Need help identifying problems with some of my PS2 games

[Ivotas]

Hey guys, this is kind of a weird question to ask without doing a little bit of explenation first. So I will first list examples of two PS2 games, where I've experienced specific problems with. After that, comes the actual question for feedback (plus explenation why this actually matters to me in the year 2023). With that out of the way, let me list the two games in question:

 

#1 - One Piece: Round the Land

I've cleared that game many times in the past and I was close to get 100% completion. However in my final run suddenly my game always died at the same place in the level. Iirc it froze rather than turning the console down. The more often I tried though, the earlier the problems start to occur up to a point where I couldn't even run the game well anymore. I thought that maybe my save file was corrupted so I tried booting the game up with a completely new memory card. But that didn't work either. Unfortunally I don't remember the full specifics anymore but I just know that I couldn't properly run the game anymore.

 

#2 - GTA San Andreas

This game became unplayable shortly before getting the 100% (I only never managed to pull off a Stoppie). When I tried booting up the game it didn't work properly. At first things kept disappearing from my "inventory" like me suddenly having less money and cars not being in the garage anymore. I never tried playing without a memory card though because I didn't want to start the game at 0 again. The important thing is, that the game became unplayable.

 

So now that I've explained the problems briefly, my actual question is, where exactly the problems might lie with those games. What I'm wondering about is if it is something save file or memory card specific or if it is deeper rooted problems with the game or the games disc itself. Or heck, maybe my PS2 console might be at fault. I'm really just interested to find out where the problems might lie, so that I could avoid encountering them again.

 

That's right, because after literal decades I plan to once again go for 100% in those games, using new memery cards and a different PS2. However I'm worried about encountering the same problems. What if neither console nor memory cards/save files were the problem but the actual games (discs)? Wouldn't I then just be inviting the same issues to occur again? That's why I'd be grateful to hear any feedback on that matter.

[diskdocx]

My immediate thought would be disc rot. If possible, try to get another copy of the game. Not sure about One Piece, but I would, assume GTA would be relatively inexpensive. I suppose your laser failing could also be an option, but I would think that would impact most games. I don’t think memory card is likely an issue based on how saves worked back on those consoles.

[Ivotas]

57 minutes ago, diskdocx said:

My immediate thought would be disc rot. If possible, try to get another copy of the game. Not sure about One Piece, but I would, assume GTA would be relatively inexpensive. I suppose your laser failing could also be an option, but I would think that would impact most games. I don’t think memory card is likely an issue based on how saves worked back on those consoles.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Didn't even know something like disc rot is even a thing. Is it something visible or can it even happen while being invisible to the naked eye? I guess going for another copy with San Andreas wouldn't be a bad idea then.^^

[Terra]

DVDs and CDS dont really have that long of a lifespan. Where did you store it? Improperly stored DVDs/CDs can quickly read to degredation

[Ivotas]

1 hour ago, Terra said:

DVDs and CDS dont really have that long of a lifespan. Where did you store it? Improperly stored DVDs/CDs can quickly read to degredation

 

I stored them inside their cases. Also what I've discribed above is something that happened within the first year after I've purchased the games. The problems happened back then already. Right now I would just tackle some unfinished business and go for the 100%.

[Terra]

Your best bet would be than to buy new discs. Hopefully you won’t run into the same issues again

[Ivotas]

33 minutes ago, Terra said:

Your best bet would be than to buy new discs. Hopefully you won’t run into the same issues again

 

I see. Thanks for the feedback.^^

[diskdocx]

9 hours ago, Ivotas said:

 

Thanks for the feedback. Didn't even know something like disc rot is even a thing. Is it something visible or can it even happen while being invisible to the naked eye? I guess going for another copy with San Andreas wouldn't be a bad idea then.^^

There is controversy over the prevalence of disc rot, but by all accounts it seems to be a real thing - likely not common. More of a risk for CDs than DVDs and blurays. And the older the media, the higher the risk becomes. Still, I would think it would only impact a very tiny number of discs. Scratches are more likely to be an issue, as laser read correction was definitely not as good on older system.

2 hours ago, Ivotas said:

 

I stored them inside their cases. Also what I've discribed above is something that happened within the first year after I've purchased the games. The problems happened back then already. Right now I would just tackle some unfinished business and go for the 100%.

If it happened that soon after purchase, disc rot is less likely - did the discs ever work? Could they just be defective? I have one PS3 game that is in pristine condition, but just won't read. Manufacturing error I assume, as I bought another copy of the game and it is fine.

[Ivotas]

59 minutes ago, diskdocx said:

There is controversy over the prevalence of disc rot, but by all accounts it seems to be a real thing - likely not common. More of a risk for CDs than DVDs and blurays. And the older the media, the higher the risk becomes. Still, I would think it would only impact a very tiny number of discs. Scratches are more likely to be an issue, as laser read correction was definitely not as good on older system.

