SwapMagic 3.3 questions...

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon May 30, 2005 2:02 am

Do the metal tabs provided with these two discs cause short or long term damage to the PSTwo?

And...where the heck can I buy one of these??

I Goolged for "SwapMagic 3.3", and I'm not coming up with ANY online stores that sell this product.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Mon May 30, 2005 3:14 am

www.modchipstore.com has them, and I can vouch for their reliability.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon May 30, 2005 4:41 am

Ermm, I thought it was just a matter of using the two boot discs and some tabs, not installing a new cover on my PSTwo!

http://www.modchipstore.com/customer/se ... tegory=103

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Mon May 30, 2005 8:58 pm

Hey, I have two import Japanese PS1 games. Will the Swap Magic let me play Import PS1 games on the PS2, or does it work with PS2 games only?

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Mon May 30, 2005 9:09 pm

Swap Magic discs are for PS2 games only.
For PS1 games, use the Breaker Pro. You will still need a slide card/flip top for them to work.

dave: changing covers is not necessary if you choose to use the tabs. Any damage the tabs may cause would be purely cosmetic, i.e. scuffs to the plastic casing of your system.
Also, changing covers is easy. If you can use a screwdriver, you'll be up to the task.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Mon May 30, 2005 11:43 pm

Do you know if Breaker Pro have a large enough TOC to play any PS1 game with full music? And if cheats can be saved to a memory card?

Swap Magic discs don't recognize PS1 games.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue May 31, 2005 2:14 am

iatneH wrote:Swap Magic discs are for PS2 games only.
For PS1 games, use the Breaker Pro. You will still need a slide card/flip top for them to work.

dave: changing covers is not necessary if you choose to use the tabs. Any damage the tabs may cause would be purely cosmetic, i.e. scuffs to the plastic casing of your system.
Also, changing covers is easy. If you can use a screwdriver, you'll be up to the task.

Thanks for the advice! But, does the SwapMagic 3.3 come with tabs? I've seen one's that come with a slide card, which I obviously don't need.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue May 31, 2005 3:39 am

dave4shmups wrote: But, does the SwapMagic 3.3 come with tabs? I've seen one's that come with a slide card, which I obviously don't need.

It all depends on what the seller has bundled with the discs. When I bought my Swap Magic 2.0's they came with a slide card...

You might also want to check out http://www.linker4u.com, it's another good site for most of your hacking needs and I think I've seen them with Swap Magic bundles with tabs for the PSTwo.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:14 am

Hate to revive an old topic, but I got a series of questions:

I've finally decided to get/use Swap Magic, however, I want someone to explain to me how things work:

Now, is the Slide Tool necessary for every single disc I try to import, or can just swapping discs be used? Or is the Slide Tool only used for Burned Copy (Backup) Discs? If so, does that mean that all commercial Japanese PS2 games just need the Swap Magic Boot disc?

Also, can someone explain to me the purpose of the Swap Magic DVD disc? Isn't it more reasonable to just use some kind of Universal DVD plugin for the computer for Japanese or other-region DVDs than to use this thing?

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:49 am

Both the Slide Tool and (one of) the Swap Magic disc will be needed every time you try to boot a non-original or import game (the disc can be used to boot domestic backups, import backups, and import originals).

The Swap Magic discs come in a set with a CD version and a DVD version.
PS2 games as you know can be pressed on CDs or on DVDs, and the two types of discs have different types of TOC formats, hence the need for two different swap discs - one to boot CD-based games, and the other to boot DVD-based ones.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:25 am

iatneH wrote:Both the Slide Tool and (one of) the Swap Magic disc will be needed every time you try to boot a non-original or import game (the disc can be used to boot domestic backups, import backups, and import originals).

What do you mean by non-original? Like, say I wanted to use my PS2 to play Mushihimesama, would I need the Slide Tool for this...or just the disc? Hopefully just the disc.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:02 am

non-original: in other words, pirated.
Even if you have an original import game, you'll still need to go through the following process.

