Hacking Possible to force 480p on GC games VC games?

[hughjass]

Okay, so I'm using the XCM 1080i vga box to hook my wii up to my LCD monitor. Everything runs fine, aside from virtual console games, and non progressive scan GC games, which both run in some interlaced resolution.

When I attempt to run either of those, the video signal cuts out. What I am wondering is, is there any kind of hack which can force 480p all the time in wii & GC mode? Or would switching my system menu region to an NTSC one work? (if it did that would only work for VC games, as GC games run independant of the wii mode features.)

Oh and my wii is a PAL wii, 4.0 system menu. My monitor is just some generic one, but supports resolutions up to 720p. The vga box only supports 480p as its lowest resolution. I don't think it accepts any kind of interlaced signal.

Is what I am trying to do possible?

 

[9th_Sage]

Well, I know with an NTSC Wii most VC games (and all Wiiware that I know of) can run in Porgressive (the exception being NeoGeo titles...for some unknown reason). There is no way to force Gamecube games that don't run in progressive to run in progressive though. You should be able to force most Wii games to run in 480p using something like GeckoOS...there is a game or two that doesn't work with progressive though (isn't MadWorld unable to do it?).

 

[hughjass]

hmm, well that's odd. I tried one of my wiiware games, and that worked fine, but I also tried a few VC games, and the screen went blank.

I may well just have to obtain NTSC copies of the GC games I have, as I know almost all of the NTSC GC games can be run in 480p. Either that or just switch to my tv everytime I want to play those games, but that would be a big hassle.

Ideally I'd like to run all my consoles through my monitor, but I know that ain't gonna happen. It is possible, but not without great expense, and the results aren't necessarily gonna be pretty!

 

[SwedishGojira]

You could do what I do, but it's quite expensive.
I run my Wii trough a Gefen Home Theater Scaler that scales the image from component to 720p and feeds it trough HDMI to my TV. The resulting image is WAY better than just hooking it up to my TV and has practically no lag. Less lag then connecting it to the TV directly in fact since the TV doesn't have to scale the image by itself.

 

[9th_Sage]

You could do what I do, but it's quite expensive.
I run my Wii trough a Gefen Home Theater Scaler that scales the image from component to 720p and feeds it trough HDMI to my TV. The resulting image is WAY better than just hooking it up to my TV and has practically no lag. Less lag then connecting it to the TV directly in fact since the TV doesn't have to scale the image by itself.

Heh, too expensive for me I'm afraid.

 

[Originality]

Ideally I'd like to run all my consoles through my monitor, but I know that ain't gonna happen. It is possible, but not without great expense, and the results aren't necessarily gonna be pretty!

There are several solutions, most of which aren't that expensive either. Just takes a bit of exploring and creativity to find. I used to have all 5th gen and below consoles hooked up to my TV with a simple aerial slider. For 6th and 7th gen consoles, scart/composite/component sliders do exist, however it can get cumbersome with all those wires. It's only when you try and use scalers or a processing matrix (I worked with a huge one for my work experience at High School) that it gets expensive.

Another solution is have a TV/Monitor with lots of ports, like my LG Flatron M2294D

 

[hughjass]

Yeah, thanks for your help guys, but I'm already well aware of all the options out there. I'm just wondering if with what I've got (bogstandard LCD monitor, one vga port, with a XCM 1080p vga box, which my wii is hooked up to via component) I can do anything.

It's not the end of the world if there's nothing I can do, as generally I use my wii for playing wii games, and pretty much all the good GC games have 480p in their NTSC counterparts (at the very least), so I can just obtain NTSC copies instead. Or is there anyway into tricking the wii into thinking that PAL GC games are NTSC (although i'm guessing the code for 480p has been removed in PAL releases.)

As for VC games, to be honest I very rarely play them. It would just be nice to be able to use them on my wii and on my LCD. But I can always use PC emulators to play old console games on my LCD, if I was that desperate.

Any other suggestions though would still be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, are the official nintendo component cables the only ones with the best picture quality and cable quality (shielded etc)?? The ones I am using at the moment with my vga box arent shielded, and the quality isnt as good as it should be. I am thinking of getting the official cables but they are quite pricey.

 

[rommy667]

Well you can convert the video mode of the vc to 480p ive done it with most of my stuff as I HATE 50hz pal its so slow and crap,also it wont cost you a cent to convert the file

 

[hughjass]

Well you mind telling me how to do this? Thanks!

Now its just the issue of gamecube games, do I have to download NTSC copies of all my games, or can I just trick the wii into thinking they're NTSC? (and would that actually allow me to use 480p, or is the code not there in PAL games?)

 

[hughjass]

bump

 

[Fiesty Panda]

I haven't got an answer for you, but I can say that I feel your pain. All I have is my awesome Hanns G 22" monitor upstairs, and a huge, but EXTREMELY LAGGY (100 - 200 ms) 72 inch TV downstairs that I've been using until I can order some sort of converter, but all of them seem to not allow 480i. I didn't know Virtual Console games wouldn't run though... I may just have to buy a new TV

Speaking of which, how is the VGA box? On dealextreme (the place to go for DS, GBA flash carts, gaming peripherals, ect. ) they only sold various component to vga converters for around $50 and the v-box which looks cool for recording, but nothing works with 480i!!!

 

[hughjass]

Yeah VC games switch to whatever resolution the game originally used. I don't know why people say VC are mainly 480p, they are not! Maybe for NTSC regions, I'm not sure, but all my VC games switch to interlaced resolutions (or progressive lower than 480p, which my vga box doesn't support), which my monitor doesn't appear to support. Wiiware games run fine though.

My vga box is the XCM 1080p vga box. It works great, and can be used for the ps3, 360 or wii. It comes with component cables for all three consoles. For some reason though, the ps3 and 360 cables are better quality, shielded and better made. The wii cable is not shielded and not great quality, and the resulting picture is not as sharp as 480p should be. When I have the money I am going to buy the official nintendo cable, which will sort the problem. It like they thought the more technically superior consoles deserve better cables!

I have a 360 too, but I use the official microsoft VGA cable for that (I bought it before the vga box) and I haven't tried the 360 with the vga box yet, as the vga cable does the job very well.

There is one VGA box which apparently handles interlaced signals fine. Well, it de-interlaces them. My box simply displays the incoming signal as is, it doesn't do any upscaling or de-interlacing or anything. This VGA box works with VC games and GC games. It is called the HD box Pro, and is around 50 quid.

I may get one when I have the money. I only went with the XCM box and microsoft VGA cable because they were cheap (got them both off ebay for under £10)

I'm not that bothered about VC games to be honest. I will just have to obtain NTSC copies of all my GC games, which is a bit of a hassle. I wish there was a way to just force 480p on PAL GC games! Why did nintendo have to be wiitarded and remove 480p from PAL games? What benefit was there in doing so?