Some help needed with a hopefully simple hack.

[Some help needed with a hopefully simple hack.]

This? I have a detailed explanation on how easily this was done (right inside Stella itself, I even save the hacked rom from there)...but I won't go into it if you are not interested and just want to play the thing.

Thank you for hacking the colors for me. I am VERY interested in being able to do this myself. Stella is completely new to me. I'm eager to learn though. There are quite a few games that I would really like to change the colors on. If it's not too much trouble, I'd really appreciate any info on the process that you can give me.

[ebay from Agentina, is this common:]

I know eBayers in other countries aren't all out to scam people, but I've ran into more than my fair share of them, so I tend to steer clear of anything from certain countries. I always check feedback thoroughly before buying ANYTHING. The only time I buy from other countries is if the item can't be found anywhere else for a reasonable price or if it is so cheap that I'm willing to risk the aggravation. Most of the time now, I set my searches to only show items in my country. If I don't find what I'm looking for, then I'll expand the search, but I always contact foreign sellers first, just to see how they reply to questions. If they are willing to ship to another country, they need to be able to communicate with people who live there. If they can't understand your language, then they aren't going to be of much use if something goes wrong either before or during shipping. Also, if they walk around questions without ever answering them, that's a bad sign..You can usually weed out the scammers, but it's not 100% foolproof.. A good example of something to look out for, sellers telling you they will send you a "Free" gift before shipping your item. I ran into this from a seller in China. I specifically told them I didn't want a free gift, I just wanted my item and expected the tracking number they provided to be for that item. A little over a month goes by and I get an envelope from China with my tracking number on it. Inside was a sticker and a thank you card. I emailed the seller and asked what that was and where my item was. I got a response, probably translated by google. It made little sense, but more or less was telling me to wait up to 60 more days for my item to arrive.(That would have placed the transaction outside of the 90 refund window.) I emailed them back and asked for the tracking number for my item, they sent me the tracking number from the envelope. I tried once more to contact them for the correct tracking number and their response was that tracking was too expensive for my item, so only my free gift had tracking. By this time I was ready to fly to China and beat the seller senseless. Instead, I filed a complaint with eBay and sent them a photo of the envelope and what was inside. I got a refund, but the experience made me not want to deal with foreign sellers.

[Atari's DC graphic novels]

I'm not sure about those, but I really enjoyed the old DC comics that came with some of the 2600 games. I still have a few of them.

After doing a bit of research on the ones you mentioned, I think the price is based on collectable value. As far as something to read, I'm not sure they would be worth the price. Keep in mind, that's just my opinion. Also, if you really just want to read them, I'm sure you can find free downloadable copies with a bit of google magic.

[Some help needed with a hopefully simple hack.]

OK, I couldn't make and progress on my own. Would anyone be kind enough to work on the colors for me? My issue is that the boat and background are too bright and it gives me a migraine when I try to play it for more than a few minutes. If someone could make the boat shades of brown and possibly do something with the sky, it would be great. If the promise of a couple of dollars by Paypal will help, I can do that. I just have to run to the bank and deposit some cash in the morning. Also, if anyone is interested in making a few bucks here and there, I might have some other games I need the colors tweaked a bit.

I'm guessing most people either have the rom or can download it easily. If not, let me know and I can send it to you.

[Replacement Label?]

There are a couple of guys here on the forums doing custom labels, but if cost is a factor, you might want to look into finding a scan of the original label, save it on a flash drive or SD card and check with a local print shop to see what it would cost to have one made. The print shop I use, charges by the sheet when it comes to adhesive labels. I have mine made on weatherproof paper and they can even do laser cutting. The last thing I had printed was a bunch of replacement stickers for vintage R2-D2 figures and 2 sheets (which made 48 or so labels) costed me $4.

 

I just noticed that's an AtariAge game. Try contacting Albert, I'm sure he can help you out.

[Great Games? - Small Developers]

So Far I've been having a lot of fun with almost all of the homebrew games I found on AtariAge. Follow this link

http://atariage.com/software_search.php?SystemID=2600

Once you are there, scroll down to the search area.

