[How To] Burn a PS2 Game (From Torrent) To DVD Using Nero


Foreword: This is one of my favorite tutorials, and re-writing it from scratch is a lot of work.  By doing it over again, I hope to convey to you the awesomeness of the PS2, and if you are an owner of it, you need to give it more love than you think it deserves.  It needs you, and you need it.

As usual, The Undergound does not support or advocate piracy.  We support making backups of games that you own.  We realize that sometimes games can be scratched, so making a digital backup is impossible and in lieu of buying the game again, you can download the PS2 game from a torrent.  If you do this method, only do it if you own a retail version of the game.

Downloading games that you do not legally own is illegal, and we want no part of that.  Follow the law.  Play with a conscience mind.  Thank you. ~ Versatile

Revisions:

6-23-09:  Re-release of a classic tutorial.

2-6-10: Removed the youtube link until I upload a new video.

9-27-10: Fixed Nero image.

12-13-12: Fixed Nero image again.


Introduction

Yes, it is true.  You can make a backup of your PS2 game (for legal purposes of course) to preserve your original game.  However, what do you do if your favorite game has gotten scratched up over the years?  Do you want to go out and buy another copy of it?  Oh wait, Gamestop doesn’t have that game anymore?  What are you going to do?

Have you considered Torrents?

Wait, what are torrents?  In short, it is a small table of contents file called a “torrent” and you use it with a “torrent client” program.  From here, it will download the required files from other people online who are sharing the file for the online community.

Unfortunately, this article is not meant to be about torrents but rather show the user how to take a PS2 game that they got from a torrent, extract it from the Winrar files, and burn the ISO file using Nero.

If you are unfamiliar with torrents, please read our excellent guides below first and then come back here:

[How To] Use Bittorrent – Utorrent

Guide for Better and Safer Torrenting

Assumptions (makes it easier for the rest of the tutorial)

1) You have some kind of RAR file extractor.  Examples include Winrar (shareware), and 7-zip (freeware)

2) You have Winrar or equivalent program configured properly.  More specifically, the program does not see your ISO file as an extractable file.

For a guide on Winrar and not making this mistake, see the guide below:

[How To] Make WinRAR Not Recognize ISO Files

As a past commenter had said, he does not want the user to fall to this mistake either.  See the original quote below:

Harrison:  I think that integration of Iso files into winrar is a major problem. The best way to get around that is to disable ISO integration with winrar. That way when u extract up until u get an ISO file, it will look different.

To do this, simply open up WinRar, on the Menu bar(file,command,tools,favorites,Options,Help),select Options-settings, then integration(usually last top-right after security) here you will find on the left hand side files assocaited with Winrar, simply uncheck the ISO option and press OK.

Thanks it, from here on, winrar will pretend not to know what an ISO file is, but will still extract it if asked to….LOL

3)  Your PS2 is modded via swap magic, modchip, or perhaps an exploited memory card.  To learn more about PS2 modding, see the guide below:

[Novice Guide] How to Get Started with PS2 and Backups

4) You have a DVD burner, and a spindle of blank DVD-Rs or DVD+Rs.

5) You have read this guide on DVD class media.  This is very important for a successful and readable disc for the PS2.

[How To] Determine DVD Class Media

6)  You have a passion to learn.  You know how to use the computer, and you have Nero installed (all versions are very similar).  You may not be tech savvy, but you are willing to try out new things.  If you are stuck, please leave a comment!


Tutorial Begins Here

Pre-word:  Today’s tutorial is an example of me having downloaded a Ratchet and Clank Goin’ Commando game.  Learn how to extract the game to get the ISO file, and then burn it for PS2 use.

Step 1. Go to your favorite torrent site, and using your torrent program (I use utorrent) download a PS2 game. If you reside in the United States, make sure you download the NTSC version. If you get a PAL game, it will not work on your TV because it will flicker due to the refresh rate of the TV. NTSC games have 60 Hz refresh rate, but PAL games have 50 Hz refresh rate.  Once again, we do not support piracy.  Only download games that you legally own!

Step 2. Most often than not, the PS2 game you download will comprise of multiple rar files. Select the first rar file, right click and extract it. If not, then you may have just one rar file, which will be your .ISO file. An .ISO file is just a CD/DVD image of the game. Sometimes the file you download from a torrent may be an .ISO file itself, and WinRar will recognize it as a possible archive. If that is the case, you do not need to extract it.

Step 3. Watch as your file extracts. In the end, you will have your .ISO file extracted.

This is what it should look like when the files are extracted:

Note:  I always get questions about this.  If you just have an .ISO file and no .MDS file, that is OK.  All we care about is the .ISO file.

