Flashback 9 Gold CFW to load roms and boxart from SD

[Beefrh68]

Hello gang,  I'm relatively  new to the flashback  custom  scene & my question  is this I know how to add additional  games  via an SD card but cannot figured  how to add boxart for games.. I'm  trying  to get artwork  for the 2018 legends flashback  50 games version  .. any assistance  is greatly  appreciated

[Retr0nut]

What did I do wrong? Followed all instructions and successfully loaded new firmware, or it looked like it did but now all background music and game sound effects are corrupted?

[xboxiso]

@Brad_from_the_80s or anyone else, is there a way to adjust the aspect ratio on the FB9? Currently games have vertical and horizontal black bars. I don't use bezels and was hoping to set the gameplay area to use the full height of the screen and also make it a bit wider but not stretched. If any of you have the Gamestation Pro or the 2600+, I was hoping to have the FB9 display the gameplay area the same as that.

 

Also, I have read about modding the original 2600 paddle controls with different value potentionmeters makes them compatible with the FB9. Has anyone here done this? If so, does it work well? Thanks

[Brad_from_the_80s]

8 hours ago, xboxiso said:

@Brad_from_the_80s or anyone else, is there a way to adjust the aspect ratio on the FB9? Currently games have vertical and horizontal black bars. I don't use bezels and was hoping to set the gameplay area to use the full height of the screen and also make it a bit wider but not stretched. If any of you have the Gamestation Pro or the 2600+, I was hoping to have the FB9 display the gameplay area the same as that.

 

Also, I have read about modding the original 2600 paddle controls with different value potentionmeters makes them compatible with the FB9. Has anyone here done this? If so, does it work well? Thanks

I'm not aware of a way to address what I think you're talking about.  The AFB UI and emulator pretty much just assume a 720p widescreen display, and the emulator fills that space with whatever bezel you select.  Sometimes your TV's zoom settings could help.  But many/most 2600 games do not actually use the full vertical space of a 4:3 screen.  Black bars at the top and bottom and sometimes on the left are pretty common (and you'll see this on the 2600+ as well).  Some developers were better than others at using up some of this space, but back in the 70s a lot of it was just unseen overscan area on TVs of the time.  So what you're seeing is normal I think.  I imagine GSP is doing some cropping or zooming or something, but I'd have to check the reviews.

 

On the paddles... I actually bought a compatible set of pots to do the mod - and suitable ones are kind of hard to find.  But because the shafts need modification by hand with a dremel or something to accept the knobs I just haven't ever gotten around to it.  With the 2600+ the motivation is less, but I might still mess with it sometime.  I think successfully mounting them was another concern, but I think I thought I could do it - it's been a while since that abortive project piled up somewhere.  I would be prepared to go to all that trouble, find that they technically work, but just not terribly well.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Brad_from_the_80s

[xboxiso]

19 minutes ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

I'm not aware of a way to address what I think you're talking about.  The AFB UI and emulator pretty much just assume a 720p widescreen display, and the emulator fills that space with whatever bezel you select.  Sometimes your TV's zoom settings could help.  But many/most 2600 games do not actually use the full vertical space of a 4:3 screen.  Black bars at the top and bottom and sometimes on the left are pretty common (and you'll see this on the 2600+ as well).  Some developers were better than others at using up some of this space, but back in the 70s a lot of it was just unseen overscan area on TVs of the time.  So what you're seeing is normal I think.  I imagine GSP is doing some cropping or zooming or something, but I'd have to check the reviews.

 

On the paddles... I actually bought a compatible set of pots to do the mod - and suitable ones are kind of hard to find.  But because the shafts need modification by hand with a dremel or something to accept the knobs I just haven't ever gotten around to it.  With the 2600+ the motivation is less, but I might still mess with it sometime.  I think successfully mounting them was another concern, but I think I thought I could do it - it's been a while since that abortive project piled up somewhere.  I would be prepared to go to all that trouble, find that they technically work, but just not terribly well.

Here are a few screenshots of what I was describing. These were taken from my laptop running Stella 6.7. Basically they are using the entire vertical area of the screen and are also a bit wider than what displays on the FB systems. I understand based on your response earlier that there isn't a way to adjust this on the FB. Games appear this way on the Gamestation Pro as well.

[Brad_from_the_80s]

9 minutes ago, xboxiso said:

Here are a few screenshots of what I was describing. These were taken from my laptop running Stella 6.7. Basically they are using the entire vertical area of the screen and are also a bit wider than what displays on the FB systems. I understand based on your response earlier that there isn't a way to adjust this on the FB. Games appear this way on the Gamestation Pro as well.

Yeah, on my laptop with Stella there is still technically a small bar at the bottom of Missile Command for example, and a wider one at the top, but there are settings to adjust this.  Technically the same image is there on the AFB9, except it is reserving a little bezel space at the top and bottom of the game, maybe 10% of vertical space.  So the game image is shrunken a little bit.