-^CrossBow^-
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Posts posted by -^CrossBow^-
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12 hours ago, SuperZapperRecharge said:
Haven't used Star Wars the Arcade Game recently, but I read you could use this cartridge for calibration as well.
Star wars can be used, but it is more difficult because at least on my 5200s with proper calibration, the cross hair on star wars ends up being off center to the right when first starting up the game. I also think Star Wars has something in the code to help calibration the cross hair when it powers up so I don't know that it can be changed as easy on the fly as using Missile Command. Missile Command might also be cheaper to purchase vs SW:TAG so there is that too. And Missile Command on the 5200 is pretty much arcade experience game play. Especially with a good working Trak-ball paired with it.
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I can't recall if there is a method to reset the Avox on its own. But I now the 7800 Utility Cart has a feature on it to format the Avox to clear it out. I've never used it myself but I've seen it referenced.
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On 4/18/2024 at 8:57 PM, tripletopper said:
That's actually a good idea. Buy a double male DB9 and buy a double female DB9.
I'm surprised they don't advertise it like that where it could be a "reverse adapter" if you buy one double male and one double female.
So it's just the pin remap adapter.
That's why all those joysticks sites say wire color to color, not pin to pin, in case you got an Ethernet crossover cable by accident which happened to me when I originally got my Toodles Cthulhu installed by my joystick maker.
Funny thing is my guy who wired it refused to follow the directions on the internet and insist on pin to pin wiring, and one of my cables happened to be a crossover ethernet cable and only the Dreamcast worked on the Cthulhu.
We all live and learn.
You cannot rely on color to color because different cables during different parts of manufacture could very well have different colored wiring inside the harness. It is always advised to verify Pin to pin connections to be sure you have everything wired properly. I actually made a color code chart when I was doing more FB intv controller to INTV2 wiring and have since come across a few FB controllers where the colors were a little different and I had to go back to verifying pin to pin what was connected to where.
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@Celotine There is technically an official way to calibrate the pokey readings on the console and it requires the use of a specific loopback board that Atari used back in the day. It provides static readings during the pokey test with the diagnostics cart to help dial this in.
That said, there is a way you can do it more unofficial that should get your 90% there. You need to use the game Missile Command. When you have the controllers perfectly in the center, the game should come up with the crosshair in the center of the screen when you start a game. So to do this, you need to have a controller apart so you can access the pot arms inside it.
- Remove the top of the 5200 console shell so you can access the trimmer adjust for the pokey.
- Set the top arm so that it is at exactly the 9 o'clock position
- Set the bottom arm to that is is exactly at the 6 o'clock position
- Plug in the controller to the player 1 port
- Plug in the Missile Command cartridge into the system. This will require you to defeat the dust cover door on the cartridge since with the top cover removed, the pegs needed to open won't be present
- Start up the game and note where the cross hair is located.
- Turn the Pokey adjustment counter clockwise if the cursor is right of the center, Turn pokey adjustment clockwise if the cursor is left of the center
- It might be required to reset the game between adjustments to be sure it is locking in right
- Only small adjustments are needed. So just turn a few degrees at a time when checking and adjust your turns as needed to dial it in.
That is the basic of it although again, never quite as accurate as using an actual pokey test and adjustment loop back board from back in the day.
Here is a video I did sometime back that goes though the official process and a few other ways to adjust it.
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So this is the actual game that the old Portal demo was showing. Will some of the features that the Portal demo had make it over to the actual game? Like the Pokey audio and Covox speech for instance?
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2 minutes ago, Alex_813 said:
40 caps in an hour is impressive to say the least. My skill level is definitely going to add time to that project. I will have a look at console5 and make sure I have all the necessary caps before I crack the system open.
Well, I did a video of the process where I sped it up and it actually took me about 1 and a half hours to do it there. But I know I've managed to do it in less time since.
You might have to crack it open first so you know exactly which revision of the system you have. Va2, va3, va46, va7 etc. to make sure you have the right ones on hand or order the correct kit.
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16 hours ago, Alex_813 said:
Thank you for the replies. Yes, it's a model 1. I tried playing with the volume slider but it had no effect on the sound in any way. I was assuming that was for the headphone output only? I can't find any wired headphones laying around, so not sure if the hum is also present there.
I have have plenty of caps, so that shouldn't be too difficult to rectify. What I don't have entry of is time, lol. I guess I'll tear in to it eventually.
Well on average for me, it takes just under an hour to recap a genesis from start to finish. I tend to recap systems one cap at a time, so I can make sure of the value I just removed and the polarity. There are capacitor maps on Console5 to help with all of that, but still prefer to go at it one cap at a time. But you do need quite a lot of them as there are about 40 to be replaced out in total.
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Which model of the Genesis do you have? The older model 1 units can develop symptoms like this when the volume slider starts to go bad. It can sometimes be cleaned up to help, but I've usually ended up having to replace them out. I used to keep va7 model 1 systems just for that volume slider but I've not got anything like that on hand currently.
I've not really looked to see if a replacement can be purchased new. It is actually a rheostat as the name of the component and while I'm sure you can get something similar, I don't think the exact one used in those consoles is able to be found now.
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5 minutes ago, astroguy said:
what were the issues you were seeing?
Mainly issues with video sync resulting in scrambled looking video output.
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47 minutes ago, Bratwurst said:
They're probably standard tactile switches with the square pegs clipped off, they come molded in yellow as well as black. I think the color denotes a different rating of pressure-force.
I got a bunch myself some time ago from Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832701258721.html
Yes I use something similar but order mine direct from Mouser. I order some quality Alps branded ones as my new standard switch replacements but they cost more than the ones from Console5. I have some other Alps ones I've started to order recently that cost a bit more but have metal tops on them with a larger red colored actuator and rated for like 10million cycles.
