Text Label Large TM Question

[Text Label Large TM Question]

I have probably 60 carts that I'd like to replace the labels on, but having them professionally done is cost prohibitive and I don't own a printer (or have the money to buy ink, etc.) So my options are limited at the moment. I did find a local print shop who did some vintage R2-D2 figure stickers for me on weather proof paper for a VERY reasonable price. If I recall correctly, it was about $5 to do enough stickers to restore 48 R2-D2 figures to displayable condition.. So, When I do decide to replace some labels on my 2600 carts, that's the way I'll go. I'd suggest checking local print shops to see if any of them would do a small batch of labels for you. It might not cost too much and the quality would far exceed anything you could print at home. if they have the ability to cut the labels too, that would be worth the extra money to know you had nice straight lines and neat corners.

[Taxi Panic!]

Just found this thread tonight. I'm really interested in this game. I'd like to know where it stands at the moment. How about an Update?

[RetroN 77]

I love my old Atari, but I'm in when this gets released, anything that helps keep Atari alive and kicking is worth throwing some money at. That's coming from a guy whose income is so limited that he doesn't even own a cell phone or have cable/satellite.

[Text Label Large TM Question]

I'm not one to answer on the value of a rare cart with a new label, but in my opinion, a new label is always better than no label or one that's more or less destroyed. When it comes to most games, buying nice new labels costs more than the cart, but If it's a cart you intend to keep and play, I say do what you want to it. There are a couple of people on the forums who make really nice repro labels, even foil ones. If you don't mind spending the money, they are well worth it to freshen up the look of old carts. Of course, you can print them yourself too, but for durability, I would go with one of the guys who does it here on the forums.

[Atari Party! Your thoughts ...]

I love the idea of this.

As far as what games are a must,

Medieval Mayhem. No doubt about it.

As far as other games, I find that Combat or any two player game is fun when you have 2 or more people, of course.

 

I've tried to do things like this in the past, but where I live, there aren't many people interested in things that I consider to be "fun"...

While I was helping out at the comic & collectables store in town, I ran into a guy who had been doing D&D with the same group of people since they had been in school together. At least once a year they all travel from different stats and meet at his house to play. That's dedication to a game and to your friends. Not many people I know would make a trip like that. I'm not talking about single people either, these people all have kids and some even grand children and they bring them along! When I was a kid, it was rare if we even went to visit family if they were more than 30 minutes away!

 

I wish you the best of luck with the "Atari Party".

[Blue Vertical Lines on 2600]

I have the same issue on my Revision 12, 4 switcher 2600. Mine looks more purple than blue and I also have a green line on the other side. I have AV modded mine and added the "tune-up kit" (caps and voltage regulator, etc.) I was working on the assumption that this line should fall outside of the viewing area on CRT tvs. I hadn't thought to see if my 7800 has the same lines or not. As a matter of fact, I think I mentioned this in one of my threads not too long ago. I don't remember if I got an answer about it or not.

[Homebrews No Longer Obtainable?]

I hope you don'T feel alienated by the latest discussion here. Overall the Atari 2600 community are very nice people. The (very few) exceptions prove the rule.

Thomas,

I know there are always a few bad apples in every bunch, so I expected there would be drama from time to time. I'm by no means leaving the site or the forums. I'm just done trying to add anything to this thread, since it's clear that the "bad apples" seem to be falling right on top of it.. I joined the forums to talk to people who, like me, are interested in keeping this iconic piece of video game history alive, I'll just have to ignore the people who want to rain on the parade.

[Homebrews No Longer Obtainable?]

I'm going to drop out of this discussion now. I feel like too many people are misunderstanding (or intentionally misusing) this thread. The developers don't "OWE" anyone here ANYTHING! Stop with that crap! The point I wanted to get across is that everyone should have the opportunity to BUY a copy of a rom from the developer for a reasonable price, so everyone gains something. I thought the members here were a community and would come together on this subject, not argue. Now there are people complaining and throwing insults around. This isn't what this was supposed to be about..... Enjoy the bickering, I'm done with this thread.

