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CollectorVision Phoenix Release Thread


Bmack36

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12 minutes ago, jblenkle said:

Got my Phoenix today. Some problems...mostly with the 2600 core. I started to read through the messages to see if I could find any other references to what I'm experiencing, but I will list them here.

 

1. Why, at least for me, does the 2600 menu seem squished? Also, and perhaps related, why when I start a game is the image stretched across my TV. The ColecoVision games appear in the correct resolution.

 

2. Pitfall...I get no sound effects except for when a barrel hits me. There is no sound when I jump or swing on a vine.

 

3. Millipede...there is nothing in the gameplay area except a black screen. No bugs, mushrooms or anything. I can move the gun at the bottom of the screen within the gray area and fire. I can hear the firing sound, but that's it.

 

4. Pitfall II...doesn't load at all. Stripes across the screen and a loud noise.

 

5. Polaris...same...doesn't load, stripes across screen and loud noise.

I have all of the same issues that you do other than I just get a black screen on items 4 and 5 (plus the loud noise).  I get the impression that the Atari 2600 core is still rather rough around the edges.  Add your issues to the Phoenix GitHub so that you get a formal response to them.

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12 minutes ago, jblenkle said:

Got my Phoenix today. Some problems...mostly with the 2600 core. I started to read through the messages to see if I could find any other references to what I'm experiencing, but I will list them here.

 

1. Why, at least for me, does the 2600 menu seem squished? Also, and perhaps related, why when I start a game is the image stretched across my TV. The ColecoVision games appear in the correct resolution.

 

2. Pitfall...I get no sound effects except for when a barrel hits me. There is no sound when I jump or swing on a vine.

 

3. Millipede...there is nothing in the gameplay area except a black screen. No bugs, mushrooms or anything. I can move the gun at the bottom of the screen within the gray area and fire. I can hear the firing sound, but that's it.

 

4. Pitfall II...doesn't load at all. Stripes across the screen and a loud noise.

 

5. Polaris...same...doesn't load, stripes across screen and loud noise.

 

6. Pac-Man is the only game of the five I tried that appears to work correctly.

 

On the CV side, everything I've tried so far seems to work normally.

 

 

 

 

I don't know about #1, but pitfall has an extra music chip that can't currently be read by sd card by FPGA, #4, pitfall 2 has an extra DPC like chip that has extended programming so that it won't load by sd card yet. Hopefully available in an update. #5, Tigervision has an unusual bankswitching method "3F" which may not be implemented yet for sd card. #3 Millipede has a SuperChip, that needs to be checked in the load menu before starting the game. CBS games all have the RAM Plus chip which causes similar issues to Pitfall 2.

 

http://kevtris.org/files/sizes.txt

 

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13 minutes ago, Ikrananka said:

I have all of the same issues that you do other than I just get a black screen on items 4 and 5 (plus the loud noise).  I get the impression that the Atari 2600 core is still rather rough around the edges.  Add your issues to the Phoenix GitHub so that you get a formal response to them.

This is true for the MISTer as well, although I think they are a little further.

http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=34168

 

http://atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=117&t=33358

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Swami said:

I don't know about #1, but pitfall has an extra music chip that can't currently be read by sd card by FPGA, #4, pitfall 2 has an extra DPC like chip that has extended programming so that it won't load by sd card yet. Hopefully available in an update. #5, Tigervision has an unusual bankswitching method "3F" which may not be implemented yet for sd card. #3 Millipede has a SuperChip, that needs to be checked in the load menu before starting the game. CBS games all have the RAM Plus chip which causes similar issues to Pitfall 2.

 

http://kevtris.org/files/sizes.txt

 

Thanks - seems I've got a lot to learn about 2600 carts ?  Time to do some reading......

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11 minutes ago, Ikrananka said:

Thanks - seems I've got a lot to learn about 2600 carts ?  Time to do some reading......

Me, too. Hopefully, the 2600 cart adapter will fix a lot of the loading issues, so the FPGA does not have to try to be all different kinds of carts. I'm hoping, but really have no idea, if the cart slot and/or a harmony cart can do all the heavy lifting on the cart hardware side.

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17 minutes ago, Dakak said:

Is the roller controller supposed to be compatible?   I tried mine with slither and the movement was jerky.  Not sure if it was my controller or the Phoenix.   Last time I used it on my legacy console it worked

How did you power it?

