Hey Guys, I'm looking for a way to play Chrono Cross on an Original PAL PS1. The method I'm using at the moment to play it is to do the swap disk trick which isn't ideal... I've done a bit of looking into it and Breaker Pro seems like the best option, only problem is that I can't seem to buy it from anywhere (That isn't dodgy) I'm open to the idea of chipping the PS1 but it seems a bit overkill for one game.
I would get the chip - it's a lot easier and more reliable. The boot disc approach (like the Breaker) has the problem that the machine ends up using the CD TOC from the boot disc rather than the one that's on the disc you're trying to run - most of the time, this is not a problem (especially since the boot disc has a lot of tracks), but it can sometimes cause errors. Also note that Breaker Pro can't handle multiple disc games that require in-game disc swaps (although this doesn't apply to Chrono Cross).
Definitely a chip if you mean the small white PsOne. You can even get a chip that only does imports but not backups, if you're morally inclined! A Playstation has other methods, such as a cartridge if it has the port on the back, but they might be more expensive than a chip.
Thanks for the input guys, I've got a old style PS1 (SCPH-9002) Which type of chip should I go for? and what exactly would I need to do to chip it properly? (As I'm guessing I'd have to find the binary for the chip, buy a blank one and a programmer and flash it) Is there any good guides you can recommend? Also is there a way I could disable the chip, for example splice one wire and add a rocker switch? Edit: @retro I would prefer not to modify the hardware but this is one of the later models without the parallel port hence why I wanted to get a disk in the first place.
If you only want a single chip, then it would probably be easiest to just order one pre-programmed. There are quite a few people selling them on here - Bad_Ad84 is in the UK and Jinn is in the US, for example. As for what sort of chip, all of the final generation ones work fine - something like a MM3 or the Mayumi 4.0. I haven't found any difference in what they will boot. MM3 uses an internal oscillator and requires one less wire, but is otherwise pretty much identical.
Get a chip and avoid cogswap. I broke my PS1 disc spindle doing the swap trick. The spindle shattered from too much force removing the disc so fast.
Not sure what it was, but I had an adapter that plugged into the back serial port on the PS1 and it booted into a completely different OS rather than the PS1 OS, and it let you load backups without any trouble. It was like an external modchip.
Sorry, I won't give you any answer CR1181995, I'm just looking at this thread and I'm also very interested by all this. I've got a modchipped PS1 (don't ask me what chip it is, I've got no clue !) but I didn't succeed to get any colour from it, just a black and white image... I didn't try so far to fix the problem (something with the lead I think)... I would be happy to get a soft-modding tool like 'Free Memory Cart Boot' for the PS2, definitely a lot easier to take from a unit to another in the case of a problem.
The first thing to try is getting a RGB SCART/Péritel cable - this bypasses all the color encoding issues. Note that even an unmodified PAL PSX running PAL software may not be able to display in color on some French TVs - they simply can't accept composite PAL, only SECAM. I've only seen this with older TVs, though.
Hum (bugger !), looking at the post I wrote and the message I made was for MXV of course, not first for CR1181995, sure you corrected this. The TV set I'm using is not so old (bought in 2005), it is PAL I think, SECAM was formerly used but is no longer a standard in France for ages. I'm using the standard french lead with the red/white (for the sound) and yellow (for the image) RCA fitting plugs. I must find a SCART (péritel) lead and have a try ! The question I'm asking is : could I get rid of the colours problem using a special cartridge that plugs into the parallel port of the unit ? (not sure the SCPH-9002 has this port !) @CR1181995 : Do you remember what was the name of this adapter you were using ?
Not sure. It looked like the "Game Enhancer", but lacked the video switch on the side and had no label, and it did not support cheats, only booting backups. I think it was some weird Chinese homebrew hardware.
I can vouch for Bad_Ad84, I've bought consoles and services from him in the past and all his mods work great, they've never failed on me once. You might be able to find a ore modded console for little more than the chip it's self, they're very. Heap these days.
