I Region and AV modded my TG16

Great work Guntz! The thinner wires certainly looks a lot better.

As for the heatsink, I remember there being a separate piece, but I do remember making one for a system. I cut a thin piece of aluminum measuring about 1" W x 4" L and drilled a small hole at one end to mount the regulator to. I then contoured the metal around the PCB and glued in a small piece of foam to act as a barrier between the PCB and 'sink.

As for installing a reset switch, you do NOT want to run VCC and GND to a momentary switch. This will cause a short. There are several locations where /RST is accessible; pin 11 on the HuC6280 CPU, pin 36 on the HuCard slot, and 22B on the expansion bus (recommended).

Run a wire from any one of these points, and pull it to ground. This should force a CPU reset and reboot the console.

Good Stuff Guntz!..The only issue I see here is that your switch is going to block the TG-16 expansion module and cd system (in case you are planning to get those in the future)..

Rob pretty much nailed you RESET question (above), and the last time I had to fix the RF modulator, I removed it completely from the board to work on it, I think...

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Originally Posted by Guntz

6) When I switch the unit over to PC-Engine mode with a US game inserted, the console just displays a gray screen (no game detected). Is the Turbo supposed to do this? Or does it display some text onscreen alerting the player of an out-of-region card being played?

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The gray screen is the correct thing to get if you put the wrong region in, it's basically a general "there's an error" screen in my opinion. It also pops up if the game you put in is too dirty (I just clean the card contacts with rubbing alcohol normally).

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Originally Posted by Robivy64

Great work Guntz! The thinner wires certainly looks a lot better.

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Nothing touches either, though once again I'm not sure if JP mode works or not.

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As for the heatsink, I remember there being a separate piece, but I do remember making one for a system. I cut a thin piece of aluminum measuring about 1" W x 4" L and drilled a small hole at one end to mount the regulator to. I then contoured the metal around the PCB and glued in a small piece of foam to act as a barrier between the PCB and 'sink.

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Eh, I just kept the smaller half of RF shield and cut it where it would obstruct the region mod. :D

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As for installing a reset switch, you do NOT want to run VCC and GND to a momentary switch. This will cause a short. There are several locations where /RST is accessible; pin 11 on the HuC6280 CPU, pin 36 on the HuCard slot, and 22B on the expansion bus (recommended).

Run a wire from any one of these points, and pull it to ground. This should force a CPU reset and reboot the console.

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Interesting. Maybe next time I'm in there I'll hook up a reset switch.

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Originally Posted by xelement5x

The gray screen is the correct thing to get if you put the wrong region in, it's basically a general "there's an error" screen in my opinion. It also pops up if the game you put in is too dirty (I just clean the card contacts with rubbing alcohol normally).

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It doesn't seem that specific or helpful since the Turbo displays that screen when there's no game detected. I guess I'll just have to buy a PC-Engine game to be sure...

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Originally Posted by ooXxXoo

Good Stuff Guntz!..The only issue I see here is that your switch is going to block the TG-16 expansion module and cd system (in case you are planning to get those in the future)..

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I had a feeling something like that would come up... :? Well, I've never even seen a Turbo CD in person or in decent detail, so I don't have a clue what parts of the TG16 are free to use or not. If it's ever a problem, I could always find another place for the region switch and get creative plugging the hole. From the sounds of it, you wouldn't even see it with the Turbo CD installed. :D

Besides, that thing is too damned expensive for me. I chose the placement of the switch and jacks based on the usage of the dust cover (looks better with it on) If anything I'd sell this TG16 and get something better.

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Rob pretty much nailed you RESET question (above), and the last time I had to fix the RF modulator, I removed it completely from the board to work on it, I think...

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So nobody has bothered to actually fix it?

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Originally Posted by Guntz

So nobody has bothered to actually fix it?

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I meant, last time I repaired the RF modulator on a TG-16 I had to removed it from the board in order to access the broken side (a solder joint)....

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It doesn't seem that specific or helpful since the Turbo displays that screen when there's no game detected. I guess I'll just have to buy a PC-Engine game to be sure...

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There's no detection because the data on the hucard is interpreted as 'garbage' data. That's the whole reason why you put the switch in, in the first place. To correct the data bus lines for Japanese hucards. There is a slot on the PCB for a small rom, and many have speculated that it was to serve as a tiny bios of sorts. Possibly fancier region detection. But it was never employed in any TG16 systems that I've seen. The VDC is off by default on startup, so it just shows sprite color #0 (subpalette 16, entry 0). This appears kind of random-ish in color (as if some bits are initialized, but some aren't. So you get a few basic colors it can boot on).

