Swap Magic How-to
Swap Magic arrived with no fuss, thankyou ESKent; your name and site are not glamorous, but you are true to your delivery word. It arrived with 2 discs (CD version and DVD version), plus the slide tool and an entertaining and not particularly helpful instruction sheet ("If it broke up, don't be frustrated - a little super glue can turn around the situation").
Most importantly though, the one instruction you really need - which way to jam the slidetool into the machine - isn't mentioned. After half an hour of wiggling, one broken-off tray cover (damnit), it all suddenly clicked. Then I played Katamari Damacy for approximately three hours solid, so I am serene.
So here are some tips:
1. On the instruction sheet, it says - to remove the tray cover - that there is a tiny screw holding the cover to the tray. I could not for the life of me find this. Mine's a silver PS2, I thought perhaps they'd developed push-on covers by that point, and gave it a tug. It broke off, with a tinsy bit of plastic sharding away. Still no sign of any screw. By this point anyway, I'm not sure I care. Doesn't look tooo bad. Biro cap probably wouldn't have made a good screwdriver anyway.
2. The instructions say, wait for 'Insert Disc' to show up. I waited a few minutes and carried on regardless. "Insert Disc" never showed up, and it didn't seem to matter.
3. The slidetool is a flimsy little thing, and its hook is quite delicate, so don't go waggling around for ages like I did because it will bend (luckily it just about bends back if you warm it, but I'm guessing a few bends this way and that and it'll snap off). It goes in this way up, with the wiggly hook to the right:
It slots in rather neatly this way round; keep it perfectly parallel aligned to the box, there's no funny angles or wiggling necessary, it should just slot and slide .. as the sheet says, around 2cm gap from the left, and in it goes:
From there on in, follow the instructions as is: slide right, pull out the tray. Swap the discs. Push the tray closed. Put the slidetool back in, slide right, navigate around the bump, catch hold of something in there, slide left gently. It begins to play the disc.
Wasy as!
Whew.
Hi, Alice, I found you through BoingBoing.
FYI, Swap Magics are very, very bad for your PS2. You WILL eventually break your PS2 using one of those slide cards - there's no "if" or "maybe" about it. You're essentially forcing the tray to open while the motor is running, which will ultimately cause the motor to burn out. The safest way to bypass region encoding on a PS2 is to have a modchip installed - and, technically, the modern generation of modchips are legal in the US (and I assume the UK) as they don't allow you to play DVD-R copies of commercial games. (Unless you flash a special "hacked" version of the firmware. Ahem.) Mail-in service plus chip installation usually costs around US$100-150. If you want a recommendation for a reputable company, www.modchipman.ca comes to mind.
Posted by: Feral | February 12, 2005 at 12:07
So that's what he's saying! It's not quite as commanding as I imagined when I 'read' the Japanese. The King of All Cosmos saying 'Tweet, tweet, tweet! Noisy things'? It just doesn't work for me.
Playing in colour must be cool, though.
Posted by: Foe | February 12, 2005 at 12:42
Thanks Feral!
What a pain in the arse it all is. Chipping costs the same as a new box. Thanks for the tip though - I think I'm only planning on using it rarely, all the CD swapping is a bore, but it was worth it for this game.
And foe - the king is HILARIOUS. He's a complete bitch - snarky, mean, very demanding. It's genius.
Posted by: Alice | February 12, 2005 at 13:36
Forget expensive chip installation. Just get a PS2 Flip Top. It replaces the need for the drawer to open at all, with a top loading lid. I've been using Swap Magic and the Top for over a year, and it works perfect. It's easier, and cheaper. I think I paid around $20, but I forget.
www.p2sfliptop.com
Posted by: garfinkel | February 12, 2005 at 13:52
oh, nice wooden floor you have there... none of that fake laminate stuff by the look of it.
:-)
Posted by: nickh | February 12, 2005 at 21:58
heh -- someone else who bought a Swap Magic slide card in order to play Katamari Damacy! FWIW, I bought one from Console.com, and it came with a lot better documentation; pretty much everything you note was covered, if I recall correctly.
Here's my write-up: http://taint.org/2004/10/11/052246a.html
Posted by: Justin | February 13, 2005 at 06:40
Unfortunately equiping your PS2 with a mod chip *is* illegal in the UK, which makes it difficult to even find someone willing to sell you the chip.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/21/ps2_mod_chip_win/
For some reason this doesn't seem to extend to the XBox which you can still get chipped fairly easily and cheaply.
