New to the whole VGA thing. Need a little help.

Benimaru · Post by **Benimaru** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:14 pm

I am looking to install internal VGA in my DC. I decided to use one of those small VGA cables for DC. I figure it's easier for me to modify it a bit instead of building one from scratch.

Here is the converter I am looking at:

This thing has audio output with it as well. So this part should be easy. I'll just extend it with wires and hook up it to an output mounted on the case.

Now I am thinking of stripping the dreamcast side of the converter and soldering it to the output on my DC with a switch. So that I can switch whether I want the signal sent directly to the VGA box or left alone to go the regular output in the back of the DC. This sounds failry simple.

Now the last part is what I am not sure about. The picture doesn't show whether the VGA part is male of female. I am assuming it's a female which will make things 100 times easier. If not, anyone knows how to convert it to female?

Anyway, I think this will work with no problems. It seems to be the easiest way to do it. Anyone has any opinions?

ninja · Post by **ninja** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 10:43 pm

Female connector, if it was a male connector it would be 100% useless without a gender changer. IF (big IF) for some reason it is a male connector, you can always purchase a gender changer for it, but common sense tells me its female.......

It should work ok

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 11:24 pm

It's female. I have that cable.

Benimaru · Post by **Benimaru** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 12:09 am

Ok great. Then it seems this mod should work out ok. Thanks for the help. I will make a guide as I'm working on this

ETR · Post by **ETR** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:46 pm

Here's the thing though, that adaptor won't let you 'force' VGA mode on the games which refuse to support VGA. Not exactly the best thing to buy.

someoneElse · Post by **someoneElse** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 1:48 am

ETR wrote:Here's the thing though, that adaptor won't let you 'force' VGA mode on the games which refuse to support VGA. Not exactly the best thing to buy.

If by 'force' you mean the switch trick to make games that DO work with VGA, but just lack the VGA flag, yeah you can still do it, it just involves unplugging the cable altogether and makes timing harder due to lack of sound.

And he's saying he wants to solder in a switch anyhow, so yeah.

By the way... There are nice big solder pads on the underside of the AV connector. Just in case you didn't look. Siggler had to learn that one the hard way..;D

Benimaru · Post by **Benimaru** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:30 am

I don't understand the whole force VGA concept completely, as I have never played any games in VGA yet. Are you saying there is another vga cable that I can use instead that will allow all games to be played on a VGA monitor?

Benimaru · Post by **Benimaru** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:37 am

Ok I reread the tutorial and it seems the whole force vga thing is nothing more than switching to vga at a certain time to make it use vga mode even if the game does not support it. Since I am adding a switch this is pretty much included.

If I am wrong please correct me before I receive that VGA cable in the mail

someoneElse · Post by **someoneElse** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:35 am

Benimaru wrote:Ok I reread the tutorial and it seems the whole force vga thing is nothing more than switching to vga at a certain time to make it use vga mode even if the game does not support it. Since I am adding a switch this is pretty much included.

If I am wrong please correct me before I receive that VGA cable in the mail

Yeah, that's pretty much all there is to it.

That being said, there are some games that just absolutely WILL NOT work in VGA no matter what, they're just not capable. These games are in the minority, luckily. Most games that bring up the message saying they 'don't support' the VGA cable seem to have no problem actually using it, but just don't have the VGA flag set in the ip.bin for one reason or another.

Also, if you ever start playing imports, the boot disc you use will affect your ability to play in VGA mode. For example my PAL version of Shenmue II would not play in VGA mode when booted with the Utopia Boot Disc, but booting up with a Gameshark worked fine.

Benimaru · Post by **Benimaru** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 7:47 pm

Thanks but I'm using the 4-wire chips on all my dcs so the boot disc wont help me much.