PS related question...

[Xaviar]

Greetings everyone, I am kinda new here and I am very impressed with the progress/work that Phantasian Productions has done. I look forward to the Tales of Phantasia PSX translation release and wish everyone working on it the best of luck.

Formalities aside, I am happy to say I recently got a legit genuine copy of the PSX version of Tales of Phantasia(see below) from my brother who is actually in japan studying. However a potential problem has arisen... As it stands the only way to run imported games with with a mod chip or boot disk.  I have the latter as I import japanese PS2 games(I only have a PS2) and it runs backups, imports and backups of imports of PS2 games. However, the boot disk does NOT work at all for PSX games. The somewhat obvious solution to play ToP would be to get a Jap PSX/PS1 which would be fine by me.

However, when the translation is complete it will obviously require an image to patch. Once the image is patched it will need to be written to a blank disk to be used. It will require a pretty versatile boot disk/3rd party app to load this because of 2 reasons; A. its an import. B. its a copy. As it stands I do not see a way to run this on an Unmodded PSX/PS1/PS2.

So my question is; how could it be loaded on a Playstation/2?

I would rather NOT have to buy a mod chip just for this. That being said; is there a ELF application out there that can load imported/copied PSX games on a PS2?

Thank you for your time!


pic of proof!
http://img.photobucket.co...v288/XaviarCraig/best.jpg

[Kogahazan]

Well, swap discs in general let you run both an import and a copy, at least the ones I've come across. There's a swap disc called Breaker Pro or something. IIRC, it lets you run copy/import PS1 games on a PS2 using normal swap procedures.

Also, if you happen to have a slim PS2 and are using the tissue+tape method for swap discs (or have something in place that will keep the PS2 from thinking the disc tray's not open when it really is), what you can do is if you happen to have a real PS1 game is to load that up as normal and when you're at the Playstation logo screen, pull out the disc (yeah, I know it's still spinning, but it's the cheap and free way to do it) and put in the import/copy.

[neogalahad]

There are a couple of ways to do it. WIth a fat ps2 you can put a certain file on your memory card that will recognize a ps1 game so whenever it loads it will load files off of your memory card like launchelf. From there you can load cdloader or cogswap or what ever you like. This method is called the independance exploit method. This method was broke when the slim came out. For the slim the only soft mods out there are Action Replay which can use elf files through a usb on the media player. This is the method I use. It takes about a minute for every load but hey I have like 30 burned PS2 games, ps1 games I just play on psp. But doing this you still need to block all of the sensors so that the ps2 will think its still closed. A little tricky but do able. I use cdloader.elf not cdloader75 just cdloader. Using the same sensor blocking method you can use a cool little cd/dvd called Swap Magic 3. With this you can buy the sensor blocker which are made out of aluminum. Or you can put a modchip in your ps2...lots of choices.

Well there is one more method which I think is the best if it actually works. This really neat memory card came out recently called the Memor32. It has a USB input that you can connect to your computer and download this firmware for it and can load your HDD your burned games and applications off of CDs. Im not sure if it actually works but its for sale and im thinking about getting one.

[Xaviar]

I have Swap magic CD Version 3.0 and DVD Version 2.0. Neither of them work with imported PS1 games strangely... Maybe I am just using them wrong. The DVD version works like a charm for PS2 games.

I have a "fat" PS2 with a a fliptop cover. I already have the independence exploit setup with a trigger disk as well. (used Code Breaker to do this)
 
I am still kinda new to using the programs avaible but the ones I have attempted to use are;
CD7BET52.ELF - CD Loader
CSL.ELF – Cog Swap Loader

I couldn't make either run the game so I think I am doing something wrong or the versions I got do not support imports maybe? I honestly do not know.

Making an ISO image and putting it on a USB harddrive could work. For some reason none of my many flash drives work on my PS2, but all my USB harddrives do.

Anyway, is there some program that can launch ISOs or some other images from a USB drive? I know there are numerous utilities to do it from a harddrive hooked up to the PS2 through the back with some adapter, but I do not have that sadly.

Thanks again for your replies and time ^_^

[Seejay]

1) buy a ps1
2)find a way to dump the bios onto your PC
3)download a PSX emulator
4)Configure the PSX emulator
5)Play the game (you can run an iso of the game from your harddrive to make it run more smoothly if you like).

I'm quite sure there is no laws against using an emulator if you use your own bios and own your own playstation. Well there isn't any law against it here anyways. If there is a law against it in your country, then i'm sorry but i can't be expected to learn the laws of every country on earth.

