Atari 2600+ Beta Update 1.1

Thomas Jentzsch · January 23

44 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

...then we'll be looking more at 2600 issues like CPU maxing out and audio clicking.

I am quite sure both are related.

DirtyHairy · January 23

1 hour ago, JetSetIlly said:

I've just checked and this is the same issue as Pitfall, Fishing Derby and Hero. I'm almost certain this is because of the non-zero volume registers and an under-running audio buffer.

I strongly agree 😏 Either emulation is running too slow, or something is wrong with the timing (I still haven't fully ditched my theory of something being wrong with the oscillator).

DirtyHairy · January 23

1 hour ago, inky71 said:

Thanks for checking so fast! So its not my cart or my particular 2600+, the Retron 77 has no audio problems but does have graphical errors. I'm collecting all the M Network Games to satisfy my intellivision itch and Space Attack is one of my Fav's so I was bummed to hear this audio problem while play.

Is this the official R77 firmware, or the Stella 6 community build? The community build should now have any graphical glitches.

inky71 · January 23

21 minutes ago, DirtyHairy said:

Is this the official R77 firmware, or the Stella 6 community build? The community build should now have any graphical glitches.

Its on the stock official r77 it came with I just got it today and wanted to baseline it with carts before going further, the orange one.

+OLD CS1 · January 24

Long thread to go through, and I still skipped a lot of pages. I finally unpacked my 2600+ and played tonight, then found the firmware upgrade after a number of my homebrews failed to play. The upgrade fixes several of them, but there are still some I would love to get working.

Of all the original carts I played tonight, Pitfall II is the only one which fails to load. Still a bunch of AA homebrews, and I have several more "last chance" on the way... one day...

+sramirez2008 · January 24

2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

and I have several more "last chance" on the way... one day...

Check your AA Store account. Your order may have shipped recently. My order arrived Monday. Game on everyone!

Krullor · January 24

Hi I have two copies of Defender II PAL. One loads and works 9/10 and one fails 9/10 on the 2600+ but both work without issue on my old system.

Is this a known issue?

NB I haven’t applied the update yet

Edited January 24 by Krullor

DirtyHairy · January 24

8 hours ago, inky71 said:

Its on the stock official r77 it came with I just got it today and wanted to baseline it with carts before going further, the orange one.

OK, that explains the issues. The original firmware for the R77 uses an ancient version of Stella 3.x. Starting with version 4 has a new and much more accurate TIA core, the old core has multiple accuracy issues.

inky71 · January 24

9 hours ago, DirtyHairy said:

OK, that explains the issues. The original firmware for the R77 uses an ancient version of Stella 3.x. Starting with version 4 has a new and much more accurate TIA core, the old core has multiple accuracy issues.

The video is glitching on all of them with the cart Space Attack, I dug deeper into it, maybe a bad cart or a feature of the game, who knows, I just want the audio glitches fixed on the 2600+. I did the community build on the Retron and left it on overnight and it was froze up, I guess I will see if its hours to freeze up or minutes and see if the flashback overnight freezes up. Thanks for your insights.

shane857 · January 24

13 hours ago, Krullor said:

Hi I have two copies of Defender II PAL. One loads and works 9/10 and one fails 9/10 on the 2600+ but both work without issue on my old system.

Is this a known issue?

NB I haven’t applied the update yet

I had the same issue. Could be the update because it seems to break the PAL compatibility. I Cleaned mine with isopropyl on a cotton bud/q stick and still wouldn't work. Tried inserting the cart at slightly different angles and eventually it worked. Works every time now on 1.0 . Could be the fit of the cart. The atari 2600+ is brand new so carts from different game publishers have slightly different fits. Exactly the same on the original atari 2600 . 👍

shane857 · January 24

Just now, shane857 said:

I had the same issue. Could be the update because it seems to break the PAL compatibility. I Cleaned mine with isopropyl on a cotton bud/q stick and still wouldn't work. Tried inserting the cart at slightly different angles and eventually it worked. Works every time now on 1.0 . Could be the fit of the cart. The atari 2600+ is brand new so carts from different game publishers have slightly different fits. Exactly the same on the original atari 2600 . 👍

Stay on firmware 1.0 for now if you have mostly PAL carts

+OLD CS1 · January 24

8 minutes ago, shane857 said:

I had the same issue. Could be the update because it seems to break the PAL compatibility.

