Help with running PSX games on my PS2

[Andre Miles]

Hello everyone. First of all I want to thank everyone here on Emuparadise, I use this site since I started on PS1 emulation and you guys helped me A LOT. So free hugs for everyone.

Okay, I have a beautiful PS2 Slim SPCH-90006 with Matrix modchip (original, 1.93) here. He runs every DVD backup of my PS2 games really fine without any problems, even some emulators of Sega/Nintendo consoles that I burned on crappy CDs.

When I bought it (5 or 6 years ago I think, brand new), my PS1 Slim was still alive and running smooth as well. But recently the small silver beast retired from his battles because of a problem on the optical drive. I don't want to finally broke it trying to fix it myself, so I put it at a well deserved rest. Aaaaand because of that, I discovered that my PS2 can't run PSX games. Unfortunately I have only burned backups of my PS1 games, so I can't test with original ones.

I live in Brazil so I don't trust any of this folks to touch my PS2 trying to reach the problem, and I have no knowledge on electronics, but I've read that must be some parts of the modchip that wasn't properly welded to run PSX games... So, if it was really the problem: Is there any other way that I can do for the PS2 to read PSX games without the bringing my console to some guy to mess with my modchip? Well, to tell the truth, PS2 maintenance around here will be very difficult to find, so it's important if you have another way.

I've tried PS2PSXe and POPStarter to run PSX games on PS2 directly from an USB stick but they are terrible with most games. That way I prefer using an PC emulator like ePSXe, which is less terrible but still terrible... It's hard for me to play games on a bad emulator quality when I passed so much time playing these games on a real PS1.

Thank you guys very much.
(English is not my native language, sorry if I had any mistakes)

[deadlegion]

What happens when you try to run PSX games? You could just be trying to use bad CD media.

[Andre Miles]

What happens when you try to run PSX games? You could just be trying to use bad CD media.

My PS2 regonizes that the media is a PS1 game on Browser almost instantly. But when I try to load it, I get a black screen until it go to the famous red screen...
If you want, I can make a video (I use a capture card)

[gamingmaster1]

Mine is the same. It does not play PS1 games at all. I think a good alternative is to get yourself an emulator and play it on PC. It will work on any PC even the low end ones.

[Andre Miles]

Mine is the same. It does not play PS1 games at all. I think a good alternative is to get yourself an emulator and play it on PC. It will work on any PC even the low end ones.

I use the latest version of ePSXe. It runs fine but with some more elaborated games like Legend of Dragoon and Final Fantasy VIII, you have to do like A LOT of adjustments and tries with different video/sound plugins to make them look like ~70% of a real PS1 so, like I said before, it's hard to me to be ok with this since like two years ago I played these games on my PS1. Maybe I'm too picky haha

[deadlegion]

I guess it's possible that when the chip was installed the wire (I think there's only one) related to booting PSX games wasn't hooked up. Why anyone would not do that is beyond me though

One thing you can try without opening the console to check is go into the matrix menu (hold triangle + circle on boot iirc) and turn off PSX multi disc boot if it's switched on. After that try booting a single disc PSX game.

The PSX multi disc option should only be turned on for actual multi disc games afaik.

[Andre Miles]

I guess it's possible that when the chip was installed the wire (I think there's only one) related to booting PSX games wasn't hooked up. Why anyone would not do that is beyond me though

One thing you can try without opening the console to check is go into the matrix menu (hold triangle + circle on boot iirc) and turn off PSX multi disc boot if it's switched on. After that try booting a single disc PSX game.

The PSX multi disc option should only be turned on for actual multi disc games afaik.

Okay, I tried this:
After turning off this option, if I start my console holding circle (to boot directly PSX games) it goes to red screen. If I'm not holding any buttons, it passes instantly from the "Sony cubes" loading screen, like it's gonna work, but after a few seconds on a black screen, it flashes the browser and goes to the red screen again.

[deadlegion]

Because you don't have an original PSX game to test with it's hard to say what the issue is. If you did have an original PSX game you could disable the modchip and test the console as if it were unmodded.

It could be bad CD media you're trying to use.
Could be the wire for PSX booting isn't hooked up, or maybe it is hooked up but has a dry solder problem.
It could be the laser. I suspect there are separate adjustments for DVD and CD for the laser, but I honestly can't remember for sure now.

[Andre Miles]

Because you don't have an original PSX game to test with it's hard to say what the issue is. If you did have an original PSX game you could disable the modchip and test the console as if it were unmodded.

It could be bad CD media you're trying to use.
Could be the wire for PSX booting isn't hooked up, or maybe it is hooked up but has a dry solder problem.
It could be the laser. I suspect there are separate adjustments for DVD and CD for the laser, but I honestly can't remember for sure now.

Which media do you recommend? I think here in Brazil the best I can find is Sony and Smartbuy ones. And speed for burning? So I burn a game here on a media/speed that you recommend for a test.
And well, sometimes when I try to load CDs, I hear a "tap tap tap" sound, sometimes not...

[deadlegion]

Some Sony media is ok but I have no idea about the Smartbuy ones. Stay away from anything made in India regardless of brand.
Burn at the lowest speed, use imgburn. Set it a 1x speed but it will end up defaulting to whatever the lowest speed for your drive is (4x, 8x or whatever).

[Zorlon]

sometimes when I try to load CDs, I hear a "tap tap tap" sound, sometimes not...

That does sound like the CD-R's are struggling to be read

That may not be an issue with the discs it could be an issue with the drive though

Does this "tap tap tap" sound happen with the CD's you used to use with your PSone that worked fine with the PSone?

As far as emulation goes there are better options to ePSXe if you are going for an original PSX look if you emulate via RetroAcrh instead
or even via another console like
Xbox (The original one, not hard to hack but you may need extra parts and take it apart)
Wii (So simple to hack, no mod chip needed just a USB HDD, preferably a USB 2.0 HDD or enclosure and an SD card to do the basic hacking)

I can't claim to of tested any PSX games with a Wii though only the Xbox myself, but that has got more to do with lack of interest for now

For emulation though the Wii is the best option overall and you can use a PSX/PS2 pad with it via a USB convertor

[Andre Miles]

That does sound like the CD-R's are struggling to be read

That may not be an issue with the discs it could be an issue with the drive though

Does this "tap tap tap" sound happen with the CD's you used to use with your PSone that worked fine with the PSone?

As far as emulation goes there are better options to ePSXe if you are going for an original PSX look if you emulate via RetroAcrh instead
or even via another console like
Xbox (The original one, not hard to hack but you may need extra parts and take it apart)
Wii (So simple to hack, no mod chip needed just a USB HDD, preferably a USB 2.0 HDD or enclosure and an SD card to do the basic hacking)

I can't claim to of tested any PSX games with a Wii though only the Xbox myself, but that has got more to do with lack of interest for now

For emulation though the Wii is the best option overall and you can use a PSX/PS2 pad with it via a USB convertor

I only hear this sound when the CD don't work. But for an example, with my Sega/Nintendo emulators for PS2 that I've burned on ~really~ crappy CD-Rs, when I hear this sound, I simply turn off my console, wait a little and turn it on again, and booom it works with no "tap tap". That's why I asked @deadlegion to recommend medias for me to test.

[Zorlon]

So do any PSX games work at all??