If you have a .NRG, .MDF, .BIN with .CUE file or other, that is OK.  Nero and other similar programs can burn these files too!

Step 4. Once your game is extracted, you should have an .ISO file. Now open up Nero. Go to “Image, Project, Copy” and select the “Disc Image or Saved Project”. Remember to insert a blank DVD+R or DVD-R. It is recommended that DVD-R is used because of better compatibility with PS2 laser, but I have DVD+R work fine so it shouldn’t be an issue.

Screenshot 4

Step 5. In the next screen, select your .ISO file and click Open.

Screenshot 5

Step 6. On the next screen, select the drop down box on the left hand side, and pick your DVD burning speed. For PS2 games, it is best to burn at half the max rated speed of your disc. For instance, if your blank DVD can write at a max speed of 16x, burn at 8x. After selecting your DVD speed, burn the image.

Screenshot 6

Step 7. Depending on what speed you chose, you could wait up to 15 minutes. After a while, it will say your disc is done! Afterwards, label the disc with a marker, and using your favorite PS2 modding method (swap magic, HDA loader, modchip, memory card exploit), you can play your game on the PS2.

Screenshot 7

If any questions or comments, leave a comment and I will try to help you out!

Video tutorial Below!

[To be uploaded later]

Posted on June 24, 2009, in Gaming, News, playstation 2, Tech Knowledge, Tutorials and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 1,405 Comments.

  1. hey there thanx for evrything mentioned and 4 the answers to the questions but somthing weird happened with me …. when i downloaded the torrent it was ISO and with .RAR files plus some files with isnt compressed which i found so weird ,,, anyways when i extracted the files … the folder created had nothing with .ISO or MDF or anything just image files and the Game data etc. but no such thing that have .ISO … and im so confused and i duno wat to do .. p.s : im kinda new to this whole world so plzzz help !! … and im sry for wasting ur time

  2. Hey Versatile
    I Recently Downloaded A Game
    But It Only Came With A .mdf File
    I Know I Need A .mds To burn the game
    I Know You Can Create That On Your Own But I Wanna Know how.
    Do You Know?

  3. Thank you for writing this tutorial. I have a few questions for you about my current PS2 setup.

    How would I use this torrent-to-DVD method in conjunction with a hard drive mod solution such as HD Advance 3.0? Should I burn the DVD first, and then convert the game to hard drive format within the HD Advance interface on the PS2? Or is there a way to directly transfer the game from the downloaded ISO to my official 40GB PS2 hard drive? That is, does HD Advance patch the game to allow it to run in the hard drive, or is it essentially unchanged? If it is unchanged, it may be that I can just connect my hard drive to my PC and do a direct transfer there. It seems silly to have to burn a DVD as an intermediate between two hard drives.

    • I don’t have the fat ps2 with the hard drive to comment on how HD Advance works. Does HD Advance require a special format? Can you take the PS2 hard drive, put it to the PC, and put ISO files and be done with it?

  4. i dwnlded a ps2 game from http://WWW.GAMESTORRENTS.COM
    the site has no COMMENT WRITING FEATURE
    shud i trust

  5. I downloaded Battle stadium d.o.n from http://www.mininova.org but my file wasn’t books like yours it was just a diamond thing and when i extracted it, it came out a lot of files plus i have a newer nero zersion which i dont know how to use!

  6. whether burn all the files that we are extracted or one extracted file is enough

  7. I m getting 3 iso files while extracting i m asking whether we have to burn all the iso files or any one ?

  8. i managed to burn battle stadium d.o.n and working it but i download another game called crazy taxi and when i finished downloading it, it came out with 2 files mdf and mds which i now can’t seem to burn! plz help;)

  9. I’m downloading FIFA10 from http://www.gamestorrents.com.Is it safe.It is still in downloading process.How do i know its authenticity?Is it a iso file or not!I think its mdf file

  10. after using winrar i got a 2 mds files and wen i uopen it wid nero itr says unpredictablef ile format.What do i do?

  11. can u help me please i dont have half speed because my max speed is 56 and there is not 28 what i do?

  12. thnx for the tutorial – burning mds/mdf using nero – there was an option to select the disc type or something like that which i set to Play Station 2… did i make a mistake? and btw- i see you saying mds/mdf shud be burnt using imgburn, but nero seems to be handling it pretty well – what do you think? wasted DVD?

    thnx

  13. Hi used imgburn with lowest speed, the game starts fine but freezing when im loading at match (fifa 09 and fifa 10) ps. using dvd+r.
    Any solutions??

  14. Your freezing because your using DVD+R media. Not really a good media to be using on a PS2. I cant reply to any further questions as I was only on this site once .

