PS1/2 Help on modding PS2 Slim

[hubadub]

Hi guys! I've had my PS2 for quite a long time and it's now just sitting around in the dust. I would like to try to mod it so I can finally play the games I've missed out on. I'm no stranger to hacking consoles, but I have absolutely no idea how to approach this one and how to do it since it was actually one of the only consoles I went legit on (the other was Gamecube). I tried reading the stickied faq here but it doesn't seem to be as detailed. Some help on linking me to more guides and faqs would be great, as well as helping me understand on how to go about getting my old PS2 Slim set up for USB or backup loading.

I'd try to do a search for myself but I've been having a very busy week at college and I would like to try to mod it this weekend once I have enough help and info rather than spend a good part of the Saturday tinkering and figuring out myself and not have enough time to really play (or study for that matter lol). So some good links, websites, guides, and help would be great! Sorry if this topic has been brought up already, it's just that I've always needed help on directions lol. But once I'm on the right path, I can handle the rest!

EDIT:
The most up-to-date ones would be great!

NEW QUESTIONS BELOW...

 

[Dust2dust]

Some good places to check (hope it's alright to post them here):

http://psx-scene.com/forums/ps2-homebrew-dev-emu-scene/

http://freemcboot.info/

You want to install freemcboot to your PS2 memory card, and, seeing as you have a slim, probably use ESR to boot backups. On a fat PS2, a network adapter and a hard disk is the way to go.

You'll have to do some reading to learn about what you're getting into. There's no extra easy noob guide like Modmii for the Wii.

 

[hubadub]

Some good places to check (hope it's alright to post them here):

http://psx-scene.com/forums/ps2-homebrew-dev-emu-scene/

http://freemcboot.info/

You want to install freemcboot to your PS2 memory card, and, seeing as you have a slim, probably use ESR to boot backups. On a fat PS2, a network adapter and a hard disk is the way to go.

You'll have to do some reading to learn about what you're getting into. There's no extra easy noob guide like Modmii for the Wii.

Thanks for the links, I'll be reading through them thoroughly! As for ESR and loading backups, I don't really mind going through the effort of burning games but I wanna how the USB loader on the slim is going. Is it good/recommendable? Like how are the speeds and the games running from it? I'm looking at OPL right now, which seems to the most up-to-date.

Thanks for your response!

 

[Deleted member 177877]

USB port is 1.1.
This means max transfer speed is ~12Mbit/s
DVD drive is 4x
This means max speed is ~44.32Mbit/s

You're looking at more than 3x speed reduction using USB as opposed to DVD.
However, do note that if you plan on the DVD+ESR route, you need an excellent blank media (such as Sony, Taiyo Yuden, or Verbatim) and an excellent burner. Otherwise, your poorly made/burned games have a good chance of skipping/lagging/freezing especially with games that uses lots of cutscenes.

 

[hubadub]

USB port is 1.1.
This means max transfer speed is ~12Mbit/s
DVD drive is 4x
This means max speed is ~44.32Mbit/s

You're looking at more than 3x speed reduction using USB as opposed to DVD.
However, do note that if you plan on the DVD+ESR route, you need an excellent blank media (such as Sony, Taiyo Yuden, or Verbatim) and an excellent burner. Otherwise, your poorly made/burned games have a good chance of skipping/lagging/freezing especially with games that uses lots of cutscenes.

Thanks for the tips! Good thing I went ahead and got a pre-owned Agent Under Fire for loading up the boot, and I have some of my own verbatim dvd-r's. I need to do a bit more reading before jumping ahead though. Am I on the right track?

From some skimming that I did, it said that the usb stick would get detected on the game's second level and everything gets installed from there. And also, again from skimming (I should start reading thoroughly lol), for using ESR, I need to have my backups patched. Is there something I need to do get them to play right? I'm sure I'm bound to get it working by trial and error, but I can't help but ask.

EDIT!!

Okay, after thoroughly reading and following one of the guides up on fmcb, I was able to successfully install everything and run one of my backups on ESR after patching it. Thanks for all the help guys! I can now finally play the silent hill games I missed out on.

