Can a soft-modded PlayStation 2 play import game discs?

[ImmaculateChimp]

or do you still need a mod chip or swap magic disc?

...also, is there anything interesting you can do with a soft-modded PlayStation 2?

 

[Tenka]

Finally, my area of interest!  Well, to some extent it can, but you're always better off trying to find a PAL version of the game for a PAL PS2 and vice versa.  There are ISO region converters for PS2 games too, if you rip your games, but I won't claim they always work.  I love when games let you decide which region to use before starting, like Shadow of the Colossus.  What kind of soft modding has been done to your PS2, if you're that far?  I'm only really pro in Free McBoot.  Whatever has been done to it though I'm sure it'll be able to load programs, so you can use earlier game emulators in it if you like.  For me, the plus about playing emulators on a PS2 is the controls for players 1 and 2 already being mapped to your two controllers, so multiplayer games are much easier to get into.  You can see the emulators and most all the other fun programs useable on a PS2 here. http://sksapps.com/index.php?page=emus.html

Do not buy Swap Magic, it is only useful in installing your soft mod in the first place, after that there are better options like the installable Cogswap.

 

[ImmaculateChimp]

Firstly, I just want you to know, I try to learn what I can before I start asking questions, so there will be some things I'll know and some things I won't. Well, I don't actually have my PS2 anymore =(... I was looking to get a "new" still-sealed slimline model(I have a decent library of PlayStation 2 games which I will never get rid of, some of which I still haven't played yet) because I highly doubt my computer could handle PS2 emulation and for the foreseeable future my budget will only allow me to afford a "new" PS2 as opposed to a "new" pc. As I'm still stuck living in the u.s. most of my games are NTSC U/C, but a small handful(Front Mission 5, Okami, Shinobido Imashime, Suikoden III, & some others) are NTSC J, and they either never got a u.s. release, or I just wanted to own the original version. I was looking into getting, if possible, an SCPH-70012(unless there is a better, longer-lasting model) because that model still has the connector on the MB to directly hook up an hdd instead of going with a slower usb-connected hdd(ripping my games so I won't have to keep swapping out discs is a potential interest of mine; by the way, will this rip-to-hdd-method allow me to play out-of-region games?).

Primarily, my interests in this matter revolve around playing u.s. & Japanese PS2 games on one PS2, possibly from an hdd. Is there a soft-mod way to make this work,or will I have to get a mod-chip(I don't exactly mind getting one, but I don't know which one is best for my needs, and I also have no soldering skills what so ever, so I wouldn't trust myself to be able to install it properly, I'd surely kill the PS2 in the process).

 

[Tenka]

I've always thought of mod chips as cheating, because at least with the PS2 there isn't really anything they can allow you to do that you can't accomplish through sticking software on the memory card, except, possibly, region-freeing your game playing abilities.  You can play any region of game on a softmodded PS2 either through disc swapping or hard drive loading, but as I understand it they may not display correctly if your region doesn't match the region of your TV, but I'm only speaking of NTSC vs PAL here.  I'm sorry for giving uninformed info.  I see your situation now though, and I absolutely recommend you buy a PS2 if you want to play PS2 games, because they're really cheap and I see them as systems that'll last forever.  But aiming for the newest variety is not a good idea here.  As I understand it, Sony moved over to the slimline to end the use of hard drives, and that was the coolest part of the Playstation 2.  I've never heard of the slimline with a hard drive connector on the motherboard still, but that still sounds sloppy and unnecessary.  Buy a normal fat PS2, and a network adapter when you can afford it.  ($15 or so on Ebay)  Also although HDLoader has an option to rip your game discs to the hard drive from the PS2's disc drive, I suggest you rip your games with your computer instead, because the direct to PS2 method is at least twenty times slower, doesn't strip out the dummy data, and in my attempts tended to error out halfway through.

I think your Japanese games will play just fine from a hard drive loader, being NTSC.  I've tested a couple.

I have all kinds of software recommendations if you go with this, but I don't want to flood you with instructions before you're ready or decided.

 

[ingoreis]

Playing NTSC Games on a Pal Console should be no Problem.
Simply use USB Advance to play Games from USB(warning most Games stuttering when Videos played,but ingame work it fine)

Or burn a Hybrid DVD and simply use FMCB and ESR.

Or use a Network Adapter with real Harddisk and transfer your Game via HDLdump Network Connection to the Harddisk.
Then can you play your Game from internal Harddisk.

With this Ways managed i playing Dawn of Mana,Mana Khemia 2 and other NTSC Games playing on a Pal Ps2 Fat.

The simpliest way is using a USB hdd.
Google USB Advance or USB Extreme.
Many PS2 Apps can you get by SKSApps