Table of Contents for
Gaming Hacks

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2004
  1. Cover
  2. Gaming Hacks
  3. Credits
  4. Contributors
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. How to Use This Book
  9. How This Book Is Organized
  10. Conventions Used in This Book
  11. Using Code Examples
  12. Comments and Questions
  13. Got a Hack?
  14. 1. Playing Classic Games
  15. Legal Emulation
  16. Play Commodore 64 Games Without the C-64
  17. Play Atari ROMs Without the Atari
  18. Use Atari Paddles with Your PC
  19. Run Homebrew Games on the Atari 2600
  20. Create Your Own Atari 2600 Homebrew Games
  21. Play Classic PC Graphic Adventures
  22. Play Old Games Through DOSBox
  23. Play Reissued All-in-One Joystick Games
  24. Play Arcade Games Without the Arcade
  25. Add and Manipulate a MAME Frontend
  26. Keep Your ROMs Tidy and Organized
  27. Learn Game-Specific MAME Controls
  28. Filter Inappropriate MAME ROMs
  29. Autoboot into MAME Heaven
  30. Play Emulated Arcade Games Online
  31. Play Classic Pinball Without the Table
  32. Emulate the SNES on the Dreamcast
  33. 2. Playing Portably
  34. Play Games on Your iPod
  35. Mod Your Game Boy
  36. Take and Print Photos with Your Game Boy
  37. Compose Music on Your Game Boy
  38. Explore the GP32 Handheld Gaming System
  39. Take Your Console with You
  40. Explore the Bandai WonderSwan
  41. Play Real Games on Your PDA
  42. Install a PlayStation 2 in Your Car
  43. 3. Playing Well with Others
  44. Practice Proper MMORPG Etiquette
  45. Understand MMORPG Lingo
  46. Grind Without Going Crazy
  47. Make a Profit in Vana’diel
  48. Write MMORPG Macros
  49. Build an Effective Group
  50. Catch Half-Life FPS Cheaters Redhanded
  51. 4. Playing with Hardware
  52. Build a Quiet, Killer Gaming Rig
  53. Find and Configure the Best FPS Peripherals
  54. Adapt Old Video Game Controllers to the PC
  55. Choose the Right Audio/Video Receiver
  56. Place Your Speakers Properly
  57. Connect Your Console to Your Home Theater
  58. Tune Console Video Output
  59. Tune Your TV for Console Video
  60. PC Audio Hacking
  61. Optimize PC Video Performance
  62. Build a Dedicated Multimedia PC
  63. Use a Multimedia Projector for Gaming
  64. 5. Playing with Console and Arcade Hardware
  65. Play LAN-Only Console Games Online
  66. Hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System
  67. Play Import Games on American Consoles
  68. Find a Hackable Dreamcast
  69. Play Movies and Music on Your Dreamcast
  70. Hack the Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit
  71. Unblur Your Dreamcast Video
  72. Use Your Dreamcast Online
  73. Host Dreamcast Games Online
  74. Burn Dreamcast-Compatible Discs on Your PC
  75. Burn Dreamcast Homebrew Discs
  76. Buy Your Own Arcade Hardware
  77. Configure Your Arcade Controls, Connectors, and Cartridges
  78. Reorient and Align Your Arcade Monitor
  79. Buy Cart-Based JAMMA Boards
  80. Programming Music for the Nintendo Entertainment System
  81. 6. Playing Around the Game Engine
  82. Explore Machinima
  83. Choose a Machinima Engine
  84. Film Your First Machinima Movie
  85. Improve Your Camera Control
  86. Record Game Footage to Video
  87. Speedrun Your Way Through Metroid Prime
  88. Sequence-Break Quake
  89. Run Classic Game ROM Translations
  90. Change Games with ROM Hacks
  91. Apply ROM Hacks and Patches
  92. Create PS2 Cheat Codes
  93. Hack Xbox Game Saves
  94. Cheat on Other Consoles
  95. Modify PC Game Saves and Settings
  96. Buff Your Saved Characters
  97. Create Console Game Levels
  98. 7. Playing Your Own Games
  99. Adventure Game Studio Editing Tips
  100. Create and Play Pinball Tables
  101. Put Your Face in DOOM
  102. Create a Vehicle Model for Unreal Tournament 2004
  103. Add a Vehicle to Unreal Tournament 2004
  104. Modify the Behavior of a UT2004 Model
  105. Download, Compile, and Create an Inform Adventure
  106. Decorate Your IF Rooms
  107. Add Puzzles to Your IF Games
  108. Add Nonplayer Characters to IF Adventures
  109. Make Your IF NPCs Move
  110. Make Your IF NPCs Talk
  111. Create Your Own Animations
  112. Add Interactivity to Your Animations
  113. Write a Game in an Afternoon
  114. 8. Playing Everything Else
  115. Tweak Your Tactics for FPS Glory
  116. Beat Any Shoot-Em-Up
  117. Drive a Physics-Crazed Motorcycle
  118. Play Japanese Games Without Speaking Japanese
  119. Back Up, Modify, and Restore PlayStation Saved Games
  120. Access Your Console’s Memory Card Offline
  121. Overclock Your Console
  122. Index
  123. Colophon

Overclock Your Console

Want your console to run faster than it does right now? It’s possible.

