ChronicHedgehog

To elaborate, rather than simply place the 640x480 inside of a 720x480 frame, the Xbox stretches the image to another resolution first. This is responsible for the blurred and uneven pixels.

The checkerboard picture does a better job illustrating the issue, and FBX explains what’s happening over at shmups: https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=1289166#p1289166 ”Followup on my hair-pulling struggle trying to find optimal H. samplerate on 480p for XBOX: It turns out the default value of 858 for 720x480p really was correct for XBOX after all. Strange as it may seem, the software itself is stretching the graphics of games, causing internal linear interpolation of some of the graphics. In Capcom vs SNK EO for example, the original 640 horizontal graphics are extended to 654, and pre-drawn graphics are getting partially interpolated. This shows up really nice and ugly on the S-N-K groove meters that have grid sections. They were pre-drawn at 640 res, and then the 656 stretch makes them look like shit. I wish there was some way to turn this off and 'force' XBOX to output 1:1 pixel ratios, but at least now I know I'm no going crazy with why my OSSC techniques weren't working on the XBOX 480p mode.”

The XBOXHD+ outputs 480p and 720p. Wobbling Pixels is using 480p output with “Prescale” (Xbox internal scaling) off. Transcoding HDMI to component is trivial. The Xbox clearly uses internal scaling at times or the HD+ wouldn’t be able to disable it in the first place. Whatever processing is happening during the internal scaling process is eliminated, resolving my complaints about image quality. The various photos speak for themselves. The only reason I assumed it was AA in the first place was because Modern Vintage Gamer said so. The Retrotink uses Polyphase scaling which enables non-interger scaling to look even and crisp. Regardless, It’s not relevant to the issue at hand.

I know you’re making a joke, but it’s the prescale render that’s responsible for the image quality. The internal scaling process and whatever processing the Xbox does (AA, sharpening) is disabled. I hope someone can implement this into a custom BIOS for people who use component.

The XBOXHD+ has the ability to output games in native resolution when 480p is enabled, bypassing internal scaling! Quite a difference.

That image is through component, and mirrors what I see in my component set up. The author tried to get RGB SCART to work to see if there was any improvement, but his system isn’t compatible. i haven’t set up my Wii with the latest GX Loader and Nintendon’t yet, so I can’t speak from experience, but if I recall correctly, the image quality should be identical to GameCube.

So, I assumed the general softness was due to AA, but I found this over at shmups and now I’m not sure if it’s whatever’s happening here or a combination of both. The image appears to oversharpened to the point where it creates so much ringing around the edges it actually softens the image. https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70359

No, I was informing prtscn that I’m already using 480p component with external video scalers, so deflicker doesn’t apply for my use case.

I have Monster Component cables that and run games at 480p through upscalers, so the flicker filter isn’t an issue. Good to know it can be disabled. Sub 1080p images (960p is probably okay) don’t provide enough data for effective anti ailising, all it does is soften and smear the image. If it’s a choice between jaggies and Vaseline, I’ll chose jaggies every time. I read years ago that someone removed the anti ailising from the original Xbox emulator on 360 but never released it publicly. Check out what been done with Wii And N64

AA on sub 1080p content only serves to degrade the visuals, IMO. Both the N64 and Wii have homebrew to disable various blur effects to great effect. Are there grumblings of anything similar for Xbox?

Friend of mine said it would improve cooling. Can you link a STL for the air duct?

I won’t be using the IceberQ’s, I was referring to removing the DVD drive and HHD mount which I will be doing. I plan on using a 6 inch 80 wire IDE cable and mounting the 2.5” SSD to the motherboard with standoffs.

The heat sinks have been removed and pasted. The old thermal compound might have been fine cooling wise, but it generated lots of dry, hot air, which I found to be an irritant. A friend of mine who was big into Xbox says to stick with the stock heat sinks and removing the DVD + mount, + HDD mount will improve cooling.

Bought two of these years ago but never installed them. Motherboard died recently so I replaced it, softmodded, installed SSD. Trying to get TSOP working. Have a ghost case so I’d like to remove the DVD drive, caddy and HDD mount.

It was this thread that helped me. There appears to be a kernal font and loading issue with certain SSD’s. Rocky5 has generic kernal font enabled by default. Yes… the name is a double entendre based on those old “Chronic the Hedgehog” weed shirts

More progress. Installed the proper Kernal font, copied files to PC. Copied updated files to SSD, error 9 on boot, SSD will now boots with safe mode, but the system will freeze during game play. EDIT: Added a font delay and the system is booting normally with SSD installed!

Resolved the issue somewhat. Created a stock BIOS drive with FatXplorer and a 250GB SATA HDD, everything works fine. Tried the same exact process with the ADATA SU800 240GB SSD, the Xbox FRAGs and gets a consistent error 9 on boot. Setting the jumper to cable select doesn’t matter. My best guess is the SSD is incompatible and the slow clone killed the original drive. It’s not uncommon for old mechanical drives to die shortly after data transfers. Resetting the video cable on black screen had no effect.

Forgot to mention I tired booting without the DVD drive, no luck. Just to be clear, with original drive installed, Xbox logo, NO Microsoft logo, error 7 screen. With cloned SSD, Xbox logo, Microsoft logo, then black screen. Got an error 9 once or twice after the MS logo but only when attempting to boot with Rocky 5 safe mode (Start + Y). I don’t need to preserve anything, it’s been years since I TSOP’d my Xbox and I was simply following tutorials. My knowledge of other methods is fuzzy at this point.

Unfortunately, I am in the 5% of people sensitive to blue light and the fluorescent lights at work give me an instant migraine. I don’t have a way to connect an IDE drive to any of my computers, if the drive is good why does it give me an error 7 when trying to boot? I tried changing the jumper to auto select, that’s about the the extent of the troubleshooting I can do with it. I have the drive from old motherboard, can’t remember if it’s locked or what.

It was copied and pasted from another forum, didn’t notice with my orange computer glasses on. I have plenty of spare SATA drives, I suspect the slow clone killed the original drive.

Motherboard fragged so I bought a version 1.1 replacement with paired hard drive. Board boots. Plays games, etc. Removed leaky clock cap, cleaned board. Soft modded system with Rocky 5. Attempted TSOP, but the files wouldn’t copy. Worked fine with cables soldered in place, but started getting an error on boot. Removed TSOP wires, boots normally. Eventually get Chimp installed and working with composite cables. Won’t boot into the modern interface even though I’m using the latest release. It’s some antiquated version. After some frustration, I figure it out. Chimp reads both drives correctly, both stock and 240GB SSD via a Startech IDE to SATA Adapter verified working with my original 1.0 motherboard. Do a quick clone, clone C and E only, lock to motherboard. Set jumper to master. Will not boot with the new drive, black screen after Xbox logo. Start the procedure over, this time Chimp decides to do a slow clone. Completes overnight, lock drive to motherboard. Shut down system. Come back hours later. Error 7 on boot. Xbox logo, no Microsoft logo, then error screen. Reset all IDE and power connections multiple times, same issue. Examine ports annd connectors for debree. Order a new 80 pin IDE cable, same exact issue. Try booting with SSD, Xbox logo, Microsoft logo, then black screen. Try booting with safe mode, get an error 9 with the SSD, but only once or twice. Reseat all connectors, no difference. Have the EEPROM and HD key so I’m able to mount and browse the cloned SSD on PC with FatXplorer. Appreciate any help here, this is driving me nuts.