if you’re like me you like to play imported and backed-up PS2 games… but don’t feel like modding your PS2. I, myself, have busted two consoles trying to get away with putting a chip in minus the proper supplies. trust me, it sucks when that happens.
eventually I decided that I was going to go the chipless route and masterminded a very simple way to mod your system with just a roll of electrical tape and a few common screwdrivers.
overall… this took me about a half-an-hour to do, and the results are immediate.
I’M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOU OR YOUR PS2. You’d have to really mess this up for anything bad to happen… but just in case I’m saying this anyway. However, regardless if you break it or not, you will void your warranty if it hasn’t run out yet. (or hasn’t already been voided… hehe)
what you need:
First, you’re going to need to buy a copy of SwapMagic. This is a special DVD that enables you to swap in a DVD-R disc with a game on it… or an imported title. It costs $25. For most people, this is the only purchase that needs to be made. NO… you cannot use a burned-copy of SwapMagic… it’s a specially designed disc that will later allow you to run burned games.
Next, you need to have the following items:
- Standard ‘Philips’ Head Screwdriver (that’s the ‘+’ one)
- Small ‘Philips’ Head Screwdriver… about half the size of the standard sized first one.
- Small ‘Blade’ Head Screwdriver (that’s the ‘-’ one) or knife
- A roll of electrical tape (black is best). Duct tape or something else can be substituted… but electrical is recommended.
- A small plastic sandwich bag.
If you don’t have these things… the total is probably going to be less than $10. Remember, this is much less expensive than modding a PS2 with a chip… and a lot less dangerous.
what you’ve gotta do:
Overall, this isn’t very difficult and should only take about a half-an-hour, as mentioned earlier. I’m going to show you how to do it on a Version 4 PS2. (what version is my PS2?)
Step 1 is to unplug everything (cables, controllers, memory cards, etc.) If you have a hard drive or network card installed, you should not have to take them out. Next, pry up the little plates covering the case screws on the bottom of the unit with the blade screwdriver or very carefully with the knife. Then, unscrew all screws that were under each cover. This is generally 6 to 8 screws total. Store all covers and screws in the plastic bag.
You’ll have to carefully cut through the tape holding through the case together on the back of the unit with the knife. This tells Sony that you’ve opened the case and voided your warranty. If you do not wish to continue, replace all screws, screw covers, and twiddle your thumbs. Cut carefully where there is a gap in the casing so that the knife is not damaging the case.
The top half and bottom half of the case should now separate. Carefully tilt the top half of the case backward as shown in the next image. Be very careful of the silver ribbon cable that’s connected to the power and eject switches. On many PS2s it is taped to the top of the CD/DVD drive with a white sticker. Take the sticker off.
Now that the case is out of the way, and so is the silver ribbon cable… unscrew the 4 tiny screws on the top of the CD/DVD drive with the smaller Philips head screwdriver. Store these screws in the plastic bag.
This allows disc-swapping access to the CD/DVD drive by removing the top cover.
Place the CD/DVD drive’s top cover back on the driver properly and place the top half of the case back on the PS2. Make sure that the silver ribbon cable is not caught on the CD/DVD drive, bent, or squished in any strange way. It is very delicate and needs to be handled with care.
Get out the electrical tape… we’re going to use it to keep the case together and for easy swapping access!
Apply two 3 or 4 inch pieces of electrical tape as shown. Apply the left piece to the bottom of the unit, then fold it over up onto the back. This will hold the top and bottom halves of the case together on that side. Do the same on the right side of the unit, but instead just apply the entire piece without any folding. (you’ll fold it to separate the halves) Fold a tiny bit at the top of each piece down over the sticky side to make it easier to pull the tape off a single half of the case when swapping discs.
Last, apply a long piece of tape under the DVD/CD drive but above the USB/iLink connectors as shown. This is barely visible if you’re using black tape, and allows the top and bottom halves of the case to swing apart when the pieces of tape on the back are folded down.
Ta-da! This allows you to swap discs for just $25. (unless you had to buy supplies… but then again it’s still pretty cheap)
I’ve attached a short MPEG-4 video of me using the SwapDisc to load a backed-up copy of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”. You’ll need Quicktime to view it.
smash’s PS2 Swap Disc Mod (in action!)
8 Comments
will this mod let you play burned games?
Is This a Fuckin joke?
no… it actually does work. you just need the swap magic CD.
yes
I recently bought a PS2 which is a modded one. For me, the shopkeeper himself did the modding work and its working fine. its running all the pirated discs. So better leave the job to the experts.
READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything you need can be downloaded FOR FREE!
