Dreamcast 60Hz Modification and PAL-60 fix.

[randombs]

I asked about this over on ASSEMbler and apparently there are some jumpers on the board which determine this. In the stock config they are set so that the video mode is determined by the software, so if you boot a PAL game on an NTSC machine it will output PAL video and vice versa.

Therefore a region free BIOS is probably the best way to go at this point in time.

Interesting. Is that the DC's motherboard?

When I tried PAL Code Veronica in my modded Japanese DC many moons ago it played in 60Hz NTSC with the bottom cut off(as it was full-screen 50Hz to begin with). My telly at the time could only do PAL60, not NTSC, so it was in b&w.

After I did the PAL jumper mod it played correctly in PAL 50Hz, all NTSC games were in PAL60 and some PAL60-enabled games would even boot into PAL60 automatically(Project Justice did this, and I think SFA3).

I remember reading at the time that this was the most compatible setup. In fact, that's the reason I traded in my UK DC for a Japanese one(which happened to be modded but no one knew) but I guess things have changed. I've never had a problem with any game but I didn't try any niche titles so I haven't been interested in the region-free BIOS.

[speedlolita]

https://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?53184

Wham.

[randombs]

Wicked forum name - that's my Japanese PSN account, too!

I'm confused by the answer, though. So they're saying the jumpers in one configuration will make the DC do pal50/60, but in the other the DC will do pal50/60/ntsc depending on the game? Is it more compatible than a modded Japanese console with R422 joined? I've always assumed there was no appreciable difference between pal60 and ntsc unless you had a TV that could do pal60 but not ntsc. But then this is the DC and it has foibles like certain games not working over rgb!

That's great if so, and should make UK DCs respectable. My UK DC didn't switch to 60hz for some original import games which is why I got a Japanese one. It may have been a side effect of the Utopia disc, though. Or maybe it was modded... I honestly can't remember!

[bash]

I'm starting to think when I had my old dreamcast back in the day that Utopia was booting Zombie Revenge in 50hz because it was a PAL machine also . I really hope the region bios doesnt force my new import copy into PAL

[S3M]

I just ordered Zombie REvenge, RE: CV and Soul Reaver from the US to avoid any problems. I remember them not having 60hz options in the PAL versions. Hopefully with a region free bios I should be ok. Think I'll grab the US versions of CvS1 and 2, Im worried the japanese versions have non english text in which I hate. Even if its for beat em ups

*edit* those vids look sick, how did you get them in 1080p?

VGA upscaler to 1080p, but you will need a TV that can change aspect ratio back to 4:3 otherwise they'll be in widescreen.

Oh and I would skip over the original release of CvS1 in favor of CvS1 Pro (There is very little Japanese text in it, see video below.) it's a better version with more characters and balancing.

That's great if so, and should make UK DCs respectable. My UK DC didn't switch to 60hz for some original import games which is why I got a Japanese one. It may have been a side effect of the Utopia disc, though. Or maybe it was modded... I honestly can't remember!

Side effect of the boot disc, of all the discs I've used only the DC-X can force into NTSC 60 to get rid of that issue. The Xploder also forces most into 60hz but it checks the disc code and machine a few NTSC games had the PAL code on them and will boot into 50hz instead, Ooga Booga is one example.

Utopia Boot disc is a nasty piece of rubbish, I wouldn't let within 50 feet of my DC.