Messages

1

General Gaming / RE:Help with RGB Scart Cable

« on: August 17, 2003, 06:42:53 AM »

I'm not a scart expert, since it's more of a Euro thing.  However, I believe that a scart cable carries multiple signals, both RGB and composite, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that you've still got a composite signal running through it.  Need more data to really know what's going on.

-Angus

2

Nintendo Gaming / fools, ignorent fools

« on: July 20, 2003, 07:19:06 AM »

And the award for Most Ironic Spelling Error goes to ... XBOXMAN!!

Congratulations, you suck at the internet!

-Angus

[Yenko]

3

General Gaming / Disc sizes

« on: July 02, 2003, 06:40:54 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Yenko
Berny,

A stardard size DVD has more data on the outer most tracks than a mini DVD. With a CAV drive that extra data means higher maximum transfer rates. That's why using the smaller discs with a CAV drive is a disadvantage.

As YoungerPlumber pointed out, what you say is true only if you assume the angular velocity to be the same on both systems.  Since the GCN has smaller, lighter discs, it's not unreasonable to surmise that it spins them faster.

-Angus

4

General Gaming / GBA Tunnel?

« on: June 24, 2003, 04:26:08 AM »

It would be tough.  I've experimented with connecting the Gamecube controller port to a Strongarm-based device (Cerfcube) via the Strongarm's GPIO pins.  I successfully read messages from the GCN, but the timing was really tricky.  I don't know if a standard serial or parallel port would be flexible enough for the task.

I thought that a better approach might be to get a Skillz Cube Connection USB and try to write your own driver for it to support GBA tunneling, but it's likely that the device is only capable of talking to a controller.

-Angus

[Oz_joker]

5

Nintendo Gaming / Wind Waker's Depth of Field Blur and Odd Vertical Lines

« on: June 14, 2003, 05:06:54 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Oz_joker

But Nintendo has gone out of it's way to include Progressive scan support in it's games,  so surely these vertical lines aren't a result of poor Pro-Scan support - Nintendo must have been aware of their presence in the game.

I've played MANY games on my television, cell-shaded and non-cell-shaded, but this is the only game that seems to suffer from this problem. Very strange.

I didn't mean to imply that the lines were caused by running the game in p-scan mode.  I believe the lines are there in either mode.

Another example of the p-scan problems I'm talking about:  When you go to the Forsaken Forstress initially, it's dark and foggy.  Running the game in interlaced mode, it looks like it's supposed to look (foggy).  Running the game in p-scan mode, the fog manifests itself as a strange translucent pattern of squares.  It's hard to explain; maybe I can get a screen cap.

-Angus

[Professional 666]

6

Nintendo Gaming / Wind Waker is SOOOOOO Blurry!!!!!!

« on: June 13, 2003, 05:22:07 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Professional 666
He's referring to the color dithering patterns visible in flat shaded areas like the ocean waters, especially noticeable during sunrise and sunset where the color tones of the waters go through rapid transitions.  Why does dither occur?  Cuz the game is processing more color information than the hardware's color palette conveniently allows.

That sounds like a reasonable explanation.  However, dithering usually results in color banding.  I've never seen dithering produce regularly spaced vertical lines over the whole screen, as are present in WindWaker (and only WindWaker).  They're pretty much visible all the time on my TV.  

For those of you who haven't seen the lines, imagine looking at the game through the bars of a jail cell, where the "bars" are lighter-colored than the area in between them.

Someone mentioned that Nintendo might not be too concerned about progressive scan users, since they represent such a small percentage of the game-buying public.  I agree with this.  Many games have problems when running in p-scan mode.  Example: FMV sequences often appear very blocky, possibly because they're designed for display on an interlaced device, and they're using some type of upscan algorithm.  Didn't all Dreamcast games support VGA resolution?  How many years ago?  Then they get ported to gamecube and progressive scan support is removed.  It doesn't really add up.

Nintendo makes great games; let there be no confusion.  I think they're just perhaps a little too reluctant to fully embrace new technology.

-Angus

EDIT:  Apparently, I think faster than I type, which causes me to skip words that are essential in understanding the sentence.

   

7

Nintendo Gaming / Wind Waker is SOOOOOO Blurry!!!!!!

« on: June 12, 2003, 02:34:54 PM »

I'll provide a dissenting opinion here and agree with the thread starter.  I think they overdid it with the blur effects.  Also, those vertical lines are horrible if you have a large TV.  It detracts from the game.

I could also make other complaints, mainly regarding visual artifacts that are only visible when running in progressive scan mode.  It's disappointing that they have these problems; it's 2003 after all.

It's still a great game, gameplay-wise.