 

Well, neither of the games I've listed above have scratches on the discs. Which is why I started this thread as I really couldn't identify where the issues are.

 

59 minutes ago, diskdocx said:

If it happened that soon after purchase, disc rot is less likely - did the discs ever work? Could they just be defective? I have one PS3 game that is in pristine condition, but just won't read. Manufacturing error I assume, as I bought another copy of the game and it is fine.

 

Yep, both games worked in fact. For One Piece Round the Land I was actually clearing the game with all 7 characters one time and I was far into my second playthrough to get the 100% when it desided to not work anymore. And as far as San Andreas is concerned, as I said, the only thing left for me to get 100% completion was to do a Stoppie with the Motorbike trials. I've played the game to hell and back and it worked perfectly until suddenly it didn't anymore.

[diskdocx]

2 hours ago, Ivotas said:

 

Well, neither of the games I've listed above have scratches on the discs. Which is why I started this thread as I really couldn't identify where the issues are.

 

 

Yep, both games worked in fact. For One Piece Round the Land I was actually clearing the game with all 7 characters one time and I was far into my second playthrough to get the 100% when it desided to not work anymore. And as far as San Andreas is concerned, as I said, the only thing left for me to get 100% completion was to do a Stoppie with the Motorbike trials. I've played the game to hell and back and it worked perfectly until suddenly it didn't anymore.

May be worth trying to clean the system, specifically the optical drive. You may just have a bit of debris on the laser in a bad spot. Compressed air is probably a cheap first step, otherwise opening it up and having a look.

[Viper]

14 hours ago, Ivotas said:

 

Thanks for the feedback. Didn't even know something like disc rot is even a thing. Is it something visible or can it even happen while being invisible to the naked eye? I guess going for another copy with San Andreas wouldn't be a bad idea then.^^

It can be invisible during the very early stages (and still affect the disc). But one way to detect disc rot, is to hold the disc up to a strong light source (natural light is best) and see if you can see any super tiny, pin sized, holes of light coming through the data layer of the disc. If so, that's disc rot and it's irreversible. More extreme cases of disc rot will actually be visible, it'll look almost like mold is growing on your disc. 

[Ivotas]

12 hours ago, diskdocx said:

May be worth trying to clean the system, specifically the optical drive. You may just have a bit of debris on the laser in a bad spot. Compressed air is probably a cheap first step, otherwise opening it up and having a look.

 

Thanks for the feedback. At least that's something that I will be able to avoid for now as I have to get a different system where I live at the moment. But it's good to know that it might be problems with the system as that would mean that I could be lucky with the new console I get.

 

11 hours ago, Viper said:

It can be invisible during the very early stages (and still affect the disc). But one way to detect disc rot, is to hold the disc up to a strong light source (natural light is best) and see if you can see any super tiny, pin sized, holes of light coming through the data layer of the disc. If so, that's disc rot and it's irreversible. More extreme cases of disc rot will actually be visible, it'll look almost like mold is growing on your disc. 

 

Welp, just tried to look at things that way and couldn't see anything. And the dics is now about 20 years old. Funnily enough I noticed for the first time that the PS logo is imprinted on the back side of the disc and not just once.😅

[diskdocx]

19 hours ago, Ivotas said:

 

Thanks for the feedback. At least that's something that I will be able to avoid for now as I have to get a different system where I live at the moment. But it's good to know that it might be problems with the system as that would mean that I could be lucky with the new console I get.

 

 

Welp, just tried to look at things that way and couldn't see anything. And the dics is now about 20 years old. Funnily enough I noticed for the first time that the PS logo is imprinted on the back side of the disc and not just once.😅

Please post back with an update using the new console. Be very interested if it was the drive all along.

[Ivotas]

5 hours ago, diskdocx said:

Please post back with an update using the new console. Be very interested if it was the drive all along.

 

Can do but will take me a while as I would have to get a modded one first, as I moved and the consoles here are not the same region as the games anymore. X'D

[Jeanolt]

I had a game where the game glitched so specifically that you were trapped at some point in the game. I couldn't enter a shop and, since a mission required me to go into that shop, the game started to glitch and eventually crashed everytime. It's similar to what's happening with your One Piece, I mean there's an specific place where the game can't run and it crash. 

 

I wasn't able to solve my problem so sadly I think your best bet is buying a new disc while you still can, in the case of GTA you could buy from a only-disc seller if you have the case.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Jeanolt

[Z1MZUM]

My collection suffers allot of disc rot and to be specific it is PS3 games, Literally only PS3 games and it is a real pain in the butt. 

 

Now for you I would say what many others have said an that would be to get another disc. I myself would go one step further and have a HDD installed or play games from an SD card in the memory slot.