 

[hubadub]

NEW QUESTIONS!! (since I don't want to make a new topic)

Is it possible to make a multi-game iso and be able to run it through ESR?? A link to a tutorial or some straight up advice would be awesome! Also, is there a way of transferring save games in FMCB? If so, how?

I tried doing a search on these two points, but I have yet to find any good results. So, any help would be great!

 

[Deleted member 177877]

as far as I know, no...

if you mean transferring save files to your MC, you can do so through ulaunchelf...the directory is confusing, but once you know where it is, it's a simple matter of pressing r1 while ur highlighting the save file, copy, then paste in the MC directory

 

[hubadub]

as far as I know, no...

if you mean transferring save files to your MC, you can do so through ulaunchelf...the directory is confusing, but once you know where it is, it's a simple matter of pressing r1 while ur highlighting the save file, copy, then paste in the MC directory

Oh damn, cause right now I've been using dvd-r's with like 4.40gigs of space for games that are only 1.5 to 2 gigs. I'll try out a more thorough search though and wait out for more replies on this.

And yea, I was thinking that but I wasn't sure. Do I just put a game save on a usb stick and move it over to the memory like that? The interface doesn't help either, I'll give it a try later and report back though. Thanks!!

 

[Deleted member 177877]

yep, just copy paste it to the MC

 

[DarkStriker]

Lol, i had a modchip on my PS2. Completely outdate and cant play new games though

Luckily my PC emulates this easily.

For people that dont feel like modding the PS2 at all can use Swap Magic. Thats what my friend used, but i would say go for the mod =)

 

[hubadub]

Lol, i had a modchip on my PS2. Completely outdate and cant play new games though

Luckily my PC emulates this easily.

For people that dont feel like modding the PS2 at all can use Swap Magic. Thats what my friend used, but i would say go for the mod =)

Haha, no need. I've already got FMCB installed and ESR running wonderfully! I even found a way of putting multiple games on a single disk too (after much searching and reading). Already have been hunting down games I never got to play. So with my newly softmodded PS2 and my recently hacked PSP Go, I'm bound to have months and months of entertainment from here on out!

 

[kevan]

SwapMagic is modding DarkStriker.
Just a Hardmod instead.

 

[Nujui]

Lol, i had a modchip on my PS2. Completely outdate and cant play new games though

Luckily my PC emulates this easily.

For people that dont feel like modding the PS2 at all can use Swap Magic. Thats what my friend used, but i would say go for the mod =)

It is in a way a mod since it allows you to play backups, plus if you're on the slim you have to block the senors in order for it to work.

 

[jinnpan]

I use hardmods, since I have a lot of retail Imports and I don't like swap trick.

 

[lordgoober]

My japanese PS2 is getting a little long in the tooth itself and I've got a spare slim US ps2 that I could probably afford to attempt to hardmod in order to play my legitimately bought imports. What would be the best chip to get?

 

[dilav]

Also, is there a way of transferring save games in FMCB? If so, how?

Action Replay has a memory card manager program where you can transfer saves to USB in AR format. This is good if you want to download and use other's save. Backing up works too, but I had some problem with compatibility of USB devices and compression freezes.

My japanese PS2 is getting a little long in the tooth itself and I've got a spare slim US ps2 that I could probably afford to attempt to hardmod in order to play my legitimately bought imports. What would be the best chip to get?

Crystal Chip works great. Or go with something cheap like a genuine Matrix, or Matrix clone Modbo 4. All plays retail imports, haven't had a problem.

 

[jinnpan]

Get a Modbo 4.0 1.93, don't get 1.99 it has problems with some slims.
You can also try Mars Pro.

If you need further help or a chip, you can PM me

 

[DarkStriker]

Answered thread revived? Didnt notice the replay to what i wrote but since it got revived and has yet to be closed i might as well answer it.
@kevan: I dont consider swapping cds a hardmod. There even exist cover made for PS2 so you dont have to use those stupid sliders. Even so if you use those, they are still not exactly permament.