1942 - It needs a thread...

[rj1307]

On 10/1/2022 at 8:15 PM, desiv said:

I would be surprised (tho that happens more often than I'd care to admit) if an FPGA emulation is cost effective by itself.

Included in something that does other things, like the DragonFly, yeah.  But I would imagine FPGA just for that might not be worth it.

Now, some googling shows possible availability of the YM2151 (https://www.digipart.com/part/YM2151) but I have no idea if that is accurate, what the pricing would be and what quantities would be needed for reasonable (whatever that is) pricing.

There is some one-off availability on the usual places; ebay, aliexpress.  But again, not sure how reliable that is.

And for a cart for one or two games?  Might not be worth it.

That said, I still think it might be worth it for a passthru cart.  That way, you could sell the cart and use it without YM, or use the passthru cart.  And people with a multicart that don't currently have YM would be able to use it as well...

Perhaps there would be enough of an audience there to justify some type of bulk purchase of YMs?

But that would require the design and production of a passthru cart.  I understand the electronic part of that has been done, but still lots of other steps.  I'd guess unlikely, although I'd be in for it if it happens. 

Either way, this game looks/sounds great as is!! 

Building a pass-through cartridge out of the YM2151 is no problem at all. I used to even publish such a cartridge in a CPLD-free version, but found a bug and withdrew the schematic. If necessary, I will redesign it and make it public again.

For those interested, I can also make such cartridges.

[+playsoft]

We have made the last few finishing touches, so please find the game ROM attached.

 

TL;DR...

 

Currently you will need a DragonFly to play it on real hardware. If you have not already done so, I highly recommend applying the CPLD fix, otherwise there is a good chance you may see issues when running the game. These can include graphics corruption, lock ups, crashes or stack dumps. In the @ZeroPage Homebrew show there was a stack dump at the end after playing the game for quite a long time, but issues may well occur sooner. The CPLD fix will improve compatibility with other games too.

 

Details of how to update your DragonFly can be found here:

 

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/310150-dragonfly-my-version-of-the-atari-7800-sd-cartridge/?do=findComment&comment=5109304

 

Currently Concerto does not support 256K ROMs, but I am informed this will be added in the next major firmware release. You should then be able to run the game without the YM2151 music.

 

During development an early version of the game was successfully tested on the forthcoming 7800GD. You can keep track of its development here:

 

https://www.retrohq.co.uk/

 

The ROM will run on A7800 with the XM module for the YM music. It will also run on BupSystem but without the music. I had to make a couple of minor tweaks for it to run on JS7800, so rather than release two ROMs @raz0red has kindly added it to the list on built-in games.

 

I am told it runs OK on MiSTer but there is a large difference between the TIA and YM audio levels, so you may want to select the audio option for music only.

 

A good playing guide can be found here:

 

https://strategywiki.org/wiki/1942

 

I think most of the options are self-explanatory. There are 3 colour sets available. "TREBOR" is generally best for running on real h/w and "TIX" for emulation. If you have a very dark picture on real h/w, then "DARRYL" may be your best choice. In the audio options (C64) is the C64 music and (OG) is the original game music.

 

The game supports both the High Score Cart and SaveKey in port #2 (it must be present when the game boots).

 

The game was written for NTSC but supports PAL. The slower refresh rate makes it easier, so it defaults to the hardest difficulty setting on a PAL console.

 

A big thanks to @TIX, as ever it's been a pleasure to work with you. I would also like to thank everybody else who has contributed to this: @darryl1970 @Trebor @wongojack @ZeroPage Homebrew @Jaden (JRH) @-^CrossBow^- @sramirez2008 @RevEng @marauder666 @juansolo @Eagle @rj1307 @SainT and Agermose (developer of the 1942 Amiga conversion).

1942.a78

[+Trebor]

 

Wow... 132 downloads in less than 50 minutes on a Wednesday morning (EST).  

 

[+MarcoJ]

2 minutes ago, Trebor said:

 

 

Wow... 132 downloads in less than 50 minutes on a Wednesday morning (EST).

 

Thank you very much . It's running great on my Dragonfly with YM chip. So glad I invested in one now. The game quality is so good. It plays and looks just like the original. Thank you so much for releasing it. 

[Cris1997XX]

So I booted the game in an emulator and...what's with that HUD above the play screen?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

16 minutes ago, Cris1997XX said:

So I booted the game in an emulator and...what's with that HUD above the play screen?

Graphical flare mainly. Also of course the current player score is shown on the left with overall highest score attained being shown on the right. The rest if just cool stuff that animates with the players movement of the plane.

 

[+DrVenkman]

Guess I need to buy a USB Blaster and spend the time figuring out that bloated software to flash my DragonFly CPLD. Ugh. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

12 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Guess I need to buy a USB Blaster and spend the time figuring out that bloated software to flash my DragonFly CPLD. Ugh. 

It will take you MUCH longer to download the needed software and get everything setup, vs what it takes to solder in the header pins to the JTAG and actually flash the new code into it as it only takes like 5sec to flash the new code to the CPLD.

 

 

 

[+Karl G]

13 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Guess I need to buy a USB Blaster and spend the time figuring out that bloated software to flash my DragonFly CPLD. Ugh. 