[Ivotas]

On 9/12/2023 at 3:49 PM, Jeanolt said:

I had a game where the game glitched so specifically that you were trapped at some point in the game. I couldn't enter a shop and, since a mission required me to go into that shop, the game started to glitch and eventually crashed everytime. It's similar to what's happening with your One Piece, I mean there's an specific place where the game can't run and it crash. 

 

I wasn't able to solve my problem so sadly I think your best bet is buying a new disc while you still can, in the case of GTA you could buy from a only-disc seller if you have the case.

 

That's actually a great suggestion with the just disc-seller stuff. As I have the case at booklet from back in the day. Though, I just recently found out that my German version is actually censored, so now I will have to get US versions of all the PS2 GTA games because I never knew about the censorship. Sure, the disc might not match the cover but the US versions are for more expensive than the German versions so your suggestion definitely is something that will help me out here.^^

 

On 9/12/2023 at 6:23 PM, Z1MZUM said:

My collection suffers allot of disc rot and to be specific it is PS3 games, Literally only PS3 games and it is a real pain in the butt. 

 

Now for you I would say what many others have said an that would be to get another disc. I myself would go one step further and have a HDD installed or play games from an SD card in the memory slot.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. It's just that all those approaches that involve HDDs, SD cards and Free McBoots just seem like a lot more hassle that I would actually like. I just want to put insert my game into the disc drive and be done with it. I know it sounds picky but that's one of the reasons why I'm a console gamer for decades now. Everything else that requires me to set things up to make games run properly I really hate.

[Z1MZUM]

On 9/16/2023 at 1:18 AM, Ivotas said:

Thanks for the suggestion. It's just that all those approaches that involve HDDs, SD cards and Free McBoots just seem like a lot more hassle that I would actually like. I just want to put insert my game into the disc drive and be done with it. I know it sounds picky but that's one of the reasons why I'm a console gamer for decades now. Everything else that requires me to set things up to make games run properly I really hate.

 

I understand completely what you are saying here and frankly the only reason I went the HDD way was due to the fact that it was already installed. I still have my PS2 collection though my actual PS2 is the Japanese console and back then it wasn't region free. So I also use disc but only for Japanese releases, HDD for PAL/NTSC.

[Ivotas]

16 hours ago, Z1MZUM said:

 

I understand completely what you are saying here and frankly the only reason I went the HDD way was due to the fact that it was already installed. I still have my PS2 collection though my actual PS2 is the Japanese console and back then it wasn't region free. So I also use disc but only for Japanese releases, HDD for PAL/NTSC.

 

I see. But sorry, if I made you feel like explaining yourself before me. I wasn't chastizing you or anything, because I objectively thing that all those approaches are fine. Just on a subjective level I meant that I prefer using the direct approach of insert disc and play.

 

That being said, if all my attemps fail to play my preferred way, then I will use the methods I've been avoiding so far.

[Z1MZUM]

6 hours ago, Ivotas said:

 

I see. But sorry, if I made you feel like explaining yourself before me. I wasn't chastizing you or anything, because I objectively thing that all those approaches are fine. Just on a subjective level I meant that I prefer using the direct approach of insert disc and play.

 

That being said, if all my attemps fail to play my preferred way, then I will use the methods I've been avoiding so far.

 

The region free factor is so annoying for me, I am truly a disc man like yourself and I have been lucky. What I need is a working action replay with a dongle to play discs and they are hard to find. But I love my JP console, I got the white limited edition GT version and can't let go of it. My games I go back to and love to much are RAD Robot Alchemic drive and the SMT games, luckily they all still work.

 

It's incredible what can happen to a disc even when it's just sitting there, I've repurchased close to 10 ps3 disc recently because of this.

[Ivotas]

1 hour ago, Z1MZUM said:

 

The region free factor is so annoying for me, I am truly a disc man like yourself and I have been lucky. What I need is a working action replay with a dongle to play discs and they are hard to find. But I love my JP console, I got the white limited edition GT version and can't let go of it. My games I go back to and love to much are RAD Robot Alchemic drive and the SMT games, luckily they all still work.

 

Lol, the new PS2 that I will have to get my hands on will have to be a Japanese console too, as my German console can't get a signal on a Japanese TV.😅 If everything goes as desired I should be able to get the console I desire in a little more than a month.

 

1 hour ago, Z1MZUM said:

It's incredible what can happen to a disc even when it's just sitting there, I've repurchased close to 10 ps3 disc recently because of this.

 

Yeah, it's actually scary the more I think about it. The more I listen to what you guys are saying, the more I think that I should at least go through the trouble to get the games on an external HDD just as a back up so the games don't get lost. No matter how I personally feel about that inconcenience, losing something I own because of rot would suck. Esoecially if it could be prevented.🤔