Install & First Boot

RIPTOPL.ELF is a single self-contained executable — no installer, no registry, no driver. Drop it where your PS2 boot method expects an ELF and you are done with the install step. This page covers exactly what to download, where to put it, what happens the first time it runs, and what the opinionated defaults mean for you.

What is RIPTOPL.ELF?

RiptOPL is a downstream fork of Open PS2 Loader compiled to a single PS2 ELF binary. The standard build includes GSM video-mode handling, DS3/DS4 pad emulation (PADEMU), Virtual Memory Cards (VMC), PS2RD cheats, and parental controls in one file. There are no per-feature variant builds to choose between for those; the one ELF does it all. Some build flags are left off by default. In-game screenshots (IGS) and right-to-left (RTL) language support are not compiled into any of the ready-to-use loader ELFs — the Makefile ships EXTRA_FEATURES ?= 0 and both flags follow it, so the main, -ds5, and 1080p downloads are all built without them. To get IGS or RTL you need an -extra1 build from RIPTOPL-VARIANTS-*.zip, or your own make EXTRA_FEATURES=1. DualSense / DualShock 5 (USB) support ships as a ready-made RIPTOPL-<version>-<SDK>-ds5.ELF for each SDK flavour, and an experimental, hardware-unvalidated GSM 1080p mode ships as RIPTOPL-PS2DEVLATESTSDK-1080p.ELF (latest-SDK flavour only, gated behind a triple confirm in the GUI). You only need make DUALSENSE=1 / make GSM1080P=1 if you build your own — check the Releases page for the current variant availability.

ℹ Private config, shared data

RiptOPL saves its master settings to settings_riptopl.cfg — a different filename from canonical OPL's conf_opl.cfg and from wOPL's config. That means RiptOPL, OPL, and wOPL can all sit on the same memory card without touching each other's settings. Everything else in the OPL/ folder — cover art, themes, VMCs, per-game configs (CFG/), and the favourites.bin star list — is shared across all builds that understand those formats.

Release channels

RiptOPL ships from two channels. Both are built by the same CI pipeline and produce the same package format; the only difference is stability vs. recency.

Channel	Tag	When to use
Rolling pre-release	`rolling`	Latest code from `master`, rebuilt on every push. Best for eager testers who want new features as they land. May be unstable — release notes flag when the digest-pinned fallback build failed that run.
Tagged release	`v*` (e.g. `v1.2.0-Beta-…`)	Curated, known-good versions cut manually from a tag. Use these for a stable production install.

See Releases for the full asset listing, checksums, and pull instructions. The short version: download the RIPTOPL-<rel>-<sha>.zip installable package, unzip it, and use the APP_RIPTOPL-PS2DEVLATESTSDK/RIPTOPL.ELF inside.

What is inside the installable zip?

The RIPTOPL-<rel>-<sha>.zip package contains:

APP_RIPTOPL-PS2DEVLATESTSDK/RIPTOPL.ELF — built with ps2dev/ps2dev:latest, the current SDK RiptOPL is developed and tested against. This is the recommended one.
APP_RIPTOPL-PS2DEVPINNEDSDK/RIPTOPL.ELF — the same ps2dev SDK, pinned by digest to a day it was known good. Use this if the recommended build has a regression on your console.
POPSTARTER/ and POPS/ folders — structure for PS1 support. POPSTARTER.ELF and its BDMA usbd / usbhdfsd variants are bundled in POPS/ (together with PATCH_5.BIN); POPSTARTER/ carries the SMB network stack. Only POPS.ELF — Sony's PS1 emulator — is not distributed here.
neutrino/ — the bundled Neutrino external core, shipped extracted as a drag-and-drop folder (neutrino.elf + config/ + modules/) used by the network-boot (UDPBD/UDPFS) subsystem (pre-populated with the UDPFS config). Copy it to mc?:/neutrino/ — that path is exactly what Neutrino ELF Path auto-detect looks for, and the same copy serves both per-game Neutrino launching and network boot. No separate download is needed.
PS2-Servers.url — opens the maintained PS2 Servers UDPFS / SMBv1 / UDPBD all-in-one PC launcher. The server software itself is no longer embedded in the RiptOPL package.

