FAQ & known bugs
Straight answers to the questions people actually ask, each linking to the deep reference — followed by the recovered FAQ and known-bugs pages in full.
Why is my game a black screen?
BOOT.ELF in the IGR/exit chain (disable the ELF loader with stock PATCH_9.BIN), or a missing/wrong POPS file. Boot a debug build first to read the actual error.How do I force PAL, or fix 50/60 Hz?
$FORCEPAL forces the PAL patcher + Euro region; $NOPAL runs a PAL game in native NTSC. PATCH_8.BIN / PATCH_9.BIN are the binary equivalents. After $NOPAL you usually need $YPOS_## to re-center.Does it support exFAT (USB or internal HDD)?
USBEXFAT for an exFAT USB drive, or ATA for an exFAT internal HDD (newly added). The same BDMA Mode setting also reaches MX4SIO and MMCE — it's the device selector for everything except an APA/PFS internal HDD. (POPS never reads exFAT itself; BDMA presents the files to it.)My cheats do nothing — why?
CHEATS.TXT must be UPPERCASE on internal HDD/PFS or it is silently ignored, and raw GameShark codes need $SAFEMODE on the first line (named $commands do not).My USB drive isn't detected
$USBDELAY_# (or config byte $413) and confirm a FAT32/exFAT format with 32K/64K clusters. $USBDELAY patches streaming — it does not fix detection; $413 does.Saves disappear after I reboot the PS2
How do I set up a multi-disc game?
DISCS.TXT listing every disc's VCD in each disc's folder, and a VMCDIR.TXT pointing discs 2/3 at disc 1's VMC so they share one memory card.Is this legal? Where's the emulator?
What's the latest/canonical POPStarter build?
Does it support widescreen?
$WIDESCREEN (16:9), $ULTRA_WIDESCREEN, $EYEFINITY (≈3×16:9). They don't fix HUDs/fonts/2D backgrounds and don't work on every game.Recovered FAQ
FAQs
- Question : does POPS support mutitap player ?
Answer : Unfortunately, no. Only the 2 first controllers are recognised.
- Question : does POPS support physical memory card saving ?
Answer : No, it doesnt. There is a technical reason about it : POPS doesnt save on a single memory card block but flashes the whole VMC. Doing it on physical memory card would be very slow if possible.
Recovered from ShaolinAssassin's FAQS wiki page.
Known bugs & limitations
Known bugs / limitations
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$COMPATIBILITY_0x07 mode : unfinished. Breaks the gamma.
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$WIDESCREEN command : unfinished. No render fix…
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Multi-disc support : does not work properly with all games (not working with : Final Fantasy IX, Grandia).
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POPS USB oddities : we found out that latest USBD and USBHDFSD drivers reduced performances in BOTH POPStarter and POPS – so USBD and USBHDFSD drivers embedded into POPStarter are quite old. You can use your own USB modules (named as usbd.irx & usbhdfsd.irx, case sensitive, lowercase, no file size restriction) from mc#:/POPSTARTER – but expect lower performances.
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PS1 CD mode : we found out after RIP 06 release that the HDD old launch type method (PP.PS1CD.ELF or __.PS1CD.ELF) has a bug : files from __common/POPS folder (and from __common/POPS/PS1CD) will not be loaded.
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PS3 support : POPStarter test build works in a CECHA (no controller response on POPS tho).
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IGR : not working with a DS3 controller in BT mode (working in USB mode).
Recovered from ShaolinAssassin's Known Bugs wiki page.