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We’re back!

Posted by Henry McHenry on 11/04/2021
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After about 2 days, the site is back up and running again. No plugin magic, just good ol fashioned manual restore from backup. Site is now up and running at the new hosting provider.

For my next entry I intend to talk about a Dreamcast ODE. See you later.

PS2 component video and CRT

Posted by Henry McHenry on 09/01/2016
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On my Slim PS2 everything works but PS1 games loaded via PSXLauncher (my imports for example). As I don’t have a PS1 at the moment, using component with my PS2 will be a no go for me. The issue with PSXLauncher and using a component cable is that the colors are wrong and the image is too bright, it looks horrible.
The other thing is, unlike with the Xbox, I didn’t notice much improvement over composite, so I’ll just keep using composite.

Xbox and component 480i

Posted by Henry McHenry on 09/01/2016
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This may be useful for some. I just found out how to make my original Xbox work with the component cable and my Toshiba CRT. The problem I had was, after the boot up sequence which displayed fine, I’d get diagonal video at the EvoX dashboard. That was because the XBox was throwing 480p video to a TV that only takes 480i.
It was as simple as launching the MS dashboard (my first option in EvoX) and going to the video settings. Just tell the Xbox you don’t have a 480p or 720p capable display. The MS Dashboard displays video in 480i to keep thing compatible. After resetting the Xbox, Evox and everything else worked just fine. The 480p/720p/1080i options don’t show up in settings unless the component cable is hooked up.
A huge improvement in video quality over composite. From what I’ve read if you’re already using S-Video on a CRT you won’t notice much improvement if you go the component route.

LG V10

Posted by Henry McHenry on 06/08/2016
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I’ve had this device for two weeks and I absolutely love it. This replaces a personal Note 2 and my work S4. I can do without a replaceable battery but a removable SD is a must. Everything looks, well, big, but does not compromise in quality. The second screen notifications are a blessing, I dont get interrupted while composing an email, checking the calendar, working with the terminal emulator, relaxing watching the tube, etc

Everything works super fast, I can use it with one hand (I have big hands).

On the downside it is not “scene” friendly. Still with some work it can be rooted and Xpossed can be installed. Custom roms cannot be installed unless you posses the US T-Mobile version or the European H960A (except France). Given the unique qualities of this phone I wouldn’t advice installing a custom rom anyways.

Battery life is great if you are on Android 5.1.1, with a fresh installation of Marshmallow the battery still drained quickly.

(re)Tinkering with the Wii

Posted by Henry McHenry on 01/21/2016
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Lately I’ve been tinkering with my Nintendo Wii (you may have heard of it). In order to play newer stuff it is necessary to update some cIOS. 

Otherwise, at the very least you’ll get a black screen, or if the game loads it may not be fully functional. I had this issue where Rodea the Sky Soldier would reboot all the way back to the system menu when I tried to change the in game language. And the voice would remain in english (bleajh).

At the very least cIOS 249 and 250 need to be updated with the d2x cIOS. Use the beta 53 if you want better usb support, use the beta 52 if you want better emunand support. This is how I allocated the cIOS: 

cios 247 base 37 
cios 248 base 38 
cios 249 base 56
cios 250 base 57
cios 251 base 58

Regarding cIOS 236, it seems it is no longer needed, still it doesn’t hurt to (re)install it. Just make sure you use the “mod” or “pro pirate” version of the installer. If you use the regular one make sure to press “2” especially if your dvd drive is hosed.

Other things I did were update the homebrew channel from 1.1.0 to 1.1.2, install Boomii as IOS (no vulnerable “boot1”), install Priiloader and update USB Loader GX (especially for its superb Nintendont integration).

Selecting the cIOS 250 Rodea now allowed me to change the language, and other black screen games now load. 

All in all, the Wii is a great machine and homebrew development still seems to be going strong. It is my go to emulation machine for pretty much everything (but arcade). Component video is a delight on a CRT, almost as good as RGB.

Well, that’s it for now.

Soft modding the vWii

Posted by Henry McHenry on 01/07/2016
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Last night I decided to go ahead and soft mod my Wii U’s “Wii mode”. Main motivation to do this is to play emulators via the HDMI interface and see if input lag would improve, another reason was to try GC games using progressive scan.

The process is simple enough if you have the right tools. In my case I procured a copy of Smash Bros Brawl many moons ago to perform the Smash Stack on a relative’s red Wii. I kept the game in case it was needed in the future.

The process is pretty much the same as with a regular Wii, 

– Start “Wii mode” 
– Delete any Smash saves
– Launch Smash
– Create a save
– Delete custom stages
– Go back to “Vault”
– Insert a regular SD card (< 2gb one) with the smash stack and the Hackmii installer
– Go to the stage builder, the Hackmii installer should begin
– Install the Hombrew channel as usual

I tried FCEU GX, I can even load roms from my NAS. Picture quality and lag improved by a lot compared to using my Wii with composite. Super Mario 3 and Tecmo Super Bowl were definitely playable.

Nintendon’t worked like a charm using the SD card exclusively. Great picture quality at 480p, and flawless control with the Wii U Pro controller.

I couldn’t get the external USB hard drive to work even using a “Y” cable. It seems the Wii U USB ports are utter garbage. The same drive works great on the Wii and using a regular cable. I’ll test tonight with a powered enclosure and report back.

