SPEED BOOST! Sega Megadrive Switchless Region Mod tutorial and test!!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 бер 2024
- This video is kindly supported by www.PCBWay.com - My choice for for high quality PCB manufacturing, 3D printing and more! I thank them, and Elaine Hu for their wonderful support!
in this video we do a full Walkthrough and test of Installing a Switchless Region Free 50/60hz Mod on a Megadrive! we then do some testing to see if it's worth the hassle.
The mod board came from www.da-retro.com/ - Alan is a nice helpful chap and his mods are very well priced. I don't get a commission.
3d Printed Soldering Fingers model - www.thingiverse.com/thing:261...
Affiliate stuff
---------------------
15% off code is MFS15
The screwdriver set I was shamelessly plugging can be found here: kaiweets.com/en-gb/products/k...
The Big Screen Multimeter I was furiously shilling is here: kaiweets.com/en-gb/products/k...
THERE IS A RECHARGEABLE VERSION NOW: kaiweets.com/en-gb/products/k...
-------------------------------------------------
🤞 💔 Can YOU help Mark Fixes Stuff to grow? 🆘 🏆
By becoming a patron, you will play a crucial role in helping me grow my channel and produce content that inspires and motivates my viewers. Your support is greatly appreciated and will make a significant difference in helping me continue to produce quality content.
⚙ Visit / markfixesstuff for more info about Patreon Benefits such as ad free early access to my work, exclusive discord channel membership and Patron only behind the scenes videos! 🤗
THANK YOU!!
#Retrocomputing #Retrogaming #Nostalgia - Наука та технологія
![ПОЛНАЯ ИСТОРИЯ ЭКЗОРЦИЗМА [Топ Сикрет]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qBySr6Bt0B8/mqdefault.jpg)
I actually do have a history like yours. I started to work quite young, at 14. When I was 18 I had some money saved and wanted to buy a bike. In the city I lived there was a street with several bike shops. I went to one that had a model I wanted and asked to turn it on for a bit (it was used with a 2 stroke which creates a lot of smoke if the engine is not in a good condition). The guy than asked me "Are you really going to buy it or just want to make me waste my time?". I said "Don't worry, I changed my mind". And went to the shop next door, saw a similar model, tested, purchased it and, of course, passe din front of the other shop and waved to the previous salesman.
doing the work of the gods :applause:
I had a very similar experience in Dixons. Went to buy an Amiga and was happily playing the demo game whilst waiting for a drone to acoust me for a sale. Said drone came over, shut the power off on the Amiga and told scruffy teenage me to bugger off as the game was for paying customers and not a free arcade. I pulled a wad of £500ish quid in £20 notes out of my pocket, waved it at him, said `fuck you then` and went to an independent store to buy my Amiga.
The look on the guys face was priceless.
Absolutely beautiful!!
Delicious!!
Whenever a Dixons employee was an ass to me, I'd always write a letter to head office about the incident, always got a couple of £10 vouchers as an apology.
Also worth mentioning is that if you're using composite cables, you will have to do the crystal mod too otherwise the image will be black & white. If using RGB/Scart cables, then this won't be necessary.
This is true, plus if you're using a composite cable instead of RGB you're really missing out.
@29:00 - I thought I had a story like that, but then I remembered it didn't happen to me: It was the shopping part in the movie Pretty Woman.
Big mistake. Big. Huge.
I have to go shopping now.
Nothing to do with retro, but back in 2004 I was looking to buy an Opel Astra. I walked into a dealership, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and was completely ignored by the sale people. A smartly dressed young couple walked in behind me and the sale people fell over themselves trying to get to them first. They indicated an Opel Kadett as their vehicle of interest.
I then spotted an Opel OPC - the sports edition of the Astra and sat in it. What an amazing car (at the time).
Not one sales person came to assist me, so I decided to go and have a look at a different dealership.
As I got out of the OPC, a sales person noticed me, finally and sauntered over to me, asking me in a surly voice if I was interested in anything.
I told him that I was going to buy the OPC (I was earning a decent salary back then and could afford it).
His eyes lit up and I could see him almost drooling at the thought of his commission on the car.
I then told him I was going to a different dealership.
