CollectorVision Phoenix Release Thread

[Great Hierophant]

On 11/4/2019 at 5:11 PM, Swami said:

I don't know about #1, but pitfall has an extra music chip that can't currently be read by sd card by FPGA, #4, pitfall 2 has an extra DPC like chip that has extended programming so that it won't load by sd card yet. Hopefully available in an update. #5, Tigervision has an unusual bankswitching method "3F" which may not be implemented yet for sd card. #3 Millipede has a SuperChip, that needs to be checked in the load menu before starting the game. CBS games all have the RAM Plus chip which causes similar issues to Pitfall 2.

 

http://kevtris.org/files/sizes.txt

 

Pitfall does not have "an extra music chip" or extra RAM, its a bog-standard 4K cartridge.  Pitfall 2 has the DPC chip, which generates the values needed to be fed into the TIA to make music, assists with drawing graphics and has random number generators.  The reason why Pitfall's sound effects are mostly silent mus lie within the components of the 2600 core, not unsimulated cartridge hardware.  

[NIAD]

1 hour ago, Mike Harris said:

And the crowd funded house of cards comes tumbling down.

Seeing as there were a large number of early access units shipped in August and I haven't seen issues reported on concerning these units, seems more like a small blip that will be worked out.

[Swami]

59 minutes ago, NIAD said:

Seeing as there were a large number of early access units shipped in August and I haven't seen issues reported on concerning these units, seems more like a small blip that will be worked out.

He’s our street corner prophet of doom. 

[AtariLeaf]

5 hours ago, NIAD said:

Seeing as there were a large number of early access units shipped in August and I haven't seen issues reported on concerning these units, seems more like a small blip that will be worked out.

I was wondering the same thing. I've been following the Phoenix since the beginning and I can't recall hearing about issues with them unless it was only discussed via PMs. Bad batch?

 

I still don't know how to fix my tv sound issue since any suggestion is to buy some additional piece of hardware that may or may not work, or buy another tv.

[xdurable]

I had weird white screens and test pattern like display - went and bought a 5 port hdmi switch - all of the screen issues went away - I did have some strange sounds coming from Venture when a monster would get shot so I updated the core to the latest provided by Brian and all of the sound issues have gone away in the games I have played so far - I haven't tried the Atari core yet - I just need to find more time to play.... and a more reliable controller ... time to break out the soldering iron..

 

I'd like to thank the CollectorVision guys for all of their hard work and dedication to making the Phoenix happen.

Edited November 6, 2019 by xdurable
clicked to soon

[Lil Alien]

43 minutes ago, xdurable said:

I had weird white screens and test pattern like display - went and bought a 5 port hdmi switch - all of the screen issues went away - I did have some strange sounds coming from Venture when a monster would get shot so I updated the core to the latest provided by Brian and all of the sound issues have gone away in the games I have played so far - I haven't tried the Atari core yet - I just need to find more time to play.... and a more reliable controller ... time to break out the soldering iron..

 

I'd like to thank the CollectorVision guys for all of their hard work and dedication to making the Phoenix happen.

I'm going to test a switch I have today to see if that fixes my ability to play it on one of my TV's that get no picture.

 

As for sound issues working with a new core, I got my unit on November 4. Is there a core newer than the one I'd have?

[nick3092]

1 hour ago, Lil Alien said:

I'm going to test a switch I have today to see if that fixes my ability to play it on one of my TV's that get no picture.

 

As for sound issues working with a new core, I got my unit on November 4. Is there a core newer than the one I'd have?

Current cores are in the 1st post of the thread. Whether they are newer than what you have is unknown, since there appears to be no versioning based on the file names.

 

All you can do is check the version you have now, install the new core, and check the version to see if it changed.

 

Or you could probably do a checksum on your existing core and the new one to see if it's a different file. and if it is, then update and check the version. 

[Lil Alien]

1 hour ago, nick3092 said:

Current cores are in the 1st post of the thread. Whether they are newer than what you have is unknown, since there appears to be no versioning based on the file names.

 

All you can do is check the version you have now, install the new core, and check the version to see if it changed.

 

Or you could probably do a checksum on your existing core and the new one to see if it's a different file. and if it is, then update and check the version. 