You will need both the slide tool and the swap discs every time you want to load an import or pirated game. For example, if you buy Mushihime-sama, the process goes as follows (assuming you are using an old-model PS2 with the front of the drive tray already removed):

1. press Eject once to open the tray normally.
2. Place the DVD version swap disc in the tray (I am guessing Mushi is on DVD)
3. Press Eject to close the tray normally. Your PS2 will now load the Swap Magic data.
4. When the TV screen tells you it's OK to swap the disc, insert the tool underneath the drive tray on the far left side and slide it carefully all the way to the right. There will be some resistance about halfway through as the card manually releases the spindle mechanism.
5. While keeping the card at the right side of the tray, pull it straight outwards, it should pull the tray out with it.
6. Replace the swap disc with the Mushihime game disc and push the tray all the way back in with your hand.
7. (This part's a bit hard to explain, it's something that you have to do to get a feel for, eventually you'll be able to interpret the tactile feedback). Insert the card again about 1/4 of the way from the right side and slide it to the right. Pull outwards a tiny bit until you feel the card catch on something. Then you should be able to slide the card back to the left to re-engage the spindle mechanism, after which you can remove the slide card.
8. Press "X" to begin playing!

Note that you will have to go through this whole process every time you want to play anything other than an original game native to your PS2's region. It honestly gets to be quite a hassle, that's why I lent my cousin my unmodded PS2 and Swap Magics and kept a modded PS2 to myself :p

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:24 am

^^What a pain. I think I'd rather ask Matt so see if I he can mod me a PS2. Or buy a pre-modded one.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:03 am

Well, from how you explained it, it can't be so bad, since I use stuff like Action Replay anyway. Also, out of curiosity, I'm assuming doing this Vertical is out of the question.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:22 am

It's less of a hassle if you use a flip-top cover, then it becomes just like booting imports for Dreamcast. The Slide card is just another way of getting the drive tray out without pressing the Eject button.

It is true that you will get better and quicker at it either way though.

And it is possible to do it in vertical! I've done it, but it's much easier in horizontal.

However, keep in mind that using Swap Magic discs with either flip-tops or the Slide tool are only cost-saving methods at the expense of convenience. A modded or imported system is really the best solution.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:07 pm

Yeah, but who around here would do the actual modding and soldering? I've been looking for places that do that, but to no avail.

LASERBEAST · Post by **LASERBEAST** » Tue May 29, 2007 10:40 pm

I understand this is kind of a megabump, but I have a question as well and I figure if anyone knows the answer, it'd be someone on this board, so...

Anyways, I've been using the slide card/swap magic to play Japanese games on my PS2. I mostly play shumps, occaisionally some other stuff, and there's never been any problems. Until recently, that is. I bought the Japanese version of Odin Sphere. It's a DVD ROM and the DVD Swap MAgic loads it fine, but once I get past the swap magic boot screen...I am greeted with the black screen of death. As I understand it, some games implement a "double check" feature which means that the game is region-checked again upon starting up, and if found to be from a different region, won't boot. I'm guessing that's the case here, since I checked my other imports again and there weren't any problems.

My question is this: the thing is, I got Swap Magic a long time ago and the version I'm using is 2.0. I see they have up to V.3.6 now. Will upgrading my boot disk make any difference or is there just nothing I can do about it? Either way, if anyone knows and could tell me the answer I'd appriciate it. Thanks.

ReKleSS · Post by **ReKleSS** » Tue May 29, 2007 11:09 pm

Odin Sphere (US) is working fine with my swap magic 3.6. It's probably time for an upgrade.

Daigohji · Post by **Daigohji** » Tue May 29, 2007 11:51 pm

I've heard that 2.0 has a bad compatibility rate, so I think you've just been lucky up until now. I haven't picked up the US Odin Sphere yet, but so far Xenosaga Episode I is the only import I have that doesn't work with the 3.3 discs, and that's because it's on a dual-layer DVD.

LASERBEAST · Post by **LASERBEAST** » Wed May 30, 2007 1:05 am

ReKleSS wrote:Odin Sphere (US) is working fine with my swap magic 3.6. It's probably time for an upgrade.

Hmm... is it possible that the US version doesn't do the "double check" thing whereas the JP version does? I have the JP version, so I just want to make absolutely sure that upgrading my disks will solve the problem before I spend more money on something that may not work. Has anyone had games that didn't work before with the older swap magic versions that did when they upgraded?

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 4:18 pm

They actually have up to v3.8 now. I would just shell out for the newest set of discs. Seeing as you're an entire 1.8 versions behind, in all likelyhood games now have many more measures in place to prevent you from playing foreign games. Even if it doesn't fix Odin Sphere, you'll probably need it for another import you buy later anyway. Besides, what do they cost? I got the 3.8 coder edition(!) set, the slide tool(for fatty PS2's) and the metal tabs(for slim's) for $30. I'm sure you could find just the discs for around $20.