Viper GC Extreme Review

Written by Brakken
January 2006 Introduction

I never did get a chance to review the original Viper GC chip as it came out in December of 2004 and at this point in time I did not even own a GameCube. Before this I was aware of older less viable solutions such as the Phantasy Star Online method, but that was too much to mess with.

Things changed after I received a sparkling new black GameCube for Christmas and ordered the original Viper GC chip. Soon after this I started the Mod That Cube FAQ and then did my first review which ended up being so controversial that it drew in thousands of readers. This made me decide to start writing more reviews.

So here we are and a year and a few months have passed and I am now proud to be able to review the newly released Viper GC Extreme modchip. The chip differs from its predecessor as it contains more onboard memory and boasts the ability to send and receive using a USB 2.0 interface. Let’s take a look at the official specifications.

Features

Complete USB Solution for Chip Programming
USB 2.0 Bi-Directional Streaming
Back Games via USB (without additional hardware)
4 Wire Installation
16Mbit Flash Memory
NTSC/PAL/JAP Compatible
Secure High-Speed Actel FPGA
Chip Enable/Disable Switch
Status LEDs

BIOS Features

Direct boot of all media, without swapping!
Automatic Media Detection: Insert disc, turn on GC and play!
Supports all regions PAL / USA / JAP
Play originals or backups from any region, thanks to the built-in region-free feature
Built-in Audio Fix, that could be Enabled/Disabled in the Config
Menu for full backward compatibility with your old backups.
Fully compatible with multi-disc games
Unique MultiBoot feature: put several games on one single disc!
Cobra Plug-in System: (MP3 Player, Network loader, etc.)
Disc Explorer to browse the content of original GC discs or DVDs and that allows you:
     * To flash your Viper GC by burning the flash file on a DVD
     * To execute homebrew programs from DVD
     * To play music (ADPCM files aligned on a 32kb boundary)
     * To run the game you want from a MultiBoot compilation
     * To load cheat codes from disc into Viper GC Memory
     * To load a cobra plug-in from disc into Viper GC Memory
Backup Tool of original GC discs using the USB connection
Remote Execution of DOL files using the USB connection
BIOS Configuration stored into the Viper GC Flash
Selectable default boot action (Main menu, Boot disc, Original BIOS,
Disc Explorer) and special boot action (when the X key is held)
Calls Original BIOS Game Loader for 100% compatibility
Supports all hardware revisions (including DOL-101 and Panasonic Q)
Idle-bug free
User-Friendly GUI
Powerful Cheat Code System compatible with Action Replay codes, codes are stored in the Viper GC Flash so no memory card is needed! Cheat codes can be either entered using Cobra Menus or loaded from a file using the Disc Explorer
A Swap disc option was left in (called "Change Disc" as you could also replace a backup with another backup) to be totally backward compatible.

Contents

Viper GC Extreme Modchip
Viper USB Programmer
USB Programmer Spacers
Wire Assembly
Flexwire
USB Cable

Installation

As I'm pretty experienced with installing GameCube modifications and the installation went quite well. To install the Viper GC Extreme all I had to do was unscrew the lid with a GameBit, take off the controller, fan, DVD assemblies and then remove the heatsink. There are a lot of fallacies going around pertaining to the heatsink. Some people think you can solder the one and only wire that goes onto the BIOS without removing it. This is possible, but if you do this you will most likely end up shorting two or more legs or even shorting the wire on the heatsink itself. If this happens your GameCube will not boot and removing a short from underneath the heatsink is very difficult (as you can’t remove the heatsink because then you will rip off the BIOS chip as you’ve done gone and soldered it on it!)

If you're new to modding you are in luck as the Viper GC Extreme is one of the most simple chips to install as it only has four wires and three of them connect to very large points. The larger the point the easier it will be to solder the wires onto it. The only minor challenge is the point you must solder onto the small IC chip (BIOS) and this can be accomplished by first tinning the wire and then soldering it on using only the tin you put on the wire.

One of the coolest things about the Viper GC Extreme is the fact that it is backwards compatible with the original Viper's adapter so all you need to do is unplug your old chip and plug in the new one. Once I got the Viper GC Extreme connected I mounted it next to the fan using some double sided foam tape. It is really important that I did this otherwise the chip would hang loose and might snag on the case when you put the top back on. If this happens you could potentially damage the chip. Additionally, for precautionary measures I placed some electrical tape around the front of the Viper GC Extreme to keep it in place incase the foam tape comes loose.

After this I had to plug in the Flexwire (the blue side goes up) into the small connector on the Viper GC Extreme. Once this was done I folded it around the front of the DVD assembly, over the right controller port and then down into the hole which leads to the expansion port used by the GameCube's Broad Band adapter. I had to do this as the external USB interface plugs directly into the expansion port.

