------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Game Enhancer Plus FAQ Version 1.11 Wednesday, January 29, 2003 by Carlos Miranda NOTE: Please add ".com" after "philwebinc" and "hotmail". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER This FAQ is for private use only. Nobody cannot take or reproduce ANY part of this guide without explicit permission from the original author. You cannot sell it for cash, profitable or not. Publishing it in a magazine is not allowed, that's the reason it's used in the Internet, so it can be used internationally and easily revised. Neither is it used under your own name, or copy content from it directly. It also cannot be used in other sites without permission. ALL OTHER SIMILAR OFFENSES CAN BE CHARGED AGAINST YOU AND IS PUNISHABLE BY THE COPYRIGHT LAW. Exceptions: 1. Copying from this or ANY FAQ, mine or other's, indirectly, which means you can't copy it word for word, and of course you should provide credit. If you want to copy and paste, don't do it. If you want to use some information on this FAQ on your site, FAQ or whatever, ask me first. 2. Ask me to post your guide in your site. No alterations, HTML, banner ads, etc. unless I do it myself. Banner ads in a separate frame are allowed, however. 3. Give me money for the publication of the FAQ in magazines and credit me. ^_^ Anyway... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAQ STATUS: Complete Version: 1.11 Wednesday, January 29, 2003 Author: Carlos Miranda ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1 E-mail policy Part 2 Version history Part 3 Frequntly Asked Questions (FAQ) Part 4 The Game Enhancer Plus (Version 5.04) Part 5 Miscellaneous Part 6 Credits ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1 E-mail policy ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Read the entire FAQ before asking quesitons 2. Attached messages are NOT allowed. 3. Include the title of the guide (on top) in the subject field or message body. 4. As for Webmasters who want my FAQ, please ask. If I find out that you ripped me off I will ask for removal of guides and you cannot accept future guides from me. 5. I will delete offensive messages immediately. Sending in a good e-mail will quickly return with a reply. If I don't, just send the message again within one week of me not replying, to the backup address. Sometimes I'm out of town, or just plain busy, so don't send to the backup address unless I didn't reply for at least a week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2 Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.11 Wednesday, January 29, 2003 Reformatted to 79 characters per line. Corrected a few typos (that I noticed) Removed RAQ Re-wrote the e-mail policy, made it a LOT more brief. Re-wrote some answers and edited others, a bit cleaner now. Revised version numbers! (hahaha) A numbering error on my part caused a BIG version number jump from V.1 to V.3! Now V.3 is now V.1.1 and this version is V.1.11. Version 1.1 Tuesday, October 2 2001 New MISC INFO section. Game Enhancer + is ILLEGAL (gasp!!!) Version 1 Monday, January 08, 2001 Nothing important to say, just that I started it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 3 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For MAJOR concerns regarding the Game Enhancer Plus (Version 5.04), check this part. Common questions and concerns normally are found here. If you don't find it here, e-mail me, but check the e-mail policy first. The Enhancer FAQ is for the Game Enhancer Plus. Questions that go to the RAQ are only asked me by two to five people. After it has been asked by the 6th I'll move it here. ENHANCER FAQ Q. What is the Game Enhancer Plus? A. It is another version of the older Game Enhancer (as far as I know). If you don't own a Game Enhancer Plus but a Game Enhancer, check Devin Morgan's FAQ on GameFAQs This URL will take you to the page where the FAQs are. URL - Uniform Resouce Locator HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol The Game Enhancer Plus is a Gameshark compatible device. It can be used as a Gameshark, a memory card manager, and a CD Player or game cutscene player. Q. Does a Game Enhancer Plus support everything a Gameshark does? A. No, not exactly. I don't own a Gameshark, so see Dingo Jellybean's Gameshark Pro FAQ on the same URL above. Q. Does it support Xplorer and Xploder codes? A. No. I don't own it either. Check vgstrategies.about.com for details. Q. How does it work? A. That's easy. It knows certain values that you enter in the code, in Hexadecimal system. The code contains which value to override, and to how much. For example, 80013782 means EXP recieved in the game Final Fantasy 7, and FFFF to change it to 65535. Understand? It means it manually overrides certain