VCS System Software Update (December 2023)

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

There is a new update currently available for the Atari VCS 800 just now. There doesn't seem to be any release notes as of yet. Allow your Atari VCS 800 enough time to fully update, it can take 10-15 mins or more to update depending on various factors such as if your running a wired or wireless connection etc . I think this is the update that resolves the issue where you need to flash your system out of the box to get it up and running,  although i could be wrong on that!. I would also like to add that this wont fix the current zip code issue that's a completely different thing before everyone who has the issue gets disappointed after updating, this serves to fix bugs under the hood and of course adds a few new features 🙂  

[SabertoothRetro]

I can confirm that this resolves the flashing issue. I had a new in box Onyx from Gamestop ($99 special) that's been in my closet for a year. I was able to fully update it from stock automatically in 26 minutes.

 

This is great news for the new user experience!

 

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

This is really good to know that new out of the box systems can be updated now without flashing! I just wonder how many new users will leave there console updating for a whole 26 minutes though?, i think some people would probably start to get a bit worried after the 10-15 min mark has passed and its still not finished and pull the plug out the console and brick it but hopefully that's not the case! Now for Atari to update the store and end the zip issue then bring on the games.

[+swlovinist]

Good to hear that there is a new update for the console.   

[livingonwheels]

Mouse support is finally fixed. No more stuttering or pausing of the game every time you press a mouse key. I'm now blowing through Breakout Recharged, something I was unable to do with a controller.

[+jeremiahjt]

This is good to hear. I was honestly starting to wonder if we would ever get this update.

[scifidude79]

I noticed some improvement with 7800 emulation. When holding the Atari button to exit the game and go back to the home screen, I was given a list of options and things I could tweak. It's not a huge list, but it's nice to see that kind of quality of life improvement. I didn't play any of my 2600 emulated games, but I'd imagine those will also have these added features. 😎

[+Sauron]

1 hour ago, scifidude79 said:

I noticed some improvement with 7800 emulation. When holding the Atari button to exit the game and go back to the home screen, I was given a list of options and things I could tweak. It's not a huge list, but it's nice to see that kind of quality of life improvement. I didn't play any of my 2600 emulated games, but I'd imagine those will also have these added features. 😎

Are you referring to the MAME/A7800 menu, or the brightness and volume sliders? If the former, that menu appears if you do a short press of the Atari button while in a 7800 game, and that's been there since before the update.

 

[scifidude79]

3 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Are you referring to the MAME/A7800 menu, or the brightness and volume sliders? If the former, that menu appears if you do a short press of the Atari button while in a 7800 game, and that's been there since before the update.

 

I'm referring to the brightness/volume and "Mute" functions that appear now. Also, instead of "Return to Desktop," it says "Cancel" or "Exit" now. Like I said, it's not much but it's more functionality than it had before. And yes, I've seen the MAME/A7800 menu plenty of times.

[justclaws]

Yes, it's great news that this long-expected update shipped.
I made some photos of my system for reference - just with my phone, but I hope it helps somebody.

Most importantly, for reference, the update was trouble-free, and here in The Netherlands, over home WIFI, took 8 minutes total.

** I updated using the System / Updates menu, and thus the VCS downloaded in the background, while I continued to do other stuff.

It then waited for the reboot, which was problem free, although the system remained a bit busier, fan busier, until a 2nd reboot.
** I recommend that, rather than the update at boot-time, it's less stressful!

Changes I see:
- New options in System menu for brightness and audio (and also selecting the audio output device directly)

- New pop-up Atari menu options in-games for brightness and audio settings.

- The normal mouse functionality is restored - it now works as it did back in early 2020 when the VCS was released. (*)

- Now the mouse works again, so does a normal trackball. 

 

Controller Firmware:
- Upgraded firmware for Atari Modern and Classic controllers. (v1.51)

- This firmware upgrade improves the connectivity and signal strength.

- Performance and bug fixes, ha ha.

Don't Overlook:

- It now adjusts the screen size properly for over-scan, so it all is visible!

- Online high-scores for supported games visible from dashboard - on the Dashboard game menu (e.g. press =)..

The things I know of:

- Improved WIFI drivers.