They didn't stop using SECAM that long ago (2011, I think) - although I have to admit that I would have expected a TV from 2005 to be able to handle PAL as well. Have you got any other PAL sources you can check it with, or another TV that you can plug it into? The SCPH-9002 produces PAL in PAL mode (obviously!) and NTSC-4.43 in NTSC mode, which some TVs have problems handling (or misidentify as being PAL-60), so it's also worth making sure that you are doing your tests with a PAL game, since a NTSC title might give you misleading results. The RGB SCART cable should fix it anyway - but make sure it IS an "RGB" one, since there were also some composite-only SCART cables, and they do exactly the same thing as the setup you have at the moment. The boot adapter (which, as you correctly pointed out you can't use anyway on the SCPH-9002) won't help - all that does is gets around the wobble detection on the disc so you can run copies, and your modchip already does that for you. In fact, the modchip does a better job, since it lets you use the CD TOC from the actual disk you are booting rather than the one you swap with.
90% of post-1995 TVs in Europe can handle any system, but some (especially some Samsung CRT models) have troubles if input source switched fast from PAL-60 to NTSC. For example my TV set sometimes shows picture with wrong colours when i play NTSC games on my softmodded PAL Wii. Switching to another AV input or TV channel and back with 1 sec delay always helps. It never happens with PS2. But i think it's better to connect that PSX to another TV just to check if it's TV fault and not console itself.
Well, I tried with a SCART cable with 2 TV sets. I usually use the Philips TV set with PS1, PS2, GameCube without any issue. It supports 50Hz or 60Hz with some game like PS2 Resident Evil 4 for instance. When connecting the modded PS1 and running a backup (NTSC-J), I get a black and white image, with both RCA or SCART leads. I also had a try with a Samsung TV set and this time i had color... but it's like a rainbow effect on the image ! Same result with an original game (NTSC-U/C), the picture was taken during the beginning of 'Parasite Eve'... I think all this is a little bit messy, don't you ? What I'm trying to say is that I would recommend MXV to be very careful when choosing between chip or cartridge (that he may not be able to use with the unit he has...) !
All 3 of those images are running in composite mode. So either your SCART cable doesn't have RGB support, it's plugged into an input that doesn't support RGB or you need to manually switch over to RGB. The images with the strange color are what you get when your console is outputting NTSC-4.43 and the TV tries to decode it as PAL-60. If you have a SCPH-7502 or a SCPH-9002, there is a simple mod (cut a trace and add a wire) you can do that should fix that. There are fixes for the older consoles, too - but they tend to be more complicated. Also note that the way you boot the games (cheat cart, mod chip, swap trick...) has no effect at all on this - it's purely down to the video hardware in the console.
I tried different things : First, using the 5502 PS1 + modchip, I had to find the right lead to connect the console and the TV set. The official Sony lead didn't showed me anything else than the rainbow picture mentioned above. I also tried with another lead (SCART gold plated, on the left), same thing. I finally found a RGB SCART lead that works (on the right, please note that the box clearly states that it works for EUR, JAP and US). Then, I tried the swap trick with a basic 7502 PS1. First, I used a 'super game converter' cartridge. As far as I understood, this should works for both PAL and NTSC consoles. Plug the cartridge onto the parallel port and put the spring in its place, insert any game from your region and start the PS1. After a short moment, the disc stop spinning, then you can replace it with the imported game without any risk, and play. In a second time, I used a 'PS-X-Change 2' tool which is about to be the same thing. Just insert the PS-X-Change disc (spring also needed), start the PS1 and wait until it asks you to swap discs... (easy as pie !). Be careful, I used a PAL version of this boot disc (PAL 2.0 written on the disc), I suppose that NTSC version should exist ? Sorry, I don't know what would happen with multi discs games at the moment. Please note that both 'super game converter' and 'PS-X-Change' worked with the right colors with the official Sony lead Hope that helps !...
