PS1/2 first time hacker

[Blaze163]

Lali ho!

I recently remembered that there's a perfectly functioning PS2 Slim buried underneath my Xbox 360 and with me having no money to furnish it with new games right now, I'm interested in hacking it. However, there's a catch or two.

Firstly, I'm incredibly dumb when it comes to technology. I have a habit of breaking things during simple tasks. Example, I rewired the plug on the extension cable at work and the damn thing nearly set the tills on fire.

Secondly, I can only burn DVDs through my dad's laptop which I have extremely limited access to. My netbook obviously has no DVD drive.

So what I want to know is as follows.

1) Can a Slim model be easily hacked without having to take the damn thing apart? It says model number 700 something or other on the back if that helps, the black slim model.

2) Can games be played from a USB stick instead of disks?

3) Is there any noteworthy danger associated with hacking a PS2?

4) How large do the game files go 'cause if my memory stick won't be big enough to accomodate them it's not worth doing until I've replaced it.

5) Do I require any additional stuff like a special chip or something?

6) Would it be capable of playing hacked PS1 games as well as PS2 games if successful? My PSP's a bit hit and miss with PS1 emulation.

Sorry to sound like an utter newb but...I am an utter newb. Seriously, the only other things I've ever hacked were my DS Lite (a simple case of 'plug this in and play whatever you want') and my PSP 1K which was also alarmingly easy to sort out. I've never hacked a console before. Please, spare a moment to help a poor newb.

 

[marcus134]

1) more or less, yes. You can actually use a "software mod" to play back-up and homebrew. The simplest method i can think of require you to buy magic swap disc or ultimate swap collection ( a bit awkward to use). However, you will need to do a little bit of tempering of tempering on your ps2, by blocking the switch that detects the opening of the ps2 disc tray, but if you are not confident about wher you have to put the masking tape, you can always buy a flip top cover. Free McBoot allow you to do the same thing but is a little bit more complicated to use.

2) yes with usb advance/extreme. however, the reading speed of the usb is much slower, so it will cause long loading time and choppy gameplay on some game, it's okay for small or simple game and game that doesn't require to constantly load stuff from the drive while playing.

3) receiving a phone call from your ISP telling you that they received a phone call from Sony and asking you to stop downloading their stuff. (really happened to me once)

4) from a few 100's mb to 4 gb and even 8-9 gb for some. Most ps2 game come on a dvd so have to expect them to take at least 1 gb

5) see #1

6)yes, however you need a legit ps1 game for the swap trick and PSXLauncher.elf + Ulaunch

Secondly, I can only burn DVDs through my dad's laptop which I have extremely limited access to. My netbook obviously has no DVD drive.

first, getting an external dvd writer cost like 40 $
secondly, have you seen a movie called Tanguy ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274155/ )

 

[WiiPower]

Once you have a Free McBoot memory card, things are easy. Then you only need to download the app you want to run and put it on your usb storage. If your netbook had a LAN port, i would recommend loading games via network instead of loading them via usb, because it's noticable faster than usb, and yes, usb loading is that slow that you don't really want it. Anyways, for both i recommend Open PS2 Loader, the other usb loaders are outdated.

With Free McBoot you would also have the option to boot ESR, which allows you to play patched(important...) and burned discs.

To get Free McBoot there are several options, just read some threads here, it's beed discussed 10 times+. There's the swapping method with that 007 game, the expensive way with Swap Magic, which should directly allow to boot the Free McBoot installer if you have the correct Swap Magic version. With other Swap Magic versions, you can boot homebrew discs via disc swapping. And there's the Independence Exploit, but i doubt it's suitable in this situation, because it requires some way to copy saves pcps2, a ps1 game and it might not even work on your slim, but its advantage would be that you don't have to swap discs.

*Swapping discs = changing the disc without the ps2 noticing, you have to open your ps2 for this, but it doesn't require soldering

But the most recommend way to get Free McBoot is to have somebody install it for you on your memory card.

@marcus134:
What this PSXLauncher.elf? I know of the method using uLaunchELF to stop the drive, swap and then select boot disc in uLaunchELF. Is this method better? Especially does it work on more ps2 models?

 

[marcus134]

What this PSXLauncher.elf? I know of the method using uLaunchELF to stop the drive, swap and then select boot disc in uLaunchELF. Is this method better? Especially does it work on more ps2 models?

PSXLauncher work like cog swap and only works on v9 to v15 console (ps2 slim scph-7000 = v12)

Actually, when I was looking for the elf to load ps1, I was looking for cogswap but I forgot the name and I stumbled on PSXLauncher in afterdawn.
Judging from the instruction it works almost exactly like cogswap.

 

[Blaze163]

Is there a simple way of getting hacked/burned games to play without having to alter the PS2 too much? I had a brief flick through the FAQ sticky, will that work here? I already have a memory card and a USB keystick so I should be good to go, right? I don't have much money so buying one of these Swapmagic thingys would be a little problematic right now.

 

[Nujui]

Is there a simple way of getting hacked/burned games to play without having to alter the PS2 too much? I had a brief flick through the FAQ sticky, will that work here? I already have a memory card and a USB keystick so I should be good to go, right? I don't have much money so buying one of these Swapmagic thingys would be a little problematic right now.

No, in order for you to hack it without a special disc, you need to take it apart.

It's not that hard, and you can always send your memory card to someone to do it for free.

I can post where if you'd like.

 

[WiiPower]

What this PSXLauncher.elf? I know of the method using uLaunchELF to stop the drive, swap and then select boot disc in uLaunchELF. Is this method better? Especially does it work on more ps2 models?

PSXLauncher work like cog swap and only works on v9 to v15 console (ps2 slim scph-7000 = v12)

Actually, when I was looking for the elf to load ps1, I was looking for cogswap but I forgot the name and I stumbled on PSXLauncher in afterdawn.
Judging from the instruction it works almost exactly like cogswap.

Hmm, i guess all these methods have the same compatibility. Since you seem to know what you are talking about, i have finally confirmation that the ps1 swap trick works on slims too, not just V9/10 phats. Anyways, i prefer the uLaunchELF method, because it doesn't require to hunt down some rare .elf file and both swap programs(cogswap+PSXLauncher) seem to have the same TOC requirement as well.

 

[Windaga]

(Not sure if you've hacked it already or not, but if not)

Just a quick comment on USBLoading. I've been using my external hard drive to play my backups, and the largest problem you'll run into is cutscenes running super slow. It's not a big deal for games like Persona 4, where the cutscene's are few and scattered, but it'll make playing games like Final Fantasy impossible. However, I definitely agree with WiiPower - if you have LAN output, that's the way to go. If not, OpenPs2Loader's USB loading is bearable. I was able to play though several titles with it, with no problems whatsoever. (Loading times vary, and cutscenes did skip, but it's nothing game breaking.)

If you do plan on USBLoading, take a look at This list. It's specifically for HDLoader, but the compatibility is around the same from personal experience.

 

[machomuu]

Is there a simple way of getting hacked/burned games to play without having to alter the PS2 too much? I had a brief flick through the FAQ sticky, will that work here? I already have a memory card and a USB keystick so I should be good to go, right? I don't have much money so buying one of these Swapmagic thingys would be a little problematic right now.

No, in order for you to hack it without a special disc, you need to take it apart.

It's not that hard, and you can always send your memory card to someone to do it for free.

I can post where if you'd like.

Please do.