- Improved Bluetooth driver - and so the controllers should work better.
- updated base Linux operating system, so easier for developers to support.
- improvements behind-the-scenes for developers, with access to more logs.
 

Footnote:
(*) The mouse does not work in all games, due to their coding, and the mouse functionality is still minimal on the Dashboard.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Found this on Discord. Its the official release notes for the update.

 

**Atari VCS OS Upgrade - 2023 **

- New features added to the power menu (fuji button press)
- Adjustable screen brightness control
- Adjustable system audio volume control
- Upgraded game emulators Stella and MAME
- Ability to upload OS logs to backend to report bugs to developers
- Upgraded Google Chrome
- Refreshed VCS User Experience (new fonts)
- Improved VCS OS upgrade mechanism (bugfix)
- Enabled additional security services (AppArmor)
- Enhanced developer experience (system and grame crash logging) 
- Updated classic & modern controller firmware to version v1.5.1
- Many security and bug fixes

[yorxs]

Can someone explain: It now adjusts the screen size properly for over-scan, so it all is visible!

 

I am still not able to see all of the screen due to overscan, I would love to figure out how to fix this.

[cwieland]

I've noticed that Donut Dodo is was unplayable in Ultra HD for me after this update.  The display lags behind the audio and the controls.  It plays fine in HD (720p) and Full HD (1080p).

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

1 hour ago, cwieland said:

I've noticed that Donut Dodo is was unplayable in Ultra HD for me after this update.  The display lags behind the audio and the controls.  It plays fine in HD (720p) and Full HD (1080p).

I wouldn't really recommend playing any Atari VCS 800 games in 4k Ultra HD mode, especially within the Atari OS. I would only recommend Ultra HD for browsing the web, YouTube, other streaming apps or even PC mode. For some reason the Atari OS and 4k gaming don't really work well at the best of times, the GPU in the Atari VCS while capable just isn't quite up to the task depending on the game. I've played a few indie games in 4k on the Atari VCS within PC mode though and those where ok .

[scifidude79]

7 hours ago, yorxs said:

I am still not able to see all of the screen due to overscan, I would love to figure out how to fix this.

It may be something in your TV settings. I had this issue with computers plugged into my TV. I combed through settings on the computers and then finally troubleshot the TV itself, and there was a setting to fix it on there.

 

5 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

I wouldn't really recommend playing any Atari VCS 800 games in 4k Ultra HD mode, especially within the Atari OS. I would only recommend Ultra HD for browsing the web, YouTube, other streaming apps or even PC mode. For some reason the Atari OS and 4k gaming don't really work well at the best of times, the GPU in the Atari VCS while capable just isn't quite up to the task depending on the game. I've played a few indie games in 4k on the Atari VCS within PC mode though and those where ok .

I've gotta agree, 4K on the VCS isn't a fun experience. I had issues just running some emulated 7800 games in 4K on mine after I first got it. I decided then and there that 1080 was the absolute limit for the console, and it's run smoothly since then. I know people love it, but Ultra HD isn't the best for everything. Full HD is considered good by a lot of people.

[scifidude79]

Am I the only one who's been having issues with the modern controller since this update? Specifically, the D-pad thumbsticks have begun acting bizarrely. It's either really laggy or it acts like I pushed it more than once. It doesn't happen every time I use the unit, but it happens sporadically. I thought maybe updating the firmware would help, but it didn't. I'm going to test some other controllers to see if I continue to have this issue with them too.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

1 hour ago, scifidude79 said:

Am I the only one who's been having issues with the modern controller since this update? Specifically, the D-pad thumbsticks have begun acting bizarrely. It's either really laggy or it acts like I pushed it more than once. It doesn't happen every time I use the unit, but it happens sporadically. I thought maybe updating the firmware would help, but it didn't. I'm going to test some other controllers to see if I continue to have this issue with them too.

I've not encountered any problems with the modern controller myself after the big update, things have been functioning better than ever. If the issue persists it might be worth while trying to do a pin hole reset on the modern controller and start over again connecting it to the Atari VCS 800 and see if that resolves the issue, if not you might need to disassemble the controller and inspect the D-Pad for any debris or anything that could be causing the problem. 