For "Rarity"- select Homebrew, then check the box for "Has ROM" and click search. This will give you a list of homebrew games that have downloadable roms.

 

There are tons more out there, but it takes some searching. I have used Youtube and Google with great success. Also, you will run into a few really nice games that you can't get the roms for, but if you contact the developer and ask them about getting a copy of the rom, most will either give you a copy or sell you one for a reasonable price. I suggest you offer to pay them, even if they give you the rom for free. The developers put a ton of time and effort into making the games and it's only right that we offer them something in return.

 

In your title, you mention "small developers" (Edit: I realized you may have meant games released back in the day by actual companies, if so, I'm sorry for rambling on about homebrews and homebrew developers.) . The thing to remember is that almost all of the people making games for the 2600 are just regular people. They aren't part of a company and they aren't getting paid for the time they spend working on games for us to enjoy. Most make the games on their own or with help from a few other people on the forums. Even those who end up putting their games on Cartridges aren't making anything. They might make a few dollars for each sale, but that's nothing when you think about how many hours they spend creating the game, some spend year perfecting a game before they officially call it "done".. I didn't come here to preach, but somehow it turned into that.

 

My point is, these guys work hard to make these games and they deserve something in return, be it money or just a sincere Thank you.. So, when you download a rom, that a developer was kind enough to provide for you, take the time to send him a message and tell him how much you appreciate him working on the game and offer him a few dollars, it's the least we can do considering we wouldn't have any new games if it weren't for the people who make them for us.

[Chaotic Grill (BurgerTime remake) in progress]

 

 

 

Thanks for the compliments! I'm hoping to keep my motivation going... and try to get this done in the near future. Hopefully sooner, rather than later.

No problem man! You deserve the compliments. If there's one game I'm really excited about seeing finished, it's this one.

[Doctor Who Berzerk w/Speech]

 

I could probably figure out how to use my savekey space to keep a high score. May work on that next.

 

I know you are busy, so if you find the time to get high scores on there, that would be amazing, but It's a great game that I'm going to be playing either way! Thanks again for making a really awesome Dr. Who game!

[Using a Savekey or Atarivox with Harmony Encore.]

I have only implemented SaveKey support for the cart. A minimal incentive for those who paid for the game.

 

Regarding Scramble: I just realized that I have a newer ROM from the developer.

I respect your decision on saving that feature for people who buy the cart. I really like the look and concept of Thrust+, I'm just having a hard time getting the hang of it.

 

I did finally get Scramble to save my score. It turns out I just wasn't getting enough points. once I hit 10,000, the saves started working.

As for Go Fish!, I ended up trying one more version and that did it. I tried 3 different ones that didn't work and then I saw one more version that I didn't think I had tried yet. It turned out to be the one that works!

 

From what I can tell, every game I have that is supposed to save is now saving correctly. Some games just had too many versions out there. It was a lot of trial and error finding the ones that worked.

 

I have to say though, this savekey is amazing. I keep coming back to the same games and p[laying them over and over to beat my high score. I really don't see why there aren't more games out there with this feature.

[Blue Vertical Lines on 2600]

It's one reason why I chose to keep my 4-switch stock but with as clean as possible signal feed, and not do the AV mod.

The next Atari I get will probably be left original, since I haven't seen a significant improvement with the cheap AV mod. The only thing it did was remove the "snow". I might go back and redo the one I have now, using the UAV mod, since it seems to be a much better option without a lot of added cost.

[Blue Vertical Lines on 2600]

Just remember a standard cheap AV like I have, still has these lines, even with the RF components removed from the board and the shielding still in place. Whatever is causing this is somehow corrected with the UAV mod, but not the common AV mods and doesn't seem to have anything to do with RF interference, since mine has no RF components on the board now.

[Best Atari 2600 Hardware Variant?]

