Concerto firmware thread

[Trebor]

7 hours ago, Lord_of_Sipan said:

I have never been able to get a few games to work, most significantly for my interests, Rampage and Tower Toppler. I have tried every version of both roms from Trebor’s pack I think. Has anyone ever got either of these games to work? If so, what firmware revision were you using?

This build: Tower Toppler (NTSC) (Overdump 78SG Hack) (20210124).a78for Tower Toppler should work fine.  If the experience is the levels keep cycling, check the difficulty switches in front of the console as they impact game behavior.  A feature of the game is being able to skip levels.

 

This build: Rampage (AB) (NTSC) (Activision) (1989).a78of Rampage, the more commonly distributed 'alternating banks' of data, should also work fine.

 

ROMs that definitely will not work under any firmware of Concerto available currently to the public are standard 64k dumps of Tower Topper; they will all crash.  For Rampage, any dump that presents the data in the original bank order.

 

All the above aforementioned dumps are in the PROPack.

[Lord_of_Sipan]

11 hours ago, batari said:

When did you order your cart?

 

If anyone else has one of these early carts (particularly one of the ones I sent with the free HOKEY) feel free to let me know and I can get the proper device to you. I think it was only around 5 of them? Maybe 6 or 7, I don't remember entirely.

 

Pretty sure mine is one of these. Just sent a PM to you.

[Lord_of_Sipan]

4 hours ago, Trebor said:

This build: Tower Toppler (NTSC) (Overdump 78SG Hack) (20210124).a78for Tower Toppler should work fine.  If the experience is the levels keep cycling, check the difficulty switches in front of the console as they impact game behavior.  A feature of the game is being able to skip levels.

 

This build: Rampage (AB) (NTSC) (Activision) (1989).a78of Rampage, the more commonly distributed 'alternating banks' of data, should also work fine.

 

ROMs that definitely will not work under any firmware of Concerto available currently to the public are standard 64k dumps of Tower Topper; they will all crash.  For Rampage, any dump that presents the data in the original bank order.

 

All the above aforementioned dumps are in the PROPack.

Those are the versions I am using. When Tower Toppler loads the first level I get graphical garbage on screen for a couple frames  and then the screen turns a solid color and I get an ear piercingly loud whine noise until I power off the console.

 

Rampage loads the first menu screen and then crashes to a solid color like Tower Toppler with a horrible noise when I try to start the game or if I leave it on the menu too long.

[+Nathan Strum]

On 12/24/2022 at 5:15 AM, Trebor said:

This build: Tower Toppler (NTSC) (Overdump 78SG Hack) (20210124).a78for Tower Toppler should work fine.  If the experience is the levels keep cycling, check the difficulty switches in front of the console as they impact game behavior.  A feature of the game is being able to skip levels.

 

All the above aforementioned dumps are in the PROPack.

Thanks! I was trying to get Tower Toppler to run, to no avail. This did the trick. Much appreciated!

[Lord_of_Sipan]

Still no luck on my end with Tower Toppler. Does the game not run on certain revisions of 7800? I think I have a fairly early serial #

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 8/10/2022 at 7:21 PM, batari said:

Hello all,

 

Attached is another daily build to try.

hbios_concerto_0.96_build_72822_NTSC.bin 333 kB · 159 downloads

Just curious: any new daily builds to try? 

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, Lord_of_Sipan said:

Still no luck on my end with Tower Toppler. Does the game not run on certain revisions of 7800? I think I have a fairly early serial #

Out of curiosity: what firmware version are you running on the Concerto?

 

Also, do you have any internal photos of your 7800?

[Lord_of_Sipan]

I’ve never actually opened up my 7800 since I haven’t had any issues with it aside from tower Toppler and Rampage not running off of concerto. I own both games on cart but haven’t played them on this particular machine ever and they are currently stored away deep in my parents’ shed. Let me check my serial #. I describe the behavior I get with both games up above. The daily build you linked just a little while ago is the firmware version I am running I think.

 

Edit-This is the serial #
72R4BR A1 78 5961655

 

Edit 2-was thinking of another console I think when I said it was an early #. It is pretty much right in the middle of production. A1 variant with hole for expansion port but no actual port.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Lord_of_Sipan

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 minutes ago, Lord_of_Sipan said:

I’ve never actually opened up my 7800 since I haven’t had any issues with it aside from tower Toppler and Rampage not running off of concerto. I own both games on cart but haven’t played them on this particular machine ever and they are currently stored away deep in my parents’ shed. Let me check my serial #. I describe the behavior I get with both games up above. The daily build you linked just a little while ago is the firmware version I am running I think.