The bare RIPTOPL-<version>-PS2DEVLATESTSDK.ELF and RIPTOPL-<version>-PS2DEVPINNEDSDK.ELF files (both toolchains) are also published separately if you only want to drop a fresh ELF over an existing install. SHA256SUMS.txt — hashes of every published binary plus the source snapshot — is published alongside the zip as its own release asset, not as a file inside it.

Getting RIPTOPL.ELF onto your PS2

RiptOPL requires a way to boot unsigned ELFs on the PS2. The two most common are FreeMcBoot (FMCB) on a memory card and FreeDVDBoot / FHDB on an internal HDD. Any method that can launch an ELF works.

1. Download the package

Go to the Releases page and grab either the latest rolling pre-release or the most recent v* tagged release. Download the RIPTOPL-*.zip installable package and unzip it locally.

2. Copy RIPTOPL.ELF to your boot location

Use the ELF from APP_RIPTOPL-PS2DEVLATESTSDK/RIPTOPL.ELF inside the zip. Where it goes depends on your boot method:

FMCB — copy RIPTOPL.ELF to a folder on a USB drive, memory card, or SMB share, then add a FMCB menu entry pointing to it. A common convention is mass:/APPS/RIPTOPL/RIPTOPL.ELF or mc0:/RIPTOPL/RIPTOPL.ELF.
FHDB — copy into an HDD partition the same way FHDB expects its launch targets.
Other launchers — place the ELF wherever that launcher is configured to find it; RiptOPL has no path requirements of its own.

The ELF filename itself does not matter to RiptOPL, only to your launcher's menu entry.

3. (Optional) Place the Neutrino folder

Copy the bundled neutrino/ folder (drag-and-drop: neutrino.elf + config/ + modules/, pre-populated with the UDPFS config) to mc0:/neutrino/ or mc1:/neutrino/. That one copy serves both per-game Neutrino launching and network boot (UDPBD/UDPFS) — the resolver finds mc?:/neutrino/neutrino.elf automatically, and the mc?:NEUTRINO/neutrino.elf form is accepted too. You can also set Neutrino Device / Neutrino ELF Path to a custom location after first boot. See Neutrino Core.

4. Prepare your storage device

OPL expects a specific folder layout on whichever device(s) you plan to load games from. You do not need to create these by hand — RiptOPL auto-creates them once you enable that device — but it helps to know what they are:

DVD/      ← DVD5 and DVD9 ISO images
CD/       ← CD-based game images (blue-bottom discs)
ART/      ← cover art images
CFG/      ← per-game settings files
VMC/      ← Virtual Memory Card images
THM/      ← themes
LNG/      ← language / translation files
CHT/      ← PS2RD cheat files
APPS/     ← homebrew ELF files

For the APA/PFS internal HDD, OPL uses hdd0:__common/OPL/ for the non-game folders. For exFAT HDD (BDMAssault) and all other folder-based devices (USB, MMCE, MX4SIO, iLink, SMB), the folders live at the root of the device.

ℹ Auto-creation on device enable

When you enable a device mode in OPL settings and exit back to the game list, OPL automatically creates any missing folders on that device. Nothing is created on a fresh first boot, because every device ships off. You do not need to pre-create DVD/, ART/, etc. manually — just enable the device, save settings, and the directories will appear.

First boot walkthrough

Launch RIPTOPL.ELF

Boot through FMCB, FHDB, or your chosen launcher. On a fresh install you land on the start menu — no game-list tabs exist yet, because every device ships off. Enable a device and its tab appears, rendered by the Coverflow theme (RiptOPL's built-in cover-art carousel) once you have games in the right folders.

