Atari Flashback X Custom Firmware for USB roms and boxart

[rocketfan]

For use at your own risk and if you want to void your warranty, here attached is a FW update which will increase your AFBX clock rate from 816Mhz to 1.2Ghz. Note- this update does not do anything else.  It is only a "resource" partition which essentially includes just the Linux device tree.  I did not feel confident to build a whole new FW with it.  So, you will need to apply it on top of a known good custom firmware.  You can "undo" it by applying a known good custom or stock Firmware.

 

I have used it for about 1 hour and it seems to be working fine, including when ruuning with no flash drive installed.  It is now at the same rate as the LFB2018 I have used for a long time.

 

Thanks  as usual to Draxxon who gave me the various files that helped me figure out where the change was done in the older FW.  I have to admire the person who first figured out how to do this!

 

In the next few days I plan to experiment with an improvement.  I learned along the way that this Linux supports the ability to change the "operating performance point" somewhat dynamically.  It's just that the AFBX has been set to only have a single valid OPP.  At first it was hard-wired 816Mhz, and with this it is 1.2Ghz.  It may (should?) be possible to have three OPPs available 816, 1200, and one notch higher yet.  Then if anyone wants to push the limit, or better yet measure the CPU temp at the different settings, they could easily do that.

 

One bit of bad news.  Although the Stella 6.1 core is operating a LOT faster, I went back to compare and really the original core is still faster yet.  Also for some reason my Battlezone sprite is still missing on the AFBX (but not on the LFB?), so the problems with newer Stella are not gone yet.

 

If anyone wants to be a brave soul and try it, please let me know how it goes.  A good comparison is the game "pulstar.zim" which is not quite acceptable the old clock rate, but runs flawless at the new rate. (BTW, I think that is a 2-button game for power ups).  I bet r-type is going to run fine now also...

 

Oh yeah, to apply it, place the file at the root of your flash drive on a system that can already play games off the flash drive.  Boot up and follow the instructions to let it apply and wait patiently while it applies!

 

atari_update.img

Edited March 13, 2021 by rocketfan

[Draxxon]

It went fine for me. River Raid is playing better, Like it does on a hacked LFB. From what I remember the heat tests ran when this was done on the LFB showed no change, I think it was 1 degree cooler for some random reason actually. We all have been running the LFBs overclocked for a long time now, no issues I ever heard of.

Thank you, Rocket. For taking the time to sort all this out. I lack the know how, but I paid attention to what was going on.

Its also nice to have an update I dont have to do any work for or incorporate into the pack. I'm going to take my time on the next update. I want to sort and polish a few things before I release it. On my build here, I have been powering on straight into the nexus hub, and I don't miss A2600 on boot at all. I think it might be time to tweak a Nexus v3. Thats why I've been releasing stuff as packs. The categories need sorted and fleshed out before i release a version that boots straight into it, i think. or, do you guys really want to go to a2600 1st, and then the nexus, and then arcade or atari800? lol.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Draxxon

[rocketfan]

Just an update that rtype.zim and rtype2.zim do work well with the 1.2Ghz clock in place.  If I remember from the LFB, R-Type Leo will be a no-go probably due to lack of memory.

 

One other important thing - today I discovered the original LFB clock increase also bumped the Mali 400 GPU clock from 300Mhz to 400Mhz.  I'm pretty excited to try that, but won't have time until (I hope) tonight. 

Edited March 13, 2021 by rocketfan

[Draxxon]

I'm kind of glad I tested so many current systems because I can tell that the Overclock made an improvement in performance.

 

Kind of like the messed up box art I noticed and didnt mention again for over a year, I noticed that Kevin M. was right and the 9 played better than the X a long time ago. It was kind of weird building a pack for the lesser system, but you know, I didn't have a 9 anymore. but, it looks like it was kind of pointless to finesse the 9 back at this stage, I guess.

 

I want to say thanks again. The overclock has been right here this whole time and I lack certain tech know-how to make these kind of improvments. It takes someone with skill and patience. You made all the artwork ive been doing, feeling silly about because the 9 was superior, worth it overnight. I owe you one.

