Concerto firmware thread

[mimo]

On 9/21/2024 at 5:23 PM, genfuyung said:

So, this or the gd7800? Already have composite out so I don't really care about the game drives video out. The gd seems like it's more reliable but doesn't work with homebrews whereas this seems to have a lot of issues but is still being worked on and might even work on the 7800+ eventually?

I've owned both, without doubt the GD, it works, and does work with most homebrews.
It's been months/years since any updates to the Concerto, it's still as flakey as hell IMO
The Concerto may eventually work sort of on the 2600/7800 plus, but doubt it will be a menu driven affair, more likely one rom at a time on an SD card. But don't hold your breath, it still cant do the basics reliably 
 

[genfuyung]

1 hour ago, mimo said:

I've owned both, without doubt the GD, it works, and does work with most homebrews.
It's been months/years since any updates to the Concerto, it's still as flakey as hell IMO
The Concerto may eventually work sort of on the 2600/7800 plus, but doubt it will be a menu driven affair, more likely one rom at a time on an SD card. But don't hold your breath, it still cant do the basics reliably 
 

Ordered the GD last night. 

[PacManPlus]

I'm guessing the Concerto can't use the Pokey/Hokey at $450, even though it's set that way in the header...  The game works fine in my CCII, with sound.

 

Is there some setting to tell the Concerto to address the Pokey/Hokey at $450 instead of $4000?

[Trebor]

5 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

I'm guessing the Concerto can't use the Pokey/Hokey at $450, even though it's set that way in the header...  The game works fine in my CCII, with sound.

Is there some setting to tell the Concerto to address the Pokey/Hokey at $450 instead of $4000?

For the *.a78 files that are "fixed" for Concerto, and utilize POKEY@450, to work under Concerto, it is essentially just missing that setting from the header.  

Try removing the specification for POKEY@450, don't specify any POKEY address in the header, and see if your game works. 

You still want to specify the 450 addressing in the game code, just not in the header.  

Concerto doesn't support reading from POKEY@450 location, only writing.

Consequently, auto-detection for POKEY under the Concerto will not work.

 

Also, firmware version matters, and which version should be installed depends whether there is a POKEY or HOKEY installed in the Concerto. 

See this post:

 

[+CyranoJ]

9 minutes ago, Trebor said:

Also, firmware version matters, and which version should be installed depends whether there is a POKEY or HOKEY installed in the Concerto. 

 

What about PokeyMAX ?

[Trebor]

16 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

What about PokeyMAX ?

From what I recall, its footprint does not fit (Neither does PokeyONE).

[+CyranoJ]

3 minutes ago, Trebor said:

From what I recall, its footprint does not fit (Neither does PokeyONE).

 

I have one in mine.... 

[EDIT] Actually its a PokeyONE.

[Trebor]

23 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

I have one in mine.... 

[EDIT] Actually its a PokeyONE.

Interesting.  I'm presuming no cartridge case or a customized one as reports have spoken of it not fitting and then need to design a case to accommodate it properly.

 

Either way, it has not been (officially) tested, AFAIK, so probably best approach is to try both firmware versions and find which version yields the best results for it.

 

HOKEY and POKEY have been tested extensively and commented about by batari.

[PacManPlus]

Get Trebor -

 

Thank you for the information.  I've tried all different combinations of the header - Cart Type of "$00,$00", "$00,$40", and "$00,$01" - combined with both 'Expansion Module' settings of $00 and $01...  and I either got no sound at all or it crashed the game.

I also tried both firmware images 

 

Hopefully Pokey at $450 will be something supported in the future 🤞

 

Thanks again!

[+-^CrossBow^-]

2 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

Get Trebor -

 

Thank you for the information.  I've tried all different combinations of the header - Cart Type of "$00,$00", "$00,$40", and "$00,$01" - combined with both 'Expansion Module' settings of $00 and $01...  and I either got no sound at all or it crashed the game.

I also tried both firmware images 

 

Hopefully Pokey at $450 will be something supported in the future 🤞

 

Thanks again!

Support for the Pokey at $450 I believe is working with the CEM #0 module. I had one brought to me for an afternoon to test and I recall games that didn't work via POKEY did work with that module in place. But I don't believe the CEM#0 ever officially went on sale?

 

Batari also released some versions of games that used pokey that weren't working properly on the Concerto with HOKEY. Pretty sure Bently's Crystal Quest was one of the games to receive a fixed rom? Likely just the demo was corrected and released, but I recall it being one of them as I tested it on my concerto with HOKEY at that point and it was working with audio. Ballblazer's counter melody was the other thing corrected for with a separate fixed rom from Batari if memory serves?

