PS2 region-free hacked BIOS?

Has anyone ever tired to reverse engineer the PS2's BIOS to make a region-free version? Just curious, since many Sega consoles have had this treatment. It would certainly be much easier to install a replacement BIOS than it would be to install a mod chip

 

Far as I know, the region protection isnt located in the bios. Same with the PS1 - its part of the drive mechanism.

 

Bummer. Has anyone tried to defeat that then? I would have thought that since the PS2 is as old as it is, and with it being a popular console, someone would have discovered a way of making PS2 region-free without modchipping.

 

HDLoader/OPL doesn't care what the region is but your drive will. This will force you to either use a modchip or load images directly to the HDD bypassing the drive.

Modchips are cheap, plentiful and there are plenty of installers out there if someone isn't capable of doing it themselves. As nice as it would be to defeat region control at the drive level I can't imagine it would be as easy to work with as a modchip is.

 

You would need to replace the drive controller, which isnt programmable.

They did defeat this - its called a modchip

 

I meant on a drive level but point taken.

 

That post was directed at the op.

I had started writing it before lunch, when I came back and pressed submit - you had posted between us.

 

I'd just figured that the process seems to normally be "console released>modchip developed>something more advanced than modchip is discovered>modchip now obsolete" that there might be something new for the PS2. Guess we're still stuck with modchips for now Speaking of which, what PS2 modchips do you all reccomend? I've seen there's now a solder-less modchip, the dms ezise pro. The dms chips are suppose to be very good, so I'm assuming the solder-less version is the same chip?

 

Softmodding (OPL, etc) is the "new method".

I dont recommend the solderless chips. Its easy to damage the large TQFP chips and bend/snap legs.

 

"softmodding", like disk swapping?

Hmmm, ok, probably best to stick with a solder modchip. I've seen installation videos on YouTube, and I think the installation process might be a *bit* beyond my current soldering skills. Any of you gents live in Brisbane?

 

Free McBoot

and omp might be your guy in upside down land.

 

If I'm not mistaken, you can't use original disks with Free McBoot can you? Burnt disks only? And does it support PS1 games?

 

You are mistaken.

Someone was working on PS1 support, but I dont really pay much attention.

 

Ooooh! I'll have to look into Free McBoot then! Thanks!

 

AFAIK PS1 support is only possible with an emulator: PS2PSXe

 

I'm with Bad_Ad84 on the solderless chips. With the XBox they weren't half bad so long as you soldered d0 to ground using a wire and didn't kick it around like a football. The DMS4 line were great chips but hard to find these days sadly.

All around the ModBo 4.0 is a pretty good chip but will not allow you to swap burnt discs for use with the Action Replay for example. The Mars Pro chips will allow you to do that but I've found you can't change the modchip's settings so forcing NTSC on PAL games won't work nor with ATAD patching. The lack of ATAD patching may not be a big deal especially if you're using a slim.

I'd be happy to offer an install but I'm only a few thousand miles from Brisbane making shipping less than cost effective unless you simply ship the mobo alone in a small box. I do have a slim PS2 I need to put a modchip into.

Which is why I advocate modchip installs over using FMCB alone. I always love the flak I get from cheap/no skills in terms of soldering for advocating modchip installs in PS2s and XBoxes.

 

Isn't Matrix the best modchip? just wondering...

 

So it doesn't use the PS2's PS1 hardware emulation to play PS1 games?

Damn, you're a bit far away

All I'm interested in is playing imported games, both PS1 and PS2 on my PS2 and having them run at their correct refresh rate (NTSC at 60Hz, PAL at 50Hz). Not interested in homebrew or playing copied games. If FreeMcBoot can do that, that would be great, otherwise, I'm gonna need to track down a suitable mod chip, and a dude to install it

 

Modbo is a matrix clone.

 

I don't think FMCB can force refresh rates. You will not be able to play PS1 imports in any fashion without a modchip - PS2 imports can be played with OPL or HDLoader. Not sure if ESR will allow imports to be booted off hand.

I have modchips on hand and said slim PS2. If omp can't handle it I'd be glad to and keep shipping to a minimum cost; though I can't imagine omp can't handle it.