BingoBeans Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Hello, We recently got an Atari 2600+ for Christmas. The console plays 2600 carts no issue, but every time we try to load a 7800 cart, the screen says "Loading Game Failed" in red text and just has a version number in the bottom right corner of the screen, which says 1.00. We've tried two 7800 games so far, Centipede and Pole Position II, and neither worked. We've tried cleaning the carts, but to no avail. Just wondering if we were missing anything. Or, if anyone had any ideas before we contact support about possibly getting a replacement console. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scifidude79 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 I don't have Centipede, but it was a pass on the original compatibility list. I have Pole Position II and it's always worked fine on my console, both with the 1.0 and 1.1 Beta firmware versions. I'd start with updating the firmware, the process and tools you need to download are in the first post of this thread: If you still can't get 7800 cartridges to load after that, it may be time to contact someone as there may be a problem with your system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeM_ Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Could just be dirty contacts. Get some 99% isopropyl alcohol and qtips. Give the contacts a good scrub and try again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANJIMMY Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 2 hours ago, BingoBeans said: Hello, We recently got an Atari 2600+ for Christmas. The console plays 2600 carts no issue, but every time we try to load a 7800 cart, the screen says "Loading Game Failed" in red text and just has a version number in the bottom right corner of the screen, which says 1.00. We've tried two 7800 games so far, Centipede and Pole Position II, and neither worked. We've tried cleaning the carts, but to no avail. Just wondering if we were missing anything. Or, if anyone had any ideas before we contact support about possibly getting a replacement console. Thank you. They should work on V1.00 My PAL carts of both games worked fine. Cleaning the contacts with alcohol and Q-tips should get them working. An update to V1.1 could be tried but it could only help if the out of factory firmware was not flashed correctly (unlikely) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bent_pin Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Were the cartridges purchased as tested? Do you know anyone with a 7800? It would be good to know that the cartridges are working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Clean the cart contacts again. I've had a couple of carts that literally required 20 minutes of cleaning... then suddenly started working fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 (edited) 1 hour ago, MikeM_ said: Could just be dirty contacts. Get some 99% isopropyl alcohol and qtips. Give the contacts a good scrub and try again. It does fix a lot of carts, but some of the activision carts remain problematic. My Pitfall boots up more often than not now, but my Megamania is still finicky even after multiple cleanings. Regardless, I have a centipede 7800 with no issues, so normal carts that are clean do work on that Edited January 15 by tradyblix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeM_ Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 4 hours ago, tradyblix said: It does fix a lot of carts, but some of the activision carts remain problematic. My Pitfall boots up more often than not now, but my Megamania is still finicky even after multiple cleanings. Regardless, I have a centipede 7800 with no issues, so normal carts that are clean do work on that Yeah, some of my Activision carts still require a little finesse to start up, even after they were cleaned. it’s a process for sure getting 30-40+ year old games happy on new HW. Cleaning is always step 1 though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldretrogameguy Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 I too am having trouble getting pole position 2 and one on one basketball to work. They both power up but the games won’t play. One on one seems to just call time out rather than shoot. And I can steer but the car won’t drive. It lets me shift hi and lo gear too Anyone else having these issues? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 If you do a search (ahem) you'll see this described at length. Firmware v1.0 has the joystick input buttons swapped. I also suspect you don't realize that some 7800 games require the special 2-button controller... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) There's no reason not to go to the 1.1 beta firmware atm. It's better than 1.0 in every way. Edited January 18 by tradyblix 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorkbot Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) On 1/18/2024 at 1:34 AM, tradyblix said: There's no reason not to go to the 1.1 beta firmware atm. It's better than 1.0 in every way. In the beta thread some people mention sprites disappearing in 1.1 that didn't disappear in 1.0. If that's true, then it's not better "in every way." One of those mentioned games is Mr. Run and Jump, which I'm currently playing. However, some people suggest it depends on which version of the chip your Atari 2600+ has...some might be a smidge slower or faster than others? but IDK. It's a long complicated thread with tons of speculation. But it convinced me there are some wrinkles to the new firmware that aren't completely ironed out yet...hence why it's still in "beta" I guess. Edited January 20 by Glorkbot 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) I do not have any problems with disappearing Sprites. I just played Mr Run and Jump, and there's a lot of flicker that is part of the game that won't ever go away, and in one case I can see where it makes an obstacle on the blue level disappear. Maybe that's what you're referring to. But it doesn't really make the game unplayable for me. I'm also not sure if that happened on 1.0 or not. Anyway, I'll put it this way. there's nothing unusual going on that wasn't going on in 1.0 for me. (There are some emulation issues that are minor that are present that people with original hardware won't have that I noticed even on 1.0) I even have the second 1.1.0.9 dumper release so I can load more games now like Real Sports boxing. If you play 7800 games it's a must-have because several games would not load on 1.0 that will load on the new firmware. But hey if you want to wait until some more sort of more official release then by all means. I just see that every time I get a release I get some kind of improvement to my capability of the 2600 plus so I'd like to jump on that as soon as possible instead of waiting for months. Edited January 20 by tradyblix info about Mr. Run and Jump 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANJIMMY Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) 25 minutes ago, tradyblix said: I do not have any problems with disappearing Sprites. I'll put it this way. there's nothing unusual going on that wasn't going on in 1.0 for me. I even have the second 1.1.0.9 dumper release so I can load more games now like Real Sports boxing. If you play 7800 games it's a must-have because several games would not load on 1.0 that will load on the new firmware. But hey if you want to wait until some more sort of more official release then by all means. I just see