values that you specify to be changed, and changes it to the value you specify. Q. How do I use the Game Enhancer? A. Just plug it in the parallel I/O port at the back of your Playstation. Q. There is no Parallel port. A. You have one of the 9000 series Playstations. To know which you have, you need to see the bottom of your PSX and see if your model no. is not SCPH-900X. There are ways to install a parallel port yourself, and parts are available online. This is a VERY risky procedure and requires electronic engineering skills, or at least you have to be handy with a soldering iron. I will not entertain any questions on how to do this or links to sites that sell these parts. Or, you may have a PSOne. If so, you are out of luck. Q. What do I do? A. There is a Gameshark CD, I don't know about it. Q. My game crashed. Is there something wrong with my device? A. No. You probably entered the wrong code, which means the value to change does not exist for the game, or the value to override is beyond the limit. For example, only 1923 is available and you enter FFFF. Q. I heard that you can hack codes for the Gameshark using the port at the back. Can this be used for the Game Enhancer? A. I don't know anything about hacking. See Gameshark FAQs. Q. Do you know how to use import games? A. No, not exactly. I haven't tried it, since my Playstation was already modified when I bought my Enhancer Plus. Q. Can I use Gameshark codes that only work for a certain version of the Gameshark on the Game Enhancer Plus? (E.g. G.S. 2.2 or higher) A. No, the Game Enhancer Plus is slightly different in that case. Even if you have the Game Enhancer Plus 5.04 it still won't work. Q. Do you cheat? A. Yes, mostly in RPGs. But I try to complete the game before I start playing around cheats with it. Q. What kind of games can you use the Enhancer? A. Any. Even if you bought yours in America you can use it in Asia or Europe, just make sure that the codes are for that version of the game. Q. Do you recommend a site for the codes? A. Yes, GSCCC http://www.cmgsccc.com. The Game Software Creators Club does not only host Gameshark/Action Replay/Enhancer codes but for other cheat devices as well. Q. I cannot find the code I want. Where do I go? A. Check other sites for Gameshark codes. Cheat Code Central http://www.cheatcc.com and http://cheatplanet.com are good sites to begin with. The only drawback is Cheat Planet is often out-of-date, and Cheat Code Central often has codes similar to GSCCC. OR http://vgstrategies.about.com has links to other Game Shark Sites. OR See user-created codes from guides in GameFAQs or some other site, most of them are more reliable. Q. With the "Normal Start" menu and the "Start game with cheat codes" menu, will "Start game with code" without choosing any game/code make any difference? A. Yes. If you try to start as "Normal Start", removing the Game Enhancer Plus will _not_ crash the game. If you start with codes, the Game Enhancer Plus will not have anything to override, but it will still control the game because all codes are controlled by the Game Enhancer. Q. (Special Thanks to Devin Morgan) The Enhancer says the memory card is unformatted. What is the solution? A. The answer is to remove the memory card and reinsert it. If in some case your memory card was dropped, or abused in any way the files got corrupted, this message will appear. If you just bought the memory card and it's just out of the box and you didn't use it yet, it needs formatting anyway. Q. There are "?" icons in my memory manager. What's the cause? One of my files are also missing. A. Some games like Megaman X4 and Pac Man World save in a way that only _very accurate_ memory card readers and the game itself can read the file format. Let's say for example, you have a Megaman X4 save that you want to copy. The solution is to use the game itself or the built-in memory manager of the Playstation. I noticed this when I played Rouge Trip my X4 save was missing, but it says "Megaman X4". I also noticed that when I played Chessmaster III it registered as "DAMAGED FILE". Q. My save got corrupted (Damaged) when I copied it to another memory card. A. There are several possibilities, namely: Your memory card is fake. You removed the memory card/controller while saving The manager isn't as accurate as the built-in manager of the Playstation. In that case remove the GE+ and use the built-in manager instead. Q. (Special thanks to Devin Morgan) Why is the Game Enhancer "Start Game" screen shorter than the normal PSX logo and SCE logo? (Original question by Devin Morgan "What's the difference between playing a regular game with the Game Enhancer plugged in or not?) A. Basically, the Playstation searches wether the disc is a game disc or a music CD. The game disk will take you to the Playstation logo, while a music CD will take you to the CD player. Q. My manual says somthing about a "Golden Finger" function. What's that? A. Some versions of the Game Enhancer Plus have a "Golden Finger" function built into it. After you turn the system on, a game "High Speed Golden Finger" will be selected automatically, even if it isn't in your Game Enhancer. So far, that's all I know about it. Q. I just recieved an error message (Japanese) that allow you to select "EL" or something. A. I don't understand Japaneese, but I think it means that the Game Enhancer is full. One time I over-cheated with too many codes, I got this message. Q. Where can you buy the Game Enhancer Plus? A. It's available in most game stores here in the Philippines, I don't know about other locations. Q. How much does it cost? A. It is available for 500 Pesos (Philippine money), or about $10 US. Q. Why is it, in my V-RAM image viewer, the screen does not show the last picture that was shown before I ended the game? A. There are several possibilities, namely 1. You did not reset the Playstation but turned it off. 2. You are viewing it at the wrong resolution, try using your shoulder (L1, L2, R1, R2) buttons to adjust it. Q. Why does my CD-ROM Player Plus show the CD-Player screen for a game? A. There are several possibilities, namely: 1. Your CD is dirty (most likely) 2. The Game Enhancer Plus does not recognise the CD you inserted. Q. Why does my game crash when I Start Game With Code +? A. If it is playable with the codes without the "+" sign (press select), the tendency of the game when you start it with code + is that the game may hang, or you can't turn it off. END OF FAQ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4 The Game Enhancer Plus Version 5.04 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new with the Game Enhancer Plus I don't know. I don't own a Game Enhancer. I _think_ it's that it has no built-in codes menu, so that you can edit freely. I'm not sure. I only know the Game Enhancer _PLUS_. Getting started Insert your Game Enhancer Plus in the Parallel I/O port of your Playstation. After that, turn on the system and instead of booting up the disc directly, the Playstation will start in a special menu that will allow you to choose six different functions. Here are they: Normal Start Start the game normally, like you would do without the Game Enhancer Plus. Start Game With Code/Start Game With Code + Starts the game with the selected codes. If the code does not work, try pressing select and Start Game With Code + will appear. This works for games like Metal Gear Solid, the version 1.0 codes will need this function. Note that selecting no game and using this menu will make a difference with normal start. Starting the game here will hang the game if the device is removed, while normal start will not. Select Cheat Codes Allows you to select a variety of built-in codes, and you are also able to delete/edit existing codes and make new ones. Memory Manager Conveniently manage memory card files here. Note that the built-in manager of the Playstation is more reliable. V-RAM Image Viewer This is a not-so-useful but interesting function. It will save the last image displayed when you _reset_ your Playstation. This is very useful if you need to read the copyright notice of the game. When it is displayed immediately reset your Playstation. CD-ROM Player Plus This function can either be a CD player or a movie viewer. If you want to view movies, the file format should match. If you still don't have the format you can press Triangle and search. END OF FUNCTIONS Inputting codes Choose new game or new code. Enter the _proper_ code and start the game with codes. If in any time you need to edit them press square. NOTE: Unless a code is really needed to be that way, you can combine the codes to one name for less space. The only drawback is that you can't turn them off one by one. END ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 5 Misc Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAME ENHANCER+ IS ILLEGAL! Yes! Here is what Chuck Cochem e-mailed me: "What?" I hear you say? It's true. The game Enhancer is illegal. And here's why. First there was the Pro Action Replay/Game Shark. WE all know what this is. It's a cheating and hacking device, with legitimate purposes. The "Pro" persion of the Gameshark, and most versions of the Pro Action Replay (PAR) have a port on the back for a PC interface. This can be used to transfer data to PC, and also to reflash the BIOS. Now some Japanese programmers who didn't want to fork out the 700$ worth of cash to buy a Yarouze came up with a clever idea. They realised that the gameshark pro was a lot cheaper, and could be reprogrammed to be a development device, with