Memor32 "This disc cannot be played due to regional restrictions"

[chopschwap]

I have bought memor32, formatted it on ps2, patached it with memento firmware, used two copies of my backups (1 Pal and 1 NTSC) and when I put in the disc I get the message: "This disc cannot be played due to regional restrictions".

I have pulled out the memor32 card and when I put the disc in again, with out the memory card, I get the same message.

Can anybody help me ?

[teknoz]

Is the memory card recognized in the browser?
Can you see the memento files when you select the memory card in the browser?

[shwnboy]

Thats weird becuase when I loaded a PAL game thru the memur I got the flickering or scrolling horizontal screen

[Social-Zero]

How compatible is this device anyway? I have tried loading a God of War backup, but it says " the disc cannot be read ".

damn :(

[chopschwap]

Okay, I've tried 2 other Games (NFS pro strik and Metal Gear Solid 2) and they worked :). I am not sure why the first backup didn't work, probably just a mistake or something.

But it works with the other 2 backups. It takes a while to load, but it does load the game up, so don't worry.

[teknoz]

How compatible is this device anyway? I have tried loading a God of War backup, but it says " the disc cannot be read ".
damn :(

I have tried about 15 games and they all work without any problems, so I would say compatibility is very high.
Your case is probably a bad burn. I burn all games on verbatim media at 4x with nero and so far they work flawlessy on my V9 and my brother's slim ps2.
Only issue is that on my ps2 they don't boot from the browser, you need to insert the disc and press reset once, then they boot as normal.

[Social-Zero]

i have tried god of war, ico and grim grimoire and they all fail to load anything on a pal ps2 slim.

I use verbatim dvd-r and burn on 2x speed.

they all give me the message that it cant read the disc after loading and spinning and showing some black screens

[hanz]

I have tried about 15 games and they all work without any problems, so I would say compatibility is very high.
Your case is probably a bad burn. I burn all games on verbatim media at 4x with nero and so far they work flawlessy on my V9 and my brother's slim ps2.
Only issue is that on my ps2 they don't boot from the browser, you need to insert the disc and press reset once, then they boot as normal.

How well does this memor 32 with the firmware hack boot dual layer backups. I used to have a V10 with a matrix infinity chip, which had dual layer support and also used the toxic dual layer patcher to be safe.

Do you have patch the iso with toxic's patcher and then the mememto patcher or just the mememto patcher.

There is has been no info on this or that i've not found it.

Any help will be great before i go out and buy one

[TKilgore]

How well does this memor 32 with the firmware hack boot dual layer backups. I used to have a V10 with a matrix infinity chip, which had dual layer support and also used the toxic dual layer patcher to be safe.

Do you have patch the iso with toxic's patcher and then the mememto patcher or just the mememto patcher.

There is has been no info on this or that i've not found it.

Any help will be great before i go out and buy one

Sorry if I sound like a jerk, but why are you considering buying this if you already have a chipped system?

[chopschwap]

Hello,

I have now tried few games and they are working. I just had to reset it, after I put in the disc.

Anyway, is it possible to play games, who are 7GB big, if we burn them on a dual layer dvd ?

Anybody tried it ?

[hanz]

Sorry if I sound like a jerk, but why are you considering buying this if you already have a chipped system?

I said i "used to have one", which means i dont anymore:rolleyes:

[TKilgore]

I said i "used to have one", which means i dont anymore:rolleyes:

...I need to stop reading these forums when I'm tired; I miss too many of the obvious details... >.< lol

[shwnboy]

This works by making you back ups look like a movie DVD "somehow"
so Im really curious to see if CD based games will be implemented.

All you do is have to patch the ISO
Burn it with your Fav burning app
Put the memur card in the first slot of your PS2
turn on the PS2
open the tray and put in the game
then hit the magical reset button.
wait up to 3min and play or reset one more time if it doesnt load to be sure
"most games will boot around the same speed with or without the hack"

dont have any non-dual shock 2 controlers in
it will lower the compatablity "games freeze in menus and loading screens"

Dual Layer DVD's work fine too

[Speedlock]

Seems to be quite a lot of games that dont boot just yet.

Tested 7 backups on both my PAL v50004 and PAL v30004 and only one game booted fully on both. One partially booted and 5 never reached beyond the initial boot (black screen).

Note: all backups worked with swapmagic, so its not bad burns/media compatability.

Also the one working game (RE Code: Veronica X) boots just fine on both ps2, when i did this:

1. turn on ps2 and eject.
2. insert backup
3. press and hold powerbutton to turn ps2 off (ps2 also closes tray).
4. press power again and wait for 10-40 seconds untill ps2 drive is quiet (if is active).
5. single tap power button again (reset ps2).
6. and game boots.