that every time I get a release I get some kind of improvement to my capability of the 2600 plus so I'd like to jump on that as soon as possible instead of waiting for months. As I focus on 7800, V1.1 was such a huge step🤙 Many thanks to @raz0red and @RevEngyou did such a great job and are still pushing it forward🕹 Now Paddle and Trakball support please😉 Hope the 2600 problems about disappearing sprites like in Frogger PAL and Kangaroo NTSC (?) gets sorted though! They are not a myth, my Frogger PAL has got a cloak feature now😉 I have a 2600 Jr PAL, 2600 Jr NTSC, 6er PAL, two 4er 2600 for spare parts, 7800 PAL Scart and a normal 7800 PAL (AV mod). Currently it looks like I keep the Jr hooked up for extended time, sell the 6er and keep only one 7800 as the 2600+ is close to do its job (yes, Paddles and Trakball please!). Edited January 20 by DEANJIMMY 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 2 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said: Now Paddle and Trakball support please😉 Yeah we absolutely totally need that but I'm guessing that the star Raiders fans are never going to shut up until they get their keypad working😅 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANJIMMY Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 5 minutes ago, tradyblix said: Yeah we absolutely totally need that but I'm guessing that the star Raiders fans are never going to shut up until they get their keypad working😅 Right, but some years ago in a club in Frankfurt, I hooked up my 7800 to a projector and young people could play Centipede 7800 NTSC TB CoOp with two real Trakballs on big screen in same room as the dance floor and it was such a legendary spectacle... we need true TB support! The 2600 TB series is available on AA and once you played Missile Command TB, you will say wow and never want to use a joystick for that game again🤗 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) 4 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said: Right, but some years ago in a club in Frankfurt, I hooked up my 7800 to a projector and young people could play Centipede 7800 NTSC TB CoOp with two real Trakballs on big screen in same room as the dance floor and it was such a legendary spectacle... we need true TB support! The 2600 TB series is available on AA and once you played Missile Command TB, you will say wow and never want to use a joystick for that game again🤗 Oh wow. That is so cool. Ah, I do desire that controller. I will add that to the list of things I can't currently afford. I do have a couple of custom arcade controllers, one 7800 one that BD Retro Mods made for me and one dual stick I use for the trifecta of games : Robotron 7800, Stargate 2600 and Spy Hunter 2600 that all require dual controller input and it makes the experiences of playing those games amazing. So yeah.... one day. one day. I hope we can get more support for that, the more the 2600+ can do the better. I can't go back to my OG hardware after seeing how these games look on a big OLED. Edited January 20 by tradyblix 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANJIMMY Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Just now, tradyblix said: Oh wow. I do desire that controller. I will add that to the list of things I can't currently afford. I do have a couple of custom arcade controllers, one 7800 one that BD Retro Mods made for me and one dual stick I use for the trifecta of games : Robotron 7800, Stargate 2600 and Spy Hunter 2600 that all require dual controller input and it makes the experiences of playing those games amazing. So yeah.... one day. one day. I love the 2600+ for the possibilty to eventually play Robotron 2084 7800 NTSC twinstick (Unijoysticle2 + Dualsense) on a console🤙 Living in a PAL country this is really something! Yes, my retropie can do it as well, but prosystem emulation is quite old and now I finally have a cartridge to plug in a console and developers improving the emulation, involving the community to take notes about issues, providing debug loads and fixes... that really feels like the good old Nerd days😊 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tradyblix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 6 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said: I love the 2600+ for the possibilty to eventually play Robotron 2084 7800 NTSC twinstick (Unijoysticle2 + Dualsense) on a console🤙 Living in a PAL country this is really something! Yes, my retropie can do it as well, but prosystem emulation is quite old and now I finally have a cartridge to plug in a console and developers improving the emulation, involving the community to take notes about issues, providing debug loads and fixes... that really feels like the good old Nerd days😊 Amen. And in Robotron, the first time I played with a twin stick, which was this week actually, I made it to level 24. Previously I'd only been able to make it to level 10 or so. Twin joysticks is where it is at for that game and it does make a ton of difference. Same thing with Stargate too, Stargate feels like a totally different game when you can engage Inviso, bomb or hyperjump with ease. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorkbot Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) 4 hours ago, tradyblix said: I just played Mr Run and Jump, and there's a lot of flicker that is part of the game that won't ever go away, and in one case I can see where it makes an obstacle on the blue level disappear. Maybe that's what you're referring to. Here the person's post with a video to show what they mean (below). Flicker is normal, but the way those spikes disappear definitely does NOT happen to me on firmware 1.0 Edited January 20 by Glorkbot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeppeSyd Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 Has anyone tried Tunnel Runner on the Plus? On the compatibility list you must be listed as untested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrChickenz Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 42 minutes ago, PeppeSyd said: Has anyone tried Tunnel Runner on the Plus? On the compatibility list you must be listed as untested Tunnel Runner works great! But if you didn’t update the Firmware and Dumper, You should update to the latest version it works amazingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrChickenz Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 On 1/20/2024 at 1:30 PM, tradyblix said: Yeah we absolutely totally need that but I'm guessing that the star Raiders fans are never going to shut up until they get their keypad working😅 Since you brought it up! It would be great to see the 2600+ boldly go there!😄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeppeSyd Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 49 minutes ago, MrChickenz said: Tunnel Runner works great! But if you didn’t update the Firmware and Dumper, You should update to the latest version it works amazingly. Thanks a lot ! ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeppeSyd Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 51 minutes ago, MrChickenz said: Tunnel Runner works great! But if you didn’t update the Firmware and Dumper, You should update to the latest version it works amazingly. Thanks a lot ! ) I haven't updated yet. But does Tunnel Runner work the same right now without firmware update? Right now this is what I am interested in knowing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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