Playing a Japanese game on North American PS2

[CRTGAMER]

HDD loading, haven't done it but the potential setting tweaking and some incompatibilities have made me wait to try it, and a mod chip, well, for me, has been fantastic. All my games work, JP and US originals & back-ups. But if the HDD loading was sweet & simple like on the Wii or Xbox, I'd try that out ASAP.

Booting games from a HDD has a few advantages that I think are worth a LOT. One, the PS2 can load faster from the HDD, so most games will have improved loading times. Two, since you're loading from the HDD, you're keeping wear and tear off the optical drive. And the optical drive is probably the weakest link in the PS2 chain. Those are the reasons I use HDD loading, with reason #2 being most of it.

I have been using HDAdvance 2.0 with HDLoader 8.c installed as a game disc. Most games load fine with HDAdvance which boots up without any mod since it is a pressed disc. The few problem games work after first loading the HDLoader "game" file. There are some games that can be PPF patched to work as well. I use HDAdvance 3.0 to do the Ethernet install for games such as God of War and Half Life, use HDAdvance 2.0 for the daily run.

Out of my collection of over 200 PS2 games there are around ten that do not work in the hard drive. I have held off on the newer "homebrew" Hard Drive loader programs since the HDAdvance/HDLoader works pretty well for me. From what I read, correct me on this, there is compatibility issues of CD based games. There are games that do and do not work on HDAvance/HDLoader versus OpenPS2Loader/FreeMCBoot. Each having their list of games that work with advantages and disadvantages.

[Ziggy]

To the best of my knowledge, OPL just pwns HDAdvance. I had HDAdvance 3.0 pressed disks. Some games needed compatibility settings. After I switched to OPL, all the same games work and I no longer need compatibility settings. I also have a few CD games on the hard drive and they all work fine.

CRT, you don't have Free MB boot? Since you have a HDD loader pressed disc, why not just install FMCB on a spare memory card and check out OPL (which comes in the newb package)? If you don't like it, you can just not use it. But I bet you will. It's easier to use (you don't need a disk) and as far as I can tell it's all around better. Also FMCB has other benefits besides OPL.

[Breetai]

I have a mod chip in my PS2. Works just fine with my Japanese games.

[theclaw]

My chipped fat US PS2 has run virtually everything thus far I've tossed at it. JPN or PAL, PS1 or PS2, original or burned. Not just untouched burns either. English patch Dragon Quest 5 starts up too.

Next step will get getting a hard drive again. Last time I had no modchip. IIRC transfer to HDD of burned/import PS2 games, using the disc drive without any swap trick, on an unchipped system didn't work back then.

[Ziggy]

IIRC transfer to HDD of burned/import PS2 games, using the disc drive without any swap trick, on an unchipped system didn't work back then.

Why bother ripping games to the hard drive using the PS2 optical drive anyway? Just transfer them over from a PC.

[dsheinem]

You might not like the advice

It's not the advice I have a problem with.

Perhaps if CRT phrased it differently...I see no reason to come down so hard on CRT.

It isn't about phrasing. It is, as I indicated, about shoehorning in answers to questions, suggestions, information, etc. about a wide number of pet topics into a very high percentage of his posts. This thread might not be the best example as the answer was at least somewhat related to the question, but it is indicative of a wider posting trend. I've talked about this with him in the past, so it isn't news to him how I feel about it. At least a few other mods were annoyed by it as well when I was on the team.

I appreciate some of the information that CRT brings to the forum, but I often disagree about how he presents that info (in long blog-type posts with all kinds of odd text formatting and an overuse of large images), what info he often chooses to present and where (e.g. mundane GameStop purchases in the long-ago ruined finds thread), and how often he promotes/spams his own posts.

Again, none of this is news to him - we've had long discussions of it in the past.

Again, I like much of what he offers (see my praise here). But I also find a fair bit of it distracting and annoying (yet ripe for parody!).

[theclaw]

IIRC transfer to HDD of burned/import PS2 games, using the disc drive without any swap trick, on an unchipped system didn't work back then.

Why bother ripping games to the hard drive using the PS2 optical drive anyway? Just transfer them over from a PC.

I was just stating what I remember.

If anything I'd look into adding a second ethernet card in this PC to rip that way. Less hassle than moving the whole drive each time (which currently wouldn't even work as I no longer have an IDE controller), or dealing with discs more than necessary.

[CRTGAMER]

IIRC transfer to HDD of burned/import PS2 games, using the disc drive without any swap trick, on an unchipped system didn't work back then.

Why bother ripping games to the hard drive using the PS2 optical drive anyway? Just transfer them over from a PC.

I was just stating what I remember.

If anything I'd look into adding a second ethernet card in this PC to rip that way. Less hassle than moving the whole drive each time (which currently wouldn't even work as I no longer have an IDE controller), or dealing with discs more than necessary.

I usually do the direct install since it is usually only one game or two. I would waste more time burning a game to ISO then transferring it back to the PS2. Although the PC install transfer is a great method if a lot of games are installed at the same time. The ISO Ethernet method also works well for the DVD-9 discs and certain blue CD discs that refuse the direct install.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Bumping this cuz I thought of something else...

If I use Swap Magic on my PS2 will I be able to play Japanese PS1 games?

[noiseredux]

Bumping this cuz I thought of something else...

If I use Swap Magic on my PS2 will I be able to play Japanese PS1 games?

no. But I can teach you how to do this. You need Free McBoot on a memory card. Very easy. Many people here can hook you up.