ESR with NTSC Games on a PAL system?

Hi folks,

I am working on a Beatmania setup for my room and my 4 Beatmania IIDX games came in the mail last week. These are Japanese imports, however I am running a PS2 Slim SCPH-77002 PAL console. My TV supports both PAL and NTSC (as I have owned a chipped PS1 in the past)....

I was wondering if I could just make my own backups of these PS2 games (hey at least my CDs will be in pristine condition!), patch them and run them on a PAL PS2?

I hope so and that I hope my investment in a controller and the games wasnt an unfruitful one :o

Any tips greatly appreciated.

They should work ok if they're on DVD , region doesn't matter for ESR
If they don't ..try with Open PS2 Loader 0.7

they should work, as your tv supports PAL and NTSC, I play some NTSC backups on my PAL machine with ESR, it works fine, after I got an RGB cable (had been playing in black and white), but you shouldnt need to change the cable with your tv

Cheers guys. Yeah I watch NTSC DVDs on my TV with no dramas so hope the PS2 games run as well. I contacted someone from this board who could load the FreeMCB and ESR softwares on a memcard and ill get back u guys. Thanks!

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I was wondering if I could just make my own backups of these PS2 games (hey at least my CDs will be in pristine condition!), patch them and run them on a PAL PS2?

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If your TV supports NTSC signal display then you don't even need to patch them, otherwise you can use "ps2_pal2ntsc_yfix" which will force your game to be ran at PAL.

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Originally Posted by shadovraven

If your TV supports NTSC signal display then you don't even need to patch them, otherwise you can use "ps2_pal2ntsc_yfix" which will force your game to be ran at PAL.

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I think you misunderstood what he meant by "patch them", as that probably referred to the ESR patching, which he definitely will need.

It is only the PAL vs NTSC video mode patching that is eliminated by having a TV that supports both modes.

Btw: I also think you got your description wrong, as ps2_pal2ntsc_yfix sounds more like it is intended for those who run a PAL game with an NTSC console+TV, rather than the opposite.

In any case, for those that have such video mode conversion needs, another alternative solution is to use the GSModeselector program to enforce the mode they need before starting a game using a mode incompatible with the TV. This GSM method does not require any ISO patching at all (though ESR if used will still need its own patch).

Best regards: dlanor

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I think you misunderstood what he meant by "patch them", as that probably referred to the ESR patching, which he definitely will need.

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If that's what he meant then yes I misunderstooded it.

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Btw: I also think you got your description wrong, as ps2_pal2ntsc_yfix sounds more like it is intended for those who run a PAL game with an NTSC console+TV, rather than the opposite.

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It does sound like it but it works in both ways, I used this program personally to force NTSC games to work in PAL.

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In any case, for those that have such video mode conversion needs, another alternative solution is to use the GSModeselector program to enforce the mode they need before starting a game using a mode incompatible with the TV. This GSM method does not require any ISO patching at all (though ESR if used will still need its own patch).

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That's true but there are some games which have problems with refresh rate when using a GSM.

I personally wouldn't recommend patching NTSC to PAL: in my experience, it's always been hit or miss, either it didnt work, or any game that did work had problems, such as audio playing out of sync or whaterver. The only way you find out is after burning the disc: so a few wasted discs later, I figured it would be more economical to buy the RGB cable, for €5 rather than waste many discs:

and as for the screen not being level or whatever, its never been a problem: the screen is off centre at the title screen or whatever, but always 99% perfect during the gameplay!that's just for me playing NTSC games on a PAL machine,
just one thing though, if you have an RGB cable, it will cause dvds to play back in green, (analog copy protection from sony), to get around this, I got a 2 in one RGB cable that has a composite and component lead, so to switch between composite and component you just need to change the tv channel, anyway, hope its helpful for you

Hi,

I have a similar question that have been aswered (I think ?) but just for confirmation, I want to ask it myself :

I've a PAL slim PS2 with Free McBoot, and when I try to run NTSC games, it works but in black and white only. Is there a way to fix that ? I heard I had to buy another cable or to patch my games...

And what if I play with this PAL console on a NTSC tv ?


Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by Ritsuki

Hi,

I have a similar question that have been aswered (I think ?) but just for confirmation, I want to ask it myself :

I've a PAL slim PS2 with Free McBoot, and when I try to run NTSC games, it works but in black and white only. Is there a way to fix that ? I heard I had to buy another cable or to patch my games...

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Replacing your original composite cable with either SCART-RGB or Component cable will allow full colour display for both PAL and NTSC games. Both will also significantly improve the clarity and sharpness of the picture, as they eliminate the fuzziness that was caused by the composite signal's colour cross-modulation (needed to jam all three colour signals into a single wire).

Component cable is the best choice for many reasons (which I won't detail here), so if your TV set has such inputs that is definitely what you should use. But many older CRT TV sets will only have SCART inputs (apart from the RF antenna input), so then you don't have any choice.

If buying a SCART cable, make very sure that you do get a proper SCART-RGB type, and not just a SCART-Composite (which is what Sony supply with every console here, even PS3).

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And what if I play with this PAL console on a NTSC tv ?

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They never have SCART, so such a cable wouldn't work there, but they frequently have Component inputs, even for many CRT sets.

So a component cable would work fine there too, with full colour even for PAL games, but the NTSC TV sets often have a problem syncing to 50Hz VSync, so the picture may roll in the console's native PAL mode, or when playing a PAL game.


The reason for this difference is that the PAL interval between VSync pulses is longer than the same interval for NTSC. 20ms VS 16.67ms... So to a PAL TV the problem is minor, as an NTSC VSYNC simply arrives a little earlier than a PAL TV expects it, but it still obeys and syncs properly.

But to an NTSC TV set the PAL VSync interval is too long, so when that VSync pulse arrives it is already too late, as the TV set already finished that half-frame period and started a new one some 3.33 milliseconds ago. And then the late-coming sync is probably ignored and the new half-frame data displayed in a lower position, and so the picture rolls.

On the better quality TV sets this problem should not occur, as the set should adjust an internal oscillator to match the incoming 50Hz rate, instead of just assuming a 60Hz period like cheaper NTSC sets may do.

But regardless of all that, if your TV set(s) can use it, a component cable is still the best choice.


Another solution that is independent of hardware is to use the program GSM (GS Modeselector) to enforce the video mode you want for your TV, so that the chosen mode will be used regardless of the region of both your console and of the game you play on it.

This can also solve both colour and sync problems, but does not eliminate the fuzziness I mentioned, which is caused by the composite signal methods.

And you can of course also use component cable and GSM together, which is also required in order for GSM to enforce other video modes than PAL/NTSC on an HDTV set.

GSM has a thread of its own in the main "PS2 Homebrew/Dev & Emu" forum, just outside this ESR subforum, and beneath the list of these subforums. So look there for more info if you are interested in it.

Best regards: dlanor