HELP! Weird N64 expansion pak behavior

[mcopo]

I need a quick answer at this. I just bought DK64 and an expansion pak for a good price. But when my NTSC N64 switches to a higher resolution, the screen looks terrible. It's like it has changed the color system - it keeps flashing colors from red to green. What's going on? I'm playing on a HDTV, is that the problem? Or could it be an Expansion Pak problem?

 

[emmanu888]

I wish i could help you but, i don't have any games that supports high res graphics for the N64, My guess would probably be the AV cable unless your N64 is RGB modded with component output

 

[mcopo]

Now that you mentioned... my N64 is not modded, but my cable is not made by nintendo. It could be that, but I testes another third party cable (Multi AV to RF) and the same thing happened...

 

[mcopo]

I must add that DK64 is perfectly playable. Only the intro screen uses high res, I think.

 

[emmanu888]

As i said, i don't have any games that can use high res graphics or requires the EXP Pak to work at the moment

 

[mcopo]

No problem, man. I'm thankful already for the really quick answer

Anyone else could help me? The urgency is that I bought this online, and I need to rate the seller so he could get his money (or I could get my money back).

EDIT: I noticed something else - my HDTV detected PAL-M as the color system for all my games, which is Brazil's standard color system.

 

[emmanu888]

If it detects PAL on a NTSC system, maybe that's your problem. Most HDTV like mine doesn't support PAL over composite AV but supports it over component AV. But i thought Brazil used NTSC consoles with NTSC broadcast system ? You should try another NTSC game, one that's cheap is Star Wars Episode 1 Racer and it supports high res mode with the Exp Pak

 

[mcopo]

I do have american NTSC games. Actually, only my Turok 2 is Brazilian (which shows weird colors when in "hi-rez" mode). The rest of them also transmit PAL-M. My TV supports NTSC, PAL-N and PAL-M for composite. Just to remember, these are different from the european PAL. PAL-M actually runs at 60hz, for example.

The N64 was released officially in Brazil by Gradiente, and it looks like they modded the consoles to transmit PAL-M, which is the standard here. Most TVs sold here in the past couldn't display NTSC, so that's probably the explanation for modding the systems. What I think is happening is that this modification has a compatibility issue when changing resolutions, displaying a mess of color systems when doing so. Well, that's my guess...

I found a thread in a Brazilian forum where a similar problem was mentioned. They suggested to use S Video cables... that would be a problem for me - my TV doesn't have an input for that. They also said that the problem wouldn't occur on a CRT TV. I may get to try on one on Friday.

 

[matpower]

Maybe you can force the TV to use NTSC, pretty sure most TVs can do that.
My SNES is also made by Gradiente and it works fine(However I have Ninty's official composite cable), sadly, my TV doesn't show what format it outputs.
btw Why your HDTV doesn't have an input for S Video/Component? Every modern TV got it(Low-end TVs normally have a single video input and it detects S-Video via the audio inputs)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I do have american NTSC games. Actually, only my Turok 2 is Brazilian (which shows weird colors when in "hi-rez" mode). The rest of them also transmit PAL-M. My TV supports NTSC, PAL-N and PAL-M for composite. Just to remember, these are different from the european PAL. PAL-M actually runs at 60hz, for example.

The N64 was released officially in Brazil by Gradiente, and it looks like they modded the consoles to transmit PAL-M, which is the standard here. Most TVs sold here in the past couldn't display NTSC, so that's probably the explanation for modding the systems. What I think is happening is that this modification has a compatibility issue when changing resolutions, displaying a mess of color systems when doing so. Well, that's my guess...

I found a thread in a Brazilian forum where a similar problem was mentioned. They suggested to use S Video cables... that would be a problem for me - my TV doesn't have an input for that. They also said that the problem wouldn't occur on a CRT TV. I may get to try on one on Friday.

If you have SCART on your TV (you probably do) you can just get a SCART to S-Video/AV adapter and use that.

