Better for gaming 1040ST or 1040STE

[Randy]

The games I am looking for compatability/playability are: Elite 1 & 2, Dungeon Master 1 & 2, Breach 1 & 2, Captive, Time Bandits.  Lesser ones would include Carrier Command, Biohazard, Xenomrph, and some others I can't think of over the top of my head.  I'm guessing the main problem would be the version of TOS, with the ST being 1.02 and the STe being 1.04.  Thanks!

[bfollowell]

Acutally, STes have 1.6, 1.62 or 2.06. 1.04 was the highest level TOS released for non-STe STs.

 

These days, most games have been patched to work with STes, even if they didn't work originally, so there really isn't much reason to not get an STe other than the fact that they can be considerably more rare than their non-STe cousins. TOS 1.6 was buggy. TOS 1.62 was very compatible. TOS 2.06 was where a lot of the incompatibilities came into play. Still, I think most titles work these days. You can always do like I did with my 1040STe and install a dual-TOS card. I have TOS 1.62/2.06 on mine, so I have the best of both worlds when it comes to compatibility.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by bfollowell

[Randy]

Thanks B, that is good to know.  My 1040ST has I believe 1.02, so should I upgrade to 1.04 or just buy a 1040STe, what do you think?

[zzip]

I never had major compatibility issues with my STe, and I upgraded it to 2.06.   But for the list of games you mentioned, I don't think any are STe enhanced.    Are you interested in exploring the enhanced color/sounds/blitter?   If not may as well stick with the ST

[Randy]

Hi Zip, no, while the enhancements would be nice and I would like to have the abilities offered by the STe, that games listed not having enhancements are not an issue, just that they can run on that machine.  That reminds me, forgot to add "Sundog" to the list, had many hours of fun with that game!

[leech]

On 5/14/2020 at 10:08 AM, zzip said:

I never had major compatibility issues with my STe, and I upgraded it to 2.06.   But for the list of games you mentioned, I don't think any are STe enhanced.    Are you interested in exploring the enhanced color/sounds/blitter?   If not may as well stick with the ST

I want to say Captive supported Stereo sound on the STe?  But I could be wrong about that. 

Most of the compatibility issues I had back in the day on my Mega STe could be solved by turning off the cache, or by using a 1.4 floppy disk boot loader for the really stubborn ones.  But then back when I got my TT hardly anything ran on it...

But for sure, the STe with a TOS switcher is probably the best.  I'd be curious (as I haven't  used mine a whole lot) how many times these days one would need to flip back to 1.62...

Also, when you're just playing with the desktop and can easily switch between the two, you can pretty much immediately see how many huge improvements they did for 2.06!

Edit: Yay, my memory does work!  According to atarimania "Supports DMA sound and 4096 colours palette on STe" http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-captive_8860.html

Edited May 16, 2020 by leech

[tjlazer]

One thing that could be an issue is the 1040STf doesn't have a RF Modulator.  While that is not a big deal today, the issue is the extra circuitry is missing if you wanted to hook up to a modern LCD with a Scart or Composite video input.  So get a 1040STFM or 1040STE for sure.  Unless you are sticking to a RGB monitor then the 1040STf is fine.  (you could also add the extra components to the MB)

Edited May 18, 2020 by tjlazer

[leech]

2 hours ago, tjlazer said:

One thing that could be an issue is the 1040STf doesn't have a RF Modulator.  While that is not a big deal today, the issue is the extra circuitry is missing if you wanted to hook up to a modern LCD with a Scart or Composite video input.  So get a 1040STFM or 1040STE for sure.  Unless you are sticking to a RGB monitor then the 1040STf is fine.  (you could also add the extra components to the MB)

Can't you use the 13 pin to SCART connector on an STf. I know they work on the STe.

[Guest lkgluoieghloeshjlejsdlgijse]

On 5/16/2020 at 1:14 PM, leech said:

I want to say Captive supported Stereo sound on the STe?  But I could be wrong about that.

 

It was supposed to but the programmer never could make it work.  See at the bottom of http://captive.atari.org/Technical/Sounds/Sounds.php

 

[bfollowell]

5 hours ago, leech said:

Can't you use the 13 pin to SCART connector on an STf. I know they work on the STe.

Maybe. I know the Cool Novelties STE SCART cable that I have does not work on my STF. They have another one that is supposed to work on all other ST models though. I sort of depends on the cable and how it’s wired.

