Recently bought a fat PS2 in really good condition, the only problem is the lasers dying, should I return it or try to fix it? On the one hand, you could emulate all of the games, but on the other other hand, the PS2 is almost in brand new condition, like it was just sitting in someone's closet for years collecting dust. Need it or keep it?
>>12471949So you bought something half broken and now you're asking us what to do with it? I had 3 PS2s die on me, they were built like shit. Best case scenario what do you hope to get out of fixing it when you know you can just emulate whatever games you want to play?
>emulateUse opl you fucking retard
>>12471949MMCE is a simple and cheap solution.
>>12471949There is no reason to use a PS2's disc drive in 2026
>it's in really good condition except that it's broken
>>12471971The outward appearance along with the controls look almost brand new is what I meant >>12471956That's why I'm wondering if fixing it is worth it..
>>12471982>That's why I'm wondering if fixing it is worth it..15 years ago I would say no. Now I say just jump off a cliff and do the earth a favour.
Softmod it and buy a PATA HDD. Don't get a used HDD.
>>12471990Why are you on the retro board if you don't like retro consoles?
>>12471996There's zero reason to get a hard drive at all. Buy a SATA adapter and a 3.5" to 2.5" adapter and put an SSD in it. Like ten bucks total from AliExpress.
>>12471998I like retro games.
Meh, honestly it's a waste of time and money. As the other anon said, the PS2 was kind of a shitty console, I've gone through like 4 of them and by the 4th one, I just gave up trying to continue maintaining them and decided it was easier to just emulate the games on my modded PS3. Aesthetically, it looks cool and it's a major nostalgia factor for me, but in the end, I decided enough was enough.
>>12471949add a harddrive and softmod it
>>12471998If you know you can emulate the games just fine and you know the hardware is shitty and pron to breaking even when new then what the fuck is the point if any of this? Why the fuck would you want to play it on the original badly made hardware? Do you think it will get you closer to some experience you never had? Do you think if you play the games emulated then you didn’t really play them? More to the point why can't you just make that decision yourself?
mod it with freemcboot/opl. No need for laser. Super easy to do
>>12472023I have a launch PS2 I bought in 2001. It works to this day optic drive and all. What are you people doing with your systems? You guys live on swamps or something?
>>12472174Post it
>>12472165This
"Mod" it enough to get freemcboot onto a memcard, use the pcsx2 bios dumper (elf version) to dump its bios for the pcsx2 emulator, then shove the fat fucker (affectionate) into a box, then into a dark corner somewhere and never use it ever againits what I did. Most of my ps2 games were imgburn'd to my desktop, and i gave the physical discs away, so i have no reason to actionablly use/keep the console beyond a possible need to redump the bios, and souping it up via an HD video output hardware mod or whatever is too expensive these days, better to take the cheaper route
>>12471949Actual answer here. Do you want to play PS1 games? You only need the laser for disc-swapping with ulaunch elf. other than that just use opl with either a NAS, mx4sio, or a hard drive for your phat model
>>12473326I hope you did that shit like 20 years ago and not recently, considering you can get all that with a google search
Why are so many suggesting "just emulate bro" on /vr/ of all places?
>>12473665If you paid attention, most people in this thread are saying to bypass the optical drive due to them inevitably failing. You're simply loading the data from a drive instead of a disc. They're still using the original hardware.
>>12473474
>>12473682>Just put hundreds of games on a HDD instead of playing a handful of cherry picked game discs you will actually play.>>12471967
>>12471949Just use a hard drive
>>12473828This may surprise you, anon, but you can cherry pick what games you put on a hard drive, as well. Or even practice self restraint and stick with what you start.The post you referred to said there's no reason to use the disc drive, which I agreed with. Disc. With a C. The optical drive. Do you know the difference?
>>12473828>Just put hundreds of games on a HDD instead of playing a handful of cherry picked game discs you will actually play.Correct. Am I gonna play any of the ATV games? Prolly not. Still got all of them.
>>12471949I also have one and mine has a functioning laser, it's just a bit finnicky with PS1 games. I want to switch to OPL in the future but I don't like that the only option for playing PS1 games on an HDD is through flawed emulation (POPstation).
>>12473828To your credit you CAN overwhelm yourself with choices, but the PS2 had about as much jank as the PS1.
I guarantee a few dabs of alcohol on the laser will fix it. You just have to open it up and do it, extremely easy.Or you could jump through even more hoops to get a "good" emulator setup, which, disgustingly, is going to run on your fucking PC. This is probably the best option for you, and you should give away the console for free to someone who cares
>>12473682Yes, and I'd guess OP is like me who wants to use the actual disc.
>>12471949>I bought something that doesn't work>should I return it?
>>12472002This OP.Might be more expensive than $10, but if the laser doesn't work these are your options:>clean the laser>replace the laser>buy a third party sata adapter and an HDD>play games from HDD using Free MCBoot or Free HDBootThis guide is really good for setting up a HDDhttps://www.psx-place.com/threads/tutorial-the-great-ps2-aio-guide.30219/
>>12471959Plays slow as shit.