PC overclocking is passé, at least for practical purposes. You can buy faster and faster graphics cards to compensate for almost any eventuality, so most overclocking is done for show. Hardly any recent PC overclocking hack, either of a CPU or graphics card, can make a nonplayable game playable or a super-jerky game super-smooth. Maybe I’m just a console snob—overclocking is sometimes a very cool thing on the PC—but I really dig console overclocking.

From speeding up your Sega Genesis to previously untenable speeds to making your Nintendo 64 run in overdrive, you can sometimes achieve major framerate hikes via overclocking. Sure, sometimes you’ll have glitches and crashes too, but pioneers and trailblazers can’t have everything. The following sections demonstrate a few console overclocking tips.

Overclocking Your Nintendo 64

There’s one main font of knowledge in the West regarding overclocking: Robert Ivy (http://www.geocities.com/robivy64/Welcome.html). Though he mentions the excellent GameSX.com web site as another good source of information, start with his site. Be aware, though, that overclocking a N64 requires very precise soldering. This is fun to contemplate, but it’s only for advanced users to do.

Robert’s site warns you of the obvious: if the game already ran at a full frame-rate, overclocking won’t make any difference. Because the developers intended their N64 games to run only on the N64, most games already had sufficient optimizations to produce good framerates. Only particularly complicated 3D games such as Perfect Dark that sometimes chug a little or a lot, even when using the extra RAM in the N64 expansion packs, will see much effect.

However, Perfect Dark is a crucial title, so what the heck! Here are his tips:

  1. Start with a transparent N64. According to multiple practitioners, earlier revisions of the Nintendo 64 motherboard (such as those found in the all-black consoles) are much less resilient to attempts to make the main chip go faster, crashing after a few minutes of enhanced play.

  2. Resolder the CPU pins. To perform the mod, you’ll need to lift up a couple of pins on the N64’s CPU and reconnect them to other parts of the circuit board (http://www.geocities.com/robivy64/mod_page1.html). Although Robert’s site has rudimentary hand-drawn pictures, the GameSX site has a much better procedure with actual photos on its instruction page (http://www.gamesx.com/misctech/n64oc.htm).

  3. Look for pins 112 and 116 along the bottom side of the CPU. Heat the base of the CPU with a soldering iron, then very carefully lift up its legs. Then solder a wire to each pin. Connect pin 112 to GND and pin 116 to +3.3v for 2x speed. You’re actually changing the chip’s clock multiplier, normally set to 1.5 times the speed (giving a 93.75-MHz speed chip), to two or even three times the clock speed. A 2x speed isn’t twice the normal N64 clock rate because the standard multiplier is 1.5x. The GameSX page has more details, including a recommendation for a good capacitor to use.

  4. Beware of extra heat. Because the CPU runs faster, you may run into heat-related problems. Robert put a heatsink from an old stereo amplifier in his overclocked N64 to help with the heat buildup from playing for hours at a time.

Sega Genesis Overclocking

While the N64 is a somewhat newer system to try to speed up, the Sega Genesis is a much older, more disposable system. It’s easy to find ridiculously cheap hardware to test. The end result overclocks the stock 7.6-MHz CPU to anywhere up to 16 MHz, meaning smoother scrolling and less slowdown, especially with lots of sprites onscreen in 2D games.

Although Robert Ivy also mentions this procedure, the Epic Gaming site has a full explanation (http://www.bluespheer.com/host/epicgaming/md_oc/), including photos of the mod and much more detailed explanations. Epic Gaming seem to be the originators, though a group of Japanese enthusiasts apparently have reached the same results independently. I’m just passing along their findings, but I’ll try to describe it as succinctly as possible:

  1. Disconnect a trace. For the 13.4-MHz overclocking hack, open the machine, and remove the RF shielding. Find Pin 15 on the CPU, and cut its trace so that the system won’t boot. This is a little scary. Then connect together Pin 15 on the CPU and Pin 19 on the cartridge slot to make the system boot again.

  2. Build a switch. You’ll need two switches, an on-on clock switch to switch the frequency and an on-off switch to halt the machine. Connect Pins 15 and 19 on the cartridge slot to Pin 15 on the CPU through the on-on switch. Connect the on-off switch with one terminal to GND and the other to Pin 17 on the CPU. Without the halt switch, the Genesis will crash when you switch speeds.

  3. Reboot and flip switches. Everything’s now ready to do the magic overclock! Boot your Genesis, hit the Halt switch, flip the Overclock switch, then flip the Halt switch back again so your Genesis continues in super-souped-up mode.

According to the Epic Gaming page, you can coax more speed from the machine if you use crystal oscillators, so refer to them if this isn’t enough. The end result is the removal of almost all slowdown in classic Genesis games. The CPU doesn’t run that much hotter, and although there are some minor sound/music issues, it’s a fun, worthwhile hack.

Further Console Overclocking Fun

Although I’ve covered two of the most interesting overclocking hacks for consoles, there are a few other possibilities worth looking into.

Allegedly, you can overclock your PlayStation or PSOne, leading to an alleged decrease in loading time and better video playback. Your mileage, of course, may vary. It’s also possible to overclock the NES from 1.79 MHz all the way up to 2.3 MHz, although it’s difficult to find these instructions online.

Onward and upward, I say. How about overclocking the Xbox 2? I don’t care if it’s not out yet: someone will find a way.