ColecoVision adapter for the Master System - available now!

[Miketage]

9 minutes ago, Apocalypse said:

Thanks, all of those I have tested on my homemade multicart without any issue.

What power adapter are you using with your Master System?

I'm using oem psu

[+Apocalypse]

24 minutes ago, DNA128k said:

I'm using a TRIAD 9V 1.3A 

Do you have the OG power brick for testing?

16 minutes ago, Miketage said:

Zaxxon - glitched out and crashed first boot but no problems since, just tried again.

Turbo - select game option work no matter what I press.

Donkey Kong - rolling glitchy graphics some and black screen mostly (always possible its my cart)

I've cleaned all three very well prior to testing.

Donkey Kong I have the real cart here (and have broken the world record using the ColeCoco Master).

Don't you need the Expansion Module 2 to play Turbo?

[Miketage]

19 minutes ago, Apocalypse said:

 

Donkey Kong I have the real cart here (and have broken the world record using the ColeCoco Master).

Don't you need the Expansion Module 2 to play Turbo?

I figure it's my cart probably, I don't think you need the wheel for it to boot. It'll boot without the wheel on a Colecovision.

[DNA128k]

2 minutes ago, Apocalypse said:

Do you have the OG power brick for testing?

Donkey Kong I have the real cart here (and have beaten the world record using the ColeCoco Master).

Don't you need the Expansion Module 2 to play Turbo?

Unfortunately I do not. 

[Miketage]

Crisis averted, it was my cart, DK works like a champ.

[mitsurugi-w]

Curious what the issue with your DK cart was?

[Miketage]

Wound up taking it apart (the label is already trash), cotton swap and brasso, then 99% ipa. Not a habit (before an uprising haha)

[RockLobster]

14 minutes ago, Miketage said:

cotton swap and brasso, then 99% ipa

have any Deoxit?

[mitsurugi-w]

I sometimes use Brasso for bad contacts.  As long as you don't use it every time it's ok.  Shouldn't be necessary more than once after it enters a collection anyways

 

NEVER use it if the cart pcb is still in the shell though.

[mitsurugi-w]

We are most interested at first in getting feedback on how original carts are working so please give us as much info as possible on colevovision carts.  We almost expect some issues with the various multicarts and can work on compatibility with those later on.  The original intended purview of this adapter is to play original carts so let's try to make sure that's as close to perfect as possible then we can work on the extra fun stuff

[DNA128k]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did a bunch of testing this AM, these are all real carts.  I also deoxit'd and cleaned everything but the results were identical.  Regular SMS software and SG-1000 software works without issue on my modded SMS from an EverDrive clone.

[RockLobster]

1 hour ago, DNA128k said:

Did a bunch of testing this AM, these are all real carts.

It's wild that the text on the game selection screens would render but then reverted to garbage.  Almost like those 80's TV/movie effects for showing a computer being corrupted or hacked.   Also thanks for showing regular graphical glitches too.

 

@Miketage Do you see similar glitches on Donkey Kong, Berzerk and Mouse Trap with yours?

[DNA128k]

I also took apart my SMS and pressed / poked  / tapped on ICs and connections while it was running and there was no impact on the corruption (or anything at all).  It's looking like the ColeCoCo doesn't like my PAL60 mod, or perhaps the adapter itself has something curious going on as this is pretty much universal across all my cartridges in how they behave.

 

At any rate my set up is:

 

PAL-I SMS II modified to 60HZ / Composite w/out crystal swap (PAL60)

Model No. 3006-05

9V 1.5A PSU

Genesis Controller(s) (I have confirmed Button I and Button II are operational with SMS / CV software)

Changing the ColeCoCo to PAL mode doesn't change anything at all, with the corruption being identical.  This is also all repeatable, each game behaves the same way every time.

 

Edited September 12 by DNA128k

[RockLobster]

25 minutes ago, DNA128k said:

It's looking like the ColeCoCo doesn't like my PAL60 mod

Hmm...  I have two stock SMS wide American versions so if I encounter any glitches, I'll try to test on both to see if there are any differences.   will try the previously posted list of cartridges as well as atarimax, chameleon and backbit pro.

[Miketage]

No deoxit unfortunately, after opening up dk and cleaning didn’t see any glitches and really when I did see glitches it was constant testing off and on like with my picart. I need more oem carts for testing now haha

[Miketage]

Tested on two model 2s today, one is Svideo modded and one is bone stock.

None of my carts including the Pi cart will boot on the modded console, everything boots on the non-modded console.

Again my current carts are Zaxxon, DK, and Turbo(select screen).

Video mod is the CXA1145 S-Video and Composite Video Mod PCB & Parts Kit (2SC945) from console5 - https://console5.com/store/cxa1145-s-video-and-composite-video-mod-pcb.html

 

Most of the time the SEGA logo appeared and froze, sometimes it threw an error or garbled logo (pics attached)

Edited September 12 by Miketage

[+Apocalypse]

@Miketage this is very interesting, I have experienced very similar symptoms on one of my Master System consoles.

