PS2-Servers

Network servers for loading PlayStation 2 games and apps over a LAN with Open PS2 Loader (OPL) and forks — plus a small GUI launcher so anyone can run them without touching a terminal.

Quick start — the launcher

The launcher lets you pick a server, choose your games folder, and click Start. It detects your PC's LAN IP and shows the exact settings to enter in OPL.

• Packaged app (no Python needed): download the release for your OS. On Windows, prefer the folder build — unzip PS2Servers-windows-x64-folder.zip and run PS2Servers.exe from inside the folder. It is the same app, but without the self-extracting wrapper that makes the single-file .exe trip antivirus heuristics, so it comes up clean. A single-file PS2Servers-windows-x64.zip is still provided for convenience if your AV doesn't object. (Linux: PS2Servers-linux-x64, or PS2Servers-linux-x64-folder.tar.gz if /tmp is mounted noexec.)
• From source: double-click Start-Launcher.bat (Windows) or run ./start-launcher.sh (Linux/macOS). Requires Python 3.

The launcher starts normally without administrator rights. The GUI shows whether it is currently running as administrator and includes a Restart as administrator button for the few Windows setup actions that actually need elevation.

The GUI uses a lightweight PS2-themed Tkinter skin. It does not use Electron, Qt, a browser view, or any heavy UI framework.

Windows security note

PS2 Servers is an unsigned open-source network tool. Because it runs local server processes and may ask Windows Firewall to allow inbound LAN traffic, some antivirus products may flag the packaged Windows EXE heuristically.

The SMBv1/RiptOPL server does not enable Windows' built-in SMB1 optional feature tree. It speaks the OPL-compatible SMB1/CIFS subset itself and normally listens on custom TCP port 1111; OPL connects to this program directly. (Avoid ports below 1033 — Windows can reserve or block low ports.)

Windows setup is intentionally narrow:

• no automatic enabling of Windows SMB1;
• no disabling of SMB1 automatic removal;
• Windows Firewall changes are limited to rules named PS2 Servers - ...;
• firewall allow/cleanup can be handled from the GUI without a terminal;
• administrator rights are requested only for firewall changes or advanced port 445 mode;
• advanced port 445 mode is optional and temporarily pauses Windows File Sharing only while that server mode is running.

Normal custom-port SMB mode, UDPFS, UDPBD, folder browsing, and logs do not need the whole launcher to run as administrator. Keeping the default launch non-admin reduces the blast radius of bugs and keeps the app easier to trust.

If a download is flagged, the antivirus statement (docs/antivirus-transparency.md — styled web version at docs/falsepositives.html) explains exactly why heuristics fire, what the app does and does not do, how to verify a download, and how to report a false positive to each vendor. A non-self-extracting folder build is offered as an alternative download for AV-wary users.

See SECURITY.md for verification, cleanup, and reporting details. See docs/antivirus-transparency.md for the public antivirus false-positive review note, stable release identity, ports, firewall behavior, and uninstall/cleanup details.

What's inside

All three servers are pure-Python (standard library) and run on Windows, Linux and macOS.

Folder	Server	What it does
smbv1_server/	SMBv1 (RiptOPL)	Shares a games folder over SMB — works even on Windows 11 where the OS removed SMB1.
udpfs_server/	UDPFS	Serves a folder and/or disk image over UDP; can transparently decompress CHD/CSO/ZSO.
udpbd_server/	UDPBD	Serves a disk image as a block device over UDP; the PS2 auto-discovers it.

udpbd_server/udpbd_server.py is a pure-Python port of Rick Gaiser's UDPBD server — see its provenance. UDPBD has largely been superseded by UDPFS.

UDPFS can transparently decompress CHD/CSO/ZSO images. How that support is bundled in releases and provided in source mode is documented in docs/optional-compression-dependencies.md.

Want a UDPFS server without Python (handy on low‑end hardware, or to avoid antivirus false positives on packaged builds)? udpfsd by pcm720 is a Go alternative — a single prebuilt binary with the same CHD/CSO/ZSO support. See Credits & thanks.

Run a server on its own (terminal)

Each server still runs standalone, and the launcher can run them too:

python smbv1_server/smbserver_opl.py --share games=D:/PS2Games
python udpfs_server/udpfs_server.py  -d D:/PS2Games --enable-compression
python udpbd_server/udpbd_server.py  D:/PS2Games/game.iso
# or, via the launcher engine:
python -m launcher --serve udpfs -d D:/PS2Games
python -m launcher --list            # show servers available on this machine

Build the packaged app

Nuitka bundles the launcher and all three servers into one executable per OS — no Python install required for the end user:

python -m pip install -r requirements-build.txt
python build/build.py            # -> dist/PS2Servers(.exe)

