Experimental 2600+ Firmware and Dumper

[MrChickenz]

Just now, John Stamos Mullet said:

It's a CDFJ game. That's why it doesn't work.

I wasn’t sure what CDFJ games are. 
 

Thank You!

[MrChickenz]

What’s the difference between DPC+ and CDFJ?

 

(edit)

Has something to do with bankswhitcing ?

 

Edited May 25 by MrChickenz

[John Stamos Mullet]

10 minutes ago, MrChickenz said:

What’s the difference between DPC+ and CDFJ?

 

DPC+ is based on the Pitfall II bankswitching scheme that David Crane invented.

 

CDFJ is a newer ARM-leveraging bankswitching scheme that is more advanced, allows for larger 32k and 64k games, and is used by most of the newer Champ Games carts and a few other homebrews.

Edited May 25 by John Stamos Mullet

[astroguy]

After a week of work travel coming home to see a new firmware/dumper update was nice!  Just tried it out on a few cases (including Pitfall II) and here's my brief notes:

• two player mode for Fall Down now works (hurrah)
• success with larger games such as Juno First, Aardvark, Venture Reloaded (hurrah)

Every cartridge I own now works as well as Pico-based multi-carts.  All that is left on my 'wish' list is better paddle support.  Very pleased with the support this produce has received. 

 

 

 

[Thran]

Good update.  I haven't retested all my carts, just the ones that I had issues with.  Space Cactus Canyon, Cave In and Juno First run fine now.  

 

7800 Possible Mission still hangs up after the title screen and locks the console.

 

 

[+sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, tradyblix said:

Kewl. Thanks for the info. 

Note. The Champ Games website identifies their games (e.g., CDFJ, DPC+, etc.) under "Game Details". 

https://champ.games/turbo-arcade

 

[JetmanUK]

I only have two carts now (both NTSC) that don't work, Zaxxon and  Ms Pac-Man. Great result!

 

I also have Ms Pac-Man carts that DO work (both PAL and NTSC) and this one works flawlessly on my four and six switch woodys, every single time.

 

I think I have an odd ball Ms Pac-Man cart here, a bit like the Smurf variant that doesn't work. On a previous firmware it displayed the debug info with a screen, on this one (and I think the last rev) I just get a crash which requires a power off/on, and no debug info. It has been tested on two 2600 Plus's too (standard and new slot as well!)

 

I do recall someone on here mentioning that they had an issue with this game and they were talked into it being a faulty cart and they replaced it (I think). I wonder if they had the same odd ball cart I have? 🤔 I hope they read this and that they didn't throw their cart away. 

 

Ironically, I have two Smurf carts and they both work fine, well, other than the game being absolutely atrocious (IMHO). 💁🏻🤣

 

Other than these two carts, which will probably work in the future (well, Zaxxon at least), this update is amazing, such great work has been put into this product, well done to all the team. Fantastic work. 😊. Pairing this with the new slot that I am testing and I have an amazing machine here! 

Edited May 25 by JetmanUK

[John Stamos Mullet]

23 minutes ago, JetmanUK said:

I only have two carts now (both NTSC) that don't work, Zaxxon and  Ms Pac-Man. Great result!

 

I also have Ms Pac-Man carts that DO work (both PAL and NTSC) and this one works flawlessly on my four and six switch woodys, every single time.

 

I think I have an odd ball Ms Pac-Man cart here, a bit like the Smurf variant that doesn't work. On a previous firmware it displayed the debug info with a black screen, on this one (and I think the last rev) I just get a crash which requires a power off/on, and no debug info. I do recall someone on here mentioning that they had an issue with this game and they were talked into it being the cart and they replaced it. I wonder if they had the same odd ball cart I have? 🤔 I hope they read this and that they didn't throw their cart away. 

 

Ironically, I have two Smurf carts and they both work fine, well, other than the game being absolutely atrocious (IMHO). 💁🏻🤣

 

Other than these two carts, which will probably work in the future (well, Zaxxon at least), this update is amazing, such great work has been put into this product, well done to all the team. Fantastic work. 😊

Just curious - on the Ms. Pac-Man cart that doesn’t work - does it have a different date on the label? 
 

there are two different run dates - 1982, and 1987. I wonder if the 1987 carts are problematic, since they were from Atari Corp’s el cheapo cost cutting days.

 

i have a 1982 cart and it works fine.