Btw, nice job on the mod. Those analog switches always make me skeptical, but if it works fine - then I guess it's not a problem. I took apart my recently acquired Turbo Booster, which essentially does the same thing as your A/V mode. And I found it has a little more than just a connector to the pins (which surprised me). There's also what appears to be an amp IC in there. I suspect to protect the audio lines from any surge back or grounding (burn out the driver on the chip/cpu), maybe. And some other misc filtering. I'll take pics and post soon.

I don't have a Turbo booster but I've seen inside pics of it..Does looks like it has overload protection and some filtering going on..
I think it also had something to do with the Booster DC power port beign there, since the turbografx-16 feeds from it....


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F THA CDROM

Get Soldier Blade up in that Hu-slot!

Soldier Blade is for PC-Engine I assume? Is it expensive? Current finances and my ass are advising me to be as cheap as possible.

I wish there was another way to test the unit for Japanese functionality... Unfortunately a multimeter is useless in this situation because every wire is interconnected in someway, either through the switch or connections on the mobo. Continuity testing only works if the connection to be tested is isolated from other lines.

Soldier Blade was released on the TG16, but the PCE version is less expensive.

If you want to get a quality PCE game on the cheap, look into Super Star Soldier. PCE games on average are a lot cheaper than TG16 "turbo chips", and the library of PCE games is huge in comparison.

I will never region mod my PC Engine GT to accept TG16 cards, because in my opinion, the TG16 doesn't exist.

To be honest, I think I'll stick with the NEO for shooters for now (arcade > home console). Are there any good and cheap action/adventure/platformer/puzzle/beat em up/racing games for PC-Engine? I left RPG out for obvious reasons.

Holy Shit. What a great job Guntz! You are superseeding the master now. In order to achieve master soldering skills, solder AWG40 wires.

Anyone willing to tackle a TG16 region mod is okay in my book :D Its not an easy task soldering to those tiny wires. Guntz, if you were interested in switching to an IC based region mod, I just had some custom boards made up (less than a month ago) I typically use 30 gauge wrapping wire on my mods, and use heat shrink tubing to make sure the hucard connectors don't touch each other. Radio shack sells the 30 gauge stuff pretty cheap.

Oh and if you insert the wrong region hucard into a system, you'll just get a blank colored screen (the color varies) If you really need a PC engine hucard to test with Guntz, let me know. I've probably got a duplicate of something laying around that I could send you. But if you are getting a US game to work, it is very likely that your PC Engine side is working just fine.

Here's the original thread where I've offered the region mod chips:

http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/ind...?topic=10112.0

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Originally Posted by Robivy64

Soldier Blade was released on the TG16, but the PCE version is less expensive.
I will never region mod my PC Engine GT to accept TG16 cards, because in my opinion, the TG16 doesn't exist.

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Even if said mod could be done without an external visible switch? Check my thread on pcenginefx if you want to see what I mean.

Here's what my region mod chips look like installed (a US Duo in this pic)

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/a...pInstalled.jpg

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Originally Posted by BlueBMW

Anyone willing to tackle a TG16 region mod is okay in my book :D Its not an easy task soldering to those tiny wires. Guntz, if you were interested in switching to an IC based region mod, I just had some custom boards made up (less than a month ago) I typically use 30 gauge wrapping wire on my mods, and use heat shrink tubing to make sure the hucard connectors don't touch each other. Radio shack sells the 30 gauge stuff pretty cheap.

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Speak of the devil, it's you! It's almost as if you were summoned here just by the mere mention of your name and the words "TG16 Region Mod". :D

The last time I looked at an IC mod schematic, it looked extremely complicated, so I just got a 8PDT switch instead. More straightforward to me. However, if whenever this switch breaks for whatever reason, perhaps then I'd consider an IC mod instead.

(actually, I'm just broke at the moment and I don't want the 8PDT to feel like wasted money)

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Oh and if you insert the wrong region hucard into a system, you'll just get a blank colored screen (the color varies) If you really need a PC engine hucard to test with Guntz, let me know. I've probably got a duplicate of something laying around that I could send you. But if you are getting a US game to work, it is very likely that your PC Engine side is working just fine.

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I'm positive I soldered the JP signals in backwards compared to the US ones. Hopefully that mode will work, but yes the only way to be sure is by getting a PC-Engine game.

I was going through PC-Engine.co.uk and I haven't found anything I'm remotely interested in. I was hoping for an action/adventure sort of game but either they were pricey, had lots of Japanese text, were for Super/CD-ROM or they were in fact just another shooter. Really the only thing I found was Adventure Island (secretly Monster World) and Neutopia II, though I already have the former for SMS under the name WBIII: The Dragon's Trap.

The picture quality looks so much better.