Guys check this n64 switchless region

he says france only.
http://www.otakus-store.net/fr/tous-les-forfaits/338-forfait-nintendo-64-region-free-n64.html
switchless region mod would like to get this done.

 

If you use an Everdrive 64 (or presumably some/all other flash-carts) then the N64 becomes region free. The Everdrive 64 (the only flash-cart I've ever used on the N64 - it does everything, so I've never bothered with any other) will run games regardless of their region, so the only limiting factor is if your TV can handle both PAL and NTSC (JAP and USA games are both NTSC), no modification to the N64 is necessary. I run all regions of games on my (PAL) N64. Plus, being a flash-cart, the Everdrive 64 lets you store every N64 game on one SD Card in one cartridge (which is extremely convenient), and it runs game betas, game hacks, and unreleased games too.

For more information, see:

http://micro-64.com/features/everdrive64.shtml

 

seriously conker? everyone on this forum knows about everdrives! he's posting about a region free mod that is practically unheard of for the n64.

 

Agreed.
This N64 mod seams very interesting, especially as it auto detects the region then boots. I wonder if hes fit 2 Pif chips, but how would it auto select the correct one?

 

I'm guessing two PIF chips as well. It's quite interesting.

I'm sure the mod could be done a bit cheaper though - I could buy a second N64 for that price, and still carry out a similar mod.

Or, it's just a mod chip which holds both versions of the boot code (with some auto-detect stuff added, so it reads the JUE value from the cart header)?

I've done some experiments many years ago to emulate the PIF on FPGA, and I could get it to boot from any code I wanted.

It was just a basic test, but I could get it to enable the display and see the garbage in the framebuffer without any cart inserted.

The small chunk of code was done by someone on IRC (sorry, it was a long time ago, but I think it was either Pinchy or jrra?).

It should be possible to do this with a small AVR chip. The Everdrive / 64drive is great, but I like this mod too, as it changes the actual boot code rather than using boot emulation / patching.

OzOnE.

 

OK, fair enough. I just thought he might not know that an N64 could be made to run different region games without hacking the console itself.

 

Yeah...why would you need this mod if you could have the N64 RGB-modded and have superior image AND true region-free that way? Granted only a limited number of N64s can be RGB'd...

 

RGB mod only fixes the color encoding problem, few TVs accept NTSC at 50hz. It does nothing for lockout.

 

But the N64 automatically changes its CPU to 60Hz if it detects an NTSC game, no?

 

I think so. But that's not my point. An RGB modded N64 still won't boot incorrect region games in the first place.

Now this mod *and* an RGB mod, is one way to have an NTSC N64 run genuine PAL games with color video.

 

I'm fairly sure they're "sacrificing" another N64 just for the PIF chip...

The reason the composite colour goes a bit dodgy on some TVs with an NTSC game on a PAL console is because the crystal frequencies are a multiple of the colour carrier.

On PAL and NTSC machines, the crystals have a slightly different freq, so unless they are changing between those two clocks, it won't be a truly universal mod.

It's possible they've made a mod chip to act as the PIF though (not too difficult, could be done with an AVR chip).

It sounds OK, but quite expensive tbh.

As others have said - you can run pretty much all games on any console using an Everdrive / 64drive, but they will be using a boot emulator of some type.

If you have an RGB-modded N64, you shouldn't have any problems with the colour carrier stuff on a modern TV (really only applies to Composite and S-Video).

Also, on a PAL N64, the RCP and CPU actually run quite a bit faster, but the RDRAM clock is marginally slower...

NTSC...

Colour sub = 3.579545 MHz
Vid Xtal = 14.318 MHz
RAM Xtal = 14.7 MHz

RCP = 60.852265 MHz
CPU = 91.2783975 MHz
RDRAM = 249.9 MHz


PAL...

Colour sub = 4.4336188 MHz
Vid Xtal = 17.7345 MHz
RAM Xtal = 17.7 MHz

RCP = 62.0706625 MHz
CPU = 93.1059938 MHz
RDRAM = 247.8 MHz


OzOnE

 

Did someone just reply about the CPU speed, then delete the post?

Not a problem, I just thought it would be interesting to discuss, but I only saw a glimpse of it before deleting the e-mail.

OzOnE

 

yes i did ^^
but after a short look in the datasheets, i noticed i posted something wrong :>

 

Care to share what you found.

Even if it was wrong, it's usually interesting anyway.
Or, was it something wrong on the info I posted? (either way, I'm still curious to know. hehe)

OzOnE.

 

interesting modding on N64

 

I have just purchased this machine. It works really well. The PAL games didn't run so well on my newer TVs (black and white, no colour in games). But it all runs perfect on a 50" flat CRT.

 

I bought one plus an official Nintendo RGB Scart cable. The result is incredible - it's beautiful!

 

Can you open the console and post some pictures?
Thanks.

 

Sorry about the late pic post of the internals. I was a bit unsure about taking it apart.

 

I bought one of these as well earlier this year, region free + rgb. Just beautiful! The sound has a bit of noise, ground loop I guess or bad shielding. Gonna buy a new cable to hook it up to the framemeister I ordered here today.

The unit was kinda expensive, but not too bad I guess

I'm still working on my own region mod, but I'm at a stand still right now. I've got both kind of PIFs connected to an FPGA that I was gonna use for the switching. Got crystals as well. Everything is packed away because I moved to my new house last month... But during the move I started thinking about the PIFs, shouldn't I just be able to emulate them on the FPGA? It's not a small project, but it would be very cool to dive into. I've even got a spare one I could use....