May come in handy, because i havnt yet been able to boot anything direct from the browser.

[teknoz]

My experience has been exactly the opposite. Tested around 15 games and all of them boot without any problems :)
The only problem I have is that on my V9 they don't boot from the browser screen, but that's not really an issue.
Just put the disc in and tap reset once and they boot just fine.

[TKilgore]

Seems to be quite a lot of games that dont boot just yet.

Tested 7 backups on both my PAL v50004 and PAL v30004 and only one game booted fully on both. One partially booted and 5 never reached beyond the initial boot (black screen).

Note: all backups worked with swapmagic, so its not bad burns/media compatability.

Also the one working game (RE Code: Veronica X) boots just fine on both ps2, when i did this:

1. turn on ps2 and eject.
2. insert backup
3. press and hold powerbutton to turn ps2 off (ps2 also closes tray).
4. press power again and wait for 10-40 seconds untill ps2 drive is quiet (if is active).
5. single tap power button again (reset ps2).
6. and game boots.

May come in handy, because i havnt yet been able to boot anything direct from the browser.

Don't count on too much updating on direct-booting compatibility in future firmware releases; I've stumbled upon some fairly reliable insider-info that indicates that they're going to focus their development on furthering internal HDLoading and USB compatibility (and no, I'm NOT referring to the HDLoader.elf...)

Future firmware updates include:

'HDLoader-like compatibility (which will include modchip-like auto ATAD patching for games like Street Fighter Anniversary and Kingdom Hearts 2)'

'GUI navigation implementation'

As for when these things will actually get implemented, it's anyones guess..but I'm pretty certain this is the direction the development is going, and these things are definitely coming.

[hanz]

Don't count on too much updating on direct-booting compatibility in future firmware releases; I've stumbled upon some fairly reliable insider-info that indicates that they're going to focus their development on furthering internal HDLoading and USB compatibility (and no, I'm NOT referring to the HDLoader.elf...)

Future firmware updates include:

'HDLoader-like compatibility (which will include modchip-like auto ATAD patching for games like Street Fighter Anniversary and Kingdom Hearts 2)'

'GUI navigation implementation'

As for when these things will actually get implemented, it's anyones guess..but I'm pretty certain this is the direction the development is going, and these things are definitely coming.

Am not sure about getting this now after reading info on it not booting many games. Is it worth it in the long run i.e. more updates to include better compatibility, etc. And you never know if support will last. I mean look at the Viper chip for the GC. Bios updates were very little, mental cube rarely gave updates and i spent a lot of money at the time to get the chip. And now its a dust collecter in the attic.

I know this aint a chip, but am curious how this will last and c'mon its practically 5 years late. I dont know whether investing in matrix infinity chip, as that is the best on the market and boot anything you throw at it.

What you guys reckon?

[Speedlock]

... Is it worth it in the long run ...

What you guys reckon?

Even tho i was a little dissapointed at the backup booting abilities, i must admit that its a overall nice tool. Especially if you look at the competition. Normal kids/people dont have the ability to install a modchip or do the indepentent ps1 exploit on older ps2. Harddrive game booting is somewhat complex too and expencive (and usb is slow).

So the only 3 options left are: Swapmagic, Action Replay Max Evo or Memor32.

Swapmagic: cheapest price. Fairly fast as it dosnt take long to swap, but you will have to do it every bloddy time. High game compatibility. Boot disc is in a weird format and you better not scratch the disc .. ever. You will sometimes need to Toc-swap with a real 4.37GB game or rebuild/patch game iso.

AR MAX EVO: fairly high price. AR Media Player can "play" elfs from cd-r or usb-stick, like Cogswaploader.elf, cdloader.elf or sm38cracked.elf (cought!), so it can do everything SM can do. BUT its time consuming. AR loads slow and you will need to Toc-refresh ALWAYS and swap every time. Takes a good 10 minutes to boot a backup at least. Oh yeah, better not scratch this one either.

Memor32: Again a high price, but dont forget you also get a nice large MC. Again it is just as good as SM and AR as it can also run the elfs. Most importent: it boots some backups directly. Those that dont boot directly, you will need to do the old Toc-refresh & swap again. Also, you dont have to worry if your MC gets scratch (much) or have to worry about keeping it safe.

So as Memor32 already does what SM/AR does .. it can only get better in the long run.

[misthero]

Those that dont boot directly, you will need to do the old Toc-refresh & swap again.

sorry, I'm a ps2 hack newbie, can u explain what is this Toc-refresh?

[hanz]

sorry, I'm a ps2 hack newbie, can u explain what is this Toc-refresh?

