obsrv.org wiki | Setup / PS2 Hardware Requirements

Playing on a PS2 is still, even now, the most rock-solid way to play, with the least freezes and most consistent handling of netcode. But you'll likely want to use a "fat" PS2 with a hard disk drive because loading from a DVD is going to make you fall behind.

I. General roadmap:

1) Get your hardware together
2) Set up a way to launch either the original discs, if you're ok with really slow loading times, or to run games from an HDD.
3) Launch the game and do the network setup

What you need

Hardware Checklist

1. Original Outbreak Disks, NTSC/J Region

Unless you own a Japanese region PlayStation 2

2. PlayStation 2 Console

A Japanese PS2 is the quickest way if you're looking to pop in the original discs and play, but you can use any region PS2 and run a software or hardware mod to play the discs. Playing off the discs isn't great though, because you're going to be slower than the vast majority of players. You'll want to run the games off of an HDD, and for that reason, your best bet is a "Fat" PS2, any region.

3. Broadband Adapter (Required for Fat PS2 users.)

Fat consoles cannot access the internet without one. Slim consoles already have an ethernet port and do not require a broadband adapter.

4. Hard Disk Drive (optional, only applicable for "Fat" PS2s)

We recommend that users utilize a hard drive for the best possible experience.
The hard disk drive needs to be either IDE, or use a SATA to IDE adapter.
There are many guides on the internet that address the type of hard drive and programs that load games from the hard drive.
We do not recommend using the in-game "HDD Install" option.

5. USB keyboard (optional) This is recommended to be able to speak with others in the game lobbies if you will not be out of game methods to communicate. It's always helpful because if you are playing with random players, there is no guarantee they will be communicating on our Shoutbox or Discord.

Software Checklist

1. A way to run homebrew, if you're soft-modding.

This can be something like FreeMcBoot, an exploit that is basically just a modified game save on your memory card that prompts the PS2 to boot whatever you'd like.

2. Software launcher program

Many people use uLaunchElf, which is not only a launcher, but also performs other functions such as file management.

3. HDLoader or OPL.

Both of these programs can format and launch games from an HDD. HDLoader is older while OPL is more recently updated and more widely used.
You'll want a way to get the games onto the HDD. HDL_Dump is one option that allows for transferring ISOs to the HDD over the network. It involves running HDL_Server on the PS2 and an HDL_dump client on a PC.

4. English translation patch: (optional) see info in Getting Connected.

For one user's recommendations checklist, please see this forum topic

II. Network Setup

See PS2 Network Setup for the network setup guide.

PS2 Version Notes

Users with "slim" PlayStation 2 consoles or fat consoles without a hard disk drive

Again, you're going to fall behind if you load from DVD, but it works fine either on slim or on fat consoles. Mod your console to play the original disk or a backup of your disc.

Japanese Region PlayStation 2 consoles, either Fat or Slim

Japanese console users may pop in the original disks and begin to play, simply by updating the "DNS" entry to reflect our current address of 208.72.237.31.There is one caveat- even with a Japanese PlayStation 2, if you wish to install the entire game to a hard drive, you must rip your disks to an ISO and move the ISO to the hard drive. So while getting a Japanese PS2 might get you connected quicker, it's really not going to save you much time if you want to set up to run off an HDD anyway.