Swap Magic questions

[ffnut]

I've been wanting to get into importing and want to mod a slim ps2. From what I understand, I need Swap Magic 3.6 and a Magic Switch Pro V3. I thought this'd be a good place to ask since it seems a lot of people here import. Do I have this right, or is there something else I need? Also, any recommendations on where I can get it?

[Johnny]

Hard mod (i.e. internal chip) or soft mod? Slim PS2 is a little harder to soft mod than a bulky one.

Slimline PS2 Swap Magic/Magic Switch Pro installation guide (http://www.swapmagic3.com/MagicSwitchProV3Installation.pdf) (PDF format). This method is a little tricky and fiddly to setup, but with patience you'll be fine. I modded my brothers PS2 this way and it worked fine.

If you know anyone/anywhere that will hard mod your console and you trust them then personally that's what I'd recommend. Much, much less hassle and gives you the added bonus of being able to play all region PSX games as well as DVDs.

Swap Magic homepage is here (http://www.swapmagic3.com/index.html).
You can buy from eBay or just type Swap Magic into Google as there's quite a lot of small online mod shops that should be able to sort you out.

Hope that helps.

[ffnut]

Thanks.

Unfortunatly, I don't know anyone who could hard mod mine, so I'll have to go with the soft mod. That magic switch doesn't look that invasive, or that difficult. It doesn't look like I can screw up the system with it either, so it's probably the way to go.

[Johnny]

That magic switch doesn't look that invasive, or that difficult. It doesn't look like I can screw up the system with it either, so it's probably the way to go.


Yeah, Swap Magic is great and very easy to use. One thing worth bearing in mind though is that it won't allow you to play any dual-layer disks, such as Gran Turismo 4 or God of War II.

There is also meant to be a new PS2 chip coming out which plugs into the memory card socket which would be even more easy to use than Swap Magic. Don't know when it's due out though, just that it's in development.

[ffnut]

That magic switch doesn't look that invasive, or that difficult. It doesn't look like I can screw up the system with it either, so it's probably the way to go.


Yeah, Swap Magic is great and very easy to use. One thing worth bearing in mind though is that it won't allow you to play any dual-layer disks, such as Gran Turismo 4 or God of War II.

There is also meant to be a new PS2 chip coming out which plugs into the memory card socket which would be even more easy to use than Swap Magic. Don't know when it's due out though, just that it's in development.

It can't? Is there a list, or somewhere I could find out if a particular game can't be played, because that could be a problem. :(

[Johnny]

That magic switch doesn't look that invasive, or that difficult. It doesn't look like I can screw up the system with it either, so it's probably the way to go.


Yeah, Swap Magic is great and very easy to use. One thing worth bearing in mind though is that it won't allow you to play any dual-layer disks, such as Gran Turismo 4 or God of War II.

There is also meant to be a new PS2 chip coming out which plugs into the memory card socket which would be even more easy to use than Swap Magic. Don't know when it's due out though, just that it's in development.

It can't? Is there a list, or somewhere I could find out if a particular game can't be played, because that could be a problem. :(


There's a list somewhere online. Don't have it at hand at the minute though. It's only a small number of games that are affected anyway.

[ffnut]

I found one on wikipedia, I don't know how complete it is.

No problems until I get down to S and bam! 2 Sakura Taisen games. :grr:

It's annoying, but I guess it's not a dealbreaker. Those games would probably be difficult to find anyway. I just wanted to, among other things, try a Sakura Taisen game. There are 3 for the PS2 AFAIK, and this cuts me down to 1.

I'll probably just get Swapmagic now, and should that memory card mod that you mentioned ever actually happen I can look at getting that too if I come across one of those two, or so I don't have to swap anymore.

[Johnny]

More on that memory card mod - apparently available in around 4 weeks (http://freevast.biz/) .

[Richie]

I've been using it on my slim PS2 and it has been good, however one of the three magic keys can be difficult to fit in as Sony cunningly put in piece of metal to cover over the slot that it fits in with the later versions of the slim PS2! :roll:

Thanks to this piece of kit I got to play Xenosaga III (which will never get a Euro release!) plus Shadow Hearts FTNW and Final Fantasy XII ages before their Euro release, I am also seriously considering importing Persona 3 from the US.

[ffnut]

More on that memory card mod - apparently available in around 4 weeks (http://freevast.biz/) .

Great find! I think I'll wait a little bit then.

Thanks again for the info!

[Chacranajxy]

More on that memory card mod - apparently available in around 4 weeks (http://freevast.biz/) .

Not sure if it's been posted, but I think it's supposed to be around $50 USD as well. If it doesn't require a swap disc, I'll pick it up.

[Damo]

The memory card thing sounds interesting, I'll be keepign an eye on that, or at the least trying to.

I wouldn't mind a hard mod but there's no way I could do it myself so would have to find somewhere / someone it's a pity most of the little independant games shops have gone by this stage in the console market as I used to know of a handful that would do it but they've all closed down now.