Another issue I found is that with certain homebrew apps (tested multimods, wad manager and the intellivision emulator) after the the app starts the Wii remote disconnects and it doesn’t connect back, so it is impossible to use the app or get back out of it, so I have to unplug the console. Multimods screen saver kicks in so I know the console is not locked, just the remote is not syncing. I’ll have to do some research.

Update 1: Just read some newer controllers maybe incompatible with certain apps. Last night I was using a Luigi edition remote with integrated motion plus. I’ll test with an old regular regular remote and report back.

Update 2: Using a powered interface I solved my hard disk issues, homebrew can see the hard disk no problem. Using an old regular Wii remote solved my controller problems, that one works fine with all homebrew apps (Atari 2600 yay!).






Emulation nostalgia

Posted by Henry McHenry on 05/18/2015
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I remember back in the late 90s (around 97 I think) I still had my Genesis and games around, until a friend told me about Genecyst. I got me a four button PC gamepad and sold my Genesis and games and saved for a PSX. I had the PSX for a few months and sold it to save for a Dreamcast. Since then I kept all my consoles. 

I’d say the golden age of emulation was the late 90’s early 00’s. You may think I’m crazy but lately I’ve been feeling nostalgic about those times, when I’d find a translated game or would discover a gem and fire up KGen or ZSnes and enjoyed it on my Celeron PC.

With the modded Xbox I never thought I’d go back to the original hardware, until the nostalgia bug bit me sometime in 08 and got me a Genesis. I have the carts I like and can afford, for everything else I use flash carts. 

For systems like the Saturn, the emulation never got to the level of PS1 so real hardware is the way to go. For systems like the PCE while they’re emulated pretty well, I had some curiosity as to how things worked there.

It all boils down to your preferences and budget. Personally, nothing beats the real console hooked up via composite to a CRT, just like back in the day. While RGB may look nice on a PVM, I just don’t see me going that route, I mean it’s not what I had 20+ years ago.

Hobbies

Posted by Henry McHenry on 05/15/2015
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Ok, so here are some of my hobbies:

1. Hiking / Hiking mountainous terrain
2. Sky diving (it’s been some time but I’m always ready for some action)
3. Cooking
4. Photography. I may not have an expensive Nikon/Canon camera but that doesn’t stop me form taking the most unusual pictures.
5. Play softball. Yeah I know no more baseball, the team atmosphere is what I like the most.
6. Writing. You know like this blog.
7. Reading. Last year I read 4 books. The most recent “Ensayo sobre la ceguera” (Blindness) from José Saramago.
8. Community service. It’s so great being able to “give something back” to the community.

You filthy console

Posted by Henry McHenry on 04/03/2015
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A few days ago I saw a listing for a broken XEGS console. I was interested in just the shell (I had a spare working motherboard laying around). I thought this would make for a quick restoration project so for the rough equivalent of $14 USD I got this:


It was filthy with capital F. I set the mobo apart and washed everything with a brush and laundry detergent, dried it with a towel then let it sit in the sun for a few mins.

I still wasn’t too happy with it, it was a bright sunny day so I just decided to spray paint it. My options were Red, white, orange or gold. Here’s the result:


As per the supposedly broken motherboard, I cleaned it up with compressed air then tested it. It worked fine with the internal Missile Command and a Pole Position cart so I decided to go with it.

Here’s the end result:


(at least using composite connections) Everything works like a dream. This will be my go to console for cartridge based gaming. 

For any Atari 8 bit owner I strongly recommend getting the Atarimax cartridge, that thing kicks butt even if you use it only for gaming. Every game on .xex format is available at Atarionline.pl

Can you live 100% on emulation?

Posted by Henry McHenry on 02/27/2015
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Short answer yes. I’ve done it before. Sometimes I even feel nostalgic about emulation. Around Aug 97 is when I first tried emulation with Nesticle and Genecyst. At the time I didn’t have internet at home, part of the fun was to rent a PC after class, bring a box full of floppies, download and copy emus and roms, get home, unload everything, fiddle with the emus configurations and explore all these systems I didn’t have “back in the day” or relive past glories. Thanks to emulation I got to relive the glories in the arcades from the comfort of my house and without spending tokens. I got to enjoy the best the Atari 2600 and SNES libraries had to offer (two consoles I didn’t have). I discovered some of what the mythical Sega Saturn had to offer, etc. In 98 I sold my Genesis and games, in 99 I sold my PS1 (kept my NES in storage). From 99 to 08 it was 100% emulation for my pre 6th gen gaming.
Fast forward to 2008, I got nostalgic and bought me a Genesis and good amount of games. Later on I found myself getting more games for my NES and later on I was exploring other systems and definitely got back to getting and using real hardware.
Today, emulation still has its place, the Wii is a great emulation box pretty much for everything pre 5th gen. I got a pad converter and use it specially when I want to record some footage.
Using the real hardware helped me to better understand what was it like “back in the day” using these consoles and computers. Consoles like the Saturn and the PC Engine were great to own if you had access to japanese releases. A device like the XEGS was a good value if you needed a PC that got the work done and let you chill out at the same time. 
As per PC goes, packages like Virtualbox, VMWare and Dosbox are neat but don’t quite replicate the experience. One of my recent projects has been assembling a PC like the one I had back in 2000. I didn’t realize I forgot so many things about getting Win98 to play along with productivity software and games. And I’m gonna leave it there for now.