Threshold...No Score

[Turbo-Torch]

I was just playing Threshold and noticed there is no scoring at the top of the screen.

 

Anyone else have this issue with their Harmony Encore? If I toggle the reset switch quickly, I can see the score as the screen pops up for a split second. The tan boarder is at the very top of the screen so the score is out of view above it.

2600 4 switch on crt TV. Zero issues with all other games.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Threshold displays the score very much at the top of the screen plus the screen is 12 scan lines taller than a normal NTSC screen.

 

How about Aquaventure? This should have about the same problem on your TV, right? (more : Blueprint, Demons to Diamonds, Flash Gordon...)

 

Then probably your TV has quite a lot of space at the bottom, so you have to adjust the centering.

[+SpiceWare]

Threshold is poorly written. What you're seeing (or not seeing) is the result of two problems.

 

The first, as Thomas mentions, is the screen it draws is too large. On other video game systems the video chip is in charge of drawing the screen. This is not true on the Atari - the game itself is in charge of drawing the screen. Because of that, it's possible for the Atari to output too many or too few scanlines. You can see this if you run it in Stella and hit either COMMAND-L (Mac) or ALT-L (Linux, Windows) to display an info-overlay on the top-left corner of the window:

 

Here you can see Threshold is outputting 274 scanlines, it should be 262 for an NTSC display. Threshold's not the only game that outputs the wrong number of scanlines. Digital Press has an article about it, which includes a list at the bottom with scanline counts of a number of games.

 

The second problem is the scanline count is not consistent over time - it needs to be consistent for a stable picture as changes in scanline count will cause the screen to jitter and/or roll. When you press GAME RESET in Threshold the scanline count drops to a mere 17:

 

You're briefly seeing the score because of a screen roll caused by this drastic change in scanline count.

[Turbo-Torch]

Good info, thanks guys.

 

I double checked all those other games and they are fine and perfectly centered so no issues with my TV.

 

I wish I had an original Threshold cartridge to compare. I once saw it in a store and wanted it due to how cool the box and cartridge design were but it was $35...very expensive back then for an Atari game.

 

If the original cartridge acts the same, I wonder if a lot were returned back in the day? Soon as one pops up on ebay for a decent price I'll pick it up.

 

Edit:

I was browsing that Digital Press article and even Wall Ball at 281 scan lines plays perfectly for me.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Turbo-Torch

[RevEng]

Threshold's display is also very off-center vertically. The extra 12 lines are taken completely from the vertical blank period, so it's not surprising that the score is cut off on some TVs.

 

It's more or less equivalent to requiring your TV to display an extra 24 scanlines (286). It's certainly pushing the extremes.

[+sramirez2008]

Good info, thanks guys.

 

I double checked all those other games and they are fine and perfectly centered so no issues with my TV.

 

I wish I had an original Threshold cartridge to compare. I once saw it in a store and wanted it due to how cool the box and cartridge design were but it was $35...very expensive back then for an Atari game.

 

If the original cartridge acts the same, I wonder if a lot were returned back in the day? Soon as one pops up on ebay for a decent price I'll pick it up.

 

Edit:

I was browsing that Digital Press article and even Wall Ball at 281 scan lines plays perfectly for me.

 

I have an actual cart and a part of the very top of the score is missing when I connect to my CRT. I have noticed that the entire score displays when I use my flat screen.

 

No issues with my Blueprint or Demons to Diamonds actual carts.

 

[VectorGamer]

I did a video playing Threshold. Played using a Harmony cart on a Atari 7800. I use a splitter where the AV is sent to a TV and laptop. In the video sent to the laptop the score is not cutoff. But if memory serves the score was cutoff on the TV.

 

 

https://youtu.be/C7rr-eAoTEg