TOC = Table of Contents. Toc-refresh is used when disc swapping, its when you load a original game with a high toc size (4.33 gb) and then want to boot copy with a lower toc (3.35 gb) if i recall??:p Its been a while myself. I used to do it years ago when the Neo 4 Chip was out. DVD swaps

[Speedlock]

The Toc-refresh is used to beat the Ps2 "size" protection. As Hanz said TOC is basicly means the layout of the disc. To put it simple (because i dont know the techy stuff) .. the Ps2 is quite clever. It remembers the SIZE of the last REAL disc that has been inserted after power on.

So if you boot up Swapmagic dvd (real ps2 dvd) 4.35GB in size and swap in a 3.50GB backup .. nothing will happen and the game plays fine.

But if you swap in a 4.37GB game like Dark Chronicle or Mercenaires ? Even tho there is only 0.02GB size difference the game will most likely already freeze on bootup due to the difference in size.

So, to defeat the toc/size protection you need to tell the ps2 that you have a larger 4.37GB disc inserted .. and that can only be done in one way .. by inserting a REAL 4.37GB ps2 disc. At least you only need one tho.

So here goes:
1. boot swap magic dvd or cd (dosnt really matter what one you use as you are gonna toc refresh anyway).
2. Press Eject (tray opens, screen says "insert large TOC disc")
3. remove SM disc and insert a REAL 4.37GB disc like Devil May Cry.
4. Press Eject (tray closes, and disc is read, then spins down).
5. Swap in your backup (use fliptop, slidekey or similar).
6. Press x to boot and play you backup without troubles.

Question 2: So why havnt i heard of this?
SM team hasnt really been good at explaining this (no manual), even tho this has been an issue from the very start (sm v2.0). Also, i do wonder why they havnt made the SM dvd disc bigger with time?

Question 3: HELP! I got a slimline ps2 and i cant make a real "press eject" because im using those Magickeys/Ghostkeys/Tool/Glue/Straw.
Fear not! Just get CDloader or DVDloader (cdloader in a dvd iso). Then do this:
1. Boot CD/DVDloader somehow (from Swapmagic, Memor32, AR cd-r or usb stick, mc exploit or similar).
2. Press TRIANGLE on you joypad to ENFORCE a real eject (even on a slimline wit glued/taped down eject switches).
3. insert a REAL big ps2 disc like Devil May Cry 2.
4. Press TRIANGLE again to "close the tray" (enforced)
5. Press X (disc spins down and screen says "use EA swap")
6. Swap in backup
7. Press X to boot backup.

Note: Cogswaploader also has a somewhat "enforced" refresh .. press SQUARE a couple of times to refresh.

Question 3: But i wanna play a Ps2 CD game?
Aye! There is actually quite a few ps2 CD games and most of them are quite small. The largest real ones barely get close to the 632MB ps2 Cd limit. So, how do you boot a 700MB dvd-rip or a 699MB xvid/divx Real Player on cd-r ?
Ah, get Breaker Pro v1.1 .. even tho its sold as a Ps1 swap disc .. its ALSO a REAL 990MB Ps2 CD disc (multiformat woot) .. and its also the only one above 632MB !! Best disc for ps2 cd toc refreshing.

Question 4: So how does this affect me if i aint got Swapmagic .. but instead have a Memor32 (or AR or ps1 exploit or ...) and use that to run SM, Cogswap, Cd/dvdloader, Zoneloader and so on ?.
Well, the protection is in place so you will still need to toc-refresh (if the games doesnt boot directly). And there is no difference really .. just EJECT in a large real ps2 disc and once the disc has stopped spinning, swap in your backup ;)

[misthero]

Wow! that really IS a good answer, thank you Speedlock, I think I have to bookmark this page just in chase ^^

...specially for your answer N.3, i have an unmodded slim ps2(scph-70004)

1 more thing about that "enforce" stuff, if you can, do I have to press the Triangle and keep it pressed while I open? or just press and then open the dvd tray?

hope this is not a stupid question, I've never tried it.:P

[Speedlock]

1 more thing about that "enforce" stuff, if you can, do I have to press the Triangle and keep it pressed while I open? or just press and then open the dvd tray?

A single tap of the Triangle button (cd/dvdloader) should be enough. And a single tap on triangle to close again. The disc activity should tell you when you can safely remove/insert a disc .. always remove/insert a disc when its not moving (if its moving then somethings wrong). Also dont forget that Cd/dvdloader needs you to press X that last time to make the drive spin down so you can swap in the backup.

Users of Cogswaploader may wanna press Square a couple of times tho (even tho a single press should be enough.

[Speedlock]

Just installed the latest firmware v1.2e and suddenly all the backups seem to work. Only had 1 of 8 backups fail to boot .. the other 7 now all work :D

[jcgamer60]

I have a question. How long does it take for a game to load with the latest firmware?

