I got the original concept from redeyed's post at psx-scene.com. His post is just a general overview of what should be done. This guide is a complete walkthrough from installation to getting games running. Check out the FreeVAST forum at psx-scene.com for all the latest info. FREE MCBOOT is a creation by jimmikaelkael and ESR is a creation by ffgriever. The ESR patcher was created by bootsector and modified into a Windows GUI by ffgriever.
Before you can get this to work, you need to have access to an already exploited PS2 (Fat with independence exploit, or one that already has Free MC Boot), or a modded PS2, or Action Replay MAX, or Codebreaker (8.1 and newer), or Swapmagic. There are installation instructions in various languages at SKSApps for installing FMCB through the latter 3 methods located here. Basically just some way to run ELF files.
I don't know how well this works with PS2 models v1-4 but it should work for v5 and newer. I know it works for NTSC-U consoles, but I am not able to test it on other regions so I am not sure if it works otherwise.
PLEASE READ THE STEPS COMPLETELY BEFORE INSTALLING. If you are confused PM me on psx-scene.com. User: aoizer0
Download these files (up to date as of July 17, 2008):
FREE_MCBOOT_1.5.zip
ESR_beta_r9.zip
DVDPLx.zip
BxEXEC-DVDPLAYER.zip
ESR_disc_patcher_GUI_v0.24a.zip
(for Windows) or ESRPatchJava_v0.2.4.zip
(for other OSes)
uLaunchELF_v4.16.zip
Note: Updates for FREE MCBOOT can be located here and updates for ESR can be located here.
First extract the files from DVDPLx.zip and locate the proper file
associated with your region (based on the last letter of the file).
In my case I have a
Next, rename it to DVDELF.bin. MAKE SURE THE FILE NAME IS CAPITALIZED and
the .bin extension is lowercase.
Now extract the files in ESR_beta_r9.zip
Rename ESR beta r9 dvdv direct.elf to BOOT.ELF (Note: some games may need to
be booted with ESR beta r9 dvdv direct off.elf which is like Mode 3 for those
familiar with HDLoader.)
It must be in ALL CAPITALS, INCLUDING THE .ELF EXTENSION. (Note: You may
want to take the uLaunchELF elf file and rename it to BOOT1.ELF and stick it on
your thumbdrive as well. More info later.)
Now extract the FREE MCBOOT installer .elf and stick the DVDELF.bin file and
BOOT.ELF file in the same directory on a usb thumbdrive.
Through uLaunchELF or some other means, run FREE_MCBOOT.ELF of your usb
thumbdrive.
Insert the memory card you want to install FREE MCBOOT on into the Player 1
slot and hit the X button to do a normal install.
Reload into uLaunchELF and navigate to the folder that was created
BxEXEC-SYSTEM (where x is the region).
Copy the osdmain.elf file.
Paste osdmain.elf onto your usb thumbdrive (unless you're able to rename the
file to dvdplayer.elf in uLaunchELF then skip the next 2 steps).
Rename osdmain.elf.
To dvdplayer.elf.
Extract the folder BxEXEC-DVDPLAYER (replace the x with the letter that was
found in the folder BxEXEC-SYSTEM that FREE MCBOOT installed to on your memory
card) to your usb thumbdrive and stick the dvdplayer.elf file in there.
Stick the usb thumbdrive back into the PS2 and copy the BxEXEC-DVDPLAYER
folder to your memory card.
Delete the BxEXEC-SYSTEM folder.
Double check the BOOT folder on your memory card to make sure BOOT.ELF (the
renamed ESR.elf) is there. (Notice: I included BOOT1.ELF and BOOT2.ELF in my
BOOT folder. BOOT1.ELF is uLaunchELF and BOOT2.ELF is ESR dvdv direct off.elf.
Why did I do this? So I can update FREE MCBOOT and ESR with ease by holding R1
when I load a burned game. More info later.)
You can verify if the installation is working by looking at the version of
the DVD Player in the PS2 Browser. It should be the same as mine. (Version is
editable in the dvdplayer.id, dvdplayer-e.ver, and dvdplayer-j.ver as long as
it's higher than the current version of your PS2 DVD Player driver. Also, you
may have to change the letter in the file depending on your own DVD Player
version. 4.32x -> Replace the x with what your console version says.)
Now you want to patch an ISO with one of the ESR patchers, burn it to good
media, and stick it in the PS2.
My Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzFwpMC5Zy0
As I mentioned before about BOOT1.ELF and BOOT2.ELF, if you hold the R1 button after you stick the patched, burned game into your PS2, it will load BOOT1.ELF instead of the game. Holding down L1 will boot BOOT2.ELF. It's all in the configuration file for FREE MCBOOT.