Tutorial written by : Tren
Last edited: August 6, 2003

i.e. so the NTSC games run at the proper speed

This is a guide to aid fellow PAL xbox users who want to play a multitude of games from different regions at optimum speeds quickly and easily on a modded xbox.

Firstly I recommend using EvoX Build 3752 and one of the D6 BIOSs but an X2 bios will be fine. Get the enigmah changer disc but extract the contents using xISO and put it in your Apps folder on your hard drive and add it to your evoX main menu in the ini file. My main menu looks something like this:

Games Menu
PAL/NTSC Video Select
Launch DVD Player
Launch Media Player
EvoX Settings
Microsoft Dashboard
Reboot Xbox
Shut Down Xbox

*The code for this looks like this:*

Section "Games Menu"
{
Section "Xbox Games"
{
AutoAddItem "f:\games\"
SortAll
}

Section "Emulation Games"
{
AutoAddItem "f:\emulation\"
SortAll
}
}

Item "PAL/NTSC Video Select", "e:\apps\enigmahvideoselect\default.xbe"
Item "Launch DVD Player", "e:\apps\dvd\default.xbe"
Item "Launch Media Player", "e:\apps\xbmp2\default.xbe"
Item "EvoX Settings",@9
Item "Microsoft Dashboard",@3
Item "Reboot Xbox",@5
Item "Shut Down Xbox",@10

Games which require 60hz to play properly would be an NTSC xbox game running on a PAL xbox. For example HOTD3 requires 60hz because the gun is expecting a 60hz refresh rate to work its timings out, but a PAL xbox defaults to playing the game at a slower speed and in 50hz and thus the gun won't fire properly on most shots. Another example of something which requires 60hz would be an NTSC n64 rom playing on ultraXLE - the original game's timings are designed for 60hz NOT 50hz.

To remedy this: Go to your evoX main menu choose PAL/NTSC Video Select (that you added by editing your evox.ini code based on my code example above) then press B to choose NTSC on the enigmah screen, then press L+R+Black to reset back to the evoX main menu. Then go play your NTSC game.

If you require playing a PAL game; for example a PAL SNES Rom on xSnes9x or a PAL xbox retail game that plays better in Pal50hz (such as PAL Halo) simply go back to your enigmah menu and press A to choose PAL, then press L+R+Black to reset back to the evoX main menu.

One note, make sure you have PAL60 support turned OFF in your Microsoft Dashboard (this option can only be turned off when the machine is in PAL mode to start with!!). This way you can just use the enigmah xbe to switch between forced 50hz or forced 60hz as the refresh rate will always be dictated by what mode the machine is in (some PAL games, such as quantum redshift, force to 50hz even in NTSC mode however). If you're using an RGB SCART cable you also do not need to worry about whether your TV supports an NTSC signal (and thus the picture would be black and white) as the colours are sent independently and the only concern is if your TV can do a 60hz refresh rate.

One further recommendation - if you're using the latest evoX ignore all the "turn IGR off" scaremongering you'll read on the xbox scene forums. Leave it on, it works great with all games Ive tried it with included Soul Calibur II. And means if you start a game but accidentally are in the wrong video mode, you can quickly hit those IGR buttons you've configured in your evox.ini and then immediately go the PAL/NTSC Video Select option on your evoX main menu frontend change to the right video mode and then rerun your game. I hear Enter The Matrix is the only game which doesnt work with evox's IGR (it make work with X2's built in BIOS IGR i don't know) but IMHO this game is very poor so its no great loss!

I hope this guide has been of use; but I don't accept any responsibility if you damage your Xbox, your mod or yourself by following it (not that you should unless you're a complete fool).