No PAL releases for new homebrews?

[+slx]

I noticed that there is no PAL version available for many of the newest 7800 homebrews sold at AtariAge. Is (was) there too little demand as a lot of “older” games were available in PAL as well (like Moon Cresta, Scramble and other @PacManPlus games? Are PAL releases expected in the future, @Albert?

 

 

[+Muddyfunster]

Koppers has a PAL version.

[PacManPlus]

2 hours ago, slx said:

I noticed that there is no PAL version available for many of the newest 7800 homebrews sold at AtariAge. Is (was) there too little demand as a lot of “older” games were available in PAL as well (like Moon Cresta, Scramble and other @PacManPlus games? Are PAL releases expected in the future, @Albert?

 

 

The newer games of mine that don't have a separate PAL version, auto-detect.  They work in both PAL and NTSC.

Bob

[+slx]

6 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

The newer games of mine that don't have a separate PAL version, auto-detect.  They work in both PAL and NTSC.

Bob

That's great! It would be good if the shop website mentioned which carts are compatible with either video system.

[+karri]

My small games are all developed for PAL but they should work on NTSC as well. The only thing I am a bit scared about is the time I have for the processing at interrupts. The NTSC interrupt is only 5/6 of a PAL interrupt. So I try to leave some extra time to let the code work in both models. Fortunately @gambler172 has a NTSC machine as well. So my releases get tested. But if you notice spurious crashes in my released binaries please let me know...

 

Techically my frame has the same number of lines in PAL and NTSC (224 lines). The music should run at the same speed 50Hz. And the colours should be almost similar. So there is no extra work for me to support both targets.

[gambler172]

1 hour ago, karri said:

My small games are all developed for PAL but they should work on NTSC as well. The only thing I am a bit scared about is the time I have for the processing at interrupts. The NTSC interrupt is only 5/6 of a PAL interrupt. So I try to leave some extra time to let the code work in both models. Fortunately @gambler172 has a NTSC machine as well. So my releases get tested. But if you notice spurious crashes in my released binaries please let me know...

 

Techically my frame has the same number of lines in PAL and NTSC (224 lines). The music should run at the same speed 50Hz. And the colours should be almost similar. So there is no extra work for me to support both targets.

Hi Karri

All your games are working well on my NTSC machine.

[SlidellMan]

I can make PAL versions of my NTSC projects if needed.

[+mksmith]

I think you will find most recent homebrew games will work great on NTSC or PAL.  Both Lewis and myself being in PAL land do make sure our games work/look correct with palettes etc but most of the 7800 coders do try to make sure PAL is supported in some way. And being that the same Rom are playable on either is certainly a bonus.

[+Muddyfunster]

8 hours ago, mksmith said:

I think you will find most recent homebrew games will work great on NTSC or PAL.  Both Lewis and myself being in PAL land do make sure our games work/look correct with palettes etc but most of the 7800 coders do try to make sure PAL is supported in some way. And being that the same Rom are playable on either is certainly a bonus.

Exactly this.

 

I mentioned Koppers already as having a PAL version (it's a separate ROM to the NTSC version because I'm lazy basically ) - Not sure if @Albert ships PAL versions to Europe or if you have to request it. 

 

E.X.O. is NTSC/PAL out of the box so one ROM for both regions. Bernie and A.R.T.I. will be the same - one ROM both regions.

 

 

[Mayhem]

54 minutes ago, Muddyfunster said:

Exactly this.

 

I mentioned Koppers already as having a PAL version (it's a separate ROM to the NTSC version because I'm lazy basically ) - Not sure if @Albert ships PAL versions to Europe or if you have to request it. 

 

E.X.O. is NTSC/PAL out of the box so one ROM for both regions. Bernie and A.R.T.I. will be the same - one ROM both regions.

You'd have to specifically order the PAL version, I bought quite a lot of 7800 homebrews in NTSC even though I'm in Europe because I have a video modified NTSC 7800.

[+Gemintronic]

Sorry to inject a tangential question, but...

 

Is it true that PAL60 is less "crisp" than bog standard PAL?

 

When I make 7800 homebrew I'd love to stick with NTSC/PAL60 but if there's strong feelings about standard PAL I'd take that into consideration.

[+SmittyB]

1 hour ago, Gemintronic said:

Is it true that PAL60 is less "crisp" than bog standard PAL?

Not inherently, if anything PAL60 would look sharper on a lot of CRTs due to the lower line count.

 

When it comes to the 7800 however it's not possible to generate a PAL60 signal because MARIA's regional version controls the line count unlike TIA where it's all manually controlled and a PAL TIA will happily send lines with NTSC timings.

 

A lot of people are using 7800basic these days and it automatically includes code to set up both PAL and NTSC displays depending on the console so it's just down to the developer to check the region and change colours or timings accordingly. You won't get PAL60 but most of the awkwardness of conversion is done for you.

[Stechmann]

has anyone tested if "Knight Guy" and "Rikki & Vikki" work on a PAL 7800?

[Stechmann]

Knight Guy works, i just tested it. but the colors are a bit off

[+SmittyB]

Rikki & Vikki is also fine on PAL.