Hacking/Modding PS2

[Biggie578]

Hello all. I'm back after a long haitus. Sad to see my old account deleted, but its just another fresh start for the hub i guess. Anywayys. I just bought a PS2 from my friend. Its the original fatty, and it has the SONY 40GB hdd /w official network adapter in it. My intent when buying it was to throw my 250GB hdd in there and get a bunch of games from the "store" and put them on the hdd and just play pretty much any game I can find in the "store". Google searches dont provide very much insight. How can I get the PS2 to play games offa the HDD w/o the original disc? I'd prefer not to solder or even buy extra hardware for that matter. It would also be cool if I could enable some featueres of the PS2 that it dosent originally like an internet browswer or mp3 player.

Bottom line: what are some ways that I can enable the PS2 to play game images offa the HDD w/o the orignal discs.

Thanks guys. lemme know if this is inappropriate/in the wrong place.

You can also take a PC HD and hook it up in the Expansion Bay Slot of the PS2 and put the  PS2 disk in and burn the games start to the HD, My cuzs got it with a 350GB HD, So he can have 70 or so games on it and never need to open the system, You do need to leave in a PS1 disk thou.

Elaborate?

[darkNiGHTS]

Welcome back! It's good to see you again.  Sorry, I don't really know much about PS2s.

[wickidweasel]

google the memory card exploit it uses the memory card and a ps1 disc to boot any HDD with hdloader its quicker to load the HDD up with games in your PC first tho.
You'll have to find the prog to read the PS2 formatted drive tho


You may need the swap magic discs tho i cant remember i did it  a long time ago
I still have the swap magic discs, network adapter, memory cards and the PS1 discs in a box ill see what condition they are in and probably stick up 4 sale.
Ive a ps2 fat coming to repair so ill check it all on that first.

[wickidweasel]

sorry i chucked all my PS2 links and software a long time ago
Plenty on google heres a good start point http://www.exploitstation.com/index.php?page=faq

If you get stuck feel free to ask ill see what i can rattle outta the ole loaf

[Biggie578]

Thanks wicked. That site is very useful, and almost exactly what I was looking for.

Secondly you need to get the exploit onto your memory card. There are several ways to do this. All of them involve one of 4 things to be in your possession. Your options are:


-Action Replay/Gameshark

-Swap Magic Discs

-Codebreaker Version 8 or later

-Xploder or Similar Memory Card-2-PC Device

Any idea if the Sony PS2 Memory card adapter for the PS3 will work? I can borrow it from my friend. He also has a gameshark somewhere.

EDIT:

FYI no you cant plug the reader in to your pc at least not yet maybe someone out there can figure out a way to install the drivers needed for your pc to see the reader till then no dice on using it for your pc. althought i have heard that you can transfer the saves to a flash drive to and from pc/ps3 have yet to try tho.

[wickidweasel]

Im not Sure but you can pick PS2 memory cards up pretty cheap. The PS1 disc and Memory card need to be in the PS2 at all times when you want to boot the HDD so its worth having your own. The game shark will only be used to install the exploit, its also worth setting more than one PS1 game as a bootdisc as a backup. Also if you ever wanted to play the PS1 disc you will need to remove the card with the exploit otherwise it will boot into hdloader instead of the game.

You may find more info here http://ps2dev.org/
for compatibility http://ps2drives.x-pec.com/?p=list
For reading and writing ps2 drive on pc try http://www.psxforum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22748

I think that about covers everything

but then again some more info and a few links on good ole wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS2_Independence_Exploit

[Biggie578]

thanks alot wicked, those links are immensley helpful. I got a gameshark from my friend, but its for PSX and the PS2 wont read it (not sure if its too scratched, or because its for PSX) and I doubt the ps3 memory card reader will work. Is there a way I can get the exploit files onto the memory card w/o purchasing anything? For ubergeek's exploit installer method, it says I need a RETAIL HD Loader/HDAdvance disc. Does it really need to be retail or will a burned copy work fine? Can you link me to a torrent? There are diffferent ones ranging from <1MB to several hundered.


I kinda got the gameshark to work. I have a "GameShark CDX Version 3.3" - "The Ultimate Game Enhancer for the Playstation" discfrom 1999 with a black bottom and greenish label side as well as the Code Archive Disc With Bonus Gameshark Engine" disc - "For PS one (PlayStation) games". with a purple label and blue bottom. Would these work to apply the exploit?

[wickidweasel]

Im not sure if PSX swap disc will allow you to load the exploit as i used the CD swapmagic disc but its worth a try

You will not be able to boot any disc you burn without swapping or using a mod chip if this was the case you wouldnt need any of this stuff to play backups.

Theres plenty of Hdloaders over the web afterall this is where i got it from

Ok ive had another google halway through writing this post and ive found what looks like the tutorial i used http://hdadvance.digitalsedative.com/

Follow that and you cant go wrong once youve got that far you can then install the games like i said its a lot faster to put the drive in your PC to add the games.