PAL Games on an NTSC N64

[Cyber Axe]

i remember a while back on the forum someone posted a guide how to mod a us n64 to play pal games which basically involved ripping the decoding chip out of a uk n64 and soldering it into a jap/us one

i recently bought a us n64 so i could get rgb output and now need to mod it to play pal games

anyone know where to get info on this or can post the info please?

[Midori]

Oh god that is a difficult mod... Why don't you just get a converter instead? And why do you want a NTSC N64 to play, PAL games? There were not many games released here that were not released in the US... Like usual...

[Cyber Axe]

the us N64 is RGB moddable which is the whole point composite sucks! and bloody nintendo removed it from the pal vid chip

and i am sure i looked for converters a while back and was never able to find any plus i did a quick google search there and couldnt see any

through would be nice to have an "ultimate n64" and ive already come up with a use for the extra n64 av port which will be left over to mod my nes

through i remember the mod being extreemly fiddly and my soldering skills arent the best

[Midori]

through i remember the mod being extreemly fiddly and my soldering skills arent the best

That is the problem, I understand your quest for a ulimate N64, and that it is a fact that a PAL N64 can't output RGB. But the mod is so difficult, if your soldering skills ain't top notch then I think you should train a bit more. But hey, I am not telling you what to do, I'm just sugesting :-) If you really want do try the mod then do so. Unfortunately I don't have any exciting link for you...

[name]

Is this what you are looking for??

(copy-paste of a txt file I have)

[n64 import mod]

for PAL and NTSC consoles

you might wonder what an "import mod" is,basically,it's an
internal modification inside the n64 that lets you play import games
on your console without the need of an adaptor or somethin else.
i never found infos on the net about such a mod,dunno why,perhaps because
only europeans suffer from this problem,between japanese and
american carts,there is no lockout incompatiblity,just the tabs in the cart slot
that need to be cut away,so propably im the first to do this
tell me if im wrong on that one...
this mod is complete and runs ALL NTSC AND PAL CARTS(obviously on a PAL- or NTSC-N64.

You need the following parts:

NINTENDO64 ;-) pal and ntsc version
good soldering skills
5 2-way switches
screwdrivers for nintendo systems(since you aint got them,ill explain you how to make them yourself ;-)
some desolder pump or what its called.is not neccessary,but VERY useful,i recommend you get one for about $5 in ur electronics store

the mod works like this:

basically you just cut out the security-chip [PIF(P)-NUS] out of a pal-n64 and connect most pins to the equivalent pins of the ntsc security-chip [PIF-NUS] of a ntsc-n64.the pins
that were not connected are seperated and soldered via 5 two-way switches to the pcb.
now you can switch between pal and ntsc n64 settings and there are NO limitations,EVERY single cart will work
be warned:
you should only do this mod if you are experienced with soldering and stuff!!
while doing this mod,you mess around with the pins of smd-chips,that will break if you bend
them more than 2 times.(if they do,you even need to open the chip itself and this is REALLY tricky,trust me > )

ok,you should do it like this:
open both n64 (how to build a nintendo screwdriver is explained in the cheap mod guide).
now you have 2 choices:
take out the PIF-NUS of a pal n64(use a needle and a soldering iron to lift up the pins) and solder it directly onto the ntsc-pif,but i cant recommend this one,cause its very likely that you break a pin.
for me,the best choice was to desolder both,the ntsc and the pal PIF-NUS,solder both on seperate pcb ( you can buy readymade boards for all kinds of smd-chips in your fav electronic store) and run wires from these pcbs.that means you arent in danger of breaking any pins on the PIFs,cause these little babys are worth a whole n64,you know


once this is done,run wires from a pifs pins that are marked green on the pic to their equivalent pins on the other pif and the pcb(bad explanation,sorry
for example you run a wire from PIF(P)-NUS pin 1 to pin 1 of PIF-NUS and to pin 1 on the pcb,so all pin 1s are hooked up together.
run wires from the pins marked white to ground somewhere on the n64 board.
the other pins running from pif-nus and pif(P)-nus are connected to the pcb via a relais and a 2 way switch(or a jk flip flop + button if ur cool dude

to switch all lines at once (theres no relais in the diagram coz i was too lazy,but u know how to wire them lines up

so you can decide if the n64 uses the pins of the pal or the ntsc pif.

