Airikita Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Like a mad scientist: Alas, it was already borked, and modding it to be region-free gave me unsatisfactory results. It was found with trash from my uncle... possibly the dump, or at some location during his work. It was so crisp and clean, I was hoping it would work. I ended up with white lines on my screen trying to play Pokemon Stadium 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airikita Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Update: it seems as though I have the wrong PAL that this supposedly works on... the PAL N64 system modded was a Japanese PAL system, while this one is a UK PAL system... There are region converter cartridges to allow other games to run on other consoles, and I'm guessing the Japanese N64 is the only one that can be easily modded without the need of this special cartridge. If anyone has some ideas or insights on this, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airikita Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 MMMMMMM, dirty little... ------------------------------------------------------ NUS-CPU(P)-03-1 (2000) Australian Notes:- So far there is only one report of this revision from Australia, and it is not known if it was ever used in Europe. This revision uses the 'indented' heatsink like the NTSC NUS-CPU-09 revision. Some small differences noted between this revision and the NUS-CPU(P)-02. One key difference are missing SMD components for S-Video output, meaning this revision does not support S-Video as standard (Really cheap Ninty) The missing components can be seen on the NUS-CPU(P)-02 revision at locations DA7, DA8, C11 and C12 - these positions are no longer labelled on this revision. DA7 and DA8 are diode arrays used for ESD protection, and C11 and C12 are capacitors for EMI reduction. None of these components are strictly necessary for the S-Video output to work, but Nintendo also connected the Luma and Chroma signals directly to ground where C11/C12 used to be - this connection would need to be cut to restore S-Video output on this revision. This is probably the very last PAL revision. source: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=27684 Looking at the notes, my PAL version has an MAV-NUS RGB chip, whereas Japan/US NTSC chips are VDC-NUS for RGB. Looks like I'll need a converter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdaniel Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 All I know is that... Japan never used PAL, so there's no Japanese PAL systems. Regarding cross-region compatibility, NTSC systems only differ in the plastic tabs inside the cartridge slot (remove them to make any NTSC N64 play any NTSC games). While Japan and PAL regions have the same tab configuration, PAL games won't play in a Japanese system and vice versa because of the lockout chips. PAL systems cannot be made region free, IIRC unless you solder in both region's CIC chips - thus "destroying" one NTSC machine in the process - as well as a switch to select between them. Without the aforementioned "dual CIC", PAL N64s can only play NTSC games using an import adapter cartridge, ex. a N64 Passport Plus III. I personally have a PAL N64, a NTSC N64 with the tabs removed, so that it plays Japanese and US games without any adapters, and a Passport Plus III that I used for NTSC games before I got the matching system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Fire Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Japan never used PALAllow me to correct you. In actuality, a very small amount of Japan used a modified PAL structure, but NTSC was more widely used. The system utilised is similar to PAL games that give you the option of 50 or 60 Hz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdaniel Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Allow me to correct you. In actuality, a very small amount of Japan used a modified PAL structure, but NTSC was more widely used. The system utilised is similar to PAL games that give you the option of 50 or 60 Hz. Really? I'd actually be interested reading more about that, because all I could find in that regard, is that Japan's NTSC variation uses some signal levels or something from PAL, while everything else in the standard (color encoding, etc.) is pure NTSC. Well, channel frequencies differ from those in the US, too, but apparently that happens all over the world in many forms of broadcasting, like how the Japanese FM radio band ends roughly where ours starts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airikita Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 In my statement about the video showing a modified Japan console to play NTSC US games, it's quite possible it was NTSC, however the modification works on any N64 console. Nintendo's region-lock is a piece of plastic and the video format. Bleh. Although the whole PAL/NTSC was something already there to begin with. All the parts and components in this N64 are shiny and new-looking. Question: do you think it's possible to solder the RGB chip from the NTSC to the PAL motherboard? I'll verify the configurations, but the layout looks identical from first view... but eh, we're talking about the video output... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT: Not quite identical, this revision is very similar, but has 2 extra capacitors on the bridging to the video output: I also noticed some minor details different, such as the paths are more in some spots, and in different directions somewhat. This one is: NUS-CPU-09-1 (2000) USA/Japan Notes:- Another minor revision which is perhaps the last N64 motherboard revision. Appears to be almost identical to the NUS-CPU-09 including the indented heatsink and transparent green cartridge slot. So far this revision has only been found in the Limited Edition Gold N64's which were exclusive to Toys R Us and have serials starting with NS30*******. Source: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=27684 It also appears to have the MAV-NUS chip like the PAL N64 I have... not too much differences on it. From the looks of things, I have a pretty rare N64 on my hands here. -------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT 2: Without the aforementioned "dual CIC", PAL N64s can only play NTSC games using an import adapter cartridge, ex. a N64 Passport Plus III I know, I read into that part. I'll see what I can do with this for now since the parts in it are so crisp. ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT 3: I found a topic on modding an N64 to use PAL and NTSC modes... it's as simple as switching between two PIF-NUS chips: http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e36/DarthCloud/post-9-1075809366.gif PIF(P)-NUS is in the PAL console I currently have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airikita Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 BEHOLD, my temporary hybrid N64 creation: I used the extra screws from my old N64 to seal up the shell: Currently I just put in the 1996 NTSC motherboard from my old black console, but I have the Australian PAL N64 motherboard sitting out... I will have to de-solder the PIF(P)-NUS chip when I find time to do so. Good little test item to play around with. I find the metal casing around the old 1996 US NTSC N64 motherboard is more efficient where the case actually presses down the thermal paste cubes to the chips on the board... the PAL N64 has a cheaper case cover that doesn't make full contact with the thermal paste on the top shell (seen by the indents): I'll eventually make a hybrid version of the 2000 PAL N64 motherboard, but after the cleaning on my older one, seems to be working a lot better... looked like someone took a dump inside the black one I had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdaniel Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I found a topic on modding an N64 to use PAL and NTSC modes... it's as simple as switching between two PIF-NUS chips: http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e36/DarthCloud/post-9-1075809366.gif PIF(P)-NUS is in the PAL console I currently have. If you're interested in trying that eventually, here's a clearer diagram w/ even the chip's pinout: http://www.trisaster.de/forum/index.php?topic=6243.msg80137#msg80137 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airikita Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 If you're interested in trying that eventually, here's a clearer diagram w/ even the chip's pinout: http://www.trisaster.de/forum/index.php?topic=6243.msg80137#msg80137 Thanks, that's a much better image than the one I found. I mean it just looks like I only need to transfer the chip in the proper position, but I need to try my hand at de-soldering the first one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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