johnnywc

February 26

1 minute ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Should be "+UI/-Emulation". And according to my tests it is.

How did you get -UI/+Emulation as default?

I just installed 6.5.2 over my existing install and by default I couldn't see the cursor when I hit TAB or ~ when navigating the menus. When I re-installed 6.3, the cursor was back.

I can try it with a clean install and let you know how it goes.

February 26

16 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Have you checked "Mouse cursor visibility" in Options/Input Settings/Mouse?

Yup, that was it! PS Looks like the default is -UI/+Emulation; perhaps the default should be +UI/+Emulation?

16 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

It should override auto detect, so that's a bug. I'll look into it.

Thanks TJ! :thumbsup:

February 26

Thank you Stephen and the Stella team!

One issue I'm having (and I had it in 6.5.1 also) is that when I hit ESC and ~ to view properties, my mouse pointer is not visible. I've reverted back to 6.3 temporarily since it's almost impossible to debug without the mouse cursor and that works fine.

Oh - another small issue but this may be user error: when I run from the command line with -lc joystick -rc joystick, should that override the 'auto detect' feature? When testing Lady Bug Arcade, it seems no matter what I specify in the command line, the QuadTari and SaveKey are always detected. This seems to happen even in 6.3, although I'm almost certainly this worked at some point.

Any help/suggestions are welcome!

Thanks!

John

February 23

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Hm, I get your problem. I suppose I need a QuadTari first to sort out the problems.

1 hour ago, gauauu said:

Yours shipped a couple weeks ago, should hopefully be there soon!

:thumbsup:

February 22

7 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Both if you can. Use 6.5.1 (not 6.5), because there we made the change.

I gave it a test. Through the front pot, it does seem better in that it does detect the 1st joystick properly now, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be able to read any joysticks plugged into the additional port (port 3 or port 4). 😕 It performed the same through the USB connector in my tests also; it could just read inputs from the first joystick.

However, it may just be because I have no way of mapping those ports because they aren't recognized as inputs with Stella. Meaning, when I try to map inputs to joysticks P2 and P3, I can't map to the additional joysticks because Stella would need to set DUMPPORTS high to enable the physical joystick connected to port 3 of the QuadTari. I'm confused actually; I'm not sure how it would work in software, but somehow you would need to map using the 2nd physical joystick connected to QuadTari port 3 to Stella joystick port P2. (and the same for QT port 4/Stella joystick input configuration for P3). :ponder:

February 22

7 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Both if you can. Use 6.5.1 (not 6.5), because there we made the change.

Hmmm, I'm looking on the Stella 6 on the R77 page and it looks like the latest release is 6.4? Where can I find 6.5.1? Apologies if I'm missing something obvious..

EDIT: Guess it was something obvious; I found a link for it on the official Stella download page. :dunce:

February 22

5 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

@johnnywc

Did you find time for testing?

Hi TJ!

Not yet - I'll put this on the to-do list. Is the test to see if the physical QuadTari is recognized when it's connected to the R77 front ports, USB ports, both? To be sure, what version of Stella should I have on the R77 to test with? 6.5?

Thanks!

John

February 21

18 hours ago, Karl G said:

Has anyone done a 7800 sample for the QuadTari yet? For that matter, does anyone else have both a QuadTari and a 7800 multicart?

Hi Karl, thanks for the work testing 7800 games with the QuadTari! :thumbsup: I do have a 7800 and an old CuttleCart that I haven't used in years but I'll dig it out and see if I can get it working.

18 hours ago, Karl G said:

I made a demo game, and the joysticks work fine, but the buttons do not. Button 0 does not register, and button one always seems to register as pressed. Maybe only the joysticks themselves are possible on the 7800, after all?

Anyway, here's my sample for the 7800 in progress so far. If the button worked, it could be used to restart the game if any player reaches 9 points (ending the game).

I'm pretty sure no 7800 emulator yet supports the QuadTari, but I have tested it on my 7800 with a Concerto cart.

Hmmm, unfortunately I don't know anything about 7800 programming but I figured that in 1 button mode the ports would be read the same as single button joysticks, especially sine Pro-line joysticks work fine with a QuadTari (single button only) for a 2600 game. I'm not sure why it would behave differently for a 7800 in single button mode. 😕 Pin 9 from the Atari is used as the select PIN and PIN 5 is disconnected (this allows you to detect a QuadTari at startup since PIN 9 is high and PIN 5 is low); perhaps having pin 5 disconnect is causing the issue? Of course regular CX-40s don't even have pin 5 and pin 9 hooked up but still work on a 7800 game, so the only thing 'different' that the 7800 is seeing with a quadtari would be pin 5 being low instead of high. I'm not a hardware expert but maybe that info will help figure out the issue. 🤞

February 21

12 hours ago, Prizrak said:

After revisiting your previous version of Lady Bug (played it a few times here and there), I can see the differences. Lady Bug 2006 was not bad and is an excellent game...

