Review of the Viper GX Extreme full Nintendo GameCube mod-chip special thanks to Mod-Chip.com 5th of March 2007

The GameCube scene was once a vibrant world. It produced many great homebrew applications. To run these homebrew applications one needed at least one of three boot methods. One of which is the use of a mod-chip. One of the best well known mod-chips is the Viper. The Viper comes in two forms:

The first is the Viper GC mod-chip; it was the first chip to be released by the Viper team that allowed you to boot/browse home burned GameCube discs. One could program new BIOS files to the chip via your computers parallel port or via a DVD.

Soon after the Viper GC's bigger brother was released; the Viper GC Extreme. The Extreme is an upgraded version of the Viper GC with the main additions being that it has the USB programmer together with on board flash memory. This allows for things like a cheat finder, memory card management, backing up games, write/read the memory of the cube and best yet store small executables on the flash memory (recently added function by the release of the Cobra 2.1 BIOS). So on with my first GameCube mod-chip review (slightly revised after reviewing several Wii mod-chips).

Packaging + content

The packaging is quite simple, and feels somewhat flimsy. A rough shipping will probably be a real problem for the Viper. A good reseller however will send them in a proper envelope/boxing. It is however more then just an ESD secure bag, though not much more, which is already an improvement. Content:


• USB flashing unit
• The mod-chip itself
• A ribbon cable, used to connect the mod-chip and the flashing unit
• The harness cable, the cable that connects the chip to the GameCube's mainboard and overrides the lid sensor
• Two rubber grommets, need to be inserted at the bottom of the USB flashing unit (though I preferred to mod my slot cover).
• An USB to mini-B cable, used to connect your computer to the Viper USB flasher



General build quality

Let's start by saying that this is a product you generally install once and then forget about. By that I mean to say that the product doesn't have to be incredibly sturdy. The Viper team must have thought otherwise and made their product thick and strong. Both the flashing unit and the mod-chip itself are of high quality, thick PCB with proper finish.

The harness cable is also nice and thick and shouldn't give you any problems, though inserting it into the Viper can be challenging. The only thing I find less attractive is the ribbon cable. I don't like ribbon cables, especially if what's attached to them needs to move around a lot. Although the cable is quite thick (and I can understand that a ribbon cable has been chosen; it needs to fit through the small holes at the clamps), I still feel that when you move it around a lot (for example to install your BBA instead of the flashing unit) it won't hold up for very long.

Installing
Getting the Viper GC Extreme install is a relatively easy task depending on your skill. It was my first time opening my GameCube when I installed this chip and the first time I did a hardware mod and I had no real trouble what soever. There was only one small hiccup which I only encountered because I wasn't careful enough, but I'll get to that.

I won't talk you through the full installation process, mainly because a large part is standard GameCube (dis)assembly work. Simply said you need to get your cube disassembled close to the max (only leaving the mainboard). You might even have to remove the heat sink from the CPU and GPU if you don't have small enough tools, but I was able to solder the chip in without doing so.

Once you are down to the bare mainboard (with or without heat sink; it is possible with the heat sink still installed to solder to the IC leg) you only need to solder four cables. One is rather tricky and might require you to remove the heat sink; the yellow wire. Apart from that wire the soldering is very easy (especially if you have a good soldering iron and some soldering skills), and if you have any soldering experience that wire is pretty easy too. The low amount of soldering that needs to be done is a definitive pro about this chip.

Now for I had to open my cube twice to install this chip; the yellow wire (IC leg) got detached. Now this was mainly my own fault because I was careless. I moved the cables around a lot during assembly (mainly to take pictures) and the solder let go. The second time around I re-soldered the yellow wire (at a slightly higher temperature, but not too high as to not burn out the IC) and taped all cables tight to the mainboard making sure they couldn't move around. That fixed the problem. On with the installation!

Once you've soldered the four wires it's time for you to place the ribbon cable (I fed it through the serial slot 2 as I wanted to be able to use a BBA later on, I suggest you do the same). You might want to watch the orientation of the cable though, you don't want to have to twist it because you have the top side down or vise versa.

After that you only need to place the lid sensor �blocker� and the power cable. Both don't require soldering so there should be no problem. Inserting the plug into the Viper GC Extreme was however strangely hard to do. For some reason the plug didn't want to fit properly. This could have been just my sample. Of course once it's in there should be no more need to you to ever remove it so I don't think this is so much of a problem.