Its crazy how fast stuff is moving here. I was working on the side, trying to figure out how to get the nexus running on the 9. traded the X for the old 9 back to work on it. went so far as to post to the guys in the 9 thread that im gonna come back and sort the 9. at this point all i see is the 9 deluxe has wireless sticks. I personally hate wireless controllers. I avoid them at all costs. I'm good on batteries and charging and if there is any kind of lag at all introduced by going wireless, why the hell would you? and paddles are a mess on the 9. I'm not even sure the sdcard vs otg+flashdrive is even a big deal at this point. On one hand its time to let the 9 go, on the other hand, we have a few members here who have a 9 and not an X.

 

this is the moment where people in the know should buy an X for $40 bucks. $60+ for a 9 doesnt make sense anymore. I can see the X's being ~$100 in a year if they dont drop another batch at xmas time.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Draxxon

[Draxxon]

Atari Flashback 9 Gold vs OVERCLOCKED Atari Flashback X Deluxe
The River Raid Test:

The skipping in the video is the setup, it doesnt happen in game. If you watch the 

fps counter in the X it runs at 80 now and dips to 60. It feels like the 9 does the 

same thing. Is the 9 already 1.2Ghz? did the old cfw overclock it on the downlow

since it was copied from rrifonas? before the overclock the X struggled to stay at 60

and dipped randomly to 40 or even 30, and especially if you hit rewind. you can see

rewind now makes it dip to 60, hardly noticeable. but its there.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Draxxon

[MrFister]

18 hours ago, rocketfan said:

One bit of bad news.  Although the Stella 6.1 core is operating a LOT faster, I went back to compare and really the original core is still faster yet.  Also for some reason my Battlezone sprite is still missing on the AFBX (but not on the LFB?), so the problems with newer Stella are not gone yet.

Am I deciphering this correctly that Stella 6.1 works on the X Deluxe?

[Draxxon]

It "works" on the LFB, and it almost "works" on the X, I think. Stayed Tuned.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Draxxon

[rocketfan]

1 hour ago, MrFister said:

Am I deciphering this correctly that Stella 6.1 works on the X Deluxe?

Sorry guys, I was over optimistic on Stella 6.1.  It's better than it was, but still a long way from fast enough to replace the original core.  I thought I would be able to tweak it in by settings some things, but have not been able to.

 

I am attaching two things: the FW update with the 2.1Ghz plus the increase of the Mali clock to 400Mhz.   Also, I'm attaching my latest Stella 6.1 core build.

 

On the FW, I can't really tell a performance difference this time, so I'm not sure if it's helping much.   Draxxon, I saw your River Raid video.  The FPS could be a good way to benchmark things.  Maybe try using the FPS display on something challenging like a Sonic game or one of the higher end arcade games before and after this new update?

 

You can (temporarily) drop the Stella core in place of the current one to see where it is at.  I know they got it going on a Retron 77, but not sure what HW is running in there.  I will look at the build options they use for that platform to see if I can learn anything useful, but I'm running out of ideas.

 

One other thing: whenever I tried any faster clock rates I wound up with a non-booting unit.  I had to re-flash multiple times using the android tools. So I believe this is as high a clock rate as we will get.

 

 

atari_update.img stella_libretro.so

[Batchman]

STILL waiting for my three days late splitter! AAUUGGHH!!

 

And now I have to start visiting Sam's Clubs because rumors are out there of Legend Ultimates sometimes showing up for $199. I would be in like Flynn!

[Draxxon]

i feel like River Raid is deff playing better. its still running at a solid 81.6 fps, and when i rewind it doesnt always move, and when it dips (around half the time) it dips to 71 or 61 fps. it was hard to get it to 57 fps. i had to rewind over and over and over.

I can make a video, but im fairly certain after playing with the old version all day. At this point making a video will take away from processing new games, im not very fast or good at it. ill try and whip something up tho.

 

 

what do i call this? Overclocked the Clock Speed to 1.2Ghz and the Mali Clock to 400Mhz? I dont know what any of that stuff means, lmmfao.

 

do i just put its "1.2Ghz / 400Mhz" in the bottom right corner of the nexus where system mode goes??

Edited March 14, 2021 by Draxxon

[Draxxon]

Atari Flashback X - NEXUS V.0.3.0 (NEXUS Hub Update)

NOTE: This update wont actually overclock your system, it has just been slightly skinned to reflect the change and a few rewinds were re-enabled in the settings.

