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tep392

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Posts posted by tep392

  2. Posted

    So I'm thinking about my next sound update project, and I'd like to do a little survey to get some votes on what I do next.

     

    I'm looking at DigDug, Xevious, Galaga or Centipede. The reason I'm looking at these is two-fold. First, the 7800 source code is available which will make it fairly easy to replace the old sound code with my own. Second, all of these, except Centipede have been coded for the YM2151 on the X68000, which will make my job a lot easier.

     

    Centipede would actually be a POKEY update because that is what the original arcade machine used. I'm including it in the list because it's a game I really enjoy. If I do it, I will use the version with the trackball hack.

     

    If the game needs some minor graphical or gameplay updates, I might do a little of that as well.

     

    I've attached some YM2151 samples from the X68000 if you want to know what these games could sound like. :)

     

    Let me know what you think.

     

    Perry

    digdug.mp3

    galaga.mp3

    xevious.mp3

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    Re: Mario Bros. Brothers Atari 2600 Vintage Game Cartridge

     

    Dear pdangler-half,

     

    the game i got is some crap!!! mario bros has the blue sky background, the turtles, the brick walkways and tubes he slides down. what is this???

     

    this is not the mario bros we played!!! i am very disappointed...and confused.

     

    I played it straight and told the buyer they could send it back and I would be happy to send them a copy of the NES game if that is what they are looking for. Eagerly awaiting further communication from this one!

     

     

    Be prepared to handle the buyer with kid gloves if it turns out he is an idiot. You don't want to get any negative feedback over this.

  8. Posted · Edited by tep392

    Disclaimer right up front:

    I am a self-proclaimed "king" of the search function, but I haven't found what I was looking for about the NES. I know a lot about the circuits of old game systems, and have modified quite a few, but I am really not as familiar with the NES as some of you folks. So please help if you can.

     

    After all my reading I can't find a detailed discussion of the actual chips contained in the NES. I don't really understand why the system is thought to be so much more powerful than the 7800. I understand that it benefitted by lots of funding, great programmers, cartridges with added circuits, etc. I know it could do tiles very well. But what chips EXACTLY did it have that would preclude the 7800 from keeping up- excluding the sound issue?

     

    Lets see:

     

    They both had an 8-bit cpu 6052 or equivalent. We all know about Maria, but what exactly did NES have in the basic box for graphics that surpassed what the 7800 had? :?:

     

    I mean, given as much memory as you want (which the 7800 will soon have), and talented programmers, can we without a doubt say that because of *XXXX* hardware in the NES that the 7800 could not do the same game?

    This is interesting.

     

    I did some searching and found some details on the Kirby's Adventure cartridge. Kirby's adventure used the MMC5 memory management chip which added A LOT of capability not built into the NES. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison when you consider the hardware built into the cart. The upcoming XM might even it out a bit though. :)

     

    Here's some of the text I found on the MMC5

    MMC5

     

    Manufacturer: Nintendo

    Used in: Castlevania 3, Kirby's adventure, ect

    The MMC5 chip was the best, and most expensive of the MMC chips. This chip has been avoided many times by the developers of games due to the price of this chip. The chip expanses the memory, add two sound channels, and enables vertical scrolling. This chip let the game use 16,384 tiles, where first only 256 tiles were possible. Every tile can have an own color.

     

    These NES games were using the MMC5:

     

    Castlevania 3

    Kirby's adventure

    Just Breed

    Metal Slader Glory

    Gun Sight

    Uchuu Keibitai SDF

    Nobunaga's Ambition II

     

     

    MMC5

     

    This chip has a very large set of functionality included in it- 1K of extra RAM for general use or attribute table use, 8*8 bit multiplier, extra sound channels, split screen scrolling, control for up to 64K of WRAM, battery backup control, and some other goodies.

     

     

    The newest of the MMC chips for the NES. The first game it was used for was Castlevania 3: Draculas Curse. This chip has many new and expanded features that accompanied it. The MMC5 improved the battery backup feature so you wouldn't have to push reset when you turn off the NES to prevent data loss. The chip also allows greater color definition and partial screen scrolling (not locked like SMB3). It is also a customized mathematics module that took much strain off the CPU and took care of many tasks like the internal clock, and other repetitive functions.