 

[Lynxpro]

On 5/14/2020 at 9:08 AM, zzip said:

I never had major compatibility issues with my STe, and I upgraded it to 2.06.   But for the list of games you mentioned, I don't think any are STe enhanced.    Are you interested in exploring the enhanced color/sounds/blitter?   If not may as well stick with the ST

 

Hell, if more ST games were patched to make use of the STe's Enhanced Joystick Ports in order to use the ST Power Pad/JagPads, that would be worth upgrading to the STe just for that alone. No more lifting up the 1040STf/fm to get to the joystick/mouse ports and/or having to buy extender cables or the Mouse Master, and possibly patching the games to use multiple fire buttons instead of being stuck with the standard single fire button action in combination with the keyboard.

 

I'm very surprised that this isn't requested amongst patches along with 680x0 compatibility, multiple TOS version compatibility, and HD installation support...

[leech]

1 hour ago, Lynxpro said:

 

Hell, if more ST games were patched to make use of the STe's Enhanced Joystick Ports in order to use the ST Power Pad/JagPads, that would be worth upgrading to the STe just for that alone. No more lifting up the 1040STf/fm to get to the joystick/mouse ports and/or having to buy extender cables or the Mouse Master, and possibly patching the games to use multiple fire buttons instead of being stuck with the standard single fire button action in combination with the keyboard.

 

I'm very surprised that this isn't requested amongst patches along with 680x0 compatibility, multiple TOS version compatibility, and HD installation support...

I got @ParanoidLittleManTo patch OIDS for me.  It runs awesome and everyone should try it on the STe with the Jag/Powerpad!

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I think that reason for not much games patched for using STE Enhanced J.P. , and also only few originals using it is simply that such joysticks are rare. Really not much STE users have it.

Btw. I'm pretty satisfied with my good old Competition Pro joystick (has actually 2 fire buttons, even if both have same effect) . Needed to replace micro switches some years ago, fixing cable, and it still works, and I'm used to it.

[leech]

1 hour ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

I think that reason for not much games patched for using STE Enhanced J.P. , and also only few originals using it is simply that such joysticks are rare. Really not much STE users have it.

Btw. I'm pretty satisfied with my good old Competition Pro joystick (has actually 2 fire buttons, even if both have same effect) . Needed to replace micro switches some years ago, fixing cable, and it still works, and I'm used to it.

Now that you can buy the Jag Pro controllers again on Atari Age, might be nice to get some more patched games.  Though the reason I thought OIDS would be perfect was because it actually has good keyboard remapping and definitely needs more than 1 or even 2 buttons to play all from a controller.

I am not sure off hand of any other games that fit that need as much.

I guess something like Towers or Dungeon Master might sort of work, but would be awkward as keyboard / mouse is much better for those.  (Trying to play Towers II on the Jag was a pain after mastering DM on the ST.)

[Lynxpro]

3 hours ago, leech said:

Now that you can buy the Jag Pro controllers again on Atari Age, might be nice to get some more patched games.  Though the reason I thought OIDS would be perfect was because it actually has good keyboard remapping and definitely needs more than 1 or even 2 buttons to play all from a controller.

I am not sure off hand of any other games that fit that need as much.

I guess something like Towers or Dungeon Master might sort of work, but would be awkward as keyboard / mouse is much better for those.  (Trying to play Towers II on the Jag was a pain after mastering DM on the ST.)

 

And any game that pulled the 8-bit trick of moving the joystick up to Jump instead of using a different fire button. There's plenty of ST games that would benefit from being able to use the extra fire buttons - as well as the numeric keypad - on the JagPads courtesy of the STe and the Falcon030. It's commonly being done to ST games being ported over to the Jaguar by CyranoJ and his compatriots...

 

Also, the standard JagPads have been sold for years by B&C Computervisions. They might have the largest stock of them in the world... or had...

Edited May 21, 2020 by Lynxpro

[leech]

1 hour ago, Lynxpro said:

 

And any game that pulled the 8-bit trick of moving the joystick up to Jump instead of using a different fire button. There's plenty of ST games that would benefit from being able to use the extra fire buttons - as well as the numeric keypad - on the JagPads courtesy of the STe and the Falcon030. It's commonly being done to ST games being ported over to the Jaguar by CyranoJ and his compatriots...

 

Also, the standard JagPads have been sold for years by B&C Computervisions. They might have the largest stock of them in the world... or had...

I always wondered if CyranoJ would release the enhanced ST ports back to the STe.