Cool.  The reason I mentioned the internal photo is that there has been some anecdotal evidence to suggest that the manufacturer of the CPU may play into things.

 

General overview:

 

 

As relates specifically to the Concerto:

 

 

I'm not going to go so far as to say that every Rockwell CPU is a problem.  What I will say is that replacing the Rockwell CPU in mine with a Synertek cleared up some issues that were essentially unexplainable, but also happened on others' Rockwell consoles.  Just something to consider.

[Lord_of_Sipan]

Interesting. I will open the system up tomorrow if I get a chance and post a photo here.

[mimo]

11 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

I'm not going to go so far as to say that every Rockwell CPU is a problem.  What I will say is that replacing the Rockwell CPU in mine with a Synertek cleared up some issues that were essentially unexplainable, but also happened on others' Rockwell consoles.  Just something to consider.

Interesting. I know that I have had several xegs and 800xls with bad Rockwell chips recently 

[Lord_of_Sipan]

Is it worth replacing though if the only issue is with the concerto? I’ve never had a problem running any 7800 or 2600 carts. Water ski works but I understand the Froggo games have a different issue necessitating the overdump hack than Tower Toppler.

 

Just feels like a shame to have to do a ton of soldering or toss the system for 2 games not running on flashcart. I may pick up a copy of tower Toppler on eBay to test if it is just concerto with an issue or if the original cart won’t run on this machine.

[+Nathan Strum]

On 12/24/2022 at 5:15 AM, Trebor said:

This build: Tower Toppler (NTSC) (Overdump 78SG Hack) (20210124).a78for Tower Toppler should work fine.  If the experience is the levels keep cycling, check the difficulty switches in front of the console as they impact game behavior.  A feature of the game is being able to skip levels.

While that dump of Tower Toppler does work with my RF 7800 and Concerto cart:

 

It does not in the 7800 I just repaired and added a UAV mod to:

 

This is running the firmware the cart shipped with (0.95). Is this likely a Concerto issue, or a Tower Toppler issue? (In other words, if I bought an original Tower Toppler cart, would that likely work?)

[Trebor]

2 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

This is running the firmware the cart shipped with (0.95). Is this likely a Concerto issue, or a Tower Toppler issue? (In other words, if I bought an original Tower Toppler cart, would that likely work?)

I'm strongly leaning towards Concerto as the issue, since the dump in itself is not a 'good' one, but an overdump with the data duplicated to expand the 64k cart to 128k cart, for the sake of Concerto compatibility.

 

Below is a list of original 'true' 78SG cartridge type games.  If available (as I know an original Tower Toppler currently is not), and these cartridges work fine on the console, then even more definitive, the Concerto is the issue:

 

7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Ace of Aces
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Barnyard Blaster
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Basketbrawl
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Crack'ed
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Dark Chambers
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Fatal Run
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Fight Night
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Ikari Warriors
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Mat Mania Challenge
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Mean 18 Ultimate Golf
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Meltdown
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Midnight Mutants
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Motor Psycho
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Ninja Golf
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Planet Smashers
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Scrapyard Dog
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Touchdown Football
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Xenophobe

 

If any of the above cartridges have problems, then the console is the issue.

[+x=usr(1536)]

@Nathan Strum: IIRC, Tower Toppler was one of the titles that didn't work correctly until one of the more recent firmware releases.

 

 

That post has the version of the firmware I'm using (which I believe is the most recent), and I can confirm that Tower Toppler does work under it.

[+Nathan Strum]

4 hours ago, Trebor said:

I'm strongly leaning towards Concerto as the issue, since the dump in itself is not a 'good' one, but an overdump with the data duplicated to expand the 64k cart to 128k cart, for the sake of Concerto compatibility.

 

Below is a list of original 'true' 78SG cartridge type games.  If available (as I know an original Tower Toppler currently is not), and these cartridges work fine on the console, then even more definitive, the Concerto is the issue:

 

7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Ace of Aces
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Barnyard Blaster
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Basketbrawl
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Crack'ed
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Dark Chambers
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Fatal Run
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Fight Night
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Ikari Warriors
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Mat Mania Challenge
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Mean 18 Ultimate Golf
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Meltdown
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Midnight Mutants
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Motor Psycho
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Ninja Golf
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Planet Smashers
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Scrapyard Dog
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Touchdown Football
7800	78SG	0	128 KB	NTSC	Xenophobe

 

If any of the above cartridges have problems, then the console is the issue.

Well, I tried the lot on the Concerto. I don't have a light gun, so I couldn't test Barnyard Blaster or Meltdown. But they loaded for whatever that's worth.  

 

Man though... the 7800 had some absolute stinkers in its library.  

 

Anyway...