If you spend .01 to get your Ps2 to load backups, you wasted your money!!!!!!!! I have been using Swap magic and HD loader for several years without any “original disks”. I dont have to swap disks around everytime I want to play a game. I ALSO NEVER ONCE HAD TO OPEN MY PS2 AND VOID THE WARRANTY. No straws or tape needed! All I have to do is hit reset and my list of games on hard drive appear! I never even have to open my PS2 Cd/Dvd drive!!! The same disk has been in my PS2 for over three years.. There are so many ways to get this to work. The best way is a “MEMORY CARD EXPLOIT” and an old “PS1″ TRIGGER DISK. You can “TRICK” your PS2 into doing ANYTHING you want. My method also supports “ANY” HARDDRIVE UPTO 1000 GIGS. Yes you read right(1,000 gigs 1TB). I have over 600 games and counting (3) 1,000 hard drives. I have 3 systems in 3 diffrent rooms of my house. Works with 90% of games including God of War. It is best to use a larger 64-128 mb memory card if you want to add “APPS/ELFS” to your ps2. The memory card is the “KEY” to getting it to work!!!!! Once you have the “downloaded” files on your computer you can use a “pen drive” to get the files onto the memory card. I have a 128mb which allows me to watch DVD movies from my ps2 hard drive. Music videos, family pictures you name it. Its basicly a computer… The possiblities are endless with these fat ps2’s……. Search google for Swap magic/Hd Loader elf files. The hardest part that people have problems with is creating the the file that goes onto your memory card. Once you get this to work, you can copy the “system files” from the memory card in slot one over to slot 2. I keep atleast 5 memory cards at a time set up. You never know when they will burn out! I have personally set up 30 of my friends systems. Dont beleive everything you read online!! I have read allot of these listings. All that I can do is laugh. BELEIVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU, “MEMORY CARD EXPLOIT” IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO!!!!!! If you dont get it the first time, keep trying. Do your homework!!!! Google is the best website on the planet!!!!!!!
I just wanted to do a follow up to my previous post. There are a couple other things that I forgot to mention. I highly recommend only using HD LOADER, not swap magic! HD LOADER 3.8 C is the newest version(I beleive). The older versions will not work on the newest games. First, if you are using the HD LOADER elf file on your memory card, the best way to load your games is by putting your PS2 hard drive inside your computer “use cable select jumper”. In order for your computer to be able to read the “PS2″ game files, you will need to download a free program called “WINHIIP”. The hard drive WILL NOT show up in your “MY COMPUTER”. If you start the winhiip program, it will show up there. Winhiip is a great program! You can use this to format the hard drive if you dont have the network adapter start up disk. The downside is that it will only format a drive upto 130GB. HD LOADER will format upto a 1000 GB hard drive. Hd loader will correct this once it is installed. From here locate the ps2 “iso’s” game files on your computer and upload to the ps2 hard drive. By using this method, you will extend the life of your ps2 dvd rom laser. Once the hard drive loads, the disk will stop spinning. Another BIG bonus is that the games load 10 times faster. My first system aways froze up on certain games. It has not had ANY problems since! The other way to load games is to simply start the HD LOADER and choose to install a game. The disk drive will open, put in an “original” ps2 game and install. The ps2 will not copy a bootleg cd/dvd game . However, if you have the ISO’s on your hard drive they can be installed directly to the hard drive. There are 2 other ways to install the games to the PS2. The first is by ethernet cable and the other is by pen-drive. I do not recommend either of these options unless you have no other choice. They are very slow, time consumming and you may end up with errors in your games. The only thing I hate about this set-up is the fact that you have to push reset on the ps2 to load a diffrent game from the hard drive! I have played several ps2 games “megaman collection” that allows you to press the start button and play a diffrent game without resetting. The mega man collection has about 7 diffrent games on one disk. If someone has found a way around this please let me know!!!! One other thing:::: You can load a region free elf file to your memory card and play games from anywhere in the world! Also plays home brew games and media. NO MOD CHIP REQUIRED!!!!!!! The best part about this is: If your ps2 ever stopped working, you can just move your hard drive and memory card to a diffrent system and your back, up and running in seconds. Mod chips have a very short life span! If all else fails, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND visiting the hd loader official web site! For $40+ shipping they will send you a loaded memory card with a ps1 trigger disk! Sony has stopped them from making anymore game disks, so they can only do it on memory cards now. I was so happy with the outcome, I went back and purchased one. It is WELL worth the money!!!!!
Hello ,
I would like to ask. How can I make this work ? The method of shane? I hanve never did anything with ps 2 to play backup games.
If I understood right you can play your games from computer hardrive via home network, even if fyou do not hav game on ps 2 hardrive
I read too many thinks aout this toppic, but everywhere they just want a moneym, so i do not know whoch one to choose.
Shane , canyou please give me step by step helper how to make my ps 2 play back up games , .
Please write me what i need to buy, where and what i need to download and how the hell i can make it work .
Thankyuou for your help,
RADOVAN