    Buy DVD-R Media of good quality, I personally use Phillips DVD-R or FujiFilm.

  15. I’ve just downloaded FIFA 10. There is one .MDF file on 4,3 GB, and lots of archives with a .MDF file on 4.7 GB … which one of them should i burn??

  16. Hi, I just downloaded (Madden NFL 10 NTSC/English PS2/DVD, it only shows an image file (it doesn’t say .ISO file) when I tried to extract it with PowerISO or Winrar the result was a bunch of different folders (which none contained and .iso file)
    Is this already converted and ready to burn since it’s an image file already? plus it’s only 1.86 Gb (I thought games were suppose to be 4.3 Gb) Please help…..

  17. Thank You, I know I know I feel like a noob. It worked great, I now have a backup for my NFL Madden 10. Which brings me to my next question, bare with me: instead of downloading Madden 10 wether it’s an (image file already or .ISO file I have to extract and burn)….what about taking the PS2 game I already have and burning it with Nero, do I just use copy dvd option? or copy image? data dvd? or what?
    One last thing, what’s a good site for downloading ps2 games, I’m having trouble finding them on isohunt.com Thanks for your help once again.

  18. Thanks for your help Versatile….

  19. i have just extract the fifa10 file and i got i mdf file of 4.37 gb and 1 mds file of 5kb.
    Then i burn the mdf file usin nero an message appears that an unknown error ocurred while acessing fifa10ps2.mdf .
    so tell me what should i do…??

  20. Hi versatileninja.

    Thanks to your tutorials, a few days ago I started making copies of my games and managed to burn several in just a few minutes.

    However after that all programs started to give me problems

    Alcohol (among others) would start burning but then eject the cd more or less a minute after…

    translated from Italian : An error has been verified. Please check registry files or contact technical support.

    whereas Imgburn would give me this

    The CDs I use are TDK CD-R80 52x, before and after the problems. Hardware is 2008 made and software september/october 2009 versions.

    I have tried this with SEALED BRAND new games back-ups and it’s still the same so I don’t think it’s because of files being corrupt.

    I did not change any option whatsoever, so I hope you who know (definitely more than me) to use the PC better could help me , as the trashcan is full of my discs and don’t want to start with the DVD-s :S

    • You have wasted too many CDs my friend. I see you have a .CCD file. Let’s try using CloneCD to burn these files as the .CCD is their format.

      Do you have a CD-RW to burn these files? Also, what speed are you currently burning these at?

      Is it possible that burning several backups already, that your laser is dying? I’m not sure yet. Do you have another PC to test the burning of the images?

  21. Thank you for the reply. I tried some forums but they seem to be dead.

    No I don’t have to use CloneCD as I never used it for any of the previous burns in first place since I had more .cue isos. All I used was Alcohol120%. And I did think about the laser being in its last days, but I had burned less than 10 (well, 7) successful back-ups in a row before I faced this problem. A 2008 hardware dying like this?

    Also, I think I have checked it’s status correctly here : http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1649/63025933.jpg

    It can also play DVD movies just fine. Writing speed? The same as the one used for the successful burns, 48-52x. I remember very well you saying that PS2 ISO-s need to be burned at half the empty DVD-s max speed. These are all CD-s though.

    What I don’t understand is why Alcohol tells me to check registry files, whereas ImgBurn (2nd pic) smth totally alien to me.

    What my ignorant-on-PC stuff brain was thinking of is that the cause of the problem may be the fact that I installed too many programs like NeroEssentials and ImgBurn latest version ( which I have heard to be problematic http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=11206)

    I think I will uninstall all of them and install Alcohol once more as the lone burning sowftware (although sooner or later I will need one for the PS2 ISO-s)
    I apologize for the long post.

    • This is a good post. Try with only one program and start from there. If you had another PC with a DVD burning drive, that will help diagnose what is at fault here.

  22. Well I unistalled everything and tried to use Alcohol as the only burning software…the result : more discs trashed.

    When I select the file to burn :

    BUT again 😦

    It just makes no sense…I never change(d) any options

    *sigh*

    btw, the half max speed rule stands for PSX isos too or max is just fine? I heard that for some games it must be really low (less than 24x).

    • Maybe it is smarter to use a CD-RW disc and verify you can get that to successfully burnt before you waste more CD-rs.

      For CD-R items, I burn at 24x.

      I am not sure why you get bad writing errors. Do you have another PC to test burning on?