[Speedlock]

I have a question. How long does it take for a game to load with the latest firmware?

Usally about 1-2 minutes. Depends on the game of cause, and if you run it from the browser or from bootup. Once ot twice you may also need to reset and such. The actual "active" time of the firmware is about 30 seconds .. the rest is just waiting on the console or media.

If you never booted a ps2 backup before .. you should know that the speed of the backup very much depend on the media. A backup will never run as smooth or as fast as a real factory pressed disc. And the ps2 can be QUITE picky about the media you use. It also depends solely on the ps2 you have as no 2 ps2 laser settings are the same. So its trial and error untill you find a media that works best for you. This has nothing specific to do with the Memor32 of cause .. backups dosnt run faster with modchips or swapmagic.

[jcgamer60]

Usally about 1-2 minutes. Depends on the game of cause, and if you run it from the browser or from bootup. Once ot twice you may also need to reset and such. The actual "active" time of the firmware is about 30 seconds .. the rest is just waiting on the console or media.

If you never booted a ps2 backup before .. you should know that the speed of the backup very much depend on the media. A backup will never run as smooth or as fast as a real factory pressed disc. And the ps2 can be QUITE picky about the media you use. It also depends solely on the ps2 you have as no 2 ps2 laser settings are the same. So its trial and error untill you find a media that works best for you. This has nothing specific to do with the Memor32 of cause .. backups dosnt run faster with modchips or swapmagic.

Alright, thanks for the information.

So would you recommend the use of a HDD instead? Or does playing games with good media not that much of a difference from a factory pressed disc?

[misthero]

For me it last 25-30 seconds to boot since I tap the reset button, I'm using Philips DVD+R, burned with "cdburnerxp" at 4x speed with a Pioneer DVR-112D.

[teknoz]

Usally about 1-2 minutes.
I guess your PS2 must have some problems or it might have something to do with the media you are using.
I just tested GOW2 DVD9 burned on a verbatim DVD+R DL and it takes 23 seconds from the time I press reset to the language selection screen.
Other games take slightly more/less but it's always around 20/30 seconds for the game to boot.

[Speedlock]

Or does playing games with good media not that much of a difference from a factory pressed disc?
In general it doesnt really matter much. Most games only "slow down" when loading .. the actually gameplay isnt affected. Some games like to load a lot (Street Fighter/rapid level changing games) but other games only load every 2 hours or so (like rpgs). One way other the other the difference between a original and a copy is usually only a handfull of seconds, and so barely noticable. Using "bad media" aka slightly incompatble media is more obvious, as movies/audio may begin to "lag" behind. Again it EXTREMELY RARELY affect ingame smoothness. Only once seen this happen (in the first Lord of the rings game, it loads combat screams directly ingame .. and the audio got delayed .. not the action tho).

EDIT: also there are 15 different versions of the ps2 right now, so its really hard to say what runs fast or slow and on what version/laser. The v50004 i got is actually the first ps2 where Sony officially supported dvd+r. However that dosnt mean that my older v30004 didnt work quite well with dvd+r media too.

So would you recommend the use of a HDD instead?
Well, HDD loading is usually a thing of comfort. Sure it makes a game boot faster but the speed rarely makes it worth it (again ingame speed aint affected only loading). To make some game run on a Hdd u need to turn on "compatability modes" .. that makes the backup run like a normal dvd game (aka dvd speed). Then there is the whole troubles of getting the backups ONTO the hdd .. that takes a LOT of time, no matter how you do it (from disc or pc transfer).
So, why use a hdd? Well, once the games are ON the HDD, they are there and dosnt get "lost" .. you dont need to go look for a game EVER again once they are on the hdd. Never again will you ask yourself where you put that nonamed dvd-r backup or where did you put the original disc. (whoa ive been there).
That most games load really fast from hdd dosnt hurt of cause.
When im talking about Hdd games running im only thinking about Internal IDE HDD booting on theold bulky. External USB HDD game booting does work of cause but the ps2 is only USB 1.1 compatible .. and so usb hdds game boooting is slooooooow (slower than dvd+-r actually).
Price: another thing to consider is the cost actually getting a ps2 network adapter and a COMPATIBLE Hdd. But if you already have a spare 40GB+ ide hdd and a network adapter then all you need is the software (hdloader or hdavance).
(Maxtor hdds works nicely).

Sum up (translation of rantings):
Question 1: There is no real difference between original and backup.
Question 2: if you got the cash and are lazy/messy: go ahead.

[jcgamer60]

Thanks a lot for your response. I'll stick to using disc media then. :)