best mod chip for PS1?

[Soviet Conscript]

I don't know to much about playing import games but i've recently been looking at a few. so my question is what is the best mod chip for modding a PSONE to play asian games? i know you can buy them for about 5$ now but cheap does not always equel better. what are stealth mod chips and how are they diffrent from none stealth chips? so what is the best chip to buy in terms of over all compatability/price

or would it just be easier to and more cost effective to buy a japanses PSONE? and if so where would one go about buying one as i havn't really seen to many on ebay.

[Blitzwing256]

mod chips are a pain to install if you aren't electronicly inclined.

I have a few psx's wtih them in them but honestly you'd do better with one of the plug in mods (like gameshark) they do everything a mod chip does and they have game shark functions. you can find them around flea markets and proably online if you look hard enough.

you just need an earlier psx to be able to use em though.

[leonk]

With the PS1's, all the modchips are the same. The reason why they're so cheap is because "at the day" their code was dumped and readily available on the internet! So all you're payingfor is the memory chip.

They're also very simple devices. A single chip and nothing more.

[InsaneDavid]

Here are some pictures to show what you're getting yourself in to...

http://www.psxtune.com/einbaue.html

...installation varies depending on the console model and type of mod chip. I've never bought anything from that site but they're one of the last good information resources for PlayStation stuff like this.

They are not all the same, there are normal (classic) mod chips, then the stealth chips. The stealth chips are supposed to be able to hide themselves so that legal US region games can't see that the chip is installed. Some games, like the US release of Dino Crisis, won't run in a chipped system and an error screen (in Japanese) will come up saying the system has been tampered with. Now days this isn't a huge deal but when PlayStation's still cost good money it was something to consider. Of course burning a 1-to-1 duplicate of the game and playing the backup gets around this.

All the chips, no matter the spec, will play Japanese games. If a game won't run because it recongizes the chip, making a duplicate and playing that will usually get around the problem. If you're going to play duplicates make sure you burn them 1-to-1, never on the fly from the source disc, and at a slow speed.

Junior / senior year of high school (1997~1999) myself and a few friends had a nice little import racket going in engineering class and after school. Pretty much all the upper tier engineering students could do no wrong so we'd hang out in the electronics wing after school until like six o'clock in the evening working on projects. We chipped about 50 PlayStation consoles a month, did the shell swapping (for aftermarket different colored outer shells), would import games upon request through contacts I had gained through my foreign language classes, and also had a small bootleg operation going using the school's CD burners. Have to remember, it was the late 1990's, not everyone owned a CD burner then and just the same they were slow. Oh how my views of software piracy have changed since then, although the duplicates we made would usually just be circulated amongst ourselves. Still doesn't make it any less wrong.

[Haoie]

I use a boot disc personally, it requires no modification to the console itself. And it works like a charm.

Except when it gets to multidisc imports, which it handles very very poorly. Basically it goes unless you're very skilled [somehow, I've only seen rumours], if your multidisc import doesn't prompt you to save before the disc switch, you're screwed.

[InsaneDavid]

Just chip it, PlayStation's are easy - 4-8 wires and you're done.

[Raedon]

Most mod chips for the PSX (not the PS1) are easy installs.. whatever is cheapest after shipping.

[jajaja]

What i know Sony did make some kinda check in the later games so they could detect the modchip. But someone made a modchip with "stealth" function which fixed this problem.

[Yago]

To anser your question I modded plenty of PSXs with the PSX Activator MOD Chip (4 Wires). It worked really well. Then later games got smart, but then an 8 wire MOD Chip came out. They are super easy to install. All you need is a soldering gun which you can get at Radio Shack and some solder, also available at Radio Shack. You don't need to use a big gauge either. If you have ever played the game "Operation" as a kid, you won't have any problems installing a MOD Chip. In fact, go ang buy the game Oepration, it is good practice because you really do need a very steady hand when doing soldering like this. Most Chips come with a picture diagram and are very easy to follow. The wires are all color coded too, so it is impossible to mess up unless your are color blind or you are Corky Thatcher from "Life Goes On." Good luck.

[InsaneDavid]

To anser your question I modded plenty of PSXs with the PSX Activator MOD Chip (4 Wires). It worked really well. Then later games got smart, but then an 8 wire MOD Chip came out. They are super easy to install. All you need is a soldering gun which you can get at Radio Shack and some solder, also available at Radio Shack. You don't need to use a big gauge either. If you have ever played the game "Operation" as a kid, you won't have any problems installing a MOD Chip. In fact, go ang buy the game Oepration, it is good practice because you really do need a very steady hand when doing soldering like this. Most Chips come with a picture diagram and are very easy to follow. The wires are all color coded too, so it is impossible to mess up unless your are color blind or you are Corky Thatcher from "Life Goes On." Good luck.

Thanks. It's easy to do and is a good introduction if you plan on ever getting into more extensive modification projects. Of course if this is the first thing like this you've ever done, then read up on basic soldering and practice a bit first.

[roushimsx]

Of course burning a 1-to-1 duplicate of the game and playing the backup gets around this.

All the chips, no matter the spec, will play Japanese games. If a game won't run because it recongizes the chip, making a duplicate and playing that will usually get around the problem. If you're going to play duplicates make sure you burn them 1-to-1, never on the fly from the source disc, and at a slow speed.

I've run into a couple of problems with legitimate japanese games and mod chips. I don't remember if it was pre-stealth mod chips or if I just hadn't heard of them before then, but my chip I had was totally not a stealth chip.

The chip detection in Biohazard 3: Last Escape and Bust a Move 2 both got me good and pissed me off pretty hard. With Bust a Move 2 it wasn't much of a problem since a crack was available at that point, but Biohazard 3 required me to break out "ol skippy" and do a single swap to play it

I don't think my Bust a Move 2 disc has ever been used other than that one time when I ripped it. Clazy.

It's funny how when copy protection gets in my way of doing legitimate stuff, I either drift towards piracy or I abandon the platform. With the Playstation, I quit buying games that were copy protected and just downloaded them

I use a boot disc personally, it requires no modification to the console itself. And it works like a charm.

Except when it gets to multidisc imports, which it handles very very poorly. Basically it goes unless you're very skilled [somehow, I've only seen rumours], if your multidisc import doesn't prompt you to save before the disc switch, you're screwed.

Fun times: Playing Metal Gear Solid on a Playstation that required a double swap.

[Soviet Conscript]

thanks for the info guys

i don't think i would have to much trouble with installation then as i'm fairly techno inclined i also make detailed military models as a hobby so i should have the steady hand. oh yhea i'm not color blind or corky thatcher so i should be good to go.

[Raedon]

btw all psx games that had anti-chip tech can be played by re-burning the few few games that used this protection but you have to make an iso and run a patch program.

the ps2 is the only noteworthy mod challange.

[googlefest1]

i would go with an 8 wire chip - i have never had a problem with those chips - i did with others

they are super easy to install - the biggest pain is taking the system apart - the soldering is the easy part IMO

especially the 700x series - that sheild is a pain (speaking out of lazyness)

[Blitzwing256]

also most of the copy protected games have gameskark codes to bypass the copy protection. (assuming you have a gamesharkish device)