Jump to content
IGNORED

Defender's radar: can anyone fix it?


highinfidelity

Recommended Posts

 

Parker Brothers did not release specific versions of their cartridges for the North American and European markets... only the box changed to support multiple languages.

 

So that's it -- Parker Brother, in their cost cutting cheapness, decided to release a NSTC version of the game in PAL land and no one tested it. :ponder:

 

Hell, even Atari paid more attention to their ports!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I should have stated "I don't think", seeing that we would need definitive proof that maybe one of the European members could provide... but I'd say the probability is pretty high that there is only one cart version for both markets even though there is the NTSC and PAL differnece. CBS Electronics did the same in packaging US NTSC Coleco carts in some of their Australian releases and I'm sure there are many other examples of this.

 

Also, concerning the power supply in the ADAM Printer in a previous post of mine, it definitely would have been modified from 110v for the North American market to 220v for the European market now that I think of it, but still no proof that a PAL Stand-Alone ADAM was ever sold by Coleco or CBS. Again, if any European AA'ers have any info that they could share, it would be appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, now that I think of it, Parker Brothers labels for most of there games had two different variations of the game artwork on the face of the label. One was oriented where the artwork would be upside down when plugged into the ColecoVision and the other variation changed this so that the artwork was oriented correctly when plugged in. I think most of their games, not all, got this treatment.

 

So perhaps there is different versions or PB just decided to correct the artwork orientation on the label.

 

See pics...

post-25956-0-19728500-1357353172_thumb.jpg

post-25956-0-46716300-1357353179.jpg

Edited by NIAD
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This patch detects automatically if there is a PAL Colecovision and adds delay, but not for NTSC :)

 

Also added delay to solve bug with controllers in Coleco ADAM (not tested, but it should work)

 

If anyone publishes a patched ROM, please DON'T give me any credit. It is only my little contribution to the community.

 

Address

Original byte

New byte

$000C = $00 -> $3A

$000D = $00 -> $69

$000F = $00 -> $FE

$0010 = $00 -> $32

$0011 = $00 -> $20

$0012 = $00 -> $08

$0013 = $00 -> $01

$0014 = $00 -> $BA

$0015 = $00 -> $01

$0016 = $00 -> $0B

$0017 = $00 -> $78

$0018 = $00 -> $B1

$0019 = $00 -> $20

$001A = $00 -> $FB

$001B = $00 -> $C3

$001C = $00 -> $75

$001D = $00 -> $DD

$0172 = $75 -> $0C

$0173 = $DD -> $80

$020F = $3E -> $D3

$0211 = $D3 -> $E3

$0212 = $80 -> $E3

$0551 = $3E -> $D3

$0553 = $D3 -> $E3

$0554 = $80 -> $E3

$074D = $00 -> $E3

$074E = $00 -> $E3

$2FEB = $3E -> $D3

$2FEC = $80 -> $C0

$2FED = $D3 -> $E3

$2FEE = $C0 -> $E3

$3019 = $3E -> $D3

$301A = $80 -> $C0

$301B = $D3 -> $E3

$301C = $C0 -> $E3

$304B = $3E -> $D3

$304C = $80 -> $C0

$304D = $D3 -> $E3

$304E = $C0 -> $E3

$306D = $3E -> $D3

$306E = $80 -> $C0

$306F = $D3 -> $E3

$3070 = $C0 -> $E3

$324F = $3E -> $D3

$3250 = $80 -> $C0

$3251 = $D3 -> $E3

$3252 = $C0 -> $E3

$327F = $3E -> $D3

$3281 = $D3 -> $E3

$3282 = $80 -> $E3

$32B0 = $3E -> $D3

$32B2 = $D3 -> $E3

$32B3 = $80 -> $E3

$32C7 = $3E -> $D3

$32C9 = $D3 -> $E3

$32CA = $80 -> $E3

$32D6 = $3E -> $D3

$32D8 = $D3 -> $E3

$32D9 = $80 -> $E3

 

 

Thanks for working on this. I can now play Defender on my Coleco Adam. I used the Hex editor you posted and made the changes to the ROM. I loaded the new Rom onto the Atarimax CV Ultimate SD cartridge and played a few short games on my Adam. It works great. Only one small exception, when the "game over" screen is displayed the game makes a lot of weird noises until the title screen is displayed again.

Edited by ed1475
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for working on this. I can now play Defender on my Coleco Adam. I used the Hex editor you posted and made the changes to the ROM. I loaded the new Rom onto the Atarimax CV Ultimate SD cartridge and played a few short games on my Adam. It works great. Only one small exception, when the "game over" screen is displayed the game makes a lot of weird noises until the title screen is displayed again.

