This subreddit is dedicated to the best selling video game console in history, Sony's Playstation 2 We are all about the games, discussions, news, questions or suggestions related to the PS2. Tell us what you love(d) about it, what game you hated, when you first got your system, or if you're completely new to it! Remember, "Live in your world, play in ours!"
Which PS2 model do you have? My launch day FAT model started having issues loading the world when swinging around in Ultimate Spider-Man, and couldn't even start Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance as it was a double layer DVD and harder to read.
The DVD reader eventually failed and now it won't read anything at all. I bought a 2009 Slim model and that one works perfectly fine to this day.
I wonder if it's the disc drive. Do you have any way to test with OPL? You can also try the disc in a PC using PCSX2.
This is a good idea, is there a way I can skip to the same level using PCSX2 because it worked fine up until this point
If you have a way to burn DVDs, you can use FreeDVDBoot to boot into wlaunchelf, then use a USB drive to backup your memory card using something like Memory Card Annihilator.
You can also choose to softmod your PS2 with FreeMCBoot or OpenTuna while you're at it, but that's optional.