[JetmanUK]

Just now, John Stamos Mullet said:

Just curious - on the Ms. Pac-Man cart that doesn’t work - does it have a different date on the label? 
 

there are two different run dates - 1982, and 1987. I wonder if the 1987 carts are problematic, since they were from Atari Corp’s el cheapo cost cutting days.

 

i have a 1982 cart and it works fine.

I will have a look when I get home. 

I have two NTSC copies (including the oddball one) and I think two PAL carts. I will check them all to see if they have any differences. I believe they are all silver label carts. 

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said:

Note. The Champ Games website identifies their games (e.g., CDFJ, DPC+, etc.) under "Game Details". 

https://champ.games/turbo-arcade

 

Yeah I know. I just bought it on the hope that eventually it will be supported on the 2600+. I could play it on my original Atari, but I can wait. It's the only game they have that I'm actually interested in anyway. 

 

I would like to get Penult and may get it anyway for the cloth map. I'm a sucker for things like that. Hopefully we can get it working too, it's the only game of it's type for 2600. 

Edited May 25 by tradyblix

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, astroguy said:

After a week of work travel coming home to see a new firmware/dumper update was nice!  Just tried it out on a few cases (including Pitfall II) and here's my brief notes:

• two player mode for Fall Down now works (hurrah)
• success with larger games such as Juno First, Aardvark, Venture Reloaded (hurrah)

Every cartridge I own now works as well as Pico-based multi-carts.  All that is left on my 'wish' list is better paddle support.  Very pleased with the support this produce has received. 

 

 

 

Aardvark worked on r2 as well. I'm pretty sure I had Juno first working since 1.1 but it started being hard to load after I upgraded to dumper 1.1.0.9. Seems better now. 

Edited May 25 by tradyblix

[Thomas Jentzsch]

12 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Aardvark worked on r2 as well.

Which is no surprise. It is a stock 32K game with SC-RAM. Same as Fatal Run.

[dashv]

Atari 2600+

 

To all that have contributed time and talents to this. Outstanding job.

 

I am running the r3 debug version and all games are running at 60fps unless otherwise noted.

 

I was running stock firmware. Update process to this version was 15 minutes and that includes the time it took to download all the files.

 

Working for me:

 

7800

Galaga

Robotron:2048

Asteroids

Centipede

Dig Dug

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Jr (needed to try several times)

Joust (needed to try several times)

Kareteka (But I can only move right and I can’t figure out how to attack)

Tower Toppler

Xevious

 

2600

Amidar (needed to try several times)

Battlezone

Bermuda Triangle

Berserk

BMX

Breakout

Canyon Bomber (I need to read the instructions. Controls seem quite limited)

Casino

Centipede

Circus

Coconuts

Combat

Crossbow (I need to read the instructions. LOL)

Dark Chambers

Demon Attack

Dessert Falcon

Dig Dug

Defender

Dodger Cars

Kaboom

Lost Luggage

Mega Force

Mega Mania

Midnight Magic

Millipede

Missile Command

Moon Patrol

Mouse Trap

Name This Game

Night Driver (I think has controller Issues, Or I don’t know how to play)

Outlaw

Pac-Man

Phoenix

Panky the Panda

Pitfall II (needed to try several times)

Solaris (works but I really need to read the instructions, cause I forgot how to play)

Yars Revenge

 

 

Games I need to test more (I could not get to work, but might just need more cleaning)

 

7800

None

 

2600

Airlock

Atlantis

Bugs

Carnival

Chopper Command

Kool-Aid Man

Smurfs - Save the Day

Most that did not work would not load or only gave a black screen with no debug details after loading.
 

Thats only about half my collection. But my wife wanted the iPad back. LoL.

 

I will try to get to the other half of my collection later this weekend!

 

Great job folks. I think this is an excellent example of what can be done by a helpful and healthy community.

Edited May 25 by dashv

[JetmanUK]

I thought I'd chime in on the paddle chat. 

 

I've tested classic CX30 and CX30+ controllers with both Breakout and Super Breakout. Neither have jitter, both have smooth movement in Breakout, with movement in a noticeably lower resolution/larger steps in Super Breakout. Id say the performance was pretty much identical.

 

It's been talked about for a while on here and it has been stated that they have access to the controller aspect of the console now so I suspect that this may be addressed alongside a driving controller and keypad update down the line. 

 

Right, off to look at my Ms PacMan carts now. 

Edited May 25 by JetmanUK

[JetmanUK]

One of these things is not like the others...

 

 

The top two are NTSC, the bottom two are PAL.