I've messed with most of them, except the Jr. Out of the last 3 2600s I ran into, the only one that was fully working was a worn 4 switch woody that was badly beaten up. the case had chips and cracks all over it, so I pulled the board out of it (revision 12) and stuck it into a Vader shell that had a bad board. So I have a nice new looking Vader, that I did the LED and AV mods on. So, in my recent experience, I'd lean toward looking for one of the 4 switch woodys. Of course any working 4 switcher would be fine. As far as the 7800 goes, mine works great, but the plastic on them is very brittle, so you have to be careful with them. I AV modded mine and I use it quite often, even for my 2600 games. The cartridge connector on the 7800 is too tight for some games, but if you ever have the system apart, to do an AV mod or something, you can remove the plastic part of the connector and file out the corners and reinstall it. Then all the carts will fit. I don't have any experience with the Jr. but I have been tempted to buy one, just because it's smaller, making it more carry friendly if I want to take it with me somewhere.

 

If you buy an Atari off eBay, just makes sure the seller has plenty of positive feedback and lists the console as "Tested and working". Good luck on getting your Atari!

[Doctor Who Berzerk w/Speech]

I really love this game. Has anything else been done on it since the last update? It would be awesome if it's working with Savekeys now.

[Save Key Review]

So, I'm bringing a dead thread back to life, because it was either that or make a new one just like it.

 

I just got my Savekey from CPUWIZ a few days ago and I LOVE IT! (Thank You CPUWIZ!) It's an amazing device that does just what the name suggests. It saves your high scores and on some games, replays and even your position in the game so you can turn off your Atari and come back to it later. The one thing I have to note is that it only works with certain homebrew games. The thing to remember is, if you just have ONE of those games, the Savekey is something you REALLY want! (If you have an AtariVox, the Savekey feature is built-in, so you don't need to buy one). It's amazing to start up a game and see a high score table with your score and initials right there. Now the features do vary from game to game. Some games only save the score, some save the score and your initials. Other games have what you might call a save-point, allowing you to start where you left off the last time you played. Strat-O-Gems even saves replay data, so you can watch your best combos again and again. I can't say enough about how cool this little thing is. For those of you wondering, it does work with the Harmony Cart too! CPUWIZ did an amazing job putting this one together for me. It looks amazing and works perfectly. I really can't Thank him enough for sending me this. Mine looks just like the one pictured earlier in this thread. It has the blue tip with a keychain and blue LED. From what I understand, demand wasn't very high for these when they were first made. I really think people should give them a second look now. With the homebrews that use the save functions, these things are really nice. If you can afford it, the Atarivox+ can do the same thing and has the added voice feature, but for those on a budget, the Savekey is awesome. You really can't go wrong with one.

[Blue Vertical Lines on 2600]

Mine has the standard cheap AV mod and I removed the RF box. I'm going to connect my 2600 to the little CRT I have handy and see if the lines are trimmed off by the screen shape, if they are, then this issue is only going to apply to people who use widescreen TVs. Honestly, I'd rather use a CRT or a 4:3 aspect flatscreen, but I'm having a big issue with color bleeding on the CRT I have here and I can't seem to find a reasonably priced 4:3 flatscreen anywhere.

 

Nick, just to clarify, you are using a widescreen TV, correct?

[Using a Savekey or Atarivox with Harmony Encore.]

Are you sure you got the latest version (scramble_20160106.bin). I only test in Stella (have to use game properties first to tell Stella that it uses the SaveKey).

 

Good idea. Thought he is usually very, very busy.

 

Thrust is a game that people either love or hate. It requires patience and quite some practice.

That's the version of Scramble that I have.

 

I'll try the other versions of Go Fish! before I contact the developer. No point bothering him if I don't have to.

 

I played Thrust+ Platinum v1.26 and I managed to get 900 points, but it didn't save it. I think with some practice, I'll like Thrust. I'm just really tired right now, I'm sure after I get some sleep I'll be better at it, my reflexes aren't too good when I'm this tired.

 

Is high score saving enabled on the Thrust+ Platinum v1.26 rom or is it just on the cart? I wasn't sure from reading your comment earlier.

[Using a Savekey or Atarivox with Harmony Encore.]