Bottom line is at the end of that week I was driving an OPC, bought from a different dealership (where they treated me like royalty the minute I walked through the door).
Of course, I drove to the first dealership, parked outside and examined the car in full view of the useless sales people, before driving off.
Yes, I was a "barstard," but when you can't treat people right, especially potential customers, you deserve to be treated like a d*ck!
This is absolute brilliance Carl. I loved each word and I hope they were gutted!!
Thanks @@MarkFixesStuff!
The look on their faces was priceless!
I am not usually a vindictive person, but that day I most certainly was.
🤣
You say vindictive, but I’d argue it’s merely instructive. You gave then a free lesson in customer relations!
32:01 the Gummy boys are still hiding under the heat sink when you put the shield on. trapped animals!
Well done for noticing that!
@@MarkFixesStuff did you get them out?
They got out themselves@@CrashFan03
Well, shopping in Hounslow was your first mistake, there was a great import game shop in St. Albans with super nice people running the place. I bought my Japanese Mega Drive there that had the English mod on it. (Also strangely ran in 60hz if you held down the reset button :S)
Bit of a bus trip to St Albans back in the early 90s Larry! Not sure they would have had a retro shop yet, although maybe??
@@MarkFixesStuff There was also a decent game shop in Uxbridge, place called JKL Computers. I bought a few SMS and MD games there.
But my main other import games place was the stall in Wembley Market.
But I can't stand Dixons group in general, tried to buy a PC once in the '90s, didn't come with a CD tray, so thought I'd just buy n internal one. But they said if I opened it, it would void the warranty :S
Great vid. Dude I saw that thumbnail a bunch of times before watching, I thought you were eating the console
Nah. Eat your Megadrive is planned though…. Lies haha
I've had different coloured wires trailing out the back of my console that I connect manually to each other for years! 😁 I always intended to get a three way switch but couldn't find a nice short one so it just stayed that way. Seeing this I need to open it back up and do it properly! Thanks for the vid - very informative and entertaining.
I overclocked a Genesis Model 2 to 10MHz. That doesn't sound like much, given the stock clock is around 8.7 MHz, but it made a big difference in certain games, like Thunder Force 4 and Sonic 2's split screen mode.
I've seen a lot of people refer to machine screws as "bolts", but a bolt is a fastener where you tighten or loosen it by wrapping something around the head, on a screw you have a driver that's inserted into the head. That's the difference between bolts and screws. There are self tapping bolts too, it has nothing to do with the threading or if it uses nuts.
That story sounds like some of the best 10 extra pounds ever spent. Worth every penny.
The best part was that it was the other Mark's money hahah!
Amazing. I love watching Mega Drives being modded. Never had the heart to do it to my childhood one. I've always wanted one. But emulation has been that quick fix.
Well, this is exciting!!! 👀 nice to see it complete 👏🏼 great job!
@9:00 I'm glad you mentioned the scalpel option, because I was about to post that using a scalpel would have been neater. Hehe. But, maybe I've just been lucky to get boards where the scalpel worked better.
Keep making cool videos!
I’ve shown using the scalpel in other mod videos. I prefer the cutting bit really, but the close up camera does make it look more extreme than it is in reality
Fantastic episode. Really enjoyed that.
Awesome, thank you Matt!
A nice little mod for a great system
Cool great memories. Have you ever been to the Green Man Pub at Hatton Cross and sat outside when the planes are flying overhead. You get a vortex effect!
Many times. I used to work on the North Feltham Trading Estate. We would go out for drinks at lunchtime and still be there at closing…
Did you see the window in the fireplace?
Great vid Mark! Great to see you back doing the mod vids! I've missed them! More! More! More! Lol 😅 all jokes aside great content mate!
A bit of everything coming up.
I witnessed a similar experience but in the reverse but still affirms the notion that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
Early 2000s I had an interest in cars, I was in my very early twenties. Of a weekend I used to work for free with a guy that had a Jaguar dismantlers. We built up a friendship and I used to go with him to a Jaguar auto-jumble type thing in Stonleigh/NEC or somewhere like that. Anyway, we had for sale a pair of elusive and rust free Jaguar MK X doors for 500 quid or so. This odd looking character kept eying up the doors and not saying anything through the course of the weekend. He was wearing dirty clothes, glasses on a string round Hus neck and the remnants of food on his top, the same top he had been wearing all weekend.
