32X region mod (PAL/NTSC)

INTRODUCTION

It's been years I wanted to create this page in the wiki. The original mod, as far as I know, showed up in the site Sega Kore (French language). All credits go to them/the guy who invented the fire.

As the guy at Sega Kore correctly noted, this mod is for compatibility: [quote]Important notes for English-speaking people interested in the following modification : the 32X switch is NOT a country switch, but a compatibility switch. It's NOT your 32X which is aimed by the country protection in games, but your Mega Drive/Genesis. If you want to play all 32X games in the world, you have to switch both your Mega Drive/Genesis (country & frequency) AND your 32X addon (for PAL/NTSC compatibility).[/quote]

This said, for having total compatibility over your system, you will need to mod both your Mega Drive/Genesis AND the 32X itself. Follow the other guide for Mega Drive/Genesis mod. This is because the 32X is a slave hardware that will mix its own AV processed data coming from MD. That said, a PAL 32X will expect the MD to output PAL 50Hz, wheter the NTSC will expect NTSC 60Hz.

IMPORTANT

It should be noted that some games won't boot correctly even with the entire system modded.

THE MOD

The mod consist of just getting rid of a 0 Ohm resistor which locks the logic level on pin 17 for the Sega 315 - xxxx IC. This 0 Ohm is just a jumper (in case you're wondering what 0 Ohm is for). The resistor is labeled R42 in NTSC 32X and R43 in PAL 32X. All you have to do is to solder 2 wires out of the empty pads (corresponding to R42 place in PAL system, R43 in NTSC system) and wire them to a SPST/SPDT of your choice. Refer to the images from Sega Kore for now