Announcing the 64drive nearing completion

Indeed, seems like a good option. I haven't been around the N64 scene for about 7 years or so, as my kids aren't kids anymore, (the reason I bought a Wildcard64 for, to save money buying carts) so there's probably of ton of stuff I don't know about.

If I had such skills with coding and hardware, I'd knock up a tool, but unfortunately, I'm a mental pigmy to such things.

 

any updates on ETA?

 

Going great Marshall. :thumbsup:

I didnt know you were on the ASSEMbler forums :-0

 

all i wanna know if Goldeneye X will works. it will?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nywmRJ-8PyU

 

The last version (Patch 4), works on the 64drive and the EverDrive 64.

 

Still has yet to ship right? I'm thinking maybe picking one up. Although satisfied with the ED64, I'm still anxious to see what the 64drive handles.

 

yeah I can confirm it works on ED64

 

any news marshall?

 

I bought mine today, look forward to seeing it in action

 

Any news how the production is going? Could you light that process up a bit marshallh?
e.g. how many are finished, where do let you produce them, who populates the PCBs, etc.

I am sorry, but I have never bought anything from you, and I want to use the 45-days-paypal return if I don't get anything from you in this timespan.

Sorry for sounding blunt, but it is a understandable fear. I guess your got some hundreds (maybe thousands?) of preorders, with 200$ each thats a lot of money...

 

I assume marshall isn't taking more preorders than he can fill in a timely fashion. not sure why you'd spaz out and file with paypal

 

I agree, especially since it is clearly mentionned it wouldn't be ready for 3-4 weeks, and this was most likely a very rough estimate. Tomorrow, it will have been 3 weeks since I preordered, so I wouldn't worry at all.

That being said, I hope the preorders ship soon!

 

relax...

 

Not hearing from Marshallh the last few weeks is actually a very good sign, because it means he has his hands full with making the 64drives =)

 

As a PAL gamer with both a PAL and NTSC console, should I get a PAL or NTSC 64drive? I would hate to get a PAL version, only for some things not to work. It looks to me right now as though a NTSC 64drive would be the safest option, seeing as this is the "default" region of most software. This video is worrying me a bit, though I'm not entirely sure what's happening in it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvObp697b8g.


"If your N64 is NTSC, PAL software will either autodetect and run fine, or show a region notice. Same goes for the reverse. I'm adding an option to force it either way. Then you should be able to run anything in any region." - http://64drive.retroactive.be/faq.php

What would cause a region notice to show instead of auto detecting and running the software correctly? What would "forcing it" do? Override any region notice and force the software to run? If so, would this have any adverse effects (e.g. play the software in it's native TV region signal)?

Any help is appreciated.

 

The very fact that you own an NTSC N64 whilst living in a PAL region shows that you know what the benefits are of using NTSC (60Hz, no borders, etc) so I would definitely recommend getting an NTSC 64drive.

Some games are specifically programmed so that they display a region error message if you attempt to play them on the opposite region N64, as you can see in that youtube video. It completely depends on what the game developers decided to do though - some games will run fine, others come up with the region message, and I assume this is what marshallh is referring to when he said "I'm adding an option to force it either way" as this option will likely allow the game to run on any region N64 console.

Its also worth noting that N64 games will still play in the hertz rate that the game was originally designed for - NTSC games will be 60Hz, and PAL games will be 50Hz and sometimes have black borders, regardless if its played on an NTSC or PAL N64.

Also, the N64's color encoding format is fixed to the consoles region, so a PAL N64 will only ever output PAL encoded video, and NTSC consoles only ever output NTSC encoded video (If you ignore RGB modded consoles) This causes a problem, as although PAL 50Hz and PAL 60Hz are both valid PAL formats, in NTSC only NTSC 60Hz is valid, but an NTSC 50Hz signal will result when attempting to play PAL games on an NTSC N64 console, and I dont know of any TV's that support an NTSC 50Hz signal so in this case you would have to use an RGB modded N64 to avoid that issue.

Lastly its important to note that there can be popping/crackling sounds in some games audio if you play it on the opposite region N64 console than the game was designed for (For example Zelda OoT Master Quest has popping/cracking in the audio when played on a PAL N64 console, and there isn't a PAL version available)

Overall, since there were only 5 PAL exclusive N64 games (All of which can be found region patched, and often patched to 60Hz as well - see my post here for details) Means that overall in my opinion its not worth bothering with a PAL 64drive if you have the choice.

I hope that helps :nod:

 

i am sure this has been asked many times but is this cart 100% compatible with all n64 roms.

 

takeshi, no, please READ the website/forum/something
2 games don't and one can be patched

 

@antinull - do you know which dont work or which one can be patched

 

Banjo Tooie doesnt work and for JFG there is a patch. Was discussed like 100 times already?!