Topic: SWAP MAGIC, MOTHEREFFERS

[Abnormal Freak]

So I bought Swap Magic 3 a long time ago but my PS2 DVD disc got a little scratched and now won't read most of the time.

Just ordered the SUDA51 game Blood+: One Night Kiss and would like to be able to get it to work 100% of the time instead of 30%, so I wanna get a new Swap Magic set.

Their website lists vpgames.com as a retailer. Any of you have any experience with this site? I don't even remember the name of the site I bought my original set from, but they have a real bad reputation for taking people's money and then not delivering the product until months later, if at all, and with extremely poor/unresponsive customer support. So I don't want to relive that experience with another retailer.

If you know where I can get a set, let me know; and if the store also sells Breaker Pro, that'd be awesome because my current method of playing imported PSX games might break my disc drive one day. (The method? Put licensed US PSX game into PS2 flip-top, start it up, quickly remove disc and place in imported/burned disc when the PS2 isn't spinning very fast.)

mod-chip.com shows Breaker Pro in stock but no Swap Magic 3—except for the Japanese version, which I'm guessing won't work on my PS2.

Or, hell, if there are good PSX/PS2 emulators that play discs and you can take my retarded ass through the setup, I could save myself the hassle and money by doing that.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

The "months later" bit is sometimes customs.
I'm not saying anything else though, as they may very well be a reason why that company gets a bad rep.

I have both Swap Magic 3 (CD and DVD versions) and Breaker Pro.

Most emulators can play right off of the disc drive.  This raises the load times slightly since they at times have to emulate a slower drive (they have to 'pretend it's a 2x CD drive for PSX instead of something super-fast like my blu-ray burner).  It's getting tougher with newer systems though since you need to install WINASPI drivers for the emulator to read the disc properly.

You could pop the disc into your drive and use an utility like MagicISO or Fireburner or one of 'em to 'rip' an ISO and use that on an emulator.

[Inccubus]

Why not just softmod your PS2? Not like you're gonna void your warranty this late in the game.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

If you have a toploader you still need SwapMagic.
Some people have the older PS2 mods, where you gotta use that 'tool' to take the disc out.  Swap Magic is for those and for hardware-modded (Flip-Top) PS2's.

[TheCruelAngel]

Oh yeah...people still do this! 

My advice, which isn't great, is just bite the bullet and buy a used Japanese PS2. It's what I did and works great for playing my Japanese PSX and PS2 imports! Added bonus, I can also watch Region 2 DVDs!

Is it a practical solution? Not really...unless you have a friend in Japan who can hook you up. I got mine for $120 when the yen was a lot weaker. It's at least worth considering.

[Kale]

PCSX2. Get it and play.

[Bloodreign]

My PS2 is a phat, got it in a trade with Arasoi a year or more ago. It's fliptop modded and with the Swap Magic discs I have, I am able to play my Japanese PS2 games with no issues.

As for where to buy them, beats me as I got mine in that trade.

[Abnormal Freak]

Hard modding's too much of a bother and importing a system's too pricy.

I did however find out that the Blood+ game has a lot of text-heavy adventure segments that can be difficult to navigate; I thought it was just a mindless hack 'n' slash, so boooooo. I'm trying to cancel my order but who knows if the seller will comply... I'd rather watch a playthrough on YouTube than struggle through those parts myself. Shame it never got released here, and I doubt people cared for it enough to make a translation patch.

[Kaori]

Well, if you can get your Swap Magic disk to load just once, that's all you need. Well...and a blank PS2 memory card bigger than 8MB...and a USB stick. You don't need any special hard mods or tools. How? With FreeMcBoot.

You don't need to mod your PS2 or anything. The only thing you'd have to do is rip the import game disks you want to play to an ISO, patch it with a special program so a program installed to your memory card or USB stick called ESR can read it, and then burn it to a backup disk. In a way, I know this sounds more like a hassle, but to someone who does not have swap magic tools or the means to get them (I only bought the disks, I had the tool for a fat PS2, but it died and I got a slim), this has been a lifesaver in my past. Plus, if something ever happens to your Swap Magic disks, you can still play import games, since FreeMcBoot installs to your memory card.

And it can either be fat or slim PS2. There is a Sega Genesis, NES, and SNES emulator you can put on there too if you really wanted to. I've installed FreeMcBoot to many PS2s aside from my own, so I know it works well.

Here's the guide for Swap Magic: http://freemcboot.info/swapmagic.html

and if you can't get that to work, there is a disk swap trick with some official PS2 games you can try if you have any of the games listed at the bottom of the page: http://freemcboot.info/swap.html


Oh, and the guide for Swap Magic says you can use a 8MB memory card, but in my experiences I could never get a 8MB memory card to work. You could try it, but I have to use at least a 16MB.

Let me know if you decide to try this and need further help, because it can be confusing. I was super confused my first time setting it up. Hopefully I still remember what to do since I haven't used FreeMcBoot on a PS2 in like, 2 years.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Hard modding's too much of a bother

No, it's actually quite easy.
Here's some easy steps, for a phatPS2:

Here are the tools you will need:  two Phillips screwdrivers (one standard and one small Philips head screwdriver), small flat blade screwdriver

1. order a flip top ps2 case mod online.  It's a piece of plastic that'll replace the top of a PS2 with a flip-top. 
Here's one link to one.
2. wait until it arrives.
3. swap the current case top with the modded case using a screwdriver
Link on how to do that, here
4. done!

[Abnormal Freak]

I meant like soldering and that, which is what I thought was meant by hard modding. :p I think doing a PS2phatass like that with a flip-top would still require a swapper/loader.

I have a slim by the way.


Kaori, cool stuff. I'll look into that.

[KaZudra]

Question, I know of the whole Load from USB Drive softmod, how good it that?

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

@Freak:
It's even easier if you have the slim.  The case mods for the slim are more popular than the ones for the phat.
And you said you DO have Swap Magic.  So what's the problem here?  If you have issues swapping a disc, then look into the USB SoftMod mentioned.

@KaZ:
I haven't tried it, but I will take a crack at it next month, only because I think my LASER is starting to go, and I'm hearing the PS2 making odd noises.

[Kaori]

Question, I know of the whole Load from USB Drive softmod, how good it that?

I've only tried one game (Tales of the Abyss) from an USB external hard dive, and it didn't run very well. The PS2 has a USB 1.1 connection, so it doesn't read fast at all.

If you want games to work well and not have to use disks, then you'll want to rip your games to your computer, and hook your PS2 to your computer with an ethernet cable. There's a guide on that here: http://versatile1.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/how-to-boot-games-off-network-smb-with-playstation-2-ps2-using-openps2loader-a-novice-guide/

With that guide you will also need FreeMcBoot, but I think you could probably use anything else that can launch .ELF files, but FreeMcBoot would be easier to use.

[Aridale]

I have a softmodded ps2 and used hdd loader quite a bit. Thats the way Id say to go hands down. Just make sure you get a hdd thats confirmed to work with hdd loader cause its not worth the hassle if it doesnt