  23. Well, a kind person forwarded me to this thread and said to follow Robinson Zhang’s steps since I have the same device

    http://social.technet.microsoft. com/Forums/en/itprovistahardware/thread/57d84d2b-5dd5-4f37-badc-9e784a24211c

    (I think I couldn’t post because of the link, just join the two parts above)

    I don’t understand all of it (remove/ expandDVD/CD-ROM drives???) so I opened a new thread. Which is being ignored for the time being 😦

    And no, sadly I don’t have another PC nearby, and can’t use my friends’ ones either.

    • I understand the thread perfectly. When it says to expand the DVD drive, in the system manager, you press the “+” symbol to bring up a expanded list of the devices. From there, you can right click on the unit and tell it to uninstall.

      • Never mind man, I found a way to burn my back-ups properly now. While it wouldn’t burn my cd-s, It was burning my DVD-s at 6x. So I tried to burn the CD-s at 6x too (not 24-48 like before) and they are playing fine, both PSX and PS2 games.

  24. after burning the dvd when i play the dvd in playstation 2 it gives me following error

    please insert playstation or playstation 2 format disc.

    please help

  25. hi, i just downloaded samurai warriors 2 xtreme legands from games torrents, i extracted the 1st rar file, then when it finishes the iso file will be ultra iso (propably because i have ultra iso program) then i burn the game using nero (4x speed) and when i try to play the game it doesn’t work and the cd makes a strange noise when it spins none of my games do that pls help ps- i have mod chip for my ps2

  26. yeah i have mod chip

  27. hi can you help me? my game scratched so,backup didnt worked which i made but it isnt important,i downloaded same game from web..i got nero files is bin and cue but they cant be writed to dvd its ps2 game in cd not dvd..what i need to do?

  28. what to choose there to burn data burning or what?

  29. Hi. I just downloaded FIFA 10 from piratebay and it’s all set and done to burn the imagefile. The problem is that the imagefile is to big.
    It is 4 588 608 kb, and when i try to burn the imagefile it says that the image is to big. HELP

  30. and select no multisession yes?

  31. Good Day.
    1st thnks for helping so many ps2 games lovers.u r doing a great work.
    i hope you cna help me out too.
    i am not good in writing dvds.i have all the reauire things,like iso file from torrent,nero -and dvd+R.but ima still not able to write ,it starts but it stops in middle giving error notice,i wasted 5dvds in this.
    what iam doing is opening nero-clicking on back up and then on BUrn image to disc-then it ask for the destination folder wich i give from my documents where i have stored iso file.wich is 4,378,464kb.then by giving the speed of 8x it start but ends in a 3minutes time saying writable error.i believe i dnt knw the way of writing disc if tht so will u plz kindly help me,i tried by reading ur given tuoturol but it dint happen,if possible plz help me out.waiting for ur reply.kindly help.my i.d is omaiz_syed@yahoo.com

    Regards
    Syed

    • Do you have a DVD+RW or DVD-RW? Something is very wrong with your system. Is the hard drive FAT32 or NTFS?

      • Well thnks fr ur reply.iam using DVD+RW.i cant figure it out wht sort of hard disk i have-but before this i have burned many C.Ds on the smae very lap top for songs and computer games,i believe iam doing some thing rong with the game extraction.when i extracted it form torrent 1st i dint had iso file then seeing ur tutorial i unc hecked iso from rar setting,then i got iso file ,and do u think the way iam burning this dvd is the correct way?

        • the hard disk what i have is NTFS.i only got iso file wich is 4.17gb after i un checked iso in the rar settings.but before tht when i extracted the very same game i got img file of the size 272kb and other 5 VLC media files .

          i tried doing both,but dint happen.plz help me out.

          • You are using a DVD+RW to test burning the ISO image. That is a good start. If you cannot burn the image successfully to the DVD+RW, then there is no way you can burn successfully to a DVD+R type disc.

            You have an ISO. The ISO file is 4.17GB. It will fit on a single layer DVD. I am not sure why it is failing.

            Please use a different program such as CDXPBURNER.

  32. is it good to burn at lowest speed? ps2 game image

  33. hey versatile i got it buddy.it started working i changed the C.D from plus to minus and it started playing.i downloaded tekken5 and its working good.but i dont have vibration in this,any way to get vibration,iam downloading GOD OF WAR ,any suggestion for this.how to get vibration.thnks once again for ur support i burned it in cdxpburner.thnks

  34. Hi there,

    I downloaded the new Smackdown vs Raw game and recently my burner has been having many problems but I used some firmware and now it’s actually completing the burning process (it’s a good start). Anyway I burned the game and after the memory card menu it just becomes a black screen…

    I’m assuming this is because of the release of the game right? I’m downloading another release and am assuming that’ll work. This happened to me with Quantum of Solace to, and I burned another release which worked. The DVD is a DVD-R Memorex.