[Some help needed with a hopefully simple hack.]

Currently the only computer I have availible is my tablet. I can't find an Android version of Stella.

 

Update, I now have my old Windows XP laptop up and running, but I'm not sure for how long. it has a very noisy hard drive and I don't think the fan is working anymore, LOL

I'm installing Stella right now. We'll see if it runs long enough to accomplish anything.

[Homebrews No Longer Obtainable?]

Knowing that there was an Army of Darkness homebrew that I missed out on makes me sad. No boom stick for me.

Look for Bifrost. It's the same game, just different graphics. Being a fan of the Evil Dead and Army of Darkness movies, I was disappointed too, but I enjoy playing Bifrost anyway.

Also, you might try looking up the developer and contacting them, it never hurts to ask.

[Homebrews No Longer Obtainable?]

 

If I'm already giving away my ROM, would you pay for a digital download package that includes a pdf of art, manual, rom, etc?

 

IF you are freely sharing the rom, then you could do the "tip" system as people have mentioned. If you make a rom and I play it and enjoy it, I'd be willing to send some money your way, to show my appreciation for your work. I really believe that the developers should get something, as an incentive to keep making games, now if you wanted to make a nice downloadable package with artwork and instructions, backstory, etc., YES, I'd be willing to pay for the package.

 

The developers who are already sharing their work deserve just as much as those aren't. My main message is to the people who are making a game, selling a very limited number of carts and then just forgetting about all the other Atari fans who are desperately want to play their game. If they would just sell the roms to those of us who have Harmony carts or who only play on emulators, everyone would win.

 

Most of us are far more likely to support a developer who shares his work with the community. I'm not going to spend a bunch of money on the secondary market to get a cart that I missed out on due to limited funds or not being quick enough when it came out, but you can bet your ass, if someone dumps the rom, I'll be playing that game. The way I see it is- if the developer releases the rom for a small fee, he (or she) will get my money and everyone will be happy. If they don't release the rom, eventually someone will dump it and I'll be playing it anyway. It's that simple. What's the point in making a game, if only a few people ever get to play it? I just can't see the logic in it.

 

If a Developer sells 20 carts and makes $5 off each cart and then locks the rom away and throws away the key, they made $100. If they share the rom for $5 and 30 people download it, that's $150 (most likely on top of the cart sales). There are plenty of us who can't afford to buy carts, but can dig up $5 somewhere. If they want to have limited edition carts, that's fine, they can use special artwork or even use a slightly different version of the game for that. I really don't see how selling (or giving away) the roms will affect the sale of the carts, since the people who want a cart will still get a cart. I just think everyone should be given the opportunity to play the games, not just the people who have the most money or who got there first. This community is what keeps Atari alive, the fans and the developers, it's a team effort.

[2600, Rev.12 won't play some games, but my 7800 will.]

After some more searching I found an old thread where a fix was found for Skeleton Plus.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/174878-skeleton-not-working/?do=findComment&comment=2815053

 

I tried the fixed version that Thomas Jentzsch did and it now works.

I'm guessing that the original Skeleton also needs to be patched, but I have no idea how to do that.

 

OK, so Skeleton and Skeleton Plus are the same game, so I don't guess that both need to be patched. It's really odd that both play on the 7800 but neither plays on the 2600, until I found the patched one Thomas did. Very odd..

[2600, Rev.12 won't play some games, but my 7800 will.]

I do have a donor system that I can remove chips from, but I'm not sure if they are good or not, but it's worth a try.

[2600, Rev.12 won't play some games, but my 7800 will.]

Here's a quick update.. I went through all my roms on both systems, 2600 and 7800. Heres what I found.

 

Boulder dash , no video signal on 2600 or 7800( this applies to any binaries other than "demo 2", which works).

Galaxian Arcade, garbled junk at the beginning, gameplay works on both systems, but the player's ship is garbled on both.

