Xport / Sharkport FAQ (22)
The Xport is manufactured and distributed in the UK and most of the world by Datel. They previously distributed products in the US via Interact using the brand name SharkPort instead of Xport.
The US PS2 disc only works on a US PS2 and so accordingly for the UK edition, however the PC software is compatable with either disc. Datel now distribute the Xport under it’s original name in the US and have provided US PC Xport software for download, this means that the Sharkport is now obselete.
The old SharkPort software uses the .spo, .sps and .spc extension, you can simply rename these to .xpo, .xps and .xpc accordingly to use them on the newer US or UK software.
You can still use V1 saves (.xpo or .spo extension) with the V2 software but you must have an existing save on the card to overwrite.
Simply restore the V1 save back to the card and make a backup of it using the V2 software.
There are two known issues:
(General Troubleshooting follows after)
Incorrect driver
The software sometimes does not update the driver correctly and you may have to update it manually from either the CD or the Drivers folder within the Xport program folder.
To manually update the driver:
Turn on the PS2 with the cable connected to the PC and no disc in the PS2
Right click on My Computer and select Properties.
Click on the Device Manager tab and scroll down to the USBIO controlled devices option and expand the item by clicking on the plus icon.
Highlight Xlink Cable and select Properties, now select the driver tab and click the Update driver option.
Click Next and select Search for Better Driver if it is not already selected.
Uncheck all boxes except Specify Location and use the Browse button to find the correct driver either on the CD or in the ‘C:\Program Files\Datel\XPort 2\Drivers’ folder.
Now simply click Next, the new driver should be found and continue accepting by pressing Next when prompted to install the new driver.
Incompatable Memory Card
Some Sony 8MB memory cards have been found to be incompatable with V2. Most people have reported comms errors when using a card with the serial number 3-966-459-03(03) (found at the bottom of the silver sticker located on the back of the card).
Currently the only option is to use a memory card with a different serial number.
General troubleshooting
Ensure that the cable is firmly connected at the PC, PS2 and to the dongle inbetween the two cables if yours has one.
The PC and PS2 software may be out of sync, try restarting both the PS2 and the PC software,alternatively you can often resync them by removing the PC cable and reconnecting it, this does not work 100% of the time though.
The Xport and SharkPort V2 software now saves the icon with the file (thus allowing it to restore saves without needing an existing save) but..
It doesn’t store the games icon, rather it replaces every icon in the save (saves contain up to three icons) with it’s own. Using PS2 Save Builder you can now inject the correct (or even a more interesting) icon back into the save. Icons are found either on the disc in case of GTA: VC (a rare occurrence though) or can be extracted from other saves. Please note that some .psu/.psd saves are a backup of an Xport save and may possably contain the incorrect icon. If so, search again for another version of the save.
A patch is available for the Xport software, applying it stops the software from injecting it’s own icon and leaves the original icon intact
GTA3, GTA:VC and GTA: SA are only compatible with the PS2 Xport/Sharkport software version 2.23 and above. They are also compatible with Action Replay v2 2.35 (and probably above) so if you have access to that disc use it when transferring these saves.
Saves contain a Product ID, if the ID doesn’t match that of the game then it will not load. Games are assigned a different ID when released in different countries, you can alter the ID of a game save by following this guide
You can use the Xport V2 software on Windows 98/ME and XP although remember to update the driver manually if upgrading from a previous version. Currently there is no software for Linux or the Mac and there are no plans for any in the future.
Mac users can run the Xport software with Virtual PC, the transfer process is slower and communications can drop after a transfer but it does work.
Running the software in VirtualBox is untested and may/may not work.
No, you can only use PS2 Memory cards with the Xport/SharkPort software
Apparently you can swap memory cards but you must reload its content before doing any transfers
Colin McRae Rally 3 saves are locked to the card that they were saved on. In theory it is possable to create an AR2/XP2/GS2/CB2 code to bypass this but I haven’t seen one at Codejunkies. I imagine it would be possible to alter the ID contained within the save to match your own but have no experience of this
Ensure that file extensions are not hidden in windows and change the file extension to .xpc or .spc as required.
Firstly ensure that the icon in the save isn’t the same as the one you are trying to replace by loading it in PS2 Save Builder.
Secondly you must remove the corresponding save from the memory card if it is on there already. For games such as FFX or Kingdom Hearts etc that use multiple saves only remove the save that you intend replacing. If you not do this the Xport/Sharkport software will only send across the game data and not the new icon data.
Several people have tried this, myself and MattB90 included and we all get the same result, corrupt data when transferred back to the PS2 memory card. However, a user of the SharkPort software claims that he has successfully restored PSOne saves. Upon trying to repeat his success I yet again got corrupt data on my card and nothing more. Whever his success was down to using the latest PS2 software (unknown, I’m not sure what version he was using), pure luck or indeed being less than truthful has yet to be seen, but I can only go on what I have experienced myself, so the answer is no.
This may be caused by using large fonts in Windows, try setting them to a smaller font size
Take the PS2 disc and turn it so the back face is towards you, this is the side that the PS2 reads not the side with the logo and text on. When held correctly in the light you will see a dark inner ring close to the center of the disc, etched into this ring is the version number
Download PSUView, included in the zip is a dummy .psu save that you can inject your icon into and use PSUView to examine
This is caused by having large fonts enabled in Windows or an incorrect DPI setting. Change the Font setting to the regular size and the DPI setting to normal (located in the advanced display properities dialog) and the buttons will work again
If you add codes by right-clicking to bring up the New Code menu the software may not save the codes you added when you exit.
You can use the Manual Entry button from the Actions section or alternatively you can end the code entries to a file then import them.
Yes, you can. Either the Action Replay 2 v2 or Gameshark 2 v2 can be subsituted for the PS2 Xport/Sharkport disc and version 2.35 is compatable with GTA3 and GTA:VC
You cannot use an v1 Action Replay 2 or Gameshark 2, nor can you use the Gameshark v3 disc