-Angus

8

Nintendo Gaming / Why no original Super Mario or Donkey Kong for Cube ??

« on: June 02, 2003, 08:51:29 AM »

Maybe I'm mistaken, but it sounds like the thread starter is actually asking why Nintendo hasn't produced a Gamecube version of the original Super Mario Bros. or Donkey Kong.   It seems that Nintendo's modus operandi thus far has been to embed the old classics in modern games as a special treat.  They have already done this with Super Mario Bros. via Animal Crossing, Metroid via Metroid Prime/Fusion, etc.  The more recent classics seem to get the GBA treatment.

Why do they do this?  I guess they see this method as having more value than flat-out re-releasing the old games.  Whether or not there is actually more value, I don't know.  It is certainly more fun, though.  

-Angus

9

General Gaming / S-Video vs. RCA??

« on: May 19, 2003, 04:56:37 PM »

RGB Scart is, indeed, a PAL thing.  It's common in Europe but unheard of in the US, at any rate.  

Component video is not RGB.  It's misleading, because they color code the connectors in red, blue, and green, but it's not an RGB signal.  Scart also uses a very different physical connector from Component video.

-Angus

Edited for clarity.
 

10

General Chat / I just got a Voodoo 2!

« on: May 19, 2003, 04:13:52 PM »

I'm happy for you.  The first time I saw GLQuake running on a Voodoo I nearly soiled myself.  I had to have one.  It was a gaming epiphany.

The thing I really liked about about the Voodoo 1 and 2 was the way they were implemented in Linux.  Because it was a separate card from your VGA card, it had it's own device node and you could run glide programs straight to the metal.  It was the only fast way to game on Linux until DRI came along years later.

I still have my Canopus Pure3D, in fact.  I passed it on to my grandfather when it got too old, but it recently came into my possession when he bought a new PC.

-Angus

11

General Gaming / What is LAN

« on: May 19, 2003, 01:05:02 PM »

For more than 2 Gamecubes, you'd need a hub.  For 2, you can use a crossover cable as Rick said above.

-Angus

12

General Gaming / Hooking up to a monitor

« on: May 15, 2003, 07:30:07 AM »

Uhh, hi there

The Gamecube comes with A/V cables only.  To hook these to a VGA monitor, you'd need a "VGA box".  I believe that Redant makes a popular model for under 50 bucks (I could be wrong about the price).  Picture quality won't be so good.

The next step up the quality ladder would be S-Video-to-VGA.  You'd need to purchase a Gamecube S-Video cable and a box to convert S-Video to VGA.  I don't know the specifics of such a device, but I'm sure they exist.  Quality will be better, but still not true VGA quality.  This is probably a little more expensive than the previous option.

Finally, you get into the realm of Component Video to VGA.  This is where the quality is, and this the option with which I am particularly familliar.  It can be cheap, but you probably don't want to go this route, since you'll only be able to play progressive scan games unless you have a really rare monitor.  There are really three ways to go about it.  
1) Buy a component video cable from Nintendo and mod it yourself to produce a VGA signal.  Cheapest option, but requires soldering sk1llz.  
2) Buy a pre-modded cable from somewhere.  (Goldenshop, I think)
3) Buy a component-to-RGB transcoder.  This is expensive.

If I remember correctly, BNC connectors carry the same signal as a regular 15-pin VGA, it's just a different physical connector.  It doesn't really help, unless you mod your own cable in which case it may save you a little soldering.

Unless you are a tinkerer, or a real entusiast, or just have money to burn, you probably want to go with one of the first two options.

-Angus

13

Nintendo Gaming / Hooking up to a monitor?

« on: May 15, 2003, 05:56:39 AM »

Yep.  There's lots of threads about it here, and also in the Technical Discussion section.  Bottom line is, there's more to it than just a physical adapter.  There are lots of ways to do it, but you're going to have to spend at least 40 bucks or more depending on which solution you go for.

Edit:  This assumes that you're actually looking to convert the Gamecube's video signal into a VGA signal.  If you have one of those fancy new monitors that can also be used as a TV/HDTV/Toaster Oven/CoatRack, you might have an easier go of it.

-Angus

 

14

General Gaming / PlayStation Portable, a serious contender to GBA?

« on: May 14, 2003, 01:27:36 PM »

I don't have anything serious too add, but I thought the linked atricle was funny.  It's apparently going to be great because some Sony execs were quoted as saying that it's going to be great.  What do you expect the Sony execs to say, that it's going to suck?  

-Angus

15

General Gaming / Official thread:Infium labs Phantom system

« on: May 14, 2003, 01:17:10 PM »

I remember reading about this on Slashdot quite a while ago.  The concensus of opinion is that it's either a hoax, or just a PC in a pretty box.  If you read Infinium Labs' press releases, they certainly sound fake; it was like a bunch of buzz words thrown together without really saying anything.  I think it's a joke, personally.