           Make sure you apply RocketFan's New CFW 1st. It's a GIANT improvement in performance. Thanks to rrifonas, as always, for the OG LFB Overclock CFW.

 

 

NEXUSv3.rar

[MrFister]

Using the 2.1Ghz file froze my console after an hour of idling.

It also became pretty warm also.  Just a heads up!

 

So far the 1.2Ghz is working great for me.  No heat up either as far as I can tell.

 

These were tried on my X Deluxe.

Edited March 14, 2021 by MrFister

[Draxxon]

Yes, i left the nexus playing the bgm and it black screened after awhile. probably best to stick to the first fw update.

 

also, I have a set of refurbished vintage paddles and an atari video touchpad controller on the way. It might we a while before I get them.

[rocketfan]

10 hours ago, rocketfan said:

FW update with the 2.1Ghz plus the increase of the Mali clock to 400Mhz

Apologies, that was a typo.  Both the updates are 1.2Ghz (1200Mhz) CPU speed.  The only difference is the GPU speed.  Sounds like some issues can arise from running the GPU at 400Mhz, so maybe the 300Mhz (stock GPU speed) is the better choice.

 

For clarity I am attaching both here together.  You can re-name as atari_update.img to apply.

 

 

atari_update_cpu1200_gpu400.img atari_update_cpu1200_gpu300.img

[Draxxon]

I tested it some more and it black screen freezes after awhile most everytime i let it run. I'm guessing its getting hot. maybe add a fan and heatsinks? IDK just guessing. I switched back to 300Mhz GPU and everything seems to be running fine. 

Edited March 14, 2021 by Draxxon

[wilfwilfus]

Hi guys.

After installing the latest cfw and Nexus v0.3.0 update, when I play any games from the Atari 2600 section I get technical information at the top of the screen displaying 40fps 955480k free M6 etc. Never had this before! Everything else works fine.

Is there a way to stop this info from being  displayed?

[Draxxon]

oh shit, i was displaying that fps counter for testing the overclock. drop this folder on your drive and copy over the ini file.
(or you can do it manually by going into /rom_a2600/data/retroplayer.ini file, and edit it with notepad to look like this:)
 

[Global]
AudioSample=2048
ScanlineFilter=0
RewindStep=4
UseBezel=0
BezelPath=<path to bezel>
Language=0
UseOSD=0
MaxBlackTimeout=600

 

change the UseOSD=1 to UseOSD=0

 

 

or here is the patch:

rom_a2600.rar

Edited March 14, 2021 by Draxxon

[wilfwilfus]

That's sorted it, Draxxon. Thanks for your help

[Draxxon]

well, now you guys know where the On Screen Display is at if you want to turn it on and off for games.

[martin00000000001]

 

[Batchman]

OK, just a note ... I ordered my splitter cable almost two weeks ago, and it still hasn't arrived, and is five days late at this point.

 

I ordered my Legends Gamer about five days ago, and it arrived two days early, today.

[MrFister]

5 minutes ago, Batchman said:

OK, just a note ... I ordered my splitter cable almost two weeks ago, and it still hasn't arrived, and is five days late at this point.

 

I ordered my Legends Gamer about five days ago, and it arrived two days early, today.

I ordered my otg cables from ebay and they arrived in 4 days after ordering.

Here is the link if interested. 

This listing is for 2 otg cables for the price of 1 and are pretty good quality.  I have been using them daily on all my mini's for the past year or so without any issues.

Definatly worth it!

Edited March 16, 2021 by MrFister

[Batchman]

Yes, that's who I ordered from ... was supposed to arrive last Wednesday, still hasn't arrived. I think another two days and they said they'll ship ;em out again, to be sure I get them.

[Draxxon]

Someone wrote an article about the project.

Pack con más de 130 juegos para consola Atari Flashback X | Atariteca | Blog sobre computadoras Atari 8 bits serie XL/XE.

I'm all caught up, I've added everthing we've mentioned. 2000 games total.
I created the Atari BASIC category, not much art out there tho, I'm afraid.

I would like to try and sort the homebrew section and fill the empty categories next.

I'll take some more requests for games to add as soon as I finish that, I've put it off

for too long.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Draxxon

[rocketfan]

That article is pretty cool and to the point.  .pe is a Peru website, I think?  International Atari 8-bit fans!