 

[mcopo]

Maybe you can force the TV to use NTSC, pretty sure most TVs can do that.
My SNES is also made by Gradiente and it works fine(However I have Ninty's official composite cable), sadly, my TV doesn't show what format it outputs.
btw Why your HDTV doesn't have an input for S Video/Component? Every modern TV got it(Low-end TVs normally have a single video input and it detects S-Video via the audio inputs)

My TV is a Samsung 32f5500. Yeah, is not made for retro-gaming, but the input lag is low enough for me to love it!
This tv displays PAL-N, PAL-M and NTSC. I tested Turok 2 in "high-rez" mode and:
-> PAL-N shows black and white screen with a big bar on the bottom.
-> NTSC shows black and white.
No luck there...
I should remind you that these issues only occur when the game uses a high resolution mode. Without it, it's perfectly fine (with blurry PAL-M colors... but fine).

Hey, since you have a similar console, I have a question: does it have any reference to Gradiente (any sticker with the logo or something)? Because mine has everything in English. The sticker on the back for example is in English. Also the power plug is the USA standard, and althouhgh it works, it doesn't fit perfectly on the system. I'm asking because I wanna make sure my console is the Brazilian version.

If you have SCART on your TV (you probably do) you can just get a SCART to S-Video/AV adapter and use that.

I just found out about these scart cables. The problem is that they're kinda expensive... My tv has only Component, Composite AV and HDMI inputs, so I'd have to get an adapter as well.
But even with this cables, should the screen be ok? I mean, it'd still transmit PAL-M video through them.

 

[matpower]

My TV is a Samsung 32f5500. Yeah, is not made for retro-gaming, but the input lag is low enough for me to love it!
This tv displays PAL-N, PAL-M and NTSC. I tested Turok 2 in "high-rez" mode and:
-> PAL-N shows black and white screen with a big bar on the bottom.
-> NTSC shows black and white.
No luck there...
I should remind you that these issues only occur when the game uses a high resolution mode. Without it, it's perfectly fine (with blurry PAL-M colors... but fine).

Hey, since you have a similar console, I have a question: does it have any reference to Gradiente (any sticker with the logo or something)? Because mine has everything in English. The sticker on the back for example is in English. Also the power plug is the USA standard, and althouhgh it works, it doesn't fit perfectly on the system. I'm asking because I wanna be sure my console is the Brazilian version.

Yep, full of references to Gradiente:

Info stickers show it is a BRA model, shows that Gradiente made it and it was licensed by Ninty of America.
The AC Adapter is in PT-BR too, calling itself "Adaptador AC" and more Gradiente stuff

 

[mcopo]

Yep, full of references to Gradiente:

Info stickers show it is a BRA model, shows that Gradiente made it and it was licensed by Ninty of America.
The AC Adapter is in PT-BR too, calling itself "Adaptador AC" and more Gradiente stuff

Ok, this is weird... Both my N64 and my SNES don't have any of that. And guess what? Both are modded to display PAL-M! Puzzling...
Who could have modded them?

 

[matpower]

Ok, this is weird... Both my N64 and my SNES don't have any of that. And guess what? Both are modded to display PAL-M! Puzzling...
Who could have modded them?

Well, if they(SNES and N64) were used, I guess the old owner modded for his TV.

 

[mcopo]

Well, if they(SNES and N64) were used, I guess the old owner modded for his TV.

The N64 I got used just recently... but the SNES my parents bought for me back in 1996. Brand new in box. The only unusual thing is that it came with a pirated Super Mario World - the label was the japanese one and it couldn't save the progress (it still doesn't save). Also, they are so firmly closed that I don't think someone opened and closed them.

 

[matpower]

Huh, have you tested in another TV btw? Maybe your TV doesn't like video format changing.

 

[mcopo]

I'm looking forward to try it on a CRT TV. Probably tomorrow or Friday I'll do it.

 

[mcopo]

Well, I couldn't test on the CRT TV like I wanted... so for now, I'll consider the answer to be that my N64 was just badly transcoded. I heard that Gradiente's N64 didn't have this problem. My console was probably originally sold by an unknown third party which didn't have enough information to properly mod the system.

BUT, if I happen to discover more stuff, it will be posted here! Thank you all for the help!