Viper GC

[Doomkeks]

I've found it somewhat unreliable for creating backups and it seems a little worse than a XenoGC for reading them

I recently ripped around 25 originals with the Viper and was able to verify each dump with redump.org. Every rip worked first try, even with some nasty discs which sometimes gave me DRE's during gameplay.
My XenoGC cube also seems to read backups a little better, but I guess thats due to the different laserpot setting of the cubes. Could also be better performance of the XenoGC, idk.

I added some washers to lift up the DVD drive which helps to stop the discs from rubbing

Meh, the washer method did not really work for me. If i lift the drive a little the disc is freed from the bottom case but the lid begins to scratch on the disc. Maybe I have to experiment some more...

[andre104623]

i just bought a viper gc extreme new in the box with everything

YOU LUCKY GUY!!!

how much are these things worth these days and how much were they when they were new and still in production

I got my viper extreme somewhat between 2006 and 08. I think it was 50€, german price. No idea how much it was in the US.
I also bought a bunch of the normal viper gc chips, they were 30€ if I am correct.

You'll propably find people willing to pay around 200$ for a brand new one nowadays. (Just an estimation from my side.)

The Viper Extreme is a really powerful chip for the cube.
It allows you to rip games fairly quickly and it is the only chip (as far as I know) that supports actual safe states (freeze game status) for the cube.
This, the big hype around it and beeing sold out quite quickly make the viper extreme such a desireable piece today.

I think I have a bricked viper extreme somewhere laying around, I should try to get it back to life

The guy i bought the chip from also has a icedcube full case replacement which I'm trying to come to a fair price for it

I also have an icedcube case. It is more a show and shine piece in my opinion.
12cm disks fit juuuusst barely in there, I have constant problems with the disc scratching somewhere in the case because there is such little room for for the disc.
I have already tried so much to get around this but with no success yet. When I carefully close and tilt the lid in the right direction it kind of works.

Since 8cm DVD-Rs are still available today, I'd recommend you to get a bunch of those and just use the regular case. If you want have a serious number of games available, the drive replacement with SD card would be the better solution than using discs.
The Icecube looks damn cool though

200!! Wow thats a lot i bought it for 50usd. I dont know if I want to install it just yet seems horrible to open this and hurt the value. Then again it would look nice in the icedcube case which i just bought this morning i thought these were the best full size disc replacements out there. I have a vipergc clear top cover that the eject button just never works so i took it off some time ago I just hope that this full case works better since I refuse to buy mini DVD-R anymore

[tueidj]

I find this claim of save states to be extremely dubious.

[Doomkeks]

Unfortunately I never tried it. I bricked my Viper Extreme before I could use it.
I always thought the safe state thing was the major difference between the Viper GC and the Viper Extreme.
They announced this feauture with cobra version 2.0 which was supposed to only run on the Extreme.

And again, 200$ is just a rough estimate.

[novenary]

Where exactly would you store the 40MB of ram for a save state ?

[emu_kidid]

I've used it (or rather, tried to), it's really buggy though and only worked maybe 1 out of 20 attempts (just in the menu of a game).

[tueidj]

Not just the main and audio ram, you'd also have to somehow dump the GPU and DSP ram+internal state (and even harder, have some method to restore it), which wouldn't be possible without adding a bunch of hooks into the game which would slow it down to unplayable speeds...

[Doomkeks]

Ah ok, I actually thought that viper extreme safe states thing would work. Never really thought about the physics behind this
That devaluates a factory sealed Viper Extreme a bit of course

[andre104623]

I just got my full case replacement made by viper gc crystal black and there is this usb board mounted on the back under the av ports. There is a mirco usb and full size usb port with a ffc type connector does anyone know what this does and what it connects to?

[novenary]

Probably to replace the parallel programmer.

[andre104623]

Probably to replace the parallel programmer.

