Gran Turismo 3 Color Problem (it's in Black and White)

Hello,

Not sure if anyone else has come across this problem?
I downloaded the Kalisto USA release of gt3 A-Spec. and burned it happily to disk.
Unfortunatly it has a few problems. The game play is fine (excellent even!) but the colour is all screwed. It is not quite black and white but it is not far away. The colour is very faint and it looks almost interlaced.

I have a PAL unit and TV but other american (NTSC) games play fine. I even tried a NTSC-PAL convertor but the same problem exists.

The Kalisto intro screen is fine and in full colour, but the very next screen with the playstation logo is a bit mad (looks like the graphics are corrupted).

I did download the release from two different sites but the SFV files had the same CRCs so I was sure that the files matched.

Someone told me it could be the AV lead in my station.

Any Ideas??

Cheers for your help.

PS if anyone says get the EUR version of the rip then I'll cry 'cos I can't find it!!!

Siege

I'm not sure that you'll get a swift definitive answer here because this is fairly uncharted territory. You've downloaded someone else's rip and said that the intro works but the game is in near B&W. I'm guessing here (not having my copy of the GT3 DVD to hand being at the seaside and all that), but the intro might well be a DVD clip (yes you've put it onto CD) that is region free - then it would play in colour. The game would be NTSC and if it had been ripped properly, that is what would come out of the PS2 AV port. In all other cases I've come across where the near B&W picture appears, an NTSC-PAL convertor is a sure fix.

So which convertor did you use and with what leads (exactly)? Did you try video jacks (yellow/white)? Did you try RF?

Have you patched the other (successful) NTSC games for PAL or do they run through the NTSC-PAL convertor?

Maybe this is cheeky, but contact Chris007 on this forum; he's got his US PS2 but not GT3 for which he is gagging! Send him the CD and see what happens on his PS2 (if he's got it chipped).

Hope this helps and look forward to your answers.

When I say the intro I mean the one that the ripper man (Kalisto) put in to say how clever he is (which is true!)!

The actual game into (fancy cars and all that) has been totally ripped out to save space.

I only tried one convertor package and I don't know which one it is. It is a windows based on with a nice picture of a PS2 on it if that helps (I doubt it!). It said "17 bytes written" when it finished which I thought was hardly any change but you never know.

I'll try another program and see if that is any better.

I did initially think that it was a NTSC-PAL issue as that does seem like the symtoms. I think it is in the initial stages that it gets confused as the very first logo that comes up (after the Kalisto screen) looks very odd. A bit like when an image file is corrupted and bits of it appear in the wrong possition with lots of random noise too.

As for the leads, I just have the original AV leads, so haven't tried RF. I have a circuit diagram somewhere that apparently allows you to play DVD's through your VCR (it doesn't work at the moment) which may help.

I have the DVD rip of DOA2 which is a USA rip and it works fine with out any fix (not that that is anything to go by I supose).

I'll try contacting Chriss007 and see what happens.

Thanks for your reply and help!!

Ok - I understand what you're saying. You've applied an NTSC-PAL software patch. I could never get those to work (others have been successful). I was referring to a hardware device that sits between the PS2 and your PAL TV.
If you search the forum, there's talk of the PS1 Scart lead solving colour problems; although some people are very definite about it, I couldn't make that work - but I have a Jap PS2. Certainly worth a try though.

I solved all my problems (with the symptoms you described) by buying this convertor from Maplins. Why not take the PS2 down to them and see if it solves the problem? Or buy the gadget on sale or return. It will need the other type of PS2 lead - the TV end is red/yellow/white for the AV jacks.

When any PS2 plays a PAL game it puts out PAL to the TV; when it plays an NTSC game, it puts NTSC out to the TV. As you know, only a chipped PS2 can get to the point of playing an import (backup). So if it's playing in near greyscale, there is a video modulation problem. A video modulation problem is usually sorted out in one of the ways described above. I can't think of any way that the CD rip could have been gemerated in any way that turns colour information to near greyscale.

Good luck again.

[spooky]

Maplins only hold one NTSC/PAL converter which is arround the £60 quid mark the have arround 60 branches nationwide but if none of them are near to you the also offer a mail order service.

www.maplin.co.uk

I have purchased loads of gear from them in the past and their technical counter staff are second to none.

From what Charlie has mentioned then this is probably the most reasonable answere to your problem. At the moment i cant think of any other cause.

[[]v[]annY]

Hi m8, I have the same copy which i got yesterday, im gonna try and fix it today, i have a few ideas from wiring up my ps2 [internally] to show ntsc, too installing patches, i have a new generic pal patcher might just do the trick. i'll let u know.
I'm interested in getting the homepage of where i can download direct ps2 rips as u said u downloaded it directly , can u please tell me. cheers...

Hi guys,

Still not explored all options yet but will keep trying.

I am fairly competent when it comes to computers and electronics (seeing as I have my degree in both those diciplines!) so I understand all the issues involved and would probably make my own NTSC->PAL convertor if I needed one. So far though, I havn't found the need.

I used to have a Nintendo Z64 device for "backing up" nintendo cartriges and I had quite a few USA ROMs for that one most of which I patched but they seemed to work out the box (well, off the net I suppose )

I will try another generic NTSC->PAL patching program first then I'll see about a hardware fix. I don't know if that is the problem at the end of the day anyway.

I'll post here if I am successful!!

Cheers for all your help guys.

Siege