leech Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 Saw a video of this game, and it looked like a blast, never played it before. I seem to have two images on my SIDE2 cart, but both freak out as if the vertical hold on the monitor lost it's mind. I discovered this when playing around with the Retrotink 2x Pro, but it does it without that being in the mix. I've tested this on 800XL (Chroma line added, otherwise zero mods), 1200XL (RamboXL and SV 2.1 mod (assuming I did it right)), 130XE with VBXE output and a stock 130XE. All hooked up through a 1084S via either composite (800XL), S-Video (800XL and 130XE) and RGB (VBXE output). Is this something that I should hook my 800 up for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+gnusto Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 Are you trying to play in NTSC? It's a UK game, hence PAL. Altirra shows me PAL working fine, but in NTSC displays the behavior your describe. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 31 minutes ago, gnusto said: Are you trying to play in NTSC? It's a UK game, hence PAL. Altirra shows me PAL working fine, but in NTSC displays the behavior your describe. Hey, that'd do it! I only have one PAL machine, and it's a 600XL with a bad Mylar. (I swapped with the mylar in my NTSC machine as I don't have a TV really to use it with anyhow, and a different row of keys didn't work! I do have some conductive pens, I should take them apart again and see if I can fix it...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 (edited) Cool, confirmed, it works on the PAL 600xl, also as a side note of testing that there, I can confirm that my newly acquired Retrotink 2x pro works with PAL machines. Did anyone ever make a utility make an NTSC machine run PAL software and the other way? As they did for the ST / Amiga? Anyhow, I still can't play the game, as I think the Escape key is stuck in an 'on' position. Part of the mylar issue. The one that was originally in there had dead keys from TAB through QWERTY. The other one has Esc through 7, and then 9... so broken traces on both, fun! Oh, found the AntiX, may as well get on the list for that! Edited April 16, 2020 by leech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+gnusto Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 28 minutes ago, leech said: Did anyone ever make a utility make an NTSC machine run PAL software and the other way? Very hard to do this automagically on an 8bit as their isn't a display independent clock (the clock speeds vary based on the display standard). This has a pile on effect to things like DLI timers (not to mention scanline size differences). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 The scanline differences are huge too, which is why I am sure I het the 'letterbox' appearance when I connect the PAL <-> NTSC converter box I bought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 A quick search pointed me to a Warhawk xex-file on Atarionline.pl which was fixed for NTSC. I tested it on Altirra and it works ? Warhawk NTSC.xex 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, Fred_M said: A quick search pointed me to a Warhawk xex-file on Atarionline.pl which was fixed for NTSC. I tested it on Altirra and it works ? Warhawk NTSC.xex 28.63 kB · 7 downloads It's amazing what one finds if one but looks... Thanks for covering all the bases. It adds a sense of completeness to the evolution of most threads that end this way. mostly, as for myself, it's forgetting to go that extra step... does this mean some of us (myself included) forget to include such stuff assuming everyone already knows. That's a failing on our part, because we forget, or some people don't know as they are new and possibly might not know. Thank you Fred_M. This is what it should be through out the threads. Edited April 16, 2020 by _The Doctor__ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 1 hour ago, _The Doctor__ said: It's amazing what one finds if one but looks... Thanks for covering all the bases. It adds a sense of completeness to the evolution of most threads that end this way. mostly, as for myself, it's forgetting to go that extra step... does this mean some of us (myself included) forget to include such stuff assuming everyone already knows. That's a failing on our part, because we forget, or some people don't know as they are new and possibly might not know. Thank you Fred_M. This is what it should be through out the threads. I agree 100% also would be nice for collections to label things as PAL or NTSC. Though maybe there should be a year for that pre-1986 maybe is most likely NTSC and 1986 onward mostly PAL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 1 hour ago, leech said: I agree 100% also would be nice for collections to label things as PAL or NTSC. Though maybe there should be a year for that pre-1986 maybe is most likely NTSC and 1986 onward mostly PAL? That would be way too easy ? In PAL-land Atari 8-bit computers were available since 1979/1980. Don't think that European users did not make any software for this nice line of machines ? At Atarionline.pl the games are labeled ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 Ha, yeah I was totally joking, it is never so straight forward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 3 hours ago, Fred_M said: That would be way too easy ? In PAL-land Atari 8-bit computers were available since 1979/1980. Don't think that European users did not make any software for this nice line of machines ? At Atarionline.pl the games are labeled ? And some publishers, like Thorn EMI also labeled their software as NTSC or PAL... (look at their older programs on tape, if the last letter of the serial number is an N that means NTSC, if it is P it means PAL). Thorn EMI titles They did not do a favour to us, the games could have worked on both standards - still they coded them in such a way, they will either work on PAL machines only or on NTSC machines only, depending on the version you bought or got. And to make things even more complicated, some of their games do require OS-B, some do even require OS-B and Basic Rev. A (e.g. Compute 4 / Reversi). And errrm, an official OS-B (from Atari) does not seem to exist for PAL... ----- Afaik, the first PAL 400/800 Atari's were introduced in west Germany in 1981 (do not know the month, nor the exact date), before that time there were only (unofficial/grey) imports of NTSC machines available. So in 1979 and 1980 you could not have made a PAL-only or PAL specific program here in Germany, since PAL Ataris simply did not exist there back then. (I am not sure, when the first PAL Ataris were introduced in other european countries, but the A8FAQ also says from 1981 onwards...) from the A8FAQ: 1.2 What is the Atari 400? "PAL"/"UK" versions for PAL B/G television (Western Europe) or PAL I television (United Kingdom), respectively - Shipped 1981-1983 - 16KiB RAM 1.3 What is the Atari 800? "PAL"/"UK" versions for PAL B/G television (Western Europe) or PAL I television (United Kingdom), respectively - Shipped 1981-1983 - 16KiB RAM (earlier units) or 48KiB RAM (later units) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 13 hours ago, CharlieChaplin said: And some publishers, like Thorn EMI also labeled their software as NTSC or PAL... (look at their older programs on tape, if the last letter of the serial number is an N that means NTSC, if it is P it means PAL). I know Actually most of the PAL versions of the Thorn EMI titles do work on NTSC machines. And the NTSC versions only have a check in them to see if they are run on NTSC machines. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 (edited) 22 hours ago, Fred_M said: That would be way too easy ? In PAL-land Atari 8-bit computers were available since 1979/1980. Don't think that European users did not make any software for this nice line of machines ? At Atarionline.pl the games are labeled ? Kjmann released this fix along with others (see here) I believe when he was winding down Atlantis Game Group. Edited April 17, 2020 by a8isa1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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