Playing imports with a gameshark or action replay?

LancerEvoX

LancerEvoX

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With all the sales Play-Asia.com has been having, I really want to start buying imported games> I dont own a modchip (nor do I plan to), or want to attempt using the Swap Magic (I have badluck with the ps2 drive). I heard people saying that you can play imported games using a gameshark or action replay. I havent seen any hard evidence or guides, but a lot of people say they can. Can anyone confirm this? I dont know of the versions of teh software or how it works. Im assuming that the imported (PAL) game is loaded via the DVD Region feature on teh software. Can anyone help, I'm trying to find an alternative to modchips and swap magic.
 
Your only alternative to the disc swap and modchip route is use a Memory Card exploit in conjunction with a network adapter and an HD. Even then, there's no guarantee you can play the game off of the HD, since a few (not a lot, but a few) are incompatible.

This really is your only alternative.

Also, when it comes to running PAL games, your PS2 will output whatever format your game is from. That is to say, a PAL game will output a PAL signal, which is really obnoxious (especially considering how easily one could play imports on a DC. I'm not sure if the NTSC Dreamcast always outputted NTSC signals, or if all PAL games outputted NTSC normally, and people had to change it).
That being said, you'll have to convert PAL games to run on NTSC TVs. Ripping the disc, running a conversion software and playing it. Even then, there's not a 100% success rate, since some games are not playable. Not to mention the screen difference (576 horizontal lines of resolution vs 480) will make the image offset and can be a pain to reposition just right.


However, if you can get through the nuances of all that is associated with using the memory card exploit, you should have no problem.
 
[quote name='capitalist_mao']Your only alternative to the disc swap and modchip route is use a Memory Card exploit in conjunction with a network adapter and an HD. Even then, there's no guarantee you can play the game off of the HD, since a few (not a lot, but a few) are incompatible.

[/QUOTE]

I was under the impression that if you loaded the game using the PC tools (rather than HDLoader, for instance) you could play it no problem. Am I off in that? I hope not, because I was planning to import Berserk sometime soon...
 
The Gamecube is very import-easy. You can use a Free Loader (guess that's swapping discs though) to play imports on it. Certain Action Replay's come with Free Loader, or it can be purchased as a standalone.
 
[quote name='capitalist_mao']Your only alternative to the disc swap and modchip route is use a Memory Card exploit in conjunction with a network adapter and an HD. Even then, there's no guarantee you can play the game off of the HD, since a few (not a lot, but a few) are incompatible.

This really is your only alternative. [/quote]

I'm playing on my friends Modded PS2 with no problems (well almost none...the only issue is signal conversion from PAL to NTSC, but I got something to fix that read below....)

Most PAL games (most) have an option to switch to 60hz mode (the two I own Jackie Chan Adventures does this from the startup screen) and Psyvariar (have to go into the options menu) the only one I own that does not is Maken Shao.

Otherwise the imports play perfectly I think he paid around $100 for the chip plus installation, a little steep, but you can play anything and I mean anything.

Also, when it comes to running PAL games, your PS2 will output whatever format your game is from. That is to say, a PAL game will output a PAL signal, which is really obnoxious (especially considering how easily one could play imports on a DC. I'm not sure if the NTSC Dreamcast always outputted NTSC signals, or if all PAL games outputted NTSC normally, and people had to change it).
That being said, you'll have to convert PAL games to run on NTSC TVs. Ripping the disc, running a conversion software and playing it. Even then, there's not a 100% success rate, since some games are not playable. Not to mention the screen difference (576 horizontal lines of resolution vs 480) will make the image offset and can be a pain to reposition just right.
Click to expand...

All DC games were made to be able to convert the game to either 50/60hz Sega was ahead of their time. The PS2 unfortunately doesn't have this ability with PS2 games (pay attention here) I tried some PAL PS1 games I own on it and they play perfectly. Why the discrepency, I dunno, but they don't automatically adjust like the others.

And lastly the way to overcome this problem of PAL vs. NTSC output is to get a VGA box. Simple enough. Your monitor with adjust for it and play'em just peachy, I bought a decent one for $40 recently and don't regret it one bit. You can get cheaper ones for around $20, but they only consist of input and output for video (ala the Official DC one) If your interested I got mine from eStarland.com.

Good luck, I'm in the same boat you are. Hope these options help a bit. :)
 
I've played a few PAL games on my PS2 using the mem card exploit and HD Loader. I used a program that adjusts the SLUS/SCUS file on a Disc image to set it to NTSC. I compared a PAL version of Rez to an NTSC version of Rez. It certainly worked fine. The only problem is centering the image, since there was a large black bar at the bottom of the screen.

However, I'm constructing a poor man's projecter in the near future, so I'll probably just get myself a component to VGA transcoder and not worry about NTSC vs PAL.
 
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