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Playstation Modding 101

Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
I just pimped out my PS2 and thought I'd share my experiences. Playstations are kind of anemic when it comes to modding capabilities, but you can still do some fun stuff with them.

What can I do with a modded PS2?

Two things:
1. Play burned games (backups/copies)
2. Copy games to a hard drive

What do I need to mod a PS2?

To start out with, you need either a slim PS2 or a "fat" PS2 (older-style). I prefer the fat style because you put put a 3.5" IDE hard drive inside of them, but slim PS2's will work just fine if you use a USB hard drive. You can also use a USB hard drive with the fat PS2s if you want.

Next you will need a modchip or a disc set. For my project, I decided to get a disc set. No soldering required and I get the same results. If you want to play burned games, you will either need to get a slide tool (to open the DVD tray) or a flip cover (lets you swap out discs while the PS2 is on).

If you have a fat PS2:
Network adapter
3.5" IDE hard drive (non-Western Digital, 40-200gb)
HD Advance disc set

-or-

USB hard drive (40-2,000gb)
USB eXtreme disc set

If you have a slim PS2
USB hard drive (40-2,000gb)
USB eXtreme disc set

If you decide to use a USB hard drive, a 3.5" drive will require an A/C adapter. Most 2.5" drives can run off USB bus power, however.

Where do I get the parts?

I like The Giant Store. They sell disc sets, slide tools, and flip cases, among other things:

http://www.thegiantstore.com/

You can also try ebay, although ebay has a no-modchip/disc set policy afaik. ebay has good deals on cases and other accessories. I picked up a slick clear case:

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/kaido/ps2.jpg

If you're looking for wireless controllers, Logitech makes the best ones. Provantage usually has pretty good deals.

How do I set it up?

If you're using a fat PS2, you need to connect the Network Adapter to the hard drive, then attach that unit to the PS2. It's basically plug-and-play. The Network Adapter has two big fat screws, so it's really easy to install. After that, pop in the HD Advance disc and format the drive. I haven't tried the USB disc set, but I'd assume it's the same.

As far as copying games to the hard drive, you can do it directly from the PS2 to the internal hard drive. If you're using a USB hard drive, you have to do it from your computer. They include a CD and a DVD boot disc, depending on the kind of game you want to copy (at least I think that's how it works, or maybe it's just for playing burned games).

A DVD game takes about 20-25 minutes to copy. A nice perk is that it speeds up boot times by about three times, so games load much faster. You also don't have to worry about losing a game, scratching a disc, and so on. It turns your Playstation into a game jukebox.

Cheers :laugh:
 
Originally posted by: Drakkon
now post the video on youtube of step by step how to do it 😀
Click to expand...

You don't really need all the extras if you have fat PS2...plug in hard drive to Network Adapter, screw in Network Adapter to PS2, insert boot disc. Done 😉
 
Also, regarding games:

If you want to buy games, there are tons of places: (new/used)

Anandtech For Sale/Trade forum
Hardforum For Sale/Trade forum
eBay
Craigslist
Trade sites
Gamestop (great prices on used games!)

If you want to rent games, there are a few places:

Blockbuster (online & stores)
Gameznflix
Gamefly
Intelliflix
 
Oh yeah, two things to note:

1. It is not 100% compatible with all games.
2. You can't copy PS1 games to the hard drive.

Other than that it's pretty nifty 🙂
 
Hypothetically, my friend might have once gone looking for ps2 mod chips, and found out that they are like 26+ wires. Are they still like that, hypothetically?
 
Originally posted by: MisterServer
Originally posted by: Kaido
1. It is not 100% compatible with all games.
Click to expand...

is there a list somewhere of compatible games?
Click to expand...

Scroll down: (multi-page list, click "next" at the bottom)

http://forum.hdadvance.com/hd_advance_compatibility.asp

There are compatibility modes, so 95% of the games work. There are also patches online that you can download to get things working. I really wish you could copy PSX games to the hard drive...I want to pick up some of the old Twisted Metal & Crash Bandicoot titles 🙂
 
Originally posted by: randay
Hypothetically, my friend might have once gone looking for ps2 mod chips, and found out that they are like 26+ wires. Are they still like that, hypothetically?
Click to expand...

Not sure on that one, I just know that you have to solder them in. There are people who will do the installation for you if you don't want to. The discs do the same thing as the modchips though and cost half as much.
 
The best compatibility list:

http://list.ps2hd.com/

And it is sooo much quicker to connect the HDD to the PC and move games over. It can also be done with an FTP app.

Additionally, you can load the HDloader software onto your memory card and trigger it to be run by putting in a ps1 disk. This allows you to have updated versions with better comatibility as well.

You can also shrink many disk images on the PC before loading and patch many that normally won't work, etc.
 
Originally posted by: TheSiege
ok just so i know im not reading this wrong, all i need is the HDD kit from sony, and a dsic?
Click to expand...

If you have a Fat PS2:

Network Adapter ("HDD kit")
HD Advance ("disc")
Hard drive (40-200gb, Seagates work great)
 
Originally posted by: TheSiege
ok so if i bought the USB extreme loader dvd, all i would need is an external HDD?
Click to expand...

Yup, just a USB hard drive between 40gb and 2tb 🙂
 
Originally posted by: TheSiege
ok so if i bought the USB extreme loader dvd, all i would need is an external HDD?
Click to expand...

But it is soooo easy to put a regular HDD in, and generally a lot cheaper.

Plus compatibility is better that way as well...
 
The USB eXtreme setup is a little bit different actually. You can only format the machine on your PC using the command line or the windows software. Also, you first partition and format it with windows so it shows up as an available drive. Games are also installed using the PC with an annoying process that I found much faster using the command line tool rather than the Windows tool.

Personally, USB eXtreme is a waste of money. The PS2 features USB1.1 and it makes for slow/choppy FMVs. Also, USB eXtreme, like mentioned below, isn't as compatible as you may like. I recently tried to copy a game to it and it simply failed at the end every single time. A trip online showed that I wasn't the only one and the game was simply not compatible (it's a new game not listed on any of the compat. lists).

My suggestion is that if you have a Slim PS2. Go to your neighborhood friendly Wal-Mart, buy some Scotch tape (the small thing clear tape), open your PS2 (void the warranty, who cares... they're $130!), and tape down the two switches. You save $10 buying those useless "Magic Switch Pro" items that barely work and are a huge pain to put the C/D tool in.

My Slim PS2 is currently using my ghetto-rig tape method and it works beautifully. Note that this method does require a Swap Magic 3.6 or higher disc.

Also note that you cannot use Maxtor hard drives with HDAdvance! They layout is not compatible with the Network Adapter (trust me, I personally tried it when I read that they weren't compatible).
 
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