Now once you have your cube (IcedCube) back together you can flash your mod-chip. The (first time) flashing procedure is (or at least was) still buggy. You must set the correct jumper setting on the Viper USB writer and turn on your GameCube. You will be greeted by a screen that let's you choose between booting the original BIOS or flash the Viper. Flasing the Viper can be done via a DVD or via the USB writer. A DVD requires an ISO9660 DVD with the viper BIOS file (.vgc) in root.

The other option via the USB writer requires your computer and the use of the USB flashing tool. The tool (v1.0) seems to find it quite hard to properly detect the Viper USB writer the first time (remember that you will first need to install proper drivers before it will even get detected in windows as a working device). On top of that the �write/load firmware� buttons (both the button in the application and the one in the File menu) don't always respond correctly. Sometimes I got an error from one but not the other, sometimes from both and sometimes from neither. After the first flash this is however no longer such a problem.

More about installing the chip (images, etc.) can be found here: http://ngc.scorpei.com/post2.html

Using the viper
Because the Cobra BIOS is officially not released by the Viper team it might seem strange to you that I review it as the use of the Viper. I do this because even if it isn't officially by the Viper team is seems to be the best (if not only) BIOS out there for the Viper. To put it simply the Cobra BIOS is the Viper BIOS.

Now the Cobra team recently released a new version of their BIOS (2.1). It was a long awaited release as it brought with it a few new features (such as the flash memory management). Many of the features where earlier available but only in a w.i.p. build of the BIOS.

The main reason you buy a mod-chip is to remove the authenticity check for DVD's. That would then allow you to boot your own code from them. Many mod-chips have however already gone beyond that point and provide a full replacement for the original GameCube BIOS/OS. One of these is the Viper + Cobra BIOS.

Using Cobra
The main menu has the following options:
-direct disc boot (boot inserted DVD)
-original BIOS (boot the original GameCube BIOS)
-configuration (set boot action, lid sensor position, region, drive code selection, etc.)
-explorer (browse a DVD, multi-image DVD or the flash memory on the USB writer)
-cheat codes (says it all doesn't it? It allows you to cheat)
-change disc (you can't just hard change the disc in the cobra BIOS, it needs to know you are going to remove the DVD)
-Plug-in: **** (the plug-in is one of the best functions of the Viper. It allows you to have a single, modified, DOL file inserted in the Cobra BIOS and loaded into the Viper GC's flash memory. I personally use it for SDload).

Other features are also available for the Cobra BIOS but require PC side applications. The two most useful ones are a backup utility allowing you to back up your games and an USB transfer utility allowing you to transfer small files to the Viper (that includes booting them directly or putting them on the flash memory of the USB writer).

If you only buy the Viper GC Extreme however (and don't use DVD's, SDload, etc.), don't think you can run homebrew (other then very small apps that work with the USB sending method). You will need at least one of four methods of which I have described in more detail here: http://ngc.scorpei.com/post3.html Having the Viper is however a means of being able to use those methods.

Together with one of the methods mentioned above (specifically SDload and DVD playback) I was able to run larger files too. Every application (homebrew or otherwise) worked without ANY problems (including games that use audio-streaming). I've tested with DVD's from -R, +R, -RW and + RW and small sized - and -RW. Of those all worked except rewriteable media (like with all GameCube chips).

The whole thing works highly intuitive, although injecting a module can be tricky if you do not know what you are doing. As I stated earlier this is one of the best parts of the Viper's system as it allows you to boot SDload without using an (officially signed) DVD. Using SDload you can run close to every homebrew application out there.

The only problem with the Cobra BIOS is that DOL (homebrew GameCube images/applications) files do not always get properly loaded. This can however be fixed by running it through DOILZ, an application that changes the file in a manner that fixes it for the Cobra BIOS without damaging it which would result in it no longer working with for example SDload.



Conclusion

Installing the Viper is a breeze (especially if you are used to soldering things that are even smaller), using the Viper is a breeze, in other words the Viper GC Extreme really is a good chip. The hardware is of high quality and the soft/firmware also works without (many) problems. Also due to the good availability and the renewed interest in GameCube homebrew because of the current Wii developments this is a very interesting product. If you have a GameCube lying around and want to extend it's life buy a Viper GC Extreme (have a fun evening soldering) and start running GC homebrew such as snesgx (SNES emulator).

Although I have yet to review any other GameCube modification chips, I feel that if you buy this product you will not be disappointed.

-Simon "Scorpei" van de Berg

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