Thanks! The original Lady Bug from 2006 is and probably always will be the game I am most proud of for many reasons: it is one of the first 2600 games I developed (along with Conquest of Mars), plus it uses technology that was widely available and commonplace in the 80's (16K ROM, 128 bytes of RAM) so it could have been released "back in the day" exactly as it is.

12 hours ago, Prizrak said:

I can see where your able to add some more bells and whistles to make it closer to the arcade than the original. Thanks to CDFJ you can coax a little more out of the old hardware huh.

Yes, the biggest changed IMO are the arcade-like maze (11x11 vs. 11x9), the asymmetrical doors, and the max number of skulls increasing from 2 to 6. The other additions (high scores, scoring screen, credits screen, different mazes, 2 player/ 2 player versus mode) are additional bells and whistles that I hope set the 2021 version apart from the original.

14 minutes ago, Prizrak said:

Couldn't help it@johnnywc I just bought your original Lady Bug for my Atari. Don't know why I hadn't played this game more before now.

Thanks for your support! :thumbsup: I'm sure you will enjoy it; surprisingly Lady Bug had it's best year sales-wise in 2020 since 2007! At half the projected price of Lady Bug Arcade (scheduled for release in November 2021), it's still quite the bargain...

February 21

18 hours ago, Bomberman94 said:

I own a Harmony cartridge with tons of games and several original cartridges (Champ Games and many older Atari/Parker/Activision/Imagic etc.). This version of Lady Bug Arcade is brighter than the others - can make more pictures or a video if it helps!?

Edit: Maybe a side-by-side comparison (e.g. Lady Bug <-> Lady Bug Arcade Demo) with same setting will clear this?

Unfortunately a side-by-side comparison won't be helpful since Lady Bug and Lady Bug Arcade use significantly different methods to display text and the maze. The original 2006 version uses 48 pixel sprites for text (no flicker) and the maze is drawn by combining pink and green. The Arcade version uses 96-pixel interlaced graphics for the text so it's appears darker (or at least it should ) and the maze uses a new interlaced blending technique.

I have the ability to use completely custom colors for the PAL60 version, so perhaps we can just come up with a list of what colors are too bright (ie. the word INSTRUCTIONS, etc.) and I can use a darker value for those if that looks better.

February 20

On 2/18/2021 at 11:10 PM, Prizrak said:

Just want to [email protected] that there is something about your ports that I truly enjoy over the arcade verisons. I've played a lot of these in the arcade and then play them via CoinOps on my XBox. Whether it's WOW, Galagon or any of your other titles; the 2600 ports are excellent and are always a choice for me over they're arcade counterparts. Awesome work buddy

Thanks so much, I'm glad you're enjoying them! I'm a bit biased, but I prefer the 2600 versions over the MAME versions too!

On 2/19/2021 at 7:54 AM, Bomberman94 said:

Played it with my light 6switch PAL60 Atari 2600 on a B&O MX4000 TV (normal antenna): colors are a bit too bright (OK during gameplay but Instructions, Top Scores etc. are slightly too bright) Hard to capture but maybe this helps:

Thanks for the feedback! The PAL60 colors are generally darker than the NTSC counterparts; hopefully some other PAL60 uses can give some feedback too! Are other games bright on your TV or just Lady Bug Arcade?

12 hours ago, e1will said:

Looks and plays great!

Thanks Will! :thumbsup:

2 hours ago, Dari1t said:

Just to say that the previous version was already a true masterpiece, an exciting game that I have 
enjoyed for several years. This new version is absolutely stunning. Unthinkable that it could 
have been done since 2600! A true technological miracle. For this I want to congratulate
 John Champ who once again managed to go ... beyond the limits of technique ... and imagination!

Thank you very much! We figured after 15 years and the advances in technology, it was time to give Lady Bug a true upgrade. We're glad you're enjoying the results! :thumbsup:

February 19

Hello all,

Here is the first official demo for Lady Bug Arcade (NTSC and PAL60 ROMs). This is a completely playable version of the game with the following restrictions:

1 player only. The full version contains options for 2 player (alternating) and 1 or 2 player versus modes (where one player controls the lady bug and the other the insects. In 2 player versus, the players take turns controlling the lady bug and compete for a high score).
Standard difficulty only. The full version contains options for NOVICE, STANDARD, and ADVANCED, plus a special CHALLENGE mode that adds randomly flipping doors and the SPIDER, a special insect that can open doors! 🕷️
2 mazes to select from. The full version contains 6 total mazes (arcade plus 5 custom mazes), plus the option to play a game with all mazes, either in rotating or random order.
4 different insects. The full version contains 8.
8 levels (the full version contains 99). Once you complete PART 8, the game wraps back to PART 1.
SaveKey disabled. The full version will save the top 5 high scores for all 4 skill levels.

OBJECT

Use the joystick controller to guide the lady bug around the maze to collect all of the dots and bonus items while avoiding the skulls and insects. A life is lost when an insect catches the lady bug or the lady bug collides with a skull. The game ends when all reserve lady bugs have been used.

OPTIONS

The demo current only contains one game play mode: 1 PLAYER, STANDARD difficulty. To play, press RESET or the joystick button. You can also use the joystick to press up/down to cycle through the Scoring and Instructions, High Scores and Credits.

MAZE SELECT

When you start a new game, the MAZE SELECT screen is displayed. Move the joystick left/right to select between the two mazes (ARCADE maze and a custom maze) and press the button to continue.

LEVEL START

At the start of each level (or part), the level's information is displayed: Current PART #, the bonus veggie and it's point value, the 3 letters that need to be collected, 2 - 6 skulls that must be avoided, and 3 hearts that also need to be collected.

GAME PLAY

The level starts with the lady bug moving to the middle of the screen. Use the joystick to maneuver the lady bug around the maze to collect the white flowers (dashes) and the 6 bonus items (3 letters and 3 hearts). The bonus items will cycle through three colors: RED, YELLOW and BLUE. The lady bug can also move through the green doors by pushing against them to "flip" them. Insects cannot flip the doors.

STATUS

At the top of the screen is the current game status, including the SPECIAL letters, EXTRA letters, and the bonus multiplier (2x, 3x, 5x). Try to collect the letters and hearts when they are a certain color:

- collect hearts when they are BLUE to increase the bonus multiplier to 2x, 3x and 5x. The points awarded for collecting the dots and bonus items will be multiplied by this value.

- collect letters when they are YELLOW to spell out the word "EXTRA". If you are able to collect all 5 letters, the current part will end and you will be awarded an EXTRA lady bug.

- collect letters when they are RED to spell out the word "SPECIAL". If you are able to collect all 7 letters, the current part will end and you will be treated to a special VEGGIE BOUNTY HARVEST screen. On this screen, collect as many veggies before the timer runs out.

SCORING

Collect a flower (dash/dot): 10 points * the current multiplier value (2x, 3x or 5x)
Collect a bonus object (letter or heart):
- 100 points when it's blue, times the current multiplier value
- 300 points when it's yellow, times the current multiplier value
- 800 points when it's red, times the current multiplier value
Collect the veggie in the middle (1000 - 9500 points)

TIMER

As the level progresses, a timer moves around the perimeter of the maze. Each time it makes a full rotation, an insect will enter the maze (up to 4).

SKULLS

Scattered throughout the maze are skulls. If the lady bug collides with a skull, a life is lost. If an insect collides with a skull, it is sent back to the middle and will re-enter the maze when the timer makes a full loop. Note that

VEGGIES

After the 4th insect has entered a maze, the current veggie will appear in the middle. Collect the veggie for big points (shown on the level start screen) and to also freeze the insects for a few seconds. If an insect collides with a skull while the veggie is out, the insect returns to the middle and the veggie is lost, but a new veggie will appear once that insect has entered the maze.

GAME OVER

The game ends when the last lady bug reserve is lost. If you have earned enough for a high score, the high score entry screen is displayed.

HIGH SCORE ENTRY

In the high score entry screen, maneuver your lady bug around the maze and pass over the letter/number/symbol to add to your name (up to 6 characters). If you make a mistake, move the lady bug over RUB to erase one character or over CLR to start over. Move the lady bug over END when you are finished. You have approximately one minute before the timer reaches the top to enter in a name.

GAME CONTROLS

Press SELECT during a game to return to the title screen.

Press RESET during a game to start a new game.

Flip the Color/BW switch (2600) or press PAUSE (7800) to pause a game. Press the joystick button to resume.

MAZE DISPLAY OPTIONS

Lady Bug Arcade uses a special method of blending and interlacing to display the maze in 3 colors per line with minimal flicker. If you prefer a completely non-flickering maze, you can flip the Right difficulty switch to 'A' which will display 1 color per line. Additionally, if the colors are too bright, you can flip the LEFT difficulty switch to A to darken the colors.

RELEASE PLANS

Lady Bug Arcade is about 90% complete. We are currently planning on releasing it in November of 2021. We will keep you posted with more info as it becomes available.

