Atari 2600+ Beta Update 1.1

[gambler172]

Hi Ben

great update.

7800 homebrew games work now much better. Even big games like Draker Quest work excellent.

I also tried 7800 Klax from different manufacturers. None of them worked. And finally, my released games and hacks work too....even the big Asterix Quest fangame......And the new games from Video 61 work too.

 

 

[AtariYMás009]

4 minutes ago, AtariYMás009 said:

Happens the same to me on all my TVs or monitors, I can't play pacman propperly 😭

Even in frogger you can't see the cars that are in your same line

[Thomas Jentzsch]

All the latest reports sound like the console is skipping frames now. As if the CPU cannot handle the emulation at full speed. 

 

But since the about equally powered R77 can even handle ARM games, these standard games should be easy peasy for the 2600+. 

 

If it is frame skipping, something is wrong with the build. 

[omf]

NOTE: if you have the Evercade VS firmwar update drivers installed, it interfeers with the emulator update part even though the chips are similar.  if you still want to use the evercade update functionality (EverSD) use a different computer or VM in vmware player and set up the usb port to mount in the vm for this part.

[tmop69]

16 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

All the latest reports sound like the console is skipping frames now. As if the CPU cannot handle the emulation at full speed. 

 

But since the about equally powered R77 can even handle ARM games, these standard games should be easy peasy for the 2600+. 

 

If it is frame skipping, something is wrong with the build. 

Also River Raid PAL seems now to flicker more. I'll check with the NTSC version.

 

[Ben from Plaion]

36 minutes ago, tmop69 said:

@Ben from Plaion I've just updated to V1.1. The procedure is really easy and quick (I've used a laptop with Windows 11).

 

Here is the first report of some quick tests:

- the new PAL palette is really better. Now Pole Position, Crackpots, etc. look ok;
- RealSports Boxing (PAL) is now working correctly;
- the following Coleco carts (PAL, black shell) are loaded and detected as PAL (@50Hz): Carnival, Mr.Do, Wizard of Wor and Pitufo (Pitufo is the Spanish cart for Smurf, Rescue in Gargamel's Castle. I do not know if differs from English version just for the label);
- other PAL games tested Midnight Magic, Q*Bert, Jr. Pac Man, River Raid, all recognised @50Hz.

 

Some notes:
- the output is still @720p, not FullHD. Is this correct? Wasn't supposed now to be in FullHD?
- in Mr.Do and in Q*Bert the sprites are sometimes disappearing @50Hz on my TV, while @60Hz they were fine. Not sure if it's related to my TV (it's an old Samsung  UE32C5100QW, there is no "game mode" setting). Can someone confirm if these two PAL games are working fine?
- I have now a noise with Pitfall NTSC (also reported https://forums.atariage.com/topic/358808-pitfall-noise/). Note that this is not an original cart, but a multicard I've made (brand new pcb and eprom). With the 1.0 it was working fine, without any noise.

 

Great to hear. 

 

Quite relieved to wake up and read generally positive feedback crucially so far without a crisis!

 

Yes I think something is not quite right with 50hz mode. 

 

When I was testing the update with @Dr Karnov we came across the odd missing sprite in a build which set the resolution at 1080p, both of us have 2 machines, one test with update and one standard 1.0 build.

We noticed an odd missing sprite present on the 1080 build not present on 1.0, so I asked for 1080 upgrade to be pushed back to 720 for 1.1 assuming that was the reason. I think this was wrong and that it wasn't 1080p causing the issue it was the 50hz change.

 

We will investigate and hopefully it's a quick fix. It's the first thing on my list. Because if it's fixed we can then have 1080p which is really nice to experience.

[DEANJIMMY]

I did my update of the dumper and FW.

 

It shows V1.1, loads a game and then black screen/no signal.

 

This happens to any game😞

 

Edit:

 

Did the flash again and get a picture now.

Some strange Android picture before Atari Logo sometimes.

 

Will see...

Edited December 31, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Ben from Plaion]

11 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

I did my update of the dumper and FW.

 

It shows V1.1, loads a game and then black screen/no signal.

 

This happens to any game😞

 

Edit:

 

Did the flash again and get a picture now.

Some strange Android picture before Atari Logo sometimes.

 

Will see...

Thank you for the heart attack.

 

Yeah on the first boot straight after the update install you get a Android confirmation message, it doesn't appear again.

[DEANJIMMY]

13 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Thank you for the heart attack.

 

Yeah on the first boot straight after the update install you get a Android confirmation message, it doesn't appear again.

Now the good news:

 

Mountain King NTSC works.

 

And all the failed original PAL carts work with A/B buttons functioning if supported.

 

Commando gave me first garbled music but after power off/on it was fine.

 

More detailed testing to be done, including 7800 homebrews.

 

Many thanks for the update, we are on the right track.

