Please advise me on modding my PS2

[spystyle]

Hello from icy cold Maine!

I am going to mod my PS2 to play my legally backed-up games so I can safely store my originals away

I have model # 30001

I have some soldering experience, I successfully modded several PS1's, but as you know, the PS2 can be much harder...

And there are so many modchips to choose from now I was hoping someone who has successfully modded theirs could advise me. I'd like to find a chip with the following:

1. cheap
2. easy to install
3. no swap needed

and where to order it.

Groovy?
Craig

[clanggedin]

I bougth HDadvance and a 200GB hard drvive. I only have to swap if I want to install games. I will even load back-ups and imports to the hard drive. Unfortunately there are some games that just won't back up.

[crashwg]

I have some soldering experience, I successfully modded several PS1's, but as you know, the PS2 can be much harder...

After reading that sentence I'd suggest NOT attempting it.  Send it out to someone who has ALOT of soldering experience, preferably someone who's done a few PS2s.  If you need more convincing go to www.dms3.com and check out the tutorial images and compare them to your PS2's motherboard, the stuff you have to solder to is so friggin tiny it's not even funny!

As for what chip, I'd suggest the DMS4.  I personally have a DMS3 and it's great but the DMS4 is a bit better in my book just because you don't have to hold any buttons to load PS1 games and DVD movies.

[TalkingOctopus]

I was looking into modding my ps2 a few months ago as well.  I originally was going to use a chip as you plan to.  As previously suggested, DMS4 is the best chip out there.  However, I don't think any chips are easy to install for the ps2.  Because of this, I ended up getting a 120 GB drive and hdadvance.  It is really nice, however, you should expect some incompatibilities.  Another drawback is its expensive cost (the hard drive).

You ought to read this thread - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,27572.0.html: Best PS2 Modchip

[SOAPboy]

PS2

20+ Wires


Good luck..


i opted for the fliptop case and swap magic..

[adaaaam]

I bought my modded PS2 for a little under $200 over a year ago in Hong Kong, but it didn't play PS1 bootlegs Anyway, are the slim models compatible with the DMS4? If so I shall pick one up overseas, if not I'm not even gonna go this year, and just wait till PS3

[SOAPboy]

I bought my modded PS2 for a little under $200 over a year ago in Hong Kong, but it didn't play PS1 bootlegs Anyway, are the slim models compatible with the DMS4? If so I shall pick one up overseas, if not I'm not even gonna go this year, and just wait till PS3

theres rumors that once the new slim ps2s are opened they "stop" working..

now im not even sure at all about it, BUT its something to look into..

also, swap magic, realyl isnt a huge deal.. i know some people like just putting the game in and playing, but it litterally takes 2 seconds to swap the disc..

[SNAAKE]

I am going to mod my PS2 to play my legally backed-up games so I can safely store my originals away

LOLOLOL

[pointdablame]

I bought my modded PS2 for a little under $200 over a year ago in Hong Kong, but it didn't play PS1 bootlegs Anyway, are the slim models compatible with the DMS4? If so I shall pick one up overseas, if not I'm not even gonna go this year, and just wait till PS3

theres rumors that once the new slim ps2s are opened they "stop" working..

now im not even sure at all about it, BUT its something to look into..

also, swap magic, realyl isnt a huge deal.. i know some people like just putting the game in and playing, but it litterally takes 2 seconds to swap the disc..

I've never heard those rumors, but either way, that's not true.  There are chips and fliptops for slim ps2's already, and a ton of people have them working.  You can use the slim model with no problems

[Pieman2004]

I think you ought to just get a hard drive with hdloader. It may be a bit more money but there is no hassle to install and there is no hassle with disks.

[crashwg]

I think you ought to just get a hard drive with hdloader. It may be a bit more money but there is no hassle to install and there is no hassle with disks.

But there is a hassle when it comes to what games work though...  Go HERE for a compatibility list.

[pointdablame]

I started out with HDLoader and got frustrated with compatibility issues.  I have a chipped system now and it's much better (which is to be expected).  Now I just use the HDLoader for a few games I'm playing frequently (and that actually work with the thing)

[spystyle]

Thank you all for the advice!

I found the "Magic Swap boot disk" and "Flip-Top case" can be had for $31+$5 shipping from:
www.gameshopusa.com

and I found the "Magic V ModChip 50K V9" for $18 + shipping from:
www.gocybershop.ca

Those are very competitive prices! I decided to go with the boot/case combo, not very heroic but guarenteed to work

Now I'm going to yank that rediculously loud 12v 60mm fan and put a 6v 120mm fan on the top of the case (using a 4" hole saw and resistor)

Damn that box is noisy!

Do any of you know the method for calculating resistor value?

I read this :
http://www.cpemma.co.uk/diodes.html
and my brain overheated...

I wonder if one of you could translate it into English?

My fans only list volts and amps, but above formula used watts...

Thanks,
Craig


 

[crashwg]

Volts x Amps = Watts

[spystyle]

Thanks crashwg!

So here's what I have for calculating what resistor.

The fan in question is 12 volts, 0.27 amps.

