Transforming my GC!

[Nocta]

Hi guys, I'm new here but a long time fan of this great console!

I'd like to mod my Cube to be able to play games of any region out of SD-cards or hard-drives and I don't know what to choose between the Wiikey Fusion and the WODE? Can someone advice me?
I'm a bit worried about the audiostreamed games though, I'm a huge fan of 1080 Avalanche and Wave Race and I don't want to miss them.

I'd also love to get the 480p output but didn't find any GC component cable available in Europe, even on ebay (and I still have to find an NTSC component-friendly console )...
Does anyone know where I could find that nowadays? Or should I just use a Wii?

Thanks a lot and see you around!
Nocta

[badsector]

PAL GameCubes can output 480p and cables are available on ebay (but very expensive). Many sellers are shipping to Europe.
Go with the WiiKey Fusion (or WASP Fusion) and one of the upcoming MegaDrives (i suggest V4, so you can keep the DVD drive working, and play audio sreaming games from DVD) by megalomaniac.

[Nocta]

Thank you for your answer badsector.

I don't understand how PAL gamecubes can output 480p though? I thought only a few NTSC models could do it...

I'm sorry to ask that but what are the MegaDrives by megalomaniac? I found a thread talking about it but didn't really got what it is about...

Edit: oh god, those component cables are crazily expensives, I don't want to but maybe I should think about using my Wii for my GC games...

[badsector]

Every GameCube with a "Digital AV Out" can output 480p, just PAL games do not support this (natively). If you have a possibility to boot NTSC games on your PAL cube, you can use the progressive mode (if they support them, most of the important ones do). Or you can force 480p mode on some PAL games with Swiss or a Qoob mod chip.
The "MegaDrive" is a little PCB, that you solder/install onto the GameCube mainboard, so that you can use a WiiKey Fusion, WASP Fusion or WODE. V1 and V4 allows you to even still use the GameCube DVD drive, when you have no SD card plugged into the SD slot of said devices.
Yeah, I know, those cables are very expensive. You have to consider: Do you want the ultimate GameCube, or do you just want to play GameCube games in 480p mode from an external drive. If you pick the latter, go with a Wii. If not, start collecting money and train your solder skills

[megalomaniac]

minor correction to the info posted by badsector
v3 and v4 are plug n play

[Extrems]

Or you can force 480p mode on some PAL games with Swiss or a Qoob mod chip.

Not just some, Swiss has pretty good compatibility now.

[emu_kidid]

Or you can force 480p mode on some PAL games with Swiss or a Qoob mod chip.

Not just some, Swiss has pretty good compatibility now.

Thanks to you .. now if only plain PAL/NTSC worked so well

[Nocta]

Thanks for all those infos guys.

I'd love to go the Ultimate-GC way, I will search for a component cable at a "reasonable" price and start collecting money!

Where can I order the latest MegaDrive PCB?

[novenary]

Mega is not quite ready to sell them yet. Just be patient, it is a matter of weeks now.

[Nocta]

No problem, I have to put some money aside first anyway!

[novenary]

Not necessarily, you could start modding your Cube without having the component cable.

[Nocta]

I exchanged my 15khz monitor for a 31khz CRT so in fact I have to wait for it now because this one doesn't accept RGB...

[Nocta]

One last question about this 480p thing, may I use the GC with the component cable on a 480p only screen? The one I got doesn't accept 480i or 240p and I would not enjoy too much to have to get a normal TV just for the menus and stuffs like that...

Also if I want to play audio streaming games in 480p and 60Hz, I need to get the NTSC DVD versions of them, right? So I'm obliged to get an NTSC Gamecube for those ones, no?

Thank you guys for your help!

[megalomaniac]

GC always starts in 480i even with the component cable.

If your monitor cannot display 480i, then you may want to consider a different monitor.
this means only games that allow 480p or if swiss can force to 480p will display correctly on your monitor and all other games that are 480i only will not show up...

[Nocta]

Thank you megalomaniac, that's a really bad news. Monitors which accepts 480i and 480p (except for LCD but I don't want that) are really really rare and expensives in Europe.
Any chance with a Wii? Can I force a Wii to always output 480p?

[emu_kidid]

Yes you can make a Wii boot in 480p just by changing the settings in the System Menu.

[tueidj]

That won't make it run everything in 480p though, gamecube games will still have the same issues.

[Nocta]

Thanks emu_kidid.

All the games except MegaMan X seems to work in forced 480p mode if you check this list: http://www.gc-forever.com/wiki/index.ph ... ility_List
Am I wrong?

[tueidj]

That list is far from complete, there's probably more games that swiss doesn't run at all.