Any original 125 games break if ECS is connected?

[+Tarzilla]

I don't have an ECS yet, does anyone know if any of the original 125 games fail or lock up if the ECS is connected?

[+thegoldenband]

Championship Tennis does, IIRC.

[+intvsteve]

I think all the Atarisoft games DO NOT work with ECS installed. There are a few others, but I can't recall off the top of my head.

[pimpmaul69]

I think all the Atarisoft games DO NOT work with ECS installed. There are a few others, but I can't recall off the top of my head.

i tested every game in jzintv and only championship tennis fails in it

[+intvsteve]

Strange... I enabled ECS in jzIntv and Pac-Man, Defender, and Centipede all immediately crashed. With the debugger enabled, they hit the HLT instruction. With Championship Tennis, I got the ECS screen, but as soon as I hit the "disc" the game crashed. This happens with a couple different versions of jzIntv, even without the ECS ROMs present.

[DZ-Jay]

Strange... I enabled ECS in jzIntv and Pac-Man, Defender, and Centipede all immediately crashed. With the debugger enabled, they hit the HLT instruction. With Championship Tennis, I got the ECS screen, but as soon as I hit the "disc" the game crashed. This happens with a couple different versions of jzIntv, even without the ECS ROMs present.

 

Can someone confirm that this happens on the hardware too, or is it a jzIntv compatibility issue?

[Intymike]

I can confirm that Championship Tennis doesn't work with the ECS (I made a posting here somewhere).

 

But I didn't tested the Atarisoft carts.

[DZ-Jay]

I can confirm that Championship Tennis doesn't work with the ECS (I made a posting here somewhere).

 

But I didn't tested the Atarisoft carts.

 

Yes, got that. I was specifically asking about what intvsteve pointed out: is it really an incompatibility between the ECS and the AtariSoft games, or is it a bug in jzIntv. The latter wouldn't be surprising since the emulator, almost by definition, may not be an exact simulation of the original and could be flawed.

 

-dZ.

[+5-11under]

Is it the memory configuration?

1: King of the Mountain, Space Shuttle, WSML Baseball, Championship Tennis

5: Pac-Man, Congo Bongo, Defender, Dig Dug

6: Centipede

[+intvsteve]

The only one of those I had quickly at hand was the INTV Corp Pac-Man cart, and all I get w/ ECS plugged in is BSOD (Black Screen of Death). Remove the ECS and it boots right up.

 

IIRC it's as 5-11under says -- has to do w/ where those carts map into memory. Overlaps w/ the ECS ROMs, doesn't it? I didn't try the others on that list.

[mr_me]

Its not one of the original games but Sean39 in another topic posted that Ms. PacMan has problems with the ECS.

------------------------------

Sean39, on 15 May 2016 - 02:37 AM, said:

Hi Everyone

 

My daughter wanted Ms. PacMan for the intellivision. The Version written by Carl Muller JR works fine if you take the ECS out . If you place the ECS in line with the intellivision

Ms Pacman herself messes up and does not show her correctly. This is one cartridge that will not work if the ECS is used.

She turns into a messup looking red square with a yellow blotch following the red square. That what the character Ms Pacman looks like if the ECS is used, If you leave it out

Ms. Pacman comes up looking like she should. So What is happening? I thought when you choose Cartridge on the ECS Menu that it was a straight pass through for the cartridge,but

I am guessing it is not since this cartridge messes up with the ECS.

This is the first one I have ran into that messes up with the ECS.

 

Thanks

Sean

[+GroovyBee]

The Defender ROM and the ECS both have ROM mapped at $7000 which is why the problem arises.

[+intvsteve]

Looking at the .cfg files for Pac-Man and Centipede, they both overlap w/ $7000 as well - which would explain that.

 

Are there .cfg-based hacks that would work around this sort of thing in emulators? Wondering how how @pimpmaul69 got those working in jzIntv. I think I tried two different versions of jzIntv the other night when I was testing it out.

[+GroovyBee]

The best thing to do would be to put something in the ROM at $4800 (EXEC early entry point) that maps the ECS ROMs out.

[+freewheel]

The best thing to do would be to put something in the ROM at $4800 (EXEC early entry point) that maps the ECS ROMs out.

 

Which is exactly what we do in IntyBASIC

 

Someone could easily hack these ROMs and reflash carts to sell for $100, I'm sure. Just don't tell the copyright owners.

[mr_me]

A cfg patch would be better. I think the LTO Flash might do this automatically.

[+intvsteve]

A cfg patch would be better. I think the LTO Flash might do this automatically.

 

It does.

[Rev]

 

Someone could easily hack these ROMs and reflash carts to sell for $100

Too soon? Too soon?

[+GroovyBee]

A cfg patch would be better. I think the LTO Flash might do this automatically.

I wonder if Hive does it too?

[+GroovyBee]

The best thing to do would be to put something in the ROM at $4800 (EXEC early entry point) that maps the ECS ROMs out.

I took a look at this idea last night and it didn't pan out.

[pimpmaul69]

Looking at the .cfg files for Pac-Man and Centipede, they both overlap w/ $7000 as well - which would explain that.

 

Are there .cfg-based hacks that would work around this sort of thing in emulators? Wondering how how @pimpmaul69 got those working in jzIntv. I think I tried two different versions of jzIntv the other night when I was testing it out.

i had bin and cfg files back when i did this so im not sure. i switched to .rom files that i obtained and those do not work as i just tested defender.

[mr_me]

Here's an example of a cfg patch/hack. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/231069-rom-variants-auto-racing-etc/?p=3323244

 

It might be specific to jzintv; i think its inserting new code in the program. I dont know if other emulators or flashcarts support it.

 

Edit:

Bin2rom supports it.

Edited May 18, 2016 by mr_me

[+Tarzilla]

Maybe I should have been more specific. My question was directed at real hardware; from a technical memory map point of view I understand why there would be a problem as well as the options like custom cfg's. If it was 1988 and I have a cart collection and an ECS plugged it, what carts would refuse to work untill the ECS was removed? And do people care about that scenario? Sounds like all AtariSoft releases have an issue.

 

Mr_me's Ms Pacman post is a good example of what I was looking for. Was Ms Pacman tested on an Inty/ECS combo, did it fail and they released it anyway? Did it work on an Inty II/ECS combo but fail on an Inty I/ECS combo?

How many of the current 100-300 people actively buying new releases actually have their ECS plugged in all the time (or even have one?)

[+cmart604]

Maybe I should have been more specific. My question was directed at real hardware; from a technical memory map point of view I understand why there would be a problem as well as the options like custom cfg's. If it was 1988 and I have a cart collection and an ECS plugged it, what carts would refuse to work untill the ECS was removed? And do people care about that scenario? Sounds like all AtariSoft releases have an issue.

 

Mr_me's Ms Pacman post is a good example of what I was looking for. Was Ms Pacman tested on an Inty/ECS combo, did it fail and they released it anyway? Did it work on an Inty II/ECS combo but fail on an Inty I/ECS combo?

How many of the current 100-300 people actively buying new releases actually have their ECS plugged in all the time (or even have one?)

I rarely if ever bring my ECS out. I'd only hook it up if I was playing an ECS compatible game.

[+Tarzilla]

I rarely if ever bring my ECS out. I'd only hook it up if I was playing an ECS compatible game.

Wait a minute...you actually play games that you hoard?