Jump to content
IGNORED

Adventures of Tron: Technical Help Needed


keithbk

Recommended Posts

First, the setup...

 

I have a modded Atari 2600 Light Sixer outputting composite and S-Video.

 

I have a Tevion USB Adapter which takes S-Video, Composite, Cable, and Left/Right Audio channels as inputs and carries the signals into the proprietary software "Hypermedia Center."

 

The system works great for every game I have tried EXCEPT Adventures of Tron.

 

I have Adventures of Tron on an actual cartridge, and I have the ROM on my Harmony cart, so I have tried it both ways, and both ways lead to the same results.

 

The game fires perfectly. The flash screen shows nicely.

 

Then, when I tap the joystick and Tron falls along the center beam, PICTURE FREEZE. Total video signal lock. But I still hear my movements and any collisions.

 

This happens both in S-Video and with composite cables.

 

I have tried unplugging the cables with the game still running, and the video signal still refuses to work.

 

Any ideas, suggestions, or even a reason why this is happening on this particular game?

 

-Keith

 

P.S. I have attached a video file, but it instantly stops during the Tron "falling" sequence.

S-Video_TV_20130423_233100.mpg

Edited by keithbk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then my question would be to just run unstable games in emulation. It's accurate enough for observation (apparently more-accurate than your iffy monitor), and nothing is being hacked to interfere with that observation. You can even run them with ALT-L enabled to display scanline issues and include that in your reviews.

 

But anyway...

The game loses 2 scanlines from the blank screen it is originally uses on startup. The displays can both use 260 by altering 1 byte.

 

$F35C: $17 -> $19

 

Q: What would happen if you plugged in the RF cable after powerup? Isn't that a more-practical solution than hacking everything?

CocoNuts(stable).bin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Plugging the RF cable after power up does not work for me (I've tried that).

 

I have gone through about 100 games; so far I have only found a handful that do not work in this hookup.

 

I've wanted to maintain actual controllers (I do not have the joystick to computer adapter for use with the Stella emulator), so I have been trying to work with my actual Atari. I have the Harmony ROM cartridge as a backup if the individual carts experience errors, but if the game is coded poorly, it does not help without a code-fixed ROM.

 

Oh, just found out that GORF bugs on startup. Now that is a bummer; I like that one.

 

I appreciate your bug fixes :)

Edited by keithbk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gorf was already done.

 

I guess my point was...that if you are reviewing commercial games and cannot do this without hacked roms, the review is already flawed. You are reviewing the hacked games and not the original cartridges.

 

Stick to the ones that work or use a different television.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The games work fine when I hook up to the regular TV. For recording purposes, however, I hook up to the computer via a USB to component/S-Video Tevion unit. Of course, this is something the original game programmers would never have dreamt of dealing with, so the glitch issues are really incompatibilities with my equipment setup and not the fault of the game (though admittedly they are errors in the code).

 

Still, a more important question may be, "Why do I feel the need to create a YouTube video for EVERY Atari game cartridge I own...isn't that a little obsessive/compulsive?" To which the answer would likely be, "Yes, yes it is." ;)

 

Oh, and thanks so much for the link to Gorf! I'd give you a laurel, and a hardy handshake if you were here right now!

Edited by keithbk
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...