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Gun Valkyrie on a 1.6b Revision, No 480p?


Guffman
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Hey all, only bringing this up as a new topic since a quick search here didn't find any results. I happened upon this game at a retro shop near me, and something about seeing a Sega game I'd never heard of for the Xbox compelled me to snatch it up. I wasn't the biggest Xbox fan growing up, and only recently got into the scene, so please don't make fun of me for my ignorance (or do lol). Anyways, I tried to boot the game up on my Halo Edition system (I believe revision 1.6b), and... got a bunch of gibberish all over my screen. I can take pictures if anyone is super curious, but the various "Alternate Display Modes" lists I've found for the OG Xbox list Gun Valkyrie as one of the only two games for the console that cannot be played in progressive modes, specifically on this revision and despite the games themselves supporting it (the other seems to be Panzer Dragoon Orta). I've been pretty curious about this for some months now, but, like I said, I'm pretty new to the Xbox ecosystem, and it's pretty crazy this even happens on the 360 I guess? If anyone can shed some light on why, or what changed in the 1.6 revision that would break these two specific games in these specific modes, I would be grateful! I'm very intrigued!

 

I have a softmodded system, so if there's a way to bypass or workaround the issue, I'm all for trying. I'm content using the RetroTink 5X for now on 480i with this game, and would like to pick up Panzer Dragoon someday as well, so if there's nothing to do about it, that's acceptable too. Like I said, mostly curious! Thank you.

Edited by Guffman
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Microsoft redesigned the motherboard in 1.6/1.6b version of the console.  They replaced the video encoder with a custom chip - Xcalibur - and the PIC processor/BIOS TSOP flash memory chip/temperature sensor/etc. with another custom chip named Xyclops.

The Xbox's default resolution is 480i and the game will play at 480i - standard definition. However, many games don't work at high-definition resolutions because the new video encoder chip does not get properly configured to play them.  The result scrambled video output is displayed when high definition modes and cabling are in use.  Disable 480p, 720p and 1080i to play the game at 480i. 

OR

If your Xbox is modded, there is a script, 480p Game Loaders, that runs in XBMC4Xbox to patch the games so they can be played from the hard drive in supported high-definition resolutions.  The patch will not fix playing the game from original game discs - Read-only media.  The patch only has to be applied once.  You can then run the patched game from your replacement dashboard of choice.

For more details on which games need patching and how to apply the patch, watch Rocky5's YouTube video:

 

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FYI the v1.6 480p loader patch used for Gun Valkyrie is the same as Panzer Dragoon Orta. Both Sega games.

It is actually just the PD1 launcher that PDO includes as an in game unlockable. It was found that in both cases if you launch that PD1 actually runs in 480p, if your set up supports and it is enabled of course. The 'trick' is it maintains that resolution if you then exit back to the primary game.

Rocky5 incorporated that discovery into his XBMC v1.6 480p launcher script for those two games but AFAIK it doesn't work for any other Sega game that has the same problem. 

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  • 1 month later...

This is very interesting, guys, thank you! I'm sorry I didn't see the responses right away when I first posted since you guys answered it so quick! These 480p loaders are definitely worth looking into!

 

On 6/26/2021 at 5:54 AM, HDShadow said:

...it doesn't work for any other Sega game that has the same problem. 

 

Are there others too? As far as I saw on the pages of "List of Xbox Games with Alternate Display Modes" around online, PDO and GV were the only two... Did this happen with a lot of other Sega games? Anybody know why just Sega (something about those Xcaliber and Xyclops chips I assume)?

Either way guys, thank you for the informative answers! I knew I came to the right place!

EDIT: Nevermind, I actually watched Rocky5's video that Kaos posted above and he flat out says "these are all the games". That would have helped before I posted... :P

Edited by Guffman
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