Posted by: tom | February 14, 2005 at 15:15
Ive found the swap magic to be fine, it unlatches the motor so you can open the tray, but it doesnt do anything damaging. Me and a friend have been using them for 8 months and theres not been a problem at all.
www.timehascome.co.uk/swapmagic.htm do the set for £17.90 inc free delivery if ur uk.
Posted by: Paul Shearing | February 17, 2005 at 08:38
opps make that http://www.timehascome.co.uk/swapmagic.htm
Posted by: Paul Shearing | February 17, 2005 at 08:39
USB Transfer Cable
Posted by: koi | February 26, 2005 at 16:27
The swap magic and slide card set or magic switch are ideal for playing your backups and imports.There are no issues with voiding your warranty.In the UK you can get hold of a PAL version from http://www.swapmagic.me.uk
Posted by: Johnny | March 27, 2005 at 16:29
You can also get the magic switch for the new slim PsTwo from http://www.ps2magicswitch.co.uk or http://www.ps2magicswitch.org.uk
Posted by: Phil | March 27, 2005 at 16:32
These swap magic sets for your playstation 2 ps2 are also being sold on http://www.bestbidz.co.uk
Posted by: Tony | March 27, 2005 at 16:38
Yea well done, i say that a set is up for £17.90 and u pimp your sites which sell it for 30 quid lol.
Posted by: ExeC | April 05, 2005 at 09:20
I want to bye the swap magic 3.3 packet.how many euros does it costs and how can i order it? thank you!
Posted by: Chris | April 30, 2005 at 16:04
18 pounds is about 24 euro.
if you goto http://www.timehascome.co.uk/swapmagic.htm you can pay via paypal which will send euros. its free delivery worldwide.
Posted by: ExeC | May 23, 2005 at 09:21
can anyone help me with my problem i have ps2 slim console i just bought swap magic cd and the flip top coverand installed it but when i am trying to play import games nothing is coming up can anyone tell me hou to do it
Posted by: raman | July 13, 2005 at 05:06
I have been using the slidecard for about 6 to 8 months and it was fine until........ my burnt games stopped working, they wouldent load and it was finding it hard to play music cd's. I have used a lense cleaner about 20 times but failed. My proper ps2 games are fine. The burnt games arent scratched at all though. (p.s.i have used it frequently)
Posted by: Ryan | July 24, 2005 at 08:11
The swap magic so far has not ruined my ps2 at all. I bought the swap magic from PS2Cover.com and they sent along the slide card and also better instructions, and I have had no problem at all with the swap magic hurting my console (over 2 years now) and I play daily.
Posted by: Swap Magic | October 09, 2005 at 13:53
where can i get copied games from please
Posted by: clive read | December 14, 2005 at 18:03
how about ps2 slim no one has talked about that one yet plz email me at cardrap@yahoo.ca plz and ty
Posted by: mike | January 15, 2006 at 18:19
IF U WANT TO DOWNLOAD GAMES GO TO WWW.ISOHUNT.COM AND FIND LOTS OF GAMES THERE
Posted by: Mr.H | January 21, 2006 at 20:08
IF U WANT TO BURN GAMES ONTO A DVD CD U HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT THE READ SPEED OF THE DVD IS 4X OTHERWISE IT WONT WORK AND THE BACK HAS TO BE PURPLE. YOU USE DVD DECRYPTOR TO PUT THE GAMES ONTO THE DVD AND YOU HAVE TO PUT IT ON AS A ISO IMAGE FILE WHICH IT AUTOMATICALLY DOES BUT JUST INCASE THERE YOU ARE. WHEN YOU DOWNLOAD A GAME FROM WWW.ISOHUNT.COM YOU JUST SIMPLY EXTRACT IT AND THEN YOU BURN THE EXTRACTED FILE USING DVD DECRYPTOR AND YOUR ON YOUE WAY TO PLAYING GAMES.
Posted by: MR.H | January 21, 2006 at 20:15
Uhm..I just finally got swap magic, but I have no idea how to take off the disk door thing..It says theres a screw, and like the person with the silver ps2, I have no screw..anywhere on it..I tried to "pry" it off but I ended up breaking off this tiny piece that has no significance anyway(thank god) but anyway..how am I supposed to take it off without breaking it off?
Posted by: Tsunade01 | January 27, 2006 at 15:43
hi, ive been using the swapmagic with the card for a feew months and its been working fine with imports for the ps2. but i just tried to use a burnt psone game and its just not recognizing it. it comes with an error saying 'not a valid "PS2" game' ??? is this a faulty cd or am i just doing it wrong?
Posted by: Icantbelieveitaintbutter | February 19, 2006 at 20:14