 

[Trebor]

13 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Support for the Pokey at $450 I believe is working with the CEM #0 module. I had one brought to me for an afternoon to test and I recall games that didn't work via POKEY did work with that module in place. But I don't believe the CEM#0 ever officially went on sale?

 

Batari also released some versions of games that used pokey that weren't working properly on the Concerto with HOKEY. Pretty sure Bently's Crystal Quest was one of the games to receive a fixed rom? Likely just the demo was corrected and released, but I recall it being one of them as I tested it on my concerto with HOKEY at that point and it was working with audio. Ballblazer's counter melody was the other thing corrected for with a separate fixed rom from Batari if memory serves?

 

POKEY @450 is working without CEM #0 as well, just not specifying POKEY utilization in the header.  All of the attached files are publicly released demos fixed for Concerto, utilizing RAM or ROM @4000 with POKEY @450, just not a specified POKEY location in the header, and not set to auto detect POKEY in the game code.

 

A R T I (v102) (Public Demo 2) (Concerto Fix) (20221228) .a78Keystone Koppers (Demo Dec 22) (Concerto Fix) (20221222).a78Donkey Kong PK-XM (NTSC) (Demo) (v1.2) (Concerto Fix) (20130905).a78Robots Rumble (Concerto Fix) (20220217).a78

 

Unknown about the size of the game being tried by @PacManPlus, but non-banking smaller (I.E. 48K such as used for @Muddyfunster Danger Zone) ROM size @450 definitely will not work currently with the Concerto.  The rom/file size needs to be of a larger variety such as 128K or 144K.  Along with A.R.T.I. and Keystone Koppers from @Muddyfunster, @tep392 Donkey Kong PK, and @mksmith Robots Rumble, works when set accordingly as listed above.

 

More details posted here:

Quote

For all interested parties, here are the distinctions for both files to ensure fully compatibility during development and releases - the *.bin file is exactly the same for both:

 

Utilizing the latest 7800basic release (0.21 as of this post), and ensure leveraging pokeysound.asm from it.

 

If a previously release of 7800basic is being utilized, nothing older than the proper pokeysound.asm for 7800basic 0.20.

 

Instead of "set pokeysupport on", utilizing "set pokeysupport $450" when coding.

 

Performing the above will work across all devices equally and still ensures full compatibility.

 

If the above is applied, then the file difference between Concerto and all other devices currently is pokey@450 is stripped from the *.a78 header only.

@PacManPlus I know typically you work in ASM, the equivalent of "set pokeysupport on" needs to be avoided and instead "set pokeysupport $450" has to be specified in the game code.  However, it is then excluded from the actual header when creating the corresponding *.a78 file from the *.bin.  No POKEY details are specified in the header for this situation.

 

Also, try padding the game to 128K or 144K if not that size already.  48K is definitely known not to work, regardless of any modification when trying to utilize pokey @450 addressing with the Concerto.

[PacManPlus]

10 hours ago, Trebor said:

@PacManPlus I know typically you work in ASM, the equivalent of "set pokeysupport on" needs to be avoided and instead "set pokeysupport $450" has to be specified in the game code.  However, it is then excluded from the actual header when creating the corresponding *.a78 file from the *.bin.  No POKEY details are specified in the header for this situation.

 

Also, try padding the game to 128K or 144K if not that size already.  48K is definitely known not to work, regardless of any modification when trying to utilize pokey @450 addressing with the Concerto.

Yep - the size of the game is 48K with Pokey at $450.  So that's the reason.  The one thing I didn't try is padding the game.  If I have a second before I leave for Portland I'll give it a try.

Also, we are actually under a Hurricane / Tornado Watch for Helene...  So I might not be going anywhere  ... although they haven't canceled the flight yet from Orlando airport (It's departing later on today), which I find surprising.

 

UPDATE: All flights have been cancelled.  Looks like we aren't going.  

Edited yesterday at 01:18 PM by PacManPlus
Flight Update

[+Allan]

2 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

Yep - the size of the game is 48K with Pokey at $450.  So that's the reason.  The one thing I didn't try is padding the game.  If I have a second before I leave for Portland I'll give it a try.

Also, we are actually under a Hurricane / Tornado Watch for Helene...  So I might not be going anywhere  ... although they haven't canceled the flight yet from Orlando airport (It's departing later on today), which I find surprising.

 

UPDATE: All flights have been cancelled.  Looks like we aren't going.  

Sorry to hear this Bob. Praying the storm isn't too bad for you guys in Florida.

[PacManPlus]

Thanks, Allan