Speaking of PAL compatibility and detection, my Pitfall II cartridge is NTSC but it is apparently detected as PAL as my projector reports 720p50Hz.

shane857 · January 24

13 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

Speaking of PAL compatibility and detection, my Pitfall II cartridge is NTSC but it is apparently detected as PAL as my projector reports 720p50Hz.

Try the 1.1 rev 2 update. May fix it

shane857 · January 24

24 minutes ago, shane857 said:

I had the same issue. Could be the update because it seems to break the PAL compatibility. I Cleaned mine with isopropyl on a cotton bud/q stick and still wouldn't work. Tried inserting the cart at slightly different angles and eventually it worked. Works every time now on 1.0 . Could be the fit of the cart. The atari 2600+ is brand new so carts from different game publishers have slightly different fits. Exactly the same on the original atari 2600 . 👍

Also try the new 1.1 revision 2 update

Albert · January 24

Just FYI, there is a new revision of the 2600+ firmware that you can download here:

JetmanUK · February 2

On 1/4/2024 at 9:27 PM, MrChickenz said:

Medieval Mayhem works great on mine before and after the Beta 1.1 Update

TacScan paddles have to be plugged into right control port, But you are right on this one my copy also (boots but won’t start)

My Tacscan will also not start

pseudografx · February 2

On 1/18/2024 at 11:11 PM, Ben from Plaion said:

Ok purchased

I have also noticed sound stuttering on the title screen on my copy of California Games (NTSC) that arrived just today. Also the text scroller is not very smooth. Tested with dumper 1.1.0.9 and update-012324.

Edited February 2 by pseudografx

SkyWalker052707 · February 4

Thank you for the update. Finally got it to the latest version. Robot Tank and Star Master work great for me. Journey Escape, I couldn't get rolling though. I sure do love this machine. Thanks for the great work being done on this thing.

Tezzy · February 4

On 12/28/2023 at 10:07 PM, Ben from Plaion said:

Thanks to all here at Atari Age for feedback provided on the Atari 2600+.

We have a beta update to the Emulation and Dumper chip ready that I've been taking about for a while on the main 2600+ AA thread.

I've had lots of offers from people offering to test the update. Up until now its been tested internally with a limited amount of carts, I've sent it out to a few peers tonight who I know have got big collections. Its the breadth of cartridges out there that we internally just dont have easy access to - such a massive amount of carts with all their variations that need checking.

So if anyone here on AA wants to give the update a test with their own carts please post your interest in this thread and I will send the files and instructions to you over the next few days. You will need a Windows Laptop/PC to do the update, its not the most elegant process but should be all done in a few minutes.

Some details on the update;

2600 Changes

Dumper:

Fix for Realsports boxing

Enable Circus Convoy to boot (Also requires 1.1 Emulator update)

Enable CBS Ram Plus cartridge to boot - Omega Race tested (booster grip not tested), Tunnel Runner and Mountain King not tested (Also requires 1.1 Emulator update)

Emulator:

Change PAL colour palette to z26

PAL / NTSC cartridge auto detect to display at appropiate 50 or 60hz

Reversal of Difficulty Switches

7800 Changes

Dumper:

Support for unknown cartridges (linear and bank switched)

Removed clashing NTSC/PAL cartridge entries from known list (now handled as "unknown")

Increased maximum cartridge size

Increased dumper read timeout (support larger cartridges)

Emulator:

Fix for swapped controller buttons

Pause support via Color/B&W switch (may behave inconsistently depending on cartridge)

Significant updates to Pokey sound chip support

Support for additional Pokey configurations (@4000, @800, @450, etc.)

