler files do not match the official files. It is best, though, to re-rip your game and verify the checksum against those found on sites like redump.org and be safe rather than sorry should
    your game eventually crash.

4.    My games directory is huge! Is there any way to save the test run output into a text file?

    Yes. The test run will prompt you whether you wish to use gameid.txt and the only valid answers are Y or N (must be
    capital letters). Any other response will cause a beep. After all the info is displayed, the screen will pause
    until you press ENTER. With that in mind, you can run HDLBATCH in a command prompt with admin rights as follows:

    HDLBATCH > info.txt

    and this will cause all output to be placed into the file named info.txt -- but this will also capture the prompt at the beginning and the pause at the end! So you will have to answer the question "blind" and then hit ENTER after you see the info.txt file in your file explorer window with a size greater than 0.