At least I know my savekey is working.

 

I'm fairly sure the roms are the latest, but I'll recheck them later today to be sure. I'm happy that most of them are working, but I'd be happier if Go Fish! was saving. If the roms I have do turn out to be the latest, I may go back to some older versions to see if the savekey works.

 

I don't understand Scramble though. Without the savekey, it always says "ARCADE", but with the savekey, it keeps the setting at "novice". So it's clearly seeing the savekey, but it never says "savekey found" on the Atari Age screen and it isn't saving any scores. I know I have the latest version of it, because it's part of the rom name.. Maybe I'll have better luck with an older version of it..

 

If I can't figure out why Go Fish! won't work, I'll try contacting the developer and see if he can help me out.

 

As far as Thrust+ goes, it might be working. I'm just not good enough at it to score any points.

[Using a Savekey or Atarivox with Harmony Encore.]

Ok, I tried it on what games I had on my SD card already.

 

Here's the list of what worked.

 

Elevators Amiss

Fall Down

Juno First

Lead

Man Goes Down

Omicron

Strat-O-Gems

Palomino

Wall Jump Ninja

 

Here's the list of ones that didn't work for me..

 

Astar( did nothing)

Go Fish (did nothing)

Scramble (scramble seems to be saving the "novice" setting when I go back to it, but it's not keeping my score.)

 

I tried Thrust+ ( I was so bad at it that I couldn't get any points.)

[Using a Savekey or Atarivox with Harmony Encore.]

 

 

Have you tried saving a score in Man Goes Down?

Ok. Plugged into port 2, yes. Straight in, no extensions or anything.

 

Man goes down is working.

Strat-O-gems is working.

Scramble is saving the "novice" setting, but it's not displaying that it found the savekey at the beginning and it's not saving the score.

Go Fish isn't doing anything.

 

I have the newest versions of all the games and I've tested them on the 2600 and on the 7800. As far as I know, there are no issues with the ports on either machine.

It's got me stumped.

[Using a Savekey or Atarivox with Harmony Encore.]

I tried it on Scramble and it's not showing that it's found it. It did work on Strat-o-gems, but so far, that's the only game it's working on. CPUWIZ just made this savekey for me a few days ago so I'm pretty sure it's alright. I figured that there was some trick to getting it to work with the Harmony Encore. I tested it on my 2600 and my 7800. Strat-o-gems score and replay are working, but no other games I've tried are saving anything.

[Using a Savekey or Atarivox with Harmony Encore.]

Ok, I may be asking a really simple question, that's probably been answered before, but I did a search and couldn't find an answer. I have a savekey (Thanks to CPUWIZ) and I'm trying to get it to work with the Harmony Encore. I know what games it works with and I've tried it on a couple of them, but I'm apparently not doing something right. So far I haven't managed to pull up even one saved high score. I'm guessing I'm just doing something dumb. I think some games you need to hold the fire button when you power the system on, but that gets a little confusing, since the power is already on when you start a game from the Harmony Cart. I feel like an idiot because I know this is something simple that I'm missing here.. As an example, let's try Go Fish! Can someone just tell me what I need to do to save and then load it?

[Blue Vertical Lines on 2600]

OK, I managed to remember to test my 7800 and sure enough, no lines on the edges. Which also jogged my memory about something. I was sure that my 2600 didn't have any lines until after I installed the new caps and stuff. What I had forgotten about was that I had been playing everything on the 7800. I didn't start using the 2600 again until I installed the tune-up kit. Old age, man it sure sneaks up on ya. Now that that's settled, It would be nice to know what was changed in the hardware to hide the lines. If it was something as simple as a resistor, maybe it could be replicated on the 2600?

 

Of course, It's not that big of a deal I guess. If it really bothered me, I can always just keep using my 7800.

 

Really, the only reason to use the 2600 instead of the 7800 is just because I like the way it looks. I'm not sure how to explain it, but playing a 2600 game with a 7800 sitting in front of me just doesn't feel "right". I kinda feel guilty, like I'm breaking some ancient, unspoken rule.

