Softmodding Your PlayStation 1 In 2026: The Complete Tonyhax International Guide For Beginners

The original PlayStation was long synonymous with a chip soldered to the motherboard. Not any more: Tonyhax International, developed by alex-free from the original Tonyhax, bypasses the console's protection entirely in software. Once running, it unlocks the drive for the length of a session, allowing discs from other regions, backup copies and homebrew, without a single hardware modification.

⚠️ Check the state of your drive first. This guide reflects the situation on 31 August 2026: the current release is Tonyhax International 1.6.3, published on 12 April 2026. The software covers every PS1 model from SCPH-1000 to SCPH-103, plus early PS2s up to SCPH-39004, across all regions including Japan. That said, nothing replaces a worn laser: on a console already struggling to read its own original games, none of these methods will give a reliable result.

Six entry points, one destination

Tonyhax International offers six ways in, and the right choice depends on what you own. The most accessible for a beginner is the burned boot CD: burn the supplied image to a CD-R, run it, it unlocks the drive, you swap the disc. Simple, no exotic hardware, but it assumes your drive still accepts CD-Rs, which later models handle less well. Next comes the FreePSXBoot memory card exploit, the most elegant method: a booby-trapped memory card the console loads at startup, with no disc at all. It requires a way to write to a PS1 memory card from a PC, typically an Arduino-based MemCARDuino build or a commercial reader. The four remaining routes go through a game save exploit (same principle, but the exploit lives in the save of a game you own), a cheat cartridge such as a reflashed GameShark, GameShark codes entered by hand, or a game patch via TOCPerfect.

Steps for the boot CD method

1. Head to the official releases page and grab the Tonyhax International 1.6.3 archive.

2. In the archive, find the disc image meant for burning and open it with software that burns raw images, such as ImgBurn.

3. Burn to a good quality CD-R at the lowest speed your drive offers: that is the single factor that makes the most difference to whether an ageing drive can read the disc.

4. Power the console with the burned CD inserted: Tonyhax launches and shows its menu.

5. Pick the drive unlock option, then follow the on-screen disc swap procedure at the moment indicated.

6. The console now reads your disc: the unlock lasts until power-off, and the operation has to be repeated at every startup.

Steps for the FreePSXBoot method

1. On the project's official site, identify the FreePSXBoot image matching your console model exactly: every BIOS revision has its own, and picking the wrong file simply does nothing.

2. Write that image to a PS1 memory card from your computer, using a MemCARDuino or a compatible memory card reader.

3. Insert the card into memory port 1 with no disc in the drive.

4. Power on the console: Tonyhax boots straight from the card, no CD involved.

5. Continue as above with the drive unlock and the disc swap.

Important warnings

The hot disc swap, inherited from the old swap trick, happens on a powered console: follow the on-screen timing to the letter and never force the tray. On top-loading models the operation is straightforward; on the others it means defeating the lid sensor, a manipulation that wears the mechanism over time. Tonyhax changes nothing permanent on your console and vanishes at power-off, which makes it one of the least risky methods in all of retrogaming. As always, the game images you burn must come from your own discs: RetroVault endorses no other source.

Source: Tonyhax International