[Kogahazan]

I have Swap magic CD Version 3.0 and DVD Version 2.0. Neither of them work with imported PS1 games strangely...

Forgot to mention before, but swap magic is strictly PS2 games. That's usually how PS2 swap discs are unless there's I'm forgetting something.

[Gamesoul Master]

@Xaviar: Your best bet would be to get a PS1 Gameshark Lite. I use it to load my PS1 imports on my PS2. The only thing it doesn't seem to work on is my newest PS2, the silver slim (the newest model, as of 2 months ago). But seeing as how you have a fat PS2, it'll work perfectly fine. You don't even have to use a PS1 game as a boot disc if you don't want (though the Gameshark Lite is a small-sized disc, so you may still want to use something bigger as the "boot disc" before inserting your ToP game).

It's cheap to buy too. I got mine off eBay, and you can find tons of them on there, still in their factory wrapping, for exactly $10 (that's including the shipping). Search "Playstation Gameshark Lite" to see at least a dozen copies being sold. One even has a DexDrive being sold with it for a tad more money.

Once you have it, just load the Gameshark Lite, go to Start Game (with or without cheats, depending on if you want to use any with ToP), and when it tells you to insert the game disc, you can either put in a boot disc for it to actually read (a standard disc change), wait for it to read the game, and then swap in ToP and start the game.

If you decide to rip your game to mds/mdf or ccd/img/bin (don't use ISO or cue/bin), you should try pSX as the emulator to use. It's extremely easy to use, has low system requirements (mainly because it does little to "enhance" the graphics), uses no plugins, and fully works with ToP (which I've tested myself, with a full playthrough using that *other* translation patch, while I eagerly wait for this one to be done... ^^).

Pertaining to using a program for reading ISO's off a USB drive... Programs exist, but they have poor compatibility and usually aren't worth the effort.

@Kogahazan: Swap Magic is indeed *only* for running PS2 games. Anybody who says otherwise is just trying to mess with you...

[Xaviar]

I was trying to decide where to get the gameshark lite from when I noticed this part of your post;

If you decide to rip your game to mds/mdf or ccd/img/bin (don't use ISO or cue/bin), you should try pSX as the emulator to use.

I was trying to stay away from emulators on my PC since the last PS1 emulator I tryed was horrible. It was called EPSXE or something like that... It had alot of cool features and all, but it could not run stable or have consistent frame rates for the life of it. It would ALWAYS crash 5-20 minutes into a game or vary from really fast to really slow with distorted sound and visuals.

Anyway I just tryed pSX and I am happy to say it works Flawlessly with my imported games (I have more than ToP) aswell as my domestic titles. It didn't crash or have any hickup over the course of 2 hours so I am most impressed. To top it off, it runs games just as it would on the PS with no variation.

Well... I wasnt expecting a decent alternative to this issue to come so easily! Thanks alot for all the replies and suggestions everyone gave. ^_^

[Gamesoul Master]

I'm just glad you now have a working solution. ToP is too fun a game to not be able to play... ^^

Yeah, I know what you mean about ePSXe. When I found pSX about a year and a half ago, it was pretty new, but was still running better than ePSXe. As you said, ePSXe has a lot of great features for enhancement and such, but in many cases, it either has problems in some way, or you need to use specific settings to get just one game to run properly. Not worth the headache. If you do end up having any issues with pSX (or just want to know a little more about it and where it's going), you can always visit the official forums. Though as I said, I played my whole playthrough of ToP on pSX, so that's 40+ hours of gameplay on it, with no problems...

While I do love using pSX, sometimes it's nice to be able to play my imports on the actual console (well, PS2 these days, though I dust off my PS1 occasionally). If you're the same way, I'd still strongly recommend getting the Gameshark Lite. I got it from that same person selling all those copies, and I had no problems with shipping or anything. Of course, if you don't have a means of getting it from eBay, that's a different story. If that's not a problem though, I'd say the $10 investment could very well be worth it. I don't know about you, but being able to play *all* my games on the console... just something about it that gives that warm fuzzy feeling inside...

[Seejay]

ePSXe works great for me. My settings can run all of my games just fine. (except for Metal Gear Solid which doesn't run properly on pSX either).
you guys probably haven't downloaded any of the good plugins.

ok here's the plugins that you can try with it:

Graphics:
Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.8 (or P.E.Op.S. Soft Driver 1.17 for slow machines)

Sound:
Eternal SPU Plugin 1.41

CDRom:
ePSXe CDR WNT/W2K core 1.5.2.

if you want to download them just copy the name of the plugin into google. You'll be sure to find them with google.

most games work on these same plugins with the same settings. there are a few exceptions though (for some reason Chrono Cross runs too fast on 60fps and too slow on 50fps even though it's NTSC).