Any feedback is welcome!

GOOD LUCK!

Thanks,

John

ladybug_arcade_demo1_NTSC.bin

ladybug_arcade_demo1_PAL60.bin

PS If you are able to test the PAL60 version on a CRT, any feedback regarding the colors (too bright/dark/recommendations) would be appreciated!

February 17

52 minutes ago, Bomberman94 said:

Is label of „Lady Bug Arcade“ tentative - it is somewhat cool 😎.

It is pretty cool! It is, however, not the tentative label. I think James @ZeroPage Homebrew just whipped it up using the arcade artwork. @Nathan Strum has graciously offered to do the updated box/manual/label art for this new release, but has not started it as of yet (at least I don't think so) since we're not planning a release until the end of the year (and he's also doing the artwork for Gorf Arcade, expected to be released in late summer ).

52 minutes ago, Bomberman94 said:

l‘m eagerly awaiting the demo BIN-file 🙃

Yes, thanks for the reminder! It looks like there was only a few small issues with the ZPH exclusive debut version, so I just need to get LBA demo ready (PAL60 version too) and will post the ROM by the end of the week.

February 7

3 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Have you tested with the very latest release? The R77 now allows switching between paddle and joystick controllers without rebooting. Maybe the change helps the QuadTari too.

Hi TJ!

I'll give this a shot and post my results here.

Thanks!

John

February 5

On 1/31/2021 at 12:24 PM, sramirez2008 said:

Wow. You had me at full arcade maze (11x11) with correct number of dots👍

Thanks Steve! The arcade maze with asymmetrical doors makes a big difference in game play!

On 1/31/2021 at 12:24 PM, sramirez2008 said:

New maze graphics, support for multiple mazes and 1-2 players along with a “special 2player versus mode where each player will take turns controlling the lady bug or the insects!” will be amazing. You continue to create games that provide more than a single game/player experience and I can’t applaud you enough for this.

Thanks again! Making the game play as close to the arcade is always challenging, but being able to expand upon the original with new features, game play modes, etc. is the fun creative part!

On 1/31/2021 at 12:24 PM, sramirez2008 said:

My wife likes Lady Bug and I know she’ll like this version. Can’t wait to pull her into the ROM testing.

Cool - we'll definitely need so testers for the vs. mode for sure! :thumbsup:

11 hours ago, SearsRoebuck said:

This looks great. I am adding it to my 'get when released' list.

Thanks, and thanks in advance for the support!

11 hours ago, SearsRoebuck said:

I missed out on getting the previous run of the first version of Ladybug with the Coleco style case and ended up having to get the 'normal' version - is there any chance this gets a fancy Coleco style release, or would that end up making things too complicated (Al told me when I asked about if he had more copies of the Coleco case version that those things are a pain to work with).

Right now there are no plans to release the game in a Coleco-shell; I was a bit wary of releasing the original Lady Bug in a Coleco shell since, well, Coleco had nothing to do with the game but there was enough demand for that specific collector's edition. Al has his hands pretty full with regular releases as it is (Champ Games alone is planning 3 for 2021) and since most of the work required for a collector's edition is from an artist for the box/manual/label etc., I think it's best that those resources and time be used on different projects. Plus, as you mentioned, I know there was some physical issues with boards and Coleco shells which I'm sure is headache Al wouldn't want to deal with.

The good news is that Nathan Strum has already volunteered to do all of the artwork for Lady Bug Arcade (after re-doing most of the in-game graphics) so it will be very exciting to see what he comes up with!

Thanks!

John

February 5

5 hours ago, alex_79 said:

On real hardware, is the required delay the same no matter if you're setting or clearing VBLANK bit 7?

I would expect the delay to be longer when clearing the bit before you can read controller 1 and 3, compared to setting it to read controller 2 and 4, because in the first case the 68 pF paddle cap inside the console needs to charge through the pullup resistor in the Quadtari (and on 6 switch and junior models there's an additional 1k8 resitor in series inside the console itself) until it reaches a high enough voltage for a logic "1", while in the latter the transistor inside the TIA pulls down the paddle lines directly.

Hi Alex,

I'll have to test that; I was not aware that the delay could be different clearing or setting DUMPPORTS, but what you said makes sense. For Galagon, WoW and ZK (which have been released with QuadTari support), I read controller 1 and 2 (those are read with DUMPPORTS=0) during Overscan and controller 3 and 4 (those are the additional joysticks available connected to a QuadTari) during VBlank, so all 4 controllers get read every frame and there is at least 30+ scanlines between reads. I will try to do some tests this weekend to see if there is any difference going from 0->1 or 1->0 for DUMPPORTS when reading all 4 controls one after the other.