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14 minutes ago, 128Kgames said:

How did you power it?

It uses the same power supply as the original Colecovision at the end of its cord. Use an original ColecoVision PSUs or use with the ColUSB replacement power supply.

 

For the Expansion Module 2 Steering Controller, you use the batteries or one of these:

scan0005.jpg

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7 hours ago, Bmack36 said:

First post updated with the following information:

 

Github pages for the Colecovision and 2600 cores have been setup below. You should now be able to report bugs in the corresponding repositories.

https://github.com/CollectorVision

 

The 2600 Source has been published and we are working on getting the cv source ready.

I posted about the sound distortion issue which is making enjoyment of the system impossible. What are the chances this is fixable through a patch or update?

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Hello

 

Got mine today.  It didn't work on my Samsung 42 inch TV (the TV said the resolution wasn't supported).  I was able to fire it up on my Sony Bravia briefly, however, after it loaded Time Pilot once, I've had no more luck getting it to work.  Won't boot carts or boot off the SD card.  When it boots now, the word "Phoenix" is displayed, but nothing happens from there.  I downloaded the pinned files and copied them onto the SD card to no avail.  Maybe I got a lemon? 

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Since most Odyssey 2/Videopac games only used the numeric keyboard for game selection, plus the reset button, if you built a core for it, that might also work nicely with the SNES pads, with the key combinations already used for Colecovision games... 

Edited by doug0909
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14 minutes ago, unsafe357 said:

Hello

 

Got mine today.  It didn't work on my Samsung 42 inch TV (the TV said the resolution wasn't supported).  I was able to fire it up on my Sony Bravia briefly, however, after it loaded Time Pilot once, I've had no more luck getting it to work.  Won't boot carts or boot off the SD card.  When it boots now, the word "Phoenix" is displayed, but nothing happens from there.  I downloaded the pinned files and copied them onto the SD card to no avail.  Maybe I got a lemon? 

Check to see if this is the issue:  https://github.com/CollectorVision/Phoenix-Colecovision/issues/4

 

To test just power off and unplug the hdmi cable. Then plug everything back in and see if it works the first time before powering off.

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Thanks for the suggestion.  Gave that a shot, but still no luck.  Wanted to mention that I've tried hooking it up to an HDMI switch as well.  Earlier I did get it to boot once off the SD card and was able to play the Missile Command style game.  Now when I boot it up, it kind of shows the main menu, but it's garbled and I can't select anything.  I tried leaving it unplugged from the power source and HDMI for a few minutes.  Still getting the same garbled screen. 

IMG_2312.jpg

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It worked again briefly!  Was able to play the Zombie game.  Tried putting in Burgertime. I can hear the music, but there's no picture.  Now it's back to freezing on the menu when I boot off the SD card ?

 

I did some more trouble shooting and tried two more TV's (another Samsung and an Emerson TV) - attaching screenshots from both.  Seems I get different bugs depending on which TV I hook it up to.  The glitch on the Emerson only appeared a few times; after awhile it gave an error similar to the Samsungs - resolution not supported. 

 

 

IMG_2313.jpg

IMG_2314.jpg

Edited by unsafe357
New info re: bugs
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10 hours ago, Keatah said:

Since common wisdom says FPGAs are exact recreations of the hardware, wouldn't it be best to add-in the extra chips used in enhanced cartridges directly onto the FPGA? So that when the game code asks for it, it's ready to roll.

An exact recreation would have a cartridge port and there would be no need to emulate the cartridge hardware.  But you're right, if you want to support rom files rather than cartridges than you're going to have to emulate the cartridge hardware as well.

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I see someone logged an issue on github about the reset button generating random noise and screen artifacts when pressing it. I agree that should be at a minimum quiet, and preferably a plain black screen. But I'd be happy if at least the noise was suppressed. I was going to bring that up, along with one other minor annoyance.

 

When the unit boots to the blue Phoenix screen, and then again the red Phoenix screen or SD menu, there is a 1 second beeping noise. It would be nice if that were suppressed either permanently or via an option. 

 

And slightly related, what is the little green rectangle I see sometimes in the upper left hand part of these screens? Looks like there maybe some kind of text or something there that I can't quite make out.

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