[ISSUE]: Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex — very slow load + black screen on play (USB); upstream last good Beta-2125

[horizonends]

Checks

• I have checked existing wOPL issues for duplicates and found none
• I am using either wOPL latest stable version or wOPL beta version

Describe the issue

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex fails on Double Unofficial OPL (wOPL) on PAL PS2 hardware (USB).

Symptoms on broken builds (wOPL + broken upstream OPL):

• Loading screen is extremely slow (can take up to ~5 minutes to reach the main menu; good upstream builds take ~10 seconds)
• After reaching the menu, trying to play crashes to a black screen — still unusable

Broken (wOPL): latest WOPNPS2LD.ELF (v1.2-beta-462) and FMCB-bundled wOPL v1.1

Upstream OPL bisect (same USB / same ISOs) — for reference:

Build	Result
v1.2.0-Beta-2113-72cb5a	Works (~10s load, playable)
v1.2.0-Beta-2117	Works
v1.2.0-Beta-2119	Works
v1.2.0-Beta-2125	Works (~10s load, playable)
v1.2.0-Beta-2127	Broken (very slow load → menu, then black screen on play)
v1.2.0-Beta-2148	Broken
v1.2.0-Beta-2183	Broken
v1.2.0-Beta-2184	Broken
v1.2.0-Beta-2213-026b9f4	Broken
v1.2.0-Beta-2245-3e3f34e	Broken

Upstream regression window: after Beta-2125, on or before Beta-2127. wOPL latest behaves like the broken upstream builds.

Root cause (found on upstream OPL): ps2sdk USBD rewrite (b1f7ff96, 2024-09-04). Upstream Beta-2245 + pre-rewrite USB IRX works on hardware; stock 2245 does not.

wOPL is not identical to upstream OPL: CI pins ghcr.io/ps2homebrew/ps2homebrew@sha256:207523ad… (May 2026 image), not floating :main. That pin still embeds post-rewrite usbd_mini (same USBD hash as current :main), while usbmass_bd_mini differs from :main. Maintainer note: fix belongs in ps2sdk, not a 2024 IRX revert in wOPL.

Local wOPL old-USB pin test: did not work the same as OPL (USB stick not shown / not a clean fix). Treat Double as related but separate from the upstream OPL workaround.

Same ISO over USB. Reproduced on multiple PAL slim PS2s: SCPH-70003, SCPH-75003, SCPH-77003.

Both regions fail the same way:

• NTSC SLUS_202.38
• PAL SLES_503.86

Same issue reported upstream: ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader#1751

Can test Loader Core → Neutrino vs wOPL core, and debug colors, if helpful.

Console model

SCPH-70003, SCPH-75003, SCPH-77003 (PAL slims, multiple units)

wOPL version / revision

Latest beta — Double Unofficial OPL v1.2-beta-462 (WOPNPS2LD.ELF)
Also tested: wOPL v1.1 (FMCB bundle) — same failure

In which device(s) have you experienced this issue?

USB

Context and extra information

• Game: Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
• IDs tested: SLUS_202.38 (NTSC) and SLES_503.86 (PAL) — both fail the same way
• Redump NTSC: http://redump.org/disc/34215/
• Redump PAL: http://redump.org/disc/2870/
• Device: USB
• Prefer no PADEMU / GSM / VMC / cheats for reproduction
• Upstream OPL Beta-2125 works (~10s, playable); Beta-2127+ and wOPL latest do not (slow load + black screen on play)

[horizonends]

Update

Also reproduced with the PAL version — same hang on wOPL (and upstream OPL 2245), works on OPL Beta-2113.

• NTSC: SLUS_202.38
• PAL: SLES_503.86 — same loading-screen hang

Consoles: SCPH-70003 / 75003 / 77003 (PAL slims), USB.

Upstream: ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader#1751

[horizonends]

Bisect update (upstream OPL, for reference)

Same USB + WoC ISOs. Stock Beta builds only:

Works: 2113, 2117, 2119, 2125
Hangs: 2127, 2148, 2183, 2184, 2213, 2245

Window: after 2125 / on or before 2127. wOPL latest still hangs the same way.

Upstream: ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader#1751

[horizonends]

Symptom clarification

Same as upstream: not a hard infinite loading hang.

• Good upstream (Beta-2125): ~10s to menu, playable
• Bad (wOPL latest / OPL 2127+): up to ~5 minutes to menu, then black screen when trying to play

Upstream: ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader#1751

[horizonends]

Root cause found (hardware-confirmed)

Upstream OPL with old pre-rewrite USBD IRX (before ps2sdk b1f7ff96, 2024-09-04) works for WoC on USB.

So this is almost certainly the embedded USB stack from that SDK rewrite, not a wOPL-only bug. wOPL latest inherits the same modern USBD.

Upstream: ps2homebrew/Open-PS2-Loader#1751

[horizonends]

Update

I found the root cause on upstream OPL: the ps2sdk USBD rewrite (b1f7ff96, 2024-09-04). Pre-rewrite USB IRX works; modern USBD does not. wOPL inherits the same stack.

Issue body updated.

[horizonends]

Update

Upstream OPL workaround confirmed on hardware: Beta-2245 + pinned pre-rewrite USB IRX works. Same pin applied to a wOPL beta-462 rebuild for testing. Issue body updated.

[horizonends]

Suggested fix (same as upstream OPL)

Pin pre-rewrite usbd_mini + usbmass_bd_mini (ps2sdk @2dc6b32f) in wOPL builds.

Upstream OPL Beta-2245 + that pin is confirmed working on hardware.
WOPNPS2LD-v1.2-beta-462-usbfix.ELF (same pin on latest wOPL) is ready but still needs testing.

[KrahJohlito]

that's a lot of text and tests to say.. "regression in ps2sdk" .. we aren't even building with :latest currently anyway.. I don't think reverting back to a 2024 build is the right idea, it should be fixed in the sdk

[horizonends]

This was me narrowing down the cause

[horizonends]

Clarification (re: not building with :latest)

Agreed — a 2024 IRX revert in wOPL isn’t the right long-term fix; this belongs in ps2sdk.

Quick CI check on current wOPL-base:

• Builds use pinned ghcr.io/ps2homebrew/ps2homebrew@sha256:207523ad… (image ca072ff6, created 2026-05-22), not floating :main
• That pin still has post-rewrite usbd_mini (26241 B; same md5 as current :main usbd_mini)
• usbmass_bd_mini on the pin differs from current :main

So wOPL isn’t on floating latest, but it is still on post-b1f7ff96 USBD.

Separately: the same old-USB pin that fixed upstream OPL Beta-2245 on hardware did not work cleanly on a wOPL rebuild (USB stick disappeared). Double isn’t a drop-in of upstream here — thanks for the correction.

Happy to help with a ps2sdk issue instead if useful.

[horizonends]

Raised on ps2sdk (as discussed — proper place for the fix): ps2dev/ps2sdk#908