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VCD.md

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PS1 Games via POPSTARTER (the "VCD" view)

RiptOPL can list and launch your PlayStation 1 games (*.VCD images) right alongside your PS2 library, on the same device. PS1 titles boot through POPSTARTER — never OPL's built-in core and never Neutrino — so this is a self-contained path with its own settings.

The in-app UI deliberately calls this a VCD view rather than "PS1" or "POPS", so it reads cleanly next to your disc games.

1. The VCD view (press L3)

Every device that can hold games — USB, MMCE, MX4SIO, iLink, SMB, and the internal HDD — has two lists:

  • its disc games (PS2 ISO / ZSO / UL), and
  • its VCD games (PS1 *.VCD).

Press L3 on a device page to switch that page between the two. It is a view, not a separate tab — the same page, the same covers, favourites and per-game settings, just a different list. An on-screen hint shows whether you're looking at discs or VCDs.

2. Lock a page with "Default game view"

If you don't want to press L3 every time, open Settings → Display Settings and set Default game view:

Value Behaviour
Both (default) every page starts on its disc list; L3 toggles to the VCD list
ISO every page is locked to its disc list (L3 does nothing)
VCD every page is locked to its VCD list (L3 does nothing)

Favourites follow the active view: while a page shows VCDs, its favourited VCD titles appear; while it shows discs, its favourited discs appear. Nothing is lost — favourites that don't match the current view simply aren't shown until you switch back.

Favourite your PS1 games

Press R3 on a PS1 title (while a page is in its VCD view) to favourite it, exactly as you would a disc game. The Favourites tab has its own L3 toggle, just like every device page: press L3 there to swap between your disc favourites and your PS1 favourites. A VCD favourite launches through POPSTARTER straight from the Favourites tab — even when the source device page is currently showing its disc list — and carries its PS1 cover art and disc badge with it.

This works on every device with a VCD view — USB, MX4SIO, the internal exFAT HDD, SMB, MMCE, and the APA-formatted internal HDD. (On the APA HDD the PS1 games are spread across multiple APA partitions, so opening one of its VCD favourites re-scans those partitions to find the game — the first launch may take a moment.)

3. How PS1 games launch (POPSTARTER only)

VCD titles always boot through POPSTARTER.ELF. They never use OPL's built-in core or Neutrino, so on a VCD game the per-game Loader Core selector is locked to an inert label — choosing a core there has no effect on a PS1 game.

POPSTARTER only needs the VCD's name to do its job; RiptOPL hands it the selected title and POPSTARTER finds the matching *.VCD.

By default RiptOPL looks for POPSTARTER.ELF in each device's POPS folder. To use one specific copy everywhere, set Settings → General Settings → POPSTARTER.ELF Path. (Like the other path fields, the on-screen editor caps at 31 characters; for a longer path, set popstarter_path in settings_riptopl.cfg directly.)

4. Where to put your VCD files

Device Location
USB / MMCE / MX4SIO / iLink / SMB a POPS folder at the device root, holding POPSTARTER.ELF + your *.VCD files
Internal HDD (APA/PFS) two layouts, both listed: a __.POPS, __.POPS0 … __.POPS9 store partition (many *.VCD on its root, named per file), and/or PP.<name> single-game install partitions (one IMAGE0.VCD each; shown as <name>). POPSTARTER.ELF is loaded from a POPS folder on the __common partition (then +OPL as a fallback).

The HDD's XX.* (BDMA/exFAT) and SB.* (SMBv1) launcher partitions point at VCDs that live on an exFAT device or an SMB share — those games appear under the USB/MX4SIO/MMCE or SMB VCD views, not the internal-HDD one.

If a VCD's filename matches the PS1 disc-ID pattern SXXX_NNN.NN.Title.VCD, RiptOPL keys cover art and per-game config off that PS1 ID, so PS1 covers load from your ART folder exactly like PS2 covers. Any other *.VCD name is still listed and launched — it just won't auto-match art by ID.

Internal HDD covers: VCD covers on the APA HDD load from an ART folder at the partition root (pfs:/ART/ — i.e. <your OPL partition>:/ART/), not the OPL/ART/ subfolder PS2-HDD covers use. (PP.* installs key off the displayed name, e.g. GAME_COV.png.)

