PAL and NTSC.

[boys from the dwarf]

hi.

i've owned final fantasy tactics for a while now but seems as i live in england, i cant play it. i refuse to go through life without playing this game that is rated so highly by some people on this site.

i've heard of ways to get my PS2 to play american games.

i was thinking of buying an american PS1 but, correct me if im wrong, the plugs are a different shape in america and i wouldn't be able to plug the PS in. i could get an adaptor plug though but this is going into complex detail.

how could i play this game?

[Flying Mullet]

Yes, the electrical plug on an American PS1 will not fit into most (if not all) various electrical outlets in Europe. Plus, the voltage of the outlet is different from that of a standard American outlet as well. If you were to follow this approach, you would need to get an adapter so you could plug your PS1 into the socket and it would also convert the voltage to the correct amount.

As you're writing this on a computer, have you considered playing your copy of Tactics on an emulator on your computer?

[boys from the dwarf]

my knowledge on emulators is limited at best. i only know what their supposed to do and i dont even know what they look like or where i could find one.

i guess i have 3 options.

1. get something done to my PS2 so it will play american games.

2. buy an american PS2 and a plug adaptor.

3. learn more about emulators then buy an emulator.

thanks. information on where i can get things like this and how they work would be useful. i've never really needed to do anything like this until now.

[aerithsloveslave]

my knowledge on emulators is limited at best. i only know what their supposed to do and i dont even know what they look like or where i could find one.

i guess i have 3 options.

1. get something done to my PS2 so it will play american games.

2. buy an american PS2 and a plug adaptor.

3. learn more about emulators then buy an emulator.

thanks. information on where i can get things like this and how they work would be useful. i've never really needed to do anything like this until now.

Unfortunetly, option #2 is not that simple. Even if you get your US PS2 to plug into your outlets, it will still be incompatible with your PAL TV. I would seriously look into getting your system chipped. In fact, they now have swap discs that will work w/o the need of a chip. Of course, a PS1 emulator on your PC would be the fastest and cheapest way. Emulators are free and completely legal as long as you use a legit copy of FFT and not a burned ISO.

Here (http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/psx/) is a good site for them.

[boys from the dwarf]

unfourtunately the office that my computer is in is very cramped and crowed so an emulator may not be possible but i'll look into it. i'd have very little time to play it if it was on computer because of other people using the computer. playing it on my PS2 would be ideal.

does anyone know about how to chip the PS to get it to play american games? im sorry to keep on asking thinks but i barely even know where to start.

[o_O]

You can try some kind of swap disc.
Basically, a swap disc is like a normal CD, only its purpose is to load past the region check of the game, so that if you swap out the disc for the game, it should boot up normally.
For example, there is Swap Magic, but that's for PS2s (and PS2 games). This was the option I took due to: a) the lack of decent PS2 emulation and b) the lack of Xenosaga in New Zealand.
There are also memory card loaders, which you can load onto a card and they will bypass region checking too. They work basically the same way as a swap disc, only you create a file for your memory card using a PSX game that you own, then do the swap disc trick with your own game.

The easiest option for you, however, would definitely be to go for the emulator; that's the only way I play PSX games now.
As a side note, I thought FFT was rubbish. I was disappointed because I was expecting something more FFVII-ish. :p

The <a href="http://forums.afterdawn.com/">Afterdawn forums</a> are extremely helpful with this sort of thing.

[boys from the dwarf]

does a PS1 swap disk exist? if so, where could i find it? im beginning to consider emulation but seems as about 4 people use this computer, i wont have much time.

[o_O]

Yes, there is a swap disc, which is called Breaker Pro.
It is used to play import/backup <b>PSX</b> games on your PS2 or PSX. It's essentially identical to Swap Magic, only you use it to play import PSX games rather than PS2 games.

Take note though, that you need an original swap disc. You can't just download the ISO and burn it to CD, as that's pretty much the same as putting a backed up game in without a swap disc.

[Mirage]

I recommend against a swap disc. I got one myself once, and I found it annoying. It's not that much more expensive to have your PS2 modified, and if you live in a reasonably sized city (100k or more), you should be able to find professionals who can do it for you.

When it comes to the PAL/NTSC issue, that still applies when you're running an NTSC game on a modified PAL PS2, just as it would if you had a real NTSC PS2. Nowadays, this isn't much of a problem anyway, because most new TVs can handle both signals just fine. Earlier, NTSC games would be in black and white, and you'd need a special kind of cable to fix the problem. If your TV is very old, you might need this.

