Game platform file systems???

I got to thinking the other day: How the hell do platform (PS2 etc.) games run? I know that PS2 has no hard drive, just RAM. How are the files arranged on the discs? Do they have folders and stuff like PC games or are they just one big DAT file of some sort? I have tried to put a PS2 disc in my PC but can't find a program that will show the contents of the disc.

 

In all honesty, they pretty much use the same file system as computers. They just shove all the files into archives with a specific ending so that the PS2 and such can open it, and know what it is. They're basically a computer. It's just a very specific one. It's reads data in the same way, and has lots of ram, so that it can load the program and such.

 

The Dreamcast ran on a version of Windows NT and can easily read burned disks made from a typical PC even without the need of mod'ing it. XboX is a Microsoft product and thus is also similar to a Windows platform. Sony and Nintendo I don't know. I'll just go by what DarkFool said.

 

So an emulator is basically a set of drivers that can read a platform disc?

 

One more stupid question. Is the "language" used to read the discs contained in the BIOS that you have to remove from the platform and transfer over to the PC to get the emulator to work or is it writen into the emulator program and the BIOS is just a copyright thingy?

 

Basic Input Output System. All that the bios generally contains is very simple system information, and the system clock. Please note, I'm writing this off memory, not actually looking, so I may be missing some info. I don't believe I am, however. The language used would be part of the operating system of the device.* You should be able to just find something that will allow you to read the disks, and play with them that way.

*this is true of any/all computer-ish devices, including consoles.

 

By "simple system information", do you mean BIOS is the bare bones instructions for the machine how to boot up and load the OS, clock, splash screens (like Playstation logo), sounds, etc? Or is that PSX splash logo and chime-sound part of the OS like the windows "Welcome" screen? Or is it loaded on the game disks themselves and programmed to load up first?

 

The logos, clocks, and sounds that segway into your game of choice are actually part of the software that is your console. The BIOS is exactly what you think it is, and is a major part of the intellectual copyright agreement that's violated each time a person plays a ROM or ISO on their computer, because the company that makes the system directly owns the rights to its software. Not all systems have a BIOS that works in the same way, though. Any cartridge system you have or may have had in the past maintains no software on it at all, because the games you play on it are technically computers with no form of data output unless it's plugged into the console deck. This means that there are almost as many types of BIOS software on these games as there are games themselves, so long as they follow the rules of the hardware. It's part of why everyone started moving toward the disk format;
It's cheaper to print a CD or DVD than it is to make a cartridge, and since the booting software is identical for every single game, it takes the edge off of the console's developer by meaning they don't have to specify how their system has to handle each individual game (because there's only one choice).