DMS4 SE/pro PS2: how to run PS1 NTSC imports at 60hz via component?!

yes, apparently it's the ps2 that does that... kind of a bummer but at least there is PS1VMODE
I didn't have to do any swapping or disable the DMS4 , booting a cdr or original ps1 game just works... though you do have to launch several apps to get it working on my setup heh

 

This is great news, I'm glad you managed to get it working keropi. Once I get my drive working properly I will be sure to use this tool for my NTSC PS1 games.

I did originally buy a NTSC PS2 to get around this problem but I never got around to setting it up due to the top lid being damaged beyond repair but now I can just use my PAL PS2 instead.

Great work sp193, thanks.

 

Glad to hear that it worked out.

It's not a hardware problem, but a design issue with the software. They didn't intend anyone to boot imports on their consoles. If they really wanted to, they could have created a system driver update (which gets installed on your memory card) that loads a new PS1 driver that is region-free (as in, its support for games)... although that didn't happen and probably wouldn't happen (by homebrew developers) anyway, since unmodded systems are incapable of booting out-of-region discs.

 

heh, I tried today a PAL fat PS1 , it outputs a 241p/59.27hz signal for NTSC stuff... it's even worse than the PS2 unless there is a mod for full ntsc compatibility or something... kind of a bummer

 

I'd like this too I've tried all suggested methods in this tread to get it working but it won't I assume the PS1 driver is in the BIOS? If that's so then could I replace the BIOS in my PAL 50004 with a US equivalent and boot US and JAP games in proper 60Hz? I do not care for 50Hz anyway so it would suit me just fine If the proper chips are available then perhaps someone on this forum could help me burn a US BIOS?

 

A hardware mod is required. I don't know whether modchips will help you, but they might.

Yes, it is in the boot ROM. But you cannot just swap the boot ROM because it is paired with the MECHACON.

This might be done when I get the time to. It'll just wait for a disc to be inserted.

Just FYI, if you boot the console with a modchip's "DEV2" mode, it might not have been initialized properly. A telltale sign is that some things, such as the language option, is set to Japanese in some PlayStation 2 games.

If you want a clean way to boot your console for starting homebrew programs, use FMCB instead. If PS1VModeNeg is good, it might even see support from FMCB in the future for starting PlayStation games.

This might matter here to you, as settings related to the PlayStation driver will not be loaded. Even if you set the disc speed option to "fast" in the browser, it will not get applied.

 

thanks for extra explanation sp193 , indeed with the DMS4/SEpro dev2 mode PS1VModeNeg does not work since the disc is not yet initialized. Gonna test it in a few hours with my Crystal2.0 ps2 , see how it works and report back. Maybe the Crystal software patches the driver correctly as-is, no idea.
It's great if PS1VModeNeg gets integrated in FMCB , I found that ps1 machines are just a hit and miss mainly because of their worn out drives... The PS2 is more easy to work on this aspect... plus with PS1VModeNeg you don't need to make extra NTSC mods to get correct timings

 

The problem with FMCB though is that it never manages to correctly identify or boot an import PS1 game as either a CD based PS2 game (with my modchip on), or an Audio CD (with the chip turned off). Combining PS1VModeNeg into FMCB is a great idea, but only if a new version can identify and boot the game.

EDIT: I might be using a really old version. Can't remember when I installed it, so it could easily have been fixed since. I'll try updating it later

 

It's not an issue with FMCB if that happens. It's your modchip not being able to work properly with imported games.

FMCB alone, does not allow you to play discs that your system was originally not able to.

I wrote this software for users who do not have a suitable hardware modification. If you have a console that has the right modchip, good for you.

 

Just finished testing on the Crystal 2.0 pro modchip (or something like that).
The default modchip's patches behave like the DMS4, ntsc games are 241p/59.40hz

Unfortunately I did not find a way to run PS1VmodeNeg on it and make it work. It just black screens, whether it is run from the chip's "browser" or uLaunchElf. The best I could do was to turn off all PS1 patching and run it from uLaunchElf which resulted in ps2 browser with the disc detected as a PS2 cdrom... couldn't make it work :/

TBH after both DMS4 and Crystal2.0 failing to properly initialize the PS1 video mode I highly doubt that there is a modchip out there that works perfect with PS1 video modes... if anyone has any info on this please share.

sp193 , if I understand correctly, do ps2 slim models produce a correct signal because their driver is updated? Or PS1VmodeNeg is needed in all ps2 models?

