POPSLoader — the modern launcher
POPSLoader is a menu-driven front-end for POPStarter: a Lua UI on the Enceladus runtime that lists your PS1 games with cover art and launches them — while adding device backends stock POPStarter never had. It is the project this documentation site lives in, maintained by Ripto / NathanNeurotic.
How it relates to POPStarter
POPSLoader wraps the same POPS emulator and POPSTARTER.ELF documented across the rest of this site — think of it as the friendly launcher layer on top. Everything in the POPStarter reference applies underneath.What it adds over stock POPStarter
- Cover-art game browser — a console-style menu of your PS1 library instead of renamed ELFs.
- Modern storage — pick your device with BDMA Mode: FAT32 or exFAT USB, MX4SIO, MMCE (SD2PSX / MemCard PRO2), plus the APA internal HDD.
- Boots from anywhere — memory card, MMCE, MX4SIO, or USB.
- In-launcher settings — video standard, BDM mode, boot page, per-device game lists, hidden games.
- Multi-disc collapse, launch arguments (boot straight to a device or game from your launcher), and HDD game-list caching.
Supported devices & status
Working today: internal HDD (APA/PFS), USB (FAT32 & exFAT via BDMA), MX4SIO, MMCE (SD2PSX / MemCard PRO2), and physical disc (DKWDRV). Newly added (via BDMA ATA, validating on hardware): the exFAT internal HDD. Wired but not yet working: iLink, and SMB v1 — see the full device matrix. Live status & known issues live in STATE.Exit menu & BOOT.ELF chaining (POPSLoader fork)
Press Triangle to open the launcher's Exit menu — OSDSYS (back to the PS2 browser), Cancel, or BOOT.ELF. BOOT.ELF chainloads mc0:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF (then mc1:/BOOT/BOOT.ELF as a fallback) — e.g. back to wLaunchELF, OPL, or your own boot menu — launched with reboot_iop=0 for a clean handoff. (Some third-party docs describe this as a “Triangle = relaunch BOOT.ELF” shortcut; in this fork Triangle opens the Exit menu and BOOT.ELF is one of its three choices.)Project documentation
The living docs for the POPSLoader codebase. Rendered straight from the repository.
README — OverviewREADME.md · 36 KBSTATE — status, invariants & known issuesSTATE.md · 84 KBAGENTS — orientation & high-risk surfacesAGENTS.md · 17 KBArchitectureARCHITECTURE.md · 47 KBComponentsCOMPONENTS.md · 35 KBDesign decisionsDECISIONS.md · 104 KBRoadmapROADMAP.md · 22 KBRolling notesROLLING_NOTES.md · 27 KBExperimental notesEXPERIMENTAL_NOTES.md · 82 KBQA regression matrixQA_REGRESSION_MATRIX.md · 77 KBTestingTESTING.md · 38 KBContributingCONTRIBUTING.md · 13 KBLaunch argumentsdocs/LAUNCH_ARGUMENTS.md · 9 KBPreservation contractsdocs/PRESERVATION_CONTRACTS.md · 38 KB