Thanks for the tips!

John

February 4

12 minutes ago, Karl G said:

Does anyone know the correct number of cycles that one needs to wait after setting/clearing bit7 in VBLANK to reliably read from the correct port? The docs say a full scanline, but I needed to strobe WSYNC 3 times before it would work smoothly for me in Stella. Is Stella being too conservative here, or do the docs need to be updated to indicate a longer wait that is needed?

Hi Karl,

In my testing, I was able to get reliable readings on real hardware using 21 cycles between reads, so perhaps Stella is being too conservative. That 21 cycle limit can probably be smaller; I checked the timings of the multiplexer we're using and the switching can occur in less than 1 CPU cycle in theory, but we bumped it up to 1 scanline to take into account any propagation delays with other chips, the cable, etc.

I thought TJ had set the threshold to 1 scanline; if you're not getting reliable readings with less than 3 WSYNCs perhaps it's a change that needs to be done in Stella.

Hope this helps!

John

February 2

Sounds good Darrell, thanks! Let me know if you need any help with the QT API for SpiceC!

January 31

Hello all!

Champ Games is happy to announce that the QuadTari is now available for pre-order over at the Bite The Chili Productions webpage!

For those who don't know, the QuadTari is an adapter developed by Nathan Tolbert ( @gauauu ) and Champ Games that allows you to connect up to 4 joysticks to your Atari 2600 (for QuadTari compatible games)! You can also use to to hook up 2 joysticks to 1 port, freeing up the other port for an AtariVox or Savekey. Wizard of Wor Arcade supports the QuadTari and allows you to do just this; connect two joysticks to the left joystick port and an AtariVox to the right port for 2 player co-op with voice!

There are other Champ Games that support or will support the QuadTari, as well as Nathan T's own "QuadGames":

Available now:

Wizard of Wor Aracde: supports 2 joysticks with AtariVox/Savekey for 2 player co-op with voice and high score saves.
Galagon: supports 2 joysticks and Atarivox/Savekey for 2 player alternating and co-op and high score saves.
Zoo Keeper: supports 2 joysticks and Atarivox/Savekey for 2 player alternating and high score saves.

Available in 2021:

RobotWar:2684:
- supports 2 joysticks and AtariVox/Savekey for 1 player with 2 joysticks (1 to move and 1 to fire), plus high score saves.
- supports 4 joysticks for 2 player co-op, each with 2 joysticks (1 to move, 1 to fire)
Gorf Arcade: supports 2 joysticks and Atarivox/Savekey for 2 player alternating and high score saves.
Lady Bug Arcade: supports 2 joysticks and Atarivox/Savekey for 2 player alternating and vs. mode plus high score saves.

Other games:

Champ Sports Baseball will support 4 player (2 players on each team), plus 2 player with high score saves.

If you're interested, head on over to BTC and check it out!

January 31

15 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Looking great! Can’t wait to see the demo ROM.👍

Thanks Steve! I'll post it here sometime before Friday.

15 hours ago, Prizrak said:

Looks awesome! Love your old port and looking forward to the update.

Thanks! Having the original port to work off of has greatly sped up development, and it was quite interesting going back and try to decipher my own assembly code from 15 years ago!

8 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Looks great!

How did the screen height change? From to to?

Thanks TJ! The screen height has changed from 200 to 208 (most modern Champ Games have a height of 208). This allows me to have 12 lines for the top status , 6 lines for the timer (top and bottom), 179 lines for the maze (including the outside borders) and 11 for the bottom score/veggie display. The vertical height of the tunnels in the maze was reduced from 14 to 13 so that's why Nathan re-did the graphics for all the insects and lady bug, plus he wanted to re-visit his own work from 2006.

32 minutes ago, Omegamatrix said:

Looks great John! I'm glad the high score screen was added, but the rest of the game is very polished too.

Thanks Jeff! I think my original plan back when I reached out to you for assistance was to expand the assembly-only 2006 version to 32K and add a few bells and whistles, but that was pre-ARM and I couldn't resist the dark side and doing a complete re-write with major improvements like the arcade accurate maze and asymmetrical doors which would not be possible in an assembly-only version (at least not without extra RAM). To get the spacing right with the high score screen, I couldn't find enough cycles to change the text color 3 times so I opted to have it just do it twice and put CLR/END/RUB on the right side, but it works pretty well.

32 minutes ago, Omegamatrix said:

The enhanced ladybug screen looks beautiful, and I'm really looking forward to the improvements on how the maze was drawn.