Skeleton, works on 7800, but on 2600, there's no picture, only sound.

Skeleton Plus, same as Skeleton

Star Castle Arcade, won't work on either system.

Ultra Pac Man, won't work on either system.

 

Based on what I know now, I'm sure that my 2600 is the problem with Skeleton and Skeleton Plus, but the other games have an issue with the roms.

 

So, my original question still stands. Could the issue be caused by a revision 12 board or do you think it's something else? Has anyone had any trouble playing Skeleton or Skeleton Plus on their 2600? If so, what revision is your board?

[2600, Rev.12 won't play some games, but my 7800 will.]

I don't know if this has been covered on the forums already or not.I did a few searches and didn't find anything like this. I have a revision 12 board in my 2600. I've ran into a few 2600 games that refuse to play, but work fine on my 7800. Just off the top of my head, Skeleton, and Skeleton PLUS. There's at least one or two more that I know won't play and possibly more that I haven't tried yet.. I have over 700 games loaded on my Harmony, so it's hard to keep track of all of them. Has anyone else had an issue with one console not working with a game when another console does? I've been considering buying another 2600 anyway, but if some revisions are better than others, I need to keep that in mind when looking for one. I know it "might" be the roms I have, so I'm going to check that out right now and then see where I stand. The fact that these games play on the 7800 but not on the 2600 makes me think it's probably not bad roms. Oh, almost forgot, I'm using a Harmony Encore, in case that's relevant.

[Some help needed with a hopefully simple hack.]

Shouldn't be too hard. Are you running the game in Stella?

No, I'm running it on the Harmony Cart. I can download Stella, though.

[about cartridges, molds, colors etc.. etc..]

Coleco shells are white; wasn't King Kong in a blue shell?

 

You just got me thinking. I'm going to do a little research and see if there are some commons that have cases that aren't black (and are the correct shape). If I can find one cheap enough, I might just reshell my Harmony cart and do a custom label for it.

 

After a bit of digging, King Kong can be had at a reasonable price, but I'm not sure the Harmony would fit in it due to the tapered nature of the top of the cart. However, I do have a few Coleco games in my collection that have white/off white cases. I'm wondering if they would take dye. if they would, I could make my Harmony cart into almost any color I wanted, except translucent.

 

OK, one more update. The Coleco carts have a tapered area on the back too. I'm not sure if the Harmony internals would fit and I'm not ready to take it apart to see, so for now I'll live with it being black.

[Some help needed with a hopefully simple hack.]

Hi guys,

 

Let me start off by saying, I have no idea how to even begin doing a hack. (if that didn't scare you away from this thread, them maybe you can help me.)

 

What I'm looking to do is change the color of the ship in Save Our Ship (NTSC version). The NTSC versions have a very bright and colorful ship. I would rather it be more of a brown color like the PAL versions, so that it's easier on my eyes and looks more like a wooden ship.

What I'd like to do, is get information on how to go about this with the least amount of knowledge (right now, being zero).

Of course, if someone thinks it would be easier to do this for me, than to explain to an idiot how to do it, then that's fine too... So,is there a simple way to show an idiot how to change the color? Then by all means, share your knowledge. If on the other hand, it's too complicated and you are feeling generous, I'd be very happy with someone else doing the work for me. It's up to you.

[about cartridges, molds, colors etc.. etc..]

Here's my VGWiz collection...

I'd love to have a shell for my Harmony Cart. Any color other than Black would be awesome. It's too bad you can't find these 2600 shells anymore.

[about cartridges, molds, colors etc.. etc..]