    The MMC5 also allowed a vertical split screen scroll which means you can have a side bar of information while the scrolling action of the game continues. The chip has a memory capacity of 8 Megs (1,048,576 bits). Another MMC5 game, and probably the only one, is Kirby's Adventure. A few games which this chip had a maximum game page size of 64x16kb.

  9. Posted

    I've done an update which add's the TIA sounds back in. It will detect the XM and use POKEY if available, else go back to TIA sound. I won't be able to test until I get an XM but I expect it to work fine. TIA sound works on my standard console. I'm actually working on an update that will use the Yamaha chip, but won't be able to debug it until the modules ship.

     

    Perry

    I'm pretty sure I can test it for you since I have a CC2. Should be able to just disable the Pokey on the CC2 and see if it goes back to TIA sound unless you mean work specifically with the XM.

     

    Thanks for the offer, but I've already verified it will revert back to TIA when the POKEY is absent. It's setup to detect the POKEY mapped like the XM or XBOARD, so I need to check on one of those to see if the POKEY sounds still work correctly. If anyones interested in what I'm trying to do with the Yamaha chip, download the X68000 emulator, http://www.jcec.co.uk/X68emu.htm

     

    Then download the Namco Game Music Library which was written to use the Yamaha sound chip. Some very neat stuff in that program which I expect to borrow from heavily.

     

    http://www.jcec.co.uk/X68list.htm

     

    Perry

  10. Posted

    I've done an update which add's the TIA sounds back in. It will detect the XM and use POKEY if available, else go back to TIA sound. I won't be able to test until I get an XM but I expect it to work fine. TIA sound works on my standard console. I'm actually working on an update that will use the Yamaha chip, but won't be able to debug it until the modules ship.

     

    Perry

  11. Posted · Edited by tep392

    Dungeon! will require the XM to work.

    That's the ONLY one.

     

    I would expect to see a slew of hacks coming out before long that use the Pokey chip and perhaps even add HSC functionality. I would not be surprised if homebrewers go back to older games they've made and add Pokey support as well.

     

    For the record, Donkey Kong is by far a better game with decent music, and the Pacman Collection, as polished as it was is even more AMAZING with pokey sound.

     

     

    all of which will work with the H2, CC2, or on a homebrew cart, and don't require the XM.

     

    Some people like to have a real cartridge rather than just playing off a flash cart. Also, I think it is unlikely that DK or PMC will be produced on a POKEY cart. It will be flash or XM only.

     

    I am also working on a Yamaha sound upgrade for PMC. Don't know if it will work out yet, since I don't have hardware to test on, but I'm hopefull it will get the game near arcade perfect on sound. And there will be a little something extra if I have enough space. :)

     

    Perry

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    "Safety goggles" for soldering?!? Are you f-in kidding me? May as well wear a gas mask so you don't breathe in the fumes while you're at it. :lol:

     

    Now that we've gotten over the tech humor, there have been one or two times (literally, that's all its ever been) where solder splashed up anywhere near my face. Been soldering several times a week for over 30 years now, so ummm.... yeah.

     

    Joking aside - screw goggles. You're not welding, right? Just soldering? As in: printed circuit board or the occasional light duty wire here and there using an iron or a gun? Best bet I've found lately are good old fashioned reading glasses. $10-$20 a pair helps you see better AND protects your eyes in one fell swoop :)

     

    Same here. My 40+ year old eyes need the help.

  14. Posted

    I bought this a while back. I remeber being very surprised when I discovered the knob can twist. :) I think it works fairly well over all, but it is difficult to play Bosconian because of the four way stick. An eight way is really needed for that game. Works well for the other games if you don't mind the clicky micro switches. My only other complaint is that the picture quality isn't very good with the composite outputs. An s-video out would have been nice. Game play seems to be accurately emulated.

     

    Perry

  16. Posted

    I just checked to see if anything had changed. I was playing Pkong, and I discovered that the background music doesn't start back up after un-pausing the game. It could just be the Emulator, but I thought I'd let you know. (I still like your music better than some of the ported content from the 8-bit) Great job!

