SGM Test ROM?

[ricky]

Some obvious questions to start:

 

1) Are you using a ColecoVision or an Adam?

 

2) Assuming it's a ColecoVision, do you have an alternate Coleco BIOS installed?

 

 

EDIT: All SGMs are the same internally, by the way.

1) I am using a European Colecovision Pal and a French Secam.

2) The Bios of my Colecovisions are from origins.

I use the latest Atarimax-SD firmware beta and the SGM roms work well except Kings Valley.

I have a single cartridge SGM Zaxxon Super Game that works well.

So where does the worry come from?

[Bmack36]

There is a setting in the atarimax that allows you to skip the bios. If this is enabled it prevents the lower 8k bankswitching functionality of the SGM and will prevent it from working. Check the atarimax settings to see if it is enabled and disable it.

[ricky]

There is a setting in the atarimax that allows you to skip the bios. If this is enabled it prevents the lower 8k bankswitching functionality of the SGM and will prevent it from working. Check the atarimax settings to see if it is enabled and disable it.

Thank you for this info Bmack36.

I disabled the Bios Bypass in the settings of Atarimax and the SGM works fine, as well as the Kings Valley game..

Problem resolved .. Again thank you !

PS : I also participate in the Kickstarter Phoenix, I hope that its development will be completed

Edited October 17, 2018 by ricky

[Shannon]

Here is the ROM file for doing tests with Super Game Module.

 

It does the following:

 

o Detection of base system (Colecovision/Coleco ADAM)

o Check of base system memory (1K in Colecovision, 32K in ADAM)

o Detection of Super Game Module.

o Check of 32K Super Game Module memory.

o Individual test of Super Game Module sound chip.

o Parallel test of SGM sound chip with Coleco sound chip.

o Music playing at same time over SGM and Coleco sound chips. (William Tell overture from Princess Quest enhanced for SGM, like in forthcoming Mecha-8 )

 

Thanks a lot to Pixelboy, NIAD and Opcode for testing it.

 

Special thanks to SpiceWare for bringing up the need for this utility.

 

Enjoy it!

 

I'm just curious... what method does this ROM use to detect the base system?

 

Thanks

[+nanochess]

 

I'm just curious... what method does this ROM use to detect the base system?

 

Thanks

 

It's relatively easy, at startup it checks the $2000 area, if there is RAM, then it's an ADAM, because SGM doesn't come active as default and ADAM leaves RAM enabled at $2000-$7fff when booting as Colecovision.

[Shannon]

Oh ok... so if the SGM does not come active as default.. what "activates" it and how?

[Pixelboy]

Oh ok... so if the SGM does not come active as default.. what "activates" it and how?

The SGM "boots" with 24K of RAM, which leaves the BIOS untouched. The software on the game cartridge can tell the SGM to replace the 8K of BIOS with RAM, thus making 32K of RAM available. If the SGM is never told to go to 32K mode, it will stay in 24K mode until the console is turned off.

[Shannon]

Oh ok... I knew about that functionality.. You just threw me off when you said it does not come active as default. I did not know you were referring to full RAM use. Thanks for the info. I was just curious. I've been looking at support source in emulators lately and I was just curious about the SGM.

[CrazyBoss]

The SGM "boots" with 24K of RAM, which leaves the BIOS untouched. The software on the game cartridge can tell the SGM to replace the 8K of BIOS with RAM, thus making 32K of RAM available. If the SGM is never told to go to 32K mode, it will stay in 24K mode until the console is turned off.

 

The SGM does not "boot" with 24K, it need to get a command to enable it. If its An Adam its not safe to enable the SGM ram, so first you check for "is it an Adam" if not you can enable 24/32k.

[CrazyBoss]

By the way, is it possible to enable all 32K on an ADAM ?

[Pixelboy]

The SGM does not "boot" with 24K, it need to get a command to enable it.

Really? I was under the impression that 24K was the default mode when you turn on the ColecoVision console with the SGM plugged in.

[opcode]

Really? I was under the impression that 24K was the default mode when you turn on the ColecoVision console with the SGM plugged in.

No, I had to make all RAM disabled by default so the module would be compatible with the f* ADAM. And then I was accused of stealing from Coleco when I replicated the memory mapping mechanism to make the programmer’s life easier. Just like with romantic relationships, once you take too much crap, things are never the same again... but I digress.

 

Anyways, the technical reason is, since we can’t disable RAM on Adam and we can’t have two memories mapped to the same space at the same time, I disabled the sgm ram by default. If no ram is detected, then the game must enable the sgm ram.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pixelboy]

No, I had to make all RAM disabled by default so the module would be compatible with the f* ADAM. And then I was accused of stealing from Coleco when I replicated the memory mapping mechanism to make the programmer’s life easier. Just like with romantic relationships, once you take too much crap, things are never the same again... but I digress.

 

Anyways, the technical reason is, since we can’t disable RAM on Adam and we can’t have two memories mapped to the same space at the same time, I disabled the sgm ram by default. If no ram is detected, then the game must enable the sgm ram.

Ah okay, thanks for the clarification.

[Kiwi]

I do recall games like Super Cobra used the mirrored RAM address, so having the RAM off on default makes sense. Evidently, I will look into how to turn 24KB on for future Colecovision games if I needed more RAM and the C library uses the bios routines.

[+mytek]

On 5/5/2013 at 6:44 AM, nanochess said:

Here is the ROM file for doing tests with Super Game Module.