 

Huh? It plays imported PS1 games just fine otherwise. Although with a slightly incorrect refreshrate :/

 

Didn't you write that FMCB seemed to cause your console to incorrectly detect the type of disc inserted?

 

just realized that instead of writing "Unfortunately I did not find a way" I wrote "Unfortunately I did find a way" on my previous post... kinda screws the whole meaning of the post...

 

Any patching done to the PS1 driver by your modchip will most likely interfere with PS1VModeNeg. :/

Short answer: no, PS1VModeNeg is still required.
Long answer: All SCPH-75000 and newer models have PS1 drivers that can actually support both video modes perfectly well, but they decide on which video mode to use based on the console's region... which means that the video mode is still fixed. All that is different is that support for the other region (e.g. NTSC, for a PAL console) is better than on older units that support only either one region properly. If one was to compare the boot ROMs from consoles of different regions, they will end up being exactly identical (except for the region-related data).

For these models, all PS1VModeNeg does is to change the region that the PS1 driver detects... and boom! Instant support for that other region, which will be as complete as a console's that is natively from that region.

By "support", I'm not only referring to the video mode alone. I'm talking about support for the region's titles. The PS1 drivers of all consoles have a little blacklist that specifies which titles need some tweaks activated. For those region-locked PS1 drivers, this list is catered to only either one region. For these universal PS1 drivers, the list contains support for games from every region.

The SCPH-70000 is an oddball. Despite Sony changing the design of the boot ROMs (starting with this series) to be universal across all models within the series, the PS1 drivers of this series are still hard-coded to support only either NTSC or PAL.

 

I see, thanks again for the explanations...
I did try to disable all PS1 patches on Crystal2 chip, did not help... I guess I can always get a slim ps2 and use it with FMCB/PS1VmodeNeg or something instead of messing again with flacky ps1 consoles

 

I just realized. If you really just turned off only the PlayStation video mode hack, it should not have affected your modchip's support for booting imported PlayStation discs.

Anyway... since you already have another console that can boot imported discs properly (and without video mode hacks applied to the PS1 driver), you could also just wait for an improved version of PS1VModeNeg. I don't know why you think that a slimline will surely give you a better experience, as I believe that it will only be slightly better; the game fix list in the PS1 driver seems to only affect a handful of titles.

 

ah, I was under the false impression that because of the updated PS1DRV they behaved better... scratch that, not gonna bother then with yet another ps2
Thanks again for the info, if you need any kind of testing any new possible versions then please contact me, I'll be more than happy to help.

 

Yes that's true. But if my modchip can't be turned on then how would I even boot the imported game?

So the modchip can be on as long as the PS1 video fix is turned off in the chip's menu? Just trying to figure this out

I updated FMCB to 1.93 and now the PS2 detects the inserted PS1 game as a "Playstation Disc". However I still cannot boot it when using FMCB for some reason. Without FMCB it boots just fine, although with a refresh-rate of 59.4Hz, just like Keropi's on the first page of this thread. The chip I have installed is a modbo 760.

 

What I mean throughout all my posts above was that PS1VModeNeg will work best if you disabled the built-in PlayStation video mode hacks that your modchip offers. Leave the modchip activated, or you will not be able to boot imported games at all.

It's most likely a problem with your modified console, sorry. Your console may be able to boot games without FMCB running, but all FMCB does is to start the appropriate launcher (PS2LOGO for PlayStation 2 games, and PS1DRV for PlayStation games) based on the reported disc type by your console. If it cannot do this, it means that your chip is somehow causing your console to stop working properly under specific conditions.

Especially since FMCB does not modify the behaviour of OSDSYS (the PS2 browser) when it comes to booting PlayStation discs.

 

Thank you for the explanation. No big deal. I'll just have to install a different modchip

I have a 77004 I am modifying with a modbo 4.0 for a friend. This chip is slightly different as the chip's menu doesn't say "Modbo" (modbo is a clone) but just straight up "Matrix infinity". Perhaps that will boot imported PS1 games with FMCB? Or will that be a poor comparison considering that this is a totally different PS2 model?