FreeMCBoot/FreeHDBoot

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Description[edit | edit source]

Most of what is written below is taken directly from the SP193 personal website.

Preface[edit | edit source]

This is a Free Memory Card Boot (FMCB) installer. It was previously known as the "Unofficial FMCB v1.8C" installer.
No part of it was directly re-used from FMCB v1.7 itself, but parts of it were based or referenced from the code of FMCB v1.7.
The files in the fmcb-install folder are from Jimmikaelkael's PS3MCA project. Of course, I didn't include the questionable files which Sony claimed as a breach of their copyright.
Since FMCB v1.9 was born, the FMCB installer has been used for installing FMCB.

How To Use[edit | edit source]

  1. Download the archive linked to in the downloads section
  2. Extract the contents into a USB Mass Storage device (e.g. USB thumb drive, HDD).
  3. Launch the installer with your PlayStation 2 console
Option Description
Install Allows you to choose between 3 install modes. wich can cover certain ranges of consoles and regions
Multi-Install Performs a "multi" installation of FMCB. A multi-installation can boot on all consoles of any region, and not only on the console it was installed with.

corrupting the memory card filesystem intentionally to allow usage of symbolic links (wich sony didnt want to use, thats why such hackish approach was needed)

Uninstall FMCB Removes a normal installation of FMCB from a memory card.
Uninstall MI Uninstalls a multi-installation, turning it back into a normal FMCB installation.
Format MC Formats a Memory Card.
Dump MC Dumps a Memory Card to an image installer's directory.
Restore MC Restores a Memory Card from an image located in the installer's directory.
Shutdown Switches off the Playstation 2 console.
Exit Exits the installer and returns back to the OSDSYS menu.

Known Bugs[edit | edit source]

Known bugs:

  • None


Known limitations:

  • Some USB devices (i.e. Kingston) are known to be incompatible with PlayStation 2 homebrew software. To avoid a loss of data, please do not use them to store dumps from your memory cards.


Additional Notes[edit | edit source]

I've spent slightly over a hundred hours working on this, and I hope that it works well.... but of course, anything could go wrong - so I have provided a memory card dumping and restoration facility within the installer.

A dump of a memory card in slot 1 will get saved as mc0.bin, and a dump of a card in slot 1 will get saved as mc1.bin. The file will be saved to the directory where the main executable of this installer resides in. Caution! You can only make one dump of a card from each port. Making additional dumps will overwrite the previous dump.

Supported installation media:

  • USB devices only

== Warnings Against Potential Pitfalls ==
!!! WARNING !!! If you make a multi-install, do not delete any of the B*EXEC-SYSTEM folders or any of the OSD*.elf files inside them! Doing so might result in SEVERE data loss. Do not delete uninstall.dat from the SYS-CONF folder either, or you will probably be stuck with the multi-install files forever.

Lastly, read the included README file for more details.

Notes Regarding The Sources[edit | edit source]

The sources have been released. :) Check out the downloads section below.

Within the sources, I have created:

  • SECRMAN, a clone of the Sony Security Manager (SECRMAN) module that has card-binding functions (SecrDownload*).
  • SECRSIF, a clone of the Sony Security Manager SIF RPC server.
  • MCTOOLS, a RPC server module that provided misceallenous functions for the memory cards like dumping and restoration, and filesystem manipulation.
  • UDNL, the Updater module. Used for updating the IOP with newer modules (Which is only SECRMAN for this installer).

Hopefully, they will be useful for the homebrew community after their release.

Supported Languages[edit | edit source]

Language Status
Japanese Unassigned
English Completed and built-in.
French Translated by ShaolinAssassin.
Spanish Translated by ElPatas.
German Translated by Delta_force.
Italian Translated by Davidreamer.
Dutch Translated by port187
Portuguese Translated by gledson999.

Updates[edit | edit source]

  • Update 2019/04/13: v0.987 (FMCB v1.966) released.
  • Update 2019/01/14: v0.986 (FMCB v1.966) re-released.
  • Update 2019/01/11: v0.986 (FMCB v1.966) released.
  • Update 2019/01/07: v0.985 (FMCB v1.966) released.
  • Update 2018/12/08: v0.985 (FMCB v1.965) released.
  • Update 2018/11/03: v0.984 (FMCB v1.965) re-released.
  • Update 2018/10/27: v0.984 (FMCB v1.965) re-released.
  • Update 2018/10/21: v0.984 (FMCB v1.965) released.
  • Update 2018/10/21: v0.984 (FMCB v1.965) released.
  • Update 2018/07/22: v0.983 (FMCB v1.964) released.
  • Update 2018/07/04: v0.983 (FMCB v1.963) re-released.
  • Update 2018/06/28: v0.983 (FMCB v1.962) re-released.
  • Update 2018/06/20: v0.983 (FMCB v1.962) released.
  • Update 2018/06/19: v0.983 (FMCB v1.961) released.
  • Update 2018/06/14: v0.982 (FMCB v1.96) released (minor update to installer).
  • Update 2018/06/12: v0.981 (FMCB v1.96) released.
  • Update 2016/12/16: v0.973 (FMCB v1.953) re-released.
  • Update 2016/12/15: v0.973 (FMCB v1.953) released.
  • Update 2016/06/18: v0.972 (FMCB v1.952) released.
  • Update 2016/06/09: v0.972 (FMCB v1.951) released.
  • Update 2016/05/21: v0.971 (FMCB v1.951) released.
  • Update 2016/01/04: v0.97 (FMCB v1.95) released.
  • Update 2013/10/13: v0.96 (FMCB v1.94) released.
  • Update 2013/10/13: v0.95 (FMCB v1.93) released.
  • Update 2013/08/22: v0.94H (FMCB v1.92) released.
  • Update 2013/08/19: v0.94H (FMCB v1.91) released.
  • Update 2013/08/17: Beta v0.94D & H released.
  • Update 2013/07/20: Beta v0.94C released, minor bugfix and translation update.
  • Update 2013/07/16: Beta v0.94B1 released, minor bugfix.
  • Update 2013/07/14: Beta v0.94B released, minor bugfix.
  • Update 2013/07/12: Beta v0.94A released, minor bugfix and features update.
  • Update 2013/07/11 03:21: Added a translation template.
  • Update 2013/07/10: Beta v0.94 released!
  • Update 2012/11/04: Beta v0.93B1 released!
  • Update 2012/04/07: Beta v0.93B released!
  • Update 2011/11/14: Beta v0.93A released! (Late update)
  • Update 2011/10/03: Beta v0.93 released!
  • Update 2011/09/20: Beta v0.92 released!
  • Update 2011/09/16: Beta v0.91 released!
  • Update 2011/09/14: Beta v0.90 released!

Forum Articles[edit | edit source]

Site/Download[edit | edit source]

Official sp193's website (backup)

Unofficial maintained repository

Developers[edit | edit source]

jimmikaelkael neme sp193