Dionoid Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Hi, I've started working on a new game for the Atari 2600 that uses 206 scanlines of visible display (instead of the traditionally recommended 192). I know that most CRT televisions can display more than 192 lines, so I've increased the visible screen by both decreasing the scanlines for Vertical-Blank (start of display) and Overscan (end of display). I've been playing around with the display, which now looks fine on my European PAL CRT, but I really like to know if this also works on NTSC televisions. So, if you have an NTSC Atari 2600 and CRT television, and also own a Harmony cartridge, you could help me out: I've attached 3 NTSC versions of my work-in-progress game (note that I probably shouldn't call it a game, as it's not playable) fools-gold-ntsc-40.bin fools-gold-ntsc-44.bin fools-gold-ntsc-48.bin I'd like to know which of these 3 versions (40, 44 or 48) displays fully on your CRT, and which one has the most equally divided margins. Note that for an optimal display, both the big text at the top (spelling FOOL'S) and the score-bar at the bottom should be fully readable (see screenshot below) A photo of your display would be appreciated, but not required (just tell me which version looks best on your display, assuming at least one of these versions displays fully on your CRT) Also let me know if none of these versions display correctly. Also, when you press the fire button on the title screen, does the circular-wipe effect (a.k.a. iris shot) shows without any screen rolling? Thanks for the help !!! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easmith Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 on my 13 inch , 40 fits with about 4 lines to spare at bottom 44 fits with about 1 line to spare at bottom 48 does not fit. the last 2 lines are cut off Game looks awesome by the way 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 You'll likely be interested in taking a peek at this thread: Here's the short of it: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Version 44 looks best on my CRT (please see each version below). In addition, a don't see any screen roll during the iris shot, but I do notice it, when the initial Fools Gold screen displays. BTW, I can't wait to see this completed. Fools-Gold-40 Fools-Gold-44 Fools-Gold-48 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) @Trebor Thanks for the link to the 'Testing CRT Screen Size' page by Thomas Jentzsch. I actually searched the AA forum for information before, but this specific page didn't came up in the results. I have to improve my AtariAge Search-Fu ? Anyway, this is good information! From Thomas' results, it seems 206 visible scanlines should be well acceptable for almost all TVs. @easmith @sramirez2008 Thanks for your responses; I really appreciate it. It is good to know that both your results were similar. Edited February 11, 2020 by Dionoid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Dionoid said: Thanks for your responses; I really appreciate it. Your welcome. I assume Lode Runner is the inspiration for this game? One of my favorites, can’t wait to see what you do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said: Your welcome. I assume Lode Runner is the inspiration for this game? One of my favorites, can’t wait to see what you do with it. Lode Runner is also one of my favorite games on the Commodore 64! I wanted to port this game to the '2600 for a long time :-) I'm currently working on implementing the guard AI, based on code from this book: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 Ohh I cannot wait for this to be completed.? Thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azure Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 The screen transition is incredible. Very SNES-like. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 8 hours ago, Dionoid said: @Trebor Thanks for the link to the 'Testing CRT Screen Size' page by Thomas Jentzsch. I actually searched the AA forum for information before, but this specific page didn't came up in the results. I have to improve my AtariAge Search-Fu ? AtariAge needs to improve its AtariAge Search-Fu. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 11 hours ago, Nathan Strum said: AtariAge needs to improve its AtariAge Search-Fu. /signed The previous board version's search was waaay better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azure Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 5 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: The previous board version's search was waaay better. That's why I use Google to search. Example: site:atariage.com/forums 2600 defender 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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