No mod chip required?

[Drakkenmensch]

Okay, as I mentionned to a few people already, I ordered a copy of Wipeout 3 Special Edition from ebay (WOO HOO!) and am in the process of finding the means to play it on my NTSC console, either through chipping or with a boot disk.

I was looking on the net, and found something interesting:

Disc swapping involves loading a PAL discs country code into your PAL unit and then switching the PAL disc with an import CD.

The first method is to open the lid of your PSX and place a PAL disc onto the drive. Switch on the machine without closing the lid and go to the CD screen. Insert an object into the small button at the back right of the compartment to fool your machine that the lid is closed. Music tracks will load from your disc including the country code. When the disc stops spinning remove it and replace with an import CD. Exit the screen and your import will load up.
Now, this technique described how to play import disks on a PAL playstation, but since the technology is the same and only region codes vary, I decided to look into it.

I quickly located the switch that tells the console that the lid is either open or closed. It's about as intricate and complex as the mechanism that turns off the fridge light - in the top right inside area, there's a peg inside the lid that presses down a small trigger. When that trigger is pressed, console thinks it's closed. Simple.

I put in a disk and left the cover opened, went to cd player and saw that unless the lid was closed, it would not load the music track. With a pen tip, I "closed" the lid and saw the music tracks load. If I let go, the music tracks unload, so the trick here would be to change disk AND close the lid without letting go of the trigger.

Tricky.

So I had an idea - does it really matter if the lid is actually closed? Of course not, only that the console thinks it is. So I devised a leading edge technological system that would allow me to fool this sophisticated mechanism, something of equal sophistication, fighting fire with fire!

Detailed schematics here (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/GallagherKnight/pentips.jpg)

Now, of course, something so utterly complex would be worthless without equally complicated instructions to operate it. So take a few minutes to recover from the last schematics, prepare yourself, and have your mind blown by this even more horrendous set of instructions...

here (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/GallagherKnight/consoleopen.jpg)

*pants heavily to catch his breath, popping aspirin like Pez to counter migraine*

Wow, sorry to drop all this heavy hypertech on you guys, but I felt this had to be shared. The basic idea here is that by loading music tracks on your playstation, you're effectively loading the region code associated with it, and as long as the console thinks you didn't open the lid, you're still using the correct region coded game and will load up properly the cd you placed in it.

Now the hitch here is I don't have any import games to try this out with. I'm goin gto have to wait a week or two for my WO3 SE to arrive, so in the meantime, does anyone here have a non-chipped NTSC console and WO3 SE or WO 2097 to try this out, or maybe a PAL console and a copy of WO XL?

The community needs to know if there's effectively a FREE method to allow playing import games easily. After all, don't we all have mountains of ballpen caps lying around, just itching to help us play imported Wipeout games? :mrgreen:

[Tomahawk]

I used this method to play various NTSC-games on my PAL-PS1 before I got it chipped. It worked just fine. I don't know if it works "the other way round", though. :?:

[wagdog]

This method worked on my very first PAL playstation SCPH 1000 or 1001 when it came out in september 1995. It DOES NOT work anymore with the latest systems (ex : SCPH 7502). Using this method, the original music track order is completly messed up. Also you should use a PS1 disc with a LOT of audio cd tracks to boot your game. Otherwise you'll end up using your game with maybe two thirds of the available cd tracks (not to great for wipeout isn't it ?) The number of available cd track for the "boot cd" has effect on the game you wish to play. The more cd tracks you have for "the boot game", the more cd track you'll be able to listen in your game.

I don't know if it works on a NTSC system, but if you have one of the latest system that came out later, it won't work, I'll garantee you that.

Otherwise instead of using ballpen caps you can use a small piece of adhesive tape, this way you can close the lid :P

[Tomahawk]

I think I found something interesting for you Drakkenmensch:

I bought a new PS1 at eBay because my old one finally broke down after several years of intense gameing. The console came with a so called "bootmaster", a device which allows you to play every NTSC game on any PAL-PS1. It is a plug and play tool which does not require any kind of messing around with the interior of your PS1 when installed. It's inserted in the parallel I/O port on the back of the console and has a switch to turn it on or off as needed. You need at least one original PAL game to be able to use it.

I tried it out with several of my NTSC games like Dino Crisis 2, Rollcage, Rollcage Stage II,... and it worked every time. :D

My bootmaster was made by a company called "capdesign". Their homepage (www.capdesign.de) seems to be offline, though. But if you google for "bootmaster" and "playstation" you get several links to shops offering these tools. The price varies from EUR 9.99 up to EUR 49.99.

Here's a link to a german shop which sells the bootmaster:

http://www.freakware.de/shop/artikeldetails.php?show_artikel=9118

I did not find any shop offering this kind of tool for NTSC-PS1's.

[Drakkenmensch]

It seems that most tricks to boot cross-format games on the PSX only work when trying to boot NTSC games on a PAL console - the opposite resisted every single attempt. It's no big loss for me, however, I was able to locate a store downtown that still chips original playstations. Very professional job, guaranteed for the lifetime of the console and came highly recommended by a work friend who does chip jobs himself (though not PSX consoles himself, thus the referral to that store)

[Lance]

.
zargz sent me one of these external bootchip cartridges for NTSC machines called ''Boot Hunter''; it comes with a spring and plastic pin to allow the PSX/PS1 to run with the loading lid open for easy disk switching. it works well. the only caveat is that for PAL games, you need to have a relatively new tv that will display at the proper frequency, or the picture will roll. Japanese NTSC games will display correctly even on an old North American NTSC tv.
.

[Drakkenmensch]

True, but tweaking the vertical hold adjustment can allow you to overcome the rolling picture issue - it still shows in black and white, though, but I guess that you can't always have everything you want ;)

[Lance]

.
my tv has no vertical hold adjustment; it isn't thAt old. possibly there is one hidden inside the case, but there is no access without case removal or drilling in an exploratory grid pattern to seek its whereabouts. :)
or perhaps random hammerblows
.

[Drakkenmensch]

"There ain't no problem that a hammer can't fix'em!" - Al Bundy

[Tomahawk]

I had the same problem with my first PS1. After the mod chip was built in all my NTSC games were shown in black and white only. I was able to fix this with a so called "EURO-AV cable". This is a special cable that connects your PS1 to your TV. There should be something similar for NTSC-PS1's, too, I think....

[Drakkenmensch]

Just found some pics of that EURO-AV cable online, looks interesting, minus the detail that north american televisions never had that SCART plug, so that's out of the picture for me, though there might still be other options out there, I'd just have to find one.

[stin]

Drak, I did send some pics of Boot Hunter to you and did you see it yet?

stevie:)

[Drakkenmensch]

Sorry, haven't received anything in the last couple of days.

[stin]

There is an attachments for you to see.

stevie:)