the pink pins on the pcbs are not connected.

thats it, you are done now.
mail me for further questions

btw,since your pal n64 is not working anymore,you can send it to nintendo of europe

and tell them to fix it,it isnt expensive.



always remember,this mod was invented by ME(i searched the whole net and didnt find anything like this,perhaps something similar exist somewhere,but this mod is 100% from my brain
if you wanna put it on your page,you are free to do so,as long as you inform me and GIVE
ME FULL CREDITS
ohh,and of course i'm in no way responsible if you damage your n64 or something.

There's also a GIF file with the diagram, but I have nowhere to post it. Just tell me somewhere to put it THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE ME TO REGISTER and I'll post it too.

[DarthCloud]

There the diagram

[name]

There the diagram

yeah, that's the one, thank's for saving me work

[FM-77]

Name: You might want to check out Imageshack -- you can upload images there. It is a pretty convenient site and it doesn't require you to register or anything.

www.imageshack.us

[name]

Name: You might want to check out Imageshack -- you can upload images there. It is a pretty convenient site and it doesn't require you to register or anything.

www.imageshack.us

mmm, thanks, I knew the site (oughta know, everyone uses it) but for some reason I had the perception that it required registration :unsure:
Obviously I was wrong. Thanks for clarifying that  

[avalancha]

I also remember years ago there was somewhere on the Internet that tutorial, but some months ago I tried to find it but I didn't. Thanks a lot (I will also keep on a txt on my computer XD).

Has anyone tried to do that mod? Are compatible PAL games with the RGB mod?

I am also interested on RGB with PAL games, and it is not possible to play most of them on a NTSC RGB-Mod console with the PassportIII adaptor, so this would be the solution...

[CZroe]

I've loaded PAL-patched backups of my NTSC N64 games on my NTSC V64 and N64 hardware and booted. They executed just fine with the right CIC boot cartridge (US 6102 for PAL 7101, US 6103 for PAL 7103, etc), though the screen was usually black or roling black & white. I could still hear that the game was running fine.

Anyway, this always led me to believe that the US NTSC N64 simply needed a RGB mod to play PAL games. Was I wrong? Was everything black or rolling because my cart did not have a 710x CIC chip? I always assumed that it was because I was using a cheap NTSC TV I found by the dumpster.

[radorn]

You get a rolling picture because your TV doesn't support the new refresh frecuency.
As for the RGB question. No, PAL N64's always output PAL color and NTSC N64's always output NTSC color. This is true regardless of whether it's running at 50hz or 60hz.
I guess you are comparing it to how the Playstation works, for example, which normally would change color encoding along with refresh rates. N64's do ONLY ONE color system.

So yes, I'm mostly sure your problem is the TV, not CIC chips, as they only work as a key for unlocking the system so it will boot (some games also check it at some points during gameplay as a form of "security" against "illegal" boot methods). Video modes in N64 are set by software, and color encoding for video or s-video are not programmable, as they are conditioned by the video DAC, which is prepared to do only one, as I said before.

[Cyber Axe]

heh i eventually settled for a passport III cart but now that ive started using it properly since i only recently got my us n64 working ive found i cant get half of my games to boot and i cant find any damn codes for them that works

the n64 i had back then for rgb modding i killled by burning off one of the video pins so it ended up only outputting purple

i recently sucessfully applied the rgb mod to my replacment us n64 which when i got didnt work and didnt bother fixing it till the other day

but now hardly any of my damned games will run!, has there been any alternate n64 import mods since the original time i posted? as i really doubt i can do this mod that i was willing to try back then and i dont realy want to butcher my pal system

[Chizzles]

If I recall correctly, there was a user here long ago who managed to get his PAL N64 to output RGB, but it involved building a a rather large circuit.

[albino_vulpix]

If I recall correctly, there was a user here long ago who managed to get his PAL N64 to output RGB, but it involved building a a rather large circuit.

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2563.0