Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 25, 2023 Author Share Posted November 25, 2023 4 minutes ago, Diewaldo said: I cleaned Stargate with Isopropanol and a Q-Tip twice yesterday. I only get a garbled screen or a black screen and then loading failed. The cart works on an composite modded Atari 7800 PAL and an unmodded Atari 2600 jr. PAL with no problems at all. However I wouldn't rule out that the cart might be damaged. It is not one of my original carts but I bought it from Ebay and the general condition of the case doesn't lead me to think it was handled with much care. If it works on a real console and the bankswitching is supported by the 2600+ dumper (true for both), it should work on the 2600+. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diewaldo Posted November 25, 2023 Share Posted November 25, 2023 3 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: If it works on a real console and the bankswitching is supported by the 2600+ dumper (true for both), it should work on the 2600+. It is one of my favourite games so I am tempted to get another copy to do a double check on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted November 25, 2023 Share Posted November 25, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: If it works on a real console and the bankswitching is supported by the 2600+ dumper (true for both), it should work on the 2600+. Stargate works on the 2600+. I have no issues with it. NTSC version (presumably). I see you have the PAL version so yeah.. not great, but goes without saying all carts need to be clean. I got some more information (and a replication scenario) for Jungle Hunt's sound issues. It occurs: 1.) when hotswapping from a 7800 game previously. 2.) During the playback of the jingle at stage start (sound is corrupted/choppy/glitchy) Doesn't occur on reset. During a fresh powercycle, hotswapping from another 2600 game didn't cause it. When hotswapping, there's a lot of extraneous, immediate "loading game failed" text shown. Usually followed immediately by a successful loading attempt. This happens whether a 2600 game is preceeded by 2600 game or 7800 game. I find this annoying and it's confusing to the first time user. I am wondering if it's software timing issues with loading when carts haven't completely been inserted yet. So I am trying to eliminate my usage of hotswapping where I can. It's not really a big huge deal IMO, (adds about 5 more seconds to load time) but it is quirky. And originally I had issues I haven't been able (nor really tried) to replicate since with 7800 carts getting stuck not loading. That might happen to others first time, too. Edited November 25, 2023 by tradyblix spelling, edits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANJIMMY Posted November 25, 2023 Share Posted November 25, 2023 1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: If it works on a real console and the bankswitching is supported by the 2600+ dumper (true for both), it should work on the 2600+. S = Should From my own experience and all the reading next to P, U and F we should have S+ S S- on such lists 😉 I am just kidding but a few 2600 carts seem to be prone to connection issues in the 2600+ This was the same with my PAL 7800 console in the past, so it is not something new and even it is sad if it hits your beloved game like Juno First in my case I can/must live with that, if hopefully 7800 PAL carts and homebrews start to work someday, as they were my peronal focus when I ordered my 2600+ I expect the 2600+ slot has got less connection issues with 7800 carts, as the reportings are rather P or F and no S so far. Never owned a cart with SD slot in the past but if a new generation of dragonfly carts for the 2600+ will show up I might even sell my PS5 to make money for it, to get around this connection issue😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted November 25, 2023 Share Posted November 25, 2023 41 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said: S = Should From my own experience and all the reading next to P, U and F we should have S+ S S- on such lists 😉 I am just kidding but a few 2600 carts seem to be prone to connection issues in the 2600+ This was the same with my PAL 7800 console in the past, so it is not something new and even it is sad if it hits your beloved game like Juno First in my case I can/must live with that, if hopefully 7800 PAL carts and homebrews start to work someday, as they were my peronal focus when I ordered my 2600+ I expect the 2600+ slot has got less connection issues with 7800 carts, as the reportings are rather P or F and no S so far. Never owned a cart with SD slot in the past but if a new generation of dragonfly carts for the 2600+ will show up I might even sell my PS5 to make money for it, to get around this connection issue😊 To be fair, it's clear they didn't think about PAL when making that compatibility list. Or test PAL. Or Test the difficulty switch A <-> B issue when flipping the labels. So. yeah. Not really applicatable to anyone outside the US, those charts, currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 25, 2023 Author Share Posted November 25, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANJIMMY Posted November 25, 2023 Share Posted November 25, 2023 (edited) Tested some 2600 homebrews, all PAL or PAL60 Marble Craze, Medieval Mayham, Gunfight, Seawolf and Pac Man 4k work fine. Fall Down, Conquest of Mars, Lead fail to load. Space Instigators works but graphics are a bit corrupted (see Game Over text in pic) so you sometimes die without cause. Thrust+ Failed controls. Fire is pressed all the time, unplayable, graphics look great as always. Nothing is plugged in, not even an evil extension cable And the driving controller might fail as reported from Indy 500? Brix Failed controls, can't start the game. Edited November 25, 2023 by DEANJIMMY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Karnov Posted November 26, 2023 Share Posted November 26, 2023 Has anyone got a PAL Planet Patrol to test? I picked up a 'working' cart this week but it's not loading up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfdav Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 @Charlie_ @Thomas Jentzsch Can confirm same failure for Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (white Coleco). Garbled sound and strange video even after cleaning. I don't have working original hardware to test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 Smurf has two distinct original circuits, one EPROM based and the other being a mask ROM, due to the TTL logic in the original, they do not have the same timing. This is of course only interesting to hardware engineering and not TJ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chad5200 Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 56 minutes ago, jfdav said: Can confirm same failure for Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (white Coleco). Garbled sound and strange video even after cleaning. I don't have working original hardware to test. This is crazy. I am pretty sure I got Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (white Coleco) to work fine in my 2600+ a couple days ago. But now I go and try again and I can't get it to load properly. I just tried at least 20 times (with multiple cleanings in between), but no luck. Ugh! What a mess. And, of course, like usual... it plays perfectly on my original 4-switch 2600. Frustrating. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 5 hours ago, jfdav said: That looks like only the 2nd half of the cart got dumped. This could be either due to a cart variation with a yet unknown bankswitching (unlikely) or a problem with the dumper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben from Plaion Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 @Thomas Jentzsch I have a PAL version of Robot Tank here. Anyway to determine is its FE. It seems to be PAL as is its being playing at 50Hz on that beta build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said: @Thomas Jentzsch I have a PAL version of Robot Tank here. Anyway to determine is its FE. It seems to be PAL as is its being playing at 50Hz on that beta build. Does it work on the production build? The HES versions of Activision's games use F8, you need an original Activision release. AFAIK that one only exists as FE version. Edited November 27, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben from Plaion Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 Yes, runs at 60hz on release build. Its Activision, see attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben from Plaion Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 45 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: Does it work on the production build? The HES versions of Activision's games use F8, you need an original Activision release. AFAIK that one only exists as FE version. Also I'm getting -Space Shuttle (A Journey into Space) -Decathlon sent to me later this week, I'm sure I tested these myself before and worked without issue, so should clear FE up? CBS Omega Race I need to send to the developer as we know its not even worth trying ATM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben from Plaion Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 On 11/25/2023 at 7:37 AM, Diewaldo said: I cleaned Stargate with Isopropanol and a Q-Tip twice yesterday. I only get a garbled screen or a black screen and then loading failed. The cart works on an composite modded Atari 7800 PAL and an unmodded Atari 2600 jr. PAL with no problems at all. However I wouldn't rule out that the cart might be damaged. It is not one of my original carts but I bought it from Ebay and the general condition of the case doesn't lead me to think it was handled with much care. I tryed Stargate this morning and played fine. PAL cart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcinJ Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 22 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said: I tryed Stargate this morning and played fine. PAL cart This was also my case. Stargate PAL worked fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said: Also I'm getting -Space Shuttle (A Journey into Space) -Decathlon sent to me later this week, I'm sure I tested these myself before and worked without issue, so should clear FE up? This is the known situation, based on the ROM collection of Atarimania.com: Decathlon: NTSC & PAL: only FE ROMs known Robot Tank: NTSC: only FE ROM known (but yours might be F8) PAL: only FE ROM known Space Shuttle: NTSC: FE & F8 ROMs exist PAL: only FE ROM known So there was a mix of FE and F8 carts and you can never be 100% sure if yours are FE or F8. Even if only FE ROMs have been dumped so far. What would help are the dumps of the working carts, then one could verify that these are not the F8 versions. If I am not wrong, even only comparing the MD5 checksums with Stella's properties should work. BTW: All HES (PAL) carts use F8 or F6. Edited November 27, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben from Plaion Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 26 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: This is the known situation, based on the ROM collection of Atarimania.com: Decathlon: NTSC & PAL: only FE ROMs known Robot Tank: NTSC: only FE ROM known (but yours might be F8) PAL: only FE ROM known Space Shuttle: NTSC: FE & F8 ROMs exist PAL: only FE ROM known So there was a mix of FE and F8 carts and you can never be 100% sure if yours are FE or F8. Even if only FE ROMs have been dumped so far. What would help are the dumps of the working carts, then one could verify that these are not the F8 versions. If I am not wrong, even only comparing the MD5 checksums with Stella's properties should work. BTW: All HES (PAL) carts use F8 or F6. Lets clear this up when Decathlon and Space Shuttle turn up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetmanUK Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 I tried PAL Moonsweeper today and I get a strange duplicate screen glitch which renders the game unplayable. I tested the cart on my original 4 switch PAL 2600... it worked fine. It is listed as working, but I guess thats the NTSC version. 😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 Krokodile Cart did not work in case anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diewaldo Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 17 hours ago, MarcinJ said: This was also my case. Stargate PAL worked fine. Thanks! So I am now in the process of getting a new Stargate cart because obviously I have a faulty one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANJIMMY Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 2 hours ago, Diewaldo said: Thanks! So I am now in the process of getting a new Stargate cart because obviously I have a faulty one. Or one which fails on the 2600+ only. I have got very few carts which work on old hardware but not on the 2600+ If it is destinated for the 2600+ only, you could also consider to get an NTSC cart. In the past in Germany you randomly got NTSC carts for low price and were unhappy it's not PAL... Now I would prefer for my 2600+ an NTSC version but shipping from US is expensive, takes extended time and you might have to show up at the customs.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 (edited) Here's some oddball results: Space Shuttle and Decathlon work! Robot Tank, does not. (rolling corrupted HUD like others) Both Space Shuttle and Robot Tank were Blue-label, later releases from Activision. Decathlon is original label. I tried dumping various versoins of Robot Tank to my Harmony cart using the developer app, using various banking schemes, and the best I get is rolling screen that says "Switching to Reserve Tank" Also - Stargate works just fine for me. All of these are NTSC (I'm in the US) Edited November 28, 2023 by John Stamos Mullet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.