Yamaha YM2151 sound chip support

Support for 7800 expansion module (XM)

Updated palettes (contributed by Trebor @ AtariAge)

Partial cartridge hash detection (compatibility with dumper)

Cartridge probing for Pokey and YM sound chips (compatibility with dumper)

Cartridge header database with entries from known carts

Improved cartridge header support

Compatibility with larger bank switched cartridges

Maria double buffered line RAM support

Maria background color fix

Maria color kill support

Maria PAL display area fix

Overall improved cycle accuracy (including Maria)

Added support for several new opcodes

Z flag fix when in decimal mode

Multiple memory map fixes

RIOT interrupt mirror fix

Force PAL mode controller escape sequence

What our intention is with this beta update is to receive feedback on whether all of the above works with your cartridges. Development is kind of swift and we will most likely be finding elements from testing that need tweaking, highly likely we'll be releasing further builds till we are satisfied the update can lose its beta status, then we will move onto a subsequent update to address matters that still need resolving still.

How to Update

Dumper:

With Power Switch off on the 2600+ connect the USB lead from the 2600+ to a Windows Laptop/PC.

TV TYPE lever in B W

Hold down GAME SELECT lever and power on the 2600+, You should hear a windows connection jingle from your Laptop/PC

Open AtariDumper1.1.0.2.exe, You should see the status as Detected in green text

Press Download and it takes about 5 seconds to flash the dumper chip. The status then goes to red not detected and thats it the dumper chip is updated.

How to Update

Emulator Part 1:

The machine needs to add a driver to your Laptop/PC to talk to the 2600+. You only need to do this once.

With Power Switch off on the 2600+ connect the USB lead from the 2600+ to a Windows Laptop/PC.

TV TYPE lever in COLOR

Hold down GAME RESET lever and power on the 2600+, You should hear a windows connection jingle from your Laptop/PC

Goto Device Manager on your PC and click on the Unknown Device.

Browse your PC and click on the DriverAssitant_v5.12 (unzipped) and press Open.

A confirmation message should pop up showing a successful driver update.

Should take you no more then two minutes to do this.

Emulator Part 2:

Now for the actual emulator firmware update.

With Power Switch off on the 2600+ connect the USB lead from the 2600+ to a Windows Laptop/PC.

TV TYPE lever in COLOR

Hold down GAME RESET lever and power on the 2600+, You should hear a windows connection jingle from your Laptop/PC

Open up RKDevTool_Release_v2.74 folder (unzipped) and click on RKDevTool.exe.

You should see the application window open and a status message of 'Found one MASKROM device'.

Press the tab Upgrade Firmware.

Press the Firmware button.

Find Update-1225.img and press Open.

You should see the IMG prepped in the window. Press Upgrade.

The update uploads in about 30 seconds. The whole process should again take about 2 minutes.

And thats everything done. Time to plug your carts in!

John Hancock has already provided a list of working 7800 homebrews, so unless you just want to play those games for fun I'm more interested in receiving feedback for games he didnt test and anything else of note.

Bear in mind this is a beta and the purpose of offering this out on Atari Age is because of the breadth of cartridges out there that we internally just dont have easy access to - such a massive amount of carts with all their variations. I'm confident that this update will please, but some things may not work still and others havent been looked at like video touch pad, driver controller support as well as 2600 homebrew, a few odd carts and that one tricky official release Pitfall II. But we will as soon as the 1.1 is locked.

Thanks Ben

AtariDumper1.1.0.2.exe 5.26 MB · 464 downloads update-1225.img 68.85 MB · 309 downloads DriverAssitant_v5.12.zip 9.4 MB · 343 downloads RKDevTool_Release_v2.74.zip 2.44 MB · 360 downloads