Release verification

Automatic releases (built on every push to main) include SHA256SUMS.txt, a portable source ZIP, and GitHub artifact attestations for the packaged assets. Tagged vX.Y.Z releases include a per-asset <asset>.sha256.txt checksum file plus attestations. Example verification (automatic-release assets):

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt
gh attestation verify PS2Servers-windows-x64.zip -R NathanNeurotic/PS2-Servers

Checksums prove the file was downloaded intact. Attestations prove build provenance. Neither is a magic safety certificate. Because the app is plain Python and build/build.py rebuilds the release from source (single-file or PS2_BUILD_MODE=standalone folder build), the lowest-trust path is to inspect the source and build/run it yourself — see docs/antivirus-transparency.md for the full verification, "build it yourself", and false-positive-reporting guide.

Status

The UDPBD port is validated by udpbd_server/selftest.py at the protocol level (INFO/READ/WRITE byte-for-byte). As with the SMBv1 server, final validation is on real hardware — an actual PS2 running OPL, or PCSX2 with a network adapter.

Legal & responsible use

Please read this before using PS2 Servers.

• Your content, your responsibility. PS2 Servers is a general-purpose file server. It ships no games and no copyrighted content — it only serves files you point it at, from your PC. You are solely responsible for ensuring you have the legal right to use, copy, and serve any games, disc images, saves, or other files, and for complying with the laws of your jurisdiction. This project does not condone or facilitate copyright infringement; the intended use is with homebrew and with backups of media you legally own.
• Not affiliated with Sony. "PlayStation", "PlayStation 2", and "PS2" are trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment. This is an independent, unofficial fan/homebrew project with no affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement from Sony, the Open PS2 Loader team, or any other rights holder. See NOTICE.md.
• Trusted networks only. The servers are unauthenticated (guest) and designed for a private home LAN. Do not expose them to the internet or run them on untrusted networks.
• Data-loss risk. Writable modes let the PlayStation 2 write to the folders and disc images you share (saves, VMC). Keep backups; use --read-only if you want a strictly read-only share.
• No warranty. PS2 Servers is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, and the authors' liability is limited, as set out in the Academic Free License 3.0 (see §7 "Disclaimer of Warranty" and §8 "Limitation of Liability" in LICENSE). You use it at your own risk.

License and notices

PS2 Servers is licensed under the Academic Free License 3.0 (AFL-3.0). See LICENSE.

This repository also includes third-party notices and provenance details in NOTICE.md, including the redistributed Neutrino UDPFS server, UDPBD protocol references, optional compression libraries, build tooling, and trademark notes.

Credits & thanks

This is a fan project that stands entirely on the shoulders of the PS2 homebrew community. None of the clever parts are ours — we just wrapped brilliant existing work in something click‑and‑go. With genuine gratitude:

• Rick Gaiser — @rickgaiser — the heart of all of this. He designed the UDPBD and UDPFS network protocols and wrote the original servers, alongside Neutrino. udpfs_server/udpfs_server.py is his UDPFS server (from Neutrino's pc/ host tools), and udpbd_server/udpbd_server.py is our independent Python re‑implementation of his UDPBD v2 protocol. The network game‑loading here simply does not exist without his work — thank you.
• pcm720 — @pcm720 — a core Neutrino contributor and author of udpfsd, a UDPFS server written in Go. If you'd rather not run our Python UDPFS server — e.g. on a low‑end device, or to sidestep the antivirus heuristics that hit unsigned packaged Python builds — udpfsd is an excellent no‑Python alternative: one standalone binary, prebuilt for Windows, macOS, and low‑end ARM/MIPS targets, with the same transparent CHD/CSO/ZSO decompression. Thanks as well for generously taking the time to vet the network‑boot docs. 🙏
• El_isra — @israpps — maintains the canonical udpbd-server on GitHub (Rick's code, with CI), which is the reference we ported from.
• Alex Parrado — the Windows port of udpbd-server.
• Open PS2 Loader and the ps2homebrew team — the loader everything here serves, and the wider toolchain that makes PS2 homebrew possible.
• prodeveloper0/pyudpbd — a pure‑Python UDPBD port we read while writing our own.
• The folks behind CHD (libchdr / MAME), CSO, and ZSO — the compressed‑image formats UDPFS decompresses on the fly.

What's original here

The GUI launcher, the RiptOPL SMBv1 server, and the pure‑Python UDPBD port were written for this repo. Everything at the protocol level is the community's — we reimplemented from public protocols/source (rather than copying code) where we could, and tried to attribute accurately.

To the authors above 🙏

This exists out of appreciation for what you've given the PS2 scene, not any sense of ownership. If you'd like attribution changed, a link corrected, or your work removed from this repo entirely, please open an issue — we'll sort it out right away, no questions asked. Thank you, sincerely.