Import Help Thread

[Z3120]

Originally Posted by waterclone

hey, with swap magic do you have to do it over and over again? because i went on youtube and they had this video which they put swap magic in and then put their game in. so do i have to keep on doing swap magic every time i want to play kh2fm+?

Yes, every single time just like you would for gameshark or action replay to play with cheat codes.

[waterclone]

noooo!!! i cant be asked to do that swap magic thingy over and over again!!!

[Seftrex]

I am from the UK and is wondering about Swap Magic 3.6. I have gone on the Main site and located a UK provider. But I was wondering who here is situated in the UK and has done this? For I want to find the best site for it.

Many thanks

[Z3120]

Originally Posted by Seftrex

I am from the UK and is wondering about Swap Magic 3.6. I have gone on the Main site and located a UK provider. But I was wondering who here is situated in the UK and has done this? For I want to find the best site for it.

Many thanks

I'm not from the U.K. but as a word of advice from me, order from a site that accepts paypal but make sure you read their policies and such before deciding to buy from that particular site so you could understand how they deal with customers, support, refunds and so forth.

There use to be more sites than what Swapmagic3.com lists but because of a certain incident, places closed to put a somewhat long story short.

[carsonj]

What will happen if I don't use the swap magic or the slide card? And does Action Replay Max really work instead of the two?

[Chupacabra]

I have a Action Replay Max and I was wondering if this really works? Or only for the DVDs.. cause I tried it once and it couldnt read the disc but it was an US (I'm not from the US) PS1 Game so maybe it was because it was for the PS1
oh dear D: I don wanna buy all that stuff to play it

[ryukyu nova]

i have a question too, what does the slim flip top actually do? i have the discs without it and when i put it in whatever i do when i put in my KH import games it says "not a valid PS2 disc"

[carsonj]

Well to answer your question, the slide card that you need to make the game work is used to read the disk. The slim top does the same thing, if you put in a non American game in a USA PS2, then the slde card or the flip top will read it as not being valid. You'll need to buy it seperately. By removing it though to replace it with the new one you buy, it could potentially break your system. I just went with buying a Japanese PS2 to avoid breaking or ruining my own.

[ryukyu nova]

Originally Posted by carsonj

Well to answer your question, the slide card that you need to make the game work is used to read the disk. The slim top does the same thing, if you put in a non American game in a USA PS2, then the slde card or the flip top will read it as not being valid. You'll need to buy it seperately. By removing it though to replace it with the new one you buy, it could potentially break your system. I just went with buying a Japanese PS2 to avoid breaking or ruining my own.

"if you put in a non American game in a USA PS2, then the slde card or the flip top will read it as not being valid" that kinda sounds like even if i get the flip top then it wont work anyway

[Z3120]

Originally Posted by carsonj

What will happen if I don't use the swap magic or the slide card?

Swap Magic is either use in conjunction with a slide card or magic key set. Depending on what PS2 you have, whether it be a fat or slim PS2, you need to use one or the other with Swap Magic. Slide card for the fat, bulky PS2s like the v5~v11 and the magic key set for the v12 and above. To read the version number, check out the SCPH number you see as a sticker either under your PS2 on some cases like the slim PS2 or on the back side like the fat PS2s. I have no idea if Swap Magic, or more likely, the magic key set is able to work for the v16 and above slimline PS2s. To find out more about what version PS2 you have, you can google it for a more clear answer.

Originally Posted by carsonj

And does Action Replay Max really work instead of the two?

Look up Cogswap. It’s a much lengthy process though. Also depending on what version you have, there could be complications although I'm not too sure as I've only heard some difficulties when people are using Gameshark in particular.

Originally Posted by Chupacabra

I have a Action Replay Max and I was wondering if this really works? Or only for the DVDs.. cause I tried it once and it couldnt read the disc but it was an US (I'm not from the US) PS1 Game so maybe it was because it was for the PS1
oh dear D: I don wanna buy all that stuff to play it

Read the above reply. Swap Magic is really cheap considering the hassle you can avoid without using Cogswap. But that's entirely your choice on where to go. I would suggest a mod-chip like the Matrix Infinity Green Dot or perhaps even a modbo but because of certain incident, I won't be saying much regarding mod-chips in general. However, mod-chips do indeed have one very beneficial and quite notable feature like the dev1 and dev2 functions. But of course, that’s a somewhat expensive venture you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Originally Posted by ryukyu nova

i have a question too, what does the slim flip top actually do? i have the discs without it and when i put it in whatever i do when i put in my KH import games it says "not a valid PS2 disc"

You mean the flip-top you can use to replace the casing to the original fat PS2s? It makes swapping disc a lot more convenient instead of using the slide card in conjunction with Swap Magic. And besides, I recommend the use of a flip-top moreover than a slide card because all of that unnecessary force from when you move the disc tray out with the slide card to swap disc will wear the motor out much quicker depending on such and such.

If you already installed the flip-top and Swap Magic, you must have installed the flip-top incorrectly. Check for a loosen cable or such, most notably the thing near the eject button. For more details on what you could have missed, try to google for helpful tech sites I’m sure there’s plenty of to find.

