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up2knowgood

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Posts posted by up2knowgood

  1. Posted

    Because the audio tracks in those CD were generated using the Supercharger audio format, and they will be loaded by the Cuttle Cart in Supercharger mode, and thus they will crash just like on an original unmodded supercharger for the reasons mentioned by Nukey Shay

     

    All games in the "Worship the Woodgrain" CDs are either 2k or 4k in size. Those marked with an asterisk are those that crashes on a Supercharger unless it has been modified.

     

    So WtW isn't of much use for a Cuttle Cart, (or an unmodified Supercharger). Moreover, Nukey hacked most (all?) of the incompatible games to run on an unmodified Supercharger, so the hardware mod isn't really needed anymore nowadays.

    The Cuttle Cart can run all the games in those CDs (and much more, as it support several bankswitching schemes with or without additional ram up to 64K in size) , but you need to generate audio files specifically for it, using the Playbin or makewav utilities.

    Ah! Got it. Sorry Nukey Shay, no offense, but I needed someone to dumb it down for me. Looking forward to trying out your hacks though.

     

    Yeah, I have a separate posting about the utilities to use with the Cuttle Cart, as Google wasn't helpful. Makewav isn't compatible with my computer, but Playbin works fine. Really looking forward to trying out all the hacks and super rare games I wouldn't get to play otherwise.

  3. Posted

    The Supercharger uses it's own bankswitching scheme which swaps 2k of a game's memory with an alternate 2k, and also allows a program to "self-modify" it's own instructions (possible, since the entire program is residing in RAM memory instead of the usual cartridge ROM). The Supercharger accomplishes this (basically) by monitoring 2 specific memory addresses mapped to the ROM area. ANY access to those addresses either triggers the bankswitch or rewrites a program. Since a 2600's program memory layout is entirely at the programmer's discretion, there are many games which used those 2 specific memory addresses for program code or data. The addresses are near the end of the cartridge memory space ($1FF8 and $1FF9), which is why it's common that so many original 2k and 4k games execute fine on the Supercharger. Those that don't require modification...either to the programs, or a hardware switch added to the Supercharger unit itself which prevents program modification when engaged.

    ...duh, what?

     

    Did I mention I am not a programmer? All I know is that none of the games marked as over 4K on the manual work on the Cuttle Cart, and I don't know why.

  6. Posted

    No one said he "NEEDED" anything. We've all just been giving our opinions. There hasn't been any peer pressure. "IF" he were interested in something, wouldn't it be better if he had some information before he made a purchase? I'm not sure why you felt the urge to make other people's opinions seem invalid.

    ...I protest, I never said anyone here said any such a thing. If you feel it was implied I apologize, as it was not my intention. I am sure we all have stories of pushy salespeople or articles that push some random service for "collectors". That is what I was referring to. What did you think I meant?

  7. Posted · Edited by up2knowgood

    Is it possible that "retro" got popular because new tech got so boring? Some people love gadgets and there use to be lots of cool new gadgets, but now our phones are doing almost everything, and every new phone is just a minor incremental improvement on the old. So people are looking elsewhere for their gadget fix?

    You make it sound plausible to me anyway. I mean, I only got an Xbox One for Halo.

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    I got mine from a friend. We were talking about the creepiest/scariest game we've ever played, and he said his was AVP for the Jaguar. I, of course, freaked out and asked if he still had it and bought the console off him for $200 cash, though the AVP cartridge never did turn up.

  12. Posted

    Hello and welcome.

     

    First off, I would like to start off with advice if I may. Ignore whatever people tell you when they say you need something. This is peer pressure. I have been playing and collecting for years and I own neither the Harmony Cart or a CRT TV. I have also not used emulator software in years, and have never used Best Electronics. Just focus on your own wants and needs. You don't NEED anything you don't already own in all likelihood. But if you want it, go for it. Nothing wrong with being individual.

     

    Further, don't be afraid of non-Atari stuff. I prefer the feel of Gemini Gemstick joysticks to genuine Atari ones, and I also like the Slik Stick, but the tiny button is a bit annoying. Don't let anyone make you think that no Atari fan would use these things. Some like the Genesis controller over the joystick, and there's nothing wrong with that.