 

All 1982.

 

All work on classic 4 and 6 switch PAL machines, albeit with wonky colours with an NTSC cart. 

 

The top right one does not like the 2600 Plus. Tested on two Plus consoles, old and new slot, various firmwares, cleaned and cleaned. Black screen and a crash which requires an off/on. It did, on an earlier firmware display the debug info, but not now. Not one successful boot of the game on a Plus machine.

 

I believe I have a rare variant. Wanna buy it anyone? 😜

Edited May 25 by JetmanUK

[John Stamos Mullet]

4 minutes ago, JetmanUK said:

One of these things is not like the others...

 

 

The top two are NTSC, the bottom two are PAL.

 

All 1982.

 

All work on classic 4 and 6 switch PAL machines, albeit with wonky colours with an NTSC cart. 

 

The top right one does not like the 2600 Plus. Tested on two consoles, old and new slot, various firmwares, cleaned and cleaned. Black screen and a crash which requires an off/on. It did, on an earlier firmware display the debug info, but not now.

 

I believe I have a rare variant. Wanna buy it anyone? 😜

If you look on the release page for this latest experimental firmware, there is a. Erosion that still shows debug info. 

[JetmanUK]

3 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

If you look on the release page for this latest experimental firmware, there is a. Erosion that still shows debug info. 

I have the debug version installed, it displays fine with all my other games, the problem Ms Pacman cart loads and crashes the machine with no debug info displayed.

[John Stamos Mullet]

3 minutes ago, JetmanUK said:

I have the debug version installed, it displays fine with all my other games, the problem Ms Pacman cart loads and crashes the machine with no debug info displayed.

ok. that is weird.

[JetmanUK]

20 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

ok. that is weird.

It is very odd.

 

I found my previous post about this cart where I shared the debug info from a version which would display the info, but obvisouly with it still not working.

 

 

 

 

If you look through the comments after this you can see @raz0red cofirm that it's a dumper issue as it is reporting the incorrect ROM size.

 

I tell you, I have a rare and valuable item here... Start a bidding war people!

 

Edited May 25 by JetmanUK

[2LTIME6100]

9 hours ago, Dionoid said:

If your Samsung has the "Clean Digital View" picture option, please turn that off. That's what fixed the disappearing sprites for me, see 

 

I have two 2600+ consoles, one connected to an older Panasonic and the other to a new Philips TV, both with the latest firmware and dumper.

 

PAL Frogger shows the same problems with disappearing sprites and heavy flickering on all devices, in game mode as well as in other settings.

The first level runs pretty well, but from round 2 or 3 onwards the problems become more frequent, as described earlier in this thread.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

3 minutes ago, 2LTIME6100 said:

I have two 2600+ consoles, one connected to an older Panasonic and the other to a new Philips TV, both with the latest firmware and dumper.

 

PAL Frogger shows the same problems with disappearing sprites and heavy flickering on all devices, in game mode as well as in other settings.

The first level runs pretty well, but from round 2 or 3 onwards the problems become more frequent, as described earlier in this thread.

Did you try to change your TV's options as suggested?

[2LTIME6100]

8 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Did you try to change your TV's options as suggested?

I selected the "Game" mode and checked that all optional image optimizations were disabled. Maybe things will work better with the next update. The rest of my almost 50 games all run very well with the current firmware 👍😊

[RevEng]

2 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

I have the debug version installed, it displays fine with all my other games, the problem Ms Pacman cart loads and crashes the machine with no debug info displayed.

The 6502 pulls a "reset vector" from near of the cart when it's first powered up - it's basically a start address for the game.

 

If stella's 6502 gets a non-rom start vector address, stella aborts the emulation with a "fatal error" message. I think that's what you're running into here.

[JetmanUK]

8 minutes ago, RevEng said:

The 6502 pulls a "reset vector" from near of the cart when it's first powered up - it's basically a start address for the game.

 

If stella's 6502 gets a non-rom start vector address, stella aborts the emulation with a "fatal error" message. I think that's what you're running into here.

OK, thank you. So is this an oddball different version of the cart then? Like Smurfs?

[RevEng]

7 minutes ago, JetmanUK said:

OK, thank you. So is this an oddball different version of the cart then? Like Smurfs?

It's hard to say with certainty, since all we know is your cart isn't dumping right.

 

For Smurfs, we dumped out a few bytes with a laborious process, and we confirmed it differs from the publicly available dump. That's the only reason we're confident we're dealing with a problem variant.