pro action replay or switch mod?

[retrosega]

Hi, just like to find out if using the jap/euro/us settings on the Pro Action Replay is the same as modifying the console with a 50hz/60hz switch? Or does the action replay just unblock the region lock?

Thanks

[Cataulin]

Yeah its the same I believe..

[retrosega]

Ok, so on my PAL megadrive, if I use the action replay and set it to play a US Genesis game, does my output from the megadrive become 60Hz and will games play at NTSC speeds or does it bypass the region lock and my output is stll pal and at 50Hz????

[Zebbe]

It will still be 50 Hz, I think.

[Cataulin]

Saturn didnt go by PAL or NTSC, It just region locked by a Letter, like J for japan U for USA and E for Europe. The PAR 4-1 just ignores this.

[Elusive]

Ok, so on my PAL megadrive, if I use the action replay and set it to play a US Genesis game, does my output from the megadrive become 60Hz and will games play at NTSC speeds or does it bypass the region lock and my output is stll pal and at 50Hz????

You have a PAL Mega Drive, a region-locked American NTSC Genesis game, and the use of a Pro Action Replay (PAR). Let's break down how the game runs.

First off, the Mega Drive's region is determined by two internal settings - its video output frequency (50Hz PAL or 60Hz NTSC video), and an internal language setting (Japanese or Overseas). A European Mega Drive is set to output 50Hz video, and is set internally as an Overseas machine. An American Genesis outputs 60Hz video, and is also set as Overseas. A Japanese Mega Drive outputs 60Hz video, and is set as a Japanese machine. (As a side note, it's these two settings that make up the dual-switch mod, which allows you to change your machine's region at will.)

A region-locked Genesis game will expect the console it is plugged into to be an American machine. So, in other words, it expects the console to output 60Hz video, and be set to Overseas. In an American machine, it will detect these settings, realise it's in an American machine, and decide it can run properly. In a European machine, it will notice the machine only outputs 50Hz video, and so will refuse to run.

With that in mind, anything you use that fits between the cart and the machine will only affect the cartridge. I don't know what you mean by 'region settings on the PAR' (entering codes to run foreign games? Using it to get past the cartridge slot lockout? Voodoo magic?), but in general all it and other import converters will probably do is detect what the cartridge expects your machine to be and feed it the correct value so it will boot. They won't perform any magic that lets your machine output 60Hz video or anything.

If you want the full 60Hz video effect on a PAL machine, the only option you have is to modify the machine to make it region-free, and instructions on how to do thisare pretty easy to find.

I hope this helps :)

[retrosega]

Thanks! Answered all my questions! Guess I will try and modify my megadrive2 when I have time.