We hadn't sold much that weekend and as the weekend wore on the aforementioned odd guy was beginning to annoy my friend as he was one of many people who were not buying anything and although he didn't say it, thoughts of the type "this isn't a library" were crossing his mind.
Anyway end of the weekend weird guy finally offers 350 quid for the doors. My friend accepts as it has been a bad weekend sales wise. This was way, way under their value. The guy says okay, my driver will be over with the money in about half an hour.
At this point my mate is about to explode as he clearly believes weird guy is now also a Walter Mitty. No, true to his word another guy turns up in a brand new Aston and hands over the money, promptly followed by a guy in a pickup. In the passenger seat of Aston is weird guy.
Whilst my friend didn't say or do anything to this man to make him feel uncomfortable, believing he was a fool or somebody with no money cost him.
That's probably why he had a driver with an Aston.
@34:20 - Having those switches in the right place cannot be overstated. I fixed a 3DS XL for a kid and had to take the damned thing back apart *multiple* times when I had the volume or brightness sliders in the wrong position on the shell and they did not sync with the underlying mechanisms. Great tip that applies to many systems.
It’s a pain in the **** haha
Tinning the tip, when you are not using it, can really add to its longevity. So I would definitely support that advice...
This was really enjoyable.
Love the vid Mark, the Mega Drive really is a joy to work on as everything is laid out on the board so neatly and grouped nicely. I do have a question though, the Multimeter your using is it actually any good? I'm an electro mechanical engineer and have always sworn by using Fluke that's probably due to perceptions of flukes quality and accuracy within my profession passed down to each generation. I am currently using a rather well worn Fluke 101 as my goto multimeter alpng with a Clarke pen multimeter, I am however getting sick of paying the ridiculous prices for them. So I am quite interested in how it performs.
For my purposes I have no complaints. I like the big display and the beep is loud. Fluke will certainly be more accurate once you start hitting values orders of magnitude smaller than I'll ever encounter. The fluke will likely be more robust as well, but there's also a great argument for it's REALLY cheap hahah! There's a rechargeable version now as well which I might grab. Honestly, it's so cheap it's not really a "considered" purchase but it's performed well.
Fine you win!
Ive been putting this video off as I've been putting of finishing my md refurb. Ive got the iron out and the video on.
the start with "A console near and dear to my heart" I thought this time you might work on a pacemaker lmao
You earned a like comment and subscribe for the thumbnail pic alone.
Haha!!! Thanks!!
28:54 you Pretty Womaned them 😂 “Big mistake! BIG! Huge!”
Note: never use anaerobic threadlockers near plastic as they can cause cracking. Use varnish to lock screws.
anaerobic retaining compands don't cure or set on plastic either, even if they are "plastic safe" becuase they need metal ions to set. Thanks for bringing this up :)
Using just the end of your abrasive tip is important.
Just the tip.
That's not Mark's friend's Mega Drive (which was modded years ago in the Retro Man Cave). I assume that Mark's friend's Mega Drive passed on in the infamous Great Fire of Retro Gaming.
It did indeed. RIP
oh! so I'm supporting you on patreon? I thought I was supporting the gummy bears! They're so cute! But I guess you can take a cut of their funds. :)
I have to house them and provide the gummybeer
Nice to see Retro tech with a new lease of life, I wish I could do that with the Amiga 500 sitting in the loft.
I'm here to rep Hanworth 🤣Oh, and cool video too. I did a switch mod a few years back, but I might have to update it to one of these.
Thorn EMI building. Oriel Estate and Feltham Swimming Baths represent! Alex from Arcade Archive is a Hanworth lad.
@@MarkFixesStuff my aunt worked at Thorn EMI. I live just over the road from the oriel estate now. 🤣
The outliers on the PAL/NTSC thing is interesting, for instance Super Mario World has been sped up so it plays the same speed as NTSC and the vertical resolution has been upped by 24 lines, so you get to see more of the playfield. Of course, you're still running lower FPS, but sometimes that extra screen space can help you keep your fire flower longer when you spot something that'd've been just off screen in NTSC.
