modded PS2...

[NekoGnash]

I was so happy to find this site and even more so this mesage board!  I often wondered if it was possible to patch a ps2 game and i guess now i know *lol*

Actually my question is in regards to a modded ps2.  I got one of the thin ones for a year or so before i modded it [that was march...GO FFXII!!!] now i've been hearing complaints about mods such as...the system's life span is only going to last about 2 years...is this true!?!?

[Kogahazan]

My guess is the short life span is due to the modchip melting. Just give plenty of space for the console to vent. I have a friend that bought a chipped PS2 and after about 2 years the mod chip inside melted and he got it replaced.

I have another friend bought a chipped PS2 from somewhere else (maybe with different mod chip), around launch time, and it still works fine.

The first friend, I don't really know how he takes care of his PS2, but from what I've seen, it gets moved around a lot. The second friend never really moves it anywhere and it sits in the same spot, but it's also in the open and well ventilated. I would say don't move it around and keep it vented and nothing should really happen.

[NekoGnash]

would/should there or should there not be any diffrence if you play backed up ps2 games versus ps1 games is my next question...or is there no real diffrence of wich to speak of [lens/laser strain or anything i mean]

[Kogahazan]

A mod chip should be able to play both PS1 and PS2 games. I think there are some that don't play PS1 games though. There shouldn't be any extra stress on the laser.

[bungiefan]

I was so happy to find this site and even more so this mesage board!  I often wondered if it was possible to patch a ps2 game and i guess now i know *lol*

Actually my question is in regards to a modded ps2.  I got one of the thin ones for a year or so before i modded it [that was march...GO FFXII!!!] now i've been hearing complaints about mods such as...the system's life span is only going to last about 2 years...is this true!?!?

My understanding is that it's a bad installation job of a modchip, or just SCEA's usual crap hardware quality, if a PS2 dies. Most people I know in person with a PS2 don't have their US systems last more than 2 years without needing repairs or replacement, while the people I know with JP PS2s never have them die from the same usage. Odds seem good that if you have a US PS2, it's going to die on you in 18-24 months regardless of if you have modified it or not, but Sony will only offer to repair or replace it if it's unmodified.

[Kikujiro]

I had my PS2 for 4 years and I had a lot of troubles with it during the past 1 or 2 years. What I did was open the beast, clean up the drive with appropriates tools and evacuating all the dust. Now it works like it did on the first day (I'm not kidding)

My PS2 isn't modded, but a friend who's PS2 has one and died gave it to me for, huh... "experimentation". It clearly shows that when the modder put something below the modchip to prevent any damage if it melts. I'd guess it is something any knowledgable modder would do...

Anyway, here some usual advice I can give you
- Put your PS2 in a place it will vent properly.
- TAKE CARE OF YOUR GAMES DAMMIT. And I'm not talking about scratches (everyone knows about these) but about your DVDs being dirty. All the dirt will get attracted by the PS2 drive magnetic field (or something like that, don't remember the exact name, it is a result of the drive spinning), which will result in more read erros (since the dirt will bother the drive and result in some "jumps" for the disc)

[Phren]

yes on the burning out the laser, but mostly from people using crappy and/or RW media too much, puts extra stress on it. Also I hear the first edition slims has terrible laser setups to begin with and are prone to burn out anyway.

My wide track PS2 was working like the day I bought (beginning of 02) until I decommisioned it in July for my premod. And I seriously abused that thing, left it on for DAYS at a time when I couldn't save. every time I got a new game. Just keep it ventilated, don;t shine your discs with sandpaper, and vacuum out the thing every now and then (not kidding. I shop-vac that thing every seven months or so) and a mid-run standard ps2 should last you quite a while.
As for modding it, USE GOOD media, and spring for a good installer and a good chip.

[Cless]

My DMS3 modded V9 fat PS2 has been purring for 2 years now. It still works like new. Can't see it failing any time soon. I use grade AAA DVD+R media for burned stuff and it's flawless. My PS2 also doesn't ever hiccup on the B quality DVD+RW I have for my ToD2 tests. Those play like an original disc, too.