    Thanks for the help!

  35. I’m thinkin it’s the release or I burned it too fast… I downloaded FIFA also, and will test that out later today, as well as the different version I downloaded of SVR. I have a couple of DVD rw’s, but they’re too scratched up for me to use 😦 I could’ve used it to test out teh games first before wasting DVD’s.

  36. Mr versatile good day.dear now i am okay with burning ps2 games and thnks to u.can u plz let me know any web site from where i can down load ps2 games,prsently iam doing through torrentz but it takes 3days to download one game at good speed.do u have any better alternative for this.? thnks for ur all help.

  37. Hey Versatile how r u?
    Buddy i downloaded god of war 1 and god of war 2.
    the problem is in god of war 1 i finished almost half of the game and now wen i try move ahed game get stuck.y so?some thing to do with C.D or bcz i downloaded it from internet thts y.and in god of war 2 i cant save the game,when i save it it just keep on loading .

    can u guide wht to do?

    • Honestly I have no idea.

      I have a real version of god of war 1. I do have a DVD5 single version, but haven’t tried it. I have heard there might be issues with it, you might be better off getting a savegame file right after your save point if possible from gamefaqs.com

      For god of war 2, I have a copy of it and I am able to save games fine with my PS2. I do not know why you are having trouble, sorry.

  38. is it OK to use a DVD+R DL disk or should i not use double layer disks?

  39. i’ve just download digimon squad data from http://www.ps3iso.com…after i extract the files i cannot find any iso or mdf files…i just got a folder containing irx files…so can i burn to dvd?

  40. Okay after a while I’m posting.

    I checked it and it was the release because the other one i downloded worked fine as did FIFA

    Thanks!

  41. hey there Versatile….

    about the rar files….
    do I have to extract them all, or just the first one??? .

  42. I downloaded game torrent consist of 3 games…..
    so… can I download it in separate DvDs???
    if yes plzz.. how to do it??

  43. NOT WORKING MAN – I GET THE MESSAGE THIS DISC CANNOT BE PLAYED, TRIED DVD-R DVD+R AND 2X SPEED I HAVE ISO FILE UFC Throwdown PAL PS2DVD-NG AND NERO

  44. hey there,

    is it ok if i use dvd+rw x1-x4? will it work?

  45. n one more thing.. if i hav a 5.61GB torrent file.. is it better to burn on two DVD-R or just DVD-R DL will just do?

  46. If I use Nero to copy an official PS2 game disc, why cannot I play the copied disc on my PS2 without some kind of mod? If I copy a disc, it should be an exact copy, or so I thought? How is the copy any different from the original? (I remember years ago I obtained a copied Sega Dreamcast game that plays just fine without my Dreamcast having a mod… I will start to look into similar for PS2 since I want some other games)

    • It is quite simple, it has to deal with the dye layer I do believe.

      If you made a copy and it was silver pressed,then by all means it will work. Doing a 1:1 copy with a verbatim, purple layer dye throws off the ps2 laser I do believe. Anyway, I have swap magic 3.6. Bought it for 30 bucks, and about 140 games later, I’d say it was a damn good investment.

      Godspeed, and good luck.

  47. SwapMagic truly rocks. And ImgBurn is the best burning program. Nero and esp the latest version is a lot worse.

  48. hi
    i have question about swap magic i downloaded from torrent and write it but when i want to run it on ps2 it says put the right cd/dvd for playstation why?
    thanks.

  49. Hi Versatile, i have downloaded a ps2 game WWE_Smackdown_Vs_Raw_2010 but there are many WinRAR files in that fold plus R60 Files too.
    What i did was to extract the first winrar file, then i got an ISO file 4.23Gb.

    I used Nero Express Essentials, went to image, then located the ISO file, burnt at half the speed of my drive. But when i tried it on my chipped ps2 console it did not play. I have try it 4x. Do i need you use a different burning software?

    Pls help!

    • Not sure, do you have matrix infinity modchip?

      ICE, can you help me out here?

    • @ Paduas2006

      First of all , what Modchip do u have ?
      second of all , what DVD media did u use ? ..(it is highly advised that u use DVD-R)

      If u do have the matrix infinity modchip. Its possible that Nero might not help you 100% of the times … I once had ‘the shadow of room’ iso and it didnt work on my matrix infinity modded ps2 when i burned it with Nero 8 , but the same iso worked fine when i burned it with ‘IMGburn’ ..So if u want to try another burner , i consider you to try IMGburn …

      i cant be 100% sure about that though .. sorry

  50. after downloading my torrent i am straight away getting an .ISO file
    wht shld i do…

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