Gil-Galad

Of course you're right. I've done so with a lot of the source code. I'm going to edit that catalog file real soon. It's also a work in process. EDIT: I just looked at the file and I did say where I got the source code from. I did research some more and I found the original place. If you wanted me to put the original place, just say so. Which happens to be http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/7800/games/

Hello there. Over the years I've collected a lot of video game source code and I'm also finding more lately. I have source code from many different game consoles and a lot from here too. I'm also looking for more and if anyone wants to point me in the right direction to whatever I don't have, I'd highly appreciate it. The point to this project is to centralize and make an archive for source code. What I ain't looking for is PC source code, homebrew or fragments of code. I'm looking for commercial type source code from old video game consoles. Once I stop getting frequent updates and then I'll release the archive to all. For now, I have made a catalog with everything that I have so far. Catalog

That's good to know that you can inline assembly code. I'll think about it and at least I know I have some options open.

Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm kind of surprised to see that the Basic version for Atari 2600 even works on the real hardware. NBASIC for the NES does not work right on the real hardware and it's also shareware. So, for those two reasons it's shunned. I was told that it wasn't implemented correctly, even though it certainly is possible. Unfortunately, I don't know BASIC at all, I only know 6502. I might just stick to using 6502 for Atari 2600 programming.

Those specs are only required to use OpenGL TV effects. For just general OpenGL support, version 1.4.1 is fine. Try going to Video Settings and setting Renderer to OpenGL. Then restart Stella and see what happens. As for your video card, while it is an older model, I think the basic OpenGL rendering in Stella wouldn't be too much for it (I've tested on old Intel-based chipsets, and it worked fine there, and those are slower than a Geforce4 MX). Thanks a lot. I didn't realize that you could change the renderer. That works perfectly and all is well in the Atari 2600 gaming universe for me. I'm having a good time playing Yars' Revenge and it looks right visually as well. I've learned quite a bit about the Atari 2600 lately.

Unfortunately for me, there is a problem. Stella is not detecting that I have OpenGL even though Everest is telling me that I have version 1.4.1. Stella tells me that I need version 2.0+ and GLSL. I'm using a eMachine and I dare not update the manufacture's drivers because the eMachine drivers are custom modified and I don't want to break my OS or even the integrated video hardware. This wouldn't normally be a problem but my PSU in my PC of choice blew a fuse a couple of weeks ago and I don't have the money to get another PSU right now. eMachine doesn't have a newer update for this PC. I have a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX Integrated Codename Crush17. Has 64MB VRAM. DirectX 7.0 support. Back to the screen resolution. All this is really interesting indeed. I'm certainly not near as confused about the resolution as I once was. The vertical resolution is pretty much programmer controlled. The resolution is apparently internally correct in Stella and comes out a bit different in the conversion to modern television sets and monitors. Not to mention all the technical details that I've read about it from SeaGtGruff that have cleared a lot things up about scanlines, color clocks and pixels. All this stuff has been interesting to me lately. I may make a demo in the upcoming months to increase my understanding of the Atari 2600. 6502 isn't that much a problem for me, but the hardware is going to be a challenge for sure. I see a lot of good things going on around here for sure. Thanks a lot you all!

Thanks everyone, that's quite an interesting read and it clears up a lot of things for me. I had to read all this a few times to understand because I don't know the Atari 2600 system very well or analog television sets and I'm trying to wrap my mind around this entire concept. I'm more versed with the NES which doesn't seem to be as crazy with the video system. Even though you have to deal with the analog television set which I believe is about the same back in those days. Although, these screen shots were also throwing me off about what the resolution could be. Here is the MESS screenshot at 176x223. If you trim some of the black off it results to being close to 160x192. Here is a screenshot from PCAE-WIN. Stella appears to output a similar resolution. I do understand the vblank and hblank concept well enough. It's the color clocks that I don't quite understand. From what you said, 4 color clocks can equal one pixel and below you said one color clock can equal 1 pixel. Even though I know now there is no real pixel on one of these analog television sets. I'm kind of getting the picture that a lot of objects onscreen are of variable size. And that for larger television sets or different sizes, the video screen is scaled to fit. I wouldn't know the technical terms for this, only what I have observed by eye. I still don't completely understand the entire concept. But soon I'm going to try and make a demo to see how it all works. But it may be awhile since I'm involved in a NES coding project right now. Happens to be my first one, as a matter of fact. So, I'm learning there as well. 6502 is coming easy to me, it's controlling the hardware that's a real battle. And yeah, back to those screen shots. Neither one of them looks right to me. I used to own a Atari 2600 and also I watched a couple videos on YouTube and some of the commercials that showed a game being played, even if a very short clip.

I've been trying to figure out what the Atari 2600 NTSC screen resolution is. One source says 192x160 and another says 160x192 and several other places have the resolution not even close to what I posted. Also, the current emulators do not output screenshots close to the resolution I posted other than MESS which outputs at 176x223. Here is the technical specification I found which list the resolution at 160x192 but the emulator does not support that resolution, apparently. http://nocash.emubase.de/2k6specs.htm I used to have a Atari 2600 and I remember the resolution being wider than 160 for NTSC. I'd appreciate it if anyone could clear this up for me.