 

It does the following:

 

o Detection of base system (Colecovision/Coleco ADAM)

o Check of base system memory (1K in Colecovision, 32K in ADAM)

o Detection of Super Game Module.

o Check of 32K Super Game Module memory.

o Individual test of Super Game Module sound chip.

o Parallel test of SGM sound chip with Coleco sound chip.

o Music playing at same time over SGM and Coleco sound chips. (William Tell overture from Princess Quest enhanced for SGM, like in forthcoming Mecha-8 )

 

Thanks a lot to Pixelboy, NIAD and Opcode for testing it.

 

Special thanks to SpiceWare for bringing up the need for this utility.

 

Enjoy it!

sgm_test.zip 3.23 kB · 917 downloads

First of all, let me say thank you for providing this great resource 👍

 

And secondly I have a request for an extra feature (or two). I'm in need of a test rom that would let me press a key on the keypad and put out a sustained full volume note for all 6 voices. I was thinking that this could be added to the end of the present SGM Test ROM.

 

Example...

 

1 = Voice One of SN chip

2 = Voice Two of SN chip

3 = Voice Three of SN chip

4 = Voice One of AY chip

5 = Voice Two of AY chip

6 = Voice Three of AY chip

0 = Sound OFF for all Voices

 

This would allow for checking levels and integrity of audio mixing circuit in upcoming or existing designs. Basically the sustained note would allow an O-Scope to lock in steady for measurement purposes.

 

EDIT: After thinking a bit more, it might be good to have each voice in a different note so that simultaneously activated ones would be distinguishable from each other.

[craftsman1234]

On 5/5/2013 at 7:44 AM, nanochess said:

Here is the ROM file for doing tests with Super Game Module.

 

It does the following:

 

o Detection of base system (Colecovision/Coleco ADAM)

o Check of base system memory (1K in Colecovision, 32K in ADAM)

o Detection of Super Game Module.

o Check of 32K Super Game Module memory.

o Individual test of Super Game Module sound chip.

o Parallel test of SGM sound chip with Coleco sound chip.

o Music playing at same time over SGM and Coleco sound chips. (William Tell overture from Princess Quest enhanced for SGM, like in forthcoming Mecha-8 )

 

Hi,  I know this is an older thread.   I'm building several sound cards for the Adam and want to use this program to test the boards in my ColecoVision before testing them in my single Adam.   I've used the test in the Adam and ColecoVision and Adam with an AtariMax Cart and I curious in a stock ColecoVision with the sound card added will this test run or will it stop stop and not go further once it sees that the system is a ColecoVision.   I'm hoping it just skips the memory and continuers to test the sound.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[+nanochess]

6 hours ago, craftsman1234 said:

Hi,  I know this is an older thread.   I'm building several sound cards for the Adam and want to use this program to test the boards in my ColecoVision before testing them in my single Adam.   I've used the test in the Adam and ColecoVision and Adam with an AtariMax Cart and I curious in a stock ColecoVision with the sound card added will this test run or will it stop stop and not go further once it sees that the system is a ColecoVision.   I'm hoping it just skips the memory and continuers to test the sound.

 

Thanks.

 

 

I don't have the source code at hand, but it tests everything step-by-step. So it should test the AY-3-8910 without any problem.

[craftsman1234]

19 hours ago, nanochess said:

I don't have the source code at hand, but it tests everything step-by-step. So it should test the AY-3-8910 without any problem.

Thanks the parts arrived and I learned after building the boards that if it doesn't find the Ram the tests stops on the ColecoVision so it never gets to try out the sounds.

[+nanochess]

3 minutes ago, craftsman1234 said:

Thanks the parts arrived and I learned after building the boards that if it doesn't find the Ram the tests stops on the ColecoVision so it never gets to try out the sounds.

I'll try to find the source code so I can make it to test sound.

 

[craftsman1234]

3 hours ago, nanochess said:

I'll try to find the source code so I can make it to test sound.

 

Thanks that would be great!

[+nanochess]

18 hours ago, craftsman1234 said:

Thanks that would be great!

I found the source code of the SGM test utility. Fortunately, I had a backup because my laptop hard drive crashed in 2014.

 

I made it to jump to the sound test code even if only a 1K Colecovision is found, also enabled the code for a walking piggy on the screen (I didn't enable it at the time because I was going to use it for a game, but never went to it)

 

When the music finishes it allows you to press the keys 1 to 6 in order to test each of the SN76489 channels, and the AY-3-8910 channels. cc @mytek

 

Also when the music finishes, you can move the pig using the stick.

 

 

 

sgm_test_v2.rom

[Shannon]

This test ROM was useful for me in getting AY-3-8910 emulation in AdamX working as well as figuring out how to get the upper 1k of RAM working.  Before that I only had support for the 32k.

 

So thanks. 

 

[+mytek]

36 minutes ago, nanochess said:

When the music finishes it allows you to press the keys 1 to 6 in order to test each of the SN76489 channels, and the AY-3-8910 channels. cc @mytek

Thanks for remembering me. Just tested the new version and it works like a charm

 

EDIT: And the pig is very cute and useful for testing the joystick

[+mytek]

@nanochess quick question... When playing the tones via the keypad, at what audio level are those being played?  Setting 11 on the volume?

 

 

[+nanochess]

10 minutes ago, mytek said:

@nanochess quick question... When playing the tones via the keypad, at what audio level are those being played?  Setting 11 on the volume?

 

 

It is volume 13 for the AY-3-8910 tones (silence is 0).

 

And the volume is 3 for the SN76489A tones (silence is 15)