Thanks - yes I think it looks pretty well! The maze drawing probably isn't anything too ingenious as it's just alternating colors and the PF values per color each frame so the entire maze flickers at 30hz and doesn't have to blend the pink and the green colors. However, since it's alternating every other line per frame (it draws both pink and green every frame but on alternating lines using interlacing, flipped each frame), the flicker is barely noticeable. A nice coincidence is that pink and green, which happen to be the arcade colors, blend perfectly to create white for the dots (which don't flicker at all). The 2006 version of Lady Bug didn't have the advantage of the ARM to dynamically create the PF colors and values every frame so for that version I had to blend the pink and the green (which created more of a dark pink for the maze) and have the green part flicker at 30hz with no blending which flickers much worse (but still not too bad IMO). For those who don't want any flickering for the maze, you can flip the right difficulty switch to A and get the alternating PF color per line (no blending, no interlacing), but the walls won't appear solid. Well, that's probably more than you wanted to know but hopefully some of it was useful! PS I'm thinking I can use the same technique on Qix to have the different colors solid and blend to create a white border.

January 31

While we finish up the demo ROM for Lady Bug Arcade (expected to be posted in the upcoming week), here are a few teaser screenshots from the progress we've made:

Enhanced title screen. Lady Bug Arcade will have 4 skill levels and support 1 or 2 players, plus we're planning on adding in a special 2 player versus mode where each player will take turns controlling the lady bug or the insects!

Full animated instructions, just like the arcade!

Support for multiple mazes! Choose from the arcade maze or five new mazes, or choose to play with all six in a game (either in rotation or random):

Start level screen, now featuring multi-colored veggies (in game too), plus up to six skulls!

In-game action with new maze graphics that use a new method to alternate and mix colors to produce 3 color maze/dots with virtually no flicker: (you will still be able to select the option to have separate colors per line with NO flicker)

Enhanced extra ladybug screen when you spell out EXTRA with yellow letters:

Arcade-like high score entry with no flicker! (thanks @Omegamatrix - I finally used those kernels you wrote for me about 8 years ago. although I took a few creative liberties to get it to work within the existing LBA kernels ).

Special thanks to @Nathan Strum for re-doing all of the graphics to fit the new screen height (and thanks again for doing the original sprites back in 2006! ). Also thanks to @McCallister for game testing and feedback! :thumbsup:

Thanks,

John

January 28

4 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Thank you so much for all the information John! I was going to reach out to you and Nathan before doing the upcoming show featuring the QuadTari, probably the first show back after the Atari Homebrew Awards. 🙂

You're welcome!

4 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Just out of curiosity, for weird edge cases, could you hook up multiple AtariVox's?

- Port 1: Joystick | Port 2: Savekey/AtariVox | Port 3: Joystick | Port 4: Savekey/AtariVox (for two voices at the same time?)

- Port 1, 2, 3 & 4: Savekey/AtariVox (a chorus of AtariVox's?)

Yes, those scenarios would work. Actually, I tested WoW Arcade with two AtariVoxs (one in port 2 and one in port 4) and it detected the Avox in port 2 but played the voice and saved high scores in port 4. :lol: As I mentioned above, in hindsight I should have had the detection and writing/reading to the SavekeyAvox be done with the same value of DUMPPORTS for both, but since the game doesn't support 3 players you should just plug the Atarivox/Savekey directly to the Atari anyway.

Regarding the multiple Atarivoxs, the only limiting factor would be the time it takes a bunch of scanlines write data to the Atarivox. So although possible, it's certainly not practical to use more that Atarivox at a time as there would be very little time left to do anything else. However, if this is all your program was doing (playing voices/Avox sound effects) and with some clever programming (write to one during vblank and anothe during overscan, or stagger the commands every other frame, etc.) I'm sure something cool could be accompished!

January 28

32 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Ordered! Thanks for letting us know. I didn't think they were available for sale yet.👍

You're welcome! I didn't know either until I saw James' post on FB this morning.

25 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Can't wait to try this with my modified FB2 as well.

Great - let me know how it goes! It should in theory work with an unmodified one also; the only thing is that there are no QuadTari compatible ROMs on the FB2 so it would only act as a joystick extender, but it would be interesting to know if that works too! (I have an FB2 in storage I'll dig out and try, but if it works on a modified one with a cart it will work on an unmodified one too).

January 28

On 1/27/2021 at 6:49 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Correction for your last show: The QuadTari supports AtariVox/SaveKey. So you can use e.g. 3 joysticks and one SaveKey.

Thanks for pointing this out TJ!

On 1/27/2021 at 11:12 AM, sramirez2008 said:

Can't wait for these to become available in the Store. 🙂

Hey Steve, I'm not sure if the QT is going to be sold through AA but you can pre-order one on Nathan's site right now!