     

    Look for local stores that sell Atari games. They're usually cheaper than online sources, and often make great hangout locations to socialize in person too.

     

    Finally, have fun. No one is going to have it for you! :P

     

    Side note. Rare games are nice to show off, but they're usually rare for a reason.

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    Well, I was born in Atlantis, but the Gorgons came with deathrays. They attacked pretty hard, and we fought back to defend ourselves, but alas, it was a forlorn hope, and ultimately the city fell, but we planned for that, and I left with many others in a big craft of our own design, the Cosmic Ark. Eventually we ended up in the Alpha Rho Solar System, and realizing its Sun was about to go Super Nova, we decided we had to act, and went to as many planets as we could, gathering as many of the skittish beasties as we could with our shuttle, avoiding meteors and the planet's own defense systems. Eventually our good deed got the better of us though, and we ended up losing the Ark, but the shuttle escaped. We crash landed in a garbage dump on Earth, and have been here ever since.

     

    Oh, not what you meant?

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    Did you just double-clicked on the file? If so, that's the problem.

    Makewav is a command line program, you need to run it from the command prompt. (search how to do that with your OS)

    There's also Playbin, which will play the files directly from the audio card (without generating files on the hard drive. You can find it here:

     

    http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247849-supercharger-and-wplaybin/?do=findComment&comment=3414680

     

    Tried Command Prompt too, and it still didn't work, just told me it was incompatible again. However, Playbin worked flawlessly! Well...had to play around with the sound settings and volume for a bit, but other than that flawlessly. Thank you both so much! I really appreciate it. :D

  16. Posted

    I own the Cuttle Cart, let's start with that. I'd like to know if there is a way to get normal ROMs like what you can download from this very site converted to the audio files that the Cuttle Cart and Super Charger use(I believe they're called binary files, but I'm not 100% on that). Supposedly there is a program that can do that on Stella Gets A New Brain, but surely that would be super outdated now, over 20 years after its initial release, and at the very least require several special plugins to get it to work on a newer computer like mine. I'm also not going to sugar coat it, I last used an emulator over 10 years ago in high school, and have never really programmed anything, so I probably face an uphill battle with this anyway.

     

    I'm hoping there is someone out there who can help me if it is possible, I would really appreciate it.

  17. Posted

    All I can think is maybe the springs in the cart port are stiff and you have to give it a moderate push straight downward to get it the rest of the way in. Or imagic cart board is a little thicker. Also, try putting in a cart that works first, like Asteroids to make sure there is no warm up problem, then try the imagic cart with the moderate but not crazy push down, like I described.

     

    I just did something like that. I took it apart after seeing yours, and pushed on the cartridge receiver. It moved some, and after putting it back together, all the Imagic cartridges now fit. Some are a little tight, but they fully seat now, which they didn't do before. I think you're right, something in my console wasn't quite right, maybe damaged somehow, by someone being too rough on a cartridge that in the slot or something. Thanks for the help. :) Picture to see what mine looks like after repairs.

     

    gallery_45171_1585_3305594.jpg

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    That is odd. I just tried playing Demon Attack and Dragonfire on my Sears Video Arcade II and they both worked fine. Here is a picture if anything was done to mine before I bought it.

     

    Certainly doesn't look like anything was done to it. Comparing it to mine it looks the same. How odd.

  19. Posted

    While we're on the topic, anyone have any other cartridges that don't fit in various systems? I know there is talk of Tigervision carts not fitting in various systems, but those are kind of rare. Imagic is common enough that if it doesn't fit in a particular system, its kind of important.

  23. Posted

    my problem with super glue is the white bloom it can produce on plastic, so if you use it keep it away from the edges

    Yeah, that's very true. I always try to keep it to a minimum because it sticks to you and can make you tear the label.

  24. Posted

    I recommend a hair dryer first to get it off, then clean it as best you can before trying to restick it. Also, I have had problems with gluesticks soaking through and damaging labels, and not holding onto the plastic, so I recommend a few small drops of super glue in a few strategic areas.

