PS1 - options for playing games in 60Hz

[egparadigm]

Some years ago I bought a modded slim PS2, which was PAL but could naturally play games from any region. The laser conked out shortly after and despite having the laser replaced and a fix made to prevent this, the 2nd laser also died. I still own this console and an unmodified PAL, black PS2 slim.

I am looking to play a couple of PS1 games, namely Tomb Raider 2 and Dino Crisis, which I’d ideally like to do in 60hz. However right now I obviously don’t have the means to play NTSC versions, so no 60hz easily available. I understand TR2 was PAL optimized, although I imagine it still has some small borders. Dino Crisis apparently isn PAL optimized so could maybe be forced into 60hz somehow?

I am hoping you all can tell me, what are my options to play these games in 60hz? I would consider hardware mod, softmod, some kind of boot disc, or indeed emulation (although I have mac os, which is a limiting factor). The quicker & simpler the better, I’d rather not have to get involved in anything too technical right now.

[CMcK]

OpenEmu on MacOS has good support for PlayStation games and loads of controllers. It’s a doddle to setup and use. Even runs games with improved filtering and upscaling on my ancient Mac mini.

[Wools]

If you’re open to Emulation, I would heartily recommend the Anbernic RG351MP handheld. It has an amazing IPS 4:3 screen and the PlayStation emulation is fantastic.

[speedlolita]

You might be able to use a boot disc to force 60Hz (Import Player Light), but you'd need a modified console to get the boot disc to work.

A modchip would largely solve this issue for you but installation is a bit of a pain. Emulation isn't the best answer but I'd take 60Hz emulation over being forced to play a 50Hz PAL copy.

[ZipZap]

Replacing the laser in a PS2 slim is not especially difficult. I'm not an electrics whizz at all and have done it twice. New lasers are cheap on ebay. You need to remove a blob of solder on the new laser (just heat it up) then it's just a few screws on the console. Lots of info online how to do it.

You could also just pick up a new modded PS1/PS2 fairly cheap on ebay.

You could also look into the FreeMcBoot/OPL/PopStarter route which would allow you to use your PS2 without the disc drive, but PopStarter is essentially an emulator, it doesn't use the hardware implementation of the PS1 in the PS2. Unless you wanted to play on a CRT or something, if you're going down the emulation route, you may as well just use Retroarch on your Mac.

[egparadigm]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

So for my first real foray into PS1 I decided to buy a modified ps1 console from ebay, thinking this would be more straightforward, only to find it isn’t! For the benefit of others, who can learn from my ignorance…
Tomb Raider II, it turns out to my horror, is only optimized correctly for PAL on PS1! I actually went to the bother of sourcing an American copy at significant expense before realizing that for NTSC they simply stretched and cropped the PAL image so Lara is too tall. I checked the running speed of Lara at the mansion and found there is also no slowdown in PAL. So it seems PAL is for once the superior version.

I also bought a US copy of Dino Crisis only to discover is has copy protection, designed to prevent play on any PS1 with a modchip. The only way around this is to either switch the mod off or run a patch on the game to remove it, which must be burnt to cdr. This is the route I went down. I might as well have pirated the game for all the good it did me!

Here are some comparison pics of TRII for those who are interested.



Theres an interesting article about TR1 on randomised gaming, with video on youtube also. https://randomisedgaming.tumblr.com/...the-unfinished

[dataDave]

Sounds like tons of fun.

[egparadigm]

Sounds like tons of fun.

Once I was past the technical gripes and actually playing them maybe!

[ploder]

PS1 - > Tonyhax
PS2 - > Mechapwn

[speedlolita]

PS1 - > Tonyhax
PS2 - > Mechapwn

MechaPwn would not resolve this issue on PAL PlayStation 2 consoles, and is only compatible with a few select models of hardware.

[wakka]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

So for my first real foray into PS1 I decided to buy a modified ps1 console from ebay, thinking this would be more straightforward, only to find it isn’t! For the benefit of others, who can learn from my ignorance…
Tomb Raider II, it turns out to my horror, is only optimized correctly for PAL on PS1! I actually went to the bother of sourcing an American copy at significant expense before realizing that for NTSC they simply stretched and cropped the PAL image so Lara is too tall. I checked the running speed of Lara at the mansion and found there is also no slowdown in PAL. So it seems PAL is for once the superior version.

I also bought a US copy of Dino Crisis only to discover is has copy protection, designed to prevent play on any PS1 with a modchip. The only way around this is to either switch the mod off or run a patch on the game to remove it, which must be burnt to cdr. This is the route I went down. I might as well have pirated the game for all the good it did me!

Here are some comparison pics of TRII for those who are interested.



Theres an interesting article about TR1 on randomised gaming, with video on youtube also. https://randomisedgaming.tumblr.com/...the-unfinished

Ah that’s a bummer dude. This is the case with some U.K. developed games of that era. The Wipeout games are also better on PAL I believe.

[egparadigm]

Ah that’s a bummer dude. This is the case with some U.K. developed games of that era. The Wipeout games are also better on PAL I believe.

Yeah, tis. Shall be more cautious in my assumptions going forward. In my research I’ve also found the website https://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor useful as it explains the various version changes.

I’ve just finished playing Dino Crisis for the first time, which I found a little confusing (collected files not saving ala Resi seems an odd choice). Frustratingly the dialogue skips in some places, which I’m assuming is because it’s from a backup. I tried burning the disc a second time, which seemed to improve matters until the final act, when the closing FMV was stuttering (the 1st disc wouldn’t load the FMV at all). Both of these on Taiyo Yuden discs (thanks for the tip again, wakka) at the slowest possible speed.

The console seemingly plays retail discs without too many issues, although I’ve not been able to test it extensively. I did get some skipping on my PAL retail copy of TR2, but after I gave it a wipe that seemed to resolve the problem. The seller did say it had issues with backups not loading, but I was hoping this was down to the quality of media used.

If anyone has any ideas what could be amiss, I’d be most grateful.

[wakka]

Not sure on that one I'm afraid, I've only ever played PS1 CD-Rs on a PS2, which might have a more robust laser as I've not experienced those issues. A PS1 laser is nearly 30 years old at this point which I'm guessing isn't helping.

The ultimate solution is to switch to an optical drive emulator like the XStation, but I've not used one of these - [MENTION=13863]speedlolita[/MENTION] might be able to advise.

[speedlolita]

Skipping is a laser issue indeed. If you want a quality laser I'd suggest getting a PSone.

[egparadigm]

Skipping is a laser issue indeed. If you want a quality laser I'd suggest getting a PSone.

Thanks. I presume PSOne had a better laser at manufacture. Would a PSOne always be better than any laser in a PSX, even if replaced?