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@astroguy Excellent work! Although I've never had that particualr 7432 go bad on me before. I have had the other one just above the MARIA IC go bad before causing video output issues. Interesting panel buttons you have there. What are their exact specs?
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4 hours ago, Gemintronic said:
I may be just making things up at this point.
Could have sworn you could drop the bat into the inside of the yellow castle. Vaguely remember dragging the bat around when he and I grabbed the same item. Shoved him into the yellow castle and he tended to stay there so one could adventure forth with less problems.
As @zzip stated this is totally a tactic you can use. But you also need to make sure that you lock up the yellow castle and keep the key outside because many times I would trap the bat with nothing else inside the yellow castle, and he would still get out when a dragon off screen, I assume wandered into the open gate and thereby entered the castle? That is the only explanation I can come up with since usually when I noticed the bat had escaped he usually was carrying a dragon with him.
And I'e also experienced the bat bringing me dead dragons that I hadn't even encountered in the game yet, and more than once I've found one of the dragons dead that I didn't do. So if the objects can only interact when they are being shown, then how the heck does the bat grab things off screen to begin with? Isn't the same collision rules in place for the bat to be able to pick up stuff?
I'm pretty confident the bat can grab the sword and kill dragons off screen with it by simple flying over them but since it all takes place off screen, it isn't able to be 'seen' happening to confirm this?
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Not sure if this is the same issue being described or not, but my original Harmony and UNOcarts both have the same similar issue. The issue is that they won't always want to fit in and seat into place. I figured out the issue is that the PCB itself inside the cartridge shell will tilt up/down a bit. And this slight ability to tilt will cause the PCB to not align with the actual opening in the spring loaded dust cover through the cartridge itself and with the console.
What I'm able to do with both of them is to wiggle them a bit once they stop going in and find the spot where the PCB will then slip through the slot on the cartridge port and seat in fully. It is easier to do this on my UNOcart because the SD card slot on that sticks out a bit on the back and I'm able to just wiggle that which, in turn wiggles the PCB inside the cart enough to align it with the slots on the cartridge port.
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42 minutes ago, 0078265317 said:
Perhaps a quick 30 seconds video of the final picture and audio just to see the difference would help.
Oh...I've plenty of examples of this. But as all of my client videos are unlisted on my channel for their privacy, it is up to them on whether they want to post any of the details of those videos.
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Yes, it seems the two main bugs I reported are now corrected.
Here is my best score so far.
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41 minutes ago, ColecoGamer said:
It came in! My CDZ arrived 2 days early from Japan.
I can’t wait to play my games with faster loading times.
I plan on still fixing my broken unit. Maybe I’ll sell it cheap to someone who really wants a Neo-Geo.
Pair up the semi broken unit with an SDLoader and make your money back or a good portion of I at least?
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1 hour ago, woj said:
Apart from the palette there is nothing new in it, and I also think there would be no FW fix for this, this is probably a hardware speed issue.
That makes sense... just something that needs to get more attention and mention for potential buyers of the VBXE\XL in their NTSC computers.
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5 minutes ago, woj said:
Had no problem of this kind on my PAL machine, but it appeared on the NTSC one. This has something to do with the core not getting loaded on time, at least this is what I gatherer from some discussions around here.
Well, even with the newer FW that added the NTSC palette didn't correct for this either. So just one of the many reason, that when using my 130xe with my VBXE, that I pretty much have to make sure I also have the s-video connected so when the VBXE goes into screwy graphics mode, I can at least see what I'm trying to do vs just power cycling the console off/on each time.
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I'm fairly confident I've loaded this up more than once through my VBXE and never had it lock up that I can recall? That said, my VBXE output gets messed up frequently. Usually 1 in 3 resets will cause the Text mode graphics to appear as blocks of color on a blue background versus the actual text. While the actual onboard video output through composite/s-video will look correct still. So, I know when that happens it is an issue with the VBXE itself and not the computer.
So I figured there are quite a few games that might have some code in them that messed with the VBXE registers in a similar way?
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On 4/6/2024 at 2:36 PM, RockLobster said:
Except this is the one adapter to rule them all!
That must be the newer CV adapter I'm guessing? Mine is taller and had to add some kapton tape to the soldered connector pins due to them shorting against the metal flap door for the cartridge port on mine. I brought it up with Evie and she stated she would look at redesigning it. I had suggested a 3D printed shroud to cover that adapter, but it looks like she chose to just make it shorter which, works too.
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@vhzc One of the bugs I found is still present both in emulation and on actual hardware still. That old bug causes a very interesting thing to happen at the last boss that I will tell you more about in a PM.
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I should look into getting one of these sometime... hmm...
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@paulwgraber I can't answer that as I actually don't purchase the premade boards. I only buy the basic board with out manual for 2600 and 7800 use, and I buy the DIY kit that you can put together for the 5200 setups. That way I still get most of the parts I need and I can assemble the UAV in a smaller and more compact way. So as an example, the jumpers aren't used in my setups. I instead use bits of clipped leads off components to put through the center vias to make my own permanent jumpers.
As for the audio, the easiest thing there is to get yourself like a 2k - 6.8k resistor and attach that inline off the top of R50 which is located just left and about center of the RF ground trace on the right hand side of the board. Now I usually add a 10µf capacitor off that resistor inline also but that isn't 100% required.
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@paulwgraber Your jumper settings on the UAV are incorrect for the R. D variant that you have. Try arranging the jumpers like this.
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New Atari 7800 Power Supplies
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I bought 2 of them so I can answer that in the near future if it isn't answered before then.