HELP! Too much blocky, pixelated games when compared with original game

Just a thing came to my mind. It is possible to force anti-alising video modes on N64. And this can be patched via paladin too. Check the options of PALadin as i don't remember it right now.This might be your problem though it is a long shot.

 

It isn't perfect on our side either. Some NTSC players (IIRC the PS2 and PS3) intentionally block DVDs and blurays encoded at 50hz. Regardless of region code or whether you own a compatible TV.

 

Yeah you are right. But it is meaningless to watch PAL DVD movies unless you can't find NTSC counterpart. The audio and video will always be 4% faster than NTSC counterpart. The audio will most possibly be high pitched, only a small percent of DVDs have been pitch corrected for PAL. Even if the audio is pitch corrected, it will still be fast.

Of course the perfect way is the 24 fps Blu-rays as they are 1:1 on timing, as in the theaters.

 

I tried Paladin to force anti-aliasing, MPAL... and nothing! It's all the same, NTSC ROMs in low resolution, PAL games still b&w. I don't think it's a problem with the ROMs at all. In the ED64 menu, the resolution is already lower, with the "flow thing".

The only solution I'm seeing right now is buying an american NTSC console...

 

Yeah, region convertion is very problematic. Wish nintendo 64 could output native PAL or NTSC independent of region. a RGB mod can be done too as you suggested before.

 

Only easily on early models though.

Need a to build a replacement dac otherwise.

 

I think eliminating options will help us.

Assuming american roms are identical to brazilian, and games can't detect/change the console's color mode, that leads ROMs or color as unlikely issues.

Power usage is a remote possibility. Flash carts tend to draw more energy than original.
Defective console or everdrive haven't been ruled out either.

 

May be possible to fix this problem with boot emulator, but i don't have brazilian console for tests

 

How would that be possible? Doesn't N64 encode composite color in post-rendering, once all graphics and program code are already processed?

 

Well, Krikkz, you can send me new bootloader and I can test here.

 

Where I can find v1 and v2 of bootloader? Maybe it will fix it.

 

Are brazilian carts and american carts identical?

If so, the same cart will output PAL-M in a PAL-M console and NTSC in a NTSC-U console.

 

" Unlike earlier convertors and previous versions of the Passport, this version will play every game on the N64 from every region with no side-effects such as bordering or 'ghosting' (a second 'ghost' image appearing on-screen giving a blurred effect)."

This part is taken from N64 Passport Plus III FAQ by NekoFever at gamefaqs.com which makes me think somehow it can be software related too.

On my HDTV, I get PAL60 not in b&w but with terrible ghosting and bordering just as described.

On my CRT all seems fine.

 

The console sets the expected video output mode to a variable, and this value is copied by the bootcode to 80000300. In the case of MPAL that's 2 vs. NTSC which is 1.
How that value is used is cart-dependant, but for the sake of argument we'll assume they used the standard library and set the VI timing(?) reg appropriately. So, in fact, there's both a software and hardware dependancy here.

Since the cart ultimately handles the value, you can use one of those swanky 'at startup' GS codes to overwrite the detected TV mode, much the same way you can fake the amount of ram present.

If it's heavily pixelated, it sounds like, for whatever reason, no hardware antialiasing is occuring or its in the wrong different buffering mode. I'm not sure how an Everdrive works, but if it acts as an intercept it might be buggering values on you. I know it was guilty of region-locking a ROM that absoultely worked via v64jr. Actually, if it was an intercept and was copying back values, it might have ORed instead of masked the antialiasing mode, resulting in replicated pixels vs smoothing. Not saying it did, just a possibility.

Oh, typically NTSC carts--japanese and american--will catch both normal NTSC and MPAL. Earlier carts will sometimes ignore PAL entirely, and later ones will have special screens to 'catch' out-of-region usage with messages like "This game was not designed for this system." I could provide some sample disassemblies of common handlers if you'd like.

 

usually. often developers made zero effort to translate rom data from english for brazil or korea.

if MPAL causes problems, they might've only released tested compatible games on brazilian n64.

 

The N64 sets the TV mode based on the boot rom in the PIF (which also boots the cart). A variable is set in OS memory that tells programs what kind of TV should be connected.

The values found are 0 (NTSC), 1, (PAL), and 2 (PAL-M).

The other aspect of region in the N64 is the cart region - offset 0x3E in the rom header. This is generally "E" for NTSC games, "P" for PAL, and I forget for PAL-M... there's a list of different regions - you can find it on the net pretty easy. Most homebrew (and flash cart menus) use 0x00 for this value... which works fine on NTSC. On PAL, it's works for TVs that accept 60 Hz PAL, but doesn't work for straight 50Hz PAL TVs. I've always had to make a separate menu release for people with plain PAL TVs that uses "P" in that offset of the header.

 

eevee Try to use this version of OS: http://krikzz.com/pub/ex/2/OS64.v64
i'd like to know if you can see some changes in game pictures, also i would like to know the value of "System type" in device info.

 

Whoopsi! Slight goof on those TV_TYPE values... it's 0 for PAL, 1 for NTSC, and 2 for PAL-M. Sorry about the confusion.

 

KRIKzz, thanks for the help, but it didn't solve it. It detected the MPAL in System Type, though.

I bought an american NTSC and, with this console, the problem is gone even with OS 1.28. So the issue is really a imcompatibility with Everdrive 64 and MPAL consoles.

Although the problem is kinda solved for me with since I now have a NTSC console, I can help you solve this issue if you'd like. But, unfortunately, I'm moving tonight (it's 10 am here now) to another city and can't take with me the N64 for a while! =/

Anyway, thank you everyone who helped me in this thread! =)