5. exFAT PS1 support — the BDMA equip

POPSTARTER's stock driver reads FAT32. To boot PS1 games from an exFAT drive, POPSTARTER needs extra block-device modules (the BDMAssault / "BDMA" drivers). RiptOPL equips them for you from General Settings — you supply the module files, RiptOPL copies the right pair onto your memory card:

  • VCD BDMA Apply on Launch (default On) — POPSTARTER does its own IOP reset and reloads its block-device driver from the memory card, so the right exFAT variant must already be on the card or the game drops to OSDSYS. When On, RiptOPL equips the variant matching the PS1 game you're launching (read from that game's own device) automatically, right before boot — so an MX4SIO / USB / HDD exFAT game just works with no manual step. Turn it Off to manage the driver yourself; that reveals the BDMA Source / BDMA Mode pickers below.
  • BDMA MODE (manual; shown when Apply-on-Launch is Off) — which driver variant POPSTARTER should use: USB (FAT32) (none — removes the exFAT modules so POPSTARTER falls back to its built-in FAT32 driver), USB (exFAT), MX4SIO (exFAT), MMCE (exFAT), or HDD (exFAT) (the internal ATA HDD via BDMAssault).
  • BDMA SOURCE — which device holds the module files in its POPS folder: USB, MX4SIO, MMCE, or Internal HDD. OPL identifies each device by its block-device driver (usb / mx4sio / ata / mmce) and reads from that specific device, so pick the one your module files actually sit on. For the internal exFAT HDD choose Internal HDD — OPL reads the files from the same massN:/POPS/ folder it lists that drive's PS1 games from (it never mounts an ata0: filesystem; ata0: is only an internal block-device identity, not a readable path). It is the same physical volume wLaunchELF shows, so place POPS/usbd.irx.ata + POPS/usbhdfsd.irx.ata there.

Module file names matter. The two driver files in that POPS/ folder must be named for the BDMA MODE you pick: usbd.irx.<mode> and usbhdfsd.irx.<mode>. For HDD (exFAT) that is usbd.irx.ata + usbhdfsd.irx.ata (other modes use .usbexfat, .mx4sio, .mmce). Plain usbd.irx / usbhdfsd.irx with no suffix are ignored — that is what triggers the "BDMA module files not found" message.

When you change either setting, RiptOPL copies the chosen variant's modules from the SOURCE device's POPS folder onto mc?:/POPSTARTER/ and records the equipped state in a marker file there (compatible with POPSLoader). Nothing is embedded in the loader — you provide the module files, so there is no ELF bloat. SMB is network-only, so the BDMA equip does not apply to it.

The internal exFAT HDD (enable BDM HDD in Device Settings) mounts as a normal BDM block device, so its PS1 games in massN:/POPS/ list and launch through the same VCD view (press L3) as USB/MX4SIO — there's no separate page. Equip the HDD (exFAT) BDMA mode so POPSTARTER itself can read them off the exFAT volume.

6. PS1 over SMB — network config mirror

PS1 games on an SMB share need POPSTARTER's own network config (IPCONFIG.DAT + SMBCONFIG.DAT) on the memory card, plus its SMB modules. RiptOPL can write those config files for you: enable Settings → Network Settings → Write POPSTARTER Network Config (off by default). On save it mirrors the same IP / share values OPL already uses into mc?:/POPSTARTER/. The SMB modules themselves ship in the release's POPSTARTER/ folder (copy them to mc?:/POPSTARTER/); if they're missing, an SMB VCD launch warns rather than hanging.

7. Notes & limitations

  • VCD support reuses the normal device pipeline, so covers, favourites and the theme all work exactly as they do for disc games.
  • POPSTARTER, the BDMA module variants, and the patch file are supplied by you (or bundled in the release POPS/ folder) — RiptOPL embeds none of them.
  • The Loader Core, GSM, Cheats, PADEMU and similar per-game options do not apply to PS1 games (POPSTARTER ignores them).

See also NEUTRINO.md for the separate PS2 external-core loader, and ../ROLLING_RELEASE.md for what the builds contain.