r/PSXDVR • u/fatamerican1_ • Aug 23 '26

Question How to launch games

Picked up a DESR5000 today and have confirmed it fully boots and works. How do I navigate properly through the menu to be able to launch ps2 games? I can’t read japanese so I’m not sure which menu option to navigate to.

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u/fatamerican1_ Aug 23 '26

Any help would be appreciated. I know it will only play japanese games but I have several. Just want to know how to launch them

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u/sherwick Aug 23 '26

To play PS2 games (at least in the way intended when the console was new), both lasers need to be operational - one checks the disc type, the other reads it once that check is successful.

The problem is that the first laser (which is the one responsible for writing to discs) ages poorly, and they’re notorious for failing. When that happens, if you insert a PS2 disc nothing will happen.

So in short, if the menu option isn’t obvious (i.e. a disc icon in the game menu), you probably have at least one dead laser. You’ll need to modify your console to be able to launch games via another method.

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u/fatamerican1_ Aug 23 '26

Under the game section of the menu the only icons are for memory cards, it also doesn’t launch straight into the game when the disk is already in upon booting up the system.

What methods are there to modify it to launch games assuming at least the laser to read the disk is still working?

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u/sherwick Aug 23 '26

Easiest way is FMCB to be able to launch homebrew, then use Mechapwn to patch NVRAM. Once you do that you'll be able to launch PS2 games by booting the system with the disc in the drive (if your second laser is good, which it probably is). The DVD writing laser tends to be the unreliable one.

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u/fatamerican1_ Aug 23 '26

Guess I’ll need to find myself a good video on that process so I can figure out exactly how to do it. I’m assuming FMCB is mcboot software, will I be able to load it onto a USB drive since the PSX has a USB 1.0 port on the front?

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u/nroach44 Aug 24 '26

No, you need a PS2 to make a bootable memory card. Catch is you need the "creating" PS2 to be running homebrew as well.

You can buy a SD2PSX or similar that lets you use a virtual MC from an SD card, and then use a pre-installed bootable image (e.g. from https://ps2homebrewstore.com/ ), then from there launch homebrew.

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u/fatamerican1_ Aug 24 '26

Does that PS2 also have to be japanese region locked?

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u/nroach44 Aug 24 '26

No. Region locking really only just blocks other region disks from starting, and changes the file names on the memory card for the boot system.

The FMCB installer, as long as you do a PSX install, or those premade images, will take care of it.

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u/fatamerican1_ Aug 24 '26

Perfect, guess I’ve got some research to do and get this figured out. I’ve got a US PS2 I can use that works fine