Edited December 31, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Diewaldo]

50 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

All the latest reports sound like the console is skipping frames now. As if the CPU cannot handle the emulation at full speed. 

 

But since the about equally powered R77 can even handle ARM games, these standard games should be easy peasy for the 2600+. 

 

If it is frame skipping, something is wrong with the build. 

I just tested the new firmware with Battlezone (PAL) and can confirm that sometimes the shots are nowhere to be seen. Guess we are having a problem with PAL implementation because with the previous firmware I didn't have this problem. Apart from that I can confirm that a lot more Atari 7800 PAL games are now working. Just played a round of Food Fight, which wouldn't start previously.

 

Also Circus Convoy (PAL) does run now as well!

[GeckoScholes]

HI, I would love to help you in the beta testing! Just purchased the atari 2600+ due to my large collection of old games I wanted to see in HDMI. I also have the orginal slimline version, which work just fine too. Only started yesterday, testing all the games on the new 2600plus.

[AtariYMás009]

My results (All PAL):

 

Video olympics: Perfect

 

Riddle of the sphinx: your bullets are totaly invisible

 

Dig Dug: perfect

 

E.t.: perfect

 

Raiders of the Lost ark: perfect

 

Pac-man: 2 of the Ghosts totally disappear

 

Ms.Pac-man: a Ghost disappears for a while

 

Mario Bros: perfect

 

Venture: perfect

 

Haunted House: enemies disappear

 

Combat: perfect

 

Pitfall: perfect

 

Super breakout: jittery scrolling

 

Casino: perfect

 

Space invaders: your bullets or the invaders’ disappear for a while

 

Yars' revenge: the shield disappears sometimes

 

Space cavern: the enemies that appear from the floor disappear sometimes

 

Phantom tank AKA tanks but not tanks: the tanks disappear

 

Challenge (funvision): half of the wall

s disappear totally

 

Battlezone: the bullets disappear most of the times

 

*I tested this in all my TVs and monitors and the results are the same for everyone

 

 

Nothing of this issues happened with the previous version except the jittery scrolling on super breakout.

Edited December 31, 2023 by AtariYMás009

[+SabertoothRetro]

2 hours ago, Diewaldo said:

I just tested the new firmware with Battlezone (PAL) and can confirm that sometimes the shots are nowhere to be seen. Guess we are having a problem with PAL implementation because with the previous firmware I didn't have this problem. Apart from that I can confirm that a lot more Atari 7800 PAL games are now working. Just played a round of Food Fight, which wouldn't start previously.

 

Also Circus Convoy (PAL) does run now as well!

I had this issue with Battlezone (NTSC). It was fixed by turning off certain processing on my TV.

[sondrik]

I am interested I. Trying this out!

[Diewaldo]

6 minutes ago, SabertoothRetro said:

I had this issue with Battlezone (NTSC). It was fixed by turning off certain processing on my TV.

Game Mode on my new LG-TV is on. Also having no problems with orginial Hardware runnig through HDMI with a Retrotink 2x. So I guess that rules out the TV as the source of the problem.

[Stechmann]

Rikki & Vikki desperately needs a patch to make it more compatible with mainstream hardware. I play it on the MiSTer but it doesnt have music which is only half the fun

Edited December 31, 2023 by Stechmann

[DEANJIMMY]

2 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Now the good news:

 

Mountain King NTSC works.

 

And all the failed original PAL carts work with A/B buttons functioning if supported.

 

Commando gave me first garbled music but after power off/on it was fine.

 

More detailed testing to be done, including 7800 homebrews.

 

Many thanks for the update, we are on the right track.

Update:

 

Many 7800 Hombrews work fine:

BnQ, Frenzy/Berzerk, BeefDrop, Sirius, Plutos.

 

But 4 7800 Hombrews gave me issues:

 

Popeye 7800 looks good but freezes after start (known).

 

Scramble 7800 PAL flickers like hell, unplayable.

 

Space Invaders 7800 and Pac Man Collection 7800 are playable but are shifted down like Galaga 7800 PAL used to be on V1.0 (pls. see pictures).

 

Pole Position 2600 PAL gives you a grey track now👍, Enduro looks better and Battlezone is brighter, too.

Did not notice missing bullets in Battlezone (maybe...) but River Raid PAL gives you flickering buildings on the green now.

 

And I solved  the miracle of my black screen after first update... my scanline generator can't be used anymore. When the screen switches from 60p to 50p it switches itself off...

 

Last not least I had to change my TV settings back to brightness 50 and contrast 75, otherwise games like Pitfall! PAL look dull after the upgrade. With my new TV settings it looks fine😊

 

My pictures look like I am not in game mode as my phone thinks it used to be an artist in previous life and enhance the colors😉

 

So, still issues with some 7800 homebrews but I am so happy to finally play the original PAL games like my beloved Commando.