So after using the core that was attached on the first post of this thread, every one of my audio bugs went away though I did notice one other.. Certain music in certain games have an issue with volume level.. Like start quiet, then get louder at times during the level. Two games I've noticed this on was Donkey Kong (level 2), and Smurf (the first area).. Music starts quiet, then gets louder and louder, then quiet again. I'll update my github reports now.

[xdurable]

2 minutes ago, Lil Alien said:

So after using the core that was attached on the first post of this thread, every one of my audio bugs went away though I did notice one other.. Certain music in certain games have an issue with volume level.. Like start quiet, then get louder at times during the level. Two games I've noticed this on was Donkey Kong (level 2), and Smurf (the first area).. Music starts quiet, then gets louder and louder, then quiet again. I'll update my github reports now.

Good to hear (pun intended) that your sound issue went away - I played Donkey Kong as well but don't recall the audio levels ... I'll give it another go this evening.

[Antoine]

11 hours ago, AtariLeaf said:

I was wondering the same thing. I've been following the Phoenix since the beginning and I can't recall hearing about issues with them unless it was only discussed via PMs. Bad batch?

 

I still don't know how to fix my tv sound issue since any suggestion is to buy some additional piece of hardware that may or may not work, or buy another tv.

Pick up my Phoenix last week and on my 2 tv same bug... Ive To unplug hdmi between each game so i bought an hdmi switch and everythings was working fine but  i was tired of my  small 18" hdmi screen si i bought a 32" toshiba bravia used (3 years)and now, NO MORE PROBLEM..???i really dont understand but dont need anymore my HDMI switch and work fine!!??!?!?!!

[Bmack36]

1 minute ago, Antoine said:

Pick up my Phoenix last week and on my 2 tv same bug... Ive To unplug hdmi between each game so i bought an hdmi switch and everythings was working fine but  i was tired of my  small 18" hdmi screen si i bought a 32" toshiba bravia used (3 years)and now, NO MORE PROBLEM..???i really dont understand but dont need anymore my HDMI switch and work fine!!??!?!?!!

That is correct, some TVs have the not powering down issue some work just fine.

[Antoine]

Just now, Bmack36 said:

That is correct, some TVs have the not powering down issue some work just fine.

So happy?

[Ikrananka]

On 11/4/2019 at 2:51 PM, jblenkle said:

Got my Phoenix today. Some problems...mostly with the 2600 core. I started to read through the messages to see if I could find any other references to what I'm experiencing, but I will list them here.

 

1. Why, at least for me, does the 2600 menu seem squished? Also, and perhaps related, why when I start a game is the image stretched across my TV. The ColecoVision games appear in the correct resolution.

I've added these issues to the Phoenix2600 GitHub as they're something I'm experiencing as well.  I also compare the Phoenix against my Atari 2600 Jr. + OSSC combo which displays a much more normal aspect ratio and is vertically centred.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Ikrananka

[Ikrananka]

3 hours ago, Lil Alien said:

So after using the core that was attached on the first post of this thread, every one of my audio bugs went away though I did notice one other.. Certain music in certain games have an issue with volume level.. Like start quiet, then get louder at times during the level. Two games I've noticed this on was Donkey Kong (level 2), and Smurf (the first area).. Music starts quiet, then gets louder and louder, then quiet again. I'll update my github reports now.

I just tested mine and didn't hear the music volume change in DK or Smurf.

[Lil Alien]

2 hours ago, Ikrananka said:

I just tested mine and didn't hear the music volume change in DK or Smurf.

Yeah, I updated the bug report just now. Apparently since I used this in a TV input I don't usually use, I still had the default "SRS TruSound" feature turned on, which was attempting to normalize the balance of the sound. Turned it off completely and it fixed the music balance issue.

 

Now tomorrow I'm going to have my first day of total enjoyment with my Phoenix!

 

If I run into other issues, I'll certainly report them!

[Pixelboy]

59 minutes ago, Lil Alien said:

Yeah, I updated the bug report just now. Apparently since I used this in a TV input I don't usually use, I still had the default "SRS TruSound" feature turned on, which was attempting to normalize the balance of the sound. Turned it off completely and it fixed the music balance issue.

If anyone ever needs an example of technological entropy, I can just point them in the direction of modern TVs...  

 

 

[syn]

I transferred games from my Atarimax cartridge onto the sd card with no problems. The games on my Harmony cart that I've transferred are giving me an Unrecognized file type error. Does anyone have any suggestions? The latest cores are loaded.

