GCN Gamecube Freezing, why??

[kristianity77]

I have a cube, and games are freezing on me. But ONLY when i play them in progressive scan. Take Metroid Prime. If i load a save up and play in just normal NTSC mode, it works fine. Now if i load it up in progressive and go to load the save, its gets to the start screen where you see samus before it resumes you save, then crashes. But only in progressive scan. But its not just limited to this game, its happening in Paper Mario, Zelda WW and Starfox Adventures to name but a few. Anyone got any clues??

 

[Wuschmaster]

What's progressive and how do I enable it? I have a PAL console.

PS: Your avatar scares the hell out of me.

 

[kristianity77]

mine is a PAL console also. Mine is chipped. All i do when I turn the cube on is hold B down, and if the game has the option to play progressive, then it will do. You have to have the Component cable of course as well (I paid 25 for mine off ebay)

 

[Helmut]

Sorry kr, I don't have any clue on your problem (but could be related to your chip), but, just want to answer Wusch questions.

Progressive scan is a display format which is better than the standard display quality (interlaced). But on the GC, by "progressive", one means "HD". The GC support 480p HD video output. Unfortunetly, progressive scan has been completly disabled on PAL GC. You can force it by modchipping your PAL GC, having a component (YUV) cable and a 480p capable TV. But after some time, Nintendo started to produce PAL GC without the component cable port, so if you have one of those GC, you will not be able to activate p-scan at all.

 

[legendofphil]

Have you tried a different BIOS for your modchip?

 

[kristianity77]

I wouldnt know where to start if im honest. I have only just found out that my modchip is a xenoGC by pressing and holiding start on boot up, version 1.00. How would i go about updating this? Becasue if the games are freezing in progressive scan but not in normal, then it cant be the discs can it?

I do have the digital output port and in games that support it it does ask me and its a massive step up from the route i took before of RGB scart on my TV, but with the crashing problem im now faced with

 

[Helmut]

Could be related to the method your modchip (not really the chip, but the bios on it) is using to force 480p. Dunno what's the best bios to try.

 

[kristianity77]

why is my chip forcing 480P though? I mean im only using prog scan on games that support it in game. The chip i have im aware you can force PAL or NTSC but not 480P. But all the games ive got are NTSC versions anyway because as far as i knew PAL ones didnt have progressive scan support

 

[legendofphil]

You can't update that chip with a new BIOS.
You can download a self booting "BIOS" that works on a XenoGC.

EDIT: That chip doesn't force 480p, the only one that I know that does is the Qoob.

 

[kristianity77]

is this done through updating on a dvd or something or do i need to connect it to a PC? Ive never known anything about modded cubes. I just bought one off ebay about 6 months ago, bought one of the component cables a few weeks back and am running into trouble with it just now

 

[legendofphil]

As I said previously, you can't update a XenoGC chip.
But download GCOM 2.3 ISO and try that.

 

[Helmut]

Sorry, I thought you were using PAL games. Anyway, could still be related to your modchip if your console is a PAL one and/or if you are using backup'd games. Yet, I'm not an expert in GC modchip.

 

[kristianity77]

Ive just messed around with metroid again. i put it in prog scan and let it go through the menus and then go through demo play, absolutely fine. Only crashes when i go to play it. but booting the game again in normal mode makes the game perfectly playable.

Now here is something that has crossed my mind. Lets say i played a game originally up to a save point in normal NTSC mode, then tried to load that save whilst in progressive mode, could this cause a problem??

 

[legendofphil]

There is no reason why that should affect it, but what happens when you try to play the game from the start rather than a save point.

 

[kristianity77]

well from the beginning it seems fine in progressive mode. But with this game im 100% certain that i had gotten as far as i did in progressive mode anyways. Im stumped! Normally i would just go back to the old RGB method but with paying 25 quid for the component cable i dont want to give up too easily

 

[legendofphil]

Have you tried that ISO I mentioned?

 

[shin-obi]

When the Gamecube was about to launch, I remember reading about the pal version of the Cube not supporting progressive scan and got RGB support as a "consolation".

I have a hard time believing that progressive scan support only lies in the software.

I would guess that your problem is a result of the pal Cubes' lack of progressive scan support. This is just guessing though - from something I remember reading a few years back.

 

[kristianity77]

no PAL cubes do support it. Mine is a PAL cube and definitely does. Twilight princess asks me if i want to run it in progressive scan and i click yes and that game plays fine. Another thing that has come to light. Is that on Metroid, im shooting doors that SHOULD open, and they are staying closed, or perhaps im having to shoot them and wait like 15-20 seconds for them to open.

Its not DRE's that im getting either. Its a complete screen freeze where the audio still plays but in a frozen state

 

[Dirtie]

Sometimes you have to wait a short while for doors to open, but never 15-20 seconds. Is this an original game or a backup?

There's only a few things I can think of that might cause this:
-your laser is slowly dying and needs tweaking (perhaps replacing)
-your GC is overheating, perhaps due to having a chip shoved in there
-on of the wires on your modchip is disconnected/shorting something/connected to the wrong place

By the way PAL cubes do support prog scan (only on the earlier models with the digital port of course). If you have your component cable plugged in and load up an original NTSC game (that supports 480p) using Freeloader, you will get the progressive scan option.

 

[Helmut]

If it would be the laser, Metroid shouldn't hang but display an error like "something goes wrong, please open the lid and reset your console blabla" (it occured on my PAL GC).
I belive it's a modchip problem.

The "door takes time to open" in Metroid is a well known issue of the PAL version but it only takes 1 or 2 sec to a few doors to open. This glitches shouldn't exist in the US version. If this happens in the US version, it means your console have serious reading problem (and this could be related to the laser).