1st we discover the wattage:
volts multiplied by amps

3.24 watts

2nd we discover the fans resistance:
volts multiplied by volts
divided by watts

44.4

3rd we note the desired voltage, and the difference in voltage,  in this case I want to turn the 12 volt fan in to a 6 volt fan, so the desired voltage is 6, and the difference in voltage is 6.

4th we calculate the value of the resistor:

volts minus desired voltage
multiplied by fan resistance
devided by desired voltage

also 44.4

So I'll need a resistor that is rated about 44.4 OHMs

(That's an ironic integer, does that mean to make a fan run at half speed you need to buy a resistor that is equal to fan resistance?)

5th we calculate power rating (the minimum wattage of the resistor to avoid overheatring it) :

difference in voltage multiplied by difference in voltage
divided by resistor value
equals minimum wattage of resistor

0.81 watts

So, to turn my 12 volt fan, that is 0.27 amps, into a 6 volt fan I will need a resistor that is about 44.4 OHMs and more than 0.81 watts

OHM's law is really complicated! 

[spystyle]

I'll also note, as it is on-topic, that I was able to copy my original PS2 CDs and DVDs with Nero, by simply choosing CD-copy/DVD-copy and selecting "image Recorder" as the drive, this copies the game to an image on the hard drive, I set the read speed to 1X with "ignore read errors" as some of the games were scratched, and they copied fine. After, I burned the images from the hard drive to the appropriate disks - and they played perfectly.

I tested a silver/silver generic CD-R, and the game locked up after a short while, the same game copied with a Maxell brand name CD-R worked perfectly.

Groovy?
Craig

[cholin]

I have a modded PS2, but frankly I dont think it helped me at all because I dont activate it when I play burned games.  Recently, I burned a few games as backups because my brother scratches the real games so fast.  I copied GTA:SA using a program called DVD Decrypter.  You go to MODE > ISO READ and copy the disk to your HD, then the same in WRITE at any slower speed (I used 4x) and it worked great.  You need to swap disks though, because even with my mod chip, it would not read the boot of my disk.  I got something called DVDregionX and I just keep pressing START until the tray opens.  Then I swap disks and it plays great.  If you need help, dont hesitate to ask through PM.

[rchadd]

a friend of mine uses HDAdvance to simply save games disk images to additional harddrive that he fitted to his old style PS2 using the network adaptor. he seems to be very happy with this situation as does not require any fitting of a mod chip and installation is very easy.

[pointdablame]

a friend of mine uses HDAdvance to simply save games disk images to additional harddrive that he fitted to his old style PS2 using the network adaptor. he seems to be very happy with this situation as does not require any fitting of a mod chip and installation is very easy.

that works great for games that can be used... but there are a lot of compatibility issues.

[Stingray]

a friend of mine uses HDAdvance to simply save games disk images to additional harddrive that he fitted to his old style PS2 using the network adaptor. he seems to be very happy with this situation as does not require any fitting of a mod chip and installation is very easy.

that works great for games that can be used... but there are a lot of compatibility issues.

That's interesting. So far I've only come across a couple of games that don't work, and about 25 that do.

-S

[tetsujin]

I modded my PS2 a while back with a DMS4 Pro so I could play imports.  It's fantastic, I absolutely love it.

Soldering 20 wires is no harder than soldering one wire, you just do it 20 times.  Of course, there are a few "gotchas" you need to watch out for if you chip a PS2.  Wires shouldn't go under noisy circuits (in other words, try to keep them clear of all the big ICs) and certain wires, like ground, and maybe voltage and clock, need to be large so the signal will get through intact.

If you install a DMS4, here's the bit of information that the DMS folks don't tell you straight out, but which is absolutely necessary: DMS4 does nothing especially useful out-of-box.  You need to load ToxicOS or ToxicBIOS on it, then you can play copies and imports and any-region DVDs.

ToxicOS (for the DMS4 Pro version) includes a program like HDLoader.  This, to me, was an unexpected bonus, and led me to buy and install a hard drive.  Probably about 80%-90% of my games work when installed to HD.  A few don't.

If you're not up to the installation, the DMS people are also making an easy-installation version these days: it includes sockets that you press down on top of the relevant ICs, making the connection.  A no-soldering solution with no compromises.

[crashwg]

That's interesting. So far I've only come across a couple of games that don't work, and about 25 that do.

-S

I posted this above but I'll do it again just so you don't have to scroll up.    

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/casey.miller/HD%20Loader%20Compatibility.htm

[Stingray]

Thanks, I've seen that list. There are a lot more games that either work fine or work by changing the mode than games that don't work.

-S

[spiffyshoes]

Does any one know if game shark works with HD Advance?  I don't mean like for loading game shark on to your HD (although that might be a cool idea) but for using Game Shark codes on the games that you load from your HD.

[Stingray]

It doesn't seem likely, but I haven't actually tried it.

-S

[crashwg]

Does any one know if game shark works with HD Advance?  I don't mean like for loading game shark on to your HD (although that might be a cool idea) but for using Game Shark codes on the games that you load from your HD.

Nope, you can't.







CHEATER!