The ColeCoco Master adapter uses signals from the cart slot that no other piece of hardware uses, therefore an underlying issue with those signals can remain undetected with "standard" cartridges.

In my case I found a broken trace between the cart slot and one of the Z80 signals (can't remember which one, clock maybe).

[+-^CrossBow^-]

You guys have me curious if this will work on my early model 1 SMS now. I've got it pretty modded out with the same old s-video kit but also added in an RGB bypass from Consoles Unleashed sometime back and it has the Tim Worthington FM expansion and also the dual controller pause mod in place. 

 

Of those, the only one I can possibly see causing an issue would be the FM expansion because the region switch function requires lifting a pin off the IO Gate IC and attaching the wire from the FM board to it. That pin didn't seem to be used on anything originally and on the model 2 don't even think that pin actually has a trace to it and is left floating?

 

 

[mitsurugi-w]

@Miketage So it works great on the unmodded console?

 

And yes the behavior on your modded console does look a lot like something dealing with a z80.  Troubleshooting modded consoles will be fun because of all the variables. Lol.  Might have to gather install instructions for each mod to study.

 

My test console is a version 1 that is 100% stock. No mods.

Edited September 12 by mitsurugi-w

[Miketage]

1 hour ago, Apocalypse said:

@Miketage this is very interesting, I have experienced very similar symptoms on one of my Master System consoles.

The ColeCoco Master adapter uses signals from the cart slot that no other piece of hardware uses, therefore an underlying issue with those signals can remain undetected with "standard" cartridges.

In my case I found a broken trace between the cart slot and one of the Z80 signals (can't remember which one, clock maybe).

Ill have to poke around and see if anything is going on inside, it still plays sms carts like champ.

[Miketage]

34 minutes ago, mitsurugi-w said:

@Miketage So it works great on the unmodded console?

 

And yes the behavior on your modded console does look a lot like something dealing with a z80.  Troubleshooting modded consoles will be fun because of all the variables. Lol.  Might have to gather install instructions for each mod to study.

 

My test console is a version 1 that is 100% stock. No mods.

My model 1 I tested with yesterday is unmodded and I showed everything it did then, but you actually when I first tested on my modded model 2 I started DK and it started up fine played the first level for a few seconds, and then it crashed.

After that none of the other games worked either including the picart. It all worked again switching back to the unmodded model 1 and 2.

[mitsurugi-w]

Ok

[RockLobster]

Tagging @mitsurugi-w @Apocalypse @Miketage @DNA128k @-^CrossBow^- ...

 

I'll do some more real original cartridge testing later but I've tried a few and not graphical glitches like I've seen posted here so far.  I'm on a stock Model 1 SMS with original PSU (I think) outputting via a standard RGB SCART cable.  I plan to run through the rest of the cartridges later and post and discrepancies with the Colecoco and a real ColecoVision (only s-video modded) later.

 

In the meanwhile, I've attached a short video of loading up a game via flashcarts:   @evietron's BackBit Pro, Coleco Chameleon and the Atarimax Ultimate SD.

 

I found that both the BBPro and Atarimax had menu issues displaying the "bottom" part of each page of ROM listing.  BBPro has them off the screen and the Atarimax shows no/null text.  However, games do launch if you select them.    

 

The Chameleon however has no glitches probably bc of the way it only shows a few entries on the screen at once.   Either way, I would love to see others replicate / validate this behavior.

[DNA128k]

4 minutes ago, RockLobster said:

Tagging @mitsurugi-w @Apocalypse @Miketage @DNA128k @-^CrossBow^- ...

 

I'll do some more real original cartridge testing later but I've tried a few and not graphical glitches like I've seen posted here so far.  I'm on a stock Model 1 SMS with original PSU (I think) outputting via a standard RGB SCART cable.  I plan to run through the rest of the cartridges later and post and discrepancies with the Colecoco and a real ColecoVision (only s-video modded) later.

 

In the meanwhile, I've attached a short video of loading up a game via flashcarts:   @evietron's BackBit Pro, Coleco Chameleon and the Atarimax Ultimate SD.

 

I found that both the BBPro and Atarimax had menu issues displaying the "bottom" part of each page of ROM listing.  BBPro has them off the screen and the Atarimax shows no/null text.  However, games do launch if you select them.    

 

The Chameleon however has no glitches probably bc of the way it only shows a few entries on the screen at once.   Either way, I would love to see others replicate / validate this behavior.

Thanks!  I have different issues with my Atarimax, in that it is too corrupted to even navigate the menu.  The Chameleon I can boot and run games from, but they exhibit the same graphical issues as my real carts.  Highly suspect my modded console at this point, wish I had an unmodded one to test with.

[+Apocalypse]

@RockLobster thanks for your feedback.

Would it be possible for you to open that Chameleon cart and take pictures? In PM if you don't want them to be public. I'm curious to see if they used level shifters on the data bus.