How to play FFX on my US PS2?

September 8, 2006 3:00 PM

PAL-to-NTSC-Filter: Help me play FFX:International on an American PS2. Cheaply, if possible.

I'm in America, and have a PS2. I've imported from England a copy of Final Fantasy X. (The international version has a lot of extras compared to the domestic version, you see.)

I would like to be able to play this on my regular US PS2. Using a disk-switching tool (Swap Magic), I can get the game to run. But its video output seems to remain in PAL; the signal results in a rapidly flickering picture on my TV, which isn't at all playable.

So. How can I persuade my PS2 that it actually wants to output NTSC?

(I've seen PAL-to-NTSC converter boxes, but generally not at prices that meet my needs.)

posted by Kemayo to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Have you tried changing the output option at the bottom of the Swap Magic screen to force NTSC?
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:07 PM on September 8, 2006

According to the Swap Magic 3 Official Website FAQ:
Q: Why do I get black and white display when I play imported games?
A: Please bootup your PS2 console with Swap Magic On the Swap Magic screen, choose "Video Mode" and turn it to PAL / NTSC according to your console and load game when you finished.
posted by plokent at 4:10 PM on September 8, 2006

You may have to use the square, rather than X, button to start the software as well, incidentally.
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:57 PM on September 8, 2006

If you don't have any luck getting your PS2 to output NTSC on this disc, you could get a PCI TV capture card -- a lot of them will understand PAL through the s-video socket. Using something like dscaler on the video input could result in quite an acceptable image on your PC monitor, and you may even be able to vertically stretch the image to compensate for Square's notoriously awful PAL "conversions".
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 10:12 AM on September 9, 2006

You can perform a colour fix (search around for other version PS2s) on the PS2 to force NTSC colour output even in "PAL" mode. Note that this will not fix the speed of the display (50 Hz) which can be a problem for many TVs. Note that since most of the colour fixes are for PAL PS2s to display PAL colour permanently, most of them won't work for you. You will need to connect the appropriate pin to +3.3 volts instead of ground.

No, this isn't a modchip and probably isn't a DMCA violation since it's analog video, not digital.

If the picture displays in black and white right now without rolling, performing a colour fix will fix the problem for that TV.

The other option is a box to convert PAL -> NTSC. The cheap ones don't touch the 50 Hz sync issue, but fix the colour, so they are useless since you can fix this already. The expensive ones will fix the sync issue, but we're talking more than the cost of a new PS2 expensive.

The reason you shouldn't try to force the PS2 to run a 50 Hz PAL game in 60 Hz mode is simply because the sync issue will cause the game to run improperly (too fast / slow / weird issues / etc). But changing the colour info to NTSC won't break this.

BTW: Many PAL games that *DO* support NTSC mode properly will have a hidden menu option somewhere to switch the video type. Dunno if this title is like that, but search about.

The last option is what ArmyOfKittens suggests, and it's probably going to be the best looking one too. :-)
posted by shepd at 12:43 PM on September 9, 2006

A note on PAL FFX, and almost all PAL Final Fantasy games: if you can force it into 60hz (NTSC) then the game will work okay but the movies will either look horrible or not work, because they are re-encoded for 50hz (PAL).

Forcing PAL FF games into 60hz works fine for the gameplay and graphics of the main game because Square's PAL conversions simply consist of slowing everything down by 16.7% and black-bordering the game at the top and bottom to ignore the extra lines on a PAL display. Unfortunately this breaks the FMV.

Playing PAL FF games in 50hz and using display hardware that understands 50hz (like a TV card for a PC) means that everything works fine, but the game still runs 16.7% slower and is bordered, which is practical terms means that it looks ugly as shit and everyone looks like a hobbit (until they lie down, when they elongate massively and look like elves).

You can avoid the PAL colour issue by using a component cable, but this won't fix your 50hz problem.

I don't think the PAL version of any FF game is worth the bother of getting it working, to be honest. Square shit out the PAL versions in the confident knowledge that people in PAL territories will buy them anyway because they don't have access to NTSC equipment. /rant

There's a reason we sold our PAL FFX in favour of a US NTSC one when we got a modded PS2. Even if you use dscaler and video scaling to fix the aspect ratio, you still have to do everything 16.7% more slowly, which in a grind-up-the-levels game like FFX just makes everything that much more frustrating.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 4:07 AM on September 10, 2006

Addition: I probably should have mentioned that, for definite, FFX has no 60hz option, hidden or otherwise, so don't go looking for it. The convention with PAL PS2 games that offer it is either to prompt you at startup, ask you in the main menu, or you have to hold down X and triangle on bootup.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 4:16 AM on September 10, 2006

If your tv supports Component Video (RGB) input, you can buy the PS2 Component Video cable.

I did that with F1 game that only was released for Europe.
posted by Leech at 9:41 PM on September 14, 2006