Well, what I want to do is add some cheatcodes to my games on my external HDD. Specifically, We Love Katamari, PAL version. I have Swap Magic 3.8 CODER, I have an Action Replay MAX, I have a Gameshark, and I have a code breaker. I can use any of those to do it. I tried using CODER to set the cheats, and then boot Swap Magic 3.6, so I could load the SMBOOT1.elf(usbadv.). It didn't work and went to a black screen. I'm assuming this might have something to do with the mastercode, because the disc isn't really Katamari. Its swap magic.
So I guess what I'm asking is...Does Swap Magic have a mastercode, and how could I use this to get my cheats to work with the games on my External Hard Drive.
I'm also interested in getting cheats to work with USBAdvance HDD. I've found a lot of info about getting it to work on IDE PS2 drives but nothing really for USB. The closest thing I've found is here at:
This link tells you how to modify an ISO so it has the cheats on it. Then you should be able to copy it to the USB drive and use it. I didn't read the whole thing because it seems just too complicated. However, since you are really interested in just one particular game, you may want to give it a shot.
It seems Swap Magic 3.6 and 3.8 do not behave well (i.e. work with) other cheat game coders. This may have been done intentionally to insure you buy 3.8 for all your cheat code needs. Swap Magic's own website says it is compatible with GameShark but I have found it not to be true for my new slim PS2 77001 and Swap Magic 3.6. If I just use the original game with GameShark, everything works fine. Everything also works with just Swap Magic and a game backup (without GameShark).
Others on this site have discovered that SM 3.6/3.8 will work with CodeBreaker V7 if you boot into SM 3.3 first. Here is the link that talks about it:
I think the first step is to insure a game will work with cheats as an original, then as a backup CD/DVD and then finally to see if it will work on a USB HDD. I, of course, didn't do this and spent weeks just trying to get the cheat code to work with the USB before I stepped back did the above logical testing of the cheat code (i.e. first the original, then a backup and then the USB).
Googlr, as to your question if Swap Magic has a mastercode. I assume you mean the part of the code that must always be activated for any of the cheats to work. I think I can answer that but take it (and anything else I say) with that proverbial grain of salt. I am truly a newbie to both PS2 and gaming in general. My last game console was a Commodore 64. Everything I write is stuff I've learned over the last few weeks from other people. With that said, here is what I've learned.
Mastercodes are part of encryption methods for game codes. A game code writes/overwrites a specific PS2 memory address to achieve a result. So no matter who does it (GameShark, CodeBreaker, ect) the actual decrypted code has to be the same for the same result (like infinite ammo). To protect the code from other companies using it, they encrypt it. The mastercode helps to decrypt it only for that particular companies code. So SM 3.6 has no codes and thus no mastercodes. SM 3.8 has coding and (I'll assume) mastercodes but they have no effect if you are using some other companies cheat/code software.
