PS2 I NEED HELP PLAYING PS1 & PS2 ORIGINAL AND BACKUP DISCS USING MECHAPWN

T

theundertaker180

Forum Noob
Hi There

I'm quite new to the softmodding scene and after modding my PHAT PS2 PAL SCPH-70003 console with FreeMcBoot, I have been able to install OPS2 and POPLAUNCHER to play PS1 and PS2 backup games
off an USB flash drive (I haven't tried a HDD yet), however I can't seem to get the images to show correctly
and every version of OPL I seem to use all act differently. Some don't show the games or the ART where as
others will show the games but still no game ART. I have followed many tutorials on YouTube and I am confident I have done everything correctly, but still need help?

Now onto my second question. My question is that I have just bought two PS2 SLIM consoles off eBay. Both are PAL model's. One being SCPH-79002 Oceania (I didn't know it was an Australian console when I purchased it as the buyer said it was a PAL console, so I assumed it was a normal UK one.) The other one is a UK PAL model with SCPH-79003. Both consoles play original PS1 and PS2 PAL discs without a problem but the Oceania console has 3.11A after the DVD drive and it doesn't play a load of my UK PAL Region 2 DVD's. The UK console 3.11E is working perfectly fine and plays all UK PAL Region 2 DVD's and original PS1 and PS2 discs fine. I need help with MECHAPWN. I have read up and followed a load of tutorials online but I am still unsure on a lot of things that need to be done. I have installed the latest version (I think) of mechapwn with FreeMcBoot and run the mechapwn installer on both consoles. I have backed up both (NVB) bios files safely and chosen...

Change Region > and then chosen RETAIL-DEX but then when it asks you to select the model, mine doesn't give me those options like all other YouTube tutorials have. Others say you then need to choose the region of the console so in my case it would be either SCPH-79002 or SCPH-79003 but all mine says is...

JAPAN (MUTLI 7)
USA (MULTI 7)
OCEANIA (MULTI 7)
UK (MULTI 7)
EUROPE (MULTI 7)
KOREA (MULTI 7)

I have selected the Oceania (Multi 7) for the 79002 console
and I have selected UK (multi 7) for the 79003 console...

but no backups of a PS1 or PS2 game boot straight from power up on both consoles like other tutorials do.
I am made to understand that ALL PS2 SLIM models are mechapwn compatible so am I doing something wrong here? I even restored the backups and then tried selecting USA (MULTI 7) on both consoles and the DVD drives both change from 3.11A and 3.11E to 3.11U. That means only NTSC DVD's could be played on both consoles which is fine as the region has been changed and both play REGION 1 discs fine then. But
I'm still at a loss as to why PS1 and PS2 backups fail to boot up and play. Are my consoles both fully compatible to be completely hacked with mechapwn or am I limited with what I can do, or do I need to do something else with the discs like patch them to play? I'm aware of ESR as a lot of my PS2 backups play through ESR on my PHAT PS2 but now I've heard of region patching PS1 and PS2 discs to make them region free and making them show as master discs or something. Can someone please help me out here???
 
Since OPL rev2159 support for .bmp and .jpg images has been dropped.
Only .png images are supported.
Check your files which one do you have.

SCPH-XXX02 are for Oceania (including Australia).
SCPH-XXX03 are for UK/Ireland.
https://consolemods.org/wiki/PS2:Region_Information.
Both are PAL.

From what I remember Oceania (including Australia) has DVD movie region 4, not 2:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code,
https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/support/articles/00022799.

Here you can find DVD-Player modifications to play movies from all regions:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/ps2-dvd-player-modifications.25039/.
Here is an additional tutorial:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/updating-dvd-player.35864/.
 
Last edited:
jolek said:
Since OPL rev2159 support for .bmp and .jpg images has been dropped.
Only .png images are supported.
Check your files which one do you have.

SCPH-XXX02 are for Oceania (including Australia).
SCPH-XXX03 are for UK/Ireland.
https://consolemods.org/wiki/PS2:Region_Information.
Both are PAL.

From what I remember Oceania (including Australia) has DVD movie region 4, not 2:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code,
https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/support/articles/00022799.

Here you can find DVD-Player modifications to play movies from all regions:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/ps2-dvd-player-modifications.25039/.
Here is an additional tutorial:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/updating-dvd-player.35864/.
Click to expand...

Any reason why? or is .png the best compression for tr
 
Last edited:
Reason is for saving VRAM and OPL storage. *.png using some LZ variant of compression which is more efficient than RLE in *.bmp. *.jpg however is 24bit, which is to huge to use it in the amount of assets using in OPL. 24bit and 32bit *.png are forbidden too for the same reason, they still can be used but it makes occupying more VRAM than it can. In combine with themes, it is less crash probability.