I've seen at least one homebrew cart that had a blue translucent shell. I don't know if it could have been a one-off cart or not, but it really seems to me that new cart shells would be availible. I'm all for manufacturing things in places other than China, but if anyone here has connections with toy or plastics companies in China, there's a good chance these might be easier and cheaper to get than what we think. I'd really love to have color options. I know I've ran into games at flea markets and thrift stores that had beat up shells. had there been readily availible replacements, I would have been buying up more games to bring back to life instead of leaving them to be thrown away eventually. Also, I've seen more than a few auctions on "the Bay" where someone had gutted a bunch of carts and was selling off the PCBs in large lots. I had considered buying some 7800 ones, but without replacement shells, it wouldn't have made much sense. When the shells do become availible, I might just stock up on a bunch of them just to make some of my favorite games stand out from the rest in my collection.

[CLOSED. Item Found.]

This is awesome news! I'm really excited about getting mine! I don't have many games that take advantage of it, but from what I've heard, it's going to be great on the ones that do!

 

I got to thinking about something, but I'm no programmer, so forgive me if this is a dumb idea, but I'm wondering if it would be possible to create a "patch" program that could be used to add basic high score saving to some of the older games?

 

I know there are multiple patches and patching programs for NES and such, so I thought it MIGHT be something that could work for Atari games. Maybe?

[Atari 2600 4 switch, revision 12 "refresh kit" issues.]

UPDATE!!!

 

After doing a lot of yelling and throwing things because I couldn't get a nice picture on my CRT, I switched to the HDTV in my bedroom. Guess what??? Everything looks perfect. No bleeding, the yellow looks yellow, it's all good. Of course there's still the stuff going on outside of the actual game screen, but I don't care about that. I'm just happy the picture quality is good now. I also tested my 7800 on my CRT and of course, it looks horrible too! So, I'm guessing my little CRT has just outlived it's usefulness. I still have my huge floor model Magnavox CRT and I haven't even tried it yet, so I have no clue what the results will be on it. I'm not dying for a light gun right this minute, so I'm fine with using the HDTV in the bedroom to play Atari on.

 

I did notice after warm up, both the 2600 and the 7800 show a shift in color, but I only notice it on the test screens, not on actual games.

 

So, for now, it seems all my problems are solved.

[Atari 2600 4 switch, revision 12 "refresh kit" issues.]

I need to look into the UAV board. I posted in that topic a while back and never got a reply back, so I gave up on it. If it fixes the color bleeding, then I really need to look into it again. I have a 7800 with a standard AV mod and there's no color bleeding on it.. (or if there is, it's so minor that I don't notice it even on the 47 inch HDTV.)

 

I did recheck all my solder points and reflowed anything that even looked a LITTLE bit off, but that didn't really improve anything.

I hadn't even thought about the socket being the culprit of any issues. I'll try removing the TIA and cleaning the contacts and reinstall it a few times and see if that makes any difference. I'll probably go ahead and buy a TIA chip to have on hand or I'll pull the good one I have on the donor board.

 

I don't think my colors change much as the 2600 warms up. No matter what my yellow test bar is always orange. On River Raid, The streets and stuff at the bottom of the starting screen are always too dark of a gray, nothing I do improves that. Also on River Raid, the F-U-E-L is always off. I can't get the white in it to look white. Could swapping the TIA fix this?

 

I did my color adjustments using a CRT late last night and haven't reconnected the system to an HDTV yet, but if I can get the colors right on one of my good CRTs, then I'll be fine. I don't really care if it's not great on all my TVs, if it's good on the one I'll be playing on most of the time.

 

BTW, Crossbow, Thank You for helping me out here. I really appreciate your input.

[Homebrews No Longer Obtainable?]

 

A good license (or at least some specific remarks in the readme) are actually helpful to the people down the line, as a way to communicate to them how you'd like your code to be used. Otherwise, if I see your example code, I'm hesitant about how I can/should use it. For example, when making my recent game, I referred heavily to your clown demo to get the timing right for my 6-character display. Technically, you have copyright on that and didn't list a license, which means I'm not allowed to use any of the code from it. Is that what you intended? A license would help me know what you intended.

 

 

Yeah, I agree. Which is why I ended up just putting a really permissive license on my game (basically "do anything you want with it"), trusting that people won't be jerks.