 

Everything worked on the modded console, except Fatal Run: it wouldn't recognize joystick button presses (but does recognize directional input). I could start a game using Reset and move the car around, but that was it. A couple of times, the game froze:

 

 

However - Fatal Run also refused to recognize joystick buttons on my RF 7800, which is an early model (AT84 serial number w/expansion port). The modded 7800 is a late-model "X" serial number. So that likely points to the Concerto. (I don't have original cartridges of either game to test against.)

 

Debating whether or not it's worth updating the firmware on the off-chance it might fix the games. Kind of hoping to see something a little more ready-for-primetime than the daily builds.

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 1/18/2023 at 1:40 AM, Nathan Strum said:

However - Fatal Run also refused to recognize joystick buttons on my RF 7800, which is an early model (AT84 serial number w/expansion port). The modded 7800 is a late-model "X" serial number. So that likely points to the Concerto. (I don't have original cartridges of either game to test against.)

Check out this thread - it may apply to the AT84 unit:

 

 

There was also some discussion earlier in this (the Concerto firmware) thread about CPU issues; it's linked a few posts down in the thread above.

 

On 1/18/2023 at 1:40 AM, Nathan Strum said:

Debating whether or not it's worth updating the firmware on the off-chance it might fix the games. Kind of hoping to see something a little more ready-for-primetime than the daily builds.

AFAIK, that is the only daily build to have been released so far, and is the most recent at this time.

 

[Lord_of_Sipan]

On 1/17/2023 at 5:42 PM, Nathan Strum said:

While that dump of Tower Toppler does work with my RF 7800 and Concerto cart:

 

It does not in the 7800 I just repaired and added a UAV mod to:

 

This is running the firmware the cart shipped with (0.95). Is this likely a Concerto issue, or a Tower Toppler issue? (In other words, if I bought an original Tower Toppler cart, would that likely work?)

That is the issue I have with Tower Toppler on concerto currently. Same behavior visually. Does it make a horrible noise when it crashes/freezes to that appearance? Mine goes to that as soon as you try to start from the menu/splash screen which actually seems to work ok but crashes if you wait on it too long to that behavior.

 

If you don’t mind, can you test rampage on your concerto? That is the only other game I get similar behavior on. 
 

I haven’t had time to open up my 7800 to check what manufacturer made my chips.

 

Edit-My 7800 is unmodded mid production run expansion hole but no port.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Lord_of_Sipan

[+Nathan Strum]

On 1/19/2023 at 11:31 PM, Lord_of_Sipan said:

If you don’t mind, can you test rampage on your concerto? That is the only other game I get similar behavior on.

The "AB" dump would load, sometimes play a little, but then crash:

 

Or get stuck at the player select screen:

 

The "OB" dump would never get past 90% loading:

 

 

 

[Lord_of_Sipan]

That is exactly what I get with both Rampage dumps.

[+x=usr(1536)]

FWIW, both will load for me on the 0.96, build 72822 firmware, but the OB version crashes before starting.  The AB version will run, but either locks up after selecting a character, or loops on that screen after selection.

[+x=usr(1536)]

It looks as though there's a compatibility issue with Lucky Chase (2600 homebrew) and the Concerto:

 

 

It seems to work fine from a Harmony Encore on the same machine, so not sure what the issue might be.

[Trebor]

30 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

It seems to work fine from a Harmony Encore on the same machine, so not sure what the issue might be.

It is leveraging ARM-based chip support, DPC+, that is not supported under Concerto yet:

Technically, the Concerto can be flashed with Encore firmware, but all 7800 support is lost.  For now, the better bet is to keep Encore around for the (newer homebrew) 2600 ROMs, and Concerto for the 7800 ROMs, regarding the Harmony line of carts, until at least the Concerto firmware matures more.

[1strail]

Hi, just got my Concerto.  There was only the cartridge in the box.  Do I only need to load 7800 games and I'm good to go?  I also ordered a socketed Pokey chip, how would I test to see if it is installed or would I just not get any sound?

 

Thanks

[+groundtrooper]

1 hour ago, 1strail said:

Hi, just got my Concerto.  There was only the cartridge in the box.  Do I only need to load 7800 games and I'm good to go?  I also ordered a socketed Pokey chip, how would I test to see if it is installed or would I just not get any sound?

 

Thanks

Go grab @Trebor's 7800 rom pack and drop it on your SD card. Then load up Ballblazer or Commando or the Diagnostic Card bin and you should be able to determine if the POKEY is working. Ballblazer and Commando have Pokey music that plays during the game. Ballblazer is probably the easiest way to tell. The Diagnostic ROM will just show that the POKEY is detected.