Sup guys.

I noticed Emulator is banned for this which is cool, but I wanted to ask if anybody knows if there's differences between PAL and NTSC which would be an issue for running. I know it's an issue in some games, but not all due to frame-dependent in-game timing in a lot of older games.

Basically trying to get an idea of which oldschool survival horror games I can/can't run based on the hardware I have access to.

Figured I'd ask beforehand. Cheers guys.

I assume PAL would be naturally slower because of the frame rate, therefore your RTA time would be slower. I mean, if you don't care for position on the leaderboards and just want to run the game, then have at it.

It is naturally slower, yeah, to my knowledge the PAL version isn't 60hz compatible. I just wanted to check it wasn't banned completely because of any potential in-game timer discrepancy but it appears it doesn't have one.

What do you reckon to playing an import copy on softmodded hardware? Importing games is pretty easy but hardware (especially stuff that requires power conversion such as a phat ps2 would) is a real pain in the butt and usually very expensive to ship even if the hardware itself is cheap.

I don't think playing a PAL version is banned, just playing on emulator is.

Liv, whom is one of the mods for the game, posted some info about using HD Loader here: https://www.speedrun.com/hauntingground/thread/ddowo

In terms of using something called swap magic, personally I wouldn't consider that a mod, since you are just allowing your console to play region locked games without modifying the hardware in anyway.

So TLDR: HD Loader = Emulator accodring to Liv Swap Magic to ME (not a mod) is not an emu run since you aren't modfying the hardware, but you NEED A MOD to confirm this.

Edit: So if you have swap magic, an NTSC or NTSC-J copy of Clock Tower 3 and the mod(s) approve using it, I see no issue then.

HDLoader does indeed speed up load times. Which would be an issue with an RTA timed game. So it makes sense to ban that. It's not an emulator though, that's absurd.

A softmod playing off a real disc however, to my knowledge, wouldn't. I don't use SwapMagic specifically, but I'd use FreeMCBoot to achieve the same result.

I guess wait and see if a mod replies, if not message one of them either on twitch or discord from their profile and ask the question, most like Liv, though Carci is active also, just busy.

PAL is fine. It has a 60hz mode and so can run at speeds identical to NTSC. So, there's no need to use Swap Magic for Clock Tower 3, either.

HD Loader / OPL / FreeMcBoot = classed as emulator. It's not an emulator, however it is 3rd-party software, and gives you artificial timesave over the game being played on disc officially. So, it is not allowed.

Well there we go case closed. Enjoy your runs, if you got any questions about the route or stuff, feel free to make a thread. I'll respond when I have time.

Oh sweet, you're right. I could've sworn it didn't support PAL60.

HD loader makes complete sense as I said above. It makes a huge difference for loading times.

But what's the official stance on SwapMagic/similar methods of using the physical disc on an out of region PS2 (without a hard mod, as I'm aware some hard mods can also make a difference but my knowledge of those is zip) and is it likely to be the same for similar games (Haunting Ground, Rule of Rose, etc) that you also moderate? It's not an issue here if pal is indeed 60Hz, but it's a pretty big issue in general with my access to NTSC PS2 games. I only have EU PS2 consoles, and JP PSOne. Obtaining a phat NTSC PS2 is a massive pain in the butt. So if SwapMagic is ok, that would be a great relief.

Sorry to be a pain, I just really do not want to settle on a game and sink my teeth into it only to find that I can't submit runs.I'm a big fan of this genre and it seems you and Carcinogen moderate almost all of them. So I figure I'll just stick to whatever your decisions are and avoid the games that means I'm unable to play on the hardware I own.

Swap Magic generally doesn't matter, and is okay because it doesn't alter how the game plays and just removes the region locking from the console.

As long as you're playing an official disc on an official console (like no burned discs, no HD Loader as mentioned above) then whatever else you do is fine. Burned discs are kinda a grey area because some people don't burn them right or how they're played on the console can affect various things. It also allows for outside modification, additionally.

PS1 is only really a different story with Swap Magic (like on RE2. and the two Driver categories) because of something involving the PS2 PS Driver, which only affects PS1 games anyway.

In Haunting Grounds case, that also has a 60hz mode on PAL.

Thanks for taking the time to clarify I do really appreciate it. You mentioned above FreeMCBoot is classed as an emulator, is that accurate if you're only using the disc-swap functionality? That's literally the same as swapmagic just initiated a different way. Yes it can do many other things, but it's easier to get a hold of than a swapmagic disc which can be a bit of a pain to track down these days. For example right now, there aren't actually any SwapMagic discs on the UK eBay store bar one in Ireland, and it's SwapMagic CODER which actually provides a good deal of the same functionality FreeMCBoot does.

Yeah PS1 import games are very hard to play on a PS2 without a hard mod anyway, then you run into the driver issue as well, that's why I did actually get around to importing a JP PSOne, and burned games I would absolutely expect to be a no-no. Both for the reasons you mentioned and because it's straight-up piracy.

Individual games I have no problem importing, that's absolutely fine.

As long as the software is only used for disc-swap functionality it's fine. Essentially, as long as the game is not being booted from USB / loading from USB or a HDD and is being played from a physical disc then it's fine.

Fantastic, thanks again for that specific clarification. If necessary I'll film the disc loading segment, I just didn't want to have to find an original SwapMagic lol