Ooooooh. I had no idea!!! Thanks for this insight!
@@MarkFixesStuff Truth be told 24 lines doesn't make much difference in Mario World, it's just an interesting case that it's one of the few games that bothered.
The only case I know where it made a difference is Sensible (World of) Soccer, as the PAL Amiga versions eat right into the overscan for a resolution of, I think 342x288. When trying to play at 320x240 or even 320x200 on other machines, it just feels like a downgrade.
Great job, though I tend to be a bit overly generous with Kapton tape on top of changes I've soldered, since I've been burnt by involuntary short circuits before.
The fingernail for this clip looks like Mark is holding the Megadrive in his mouth like a dog bone. LOL!
I have this exact multimeter, quite handy.
Nice big numbers for my old eyes
@@MarkFixesStuffI'm 55 my friend, I know the pain :)
I have a story of when I went into Dixons in Stretford (near Manchester) to check out the new tech, it was the early 990s so they had Commodore Amigas set up.
We were followed round the shop as the assistant thought we were "ner-do-wells" but we stayed to see a demo of the A500.
The "I've used them all" assistant couldn't work out why the screen wouldn't work for him and he wouldn't take any advice by anyone and got pissed when we kindly pointed out that he had the A/V modulator plugged into the printer port.
I grew up playing Mega Drive games in PAL 50 Hz, spent a fortune on carts, lived and breathed them. But ever since I had access to emulators and in more recent years picked up a Japanese model, I always play them in NTSC 60 Hz. I wouldn't even consider going back to PAL despite all of my nostalgia being built on that system. Tell me I'm not the only one!
You are not alone.
You are not alone.. the only real advantages PAL territories in Europe had was the SCART RGB connection for the video cable.
@@ShinryuZensen even that was a mixed blessing, the native RGB video from the UK Mega Drive was pretty awful.
My cartridge slot is moist ❤
“Claggy”
Hounslow? Jesus I used to work there - took the 222 from Yiewsley to Hounslow every day - worked in the CeX there for a month. It was an awful place.
It was once the go-to shopping destination for surrounding areas and was decent. It changed latterly due to underfunding and poor council decisions.
Really enjoyed that video, great mod and interesting to see those different modes.
I finished Sonic The Hedgehog on my Megadrive on the fifth night after buying it. 😁👍
FUSHIGI (foo she gee - NOT jee) means Mystery.
Tatsujin 達人 means "Expert."
My bad.
A good game to try 60 Vs 50hz is College Football National Championship 2, in 50hz the white noise generator for the crowd cuts a lot, and I thought I had something wrong with the cartridge until I had a console with a region switch. Turns out, running it at 60hz solved the problem.
Also, I use a pro action replay to play Japanese cartridges. It's even possible to bypass the region check on an unmodded console if you know where to poke.
Thank you for this info on the white noise. The PAR carts are quite pricey now I see!!!!!
Great video, Mark! I like using Japanese models for the main reason that there's no need to modify the cartridge port, it will fit all carts but you'll need to remove the lock lever from the power button for non-Japanese carts. Using the NTSC system as a base does have the side-effect that 50Hz mode has borked colour. I'm no analogue video genius but I understand it's a colour-burst frequency mismatch that needs an alternative oscillator? It's interesting to observe that your PAL console playing in NTSC mode has no issues. I noticed the same when applying a 50/60Hz mod to my PAL Master System 2.
I tried rolling my own switchless mod and it worked great. For some reason though, the mods would work great for several weeks and then one of the pins would seeming fail. It certainly wasn't excessive current draw because measuring revealed a few micro amps used. I ultimately ended up soldering the language pin to the English position and using a slider on the case to switch frequency. I can get around PAL games that do check region and refuse to boot by starting the system in PAL mode and once you get to the SEGA logo, you're usually good to switch to NTSC and most games just don't care after that.
You can actually switch region mid game with this mod by holding the reset button. Was impossible to film it though because the changing frequency made the camera go mental.
@MarkFixesStuff Haha, yeah, I bet your camera loved the sudden changes. Do you experience any colour artefacts like I mentioned, with this Built-as-PAL, coaxed-into-NTSC system?