In summary, in OPL, user must use ALWAYS 8bit PNG, for themes and for game images (disc cover, box, screenshots, bg etc.). And always in power of two sizes. Violating this rule, results in GUI crashing and glitching.
 
Hi guys..

Here goes. I installed mechapwn on my PS2 slim SCPH-79002 (Oceania) console via the old mechapwn method where it changes the model
number. I changed mine to NTSC and all PS1 official NTSC/NTSC U/ and PAL games all boot perfectly straight from the OSD screen. I havent tried backup copies yet, as I'm awaiting top quality CD's to burn to. But so far so good. This also works for all my PS2 official discs NTSC/NTSC U/ and PAL games, including copies. So apart from testing a PS1 copy, why do you all mention burning PS2 discs with master patcher and loading them using force unlock? This confuses me as mine all boot up perfectly as soon as the disc is inserted. I have spent hours and weeks studying these tutorials and tried it last night and everything worked flawlessly. The only thing I need help with is that my original retail copy of Metal Gear Solid 1 (PAL) boots up fine but the screen is not centred and lower down. How do I go about fixing this please?

I have since reinstalled my NVB file back to factory settings and now installed mechapwn using the latest RC4 method where as the console ID doesn't change but everything works the same and boot flawlessly. My console now is SCPH-79002 3.11U.
 
Download GSM:
https://www.psx-place.com/threads/graphics-synthesizer-mode-selector-gsm.19028/.
Launch it via wLe, FMCB, etc.

Once launched press :but cir: to change to SDTV 576i 50 Hz.
Press :but select: to select exit method (PS2 Browser).
Press :but start: to exit.
GSMy2.png
Insert the game (Metal Gear Solid 1 (PAL)).
Have fun.

If something is not right try to adjust the screen by pressing DPAD buttons while you are in GSM.
 
I am stuck here as that link doesn't take me to a download link and there are loads lower down. So what link am I downloading and do I put the GSM.elf file onto a USB flash drive and follow the instructions above. Is there anything I need to save to keep settings or is there an easier way to patch a backup PAL copy of my disc to run perfectly with MechaPwn NTSC Region unlocked?
 
At the bottom of the 1st post in the attached files there is "GSM_038.zip".
Grab it, unpack it.
After unpacking you should have "GSM.ELF".
Copy it onto the flashdrive, etc.
After that you can put it on a memory card if you like.
Follow the instruction that was provided in the previous post.
 
I will give this a go, cheers mate. When I choose the settings, where do I run the game? From ULauncher or will it reboot from OSD?

jolek said:
At the bottom of the 1st post in the attached files there is "GSM_038.zip".
Grab it, unpack it.
After unpacking you should have "GSM.ELF".
Copy it onto the flashdrive, etc.
After that you can put it on a memory card if you like.
Follow the instruction that was provided in the previous post.
Click to expand...


I couldn't do this mate. There was no option by pressing O for PAL SDTV 576 only 60. I tried all PAL and NTCS and all screwed the screen up or distorted the colours. I even tried pressing SQUARE for PS1 SDTV and all options screwed it up too. One worked ok but no matter what direction I moved whether up or to the left the best I could do was a sqaushed screen as if in cinescope. Any ideas?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Once you are in GSM.
Press :but cir: 3 times (PAL).
Press :but select: 1 time (PS2 BROWSER).
Here is what it should look like:
IMG_20251023.png
Once everything is set press :but start: to exit.
Insert a CD disc with your PS1 game.
 
Then I am not sure how can I help you because I do not have this problem on SCPH-70004* or SCPH-77004**
connected through *SCART and **component cables with GSM.
Probably you have a composite cable:
51PWTLSEX3L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
That is why you have black & white picture when you switch a video mode to NTSC.

BTW Some TVs have screen adjustment in options, some in service menu.
 
Probably something like this:
s-l400 (1).jpg 71F-wpMLA3L.jpg
If you wish to play NTSC games (with colors) you should consider a real RGB SCART cable:
kabel-przewod-tv-euro-scart-konsola-sony-playstation-psx-ps2-ps3.jpg
Kabel-Real-RGB-Scart-PAL-do-Playstation-PS2-PS3.jpeg
Or even component (if your TV has got this input):
61RkwfECkvL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg kabel-component-ps2-ps3.jpg
Anyway if your TV cannot shift\adjust screen position in options or you even do not have this option in service menu
I am not sure if there is something else that can be done...
Especially even if GSM does not help.

Maybe buying a SCART and\or Component to HDMI converter might help but this is a lottery.
Sometimes the image will be fine (perfectly positioned), sometimes not...

BTW did you try to launch a game after you exit from GSM?
I mean when you select PAL and exit from GSM one of these screens should be shown:
hqdefault.jpgimages.jpeg
Now you insert a PS1 game.
Wait for PS1 logo to appear.
A game should launch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top