how to softmod a ps2?

[mitchell2380]

so i want to play some old games and i want to know how to make my own disks, do I need to softmod it to do this? if so what program do i use?

 

[PlayStation 2]

Well, if you're trying to play pirated games, I can't help you with that, but softmodding alone doesn't make the PS2 capable of playing burned games any more than a regular console. If you have a PS2 Slim model and want to softmod, look into a custom lid that has an opening that doesn't trigger the DVD drive to stop running when you open it and look into a memory card with Free Mc Boot on it and whatever disc swapping software of your choice.

[demonix00]

You wouldn't be able to use just burned discs with a PS2 running FreeMcBoot as it requires patching (although that isn't even required as there is an app included that allows booting of disc images either off a USB drive or a network share depending on what version of PS2 you have) to boot burned discs.

 

As to where you can obtain that, you'll have to search for that yourself as community standards forbid posting links to thaty kind of material.

[merkyofayceMF]

On 5/2/2020 at 9:31 AM, handymanshandle said:

Well, if you're trying to play pirated games, I can't help you with that, but softmodding alone doesn't make the PS2 capable of playing burned games any more than a regular console. If you have a PS2 Slim model and want to softmod, look into a custom lid that has an opening that doesn't trigger the DVD drive to stop running when you open it and look into a memory card with Free Mc Boot on it and whatever disc swapping software of your choice.

You don't need a custom lid or anything. If you own a slim, you can just use something to press the button down to make the ps2 think the door is down then swap the disc. For the fat model you'll have to open it up, but the process is the same. Agent under fire is the game to use but not the greatest hits version. I've wrote guides on this in the past, but I don't have any links or resources as I legit don't remember where to get the files you need.

You basically get to a certain part of the game, then save. you rip AUF onto your HDD, replace a file with the loader. you run the game with the original and after you pass the check, you swap the disc. the game tries to load the level, and you boot into Free McBoot. run the installer and you're all set. 

[PlayStation 2]

1 hour ago, merkyofayceMF said:

You don't need a custom lid or anything. If you own a slim, you can just use something to press the button down to make the ps2 think the door is down then swap the disc. For the fat model you'll have to open it up, but the process is the same. Agent under fire is the game to use but not the greatest hits version. I've wrote guides on this in the past, but I don't have any links or resources as I legit don't remember where to get the files you need.

You basically get to a certain part of the game, then save. you rip AUF onto your HDD, replace a file with the loader. you run the game with the original and after you pass the check, you swap the disc. the game tries to load the level, and you boot into Free McBoot. run the installer and you're all set. 

I know you don’t need a custom lid, but it’d make things a little easier if you don’t wanna constantly fumble with getting the lid sensors blocked. Then again, I guess it depends on how OP would like to go about it.

[Npiet1]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:55 PM, merkyofayceMF said:

You don't need a custom lid or anything. If you own a slim, you can just use something to press the button down to make the ps2 think the door is down then swap the disc. For the fat model you'll have to open it up, but the process is the same. Agent under fire is the game to use but not the greatest hits version. I've wrote guides on this in the past, but I don't have any links or resources as I legit don't remember where to get the files you need.

You basically get to a certain part of the game, then save. you rip AUF onto your HDD, replace a file with the loader. you run the game with the original and after you pass the check, you swap the disc. the game tries to load the level, and you boot into Free McBoot. run the installer and you're all set. 

It's a lot easier to get a copy of freeMcboot on a memory card as you already need a specific game. I did this about 6 months ago and streamed the games over a network instead of disc and USB 1.0 read speeds are to slow, its like playing the commodore 64 with a tape drive.

[Kawaii Koneko]

Yes, you can softmod your console. It isn't very hard. I did it on a fat model using the Metal Gear Solid 3 and memory card trick. It was quite straight forward if I remember correctly. It was way easier than the way I did it on the OG XBox lol. I can't remember if this allows you to play burned discs though. Honestly, that disc drive has a limited life span so spare it from working hard. What you want to do is get the network adapter and put a hard drive in it. Then you can just run games directly from it.

 

I know on the Slim that you can run games from a USB drive with decent results. I think you can do it on the Fat as well if you don't want to buy a network adapter. But frankly, the network adapter with a hard drive is a much more elegant solution. Plus, you can actually still play some PS2 games online then using XLink Kai. The Fat offers better performance running games from the hard drive IIRC. So just buy a fat model.

 

Sorry, I can't give much more information as it has been so long since I've done it so I've forgotten most of the process and details. Just do a Google search and you can get on your way. I believe there are ways you can do it without a game but I'm not sure. Just buy a used copy of MGS3. It makes things easy.

 

Btw, this advice is only for games you own. Please don't be pirating these games.