-Angus

[abdeldark]

16

General Gaming / What resolution uses the GC games?

« on: May 13, 2003, 02:49:57 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: abdeldark
a ntsc tv resulution is 512*384 at 60 herz and a pal tv resolution is 640*480 ay 50 hertz
game who suport hdtv have a resoltion of 1024*784 for ntsc

That's mostly correct, but if we're being technical let's be pedantic too. The hdtv standard is actually called ATSC.  NTSC refers only to the old 480-line interlaced 60Hz standard (there are actually 525 lines in NTSC, but usually only 480 are used).  There really is no standard for the horizontal resolution.  It's limited by how fast the signal generator can modulate the signal, and of course the physical resolution of the display device.

-Angus

17

Nintendo Gaming / THIS is why I am lsing faith in the 'Cube.

« on: May 13, 2003, 11:02:52 AM »

The way I see it, the only one of your arguments that holds water is the lack of online gaming on the 'cube.  Hopefully this will be rectified soon.

-Angus

18

Nintendo Gaming / What do you think of IGN's Top 100 games ever?

« on: May 08, 2003, 05:20:20 AM »

EW's top 100 was a joke.  Grand Theft Auto 3 and Madden 2003 in the top 5?  Please...

Zelda and Mario deserve top 5, certainly.  Although I personally prefer Zelda to Mario, Mario is more of a cultural phenomenon (movies, TV shows, et al) and has a wider appeal than Zelda, so I'd have to put Mario above Zelda.  In this respect, and also considering the fact that I'm an old fart, I'd have to consider putting Pac-man above both Zelda and Mario.  Not only was Pac-man a cultural phenomemon, it helped create the video game industry as we know it.  In the 80s, it seemed like every restaurant in America had a Pac-man (or Ms. Pac-man) machine, and who could resist popping a quarter in and trying your luck?

-Angus

19

General Gaming / Gamecube Memory Card info

« on: May 03, 2003, 05:34:34 AM »

I have one.  It works perfectly with every game I have, except Madden 2003.  Apparently, this is because it doesn't handle large save files properly.

-Angus

20

General Gaming / My Cube stops working after a while.

« on: May 02, 2003, 06:01:47 PM »

Disc motor R.I.P.  Call Nintendo of America and see about getting it replaced.

-Angus

21

General Gaming / Help me please!! (Progressive Scan/vga cable)

« on: May 02, 2003, 05:59:29 PM »

Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, and Mario Party 4 will work, since they're Nintendo titles.

The others, I don't know.  You might try checking the reviews on this very website for more information.  If all else fails, google is your friend.  

-Angus

22

General Gaming / VGA Calbe to my tft monitor. Help me, please.

« on: May 02, 2003, 05:54:23 PM »

I do not think that it will work, based on this quote from the product page for the converter:

Your Apple Flat Panel Display will only work at its native resolution when using the VGA to ADC Conversion Box.

Apple Flat Panel Resolution
15" 1024x768 @ 60hz
17" 1280x1024 @ 60hz
20" 1680x1050 @ 60hz
22" 1600x1024 @ 60hz
23" 1920x1200 @ 60hz

The Gamecube will only do 640x480@60hz.

-Angus

23

Nintendo Gaming / Gettin' Cube...finally! (Official "What game should I get?" Thread)

« on: May 01, 2003, 10:08:42 AM »

Well, the person who recommended Vexx gets the prize.  I got it last week, and I've been enjoying it.

I also picked up Skies of Arcadia.  I haven't played it yet, but I figure it must be good since everyone is raving about it despite the fact that the graphics don't look so hot.  

-Angus

24

General Gaming / Help me please!! (Progressive Scan/vga cable)

« on: April 30, 2003, 11:18:46 AM »

Yeah, playing games on the monitor is nice.  The picture is super-sharp.  I also own an HDTV, though, so I only use the VGA monitor when my fiancee is hogging the TV.

There's supposed to be an icon on the back of the game box to indicate whether it supports progressive scan, but not all game publishers use it, which results in confusion.  All Nintendo first-party (and second party, I think) games will support progressive scan.  You just have to be careful with the third party games.  If it doesn't have the progressive scan icon on the box, do a search on the net first to find out for sure.

-Angus

25

General Gaming / Help me please!! (Progressive Scan/vga cable)

« on: April 30, 2003, 08:17:51 AM »

If the game does not support progressive scan, it will not work with VGA.  There's nothing you or I can do (except find a monitor that supports 15khz horizontal refresh, which I have not been able to do).

-Angus