REGION MOD FOR TG-16/DUO/PC-ENGINE

[Michael Helgeson]

Not that everyone will find this useful but considering this info is becoming harder and harder to find Im guessing so I am posting it here. The info came from different sources,I do not remember who anymore. For those in the know how Im sure they can figure out how to do the mod easily. If nothing else id like this info to stay fresh so that if at all possible people dont assume they have to pay  50 bucks for a 8-10 dollar mod just because they cant access the info on how to do it.




Here is a better schematic of the 8-pole switch.


Switch can be purchased here:
http://www.seniorindustries.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=82MS2R1

[Keranu]

Good job, mate. You're absolutely right, info for this can be incredibly hard to find. I only know of one other site that shows how to do this.

[Black Tiger]

Although some mods may not seem very hard to the people who can do them, I'm one of the schmucks who may never learn enough to do any myself and really wish that more people offered to do them(PCE and otherwise) for $$$, at any price.

[Michael Helgeson]

Typically if you can do a composite AV mod you can do a region mod like for a Saturn or TG-16. Its still solder,its still wires,give or take a few extras. I pretty much learned everything on my own with no technical training from any tech school. You just get to that point where you ask yourself if you want to rely on others to do these things forever,or chance paying some jerkoff serious cash for a simple task.

[SignOfZeta]

I've modded many consoles from SS to GC to whatever and there is no way in hell I'd do this mod for $8. Just because it requires nothing but a $2 switch doesn't mean its a $2 mod. Charging $8 for a mod is totally stupid anyway. You might as well just do it for free. I mean, what are you really going to do with eight measly dollars? I think $50 is totally fair if the job is professionally done.

Where I work the shop charges $300 for me to adjust the valves in a Civic, and in all honesty I consider that a much easier and stress-free task that a PCE region hack. I mod my own systems, and the systems of friends for free but if some random internet bastard wanted me to do it then I'd need some financial incentive to stay in for the night.

[termis]

Good info Michael.  More details of grounding pin 29 of HuC6280 for Japanese systems can be found here:
http://pages.interlog.com/~daves/pce_info/jpncnvrt.txt

And I must agree with Zeta.  I've only modded my personal systems so I don't have too much experience yet on this particular mod, and I'm sure I'd get better/faster if I did more, but I wouldn't do it for 50 bucks - I'd consider it a waste of my time to do it for only that much.

Hey, but if anyone's willing to do a decent job for =<$50, more power to you.  I'm sure you'd get quite a few orders from folks in these forums.

[FM-77]

That's an okay guide, but this mod is better. Doesn't require that nasty switch.

http://mbrandel.vizionaires.net/?page_id=48

In German, but easy to understand.

[Michael Helgeson]

I don't think its too easy to understand for kinda noob modders unless you speak german but yea I knew of this one that uses the ICs. But yea if you don't like switches its def the best route to go,you'd just have to be comfortable looking at the schematic and walking yourself trough it with no translated instruction.

And so it doesn't get out of contrast,this isn't a sales pitch,or a thread to get someone a mod business started. This thread should be strictly used to keep the information active,so that someone wouldn't have to pay $50 to have someone do the mod just because he couldn't find the info on how to do it. In other words if the person has the ability to do it himself and is only lacking the info as to how to do so then the info should be free and available,not kept secret or horded. And if you have links to post for more info or better ways to do it,def post it here,the more the merrier.

But since price is mettioned by a couple of you:
If however I was to do either mod for someone,a more fair pricing would be $50-60 for the german IC mod,because that one does require more work and parts,but the switch one Id say $30 is more in a fair price range,because honestly,your only soldering some wire to some pins you cut and some solder spots. Its not really hard,or exhausting,and would take maybe 1-2 hours labor at most. That and I mean,there is  a difference between helping the gaming community that your a member of out or just taking advantage of their lack of ability. If I was doing it for a friend,Id only charge cost of parts,not labor,because I mean,doing that kinda stuff is a hobby anyway.

And as I said,the switch mod is easy,and honestly Id rather encourage people if possible to learn how to do the stuff on their own and keep the info available to anyone that needs it.

[guyjin]

the pictures make it seem simple enough, but I'd be afraid I was missing vital details.

[termis]

The IC mod doesn't seem too bad, but all it really does is save you the headache of finding a decent 8PDT switch off the shelf.  But for that, you pay by 1) needing more parts, 2) having to solder more in order to build that circuit board.

