leech Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 44 minutes ago, DrVenkman said: Well, testing on real hardware with both CRT and LCD output simultaneously, my E: text background is blue not aqua or teal, Star Raiders has blue shields rather than green, Pitfall II has the proper shade of blue between the trees, which are the correct shade of brown ... Any other titles I should look at quickly that you guys can thing of off-hand? Ballblazer's Lucasfilm logo is gold with dark red/brown? (I think that is the correct color) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 48 minutes ago, DrVenkman said: Well, testing on real hardware with both CRT and LCD output simultaneously, my E: text background is blue not aqua or teal, Star Raiders has blue shields rather than green, Pitfall II has the proper shade of blue between the trees, which are the correct shade of brown ... Any other titles I should look at quickly that you guys can thing of off-hand? How did you manage simultaneously outputs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 (edited) 16 minutes ago, leech said: Ballblazer's Lucasfilm logo is gold with dark red/brown? (I think that is the correct color) I used my SDrive-MAX and loaded up ATX versions of both Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus - both have the proper golden Lucasfilm logo and *very* dark (almost black) reddish brown backgrounds. 13 minutes ago, leech said: How did you manage simultaneously outputs? I am running the RGB output of the VBXE into a GBS8220 VGA converter that has dual simultaneous outputs. I have a 17" CRT connected to one, and similar-sized LCD connected to the other. Edited July 15, 2020 by DrVenkman typo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 1 minute ago, DrVenkman said: I used my SDrive-MAX and loaded up ATX versions of both Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus - both have the proper golden Lucasfilm logo and *very* dark (almost black) reddish brown backgrounds. Awesome! 1 minute ago, DrVenkman said: I am running the RGB output of the VBXE into a GBS8220 VGA converter that dual simultaneous outputs. I have a 17" CRT connected to one, and similar-sized LCD connected to the other. Oh yeah, I have one of those. I don't think I've ever tried outputting to two at once! I can agree, the NTSC Contemporary one looks pretty clean so far! Through my setup, the background of ballblazer is really really dark, though I'm also using a different version apparently, as the lucasfilm screen seems to stay on, vs the one I was testing last night which only had the car go by once then it went to the main game (some games I swear have a billion versions out... I have 4 of the prototype Ballblaster, and 5 Ballblazer...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 3 minutes ago, leech said: I can agree, the NTSC Contemporary one looks pretty clean so far! Through my setup, the background of ballblazer is really really dark, though I'm also using a different version apparently, as the lucasfilm screen seems to stay on, vs the one I was testing last night which only had the car go by once then it went to the main game (some games I swear have a billion versions out... I have 4 of the prototype Ballblaster, and 5 Ballblazer...) Yeah, my regular Games folder has a blue-million leaks, cracks, etc. That's part of the reason I decided to use the ATX versions from the Atari 8-Bit Preservation Initiative instead, just for some degree of consistency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 1 minute ago, DrVenkman said: Yeah, my regular Games folder has a blue-million leaks, cracks, etc. That's part of the reason I decided to use the ATX versions from the Atari 8-Bit Preservation Initiative instead, just for some degree of consistency. I need to sort mine, as when I copied it to the SDrive-MAX, I tried to put them in letter folders, and now the lists are all over the place... so couldn't find the ATX, tried to load a .CAS, realized I'd never loaded a tape on the Atari before...then gave up, and loaded an XEX 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 3 minutes ago, leech said: I need to sort mine, as when I copied it to the SDrive-MAX, I tried to put them in letter folders, and now the lists are all over the place... so couldn't find the ATX, tried to load a .CAS, realized I'd never loaded a tape on the Atari before...then gave up, and loaded an XEX I totally get it. I have the latest (I think?) collection from the A8 Preservation Initiative saved to my hard drive. I pulled out all the ATX files and copied them to an ATX top folder, then alphabetical sub-folders below that. Then I dropped all those onto the card in my SDrive-MAX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 @Faicuai said another game that's pretty picky about the palette is SpyCat. From his message to me. Then my own capture of it. With the exception of everything being a shad darker, it's pretty close. But I mean as we've all figured, brightness of the capture shouldn't matter, as that should be relevant to where the screen was snagged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Just now, DrVenkman said: I totally get it. I have the latest (I think?) collection from the A8 Preservation Initiative saved to my hard drive. I pulled out all the ATX files and copied them to an ATX top folder, then alphabetical sub-folders below that. Then I dropped all those onto the card in my SDrive-MAX. I did mostly the same thing, I just kind of did them in lumps, as I pulled the games out aside of the utility disks... and then need to finish running fatsort on all the dirs, but only did it on one or two as a test! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 1 minute ago, leech said: another game that's pretty picky about the palette is SpyCat. I'm totally unfamiliar with that one. I don't even seem to have a copy. Is it modern? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) 2 minutes ago, DrVenkman said: I'm totally unfamiliar with that one. I don't even seem to have a copy. Is it modern? I didn't have it either, looks to be 2016. http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-spycat_32092.html Edit: Dude just flashed me in the game as I left it idle! Edited July 16, 2020 by leech 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Just now, leech said: I didn't have it either, looks to be 2016. http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-spycat_32092.html Edit: Dude just flashed me in the game as I left it idle! Yep. I just googled it and found it on Atarimania. I don't have it on my CF card yet but I fired it up in Altirra - it does look very different in PAL versus NTSC. I just copied it over to the CF card in my 1088XLD and launched it there. Seems pretty consistent with Altirra to me - perhaps a bit darker on CRT than LCD, but that is almost certainly due to either the age of my CRT or the current color temp/brightness/contrast settings and how those compare to the LCD settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) 5 minutes ago, DrVenkman said: Yep. I just googled it and found it on Atarimania. I don't have it on my CF card yet but I fired it up in Altirra - it does look very different in PAL versus NTSC. I just copied it over to the CF card in my 1088XLD and launched it there. Seems pretty consistent with Altirra to me - perhaps a bit darker on CRT than LCD, but that is almost certainly due to either the age of my CRT or the current color temp/brightness/contrast settings and how those compare to the LCD settings. Yeah, it seemed darker through the 130xe's VBXE -> OSSC connection as well. Not sure how the comparative image was made. Edit: I apparently found this last night, then ended up needing sleep for some reason... Edited July 16, 2020 by leech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 14 hours ago, DrVenkman said: If anyone besides me, @leech and @bfollowell have a VBXE in an NTSC machine, they have yet to speak up. I forgot to mention - along with being colour blind, I only have a VBXE in my PAL machine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 me too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 3 hours ago, Stephen said: I forgot to mention - along with being colour blind, I only have a VBXE in my PAL machine. I don't understand! Previous to 6 years ago when I started my currsnt job, I knew zero people that were color blind. Now, including you two, i know 5 people. Sounds like it might be an advantage for Atari computers. Check out this weirdness. First image is through RF, second is through Composite on the same computer (though I think that image was after I adjusted tint). If I could figure out where that 'bleed' is coming from on composite, it would be better. But outside of the weird colkr, RF looks better from a distance... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 34 minutes ago, leech said: First image is through RF, second is through Composite on the same computer (though I think that image was after I adjusted tint). If I could figure out where that 'bleed' is coming from on composite, it would be better. But outside of the weird colkr, RF looks better from a distance... That's interesting but not really relevant to helping us settle on an NTSC palette for VBXE. For what it's worth, any title like that which requires artifacting for color is monochrome white on black through RGB or S-video. *shrug* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Never seen anything looking that nasty, somethings not right... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 6 hours ago, DrVenkman said: That's interesting but not really relevant to helping us settle on an NTSC palette for VBXE. For what it's worth, any title like that which requires artifacting for color is monochrome white on black through RGB or S-video. *shrug* Yeah, for sure, sonce the VBXE does not support the 'cheat', they just show up as lines with spaces, and white color. But everything does show that the Contemporary one is good. That is the one that has my vote. Especially connected through the GBS 8220 AND VGA, the VBXE with NTSC Contemporary Palette looks amazing on my screens. I set it up to go out to two LCD screens. One is a TV, the other a 16:10 monitor. The monitor seemed darker, but both had great coloring in Star Raiders and Ballblazer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 I believe there were more clamoring for this months ago when I first started reading about the issues when I was considering adding a VBXE to my 1088XEL, but it looks like we're about the only three concerned with it now. I won't be back from Florida for a couple more days and it'll likely be well into next week before I'd have time you tinker. I like the images I've seen and I'm fine with the contemporary palette if you guys want to go with that one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 2 hours ago, leech said: But everything does show that the Contemporary one is good. That is the one that has my vote. Especially connected through the GBS 8220 AND VGA, the VBXE with NTSC Contemporary Palette looks amazing on my screens. Just now, bfollowell said: I like the images I've seen and I'm fine with the contemporary palette if you guys want to go with that one. Cool! I think we have as close a consensus on a reasonable NTSC palette as we're likely to get. As @candle says, we're not doing desktop publishing here. I think @phaeron's NTSC Contemporary is really quite good and I'm quite happy with it myself. So, is there anything else @candle needs to create an NTSC core? I'm attaching the NTSC Contemporary .ACT file again to this post for convenience. NTSC_Contemp.act 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Just remember the old 800 calibration of these old titles only show on fresh untouched copy... to swap the artifact mode based on what is see by the naked eye and what monitor is in use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 26 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said: Just remember the old 800 calibration of these old titles only show on fresh untouched copy... to swap the artifact mode based on what is see by the naked eye and what monitor is in use. Yeah, I never knew about the Ultima IV one until I loaded up the ATX. Control-X while it's loading is what I used for that. Not sure how many other games, etc had that. We should find some of them that don't require artifacting and test them out with the Palette for the VBXE, and see how many look correct. Also probably need more people with VBXEs to step forward and agree. Can we make a Poll? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible kid Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 I would just take something and strike while the iron is hot. Either the one you guys already came up with up-thread, or the one that atari800 uses(seems fine to me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 2 hours ago, invisible kid said: I would just take something and strike while the iron is hot. Either the one you guys already came up with up-thread, or the one that atari800 uses(seems fine to me). I still don't see why it's so damn hard to just let users burn their own core with their palette of choice. Arguments done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.