[Blue Vertical Lines on 2600]

I figured it was something we would have to live with. I'll hook up my 7800 in little while and see if it looks the same, since I can't remember ( I just had it connected a few days ago, shows what happens to our minds as we age.) I'll tell you though, before I replaced the caps and stuff on my 2600, I really don't think the line was this obvious...

My experience, based on the TVs I have availible, is that I get a much better picture when I'm using the HDTVs than the CRTs. I don't have any noticeable color bleeding on the HDs, but it's horrible on my CRT. I have yet to test my floor model Magnavox TV, since it's a pain to get to. It's so big that I don't have space in my house for it, so I left it at my Father's and it's now used as a table/shelf of sorts. I'll try my best to get my 7800 hooked up and post the results tonight, unless it slips my mind (as most everything does, especially when to take my medications).

[RetroN 77]

You have to be realistic when it comes to the price.

 

Yes, you can go onto Ebay and buy an original 2600, complete with a pile of games, for $50 or less, and the AV mod kit for $10.

 

But if you want really crisp picture quality, you need to go for the RGB mod, which costs $100 just for the kit, $100 to have it professionally installed.

 

I would be happy to pay $80 for this system. $80 is a fine price for a system that can play 2600 carts via HDMI. That's what I want, and I'm going to buy a couple of these even if they're $80.

 

I don't want to deal with mod kits, mailing a system in to get modded, buying a $350 Framemeister, etc. I just want an HDMI system that can plug into my modern TV and look amazing. Hopefully that's what this will be.

OK, You make a good point. I probably rambled on a bit in my post and pulled it slightly off topic because I was annoyed. I agree, having the console output via HDMI, is an advantage. My point was, if everyone keeps saying it's worth $80, before the official price has been set, the chance, that Hyper-whatsit will charge more than they had originally planned, increases. making the console cost more than the "average" person can justify. Here in East TN, most everyone I know makes between $250 and $400 a week. They also have rent, car payments, electric, cell phone, water, cable bills, etc. I know there are a lot of places in the USA and around the world, where $80 is probably pocket change, but there are also places where it isn't. People constantly saying $80 is great, (when the plan may have been to release it at $40) may very well cause it to be released at $80, pricing "average" people out of the game. That's the point I'm trying to make. People don't need to keep throwing a dollar amount around. The makers of this thing want to make a profit, if they see people will throw $80 at it without a second thought, that's what they will sell it for. If you were looking to buy a new car, would you start telling the dealer you would pay $20,000, without knowing he was only asking $10,000? That's what's happening here, but people seem to be oblivious to it.

[RetroN 77]

There are WAY too many people saying that $80 is fine. It's not. Keep in mind that some people live on fixed incomes. Everyone can't throw $80 around like it's nothing. Even poor people can probably save up $40 for something to enjoy (besides food and running water). The first price that was mentioned here was $40 and people were happy with that, then someone brings up $80 and people are still jumping for joy, even though the price just doubled. Given the fact that we REALLY don't know what it's going to sell for, why don't we all just shut up until we know for sure. If everyone keeps screaming that $80 is a great deal and someone from Hyper-whatever reads it, guess how much it's going to cost???? $80, what a surprise. How bout I jump on the bandwagon and get about 10 or 20 other members to say they will buy it at $150 ? It's common sense people, don't drive the price up before it's even been officially announced.

 

Here's where my logic stands on this, I can buy a 2600 for around $30-50 (just look on eBay). I can then buy a cheap AV mod kit for $10 (again, just look on eBay). I now have between $40 and $60 in an original Atari that will work with any TV I'm likely to own. These prices are FACTS, you can look them up. Now, that's original hardware. THEN, emulators are FREE! So, if I can use free emulators or original hardware, why would I pay more than $40 for this? I wouldn't. You know what, now that I think about it, everyone can go ahead and throw around how much they are willing to pay, because I just realized I don't need this thing as long as I can get a REAL 2600.

 

I'd like to say "Thanks" to all the $80 people who helped me realize I'm not interested in this thing!