Hacking Softmodding a PAL Wii U for 1080p upscaling?

[Castanje]

Hello GBAtemp, I'm new

So I live in the Netherlands and sadly our region is PAL. I'm thinking about buying a Wii U, but I also want it to play older Wii games in 1080p (upscaled, not uprendered - I know the difference ) .

- I've heard that a PAL Wii U cannot upscale Wii games to 1080p, but a NTSC Wii U can? Or can it? Different sources say different things, meh hehe.
- Is it possible to softmod a PAL Wii U to play NTSC games in 1080p upscaled? Or maybe even possible to play PAL games in forced NTSC so it also will be upscaled in 1080p?

Thanks in advance

 

[Adeka]

I was unaware NTSC can upscale the vWii games to 1080p. can somebody confirm this and provide a link?

 

[the_randomizer]

The signal is scaled to fit 1080p via HDMI, but the internal resolution is still fixed at 480p max, the Wii U is incapable of rendering it the same way Dolphin does if that's what he's wondering.

 

[Castanje]

The signal is scaled to fit 1080p via HDMI, but the internal resolution is still fixed at 480p max, the Wii U is incapable of rendering it the same way Dolphin does if that's what he's wondering.

Yes, I'm aware of that, but an upscaled 1080p image of a 480p image can look better if the TV isn't good at upscaling. So you can let your Wii U do it instead of your TV. BUT apparently only the NTSC games can be upscaled to 1080P, because I've read that PAL Wii games can't be upscaled for some lame reason.

But I still wonder if it's possible to softmod a PAL Wii U to play NTSC Games upscaled to 1080p like they would on a NTSC Wii U?
So is someone here playing NTSC games on a softmodded PAL Wii upscaled to 1080p ?

 

[Foxi4]

BUT apparently only the NTSC games can be upscaled to 1080P, because I've read that PAL Wii games can't be upscaled for some lame reason.

That sounds completely bogus - there's no reason whatsoever as to why that would be the case, the system should do it natively over the HDMI port because that's the expected image format for that port.

 

[JoostinOnline]

Wii and Wii U consoles have the same hardware regardless of the region.

 

[KongsNutz]

The difference is I believe that, NTSC vWii scales 480p > 1080P however the PAL vWii scales 576i > 1080P. The difference is that PAL upscales an interlaced signal and not a progressive one making images more grainy especially in motion.

There is nothing software can do at this point.

 

[Obveron]

vWii usues nearest neighbour scaling which is basically garbage. You get much better results setting the Wii-u to 480p, and letting your TV do the upscaling.

 

[Muyfa666]

I softmodded my PAL Wii U's vWii for the same reason. I really see no difference. Games render very good. I only use NTSC games, and I think they do render in 480p -> 1080p. Looks about as good as old-gen can anyway. There are other benefits over a real Wii IMO. Over HDMI, my input lag is basically none, but with component I welcomed myself to lag city... ;-)

 

[Wisenheimer]

Sadly, Nintendo does not render the image in 1080p. Maybe Nintendo will fix that one day. It is a real shame.

I think the PAL Wii's will upscale with digital cables but not with analog.

 

[Castanje]

Thanks for the info you all. I didn't think that a PAL Wii U was also capable of upscaling. I'd better try softmodding my Wii U for playing NTSC games in 480p @ 1080p upscaled. Thanks

 

[Wisenheimer]

Thanks for the info you all. I didn't think that a PAL Wii U was also capable of upscaling. I'd better try softmodding my Wii U for playing NTSC games in 480p @ 1080p upscaled. Thanks

If you use a digital connection (I am guessing the Euro-Wii U use HDMI too), I think it should upscale properly. You just cannot do it with component or SCART or whatever analog HDTV connections the Euro-Wii U has.

 

[Coconuts 500]

The difference is I believe that, NTSC vWii scales 480p > 1080P however the PAL vWii scales 576i > 1080P. The difference is that PAL upscales an interlaced signal and not a progressive one making images more grainy especially in motion.

There is nothing software can do at this point.

Actually, a PAL Wii can output both 480i, 480p (at 60Hz) and 576i (at 50Hz). You choose which mode you want in the Wii settings.

 

[KongsNutz]

Actually, a PAL Wii can output both 480i, 480p (at 60Hz) and 576i (at 50Hz). You choose which mode you want in the Wii settings.

Yes a PAL Wii, not a WiiU in Wii Mode which is the whole point here.

 

[Seeya]

I have a PAL WiiU and vWii always outputs at 1080p in-game and in the System Menu.

 

[Duo8]

Sadly, Nintendo does not render the image in 1080p. Maybe Nintendo will fix that one day. It is a real shame.

It'll probably looks even worse.

 

[Wisenheimer]

It'll probably looks even worse.

Why would it look worse? Rendering in 1080p would mean less-jagged lines and, in many cases, slightly better textures.

 

[Duo8]

Why would it look worse? Rendering in 1080p would mean less-jagged lines and, in many cases, slightly better textures.

Textures would look horrible. Like the N64.

 

[metroid maniac]

Textures would look horrible. Like the N64.

The textures would be no worse than if rendered in 480p, and at at very least edges will be better defined.

 

[Wisenheimer]

Textures would look horrible. Like the N64.

The textures looked bad on the N64 because they were compressed to save space on the cartridge and due to the small buffer.

The textures on many Wii games look noticeably better in some games on 1080p and the polygons look like night and day on games like Skyward Sword when comparing 480p versus 1080p.