Atari STE - Hooked up to TV, some games "roll"

[Midnight Synergy]

Hello all,

 

I have finally been reunited with a box of old Atari ST software I used to have, as well as an STE and Mega STE.

 

I haven't had a chance to do much testing, but I've got the STE hooked up to the TV (NTSC), and while some games work perfectly well, others "roll". Now, most of the games are European versions. The STE was purchased in North America. Is this a PAL/NTSC issue? If so, can I do anything about it?

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Rybags]

99.9% it is a PAL/NTSC issue.

 

Check if the game has a cracker type intro, or is on a menu disk. In those cases there's often an option to select NTSC or PAL.

[Forrest]

Some games could toggle NTSC/PAL mode using one of the Function Keys

[ggn]

There were also some utilities that could reset the machine and switch to 60hz, so you could run them before you run the game.

[Thorsten Günther]

Some games could toggle NTSC/PAL mode using one of the Function Keys

 

Not quite. An NTSC STE will always put out NTSC, but every Atari regardless of it's video circuit (or lack thereof in the original ST and STf models) can be switched from 50 to 60 Hz screen refresh rate by software, several times also directly in the game (usually with the F5 key for 50Hz and the F6 key for 60Hz). And older TV sets sometimes have problems coping with a screen refresh rate that differs from the local TV standard, resulting in a rolling picture (e.g. a PAL signal in 60 Hz - usually referred to as "PAL 60").

 

If an NTSC STE could be switched to PAL by software, one would not only have a rolling screen on an "intolerant" TV set, but also lose colour (different encoding) and audio signals (different subcarrier frequency).

 

For games that insist on 50Hz screen refresh mode, I would suggest an RGB monitor like the SC1224 or several Commodore 1084 models (the earliest ones only had S-Video for the C=64). r you might purchase a portable TV from the UK - these have SCART connectors, sometimes will also accept NTSC through their RF connector (NTSC through the video connector is even more likely - all my stationary TVs bought in the last decade had it) and require 12V DC instead of 230V mains. The same is true for the rest of Europe, but only in UK they speak a language somewhat similar to American .

 

 

Thorsten