     

    Thanks for spotting that. I'll take a look at it later. Shouldn't be too difficult to fix.

     

    Perry

  17. Posted

    Thanks!

     

    I haven't seen that problem running on ProSystem 1.3. It could be a problem with Wii7800. I have made some minor updates and changed the sound initialization a bit. If this doesn't help, then it's likey just an issue with the emulator.

     

    Thanks for taking the time to address this! The issue remains the same with the level start music. I'll have to agree with you and believe that the issue lies in emulation. Wii7800 is a port of ProSystem, but I am uncertain which version was used (1.2?). Perhaps I've corrupted the emulator somehow. Thanks again!

     

    These POKEY conversions really show how much a game can be improved just by the quality of it's sounds.

     

    I'm seeing the same issue on Wii7800....however, it's only a small annoyance. Other than that its a HUGE improvement!

     

    Thanks. :)

     

    It is amazing how much difference the sound can make. I bought my 7800 last year and was looking forward to this game because the screen shots looked so impressive. But after playing for just a few minutes, the sound became unbearable. The disparity between the sound and graphics bothered me so much that I felt compelled to do something about it. They still are not arcade perfect, but I feel good about it now and can actually enjoy playing the game.

     

    I have to wonder what the original programmers were thinking when they did this game. Even if the Pokey wasn't an option for them, the TIA can do much better than this. Xevious is a good example of TIA sound done right.

  19. Posted

    Very good! However, I have noticed while using Wii7800 that the level start music is distorted. The higher notes are usually ignored and the lower notes are sometimes replaced with "explosion" sounds. I have no other way to verify if this only happens in Wii7800 or not.

     

    Thanks!

     

    I havn't seen that problem running on ProSystem 1.3. It could be a problem with Wii7800. I have made some minor updates and changed the sound initialization a bit. If this doesn't help, then it's likey just an issue with the emulator.

    dk7800_pokey.a78

  21. Posted

    Well, again, even though newer games to take advantage of the sounds and extra memory may not immediately be available, all of the high score cart compatible games will immediately take advantage of it. I know Pokey Enhanced Pac Man and perhaps Pokey Enhanced Donkey Kong may be one of the first two games to head of the door, but I can't speak for the dev's, I've just seen (heard) the alpha and beta versions...

     

     

     

    Curt

     

    So the 11/26 ship date looks like its going to be pushed back to Dec 10th

     

    Cool - closer to my birthday. No biggie for me because there aren't any announce dates (that I've seen) for games that will be playable on it when it arrives. My only hope is that it physically arrives before Christmas.

     

     

    I think Donkey Pokey Kong is ready, though I'd like to spend some time playing in hardware to make sure there aren't any lingering bugs. I hope to have a working cart in the next week or two.

     

    Anyone interested in helping to play test in emulation, please see my post in 7800 Hacks for the a78 file.

     

    The only thing missing at this point is a label. I'm no artist, so hopefully someone in the forums can help out and put together a new label. :)

  22. Posted

    So this is pretty much awesome. Tried it out using Wii7800. Absolutely great!

     

    Thank you for the compliment. It's really appreciated. :)

     

    Maybe someday I'll get to actually play it in hardware. :sad: I think I can make it work on a Pokey cart with a 7402 and some major re-wiring. I'll give it a shot in the next week or two.

     

    Perry

  23. Posted

    I am really confused as to what AtariMax offers. If I want to go that route do I buy the Programmer Kit and then pick a cart?

     

    If you have an sio2pc or sio2usb adapter to connect your Atari to a PC, then you can program the cart in machine. I went the USB programmer route and have no regrets. If I get tired of the games on the cart, I can select new ones and reprogram it. I wouldn't buy a flash cart without having some means to reprogram it.

     

    Kjmann is charging you for the service of programming the cart. That's good for some people, but if you think you might buy more than one flash cart then it would be cheaper to get your own usb programmer. It's really very easy to use. One programmer plus an 8mbit cart is just $10 more than what kjmann is charging. You'll have to find the programs and load them on your own, but Atarimax has some links to help you out with that. They also have a lot of user generated images in their forum. Atarimania is another good source for rom and disk images.

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