Well I thought that also but there is a slot on top of the a/v ports for a parallel port for viper gc. I figured that I cant plug it into the viper gc extreme because there is alot of components on the usb programmer that this board doesnt have. I like it though has a door that opens to access the usb ports very cool.

[emu_kidid]

yeah there's not much use for those, it was intended for USB programming.

[andre104623]

Thanks for the info guys. This cube looks great

tmp_19242-20160225_2356231123115735.jpg

(2.92 MiB) Not downloaded yet

[emu_kidid]

Love it

[RazorX2014]

ive just bought this and waiting for it to arrive i cant wait im not sure what version of cobra it has on it or if it has any dols installed so im gonna have to see and figure out how to update and add some if needed but the console is in mint condition:








it looks pretty sweet i cant wait, anyone know if i could install the usb board inside so the usb connecter is where the usb hole is on the case from what i was able to look up its for a different modchip i think


Update:
it came this morning and its in mint condition i love it ive just finished putting cobra v2.1 on it as well as a theme and swiss so im pretty happy right now its not often you get a chance to buy a mint condition gamecube with a viper extreme in as well as a icedcube case and it was all ready to go no installation required, I think I got it for a good price too.

Does anyone know if i can build that pcb in so it uses up the usb hole?

[ruggero]

Hello,

I need some help for my gamecube.

So...i have viper gc extreme and the gamecube starts usually there is a page called cobra where i can choose the boot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58zqgoo5IOg like this


wrongly i chose the second option "original bios" and now when the gamecube starts there is not che cobra page.

There is a soluction like a combination of keys while the boot to called the cobra page?

thanks a lot and sorry for my bad english

[emu_kidid]

Hold X or Y when booting, one of these will keep you in the menu I believe.

[tesla246]

Are there any modchips in existence that force the original boot up menu in 480p, so in progressive. Little bit tired of my tv switching (and taking its sweet time at that) resolution modes; 480i boot>480p swiss>480i game load>480p turned on. Would be nice if I can force progressive on everything.

Second question, if it is possible, would it work with wasp fusion installed via megadrive v3?

[ruggero]

Hold X or Y when booting, one of these will keep you in the menu I believe.

Nada...i try but the boot is the original

[bytesaber]

Can anyone shed light on the differences in this BIOS files? Which one should I use?

kreg@kreg-PC:~/Desktop$ ls -hla *.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21_drive20010608.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21_drive20020402.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21_drive20020823.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21.vgc

[emu_kidid]

Can anyone shed light on the differences in this BIOS files? Which one should I use?

kreg@kreg-PC:~/Desktop$ ls -hla *.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21_drive20010608.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21_drive20020402.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21_drive20020823.vgc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kreg kreg 80K Jan 1 2007 cobra21.vgc

It says in the Cobra 2.0 or 2.1 readme that they're just specific versions for a particular drive. You'll be fine with just the Cobra21.vgc.

[bytesaber]

Ok thanks. Wasn't sure, and I'm guessing anyone who worked on Cobra is no where to be seen.

[tesla246]

Are there any modchips in existence that force the original boot up menu in 480p, so in progressive. Little bit tired of my tv switching (and taking its sweet time at that) resolution modes; 480i boot>480p swiss>480i game load>480p turned on. Would be nice if I can force progressive on everything.

Second question, if it is possible, would it work with wasp fusion installed via megadrive v3?

Anyone?

[bytesaber]

My Viper running Cobra 2.1, far as I can tell, only boots 480i. I do plan on installing a Shruiken hdmi mod soon. That might globally override everything.

[kublai]

Does anyone know if a Cobra v2.1 ISO exists? I lost my USB adapter for my Viper GC so I have to upgrade via the DVD. I was able to upgrade my BIOS to v1.6 via the DVD but I'm unable to upgrade to v2.1 since it's only a .vgc file. I tried making a ISO9660 but the disc explorer keeps saying unknown file system. I tried adding the .vgc file to the v1.6 ISO but it made the file size to like 200k instead of the original size of 1.4GB when I saved the ISO. Any help is appreciated.