Enable your device

Navigate to Settings → Device Settings. Enable the storage device(s) you want to use. Nothing is on by default: turn USB on and set the BDM tab's start mode to Manual or Auto, then save. Games in DVD/ and CD/ appear after the first scan. For SMB, HDD, MMCE, MX4SIO, iLink, or network boot, enable the corresponding toggle and fill in any required details (IP address for SMB/network boot, etc.).

Save settings

Go to Settings → Save Changes (or the equivalent save action in the settings screen). This writes settings_riptopl.cfg to the config path and auto-creates the device folders. From this point on, RiptOPL remembers your preferences across boots.

Launch a game

Back on the main list, your games appear under the device tabs. Highlight a title and press Cross (or Circle for Japanese-layout controllers — the confirm button follows standard OPL behavior and is configurable). The game boots via OPL's built-in core by default. To use Neutrino instead, open Game Settings → Loader Core → Neutrino for that title. See Per-game Settings.

Opinionated defaults

Unlike upstream OPL — which ships with most features off and expects you to enable them — RiptOPL boots with a set of opinionated defaults that are on from the very first launch, before you have saved any settings. You can change any of them under Settings at any time.

Setting	Default	Where to change
Widescreen (16:9)	ON	Display Settings
Cover art display	ON	Display Settings
Notifications (popups)	ON	Display Settings
PS2 logo on boot	ON	Display Settings
Sound effects (SFX)	ON (volume 80)	Audio Settings
Boot sound	ON (volume 80)	Audio Settings
BGM (background music)	ON (volume 70)	Audio Settings
USB, iLink, MX4SIO, exFAT HDD, UDPBD	OFF	Device Settings
Device start mode (all tabs)	Off (disabled)	Device Settings
Video mode	Auto (0)	Display Settings / GSM
Default theme	<Coverflow> (built-in)	Theme Settings
Delete/rename games	Enabled	General Settings
Visual GameID barcode	OFF	Display Settings
UDPBD/UDPFS network boot	OFF	Device Settings

ℹ Start modes

A fresh install ships with every device Off, so no device tabs appear until you enable one in Device Settings. Once a device is enabled, pick its start mode: Manual keeps the tab visible and only populates the game list when you navigate to that tab and explicitly trigger a scan — no automatic background scanning on boot — while Auto scans that tab when OPL starts.

Config file: settings_riptopl.cfg

RiptOPL saves its master config as settings_riptopl.cfg. This is a renamed, private config that coexists on the same memory card or device as canonical OPL (conf_opl.cfg) and wOPL without either build touching the other's settings.

If you previously used an older RiptOPL build that saved as conf_riptopl.cfg, the new build automatically migrates your settings the next time it saves — you do not need to rename anything manually.

The config file is discovered and written in this priority order (first found wins on read; saves always go back to the same path it was read from):

The folder RIPTOPL.ELF was launched from (its working directory) — this is the config home
Only when the boot path cannot be determined does OPL fall back, in a fixed sequence, starting with the config.path redirect pointer file in the current working directory (the Krah bootstrap — it stores the directory of the last saved config and is rewritten on every save)
then mc0: / mc1: explicitly, then the boot device (mass: or hdd:), then MMCE, then BDM devices, then the BDM/internal HDD (hdd0:__common/OPL/)

Everything else — cover art (ART/), themes (THM/), VMC images (VMC/), per-game config files (CFG/), and favourites.bin — lives in the shared OPL/ folder structure and is read and written by any OPL-family build that understands those formats. RiptOPL will import an existing favourites.bin from wOPL or uOPL on first launch.

Next steps

🚀Getting StartedEnd-to-end first game guide 🔌USB / MX4SIO / iLinkFAT32 & exFAT mass devices 💽Internal HDDAPA/PFS & exFAT (BDMA) ⚛️Neutrino CoreExternal core per-game + network boot 📦ReleasesRolling vs tagged, asset list, checksums 🔧Settings ReferenceEvery menu option explained