[scifidude79]

57 minutes ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

I've not encountered any problems with the modern controller myself after the big update, things have been functioning better than ever. If the issue persists it might be worth while trying to do a pin hole reset on the modern controller and start over again connecting it to the Atari VCS 800 and see if that resolves the issue, if not you might need to disassemble the controller and inspect the D-Pad for any debris or anything that could be causing the problem. 

Yeah, I figured it's probably a problem with my controller. I haven't been able to replicate the issues with any of the wired controllers I've attached to the consoles. I haven't been able to try anything else Bluetooth, other than the classic joystick, because I can't get anything else to pair with it. But, at least you confirmed that it's not a problem with the update, which I figured it wasn't. Sometimes controllers just to bad. But, I'll take a look at your suggestions before I write it off. Though, the problem is with both the D-pad and both analog sticks, so it's more like it's malfunctioning than dirty.

[+Neon Wraith]

1 hour ago, scifidude79 said:

Yeah, I figured it's probably a problem with my controller. I haven't been able to replicate the issues with any of the wired controllers I've attached to the consoles. I haven't been able to try anything else Bluetooth, other than the classic joystick, because I can't get anything else to pair with it. But, at least you confirmed that it's not a problem with the update, which I figured it wasn't. Sometimes controllers just to bad. But, I'll take a look at your suggestions before I write it off. Though, the problem is with both the D-pad and both analog sticks, so it's more like it's malfunctioning than dirty.

If the thumb sticks are acting oddly, you should probably try re calibrating the controller if you have not already done so.  I believe it's under the System tab.

[scifidude79]

32 minutes ago, joeatari1 said:

If the thumb sticks are acting oddly, you should probably try re calibrating the controller if you have not already done so.  I believe it's under the System tab.

I made the console forget it and ran the controller for a while in wired mode and it acted normally. So, I reconnected the Bluetooth and it seemed OK afterwards. But, it's an intermittent problem, but one that's happening more frequently. If it starts acting weird again, I'll take a look at the calibration settings.

[zzip]

On 12/15/2023 at 2:14 AM, cwieland said:

I've noticed that Donut Dodo is was unplayable in Ultra HD for me after this update.  The display lags behind the audio and the controls.  It plays fine in HD (720p) and Full HD (1080p).

Make sure you are set to 60hz and not 30hz.   Some combination of settings between the TV and consoles might cause 4K/60 to not be available. 

[PowerDubs]

On 12/15/2023 at 3:30 AM, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

I wouldn't really recommend playing any Atari VCS 800 games in 4k Ultra HD mode, especially within the Atari OS. I would only recommend Ultra HD for browsing the web, YouTube, other streaming apps or even PC mode. For some reason the Atari OS and 4k gaming don't really work well at the best of times, the GPU in the Atari VCS while capable just isn't quite up to the task depending on the game. I've played a few indie games in 4k on the Atari VCS within PC mode though and those where ok .

 

Yea- the 4k mode on the VCS was never intended for games- it was always there for the streaming movies.

[Alex8bit]

Hmmm might need to flash new in the box Atari VCS direct from Atari.  Update failed.   build P#1205.     ok, I guess off to store to get usb stick and learn how to flash a usb drive and track down the files to flash it with.  joy.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

21 minutes ago, Alex8bit said:

Hmmm might need to flash new in the box Atari VCS direct from Atari.  Update failed.   build P#1205.     ok, I guess off to store to get usb stick and learn how to flash a usb drive and track down the files to flash it with.  joy.

Everything you need in terms of the files and instructions can be found in the official Atari VCS 800 discord, along with a video put together by Davpa from Atari showing the process. Its a relatively easy straight forward process although very inconvenient you need to manually flash the system. I've updated quite a few Atari VCS 800's out the box successfully after the new update, i used an Ethernet connection. I guess there's always going to be exceptions where you might need to manually flash the device still from the box. 

[+cubanismo]

Well, improved update mechanism my ass. I turned my VCS on for the first time in several months, and got the update screen. Got to 2/4 updates then just sat there for an hour+ before I power cycled it. Now it boots to a looong black screen, followed by this: