Would you like to install some old PlayStation 1 titles on the new PS Classic but don’t know which procedure to follow? We at TechKhiladi have decided to create a dedicated guide where we explain how to modify PlayStation Classic and install PS1 games.
How to modify the PlayStation Classic and install the PS1 games: first method
To modify the PlayStation Classic and subsequently install the PlayStation 1 games, it is necessary to download a software called gpghax that contains within it a series of folders that are used to correctly set the custom database of the games, as well as modify the console and to add new titles.
So, to download gpghax, open the default browser on your computer, connect to the official project page on the GitHub website, click on the Clone or download button and choose Download ZIP from the small window that appears to download a zip archive. Once the download is complete, use a special software to extract the content on the desktop or in an easily available folder. You will have 3 folders in front of you: 028c18a9-ec4b-4632-b2cf-d4e20f252e8f, databases and lolhack.
The first of the two methods available for adding new games to PlayStation Classic is to replace 3 simple files. Connect a USB stick to one of your computer’s USB ports and copy the contents of the PS1 game archive onto it.
Once this is done, it is necessary to change the name of the SONY pendrive ( all caps ). If you have a computer with Windows, press the yellow folder icon to open the File Explorer and then click on This PC/Computer using the left sidebar. At this point, take the Devices and Units section as a reference and right-click on the USB stick icon in question and choose Properties from the menu that appears. Now, to change the name of the unit, locate the text field and replace the default one with SONY. Confirm the change by first pressing Apply and then OK.
If you have a Mac, instead, make a right click on the driver icon on the desktop and choose Information on pendrive name. At this point, identify the Name and extension section, change the name to SONY and confirm the changes by pressing the appropriate button.
Once this is done, disconnect the USB stick from your computer, insert it into the PlayStation Classic USB 2 port and start the latter by pressing the appropriate button. Through the screen you should find an additional title called Custom Game which is the game you entered.
How to modify the PlayStation Classic and install the PS1 games: second method
The second method is equally simple to follow since it requires the use of software that allows you to add games without touching the original console files in any way: its name is BleemSync. In addition to this program, you need to have a USB stick formatted in FAT32 and renamed in SONY, the bin and cue files of the PlayStation 1 game and a PNG format image with a resolution of 226 × 226 pixels to set as the game’s boxart.
To change the name of the pendrive, just follow the instructions provided in the previous lines. To format a pendrive in FAT32, on Windows, all you need to do is access the folder This PC/Computer, right-click on the USB stick icon and select Format … from the menu that appears. Through the window shown, press on the File system drop-down menu, choose FAT32 from the displayed menu and click on Start to start the formatting procedure. Naturally, this operation will completely eliminate all the files present on it, so make a backup if necessary before proceeding.
On Mac, instead, it is necessary to use the Disk Utility which is available as standard on macOS. So, click on the Go menu at the top and choose Disk Utility from the menu that appears. Through the window shown, select the name of the pendrive via the left sidebar and then press the Format button at the top. At this point, through the Format drop-down menu, choose the MS-DOS file system (FAT) and proceed with formatting by pressing Format.
To find the PNG image of 226 × 226 pixels, we suggest you search Google. So, log on to the site to Google Images, type the name of the game in question followed by the word PNG, and then set the exact resolution 226 × 226 pixels by first clicking on Tools present at the top and then choosing the exact dimensions from appearing menu when you press on Dimensions. Through the window shown, fill in the Width and Height fields and press Go to view the results. Self Google Images does not return anything to you, you can download a standard image and change the format and resolution using the appropriate programs.
Finally, download the BleemSync program from the download page on the GitHub site by clicking BleemSync-xxx-win7-x86.zip if you have Windows, BleemSync-xxx-osx-x64.zip if you have macOS or BleemSync-xxx-linux-x64.zip if you have Linux.
Now you are finally ready to move on to the actual procedure. Follow the steps below carefully:
- Connect the pendrive to your computer and extract the contents of the BleemSync zip archive on it using a special program (eg RAR ).
- At this point, locate the Games folder (if it is not there, create it) and then create subfolders related to the games you wish to enter by renaming them with progressive numbers (eg 1, 2, 3 and so on).
- Now, inside each sub-folder you will have to create an additional folder called GameData which will contain the files pcsx.cfg, Game.ini, GAME_ID.bin, GAME_ID.cue, GAME_ID.lic and GAME_ID.png.
- At this point, it is necessary to modify the Game.ini file using a simple text editor (like those integrated in Windows and macOS ) in this way: [Game], Discs: GAME_ID (eg SLUS-0XXXX), Title: Title of the game (eg Metal Gear Solid), Publisher: Distributor of the game (eg Konami), Players: Number of players and Year: Year of release. If you are going to insert dumb-disk games, you need to copy the bin and cue files of each individual disk to the same game folder and enter the individual GAMED_IDs corresponding to the Discs entry in the Game.ini file, separated by a comma without space (eg SLUS-0XXXX, SLUS-0XXXX ).
- Once the configuration has been completed correctly, start the BleemSync program (by double-clicking on the exe file you find in the BleemSync folder ) and wait a few seconds.
- Now, a new folder called System will automatically appear in the one where the BleemSync folder is present. Inside you will find the database ready and a script to enter the titles of the PlayStation 1.
- So plug the USB stick into the PlayStation Classic and start it. In the main menu you should see the titles entered manually.