The USB interface comes with two small plastic spacers to attach to the bottom of it so that it will rest firmly when the GameCube is in its upright position, but I thought this was a bit tacky and decided to attach it to the expansion ports cover. I accomplished this via cutting a space for the USB interface on the front of the cover and then glued it onto the cover using a hot glue gun. Sadly, the interface is a little too tall and the cover will not snap into place so I put a piece of eletrical tape over it to make sure it doesn't fall off if I have to move the GameCube.

So that about covers the installation of the Viper GC Extreme. Once everything is connected I set the switch to the USB programming setting and turned the GameCube on.

Usage - Third Party BIOS

When I first turned the GameCube on I was presented with a nice blue screen asking me if I wish to boot by pressing "A" or program the chip by pressing "B". I tried booting with a backup and it did not work. So just like other competitors chips the Viper GC Extreme comes with an onboard BIOS that will not boot backups.

Next I put in a disc which contained various Viper compatible BIOS images and pressed "B" to flash the chip, but I got an error screen. To flash the chip using a DVD you must only have a single BIOS on it. So instead of wasting a disc I decided to flash it using the USB adapter.

So I installed the Driver for the USB Programmer on my computer, ran the Flashing software and tried to flash the chip while the GameCube was off and got an error screen saying to make sure the GameCube is powered on. So I turned it on and tried again and this time it worked. After pressing "write" it erased the current BIOS on the chip and then programmed the new BIOS.

Of course I programmed the chip with the latest version of the Cobra BIOS (v1.2) and tested out all of its features. Everything worked out great except when I went into the cheat code menu and exited without any cheats flashed onto the chip. The BIOS froze and it took two reboots of the GameCube to get Cobra booting again. Another thing which amazed me was that for some reason media that didn’t work before now boots under the Viper GC Extreme. I’m not sure why or how, but even junky media made from CMC dye boots fine.

Usage - Cobra BIOS v1.2

Of course I programmed the chip with the latest version of the Cobra BIOS (v1.2 was the current version at this point in time) and tested out all of its features. Everything worked out great except when I went into the cheat code menu and exited without any cheats flashed onto the chip. The BIOS froze and it took two reboots of the GameCube to get Cobra booting again.

It seemed that the new Viper GC Extreme wasn’t completely backwards compatible with the old bios. Furthermore, I had been receiving reports of people leaving it in the frozen state for insane amounts of time and then having their Viper GC Extreme chip not working. Emu_Kidid from GCOS explained to me that if the chip tries to write to itself over and over again for a long period of time it can actually kill itself which seemed to be happening to a few unlucky people. Luckily, in response to this the creators of the 3rd party Cobra BIOS quickly released v1.5 to correct these issues.

Usage - Cobra BIOS v1.5

As in the Cobra v1.2 BIOS you have a few options at your disposal which including booting your DVD of choice, browsing a DVD to boot DOL (GameCube executable files) and selecting cheat codes. A major improvement over the original Viper GC is the fact you can now store a lot of cheat codes in the BIOS and are not limited to 128KB.

One thing which amazed me was that for some reason media that didn’t work before now boots under the Viper GC Extreme. I’m not sure why or how, but even junky media made from CMC dye boots fine. I tried four different types of media on three different burners and burned from 1x all the way to 16x and the GameCube would read anything I threw at it. I’m not sure how they achieved this, but it is a major improvement over the normal Viper GC.

Two new features added to the Cobra v1.5 BIOS are the ability to backup your original games for safe keeping and stream DOL files to the Viper GC. Both of these are done using the USB interface so you are no longer required to use the Broad Band Adapter (BBA). Hopefully as time goes on the homebrew development community will embrace the USB functionality and add it to their programs. Until then you’ll be stuck with switching out the Viper GC Extreme’s USB adapter with the BBA as they both use the same extension port on the bottom of the GameCube.

To backup an image all you do is turn the GameCube on then plug in the USB cable (always remember to turn the GameCube on first) then simply select either a full backup or smart backup. The smart will remove the filler/garbage data at the end of the game that is used for padding it. If you use the full backup expect to wait around 28-30 minutes for the backup to complete and if you pick smart mode you’ll never know how long it will take as it depends on the size of the game itself.

DOL sending is done using a small Command Line Interface (CLI) application and works really well. It sends at around 1 megabyte per second (the same rate of backing up a game) and everything I threw at it loaded just fine. If you weren’t aware there are many homebrew DOL files such as emulators so you can play Super NES, NES and Sega Genesis games on your GameCube!

Conclusion

While the addition of the Cobra v1.5 BIOS was needed the chip is still lacking the functionality of others and cannot really be properly reviewed until Cobra v2.0 comes out. The hardware is solid and the increased compatibility rate is great. If you’re upgrading from the original Viper GC it’s just a quick swap and realignment of the Flexwire and you’re all good to go. Until the v2.0 BIOS comes out all you really have is a Viper GC and BBA in one so look for an updated review when it does come out. Until then I would definitely get a Viper GC Extreme over the original version.

Links

Viper GC Extreme Webpage

-=[ Viper GC Extreme Review Discussion Thread ]=-

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