Is 8-bit "QB" a PAL game?

[Gunstar]

I recently downloaded this gem off the Holme's site, where Andrew (the author) has kindly allowed this great looking game to be posted. I, of course, used my A.P.E prosystem program and my 10502PC cable to get an actual atari disk to use on a real atari! Everything seems fine, until the demo of the game actually starts, as soon as our hero "QB" comes out onto the screen, some very intense jumping/flickering occurs on the screen, which instantly gave me a headache. Is there an NTSC version of this game? GOD FORBID I should have to use an "I'maloserlator" (emulator) to play this game...it looks like a very cool game, but I'll skip it before corrupting my virgin PC or my virgin mind with an 8-bit emulator. The thought makes my stomach churn! LONG LIVE REAL ATARI'S AND REAL ATARI USERS! (sorry if this offends any of you cheapskates and lazy bums who can't take the time to use the real thing) An Atari game will never be sacrificed to an emulator on my PC!(unless it was made FOR the PC-even then I doubt it)

OH! YEAH! I'm an Atari PURIST!

 

[ 09-29-2001: Message edited by: Gunstar ]

[DEBRO]

Yeah Andrew stated that this is PAL and there is no NTSC version.

 

My question would be what would it take to convert this to NTSC? Could a hacker convert it? Would it take changing the number of scanlines to 192 so it would play on all NTSC televisions? How about VBLANK? Seeing as a VBLANK occurs on an NTSC 1/60 of a second and I think 1/50 of a second for PAL. I guess you might have to tinker with the colors too.

 

What do you think?

 

[ 09-29-2001: Message edited by: DEBRO ]

[Gunstar]

Oh, it's totally possible to hack(reprogram) Atari Pal games for NTSC compatibility, Software houses have been putting out mod versions for the other different tv standards forever...but finding someone willing to do it or one having the know how is another story.

 

"Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE, maybe just not possible NOW."

[+Andrew Davie]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gunstar:

Oh, it's totally possible to hack(reprogram) Atari Pal games for NTSC compatibility, Software houses have been putting out mod versions for the other different tv standards forever...but finding someone willing to do it or one having the know how is another story.

---

 

 

Qb was written in 1984. That's a long time ago and my memory is dimmer than it could be. I do recall that it had 200 lines - and I needed these to fit in the score and the screen itself. I see no fundamental reason why, if you're willing to forgo the top and bottom bits of the display, why you couldn't hack it to a 192 line version. It would be a simple matter of modifying the display list. Just don't ask ME to do it

[mos6507]

Atari's 192 lines was merely a guideline, and a conservative one at that, determined in the mid 70s when TVs hid a lot of information behind their cowlings. In my experience most NTSC TVs should show 200 scanlines without going into overscan no problem.

 

<<

Qb was written in 1984. That's a long time ago and my memory is dimmer than it could be. I do recall that it had 200 lines - and I needed these to fit in the score and the screen itself. I see no fundamental reason why, if you're willing to forgo the top and bottom bits of the display, why you couldn't hack it to a 192 line version. It would be a simple matter of modifying the display list. Just don't ask ME to do it <<

[DEBRO]

By my calculations (and I could be wrong here) 'Qb' has 2 display lists.

 

One starting at $3480 with 21 lines for overscan and 198 for the display and the other starting at $352F with 21 lines for overscan and 195 for display. So shouldn't this fit in the 200 lines of most NTSC TVs?

[Gunstar]

Something is causing a problem with the refresh rate here. It's true that most tv's can display 200 lines or more, I see EVERYTHING on the 'QB' screen, and when it's paused or just sitting there in between demos or games, it looks fine. It's when a demo or I actually start playing the game, and QB (the character) comes out, that everything starts jumping (background graphics-not the player/missles). It's not a screen resolution problem. In my experience, a lot of PAL games will work on my NTSC 8-bit, some perfectly, some with some problems, some not at all, and some run but have serious gfx problems that make them unplayable. This is due to the way the games were programmed and how dependent they are on the REFRESH rate to keep everything going. PAL has 50hz refresh, NTSC is 60hz. If the game keeps track of the refresh rate for any reason, that's when the problems start, some programs don't keep track of the refresh rate and they work fine, others rely on it to varying degree and problems occur at verying degrees depending on the programs dependence on the refresh rate.

[DEBRO]

Gunstar you are right it has to be the VBI because the screen doesn't jump when the high scores are displayed either. If I get time I'll look into the VBI tomorrow.