 

Nice. :) So you're using an NTSC or PAL system?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unbelievable :)

 

I'm live in Denmark and we have the PAL tv system.

My CBS ColecoVision is an French version with the Euro connector. (RGB).

 

I've had 4 different ColecoVisions before this i have now.

Defenders radar has never worked on some of them.

 

I have the AtariMax Ultimate SD Cartridge, and Defenders radar works nor on the SD.

 

So I'd like to propose a toast to nanochess for the code, and NIAD for the final ROM. :-D

It works now perfect on my PAL CBS ColecoVision, and also the Smart bombs.

 

Just need someone to burn it on a loose PCB. :)

 

I can say that almost ColecoVision games produced for our ColecoVision is exactly the same ROMs.

i.e. US ROMs, just changed cartridge shells, labels box and manuals.

 

This makes the game running slower, as well as melodies and sounds also runs slower.

A real PAL game will not slow this down.

And finally, no 3rd. parties games was ever sold officially in Denmark.

And no ADAM Computer either. (Being advertised on it, and the price was in 1984/85 set at DKR 10.600,- ).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys rock! :D

 

If I remember correctly, Super Cobra is the only other CV game that doesn't work on the ADAM. I haven't tried it and I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but if it could be fixed, then we'd have a complete collection of commercial CV games fully compatible with the ADAM. :)

 

EDIT: There's no PAL problem with Super Cobra, is there?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

Thanks for working on this. I can now play Defender on my Coleco Adam. I used the Hex editor you posted and made the changes to the ROM. I loaded the new Rom onto the Atarimax CV Ultimate SD cartridge and played a few short games on my Adam. It works great. Only one small exception, when the "game over" screen is displayed the game makes a lot of weird noises until the title screen is displayed again.

I was pretty surprised by this.

 

So I've checked your dump and you missed three bytes between $0552-$0554 in a way that put weird sound bytes at GAME OVER.

Thanks for putting your dump, otherwise I would have been searching for a ghost :)

 

But fortunately NIAD dump is right :), so everyone enjoy it :).

Edited by nanochess
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unbelievable :)

 

I'm live in Denmark and we have the PAL tv system.

My CBS ColecoVision is an French version with the Euro connector. (RGB).

 

I've had 4 different ColecoVisions before this i have now.

Defenders radar has never worked on some of them.

 

I have the AtariMax Ultimate SD Cartridge, and Defenders radar works nor on the SD.

 

So I'd like to propose a toast to nanochess for the code, and NIAD for the final ROM. :-D

It works now perfect on my PAL CBS ColecoVision, and also the Smart bombs.

 

Just need someone to burn it on a loose PCB. :)

 

I can say that almost ColecoVision games produced for our ColecoVision is exactly the same ROMs.

i.e. US ROMs, just changed cartridge shells, labels box and manuals.

 

This makes the game running slower, as well as melodies and sounds also runs slower.

A real PAL game will not slow this down.

And finally, no 3rd. parties games was ever sold officially in Denmark.

And no ADAM Computer either. (Being advertised on it, and the price was in 1984/85 set at DKR 10.600,- ).

I'm glad you could test it on your PAL Colecovision.

 

By the way, each of my games Zombie Near, Princess Quest and the future Mecha Eight are ready for PAL consoles so music doesn't slow down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys rock! :D

 

If I remember correctly, Super Cobra is the only other CV game that doesn't work on the ADAM. I haven't tried it and I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but if it could be fixed, then we'd have a complete collection of commercial CV games fully compatible with the ADAM. :)

 

EDIT: There's no PAL problem with Super Cobra, is there?

Really it also doesn't work? someone could give some light on this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I remember correctly, Super Cobra is the only other CV game that doesn't work on the ADAM. I haven't tried it and I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but if it could be fixed, then we'd have a complete collection of commercial CV games fully compatible with the ADAM. :)

 

EDIT: There's no PAL problem with Super Cobra, is there?

You are correct in that Super Cobra will not work correctly on the Stand-Alone ADAM, but I think it will work on the Exp. Mod. #3 ADAM. Coleco made some design changes to the ColecoVision board, the layout of the PCB mostly, but there were some other improvements. I'm just not sure of all the technicallities beside Composite Video Output added and improved Controller ICs seeing that the Stand-Alone ADAM doesn't suffer from this Controller ICs weakness.

 

If you were to use an emulator to test Super Cobra, you would have to test with M.E.S.S. using the ADAM Computer option to see first hand what Super Cobra is doing. If you use ADAMem, Super Cobra will work correctly because it automatically switches to ColecoVision mode when playing a CV rom image.

 

Really it also doesn't work? someone could give some light on this?