My thoughts exactly! I had been dragging my feet on doing this myself. I wish we all lived close to one another so one of us could host a Dragonfly flashing party. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

30 minutes ago, Karl G said:

My thoughts exactly! I had been dragging my feet on doing this myself. I wish we all lived close to one another so one of us could host a Dragonfly flashing party. 

While I had the software, I was basically offering to do it for cost of return shipping. I've got quite a few of those header pins on hand that I can use to solder to the board and had everything in place at the time. Maybe something can be setup for those going to PRGE and happen to bring their DFs to the show? It only needs a laptop with the software on it and a USB Blaster and cable.

 

[+playsoft]

19 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

While I had the software

I wonder if you can still use it to program devices though. Mine has expired too, when I run it the first option is to buy the software, but the second option is to continue using the software without compilation support. If I select that I am able to open the programming screen, select the USB-Blaster, add the dragonfly.pof file, check the program/configure/verify/blank-check boxes and press start. It looks like it probably would program my DF if I connected it.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

6 minutes ago, playsoft said:

I wonder if you can still use it to program devices though. Mine has expired too, when I run it the first option is to buy the software, but the second option is to continue using the software without compilation support. If I select that I am able to open the programming screen, select the USB-Blaster, add the dragonfly.pof file, check the program/configure/verify/blank-check boxes and press start. It looks like it probably would program my DF if I connected it.

Not sure. Mine would come up with a window telling me how many days left I had to use it and provided the option to continue my trial or purchase a license. I haven't loaded it up since I updated @sramirez2008 DF carts about 2 weeks ago now I think?

 

[+sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I haven't loaded it up since I updated @sramirez2008 DF carts about 2 weeks ago now I think?

That’s about right. I was testing games again by 22-SEP.

[AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol]

On 10/3/2022 at 1:18 PM, rj1307 said:

Building a pass-through cartridge out of the YM2151 is no problem at all. I used to even publish such a cartridge in a CPLD-free version, but found a bug and withdrew the schematic. If necessary, I will redesign it and make it public again.

For those interested, I can also make such cartridges.

 

I ordered my DragonFly with "just" the PokeyMax.  Would I be able to add the Yamaha module, and if so, do you have any remaining modules for sale?  

[Linndrum]

This is going on the Pi tonight! Sweet

[+mksmith]

Well done Paul, Tix and all who contributed to 1942 👏👏👏

 

Will be firing this up on A7800 shortly!

[TIX]

Thanks Matt , guys I really appreciate the good word !

 

I also want to thank Paul @playsoft for being a professional and a really nice guy,

I look forward working with him soon 🤞

[rj1307]

15 hours ago, AlwaysOnPlanetPatrol said:

 

I ordered my DragonFly with "just" the PokeyMax.  Would I be able to add the Yamaha module, and if so, do you have any remaining modules for sale?  

Yes, I can produce a YM module for you, please write a message to PW if you are interested.

[chicgamer]

If anyone gets set up to make the necessary updates to the Dragonfly cart, I would happily pay you to update mine. 🙂

[+-^CrossBow^-]

17 minutes ago, chicgamer said:

If anyone gets set up to make the necessary updates to the Dragonfly cart, I would happily pay you to update mine. 🙂

I had that all in place over 2 weeks ago but the current license expired on the software. I might have a solution for this but will have to look and make sure.

 

I was just going to essentially charge return shipping since it doesn't take that long to update them. Like only a few seconds assuming I don't solder in header pins to the JTAG.

 

 

[chicgamer]

If you are able to do this again, that would be great! If it makes it easier, I can add the header pins to my cart.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

8 minutes ago, chicgamer said:

If you are able to do this again, that would be great! If it makes it easier, I can add the header pins to my cart.

That is fine. I believe RJ's actual docs he provided in the download shows his cable with the pins on it just going through the vias at an angle and making a good enough connection to get the code updated. I've not tried that myself as on my personal one and 2 others I did I went ahead and soldered in some header pins to be sure since even with them soldered in, it will all still fit together easily inside the DF cart shell.

 

Have you adjusted your volume trimmers on the DF cart already? I did that also on the other 2 I updated.

 

[chicgamer]

2 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

That is fine. I believe RJ's actual docs he provided in the download shows his cable with the pins on it just going through the vias at an angle and making a good enough connection to get the code updated. I've not tried that myself as on my personal one and 2 others I did I went ahead and soldered in some header pins to be sure since even with them soldered in, it will all still fit together easily inside the DF cart shell.

 

Have you adjusted your volume trimmers on the DF cart already? I did that also on the other 2 I updated.

 

No, I've just been using my cart as it came to me without changing anything.

[+Pac-Lander]

This looks amazing! Watched the video on @ZeroPage Homebrew and it's so impressive. Great work @Trebor @playsoft @TIX !!!!

I'm using OpenEmu (for Mac) and when I try to play the binary, the screen goes black and nothing else loads. Any idea as to why that may be? I haven't had issues with any other ROMs and I have the current version loaded.

[+Karl G]

22 minutes ago, Pac-Lander said:

I'm using OpenEmu (for Mac) and when I try to play the binary, the screen goes black and nothing else loads. Any idea as to why that may be? I haven't had issues with any other ROMs and I have the current version loaded.

I'm pretty sure OpenEmu's 7800 support is based on ProSystem, which is an outdated emulator that has issues with a number of 7800 homebrews. On Mac you can use a7800 for accurate emulation.