Not that I'd noticed @@X-Bit-Gits - It looks the same in PAL as in NTSC. I am using and RGB SCART though, so the colour isn't encoded onto the image itself at a carrier frequency.
Great video. A few of the 1993 onwards PAL games don’t like 60hz. Rocket Knight for example glitches from level 2 on. Sparkster the sequel tho is fine when you switch after the Konami logo.
That’s interesting info @@byronlaw6491. I did have a google about to see if I could turn up any info but it was such a vague topic I kind of gave up. Thank you for this!
Quality mod. I've got one too.
I was told a story when training for retail, about ooh, 600 years ago. The trainer was hammering home the 'don't judge a book' message, as his sales team had completely ignored a scruffily dressed man looking at video recording gear. Turned out it was Peter Jackson.
Enjoyable video, thank you.
Now overclock that CPU and get the Improvement ROM hack for Road Rash 2 to get blistering fast fps that make it run so much better!
Thanks for the tips!
Just one correction: Tatsujin （達人） does not mean "mystery", but "expert".
It's my mistake. I took this from an article I read years ago I think. I just thought it was right and didn't check. So much for my witty phrasing!
Hi Mark, Just wonded if you have Lemmings for the MegaDrive.
I will find you Darren..... Grrrrr
@@MarkFixesStuff sorry
/me shakes fist at @@darrenhunter2324
Were did you get the stl file for the wire tinning holder thing? I could use one of those at work
I meant to add the link but had to go away. This is it I think : www.thingiverse.com/thing:2610383
@@MarkFixesStuff nice going to print this first thing Monday on the works 3d printer!!!
Your closeups are freaking fantastic.
Thank you Agustin!
feels like a silly question but how do you know there's leaded solder on the board?
Unleaded is found in later equipment, and is duller in appearance. Leaded solder is much shinier.
@@MarkFixesStuff ohhhhhh! Explains everything, cheers!!
"reamed out the aperture"
Thank you Liam 🍩
Which multi cart are you using?
Not really sure. It was sent to the channel a while back and had no label
Great job. I've done quite a few MD switchless mods in the past on both MD1 & MD2 consoles.
For those viewers wanting to do this mod who don't have access to this particular modchip, you can make your own easily with a 16F630 IC and a programmer. The code and instructions are freely available online.
"That three times fast"... hmm, that wasn't difficult at all, Mark 😝
- Awh, the fine art of deliberately taking things too literally... and poking fun at the language in the process. 😆
It's difficult for me to even say that... that... that... 😂😂
@@MarkFixesStuffI wouldn't recommend doing it with Beetlejuice.
@@Zhixalom he’s fine. It’s that Bloody Mary you’ve got to look out for…
@@MarkFixesStuff 😆
Unless that mod has one built in I would of replaced the crystal with a DFO as well otherwise you get odd frame rates when switching regions especially if you are using a doubler/upscaler.
Personally I'd Suggest using an Asian machine over a standard UK European or Australian machine for any region modification taking the locking mechanism out it'll fit every cartridge however the European console will only fit European and North American Genesis cartridges without damage to the console.
Yeah. I have an adapter here and have looked into spinning some up to avoid case cutting. I did try and get an Asian console but every time I look at prices they see me coming!!!
Do you have a promoter link for the screwdriver mine is busted and i dont want to shell out for another ifixit kit. But if you get a kickback id buy one :)
This was the one they gave me - Kaiweets ES20 Screwdriver Set used in this video: kaiweets.com/en-gb/products/kaiweets-es20-screwdriver-set Thank you!!
Code MFS15 for 15% off
36:01 Tatsujin does not mean mistery in Japanese, it means expert or master.
Yeah. I had a false memory of this and should have checked. Thanks for letting me know!
@@MarkFixesStuff No problem. Love your videos. I would have loved to be able to mod my megadrive the way you shown us in the video back then.
I ain’t recapping a Megadrive. Why? It’s got 55 thousand of the bloody things 😂
A full compliment indeed
Hey I’m hoping someone can tell me if I need a 60hz-capable CRT TV to enjoy the games in 60hz NTSC mode. Thanks!
