Print

[BenJeremy]

The next version will again have support for PAL/NTSC switching for games. Unlike another dashboard, MXM will also support region settings. If you want, you can run a game that will see the Xbox as a European Xbox, even if it's actually a US model. It also supports PAL @ 60 hz.

Hopefully, those beta testers with access to multi-standard TVs will be able to check it out and let me know how it's working.

One note: The hack does not work with Debug BIOSes.

Hopefully, this is the start of more hacks for MXM.

[BenJeremy]

Wow... anybody in Europe care to check this out? You guys should be home from work by now.  

I know there will be some issues, but I'm hoping you can figure them out. I'd love to do more testing myself, but my video capture card is hosed for mode switching right now.

[corkinator]

I am in Australia, with a 50/60 TV, a PAL Xbox that I have used in PAL, NTSC at 50/60 with PAL and NTSC games  does that qualify?! (i think ive used mxm in both pal and ntsc mode too)

[Cherry]

Heh. Cool

If I get a chance I'll check it out tonight. I'll also look into Debug Kernel support soon. Bear with me, my time is very limited at the moment

[xeviousx]

im in ireland , new tv to test it on, if you'd like:)

[diffident]

First tests of WIP 20th Sept very positive - video standard switching works perfectly; autodetects mode of game and switches to PAL or NTSC accordingly, without writing to EEPROM.

The new video standard remains in place through MXM reboots, and is available to other apps (launching the MS Dash from MXM gives the video options MXM has picked up from the last game played, rather than what's stored in the EEPROM), but a full power cycle returns the box to whatever standard is set in the EEPROM. So, no more problems with lost video signal if the TV doesn't support whatever's coming out of the box - just power cycle and you're back to where you started. No problems with locked hard disks either - I'm testing on a PAL box with a locked 120GB disk, and everything has worked just as BJ said it would.

This is a great step forward, BJ, but a couple of queries: displaying the VideoStandard string in a skin is a little misleading with this WIP release - in my case the VideoStandard string reads PAL from the EEPROM whatever MXM has picked up from the last game played, which had me confused at first. Should this be changed for n5, or is a new string needed, so there's one for EEPROM VideoStandard and one for TempGameVideoStandard?
Secondly, where is the 'temporary' video standard stored that makes it accessible to other apps, but isn't sticky after a reboot??? There's some very smart stuff going on here!

Great work BJ, and I hope the failing HD lives long enough to recover the savegames. Now I'm off to play with ActionScripts and the revised FTP....

[jizzlobber]

ok so will this autodetect the game region and switch automatically when you select the game?

if so that would be really cool, hope there's no dramas this time

I wish DVD-X would have something like this, but I spose I could just change in the dash if the option is there, if not i'll hang onto the enigmah videoswitch thingo.

[Nathan561]

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Sep 17 2003, 04:08 AM)

If you want, you can run a game that will see the Xbox as a European Xbox, even if it's actually a US model.

WOW!! This is exactly what i need, i have a VGA HDTV setup and obviously cannot set my xbox to european as all the HDTV settings are all under NTSC and if set to PAL i see nothing.. literally, therefore some PAL games such as the PAL version of Halo run jerky when forced to run at 60hz.

So let me get this straight, if i tell MXM to make PAL Halo see my NTSC xbox as a European model, then Halo PAL will run at 50hz WHILE the xbox is still set to 60hz? I do so hope that is what you mean   If PAL Halo is able to run in 50hz even when my xbox is set to NTSC then BenJeremy you my friend are a genious.

I will gladly check it out for you if you need, seeing as this is an xbox feature i have been looking for for a long time! You sure this region feature doesn't fry xbox's.. my warrantry ended a long time ago...

[jizzlobber]

I'm not sure if it will launch at PAL50 mate, I can see it detecting the PAL region and launching at PAL60 if that was already set up in your MS dash.

not sure though, i'd like confirmation

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (jizzlobber @ Sep 21 2003, 10:17 AM)

I'm not sure if it will launch at PAL50 mate, I can see it detecting the PAL region and launching at PAL60 if that was already set up in your MS dash. not sure though, i'd like confirmation

It's switchable. I used all of the functionality of Cherry's PAL/NTSC switching routine, which sets the mode specifically. The user has very fine control over the way the games see the video mode and region.

[jizzlobber]

I must say that sounds very good... I personally don't ever switch to PAL50 because I have US NTSC Halo.

can't wait for this next release, good stuff BJ!

[diffident]

QUOTE

This is exactly what i need, i have a VGA HDTV setup and obviously cannot set my xbox to european as all the HDTV settings are all under NTSC and if set to PAL i see nothing, literally   ...    So let me get this straight, if i tell MXM to make PAL Halo see my NTSC xbox as a European model, then Halo PAL will run at 50hz WHILE the xbox is still set to 60hz? I do so hope that is what you mean. If PAL Halo is able to run in 50hz even when my xbox is set to NTSC then BenJeremy you my friend are a genious.

My experience with the WIP suggests the answer is 'yes', and 'no' - yes, you can run PAL Halo at 50Hz while your box's EEPROM is set to NTSC, but 'no' it won't solve your problem because what comes out of the box will also be 50Hz PAL so you'll still see nothing on your HDTV (until you power cycle or play an NTSC game).

My box is PAL, but with auto mode switching on, when playing an NTSC game the output from the box is definitely 60Hz NTSC (TV reports 525i, 60Hz). Although MXM's VideoStandard string still reports PAL (read from the untouched EEPROM), MXM isn't just fooling the game into thinking the box is from the game's own region, it really is changing the video mode to match the game, it's just not writing that change to EEPROM.

There's no doubt that BJ is a genius, though.

QUOTE

You sure this region feature doesn't fry xbox's

It hasn't fried mine (PAL v1.3, X2 4977, locked replacement HD)

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (diffident @ Sep 21 2003, 01:36 PM)

My box is PAL, but with auto mode switching on, when playing an NTSC game the output from the box is definitely 60Hz NTSC (TV reports 525i, 60Hz). Although MXM's VideoStandard string still reports PAL (read from the untouched EEPROM), MXM isn't just fooling the game into thinking the box is from the game's own region, it really is changing the video mode to match the game, it's just not writing that change to EEPROM. There's no doubt that BJ is a genius, though. QUOTE You sure this region feature doesn't fry xbox's It hasn't fried mine (PAL v1.3, X2 4977, locked replacement HD)

OK, now I'm blushing.... but much of the credit belongs to Cherry, who created the patch and sent it to me to implement in MXM.

From what I've been hearing about Evo-X (which also has Cherry's patch code, though I don't think they credited him on it), they didn't really implement it all that well, completely skipping over PAL60 support. That's a shame, but hopefully, Cherry will come to me first, next time, and perhaps be encouraged to create a few other goodies for MXM users (hint hint, IGR, hint hint). Of course, when patch code is sent to me, it's open sourced... meaning EVERYBODY in the scene can benefit.

[SilentHill]

Would this work with DVDs at all? I'd like to use my xbox as my primary DVD player some day but it automatically plays NTSC DVDs in PAL mode making them somewhat jerky.