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Flashback 9 Gold paddle issue


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Hi All, my wife brought me a FB9 Gold for my 40th last month, works great and love all the memories it brings back. My 2 favs are Kaboom and Super Breakout which work better with the paddle. I brought a set of paddle controls from Ebay to use. When I plug them in and try to use them I get told to switch off my joystick as it interferes with the paddle controls, so I do and I can't use my paddles. Not matter what I do I can't get the paddles to work, all I get is one full turn of the paddle and then the same "switch off your joystick" message comes up.

 

Please help me and tell me what I am doing wrong? I read the manual that said only plug in the paddles after you start a game, which I have done and still nothing. Any helps or tips for a tech tragic would be greatly appreciated.

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I would think twice about swapping the FB9 for the FB8. The FB9 uses Stella for emulation. The FB8 uses AtGames own emulation which is not as good as Stella. The FB9 has SD card support so you can add additional ROMs. The FB8 doesn't. I think you'd be better off just waiting and getting the FB9 paddles.

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I also have the FB8 and have the same problems with lag making most paddle games unplayable (specifically Kaboom and Super Breakout).

 

if the paddle games are important to you, you should sit and wait for the special paddles that work with the FB9.

... and wait for someone to confirm they work as expected and the lag does not break those games.

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  • 1 month later...

The longer it goes the more I think they'll never happen, at least not for this years model. As far as I know Bill has been silent on the issue aside from saying he'll let us know when he knows so I'm guessing he's in the dark too. OR he does know and he's not allowed to say anything.

 

I also feel that we're not going to see the new paddles until the FB10 next fall. I think the Blast Flashback wireless paddles were more of a priority to AtGames.

 

The inclusion of the SD Card probably was enough to distract us from getting better paddles (I had the FB4 & FB8 - the paddle control was always pretty spotty.) There would be no reason to keep buying anymore Atari Flashbacks (for me anyway) had the paddles came out this year. I suspect it'll be a selling point for the next model, as well as maybe a cartridge port (like the Sega). Future flashbacks may also include Atari 5200 and 7800 games too. Otherwise, how much further can this product line go?

 

In the meantime, I do really like the FB9. I'm using joystick conversions for some of the paddle games, which have better control than the AtGames versions. (Thanks to those responsible for those roms!)

Edited by radiohead
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Near the end of the video, the reviewer states the Atari paddles sort of work, but are too sensitive. Atari paddles have 1 Mohm pots. Could the fix be as simple as switching to a 100K pot?

Its about 13:00 minutes in where he tries to use standard paddles.

 

I couldnt get standard paddles to work at all, and couldnt get past that warning about wireless controllers. One thing I noted was that the warning only pops up when the resistance is less than approximately 70 kOhm. That implies that the Flashback 9 isnt detecting a paddle connected if the resistance is over 70 kOhm.

 

More fiddling required to see if the special paddle requirements can be determined.

Edited by boggis the cat
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I watched a Flashback 9 Gold teardown video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9v0s3REUVs

 

Near the end of the video, the reviewer states the Atari paddles sort of work, but are too sensitive. Atari paddles have 1 Mohm pots. Could the fix be as simple as switching to a 100K pot?

This is the kind of thing I would like to try on a followup to my previous vid about the paddles...

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I should have mentioned that my 100K pot suggestion was just a guess.

Forrest

Worked it out. Paddles require a 10 kOhm pot to work correctly, otherwise they are wired the same.

 

So, 100 times the current draw from the Flashback 9 specific paddle. Seems like overkill, but perhaps the idea was to save the cost of an otherwise-necessary amplification? (An additional transistor doesnt seem like a huge cost, to maintain backward compatibility.)

 

You had the right idea. :thumbsup:

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I followed boggis the cat's instructions in this thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287000-flashback-9-special-buttons/

 

I replaced the potentiometer with a 10K Ohm and it worked! Now I'm off the purchase a set of new pots for my paddles. If/when AtGames releases their official paddles, then I'll have 2 sets for 4-player Warlords.

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I followed boggis the cat's instructions in this thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287000-flashback-9-special-buttons/

 

I replaced the potentiometer with a 10K Ohm and it worked! Now I'm off the purchase a set of new pots for my paddles. If/when AtGames releases their official paddles, then I'll have 2 sets for 4-player Warlords.

Did you find a pot that fits as-is, or did you have to shorten the shaft and use back packing instead of the nut?

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