PS2 007 Nightfire/GTA Vice City /Tony Hawk 4 Problems

stevenrandall · #1 10-12-2002, 13:38

I own a Pioneer DVR A04 Dvd Burner and have been making successful backups of many PS2 DVD games for almost 6 months now. I recently made back ups of GTA Vice City and Tony Hawk 4, and 007 Nightfire. I was also successful in making these copies. I played James Bond, and in the fiirst level the game freezes about 5 mins into the game..As for Vice City..I have been playing this game for months now, and no problems..Just the other day I booted up and had no problems...Once the game starts and I start to walk around the city..It freezes up and says loading...Or I have also seen it say the GTA Vice City Disc is Damaged...The disk is not even scratched at all...As for Tony Hawk...I played the game a few times...Now it wont even load...Game is not scrathced at all also...I am using Apple DVD-R media...I know that is good media...Also..I am not sure what mod chip I have , it is old and I must use a real DVD game (Devil May Cry) along with the Gameshark to boot up my DVD-R backups...I am wondering if the laser on the PS2 is going bad r maybe the mod chip..But my CD-R backups play fine without a problem..Any light shed on these issues could be a huge help!! thanx

bighap · #2 10-12-2002, 13:46

You probably have a neo chip. That is causing the problems. Neo chips eat up your laser over time. It's a crap mod. The dvd laser is always the first to go because it is much more sensitive than the laser that reads cd-r. You are probably going to need to get a new ps2 and a better mod unless you want to kill your new ps2 as well.

stevenrandall · #3 10-12-2002, 14:02

Hey Bighap...So how long do you think I have until it completely goes...and Do u have any suggestions on where I couold go to get a new already moded PS2...Which chip is the best? I would really like it, if I didnt have to do swap tricks anymore....also..I am noticing that these few games that have problems are the larger DVD PS2 games that I am making back ups of...Does this have anything to do with it...And do you think a DVD lens cleaner would help...I havent got one yet, Bu thought I would give it a try..to see if it may help...Suggestions?>

stevenrandall · #4 10-12-2002, 14:54

Can anyone shed any light on this subject...It could be that my laser is going...But why does it work fine on all other of my PS2 DVD backups...as well as my original PS2 DVD games?

BG · #5 10-12-2002, 16:26

I would try a cleaning disc FIRST (Cheap and may help)

Then I would suspect the laser...... CD backups and original PS2 games will most likely load perfectly, because they are easier to read than dvd-r backups....
It is possible, that you could have gotten a BAD batch of Apple media (It happens sometimes

)

stevenrandall · #6 10-12-2002, 16:54

Hey BG...ANy clue if it is the laser how long it will still work for...If it was a bad batch of DVD-R's , they probably wouldnt burn correctly or even load...The fact that the games are loading and then freezing mid game has me worried that its the lazer...But other games work just fine that are DVD-R that I have backed up...So thats why I posed the question wether or not the size of the game had anything to do with my problem...I have heard of some people having freezing issues with GTA Vice City, their orginal copies...So maybe I copied one of those bad disks? ...Do u reccommend a certain dvd cleaner for the PS2?

BG · #7 10-12-2002, 18:38

Get one of the cleaning discs that has the little brushes on it... Doesn't matter what brand as long as it has the brushes....

As far as how long the laser will last..... No way to tell.... Could go out today, could last for a year..... Really no way to tell.... It will eventually get worse, and more and more games won't load...

stevenrandall · #8 10-12-2002, 22:46

i bought a cleaner...is there one for the cd and one for the dvd,,,bc i just looked and it says cd...does it matter? it has the bruses on it...i didnt know if the ps2 had 2 lasers or something...maybe 1 for the dvd and 1 cd...that doesnt sound right though...let me know

orion731 · #9 11-12-2002, 00:10

There is only one laser in the PS2. The CD cleaner will work fine. I've had to clean my laser with a cleaner when my machine started acting up. There are different diodes in the laser to read the different types of discs. If I'm not mistaken, someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong. I do know however that there is only one laser. What you got should clean the laser good.

Just for the record I have backed-up up all three games you mentioned and they work fine. GTA: Vice city probably loads on the fly like GTA 3. Because of this you want to burn on quality media. The first time I backed-up GTA 3 it was on poor media and I had some of the problems you mentioned. Reburned it on good media and it works like a charm!

stevenrandall · #10 11-12-2002, 08:09

Well this saga contines...1st off...Orion...What is quality media...i thought apple brand DVD-R was one of the best? 2nd...I ran the clean disc...It only took a minute...I should have ran it again....ANyhow....After it cleaned the laser, I thought Id try the games I was having troubles with...Tony Hawk, worked like a charm with no problems..all good...Next I tried James Bond NIghtfire...Still same thing though...Game gets stuck right after I shoot the hanging piece of metal in the 1st level while you are sniping from the helicopter...I noticed someting though that I wasnt sure if it was right or not...But in that 1st level...Does anyone else get like commands and stuff on the right of the screen...I thought maybe that was for the effect...But it loooks almost like code of whats going on in the game ...So just need to know if anyone has this writing, and its down half the right side of the screen...Lastly...I tired GTA Vice City..Loaded fine and was playing for like 10 mins w/o problems...then all of a sudden, I can see buildings anymore and the backround isnt loading anymore...So in frustration I shut it off and tried NCAA football, that Ive never had problems with and it loaded very slowly...So, Should I clean it again..maybe a couple more times...or does it sound like im about to lose my laser? any help please

bighap · #11 11-12-2002, 09:29

It won't hurt to try cleaning a few more times. Give it a whirl and see how it goes.

stevenrandall · #12 11-12-2002, 09:48

I was just doing a little investigating...And was reading about all the troubles that people have had and are having with DVD-R media when backing up PS2 DVD games...I keep reading that Verbatim is a good brand...Maybe I should try Vice City and Nightfire with Verbatims..But I thought Apple DVD-R was pretty good..Im sure that Nightfire and GTA Vice CIty have large TOC's.......and im wondering if maybe APPLE BRAND DVD-R are not good for games with large TOC's????????????????.ANy input on Apple brand DVD-R's....or any input on the code like writing in the 1st level (sniper from helicopter) in Nightfire I talked about a couple of replies ago in this post????