Swap Magic is a specialized PlayStation 2 game disc used for tricking the console into reading non-retail or burned game discs,

homebrew software Homebrewing mainly refers to small-scale, non-commercial manufacture of a drink, typically beer. Homebrew or home brew may also refer to: Computing * Homebrew Computer Club * Homebrew (package manager), for macOS and Linux * Homebrew (video gam ...

, or games outside the console's

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. The software has existed since at least mid-2003, with several different versions of the disc having been developed. Swap Magic and its related mods, such as the Magic Switch and Swap Tool, which are used to allow the user to swap discs without the system being aware, are notable over other methods (such as a

modchip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray player ...

) due to the fact that they do not void the PS2's warranty.

Features

The Swap Magic disc allows the user to boot into software which allows the system to read discs that it would normally refuse because of the lack of a burst cutting area on discs that have been burned with an ordinary

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

drive, as opposed to regular retail discs which are stamped or pressed en masse. The user then removes the disc (after installing small modifications to prevent the system from detecting the drive being opened) and replaces it with another disc which can then be started. The software also allows other homebrew software to be run from a memory card or

USB flash drive Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A bro ...

. Swap Magic and most other non-

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

-made PlayStation 2 bootable discs use a method of "growing" and "splicing" stampers from original PlayStation 2 discs, a method of growing a stamper from an original game disc and joining a new stamper with the program data on to it; in essence, the resulting discs contain a portion of an original disc. Datel, the first company outside Sony to make a bootable PlayStation 2 disc, researched the protection and produced their own discs with protection in their on-site mastering facility.

IFPI

The

IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...

on a

can be found on the inner ring on the underside (data side) of the disc, before the start of data in the mirror part of the disc's hub. Most contain text specified at the time of mastering; this usually consists of the string "IFPI" followed by a code describing the mastering system used, then followed by a text product description, and finally a

bar code A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...

Development

Swap Magic v1 was released and is compatible with the v12 slim PS2. Swap Magic v2 was released after

had slightly changed the design of their console in the v13-15 models of the slim PS2, and Swap Magic v1 did not work with those models. Version 2 was widely criticized as it required the user to open the console and, therefore, voided the warranty. The company responded to this criticism by releasing Swap Magic v3, which did not require any opening of the console.

CODER

Swap Magic v3.8 (also known as CODER) was released, which adds the ability of loading

Action Replay Action Replay is the brand name of a cheating device (such as cheat cartridges) created by Datel. The Action Replay is available for many gaming systems including the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Portable, PlaySt ...

cheats into the booted game, as well as the ability to load an ELF file from usb or memory card. However, some users have complained that CODER has some compatibility issues as well as known bugs. For example, some games that work on v3.6 do not work with CODER. Consequently, v3.6 remains the most popular version of Swap Magic, though the ability to boot an ELF file allows for soft modding of the PS2.

References

{{PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2