Discussion Opinions on SD2SIO / MX4SIO for loading games on Portable PS2s

[bns]

Hello everyone, I haven't been active on bb for quite a while now due to irl stuff so I'm not caught up to posts about this. I did a simple search for SD2SIO and MX4SIO and didn't find any posts, so I figured I'll start one.

In case you haven't heard about MX4SIO it's a project that started in 2020 (afaik), where they were loading games from the memory card slot on a PS2. Here's the original MX4SIO/SD2SIO Project Thread.

I personally think this is very cool and possibly revolutionary for portables, since you can load games from an SD card through the Memory card slot (which apparently is way faster and has more bandwidth then the USB 1.0 ports lmao). So loading games directly from an SD card (Without the need for SMB) and with speeds above the ones on the USB slots. Sounds awesome to me.

Now of course this is not perfect (yet), it does currently have some issues, from game saves not working properly to some games not functioning properly to some not working at all (Compatibility list) or even SD cards not being compatible (SD Compatibility list).

These are some heavy downsides, so for now I don't think it's the perfect solution but it has potential to be better than SMB and USB game loading, since it doesn't require an SMB server (RPi or Router) (which can be hard to do sometimes, especially in a portable) and it's as easy as setting up a SD card, loading your backups on it and plugging it in.

What are your guys' opinions on this? Are you familiar with this?

Also if I've misunderstood something about this project please correct me I've only followed this project for a couple days now..

 

[ItsShizzy]

I have one of the 8" portable PS2 units that you can find on AliExpress. I had them add in a MX4SIO to the second memory card slot. I initially ran into so many issues that it was not even worth it. Now that the software is catching up its been pretty good. It definitely loads faster than games do off of USB. I still have run into issues with a couple games but most of what I play is working well.

I think within the next year most compatibility issues will be resolved and it will be the go to for portable PS2s. Luckily you can still run it side by side with USB.

 

[bns]

I have one of the 8" portable PS2 units that you can find on AliExpress. I had them add in a MX4SIO to the second memory card slot. I initially ran into so many issues that it was not even worth it. Now that the software is catching up its been pretty good. It definitely loads faster than games do off of USB. I still have run into issues with a couple games but most of what I play is working well.

I think within the next year most compatibility issues will be resolved and it will be the go to for portable PS2s. Luckily you can still run it side by side with USB.

Exactly what I'm hoping for this project seems like it could solve many issues with game loading on PS2s especially for portables!
Also what's your experience with game saving? I've not yet tried doing this mod myself but I've heard that saving/loading is possibly broken/non functional. I'm interested in that is this a bug affecting all games or just some? Maybe it has been fixed or I just misunderstood.

 

[ItsShizzy]

Exactly what I'm hoping for this project seems like it could solve many issues with game loading on PS2s especially for portables!
Also what's your experience with game saving? I've not yet tried doing this mod myself but I've heard that saving/loading is possibly broken/non functional. I'm interested in that is this a bug affecting all games or just some? Maybe it has been fixed or I just misunderstood.

So since posting this I actually spent a few hours on it because I noticed my experience isn't exactly lining up with others. Turns out that switching from a large 32 or 64MB memory card to a genuine 8MB cleared up 90% of my issues. I saw someone else mentioning issues with large cards and that is all I have used with the unit. Unfortunately has the side effect of really lowering my save space since the second slot is taken up by the MX4SIO. For now once I fill my card I will need to just manage saves with a usb drive and ulaunch or something, swapping in and out as needed. I really dont play it all that much and when I do I tend to play a game all the way through so its really not a huge issue in my case.

I believe the saving/loading you are reading about are the virtual memory cards. Right now they work, but theyre so slow its impractical to use. Formatting an 8MB virtual card takes me about 30 minutes. Trying to load or save in game takes upwards of 15 minutes. Saving to an actual card seems to function normally.

 

[bns]

So since posting this I actually spent a few hours on it because I noticed my experience isn't exactly lining up with others. Turns out that switching from a large 32 or 64MB memory card to a genuine 8MB cleared up 90% of my issues. I saw someone else mentioning issues with large cards and that is all I have used with the unit. Unfortunately has the side effect of really lowering my save space since the second slot is taken up by the MX4SIO. For now once I fill my card I will need to just manage saves with a usb drive and ulaunch or something, swapping in and out as needed. I really dont play it all that much and when I do I tend to play a game all the way through so its really not a huge issue in my case.

I believe the saving/loading you are reading about are the virtual memory cards. Right now they work, but theyre so slow its impractical to use. Formatting an 8MB virtual card takes me about 30 minutes. Trying to load or save in game takes upwards of 15 minutes. Saving to an actual card seems to function normally.

That's great to hear! Still kinda unfortunate that non-genuine memory cards have issues, since the largest genuine ones you can get is 32mb and those are exceedingly rare...