[Bmack36]

Just now, syn said:

I transferred games from my Atarimax cartridge onto the sd card with no problems. The games on my Harmony cart that I've transferred are giving me an Unrecognized file type error. Does anyone have any suggestions? The latest cores are loaded.

For 2600 games you need to boot to the 2600 core. After powering on the system press * to get to the load cores screen. Then press 2 for the atari core.

[syn]

Somehow I wasn't getting to the reset, scanlines, pal/ntsc, etc screen before. I was doing what you said but it now works so I do appreciate the help!

[malarrya]

I've been having trouble with the Phoenix since I received it on Monday. It started up great the first time and I played DK Jr but since then has been nothing but trouble. It would power on and only show the FPGA in the corner. I would occasionally finally get the green LED lit but then it would either go red or the video images would be a bit scrambled. If it did get it to boot all the way to the Phoenix logo, games would then play fine. However, one major issue is that so far it's lost the ColecVision core about 5 times and I had to reload it from the included SD Card. I tried using an HDMI splitter, different HDMI cables, different TVs and PC Monitors but they pretty much all give the same result. This morning the Phoenix won't even send a video signal at all and the LED is barely lit. I tried doing the * right right trick but that did nothing. The unit appears to be mostly dead now. Looks like a replacement may be necessary.

Edited November 7, 2019 by malarrya

[Bmack36]

2 minutes ago, malarrya said:

I've been having trouble with the Phoenix since I received it on Monday. It started up great the first time and I played DK Jr but since then has been nothing but trouble. It would power on and only show the FPGA in the corner. I would occasionally finally get the green LED lit but then it would either go red or the video images would be a bit scrambled. If it did get it to boot all the way to the Phoenix logo, games would then play fine. However, one major issue is that so far it's lost the ColecVision core about 5 times and I had to reload it from the included SD Card. I tried using an HDMI splitter, different HDMI cables, different TVs and PC Monitors but they pretty much all give the same result. This morning the Phoenix won't even send a video signal at all and the LED is barely lit. I tried doing the * right right trick but that did nothing. The unit appears to be mostly dead now. Looks like a replacement may be necessary.

Have you tried with a HDMI switch? A splitter might not react the same way. Also try using the cores on the first post to update your system. The other test to see if it is the system not powering down issue is to unplug and then replug the hdmi cable after the system is off. If that works the first time when powering up, then that is the issue. What controllers are you using in the system? Not sure what the * right right is. Pressing * right after powerup will bring you to the core load screen where you can press 1 for cv or 2 for 2600.

[malarrya]

I don't own an HDMI switch. I have tried all the tricks to get it to boot up but this morning I can't even get it to send any kind of video signal. The green LED is on very weak and nothing seems to be working now. I can't get it to boot in any way to even try loading different cores. Before this morning, at least there was a video signal that had a small FPGA version in the top left corner but I have nothing to work with now. It's also mysteriously lost the CV core several times.

Edited November 7, 2019 by malarrya

[Bmack36]

Have you tried turning on the system with no cartridge? What controllers do you have plugged in? Did you install the core files from the first post by pressing # then 1 then 1 after powering on?

Edited November 7, 2019 by Bmack36

[malarrya]

2 minutes ago, Bmack36 said:

Have you tried turning on the system with no cartridge? What controllers do you have plugged in? Did you install the core files from the first post by pressing # then 1 then 1 after powering on?

Sorry for the shoddy responses, getting ready for work as I type these. I've been using an original CV controller, I've turned it on with every combination possible. In the beginning it would just show the FPGA screen so I followed the steps to get the unit to fully power off and then occasionally it would finally boot but only if there was a cartridge in the slot and it was seated perfectly. It would then flash purple or red sometimes and want a core to be loaded. I'd have to restore the CV core. I can't get any video signal this morning so I can't load any new cores or anything on the screen. I'll take it to work with me again today and see if I can get anything more to function there but at this point it honestly looks dead.

[Bmack36]

It sounds to me like your system is generating random button presses, which seems like it is going into the service menu and removing and installing cores. The LED only flashes purple when installing cores. The only way for the core to be missing and give the red led is when you go into the service menu and uninstall the cv (default) core. I would be curious to see if you tried a different controller or snes controller with the system.