 

Missing bullets in Battlezone and flickering River Raid PAL could indicate some concering PAL issues in 2600 mode

Edited December 31, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[AtariYMás009]

31 minutes ago, Diewaldo said:

Game Mode on my new LG-TV is on. Also having no problems with orginial Hardware runnig through HDMI with a Retrotink 2x. So I guess that rules out the TV as the source of the problem.

I think not, I think the problem is like @Ben from Plaion said an issue with 50hz implementation on PAL games, I've tested the "Game mode" in my 4 TVs and the dissapearing ghots did never appear, I also tested it on a crt and nothing changed, dissapearing ghots again.

Edited December 31, 2023 by AtariYMás009

[AtariYMás009]

13 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Missing bullets in Battlezone and flickering River Raid PAL could indicate some concering PAL issues in 2600 mode

definitely

[raz0red]

26 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Scramble 7800 PAL flickers like hell, unplayable.

Space Invaders 7800 and Pac Man Collection 7800 are playable but are shifted down like Galaga 7800 PAL used to be on V1.0 (pls. see pictures).

That sounds like they may be running as NTSC, but are PAL carts.

 

There is a pretty cumbersome escape sequence you can use to confirm if that is the case. Immediately after the game loads and the screen displays (it is only applicable in the first couple seconds), hold both buttons down and pull down on the joystick simultaneously. If you hold these (buttons + joystick down) for 5 seconds, you should see the game reset into PAL mode. It may take a couple of tries to get it to work.

 

If that is the case, message me and we can add them as PAL in the next update.

 

Thanks,

Chris.

[DEANJIMMY]

35 minutes ago, raz0red said:

That sounds like they may be running as NTSC, but are PAL carts.

 

There is a pretty cumbersome escape sequence you can use to confirm if that is the case. Immediately after the game loads and the screen displays (it is only applicable in the first couple seconds), hold both buttons down and pull down on the joystick simultaneously. If you hold these (buttons + joystick down) for 5 seconds, you should see the game reset into PAL mode. It may take a couple of tries to get it to work.

 

If that is the case, message me and we can add them as PAL in the next update.

 

Thanks,

Chris.

You are absolutely right.

They are PAL and start with 60p indicating NTSC on my TV.

Pac Man and Space Invaders don't have a PAL sticker but show as PAL in my order history on Atariage 👍

 

The escape sequence make them all 3 work👍

Pac Man and Space Invaders shift up and Scramble stops to flicker🤗

So starting them as PAL in next release will fix them.

 

Many thanks I am very happy now.

Have not tested all of my homebrews yet but from my top ones they all work except Popeye now.

Good job👍

Edited December 31, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Gamma Ray]

I saw someone mention recently that only two of the ghosts were showing on the old 2600 Pac Man with the 1.1 beta. I tried my old cart, and all ghosts display as they ever did. TV-based postprocessing is probably at fault for people having these sorts of problems. I always run my stuff in the most game mode of game modes available, and I never have any problems.

 

You'd probably also be having issues with shots in Space Invaders and maybe Missile Command.

[llaffer]

8 hours ago, thecavalry said:

Pitfall II fails to load. It was mentioned in the footnotes for where Ben posted the update files that it is a tricky cart. For now, doesn't work.

 

But I can confirm that the Mega7800 has been working just fine with a 3 button genesis controller for both 2600 and 7800 games. (though i haven't had to use a second button on 7800)

I didn't read that until I did the update this morning.  I hope this does get figured out at one point.  This is my favorite game for the 2600.  But I was able to install the 1.1 update.  Thanks!

[jnagy13]

On 12/28/2023 at 4:07 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.

 

Thanks Ben

Great to allow users to do this. I was able to complete the Dumper process, however, the Emulator process is not working for me. My Device Manager does not show any Unknown Devices anywhere including under the Other Devices folder. I tried several times making sure the Color switch is selected and holding down Game Reset button while turning the unit on. Not sure if anyone else has run into this issue. 

[pseudografx]

I have successfully updated the firmware and tested several 7800 games, which I think are all PAL releases.

These are the results before and after update:

Title               fw 1.0                                 fw 1.1

Ace of Aces         starts, fire not working               works
Ballblazer          starts, graphical glitches, slowdown   works
Barnyard Blaster    works*                                 works*
Crossbow            works                                  works
Fatal  Run          not tested                             works

Food Fight          black screen                           works

Galaga              not tested                             works

Jinks               not tested                             works

Joust               not tested                             works  

Karateka            black screen                           black screen
Mario Bros          not tested                             works

Meltdown            works*                                 works*

Motor Psycho        starts, joystick not working           works
Planet Smashers     starts, fire not working               works
Pole Position II    not tested                             works

Sentinel            not tested                             works*
Super Huey          not tested                             works
Tomcat              works                                  works
Water Ski           not tested                             works

Xevious             not working, garbage on the screen     works

* requires light gun

 

I also tested 2600 Star Raiders with Video Touch Pad, but the controller does not work.

 

Overall, vast improvement!