[Gamesoul Master]

Are you kidding? It'd be pretty hard to miss those plugins since just about every user of ePSXe recommends them, not to mention they're the highest rated plugins just about every place you go. No, the problem is... use anything but a software rendering graphics plugin and start ToP (or many other games). The text is just not right. It looks distorted. And this is using any setting (and believe me, I tweaked all the settings as much as possible). No matter the setting, no matter the plugin, all have a problem with properly rendering the text. Now use a software rendering plugin, and the text looks fine. Only problem is that using any decent filters causes the needed CPU power to jump up. This may not be a problem with a good computer using a AGP or PCI-E graphics card, but my computer has no such ports. And both my ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256 MB card and integrated Intel have this same problem.

Sound is usually not a problem, but many games I play have a lot of sound glitches and inaccuracies (sound doesn't sound like it should, based on playing on a real PS1 or pSX). Using the Eternal SPU makes for the least amount of problems in this area, but it still doesn't compare to pSX or a PS1.

The pad plugins are... crappy. There are one or two plugins that work pretty well. But none of them are all too fun to work with. One option I *do* like in ePSXe that we're pushing for pSX Author to implement soon, is the ability to switch between analog and digital input via a keyboard button.

Overall, ePSXe is nice for people who like graphics enhancements and aren't too picky about how their games sound (or how accurately they're rendered, in some cases), but I value transparency (something Xaviar touched upon in his last post), which is what pSX offers. But that's a little off-topic, and something that has been discussed extensively on many emulation forums. It all just comes down to what a person wants in an emulator.

[Kajitani-Eizan]

pSX is amazing. i still use ePSXe out of habit and because the 3D graphics look prettier at hi-res, but unless you're looking for the latter, i can't really recommend it to new users anymore.

any other good PSX emulators out there? PCSX, adriPSX?

[Gamesoul Master]

PCSX is still rather underdeveloped compared to other emulators, mainly because they changed to working on PCSX2 instead.

AdriPSX isn't bad (it recently had a much-overdue unofficial update), but it still pales in comparison to pSX and ePSXe.

The only other PS1 emulator that's in the area of these two is Xebra. It's about as good as pSX (better for a few games, worse for a few), and is another emulator that uses no plugins or enhancements, as it's focused on accuracy like pSX.

PSXeven isn't too bad, as a plugin-based emulator. It isn't as good as ePSXe though. It doesn't run as many games so well, and some of the plugins aren't compatible.

SSSPSX... I could never even get that one to work. I hear some good things about it, but as far as I know, it's not in the top tier of PS1 emulators.

VGS, with the unofficial patches, is still a pretty good emulator. Better than the last few emulators mentioned. The hardest part is acquiring it in the first place. Not impossible, but it takes a little time. It's hard to say where it ranks, but I'd put it above PSXeven and SSSPSX for sure. AdriPSX too, in my experience. But I guess it can depend on what kind of games you play. I'm a big RPG fan, so that's the main genre I test with, though I do enjoy some action/adventure games, and a few fighting games here and there.

[bungiefan]

Swap Magic is PS2 software, so it boots the console into PS2 mode. Once it's in PS2 mode, it stays in PS2 mode. You need a PS1 swap disc if you want to play PS1 games. Various components of the PS2 have two different modes they run in, depending on what mode the console boots to, so switching modes usually requires a reboot and the console detecting the disc switch. Breaker Pro is the most common PS1 swap disc now, and what you'd need for the same swap method you use for PS2 discs.

The CD Swap Magic Disc isn't for PS1 games, it's for PS2 games on CD-ROM media. Once the console boots with one type of disc, you have to swap in the same type of disc. If you booted the DVD disc, it would set up the drive for DVD data addressing, and would crash if you tried to get it to read a CD when it thinks there's a DVD in the drive, because the data doesn't line up at all.

[neogalahad]

I thought they did have a ps1 swap disc called code breaker or something like that. Will investigate....

[Gamesoul Master]

Well, bungiefan was only explaining what I had basically said earlier... Swap Magic (which is a specific product) is only made for booting PS2 CD's and DVD's. There *are* boot discs for PS1 though. Breaker Pro and PS-X-Change are two notable PS1 boot discs. Codebreaker is a cheat device like Gameshark/Pro Action Replay, Caetla, etc. Though most cheat devices can also be used to boot PS1 back-ups and imports (many of them even work on most PS2 models for booting PS1 games on them).