PlayStation 2 Swap Tricks


Read all this info before attempting these tricks...
(Doing these swap tricks requires that you stop a CD in play and switch with another. This can put stress on the motor if your slow or nervous. Your CDs will also be damaged if you accidently drop them ont he motor when swapping. Be careful. I do not claim responsibility for damage done by reading these tricks. I do both of these tricks all the time, and my system is alright.

Something else... If you want to be able to do these whenever you want, keep the system together, but without screws. This makes it possible for you to take the cover off when needed.)

If you can, boot PSone imports and CDR's with the PSone Read Only disc that came with the Gameshark 2 Version 2. There may be others, but that PSone Gameshark for PS2 is the best I've found.

Note: You can set up for the game to playback with smooth graphics and this works just fine. But, if you want the game to load faster, you'll have to go faster at switching the disc too. I've written all swap tricks using normal speed...


Disassembly


First things first...
1. The first thing you need to do is disassemble the system. All you need to do is remove the bottom pads, and remove the screws from the bottom. Slowly take the cover off. The reset and eject buttons are within the top. They shouldn't be screwed down, so just take them off. Be careful of the ribbon. Very fragile.

2. See that black plate on top of CD drive with the white thing in the center? Remove the 4 screws holding it down, and take it off. Remove the white thing in the center. Easily removed. Get one side of it past one of the three pins holding it in, then pull out. This is the CD lock spindle. Now its time to start trickin'...


PSone Imports and CDR on PlayStation2


With the system in standby, place a PSone original CD in the drive, then attach the white CD lock spindle to the top until the CD spins freely. Press reset to start the system up. The cd should enter 2x speed for a quick second, back down to 1x, then back to 2x for a longer time. AS SOON AS the PS logo comes on screen, switch quickly with the import or CDR.

The import or CDR will go down to 1x, then 2x again. Switch back with the original AS SOON AS the import or CDR slows back down to 1x speed. AS SOON AS the screen goes black, quickly switch back with the import or CDR. Should boot. Same with the GS2 disc. Enjoy!

(NOTE: I do not garentee that any PSone original will always work. I've noticed, that if done right, the GS2 disc always works. Also, use a game with a lot of tracks like Tomb Raider 1 and 2 for your original. Why? Because if you use a game with a low amount of tracks, then try to play a game with a lot of tracks, you will lose audio, and maybe FMV sequences. The TOC (Table of Contents) gets loaded from your original. The more tracks on that, the more likely a game import or CDR will work.)


Protected PSone Imports and CDR on PlayStation2


Use the swap trick and a red circle with a line through it came up? Yeah, that's a protected game. Thats the kind of game you can't use a mod chip on with a PSone, you have to have a stealth mod. Anyway, this is how to bypass the protection.

Dino Crisis on PSone is the game I first noticed that had protection. Many other games have this. You'll need good observation while trying to boot one of these kinds of games. Remember that each different game is different. One point in a game when the circle pops up may act different in another game.

First off, boot the import or CDR thats protected, and remember the screen RIGHT before the red circle comes up. Boot it again, and listen for when the laser stops moving. The laser should stop about a second before the screen comes up.

Now you know what screen to get prepared for, and you know when to expect the circle. But wait, as soon as the laser stops, switch the import or CDR with an ORIGINAL game, protected or not, (but not the PSone GS2 disc!) This tells the system, "A normal game is in, go ahead and boot it."

When the screen fades, or goes away, hurry and switch back with the import or CDR so it can boot.


PlayStation2 import or CDR on PlayStation2


This one is easy, only one swap, unlike the PSone trick, which took 3 swaps, or the protected games swap which took 5!

First of all, to boot a blue game import or CDR, you'll need a blue game original. And to boot a DVD import or CDR game, not movie, you'll need an original DVD game, not movie! I haven't used the GS2 disc for PS2 to test this swap trick, so I wouldn't advise that. Okay...

Put the original in, either blue or DVD, and start the system up. You should know what all you need by reading the top. The disc should go from 1x to 4x almost right off the bat.

RIGHT before the PS2 screen comes up is when you need to swap. Either count how long it takes you for the first time, or do a good guess. The game should boot. Easy enough!?

Personally, I thought Sony would've gone through a lot more trouble to get people not to do these swap tricks on the PS2, but, it's alright with me.