I think developers should allow the roms out in the wild after the game has been released and sold on cart. Yes, someone might bootleg it, but they can do that if someone rips the image from a cart, so it comes down to trust. You know that somewhere, someone had already ripped images for a bunch of homebrew games that the developers didn't release the roms for, yet I don't see them popping up on download sites. I own a Harmony cart and I want to play ALL my games from that one cart now. I'll still buy vintage games I like, just to have the cart. I'll still buy Homebrew, just to have a cool cart. What I would really LOVE, is to be able to pay the developer for a rom. That way, he gets the money, I promise not to share the rom and everyone is happy. Real Atari fans are going to support the developer, be it by paying for the cart or paying for the rom. Developers need to all get on board with this and get a little more money for their work and get their games out there for more people to enjoy. Yeah, we all know, there are going to be Bad Apples in the bunch that buy the rom and then try either sell it themselves or put it out there for people to download for free. that's going to happen no matter what. I've never done a bit of programming for the Atari, but I know the developers work hard for a long time to make good games, I'm not at all against paying $5 for a final version of a rom. Every bit of that goes to the developer, where it belongs. I don't see why a developer wouldn't like this idea, but I know there are probably a stubborn few who for some reason, don't want their roms out there for everyone to enjoy. For these developers, I have one question? Why? Now if it's a licensed game, like Boulder Dash for example, I understand not putting the rom out there, but for all the original homebrew games, DEVELOPERS, PLEASE SELL or freely distribute the ROMs! Get your games in the hands of all fans, not just the ones who can afford (or find) a cart. I have every intention of doing some hacks and eventual some original games and when I do, Hacked roms will be free and Original homebrew roms will be $0-3. I feel like this would be a very fair and beneficial system. It would get the games in the hands of everyone who wanted to play them, at a very fair price. I'd be happy and so would people who wanted to play the game. YES, it would work on the honor system, but I feel like almost all AtariAge members are trustworthy (even if some are rather annoying and grumpy.)

 

Final note, let's say developers did agree to release any rom, for a fee of say $0-5 here on AtariAge, this is where most if not all of your sales will come from. Now lets say one evil member here (probably wearing a top hat and twirling his moustache) buys the rom and then makes bootlegs and sells them on eBay. Yeah, it would be annoying, but if you had already release your limited number of carts (with say a certificate of authenticity), there's no harm really being done. You've sold the number of carts you intended and members will still buy the rom before they buy what should now be clearly a bootleg cart. Seems to me this would be a great system. The gamers get the games, the developers get some money, it's a WIN-WIN situation!

[Atari 2600 4 switch, revision 12 "refresh kit" issues.]

OK, here's an update of what I've done. I removed the zener/cap combo and replaced it with the original caps that I had removed. I may add the combo packs back in, when I get more info or photos on how to do it, if it turns out to be necessary for the 4 switchers.

I went ahead and changed out the two caps for the audio, but I haven't done much testing to see if it helped anything as far as the wildly different volume from game to game.

I did test it out on a CRT last night. Yes, the lines are in the overscan area, so on a CRT you never see them.

I didn't change the AV mod wires, since I wasn't sure it would help.

Before closing it up again, I decided to tune the colors. I used the Test Cart rom on my Harmony. I was able to get it to look OK, but no matter what the yellow bar always looked bright orange. Any attempt to fix that, threw all the other colors way out and never got me to yellow.

 

My biggest issue now is that the colors don't line up, if that makes sense. I'll try to explain what I mean.

On say, seaquest (just as an example), it looks almost like it would be in 3D, you know, if you had 3D glasses on. There are the subs and sharks, but slightly to the right of them, is another image of them that overlaps the first (actually I guess it underlaps, if that's even a word.)

It's like this on all my games, real carts or Harmony.

If this has something to do with the TIA or one of the other chips, I can easily fix it, since mine are all socketed. I actually have a donor 2600 that I could desolder chips from to test that out. I may do that later today, if I don't find anything better to do.