the help of the PC Comms Link, and coded a replacement BIOS from scratch. This added some nifty development features. However, one function was missing from it. the ability to actually play the game you developed and burned to CD-R, because it was too big to load directly to main memory through the Comms Link. So, the guy wrote a function in it to stop the motor after the boot code was read, so you could then, if you modified the door open sensor, safely swap an original with your burned new homebrew game for testing. And once it worked that way, you could then run the game on any modded playstation. All this is completely legal, as the Caetla tools were all legally developed. Now the Hong Kong people saw this product, and said "Hey! This function can also be used to boot pirate copies!" This doesn't in itself make Caetla illegal, because that is not it's primairy use. But, the pirates knew that the original Caetla wasn't very "usable" for the average pirate user. So they accquired a copy of this Caetla bios, and hacked it's code, violating the copyright of the Caetla BIOS owners. They translated the menus to English (legal), added and removed certain functions (illegal), and put in special code to auto-enable the swap function (HIGHLY illegal). And presto. we have a "Game Enhancer+"/"Game Wizard"/"PlugMod"/"External Mod Chip"/"Pro Action Replay" (many of the clones used the original device's name to lend them a false perception of legitimacy)/you name it. That is what the Game Enhancer is. A Hong Kong knock off of the Gameshark with an illegaly modified BIOS and a simplified import/backup playing function added. And because it is done by pirates, it is buggy, due to lack of quality assurance. Not only do they violate the DMCA, by being marketed as "external Mod Chips", but they ALSO infringe on the copyrights of the LEGIT Caetla BIOS author. There are only three legal BIOSes around for a GameShark/PAR that I am aware of. The Interact copyrighted GameShark BIOS, the Datel copyright Pro Action Replay BIOS, and the Caetla BIOS. All other's I've seen are illegal hacks of Caetla. Incidentally, some legitimate versions of the Game Shark Pro can be used to do a variation of the orginal, and safe, swap trick. You enter the Gamesharks CD menu, then swap discs after the motor stops. (of course, you must install a spring to hold the sensor down. So here's my advice to everyone. DO NOT buy any "Game Enhancers"! If you wish to cheat and hack, but not develop games, buy a Gameshark or legit Pro Action Replay (many hong kong clones claim to be A Pro Action Replay, but are not!). If you wish to do homebrew development, buy a game shark pro/PAR and PC COMMS Link/SharkLink, download the Caetla BIOS, flash your cheat device, learn Japanese, and start developing. If you wish to play imports and backups, either get a modchip (voids warranty, and is illegal) or a boot CD, although these are quite illegal too. The boot CD is particularly ingenious. SOme clever person managed to dupe the protected area of a playstation CD, and wrote a loader program which, like the Caetla BIOS/Game Enhancer, provides for a safe swap trick (one that stops the motor before you swap discs). IF you wish to remain legal, use the gameshark cd menu swap trick. I condone using mod chips an dboot CDs fr legitimate prposes, even if they are illegal, but I cannot condone the Game Enhancer, or any of the other Hong Kong clones of the Game Shark Pro. If you have a PsOne, you MUST use a boot CD or an internal modchip, unless you wish to try to perform a VERY risky swap trick with the Gameshark CDX. My opinion: I never really knew about this and I honestly only use my Game Enhancer+ for cheating and viewing movies. I am not writing this to force current GE+ users to spend cash on other legit devices, but rather, use them for legit purposes. Also, the next time you buy a cheat device, do not buy such. There are many variants of the GE+ like what Chuck said and there is also the "Code Card" as far as I know. I did find the GE+ to be VERY buggy, like the infamous memory card bug that will either not read the memory card, or reformat it, and many other bugs. The GE+ and it's variants are simply these cheat devices that have illegaly modified BIOSes which violate copyright. Either use them for legit purposes, or don't buy at all. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 6 Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chuck Cochems for the legality of the Game Enhancer. Devin Morgan for some of the questions and answers. CJayC and Al Amaloo for hosting my guide. Readers of this FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THANK YOU FOR READING!!!!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c Copyright 2001-2003 by Carlos Miranda