But as I've said before in another post somewhere, you *may* have to go with the IC mod for the Turbo express, as the commonly available 8PDT switch (the 3" push-button switch) may be too big to fit nicely in the express. 

I guess either way, they work just as same.  Having an option is always nice.

[Michael Helgeson]

Actually I didn't look at the german mod well enough,as there is a 3 pole switch present,which Im guessing would be to switch between the ics??? if its required then I guess your stuck with a switch no matter what. Since I cant read german I can only speculate. Yea on the TG Express mod,ive seen people do something using very small ribbon cables and a clamp,but that isn't all that practical I don't suppose,cause the thin ribbon cable could wear and break.

[Black Tiger]

And so it doesn't get out of contrast,this isn't a sales pitch,or a thread to get someone a mod business started. This thread should be strictly used to keep the information active,so that someone wouldn't have to pay $50 to have someone do the mod just because he couldn't find the info on how to do it. In other words if the person has the ability to do it himself and is only lacking the info as to how to do so then the info should be free and available,not kept secret or horded. And if you have links to post for more info or better ways to do it,def post it here,the more the merrier.

But since price is mettioned by a couple of you:
If however I was to do either mod for someone,a more fair pricing would be $50-60 for the german IC mod,because that one does require more work and parts,but the switch one Id say $30 is more in a fair price range,because honestly,your only soldering some wire to some pins you cut and some solder spots. Its not really hard,or exhausting,and would take maybe 1-2 hours labor at most. That and I mean,there is  a difference between helping the gaming community that your a member of out or just taking advantage of their lack of ability. If I was doing it for a friend,Id only charge cost of parts,not labor,because I mean,doing that kinda stuff is a hobby anyway.

If you were doing it for a stranger though, it does take a lot of time to pick up(if necessary) a package, unpack, mod and repack it and then take it to a post office to ship again. Unless you've got some kind of business going where you're shipping stuff everyday. It needs to be worthwhile for someone to do it.

But I agree that it would be nice if everyone could either do any mod themselves or had a friend that could do it for them.

[Michael Helgeson]

I'm a ebay seller,constantly selling and shipping stuff,either myself or I have a friend who does packing and shipping for me if I get too overwhelmed. Typically to pack a game system it takes 5-10 mins,maybe less depending on how fast I cut trough the tape. To unpack it takes less. If possible the packing material used to ship something to me,if still in really good shape can be reused which eliminates any cost,plus I get small to medium sized boxes for free,and typically always have packing material around because of all the packages that arrive to me weekly.

But I mean if someone wants to list all that as labor I guess they could,thats more a personal preference. Some people will,some people wont.

[termis]

Actually I didn't look at the german mod well enough,as there is a 3 pole switch present,which Im guessing would be to switch between the ics??? if its required then I guess your stuck with a switch no matter what. Since I cant read german I can only speculate. Yea on the TG Express mod,ive seen people do something using very small ribbon cables and a clamp,but that isn't all that practical I don't suppose,cause the thin ribbon cable could wear and break.

Yeah, there's still a switch either way.  To the end user, the logic of the black box doesn't matter, cause both mods work exactly the same way for them.  ICs basically do all the rerouting that the 8PDT switch would do.

But another small advantage for the ic mods - since it looks like you have the option of using just about any ol' SPDT switch you can find in radio shack, you can put in any type of switch you like - rocker, pushbutton, slide, toggle, etc...   But with the 8PDT option, you get what you can find and like it! 

--

BTW, for those of you that wanna try going about modding, the Saturn is a good one to start with.  You only need 6 wires and a very common DPDT switch.  As long as you follow the instructions that are around the net, the mod is pretty simple and it's actually quite difficult to botch it up completely.  And since this mod also uses a switch, it's the perfect warmup for the TG16/PCE mod, which is quite a bit more work.

[Michael Helgeson]

Yea the Saturn is easy,off the top of my memory I was thinking its Jp6-7,10-11. Been over 2 years since I did one,but the jumpers are pretty easy to locate.Once Im looking at one I can do it,don't need a guide or anything. From 1998-2002 I think I did about 25-30 Saturns. All you need is  a DPDT rocker switch,solder,wires and a sharp blade to cut two traces if you want a region switch. If all you want to do is swap a region completely all you need to do is cut 2 traces to open 2 of the jp jumpers and solder the other 2  together. The worst part is just depending on which Saturn model you have,as the jumpers are in different spots depending on the version.