Question about PIC12F629 for PS1 Modchip

[ady05113]

Hello guys, first of all sorry for my English.

I have question regarding the PIC12F629 that i bought from Chinese website. I didn't notice that i have bought the wrong type of PIC. The one that i bought is the smaller size of PIC but the type is still PIC12F629. By the way, i'm using K150 Programmer which means the PIC that i have will not work because the size is too small to fit inside the programmer and maybe i need to use some jumper wire to connect the PIC legs with the programmer.

The PIC that i wrongly bought :-


The PIC that i want to buy :-



So my question is, can it be as modchip on my PSX? If not then i'm just out of luck

[TriMesh]

It will work. Electrically those SO package parts are identical to the DIP ones.

At the least, I would recommend getting an adapter PCB to break the leads out to 0.1" pitch - it makes it a lot easier to solder and also a neater installation.

If possible, get a programming adapter too - these just sit in the programmer socket and have a SO ZIF socket that you can drop the chips into to program them. One thing to watch is that there are two different "SO8" packages - those PICs use the narrower one (sometimes referred to as "150mil").

This photo shows the adapter PCBs and both sizes of programming adapter - those 12C508s are the same size as your PICs, and the ATTINY45 is just there as a size reference for the larger SO8 package.

[ady05113]

Thank you for your response. I have ordered the 150mil sop8 adapter like you said. One quick question what is the best hex for this PIC? Can i use this PIC on all model of PlayStation from scph-100x to scph-10x?

[TriMesh]

Thank you for your response. I have ordered the 150mil sop8 adapter like you said. One quick question what is the best hex for this PIC? Can i use this PIC on all model of PlayStation from scph-100x to scph-10x?

The first thing is that you need a hex file that's intended for the 12F629 - most of the older files are for the 12C508, and they won't work on this chip. The old 4-wire non-stealth chip, mm3 and Mayumi 4.0 have been ported to the 12F629, but as far as I'm aware the ONEchip has not.

Out of these, the MM3 is the most flexible - it can be installed into pretty much any model, although with the proviso that it doesn't have full stealth capability on PU-7 or PU-8 boards and it can't bypass the region check in the PAL PSone.

Mayumi 4.0 won't work on PU-7 or PU-8 at all, and also lacks the PSone region check defeat function.

Note that the PSone patch is only of significance if you are in a PAL territory - it doesn't work for Japanese consoles, and the US and Asian variants don't have the boot ROM region lock anyway.

[likeabaus]

Eurasia.nu has a good selection of psx modchip hex files in the download section. I believe some of them have been ported to the pic12f series but I could be wrong. Definitely worth a look. The owner also sells preflashed chips too for next to nothing (since the code is free, you just pay a few extra bucks for him to flash it for you+shipping). He shops from Hong Kong though so sometimes it takes a while to get through customs, but I've been using his shop for years, great service. Either way, he provides downloads to all the hexes for free if you'd rather do it yourself :p

[ady05113]

Okay finally i've finished installing my modchip with MM3 hex on my SCPH-7000 (Japanese Region) and SCPH-100 (also Japanese Region). I have check every point from the diagram that i use below but it doesn't work when i put the backup games (PAL or NTSC US). The original PAL games also will kick me to CD player/Memory card menu. I didnt test with original NTSC US because i don't have the disc. So basically what is the problem? I am pretty sure that i've correctly programmed the chip with K150 and MM3 Japanese NTSC/J Hex. All the points also has been correctly installed. I dont think the laser is worn out because i play Japanese Original and backups just fine. Could anyone help me ?

SCPH-7000 MM3


SCPH-100 MM3

[rama3]

Japanese consoles do not directly start other region games, no matter if original or copy.
Try to run a Japan region backup. If it works, your modchip works fine.

[ady05113]

Japanese consoles do not directly start other region games, no matter if original or copy.
Try to run a Japan region backup. If it works, your modchip works fine.

Yes. The Japanese backups and original works fine. So that means my mochip works like what it should be? I thought modchip is supposed to allow any region original and backups to be play?

So how do i run other region games on my Japanese console? Is it require special hex files on the modchip?