The only reason I can think your import game isn't working, even with Swap Magic, is because you installed the flip-top incorrectly. So double check. If you were to play a game from a different region i.e. you have a PS2 from the U.S., and you're trying to boot a game from Japan directly like you usually would for any PS2 game you would buy at your nearby store, your PS2 cannot do a direct-boot method to play the import. Without Swap Magic (or other methods), you can’t play games from other regions because there's a region-lock instill within the PS2 kind of like DVD players, which prevents owners of a specific region PS2 (NTSC, NTSC-J and PAL) to play games from other regions due to a region code restraint. We use such things like Swap Magic to bypass this region lock without the system recognizing the swap in general from taking place through the use of either a slide card, magic key sets or flip-top with Swap Magic or installing a mod-chip onto the PS2 dashboard (that I highly recommend you ask a professional to do unless you have experience with soldering in general). Since buying a mod-chip is quite an investment though not really too expensive, Swap Magic is our much cheaper alternative.

To sum it up, there's basically a trigger that tells the PS2 to authenticate the game, and that happens to be when you press the eject button. Hence, you need to use the slide card if you have a fat PS2 to slide the disc tray out and back in to swap disc to avoid pressing the eject/blue button on your PS2 to avoid this procedure where the PS2 will double-check for the validness of the disc. After this part is clear, then it is possible to play both backup and import games.

Originally Posted by carsonj

Well to answer your question, the slide card that you need to make the game work is used to read the disk. The slim top does the same thing, if you put in a non American game in a USA PS2, then the slde card or the flip top will read it as not being valid. You'll need to buy it seperately. By removing it though to replace it with the new one you buy, it could potentially break your system. I just went with buying a Japanese PS2 to avoid breaking or ruining my own.

To those who might be confused, read the above although I’m too sure or confident on how you'll understand my gibberish since I’m too use to talking this way. Sorry

Originally Posted by ryukyu nova

"if you put in a non American game in a USA PS2, then the slde card or the flip top will read it as not being valid" that kinda sounds like even if i get the flip top then it wont work anyway

The use of a slide card or flip-top serves as two different methods but they basically obtain the same result. They're both used in conjunction with Swap Magic so the PS2 cannot detect the swap from taking place. After you cross that hurdle, you can play imports freely although you must perform this little procedure each and every time you want to play an import game unless you invest in a mod-chip.

[spiffy girl]

I have a NTSC PS2. I bought my swapmagic when i got KH2FM+. Can the swapmagic work if i play a Region 3 DVD??

[Z3120]

Originally Posted by spiffy girl

I have a NTSC PS2. I bought my swapmagic when i got KH2FM+. Can the swapmagic work if i play a Region 3 DVD??

You want to play a DVD movie? You shouldn't be using Swap Magic for such a thing anyway... It's only for games although you could give it a shot. I think you could use Swap Magic to trigger a homebrew application to do so but that's another procedure you should look elsewhere for. Or do you mean Region 3 as in PAL? There are 3 region codes - NTSC, NTSC-J and PAL. If you have Swap Magic and a NTSC PS2, you should be able to play games listed in another region code, provided you do have the correct Swap Magic version of course (i.e. you bought a NTSC region SM disc set so it could be read on your NTSC PS2). The purpose of getting a NTSC-J SM disc set for a NTSC PS2 would defeat the entire purpose since your PS2 needs to read the disc first before you can play games from other regions, a.k.a. imports.

[spiffy girl]

Originally Posted by Z3120

You want to play a DVD movie? You shouldn't be using Swap Magic for such a thing anyway... It's only for games although you could give it a shot. I think you could use Swap Magic to trigger a homebrew application to do so but that's another procedure you should look elsewhere for. Or do you mean Region 3 as in PAL? There are 3 region codes - NTSC, NTSC-J and PAL. If you have Swap Magic and a NTSC PS2, you should be able to play games listed in another region code, provided you do have the correct Swap Magic version of course (i.e. you bought a NTSC region SM disc set so it could be read on your NTSC PS2). The purpose of getting a NTSC-J SM disc set for a NTSC PS2 would defeat the entire purpose since your PS2 needs to read the disc first before you can play games from other regions, a.k.a. imports.

Well I want to buy a DVD that's can only play on region 3 DVD players. Since i don't own i was wondering if it could work with the sm....i'm not talking about video games. i only which region to use and i have the NTSC version for my NTSC PS2.....

[Z3120]

Originally Posted by spiffy girl

Well I want to buy a DVD that's can only play on region 3 DVD players. Since i don't own i was wondering if it could work with the sm....i'm not talking about video games. i only which region to use and i have the NTSC version for my NTSC PS2.....

I know what you're getting at now, but I think you're better off asking this question elsewhere like at one of those console exploit sites concerning homebrew applications. Using something like Swap Magic, or even a cheat device such as Gameshark 2 or Action Replay, can be sufficient in booting special files to make your PS2 a multi-media entertainment center. You should look into some tutorials not listed here at khinsider regarding these type of files and special features you might be able to achieve. This import help thread is, as far as I know, exists only for those who want to play import games in general. Forget backups of games you own. There are other forums for that kind of stuff. I seldom use my PS2 to play movies anymore so I can't really elaborate on movie conversions and stuff unlike someone who would be more experience in this kind of thing. Google is your friend.

[libraxege]

so kh2fm+ won't work on my italian ps3???
and I have to buy a swap magic right?