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What does region free mean, anyway?


russlb
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Hi all,

So I've gotten back into the scene taking a break from my RaspberryPi VirtualMan builds to setup some ogXboxes that I had in the garge taking up space.

I now have two Xboxes:  One with Rocky5's Softmod with a 2TB HD; the other a 1.4 hardmod with Cerbios latest version and a 3TB drive.

I noticed that PAL games (Alien Hominid, Panzer Elite Action, Pool:Shark 2) don't run on the hardmod, but do run on the softmod.

So how is region free handled on the original modded Xbox, and why would there be a discrepancy?

Inquiring minds want to know.  I don't mind getting all techie either.

RussLB

P.S.: Some PAL games DO work, e.g. Metal Slug 4 and 5, Taito Legends 2, Yetisports.

Edited by russlb
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An unmodded Xbox checks the region of the console versus the region set in the header of a game's default.xbe file.

XBE Header Content [.XBE File Format (caustik.com)]:

 

Game Region

Game region for this .XBE. For example:

#define XBEIMAGE_GAME_REGION_NA             0x00000001
#define XBEIMAGE_GAME_REGION_JAPAN          0x00000002
#define XBEIMAGE_GAME_REGION_RESTOFWORLD    0x00000004
#define XBEIMAGE_GAME_REGION_MANUFACTURING  0x80000000
x0004 x00A0

Configuration EEPROM Region [EEPROM - xboxdevwiki]:

Start Offset
0x2C

End Offset
0x2F

RC4 Encrypted Region code values:

0x00000001 = North America

0x00000002 = Japan

0x00000004 = Europe & Australia

0x80000000 = Manufacturing plant

 

I believe Region Free means that all region bits are set in the header of the game's default.xbe file:

0x00000001, 0x000000002, and 0x00000004 = 0x00000007 (region-free)

Binary: 00000000000000000000000000000001 (North America)

Binary: 00000000000000000000000000000010 (Japan)

Binary: 00000000000000000000000000000100 (Europe & Australia)
===================================================
Binary: 00000000000000000000000000000111 (Region-Free, this default.xbe file can run on all Xboxes, not restricted by region)

 

 

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The question is also why the discrepancy between hardmod and softmod behaviour with those games?

Have you checked that the region settings are not different on the hardmod because I can not think of any reason for that distinct behavioural difference just due to it being hardmodded.

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There are some PAL games that only output a video signal on a console set to PAL mode.  I believe all of CodeMasters' Club Football series of games work that way.  I've not checked the XBE file's  Game Region  flag to see how it is set in them.  Most likely 0x00000004 (Europe & Australia a.k.a Rest of the World).

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2 hours ago, HDShadow said:

The question is also why the discrepancy between hardmod and softmod behaviour with those games?

Have you checked that the region settings are not different on the hardmod because I can not think of any reason for that distinct behavioural difference just due to it being hardmodded.

One of the features of the Cerbios bios aside from LBA48 was supposed to be universal region fix so I thought it would work.

More background.  I formatted a 2TB drive with NTSC and PAL games minus the sports games, e.g. Alien Hominid, Rolling, The Wild Rings with the translation for English.  With the 2TB drive in a softmodded 1.6 those games run.  I found a 1.4 in my inventory so I TSOP flashed Cerbios latest, then copied the F and G drives of the 2TB to the F drive of a 3TB drive formatted with FatXplorer.  All NTSC games run fine, but the aforementioned games reboot to dash.  Both consoles checked with Enigmah show NTSC.  However I'm able to get a subset list of PAL games to place as noted in the start of the thread.  I'm really curious because some of the games I wanted on the 3TB, e.g. MIami Vice... lol!

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50 minutes ago, coldasijs said:

did you also try the games with your XBOX on PAL (switch with enigmah)?

Also do you have the same dashboards installed on both consoles?

I have XBMC4Gamers running on both.  The only difference is the softmod vs. the hardmod.  Both are setup for NTSC.  I haven't tried switching to PAL for those games.  I'm also using an XBOX 2 HDMI cable (one cable testing with both xboxes).

I'm away from the boxes right now but I will try tonight.

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10 hours ago, russlb said:

I have XBMC4Gamers running on both.  The only difference is the softmod vs. the hardmod.  Both are setup for NTSC.  I haven't tried switching to PAL for those games.  I'm also using an XBOX 2 HDMI cable (one cable testing with both xboxes).

I'm away from the boxes right now but I will try tonight.

I tried this with Tour De France...

Tweaked the default.xbe to be 'region free'.  All regions selected.

Under NTSC, reboots to XBMC4Gamers.

Change to PAL with Enigmah and try again, same result.

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49 minutes ago, russlb said:

I tried this with Tour De France...

Tweaked the default.xbe to be 'region free'.  All regions selected.

Under NTSC, reboots to XBMC4Gamers.

Change to PAL with Enigmah and try again, same result.

Go to the XBOX-SCENE Discord server's #cerbios-test-reports channel and report the games that are not starting with CerBIOS on your modded v1.4 console.

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6 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

Go to the XBOX-SCENE Discord server's #cerbios-test-reports channel and report the games that are not starting with CerBIOS on your modded v1.4 console.

I've been posting a few there.  I'm able to debug whatever needs to be done!  I can post what works first, then what doesn't. :)

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