RS-GUI PopstationMD Version 3.0 Review

As you may have read in my previous post I thought that Red Squirrel's RS-GUI was o.k. but had some problems. Well, Red Squirrel has made a major update/improvement with the release of RS-GUI PopstationMD v3.0. Wow, this gui is your one stop shop for single and multiple disk PSX game conversion to PSP eboot. Here is the long list of features (the most important items are in green):

-Added Turkish, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish and Greek translations!
-Added popstation.exe support, now 1CD PSX games can be converted too! Only one program to convert ALL PSX Games!
-Thanks to Brisma, no BASE.PBP or KEYS.BIN is required by popstation.exe
-Added the zero compression level for 1CD PSX games
-Added a Splash Screen with a security check for the presence of program's necessary files
-Possibility to disable and re-enable aforesaid Splash Screen
-Added support for NRG and MDF CD images. Now program read these following formats: ISO, NRG, IMG, BIN and MDF!
-Now popstation.exe and popstation_md.exe will ask user to press any key before closing them, so users can understand what is the error which does not allow the eboot creation (if it exists!).
-Added a list of games titles-codes
-Possibility to search for a game title quickly from the listbox
-Auto-recognition of Game-ID from its title
-Added a security check for Game-ID correctness
-Added a "real time" preview of eboot personalization
-Possibility to enable/disable aforesaid real time preview
-Added the possibility to insert any image as PIC0, PIC1 and ICON0! All formats and sizes are accepted! Program will resize and covert images automatically
-Added the possibility to choose the output folder name (Noone, Game Title and Game Code)
-Added a check for the true existence of selected image
-Added the docmaker!
-Possibility to create a DOCUMENT.DAT standard alone or with the eboot itself
-Possibility to insert any image to DOCUMENT.DAT, program will resize and convert images automatically (so all formats and sizes are accepted!)
-Possibility to add, remove or clean the images list added to docmaker
-If DOCUMENT.DAT will be created together the eboot, it will created in the same folder of the eboot
-Many v2.0b bugs fixed
-Something other that I don't remember at the moment
(This was taken from Red Squirrel's release post)

I have used v3.0 to convert several multi-disk PSX games and they all play as expected. I would like to see the dev make the gui look a little more professional but that is personal preference and has nothing to do with how well the gui works. Here are some screenshots:







RS-GUI 3.0 definitely makes it easier to use DAX's popstations (single and multi-disk) and customize your eboots. I included images which were the wrong size for icon0 and pic1 and, as claimed, it resized them to the correct size. In my opinion, including the game title/code list was essential. The one major drawback for many people will be the installation of the .NET frameworks. I already had them installed but I know many people consider them bloat.

I recommend using RS-GUI 3.0 above other gui's that have come out recently because of it's feature set and ease of use. Well done Red Squirrel.

RS-GUI PopstationMD Version 3.0 released

Red Squirrel has released a huge update to RS-GUI PopstationMD. Looking at the new features, I have a feeling this is what I've been waiting to see. Check it out here, I will be.

RS-GUI PopstationMD and ImpalerPSX Eboot Creator

RS-GUI and ImpalerPSX are gui interfaces for DarkAleX's multiple disk popstation. I was going to do a head-to-head comparison of these two apps but I don't believe either one is really near a final version. I will give you my findings up to now:

RS-GUI:
Pros:

• Supports img, cue, bin, and iso
• Interface is O.K.
• Full preview of icon and wallpaper png's (along with error messages if the sizes of images are incorrect, nice touch)

Cons:

• No automatic game codes. This feature is coming but not implemented yet.
  
• I received an error message and that's pretty much all it said: "error occurred" during my first attempt at creating a multidisk eboot. After using PSX2PSP to find my game code, I had input "slus " in lowercase letters. I changed to uppercase and no error.

ImpalerPSX:
Pros:

• Interface is nice and clean.
• Input the game's name and it will give a list of possible game codes.

Cons:

• Only supports iso. Since my game images are img, I had to use UltraISO to convert them to iso.
  
• ImpalerPSX has to copy your game iso's to another folder to work on them. This takes a long time: 4 disk game X 650 MB (minimum) each disk = a long wait.
• The app consistently locked up on me. I wasn't able to complete the eboot creation process. I tried to contact Impaler but his feedback page on his website gave me a 404 error and I couldn't find a forum thread to get help. I think that converting the img to iso is the problem.

I am going to put this comparison on hold. Please don't take these criticisms too seriously since neither of these apps seems complete. Here is what I would like to see if I were going to use one of these to create multidisk eboots for all my PSX games:

• Red Squirrel needs to add automatic game codes. I hate opening another app to find the code for this app. Also, better error messages: tell me what I'm doing wrong.
• Impaler needs to add other image formats other than just iso. I shouldn't have to use another app to convert to iso. I will continue to try and get a usable eboot out of this app, hopefully the problem is something I am doing wrong.

These developers are very good at what they do. I have to utmost confidence that both of these apps will eventually become what we need them to be. Can't wait for updates....just need to be patient....

Head to Head Multidisk Popstation GUI's

I was hoping to do a 3 way comparison of the new gui's created for DAX's multidisk popsloader (after the holidays) but Kingsquitter isn't showing signs of updating PSX2PSP anytime soon. I don't feel like waiting so I am going to just compare 2 gui's: Red Squirrel's RS-GUI PopStationMD v2.0 and Impaler's PSX Eboot Creator. Look for the comparison post soon after the new year.

Happy Holiday's and a Happy New Year to all.

New CFW 3.71 M33-4 is here with Multidisk Popsloader

I mentioned yesterday that Dark AleX and the Devs at Maxconsole were coming out with a Popsloader to allow multidisk PSX games to be created in a single eboot. It is here. DAX and his team have implemented the new Popsloader in an updated CFW to support multidisk games and included in the download is Popstation-md; to create the multidisk eboots. Well done guys. Here is the forum post and downloads (look for the bugfix for 3.71 M33-4 that has already been released). Thank you DAX and M33 team.

New Popsloader for PSX games having multiple disks

The Devs over at Maxconsole are coming out with a new Popsloader which I can't wait for. This new Popsloader will allow you to play Playstation 1 games having more than one disk on your PSP but all the disks will be contained inside one eboot. Currently you have to have a separate eboot for each game disk. I am excited about this because I created eboots for my FF7, FF8, FF9, Chrono Cross, and Legend of Dragoon disks but I can only fit two of the eboots on my ms at a time. Each eboot is about 500 mb and my largest ms is 2 gig (gotta save room for other games, podcasts, videos, etc.). Can't wait for the 8 gig to come down in price. I am speculating that this should reduce the size of the eboots as a whole. Even if the size of the eboot isn't reduced, this will make playing your old PSX games more convenient. Well done guys, can't wait to see it.