The first screen displays a bunch of garbage characters, does not play the startup music theme, starts playing the game with no helicopter sprite and will not accept any controller input. See the screenshot provided below.

post-25956-0-40098500-1357397723_thumb.png

post-25956-0-29218900-1357397742_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The "problem" I can find with Super Cobra is:

 

No intro/presentation screen,

 

The game just start up when you turn power on.

 

My Super Cobra game works fine on my CBS ColecoVision. :)

 

So what is missing on ADAM I do not no.

 

EDIT: My Super Cobra plays a little tune before the Helicopter shows up.

Edited by ten-four
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The "problem" I can find with Super Cobra is:

 

No intro/presentation screen,

 

The game just start up when you turn power on.

 

My Super Cobra game works fine on my CBS ColecoVision. :)

 

So what is missing on ADAM I do not no.

There is NO startup/title screen for Super Cobra and after the little intro melody, the game does automatically start... just the way Parker Brothers programmed it unfortunately.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I just have gave a look to Super Cobra and the problem is that Konami made a whole mess in RAM memory access.

 

You know the Colecovision has 1K of memory repeated over 8K $6000-$7FFF, if you access $6000 is exactly the same if you access $7000.

 

But in ADAM, the $6000-$7FFF zone has independent 8K of RAM, so when Super Cobra tries to find data it fails miserably because it uses $6000-$63ff and $7000-$73ff sparely.

 

This would need a complete analysis to relocate every single instruction wrong o.O! Maybe if I work in small blocks by week... I don't promise anything, it's a horribly complicated job with big chances to insert bugs.

Edited by nanochess
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neither of the fixes work for me in MESS(Colecovision or ADAM) nor do they work in Virtual ADAM(ADAMEm). The original works in BlueMSX as stated before.

 

Sorry to hear the fix is not working in the emulators you're using, but if it works on real hardware, that is the important thing, and it also means that the emulators should be fixed for better compatibility.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just an FYI, the Super Cobra rom available on the internet is only 8k and does not contain all the data for the game. We found this out when playing it for High Score Club. Ikrananka dumped his cart and made a 32k dump available here http://www.atariage....a/#entry2420057

 

 

Here's a short video of Super Cobra on an ADAM and on a Colecovision.

 

http://youtu.be/YzEFAsrMMIs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neither of the fixes work for me in MESS(Colecovision or ADAM) nor do they work in Virtual ADAM(ADAMEm). The original works in BlueMSX as stated before.

As PixelBoy stated, the M.E.S.S. and ADAMem/Virtual ADAM emulators are the culprit here and need to be debugged. Actually, while both of these emulators do a great job of emulating the ColecoVision and ADAM Computer.... there are a lot of issues remaining in each of these and 100% perfect emulation may never happen.

 

If, and it's a big if, the BlueMSX team finally adds support for the ADAM, then I think the possibility of near perfect ADAM emulation will become a reality.

 

As far as the newly PATCHED Defender rom file, this is to get it working properly on a real ADAM Computer or a real PAL ColecoVision. I haven't tested it on a real NTSC ColecoVision yet to see what will happen and if you want to play Defender on an NTSC ColecoVision, you will have top use the unpatched/previously available for years Defender rom image or the actual cartridge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This would need a complete analysis to relocate every single instruction wrong o.O! Maybe if I work in small blocks by week... I don't promise anything, it's a horribly complicated job with big chances to insert bugs.

This is probably the reason why a patched Super Cobra for the ADAM Computer was never made back in the day by one of the ADAM Homebrewers... a lot of work and the possibility to create new bugs.

 

While it would be nice to have a fixed version, I wouldn't spend too much time on it especially if it means stealing away time from your other ColecoVision projects!!! ;-)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This would need a complete analysis to relocate every single instruction wrong o.O! Maybe if I work in small blocks by week... I don't promise anything, it's a horribly complicated job with big chances to insert bugs.

 

You can modify a Colecovision emulator to do most of the hard work for you. When the emulator reads or writes to any of the mirrored addresses map it back to a 1K offset from 0x6000 and also log the address of the instruction that did the operation and its source/destination address to a text file. Play the game on the Coleco emulator and then look in the log file. That will give you all the instructions that used a mirrored address. Look at the code around them and fix the code. Repeat until there is nothing written in the log file and the game should be OK on the Adam after that.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just for the records: I also edited the ROM with the two first suggested amendments. The first made the radar flash only now and then, the second was perfect. Thank you for this great patch! I had in mind to upload the patched ROM but I see many things happened over the weekend and that it's no longer necessary.

 

Is that correct what I guessed by other posts, that is that PAL Colecovision units run the games 1/6th slower than NTSC units? :?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...