  25. Posted

    Retailers never did stock everything. In 1982, you did not see Channel F systems on the shelf, at all. Nor Astrocade. Odyssey 2 was falling by the wayside.

     

     

    This was always a risk in retailing though. By rights those retailers would normally have known better than buy all those titles from unproven publishers. But they believed the 2600 was so hot they could sell literally anything that plugged into it. So they took a risk that didn't pay off.

     

     

    Again, bargain bins were nothing new. You found them in music/books stores and video stores as well.

     

    Here is how retailers would have behaved in simple oversupply:

    1. Discontinue systems that flopped, like Vectrex, Arcadia, etc

    2. Stop buying games from companies like US Games, Games by Apollo, etc that weren't selling

    3. Closeout what you need to

    4. Continue stocking systems that actually sell like Atari, Coleco, Mattel and games from reputable publishers.

     

    Number 4 is telling because many retailers discontinued these too. That means they couldn't even sell them, since demand for games had dropped so much.

     

    Over-supply doesn't destroy markets. It leads to a shakeout of weak players. Like I said before: Sony enters, Atari leaves. Microsoft Enters, Sega leaves. Market doesn't die, instead it grows. That's normal

     

    Bad content doesn't destroy markets. Bad albums get released all the time, even highly disappointing ones. They might cause sales slumps and earnings misses, but the industry keeps ticking. And again why would INTV or Colecovision players care if ET sucked or the 2600 was flooded with fly by night publishers? Colecovision players should have been too busy with their exciting new system and arcade-quality graphics. But the fact that these systems were hit with slow sales shows that the typical narrative about the crash is lacking.

     

    The answer is Pacman created a videogame craze, a bubble, a fad-- whatever you want to call it. It was obvious in the pop culture at the time. Suddenly you had pacman and donkey kong cereal, donkey kong trading cards, mediocre pop songs like "Pacman Fever" on the chart. Videogame cartoons on Saturday morning. It was all everybody in school talked about.

     

    But fads have a shelf life of 18-24 months tops, and that's roughly how long it was from when "Pacman fever" hit to the videogame crash. Kids were no longer talking about games everyday, they were now as I recall, more into MTV, Madonna, breakdancing, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, etc. Many of the new arcades that sprung up were starting to close. Again, if the problem was too many bad 2600 games at retail, why would arcades be affected at all? They should have been the refuge from the home crap.

     

    I don't understand why so many people want to ignore the "faddish" aspects of the early 80s game market and instead believe media narratives that we already know are are revisionist with regards to ET? We've seen the same pattern repeat with the Wii and Pokémon GO.

     

    I've seen people believe the media explanation and claim for years that the games industry is about to crash again from oversupply and shovelware. But the crash never comes because they ignore this critical aspect. Gaming is now a hobbie/lifestyle for gamers. They aren't all going to leave the market en-masse like what happens when a fad ends.

    Sure, I'll admit that after you explained it like that, and reading to comments of several others, the fad factor sounds important. But then again, if it was the result of a fad, why wasn't there a crash in Japan in 1980 after Space Invaders? That caused a much bigger boom than Pacman did. I also feel like it doesn't really counter my point, fads and oversaturation kind of go hand in hand. In fact, a fad by definition leads to oversaturation, so I am starting to think our points are essentially the same, just from slightly different points of view.

     

    Also, I'd like to point out that its not like Mattel and Coleco didn't have the same problems as Atari, because they did, its just that most tend to focus on Atari and its problems because they sold about 10 million 2600s by 1982, compared to 3 million Intellivions and about 1 million Colecovisions. So literally more than double its two biggest competitors combined, and many more games in its libraries compared to the others thanks to its longer life, which is why Atari gets so much more attention. (To be fair though, if I remember correctly, the Colecovision was also released in 1982, so to tell the truth, 1 million in that year seems pretty good to me.) Also, Atari was a HUGE company then, a big part of Time Warner's empire, so when it went bankrupt, and was sold off, that was a real shock to a lot of people, drawing more attention to itself. I mean I don't know if I can think of a really good analogy, but to give it a shot, it would be something like Apple declaring they weren't going to make computers anymore.

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