Glossary

Every POPStarter / POPSLoader acronym, prefix, file and $command defined in one place (39 terms). Search any term up top, or jump:

A B C D E F H I K M P S T V W

APA / PFS: The PS2 HDD partition format (APA) and filesystem (PFS). POPStarter's internal-HDD payload lives on APA/PFS — never exFAT.
BDM Assault (BDMA): The block-device backend layer. In the POPSLoader fork its BDMA Mode setting selects the mass-storage device — FAT32 (plain USB), USBEXFAT (exFAT USB), MX4SIO, or MMCE — by loading the BDM driver set. It is how you reach exFAT USB and the other devices, and is required for every device except the internal APA/PFS HDD.
CHEATS.TXT: The per-game text file holding POPStarter $commands and raw GameShark codes. Must be UPPERCASE on internal HDD/PFS or it is silently ignored.
__common/POPS: The shared HDD folder (on the __common partition) holding the POPS emulator files plus per-game VMC and cover art.
Compatibility mode: POPS per-game fix levels 0x01–0x07, selectable as $COMPATIBILITY_0x## or a PATCH_X.BIN. The full mode→meaning map is only partly documented.
CUE2POPS: The PC tool that converts a PS1 CUE/BIN rip into a POPS .VCD.
D2LS: The “left stick is the D-pad” cheat. $D2LS leaves the pad digital; $D2LS_ALT leaves it analog.
DISCS.TXT: The multi-disc list naming each disc's VCD, placed in every disc's per-game folder for in-game disc swapping.
DKWDRV: DESR/DVD-ROM driver the fork hands off to for playing a physical PS1 disc.
ELF loader: The POPStarter component that chains into BOOT.ELF on exit. An incompatible BOOT.ELF causes the black-screen-on-exit bug; disable it with stock PATCH_9.BIN.
Enceladus: The Lua runtime the POPSLoader UI is built on.
$FORCEPAL / $NOPAL: $FORCEPAL forces the PAL patcher + Euro region; $NOPAL disables the PAL patcher so a PAL game runs native NTSC.
$HDTVFIX: A SetGsCrt hack (480i/576i) for HDTVs that can't show 240p/288p. Can cause interlace flicker on CRTs — don't use it by default.
Hugopocked fixes: The leading still-maintained community per-game patch pack for POPStarter — dropped into the game's own VMC folder (matched by VCD basename) to fix titles POPS gets wrong. Archive password hugopocked; don't stack with TROJAN_7.BIN. See the Hugopocked section.
IGR: In-Game Reset — a button combo that resets or exits the running PS1 game without powering off. Configured with $IGR0–$IGR5.
IMAGE0.VCD: The fixed VCD filename used by HDDOSD / PSBBN partition-installed POPS games.
IPCONFIG.DAT / SMBCONFIG.DAT: The SMB network IP and share-credential files placed in mc?:/POPSTARTER/ (note .DAT, not .DAY).
KELF: Sony's encrypted-ELF container format. POPSTARTER.KELF is the encrypted launcher.
MMCE: Memory-Card Emulator devices (SD2PSX, MemCard PRO2) exposing mmce0:/mmce1: via mmceman. Not a standard PS2 memory card.
MX4SIO: An SD-card adapter using the PS2 memory-card SIO2 port. A POPStarter side-module and a POPSLoader fork backend.
PATCH_X.BIN: A binary compatibility/visual patch dropped in the POPS folder. PATCH_0=disable IGR, PATCH_5=POPSLoader IGR textures, PATCH_8=force PAL, PATCH_9=disable PAL patcher / disable ELF loader.
PFS_WRAP.BIN: The embedded PFS wrapper POPStarter uses to read VCDs from the PS2 HDD.
POC2 / POPS-00001: The leaked early Sony PS1 emulator builds POPStarter evolved from; the historical USB method used manual HxD header patching.
POPS: Sony's official PS1-on-PS2 emulator (SLBB-00001), originally for the PSX DVR and PS2 HDD. POPStarter wraps it; it is not redistributed here (referenced by MD5 only).
__.POPS: The HDD partition-name prefix for the “new” HDD launch type — one VCD per __.POPS / __.POPS0–9 partition. Scanned in order, not aliased.
POPS0–POPS9: Numbered POPS folders at a device root. POPStarter scans POPS then POPS0…POPS9.
POPSLoader: The modern menu-driven front-end (this project) that lists PS1 games with cover art and adds MMCE / MX4SIO / exFAT backends. Built on the Enceladus Lua runtime by Ripto / NathanNeurotic.
POPStarter: krHACKen's homebrew launcher that runs PS1 games (as .VCD images) on a PS2 using Sony's built-in POPS emulator — the successor to POC2 / POPS-00001.
POPSTARTER.KELF: The encrypted (KELF) form of POPSTARTER.ELF required by some HDDOSD / boot contexts.
$SAFEMODE: Delays raw GameShark codes until after POPS startup. Needed only for raw codes — not for named $commands like $NOPAL.
SB. / XX. / PP. / __. prefixes: Renamed-POPSTARTER.ELF prefixes per launch type: SB.=SMB, XX.=USB, PP.=partition-installed (HDDOSD/PSBBN, PP.<partition>.ELF), __.=legacy HDD.
smb0:: POPStarter's mount point for the configured SMB network share.
SYSTEM.CNF: The PS2 boot descriptor. For partition-installed POPS games it points boot2 at pfs:/IMAGE0.VCD.
title.cfg: The OPL “APPS page” config pairing a renamed POPSTARTER.ELF with a game. Must be saved literally as title.cfg — not .txt.
TROJAN_X.BIN: POPStarter's name for a behaviour/fix patch file — not malware. TROJAN_0–5=IGR behaviours; TROJAN_7=krHACKen + Hugopocked cumulative per-game fixes (2020-04-02), placed in the per-game VMC folder.
VCD: The PlayStation Virtual-CD image format POPS plays. A PS1 disc rip becomes a .VCD via CUE2POPS.
VMC: Virtual Memory Card — a file emulating a PS1 memory card, stored per-game so saves persist.
VMCDIR.TXT: Placed in the disc-2/3 folders, it points them at disc-1's VMC so a multi-disc game shares one memory card.
wLE_kHn / uLE_kHn: A uLaunchELF-based VCD browser/launcher for POPStarter. Tip: omit the game ID from the VCD filename for a cleaner list.