Wilheim Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Hi, all! Does anyone have an NTSC version of Joe Blade? I'm pretty sure that I had this version on one of my old disks, but cannot find it. Any help? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuel Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 I made an attempt at NTSC-fixing and converting the original CAS to an XEX: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.xex Changes: Move long immediate VBLANK routine into deferred routine Insure proper initialization of DLIs when switching from bomb screen to main screen Disable BASIC Code: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.zip 7 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892212 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilheim Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 I made an attempt at NTSC-fixing and converting the original CAS to an XEX: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.xex Changes: Move long immediate VBLANK routine into deferred routine Insure proper initialization of DLIs when switching from bomb screen to main screen Disable BASIC Code: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.zip Thank you! I can see it works! I have an issue. For some reason, in that XEX the foes stop walking when Joe jumps when running on NTSC, but they still walk on PAL. What's the reason of this? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892256 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) I made an attempt at NTSC-fixing and converting the original CAS to an XEX: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.xex Changes: Move long immediate VBLANK routine into deferred routine Insure proper initialization of DLIs when switching from bomb screen to main screen Disable BASIC Code: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.zip Nice! Possible to apply a similar fix to Joe Blade II? Looks like the issue may be the similar... Edited November 17, 2017 by MrFish Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892290 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuel Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Possible fix: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.xex Changes: Replace an instance of LDA VCOUNT / BNE with LDA $14 / CMP $14 / BEQ. That way it isn't thwarted when the VBI runs long. Code: joe-blade-ntsc-fix.zip I'll take a look at Joe Blade II. 7 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892314 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuel Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Joe Blade II: joe-blade-ii-ntsc-fix.xex Changes: Swapped use of Timer 1 and Timer 2 since Timer 1 code was making immediate VBLANK too long but is fine as deferred VBLANK. Not sure if I introduced any order dependency issues with this swap but a quick play through looked OK. Code: joe-blade-ii-ntsc-fix.zip 4 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892450 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrathchild Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Does the countdown timer need slowing down? The check seems odd even for PAL, which I would have thought would be $32 (50), so should NTSC be set to $3C (60)? 436C: 48 PHA 436D: 98 TYA 436E: 48 PHA 436F: 8A TXA 4370: 48 PHA 4371: A5 14 LDA RTCLOK+2 4373: C9 34 CMP #$34 4375: D0 0F BNE $4386 4377: A9 00 LDA #$00 4379: 85 14 STA RTCLOK+2 437B: AD 8E 2E LDA $2E8E 437E: F0 0E BEQ $438E 4380: CE 8E 2E DEC $2E8E 4383: 20 61 43 JSR $4361 4386: 68 L4386 PLA 4387: AA TAX 4388: 68 PLA 4389: A8 TAY 438A: 68 PLA 438B: 4C 5F E4 JMP SYSVBV 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892469 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuel Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Does the countdown timer need slowing down? Good idea. I see another case at B828 probably for the subgames. Not sure why the creators used $34. I agree $32 makes more sense. Maybe they adjusted it to make it slightly easier? Here it is with $3C: joe-blade-ii-ntsc-fix.zip 8 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892486 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) I wished the "subgames" in Joe Blade and Joe Blade II were not there. In my opinion both games would play much better without them. But I am unsure if they can be easily removed or if the games are unplayable/unfinishable then (but if they can be removed and both games can still be finished, it would be great if someone would remove these subgames - all of them; or set a certain value somewhere, so the program thinks the subgames have been solved successfully)... Edited November 17, 2017 by CharlieChaplin Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892578 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilheim Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 Thank you so much for all your effort! By my side, I finally found an NTSC version that was distributed in my country. For some reason, the game title was changed to "RAMBO" BLADE. Anyway, here's attached as a tiny contribution. Regards! Rambo Blade.xex 3 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892632 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) I edited all the fonts on Xuel's NTSC version, including the LCD score font. Joe Blade (NTSC, Font).xex Edited November 18, 2017 by MrFish 7 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3892642 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) Revised some of the characters for the stencil font (mainly M, N, W) -- and fixed a few punctuation problems from the original stencil font. Also included here is a version of the 3-bit font that's slightly shorter. This type of font generally looks better proportionally for NTSC because of the vertical stretching compared to PAL systems (your mileage may vary). Joe Blade (NTSC, Font).xex Joe Blade (NTSC, Font Short).xex Edited November 18, 2017 by MrFish 4 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3893032 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 (edited) Thank you so much for all your effort! By my side, I finally found an NTSC version that was distributed in my country. For some reason, the game title was changed to "RAMBO" BLADE. Anyway, here's attached as a tiny contribution. The speed of the enemies is faster in the first part of this version than in the original game (and Xuel's NTSC version). I'm not sure how the rest of the game compares, as I didn't play through much of this version yet. Edited November 19, 2017 by MrFish Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3893734 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuel Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 The speed of the enemies is faster in the first part of this version than in the original game (and Xuel's NTSC version). I'm not sure how the rest of the game compares, as I didn't play through much of this version yet. Yeah I noticed that too. The reason is that Rambo Blade replaces the LDA VCOUNT / BNE with LDA VCOUNT / BEQ which effectively gets rid of the frame syncing altogether. This means if you run on a 65816 at a higher frequency (e.g. 21MHz), then the enemies are super fast. Other than that difference, it's interesting that Rambo Blade uses a similar NTSC-fixing strategy to the one I employed with Joe Blade II, i.e. just swap the immediate and deferred vertical blank routines instead of moving both into deferred as I did with Joe Blade. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3893814 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 (edited) Yeah I noticed that too. The reason is that Rambo Blade replaces the LDA VCOUNT / BNE with LDA VCOUNT / BEQ which effectively gets rid of the frame syncing altogether. This means if you run on a 65816 at a higher frequency (e.g. 21MHz), then the enemies are super fast. It doesn't seem to have any visible negative impacts that I've seen so far. I wonder if the same could be done to help out Joe Blade II, because it's noticeably slower in comparison and could use a slight speedup. Edited November 19, 2017 by MrFish Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3893850 Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 possibly Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-3893912 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdark Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I found an error in xex ntsc, when one plays and presses select, the pause is activated, when you return to the game by pressing start it loops. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-4313719 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Tried Joe Blade 1 and 2 NTSC fixed tonight. Using a NTSC 600XL with 64k. First one works but as you get into the game there are glitches. Like doors or other objects on the wall are missing colors. Joe blade 2 wouldn’t even start. Original XEX runs but graphics glitch out of course. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/272161-joe-blade-ntsc-version/#findComment-4317070 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.