Yes there is an alternative to that god forsaken waste of money swap magic. I mean it was handy the first time but everyone found ways around paying $20 for a DVD that you only use once. There are many games out there that have files on them in.elf format, and they are pretty much like.exe's except for ps2. The most famous is 007 Agent Under Fire.
By replacing the.elf on the DVD with a program called CogSwap, you can install a softmod called FreeMcBoot. Then from there, you can also use CogSwap to play backed up PS2 games. I did that with sooooooo many PS2 games and it works great. There were a fre problems I had but only due to scratches and burn errors. Three things: 1. I know you posted this 5 years ago, and if you didn't get the answer you were looking for in 5 years time, sit tight.
You don't need a modchip to play those, and I wouldn't recommend getting one anyway. Have you heard of FreeMcBoot?
Ps2 free download. Kernelloader Kernelloader is a free bootloader for PS2 Linux and other Playstation 2 operating systems. Cogswap Ps2 Download Software. Download SWAPMAGIC 3.8 CODER.ELF (PLAY GAMES THAT DONT WORK WITH ESR) Intro: Mod a PlayStation 2 Slimline for FREE! In this tutorial, I will teach you how to mod your playstation 2 to play imports and backups.
If you install FreeMcBoot using a few rare obscure games due to high demand due to the discovery of the FreeMcBoot mod, you can install a program called CogSwap. That program lets you play backed up PS2 games (not PS1 games in my experiences) because it takes the Identification credentials from a real PS2 game and uses it for those games so they can run correctly. Hope I helped if you didnt find out already.
Tutorial on how to use a ps2 game disc and a modified backup of that disk as a swap disk. Why I Did this: I wanted to install the free mc boot exploit but did have a swap magic disc or a mod chip. I didn't what to buy a swap magic disc because I didn't really what to spend 25 $ on some thing I would only ever use once. After the free mc boot exploit is installed you never need a swap disc again it's sort of like the independence exploit with out the need for a ps1 trigger disk. How I did this: Step 1: First you need to be able to swap discs on you ps2.
For the fat you need to make a swap tool out of an old credit card to change discs with out pushing the eject button just Google ps2 swap tool. If you have a slim like me just follow this Tutorial Step 2: Making your swap disc: What you will need: Original PS2 game disc I used 007 agent under fire. Apache v 1.1 newer version will not work Dvd Decrypter or other dvd burning soft capable or raw write Launch.elf v 4.21 other home brew launch might work don't know The game you use needs to have multiple elf binaries on it (irx might work don't know) preferably with self explanatory names so you know when it's launched. 007 agent under fire has 3 elf binaries in the root of the dvd movie.elf, action.elf and driving.elf driving.elf is launch when a driving level is loaded. With action I think that's loaded when any other level is loaded, but I'm not sure I modded the driving file.
Burn a iso of the game you are going to use for this hack. If you are using dvd decrypter select insert you ps2 game in the dvd drive select mode from the dvd decrypter menu and then iso then you chose where you want the file saved and you click decrypt. Hack the game: In this step you are going to replace one of the elf binaries with the uncompressed version of launch.elf (the compressed version might work I don't know) To do this you need to use apache v 1.1 if you use magic iso or ultra iso it will change the TOC values and the LBA and the hack will not work.
Can everybody who has done this successfully start a compatibility list with the games that work? So far we have: 007 - Agent Under Fire, Region = Ntsc (U), 'driving.elf' = Jakk 2 - Demo, Region = Ntsc, '???elf' = -Edit- It seems the link to the required files is down, and I didn't want to double post. So, would someone be able to specify exactly what programs and version are needed? I googled launch elf 4.21, and I all came up with was a 'uLaunchElf' 4.21. Is that the same thing?
The link from two posts above has the Apache (v1.1), but also has the uLaunchElf program on-site. Edited by U-Said-it, 23 November 2008 - 03:10 PM.