If you have a SCART enabled LCD tv and an RGB SCART cable you won’t have any problems. For CRT, most of the later models that featured a SCART connection can also handle 60hz, but you need to use an RGB cable because if you try and time use composite you’ll get issues with colour
@@MarkFixesStuff hey thanks for that, much appreciated!
@28:18 I remember that oft-parroted sentence in Dixons (and a few other places). In their short-sighted arrogance, it never occurred to them that the kids they slighted had £££ from birthdays/Xmas/part-time jobs and parents with spending power! Later when I worked for Dixons, I was always nice to the kids as a matter of decency. Good on you for walking out.
Why buy where you feel unwelcome?
@@MarkFixesStuff Yes and why give your money to people who don't respect you?
Man, are you eating that Mega Drive? Hope it was good, at least 🙂
So good! 😊
Sis you ever get the mod you did on RMC working properly?
No! I keep meaning to sort it out. I basically forgot to cut the reset track on the underside of the board. Alan at Da-Retro (mod maker) watch the video and said "doh!".
@@MarkFixesStuff Ok I though maybe there was some capacitive coupling over a too tightly cut gulley. But I am not well versed in console modding so do not notice details like those who are.
I simply missed a stepped when filming@@rimmersbryggeri - When the lights are on and the camera is rolling it can get a bit tense.
@@MarkFixesStuff Thats normal. Do you know wether this mod also works on the MD2?
It can be installed in an MD2 @@rimmersbryggeri - guides.da-retro.com/guide-md2.html
Mark, what's the link for the cordless screwdriver/screw bits? I've been looking for one for a while.
Here you got !!! This was the one they gave me - Kaiweets ES20 Screwdriver Set used in this video: kaiweets.com/en-gb/products/kaiweets-es20-screwdriver-set Thank you!!
While I no longer recap everything in sight, I'm midway through doing my megadrive, its really improved the jailbars, its not solved them though
I can't really see any jailbars on the CRT. Maybe I'm not that picky. Are you using a flat panel TV?
@@MarkFixesStuff it is a modern TV, through an ossc, rgb with c sync and this they taunt me.
I've read the output is slightly off spec in a way crts don't care, but modern tvs do, and I probably need a bypass mod
@@TheCurlyPyou might need a more complex solution then
Ah mate, I grew up in Heston, so know Feltham and Hanworth well, along with Hounslow High Street. The Dixons was quite an impressive one in the middle of the high street, but the were never very friendly in there. I remember going in there with my Dad to look at the CDTV, and the sales person refusing to allow anyone to give it a try, it was in a perspex box display connected to a TV, doing nothing more than display its splash screen...... ah the memories.
My nan moved to Heston in her later life. Norman Crescent. I grew up in Burns Avenue in Feltham, which was right next to Minimax corner.
Best 16bit console, love the hell out of it, great video mate 👍👍
Thanks mate!!
Excellent❤👍
All that screwing looked far too exhausting for me.
When buying a Mega Drive (Sonic Bundle) from Index (Inside a Littlewoods) as a kid I was asked rudely by the cashier “How will you be paying?”, “Cash” I replied!
Ugh. Annoying. Well done!!
fnarr fnarr Finbar
What no kaiweets links.....
LOL This was the one they gave me - Kaiweets ES20 Screwdriver Set used in this video: kaiweets.com/en-gb/products/kaiweets-es20-screwdriver-set Thank you!!
I'm going to like this video... Right now 👍
Thanks Sean!!
No, he's greek and his name is actually Thesean
I once screwed into the wrong hole, my girlfriend wasn't happy. I didn't mind I kinda enjoyed it.
Take caution when screwing guys (remember to put it in the correct hole) "don't make her angry"
"graphically drippy". Hmmm, you might want to get that checked out, just sayin'. 🤣🤣👍👍
No pressure.
Literally.
Mark, are you unwell mate - you look pale here fella.
I’ve not been in the best of health I’m afraid
@@MarkFixesStuff I'm sorry to hear that Mark. Sending you best wishes and positivity your way. All the best mate.
How hard did you laugh at Ninty fanboys after buying your objectively superior Mega Drive.
Wow. You realise that war's over dude!?
@@nicholasfarley5967 It's never over. They have Macs these days.
I actually ended up with both back then!