[rama3]

Japanese consoles have an additional region check in the boot routine.
On these consoles, you need either a boot disk, an expansion cart (Gameshark, etc), or a BIOS swap to PAL or NTSC-U.
Those regions don't do the extra check, so for them, only a modchip is required.

We should really have this info in some sticky..

[ady05113]

Japanese consoles have an additional region check in the boot routine.
On these consoles, you need either a boot disk, an expansion cart (Gameshark, etc), or a BIOS swap to PAL or NTSC-U.
Those regions don't do the extra check, so for them, only a modchip is required.

We should really have this info in some sticky..

Thanks for your reply. What kind of boot disk that i need to run other region backups and original? Actually i don't have any boot disk. Can i burned the boot disk on CD-R? If yes, will my Japanese console read the burned boot disk correctly?

[likeabaus]

Yes you can just burn the boot disc and boot it with your modchip. There's a free homebrew boot disc called importgameplayer which works wonders. You can download it here: http://www.consolecopyworld.com/psx/psx ... otcd.shtml

Any of those versions should do the trick, although the BootReplay is meant for bypassing the PAL region check issue on problem models so that one probably won't help you....

[ady05113]

Yes you can just burn the boot disc and boot it with your modchip. There's a free homebrew boot disc called importgameplayer which works wonders. You can download it here: http://www.consolecopyworld.com/psx/psx ... otcd.shtml

Any of those versions should do the trick, although the BootReplay is meant for bypassing the PAL region check issue on problem models so that one probably won't help you....

I've downloaded and burned the importplayer light Japan version on my Verbatim CD-R, insert the disc, close the lid and turn on my modded console. The disc spins but it won't pass the white-orange Sony boot screen. It doesn't even go to memory card / cd player menu but stuck and freeze on the white boot screen. What should i do? I've test running my burned cd-r with ePSXe on PC and it runs good. ePSXe shows importplayer menu. That means the disc is correctly burned. But why it froze on my ps1 console? Any ideas? By the way backup CD-R of Japanese games works fine on my console.

[rama3]

There is either a subtle error in the image you downloaded or you made a mistake burning it to CD.
In any case, your PSX hangs while trying to parse the license data or the actual PSX executable.

[ady05113]

There is either a subtle error in the image you downloaded or you made a mistake burning it to CD.
In any case, your PSX hangs while trying to parse the license data or the actual PSX executable.

Would you suggest any other boot disk image other than importplayer that can guarantee working with Japanese console? Or maybe another link for a good image of importplayer?

[rama3]

I'm almost sure that these boot disks still have some sort of legal protection / copyright on them so nope, sorry.

You can look for a region patcher though. They patch the license data to any region you want. You could, for example, patch your bootdisk to Japan region and be sure that that part is okay. One such tool is called 'setregion' and it works well.

Of course this is all still a big hassle and I'd rather look for an expansion cart or even do a hardware mod and swap the BIOS.

[ady05113]

I'm almost sure that these boot disks still have some sort of legal protection / copyright on them so nope, sorry.

You can look for a region patcher though. They patch the license data to any region you want. You could, for example, patch your bootdisk to Japan region and be sure that that part is okay. One such tool is called 'setregion' and it works well.

Of course this is all still a big hassle and I'd rather look for an expansion cart or even do a hardware mod and swap the BIOS.

Finally i managed to run imports backups and original on my Japanese console. I've downloaded PS-X-Change Version 2.0 (USA) (Unl) patch the boot region from NTSC U to NTSC JP using 'Patch-It' and burned it to CD-R. So the only matter is every time i want to play games i need to do the swap tricks. But for me its not a problem as long as its working. Thanks for your help rama3

[likeabaus]

Ps-x-change works good too. If you decide to give import game player another go, I can make an image of mine and patch it to NTSC-J and upload it somewhere. It's free software, so I have no issue with that. Ps-x-change was a commercial product (I have an original lol) but so can't link to that, but the other is fair game..

[ady05113]

Ps-x-change works good too. If you decide to give import game player another go, I can make an image of mine and patch it to NTSC-J and upload it somewhere. It's free software, so I have no issue with that. Ps-x-change was a commercial product (I have an original lol) but so can't link to that, but the other is fair game..

Hey, you can share the image if you like. And i think this should be sticky on somewhere. 'How to run imports backups and original on modded Japanese PS1' . LOL