I also strongly recommend sticking a hard drive+network adapter in a fat model... even if you have no real use for them. They help a LOT in keeping dust out of the optics and drive, helping to prevent it from having to work hard to read until it inevitably fails. It plugs up pretty much all/most of the major holes in the chassis that allows dust to effortlessly flow in.

I can't believe Sony never caught onto this obvious design flaw (It actually leads me to believe it was intentional, to make extra cash on repairs).... There's a damn good reason why standard PC drives are pretty much completely sealed from dust (while closed). They never figured it out the entire time they were producing fat models, and there were at least 4 major revisions (5 if you want to count the Japanese 1X000 series)! Yes.. I know the old models had covers for the expansion bay, but they still did nothing about the chassis holes.

Also, all regions of the PS2 hardware are crap. Anecdotal evidence won't paint the whole picture. You'll hear far fewer stories of Japanese PS2s breaking down because not as many English speakers own them. The hardware is the same, with the possible exception of the internal power supply unit conforming to local voltage standards, and the motherboard being configured for the region and language... which doesn't really change anything about the hardware quality.

[Leroy]

My DMS3 modded V9 fat PS2 has been purring for 2 years now. It still works like new. Can't see it failing any time soon. I use grade AAA DVD+R media for burned stuff and it's flawless. My PS2 also doesn't ever hiccup on the B quality DVD+RW I have for my ToD2 tests. Those play like an original disc, too.

I'm just curious what media you're using.. both CD and DVD if you don't mind and where you get them. I just use Sony brand DVD-Rs and they work great, but I generally only use burns to "test" out imports before dropping the cash on them.. once your ToD2 menu patch hits I imagine my PS2 laser will get quite the DVD-R workout and I want to make sure I'm giving it the best care possible.

[Cless]

Buy genuine Taiyo Yuden. I use the 8x +R media.

http://rima.com/

Best internet retailer I've ever dealt with. Has the best prices, ships the same day (within reason), very reasonable shipping prices, and apparently bends over backwards if you have a problem. Can't be beat.

I also use a NEC 4570A drive.

I don't know how wide the compatibility support is for the 16x TY -R. I'd guess it might not be very compatible with some older drives. The 8x -R is the cheapest and reportedly also excellent and should be very compatible. I use +R pretty much exclusively, so I've never used the TY -R personally.

[Azu]

Swap Magic.

[Leroy]

Buy genuine Taiyo Yuden. I use the 8x +R media.

Thanks, I'll grab a stack and see how they work out.

Is there even a difference between -R and +R these days? I've always used -R if I recall.

[Kogahazan]

When used for something other than games, +Rs can have data appended to them while -Rs are strictly one-time burns, but that's something I guess you already know.

When used for games, I don't really know of any differences except that people recommend -Rs so you put less stress on the laser. I use a lot of +Rs and haven't seen anything happen yet, though.

[Cless]

When used for something other than games, +Rs can have data appended to them while -Rs are strictly one-time burns, but that's something I guess you already know.

Well, not exactly. +R is definitely the superior format for multisession discs. I don't know the specifics but every additional session on a -R will eat up around 150MB of space each, while +R will only eat around 5MB per session

When used for games, I don't really know of any differences except that people recommend -Rs so you put less stress on the laser. I use a lot of +Rs and haven't seen anything happen yet, though.

I call myth. Most of the reason for +R's compatibility woes were because it was because it was standardized later than -R. But that's largely irrelevant now, because most DVD burners nowadays have the option to set a bit on +R discs to fool almost every player into thinking they are pressed DVD-ROM discs, resulting in even greater compatibility than -R (which can't be bitset). Some burners may require a hacked firmware to enable +R bitsetting (I know NEC burners usually need one).

Also, I don't know if someone will ask, but NO, bitsetting DVD+R to DVD-ROM will not fool the PS2 into thinking it's an original disc and play without a mod. It will still fail authentication because the copy protection will not be on the discs.