16 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Oh wow, thanks! That's even better than I thought! I'll be sure to have all the details on all the abilities of the QuadTari before I debut it officially on the stream.

Hi James!

I'll try to summarize the features of the QT in this FAQ and will coordinate with Nathan to have something similar put on his site.

QuadTari FAQ

Q: What is a QuadTari?

A: The QuadTari is a hardware device that allows you to hook up to 4 compatible controllers to an Atari 2600. The QuadTari has 4 input ports for the controllers and 2 outputs that plug into the 2 controller ports on the Atari.

Q: What systems support the QuadTari?

A: The QuadTari was designed for the Atari 2600 and any systems that are hardware compatible, such as the Coleco Gemini and Atari 7800. It should also work with the 5200 and Colecovision adapters, though this has not been tested.

Retron77: A physical QuadTari does not work when connected to the front ports of the R77 nor when connected via a USB OTG cable through a 2600-dapter or Stella-dapter. However, virtual QuadTari support is being added to Stella. This allows you to configure up to 4 controllers; 2 can be connected to the Retron77 front ports and 2 can be connected via an USB OTG splitter and a Stella-dapter or 2600-dapter.
Collectorvision Phoenix: not tested, but in theory it should work. The issue with the Phoenix is that right now there is no way to play current QuadTari games that require the ARM like WoW or Galagon (this would require a compatible cartridge port, not just a 'ROM dumper' like the one used on the RetroN77). EDIT: I was able to test the QT on the Phoenix and unfortunately it does not work. The joysticks don't work at all. My guess is that the Phoenix may be detecting the QT as a paddle and disabling joystick navigation.
Atari 7800: The QuadTari works on a 7800 running in 2600 mode. So, you can play 2600 compatible QuadTari games on your 7800. Furthermore, you should be able to write a 7800 game with QuadTari support as long as the 7800 game uses 1 button mode. (2 button mode will not work).
Atari Flashback 2: The QuadTari should work on a modified FB2 (one that has been modded to include a cartridge port). The QuadTari will not work with other versions of the Flashback (including the portable) since these aren't hardware compatible with the original Atari.
Atari 8-bit systems: Although there is no 8-bit software that supports the QuadTari, it should in theory be possible since the 8-bit and 2600 systems have similar controller interfaces (joystick and paddles).

Q: What controllers are compatible with the QuadTari?

A: A rule of thumb is this: if the controller doesn't use the paddle lines (pins 5 and 9), it should be 100% compatible when connected through the QuadTari. Otherwise, it may not work at all or only have some features enabled.

Standard joysticks (up, down, left, right and 1 button) are 100% compatible. Other joysticks tested in joystick mode are the Hyperkin Ranger, Colecovision controllers, and Coleco Gemini sticks. The Booster Grip (used for Omega race) does not work.
7800 joysticks work but only 1 button is supported, which is the same restriction when playing 2600 games on a 7800. As mentioned above, it should be possible to develop a 7800 game that supports the QuadTari, as long as the game runs in 2600 controller mode (1 button only).
Driving controllers: 100% compatible. You can use 4 driving controllers hooked up to a QuadTari. Now we just need someone to program Super Sprint or Demolition Derby.
Sega Genesis gamepads and arcade sticks: All functions work (up/down/left/right and button B) except for the 2nd button since this pin is the one used to switch the QuadTari controller.
Paddles: Only the buttons work for paddles since the pins that read the paddle lines are used by the QT to enable/disable the extra controllers. So, you should be able to write a game that supports 4 sets of paddles (8 in total) as long as the game only uses the paddle button (think 8 player Flappy Bird or 4 player pinball ).
Keyboard controllers: since the pins for the paddle lines are used to select the row of buttons that are being pressed, keyboard controllers (including the Star Raider and Kid's Controller) are not supported.
AtariVox/Savekey: 100% compatible*. You can plug in an AtariVox or Savekey into one of the QuadTari ports and it should work, but the software needs to have specific support. So, if you have the Savekey/Atarivox hooked up to port 4, the supporting software needs to do all it's interaction with the Savekey/Atarivox through the right Atari port AND have DUMPPORTS enabled (which enables port 4). For port 3, all interaction needs to be done with DUMPPORTS off, etc. With this, you should be able to write a game that supports 3 joysticks/driving controllers/etc. and the AtariVox/Savekey. NOTE: QT supported games like Galagon and Wizard of Wor Arcade do not support an AtariVox/Savekey hooked up to the QuadTari; you must hook it up directly to the Atari. The problem is that the detection is done with DUMPORTS disabled but the other interaction is done with DUMPORTS enabled, so it detects for a Savekey/Avox on port 2 but reads/writes to it on port 4. 😕 (I should have thought this through when testing but for some reason it never occurred to me to connect a Savekey/Avox to a QT until TJ mentioned it when adding QT support to Stella). I did test hooking up the SaveKey/Avox to port 2 during startup, and then switching it to port 4 and it works fine, but I strongly do not recommend doing this since there is power going to the Avox/Savekey and this could damage your Atari, AtariVox and/or QuadTari. This isn't a big deal though since they don't support 3 simultaneous players anyway.

