PSOD (purple screen of death)

[esplonky]

Purple screen of death (PSOD) is a very precise problem. not enough RAM to play your ROM file, so the atari flips out. it shows a black screen then purple starts coming in from the sides and sound ascends in pitch until the purple meets and then makes an ugly sound that will give little kids nightmares.

 

it usually happens because of the following:

 

too many banks

too big of playfield/playerx

too many players

or just too much happening in your game.

 

 

 

if your ROM file exceeds more than 4k (4 kilobytes) then you need to check your code.

 

my uploader on atariage isn't working right so i'll give you my code that will do this.

 

the way i got psod in this is from too big of a sprite. (way too big)

 

 


start


playfield:
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
end

drawscreen

sprites

player0:
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000011111111111111111000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000111111111111111111110000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000011111110000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000011111111111111111000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000111111111111111111110000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000011111110000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
%11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
end

main_loop
goto sprites

 

 

if you know of any more reasons reply, or if you just wanna say "i love you" that's ok too!

Edited June 6, 2011 by esplonky

[Cebus Capucinis]

I love you.

[SeaGtGruff]

Purple screen of death (PSOD) is a very precise problem. not enough RAM to play your ROM file, so the atari flips out. it shows a black screen then purple starts coming in from the sides and sound ascends in pitch until the purple meets and then makes an ugly sound that will give little kids nightmares.

This can happen on an emulator like Stella, but not on an actual 2600-- at least not "in error." What's happening (if I remember correctly) is a bad ROM size that causes the emulator to try to load the ROM as though it were a Starpath Supercharger game. (Of course, it *will* happen on an actual 2600 if you're loading your ROM into a Starpath Supercharger-- which used to be one of the very few ways you could play your homebrew ROMs on a real 2600 before there were programmable multicarts available.)

 

Michael

[esplonky]

Yes, I'm talking to developers so if they see that, they know what it means.

[keilbaca]

Is there a way I can see said purple screen of death? I like stupid random terrible noises.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Purple screen of death (PSOD) is a very precise problem. not enough RAM to play your ROM file, so the atari flips out. it shows a black screen then purple starts coming in from the sides and sound ascends in pitch until the purple meets and then makes an ugly sound that will give little kids nightmares.

 

it usually happens because of the following:

 

too many banks

too big of playfield/playerx

too many players

or just too much happening in your game.

 

 

 

if your ROM file exceeds more than 4k (4 kilobytes) then you need to check your code.

 

my uploader on atariage isn't working right so i'll give you my code that will do this.

 

the way i got psod in this is from too big of a sprite. (way too big)

 

 

 

if you know of any more reasons reply, or if you just wanna say "i love you" that's ok too!

 

 

When you try to run a zero byte ROM, Stella will detect it as a Supercharger ROM as SeaGtGruff pointed out. This will happen when there are fatal assembly errors, all the reasons you mentioned above will cause this. I'd upload a zero byte ROM but the forum software doesn't seem to like it.

[+stephena]

When you try to run a zero byte ROM, Stella will detect it as a Supercharger ROM as SeaGtGruff pointed out. This will happen when there are fatal assembly errors, all the reasons you mentioned above will cause this. I'd upload a zero byte ROM but the forum software doesn't seem to like it.

This comes from looking at the size of the ROM file. The first test that Stella does is check to see if the file size is a multiple of 8448 (which all Supercharger ROMs will be). And since 0 is a multiple of 8448, it thinks it's a Supercharger ROM! This should probably be fixed in Stella, with an indication that the ROM file is empty.

[+atari2600land]

Another problem with your code is there is no drawscreen.

[ScumSoft]

I see a drawscreen, might have added it after you posted.

Edited June 10, 2011 by ScumSoft

[+Random Terrain]

I see a drawscreen, might have added it after you posted.

Yeah, he has a drawscreen, just not in his main loop.

[esplonky]

yeah, but i was only trying to draw a big player0 so it takes too much ram