You never have to pay for an emulator. One of the best emulators avaliable is free of charge (ePSXe).

[aerithsloveslave]

Here (http://www.modchip.com/ps2/) is a site for chips and swap discs. BTW, FFT is NOT rubbish.

[o_O]

I recommend against a swap disc. I got one myself once, and I found it annoying. It's not that much more expensive to have your PS2 modified, and if you live in a reasonably sized city (100k or more), you should be able to find professionals who can do it for you.

You never have to pay for an emulator. One of the best emulators avaliable is free of charge (ePSXe).

That's the bad thing about swap discs. Every time you want to play the import game you need to use two discs instead of one. And it's not just a simple "open your disc tray", you have to pull the tray out so that the PS2 doesn't know the discs have been swapped.

The reason I chose a swap disc, though, is that in New Zealand, you won't find a non-dodgy-looking chip dealer and certainly not one that would offer a guarantee to their work. Not at the time I was looking at getting one, anyway.
I'm not that comfortable with a person who deals from a back-alley poking around in my PS2. I'd likely do a better job myself.

I'd agree that ePSXe is the best way to go though.

[boys from the dwarf]

no debates about whether FFT was good or not.

thanks. if you have any more sites or good ideas, post them in but this has been very helpful.

[Levian]

Go to a store where they sell NTSC games and ask, they should know the easiest way out. There's one in my town and it sounded like you only needed some sort of adaptor.

[boys from the dwarf]

well im in england so i dont know about any NTSC stores. the TV i play games on is over 6 years old and if i play on games where it give you a choice of either 50hz or 60hz, if i pick 60 it goes black and white so i guess that means even if i get it to work, it would be black and white but i can live with that. im sure theres a way to play NTSC games in colour though.

[Levian]

Surely there must be many stores in England that sells NTSC games. I live in Norway, and there's quite a few of them here.

[o_O]

As Mirage said, the only thing you'd need to play an NTSC game on a PAL TV is a special cable which will convert the signal.
When you get asked if you want to use 50 or 60Hz, that's the game itself asking you; everything goes black and white with the 60Hz, so you most likely will need the cable. Unless you have another TV which you can play it on.

Still, an emulator is free and you don't need to buy any extra stuff. :p

[Endless]

As Mirage said, the only thing you'd need to play an NTSC game on a PAL TV is a special cable which will convert the signal.
When you get asked if you want to use 50 or 60Hz, that's the game itself asking you; everything goes black and white with the 60Hz, so you most likely will need the cable. Unless you have another TV which you can play it on.

Still, an emulator is free and you don't need to buy any extra stuff. :p

When it asks about 50 or 60 Hz, it's between PAL50 and PAL60, the latter of which is different from NTSC. What happens with EU PS1/PS2 is that when you play an NTSC game on it, it actually sends a PAL60 signal to the TV. If you were to play with a US PS2/PS1 on a PAL60-able TV, you'd get garbage on the screen.
In short,
- if you play a NTSC game on a PAL PS1/PS2, you need a proper AV cable for your console, because the default one is crap and lacks the cabling;
- if you play on a NTSC console on a PAL TV, you need a converter to change the signal from NTSC to PAL.

[o_O]

As Mirage said, the only thing you'd need to play an NTSC game on a PAL TV is a special cable which will convert the signal.
When you get asked if you want to use 50 or 60Hz, that's the game itself asking you; everything goes black and white with the 60Hz, so you most likely will need the cable. Unless you have another TV which you can play it on.

Still, an emulator is free and you don't need to buy any extra stuff. :p

When it asks about 50 or 60 Hz, it's between PAL50 and PAL60, the latter of which is different from NTSC. What happens with EU PS1/PS2 is that when you play an NTSC game on it, it actually sends a PAL60 signal to the TV. If you were to play with a US PS2/PS1 on a PAL60-able TV, you'd get garbage on the screen.
In short,
- if you play a NTSC game on a PAL PS1/PS2, you need a proper AV cable for your console, because the default one is crap and lacks the cabling;
- if you play on a NTSC console on a PAL TV, you need a converter to change the signal from NTSC to PAL.

Ah, thanks, I didn't realise that. :p

Just to clarify, the cable is unnecessary if your TV can handle an NTSC signal.

[theundeadhero]

If the american PS2 is the later mini-model it's already duel voltage. You just need to buy a $1 plug-in adapter and not a voltage converter.

Emulators are not hardware. It's downloadable software.