Q: Do I have to have both Atari ports hooked up to the QuadTari?

A: No; the QuadTari is actually 2 independent "duoTaris" that support 2 joysticks for each port. So, if you hook up the QuadTari to the left port, you will have support for 2 joysticks only, but the right Atari port will be open for a Savekey/AtariVox for high score saving/voice. This is the setup supported by Wizard of Wor Arcade, Galagon and Zoo Keeper.

Q: Can I hook a QuadTari up to another QuadTari for 8 player madness?

A: No. The switching only works on the first QuadTari connected; any 'daisy chained' QuadTaris will only read the first joystick port, so they would act as controller extenders, not switchers.

Q: Can I use a joystick/controller connected through the QuadTari for non-Quadtari games?

A: Yes, most of the time. In this case, the QT acts as a joystick extender, so you can hook up a joysticks to port 1 and port 2 on the QuadTari and play most non-QT compatible joystick games with no issues. I've seen issues with a few games (Defender being one of them) that do weird things with the switching mechanism or paddle pins even though they are joystick games.

Also, since the QT does not support paddles or keyboard controllers, paddles and keyboard controllers do not work through the QuadTari with paddle/keyboard games. However, Indy 500 does work with driving controllers hooked up to the QT since driving controllers are supported. :thumbsup:

Harmony support: You can use a joystick connected to a QuadTari to navigate the Harmony menu with one caveat; you must use a joystick hooked up to port 3. Once the game starts, you can then use the joystick hooked up to port 1 as normal. The reason is that the Harmony software supports both joysticks and paddles to navigate; it would appear that the reading of the joystick port is being done while DUMPPORTS is enabled (reading the paddles) so the QT activates joystick ports 3 and 4. Perhaps the Harmony team will modify the BIOS at some point to read the joystick ports with DUMPPORTS low which would fix the issue; until then there is a workaround. :thumbsup:

Q: What games support the QuadTari?

A: The following games have support for the QuadTari. This doesn't necessarily mean that the game supports 4 players; QT support explicitly means that the game takes advantage of ports 3 and 4 in some capacity.

Wizard of Wor Arcade (Champ Games): Supports the QuadTari connected to the left port for Joysticks 1 and 3. This allows you to hook up a Savekey or AtariVox to the right port for high score saving/Atarivox voice. This allows 2 player co-op with Savekey/Voice. :music:

Galagon (Champ Games): Supports the QuadTari connected to the left port for Joysticks 1 and 3, freeing up the right port for the SaveKey. This allows for 2 player co-op with Savekey. It also allows for 2 player alternating with each player using their own joystick, along with Savekey for saving high scores.

Zoo Keeper (Champ Games): Same as Galagon, except Zoo Keeper doesn't have a co-op mode, so the QT benefit is allowing 2 player alternating with 2 joysticks and Savekey support.

QuadGames (written by Nathan Tolbert): Supports 4 players using 4 joysticks.

Upcoming games:

Gorf Arcade (Champ Games): 2 player alternating with 2 joysticks plus Savekey for high scores.

RobotWar:2684 (Champ Games): 2 joysticks + Savekey: 1 player with 2 joysticks, 2 player alternating, or 2 player co-op (1 joystick each) with high score saving; 4 joysticks for 2 player co-op, each with 2 joysticks for moving and firing (you can also play 4 player with this mode, with 2 players moving and 2 players firing... it's quite a blast! )

Lady Bug Arcade (Champ Games): 2 player alternating with 2 joysticks plus Savekey for high scores. There also may be a co-op mode added (not decided yet).

Champ Sports Baseball (Champ Games): 4 joysticks which will allow 2 players per team. Champ Games plans on adding 4-player QuadTari support for all sports games (Champ Sports Hockey is planned after CS Baseball)

If I got any details wrong or anything needs clarification, let me know and I can edit this! I (or Nathan Tolbert @gauauu) should probably create a separate topic for the QT somewhere and hopefully we can have it pinned.

Hope that helps!

John

January 17

28 minutes ago, Gray Defender said:

Congratulations John, well deserved!!

Thanks Glenn!

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