Which PS2 cheat systems do you have?

[Lazy Bastard]

I'd like to take a look at a few attributes of the various versions of CB, GS, and AR for the PS2. If you have a (genuine, not pirated) version of any of these, or any other third party disc for that matter (HDLoader, Swap Magic, etc), and you wouldn't mind spending a couple of minutes investigating for me, pop it in your disc drive, flare up ISOBuster, and let me know the LBA of the SYSTEM.CNF and primary ELF (SLxS file), as well as the filename and filesize of the primary ELF. I've already got a set of info for AR Max EVO, but I'd like to see if it's absolutely consistent between discs.

Thanks in advance...

[LiquidManZero]

I've got an AR Max non-EVO.. Hm. The underside reads "thin ice media | playstation 2 | action replay max - version 3.70 | datel usa | 07031401".

SYSTEM.CNF - 12231
SLUS_200.90 - 12232

Interestingly, there's two files before system.cnf, and then all the rest of the data is past the ELF. Which is three directories and a big2.dat all the way at the end of the disc.

Somewhat unrelated, but I get the feeling all the discs that have come out of Thin Ice Media, are somewhat more fragile than normal pressed optical media.

[Lazy Bastard]

Thanks. Those are the same LBAs as the SYSTEM.CNF and primary ELF of AR Max EVO, interestingly.

From what I can see, Datel used the most precision of all the cheat system companies, performed the splice closest to the beginning of the disc, and kept it much tighter than everyone else. They also seem to have utilized alternate data streams, and did not adhere to the identical filesize standards the other cheat system manufacturers did. However, they're still just as susceptible to damage as any of the other spliced media, and it looks like none of the companies took much care to strengthen the resin connecting the two sections. This is a lesson they all learned just for us

I'm currently doing some LBA/PSN to visual mapping...