Desert Falcon Crashing Bug

[Trebor]

First time in well over 20 years of owning and playing this title* finally crash on me. I was just stationed behind a large pyramid, letting the system sit for ~15 minutes and it crashed to a screen looking almost similar to frying a 2600 or when a cart doesn't make the proper contact.

 

I was able to replicate a similar behavior under the ProSystem emulator twice (but the emulator just froze instead of going to any sort of crash screen), sitting behind a large pyramid again like on the real hardware. The first time within about ~15 minute window and a second time after sitting well after a half-hour.

 

I could only locate two posts mentioning Desert Falcon crashing, here and here.

 

Anyone know why or how come it crashes sometimes/rarely? I know the source code is available, but not sure if it has ever been debugged to a level that is able to figure out why this would happen.

 

 

 

*Granted in the past I never tried letting it just "sit" the way I did though.

[KevinMos3]

I've seen it crash when too many enemies are on the screen. I usually only play on Novice though, so I don't see it often.

[Trebor]

I've seen it crash when too many enemies are on the screen. I usually only play on Novice though, so I don't see it often.

 

Ahhh...THANK YOU...That makes sense as I recall when it froze-up under ProSystem many enemy characters (or at least traces of them) could still be made out on the screen field - and yes there were several.

 

Another one of those, 'damn I wish I could program, understand code better' to really know exactly the trigger. Regardless, excellent input Kevin...I appreciate it.

 

Oh, and a "me too" for playing it on Novice often, which would also explain not coming across it sooner.

[Tempest]

I swear I read somewhere that and ex-programmer had posted something this bug. I think they had brought him in to fix it or something (the game locked up if left alone too long). This sounds really familiar, I'll have to look for it.

 

UPDATE: Ah-ha! It was Dan Oliver who just recently posted about it (last paragraph): http://atariage.com/...75#entry2757628

[Trebor]

Awesome link, Tempest...SWEET!

 

The bug seems to be a more severe though than what was recalled:

 

"They'd called me do some debugging work on the 7800 Desert Falcon after I left. Bitch of a bug. Locked up after running in demo mode for like 10 hours. I got it down to running for 40 hours but never found the bug. But I wasn't really that interested either. Don't know who the original programmer was or why them didn't finish it. Not even sure I had the source code."

 

I experienced it happening in 'play' mode not 'demo' mode and after about 15 minutes. Additional posts I linked by other members seem to also point to crashing while actually playing the game.

 

I'm wondering though if different revisions of the system exhibit different behaviors towards the bug.

 

It would be cool if this was ever resolved and fixed. Similar to when the NTSC Impossible Mission went from being literally impossible (Puzzle section hiding behind an unsearchable piece of furniture I believe is/was the issue), to an actual possibility of winning the game.

[Tempest]

Awesome link, Tempest...SWEET!

 

The bug seems to be a more severe though than what was recalled:

 

"They'd called me do some debugging work on the 7800 Desert Falcon after I left. Bitch of a bug. Locked up after running in demo mode for like 10 hours. I got it down to running for 40 hours but never found the bug. But I wasn't really that interested either. Don't know who the original programmer was or why them didn't finish it. Not even sure I had the source code."

 

I experienced it happening in 'play' mode not 'demo' mode and after about 15 minutes. Additional posts I linked by other members seem to also point to crashing while actually playing the game.

 

I'm wondering though if different revisions of the system exhibit different behaviors towards the bug.

 

It would be cool if this was ever resolved and fixed. Similar to when the NTSC Impossible Mission went from being literally impossible (Puzzle section hiding behind an unsearchable piece of furniture I believe is/was the issue), to an actual possibility of winning the game.

Yeah it's not exactly the same thing as you described, but it has to be related somehow.

[Mister-VCS]

My 7800 crashes with Desert Falcon and Xevious (tried 2 different cartridges), but works fine with Galaga and Asteroids. Is the crash "back-ground-scroller-related"? Is it a defective RAM-chip in the system? How to fix it?

[Classic Pac]

Every time I did as you sit there are try and rack up points it crashed on me.

[oyamafamily]

Here is a short video which presents the crashing bug.

My Desert Falcon cartridge crashed and locked on EMU7800 emulator when I was approaching 150,000 points on Desert #2 (Green Desert).

I played on Expert Mode at this occasion. I pressed F key to see Framerate, which is 60 Hz (the third number from right to left).

I noticed that this game gets slower when the enemies are more numerous on the gamefield. It occurs at Midnight Mutants and Dark Chambers.

 

VIDEO - Desert Falcon Crashes.wmv

[Lynxpro]

My 7800 crashes with Desert Falcon and Xevious (tried 2 different cartridges), but works fine with Galaga and Asteroids. Is the crash "back-ground-scroller-related"? Is it a defective RAM-chip in the system? How to fix it?

 

 

It could be the MARIA chip getting hot. When I'd play Xevious or Desert Falcon for a good 2 hours on both the 7800s I had [my grandmother's and mine], I'd encounter issues [both consoles were built in 1986 when the Expansion Port was still included]. Considering they are the two big titles that throw a ton of sprites up on the screen all at once indicates to me that's where the problem is. I mentioned in a different thread about possibly installing a heat sink on the chip but pretty much got flamed over it and people didn't remember it was a known issue even though the 7800 FAQ File posted to this very website mentions the heat issue...

 

Which reminds me...I only saw this once... When my 1040ST one night got really hot playing Mastertronic's Ninja Mission, my friends and I were able to dismember the rival ninjas with the sword. I'd never seen that happen before, to my recollection it wasn't even mentioned in the manual, and I never heard about such a cheat/easter egg programmed into the game... I'm actually surprised the Tramiels didn't license a port of that game for the 7800... The action in Ninja Golf between ninjas reminds me of the animation from that earlier game.

[Mister-VCS]

I could put some ice-cubes into my 7800...