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Concerto firmware thread


batari

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10 minutes ago, Tempest said:

So do we have any idea why some games still don't work?  For example, what makes Alien Brigade so special compared to other games that it doesn't work?

 

I'm curious about that too.  Why does it work on my NTSC console, but not yours?  I'm still using RF (unmodded), if that matters.

 

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38 minutes ago, Tempest said:

So do we have any idea why some games still don't work?  For example, what makes Alien Brigade so special compared to other games that it doesn't work?

I’d like to know too. 

 

26 minutes ago, MattelAquarius said:

 

I'm curious about that too.  Why does it work on my NTSC console, but not yours?  I'm still using RF (unmodded), if that matters.

 

It doesn’t work on either of my NTSC systems - an A1 “daily driver” with the Expansion interface, but modded with a UAV, or my early AT-84 machine (fully-socketed, Expansion interface, totally stock RF). 

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1 hour ago, DrVenkman said:

It doesn’t work on either of my NTSC systems - an A1 “daily driver” with the Expansion interface, but modded with a UAV, or my early AT-84 machine (fully-socketed, Expansion interface, totally stock RF). 

 

Very interesting, for sure.  Mine is an A1, hole in case for expansion, but the actual port is not present.

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6 hours ago, Trebor said:

Rider of the Night is a 512K ROM - not supported by Concerto yet.  Currently, the largest ROM size supported is 144K.

that makes a lot more sense. surprised it still sort of bricked the cart though. taking it apart , taking out the pokey and reflashing is always fun! does anyone know if 104e is ok to use to reflash the eeprom?

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2 hours ago, Tempest said:

Has anyone tried running 2K 2600 games on the Concerto yet?  Other 2600 games seem to work just fine, but any 2K game either gives me the rainbow bars or my TV just loses sync and it blacks out. 

Which ones in particular?

 

also - Alien Brigade runs fine on my A1 7800 no expansion port or hole with UAV mod and RF guts removed. Sold all my other 7800's since this one is most compatible with everything I throw at it. 

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On 1/5/2021 at 2:25 AM, Muddyfunster said:

The title music doesn't work on Concerto as it uses Pokey mapped at $450. Concerto supports Pokey at $450 but not on 48K binaries and Danger Zone is 48K + Pokey. I think @batarihas that on his roadmap to add at some point. 

@batari any update on POKEY support on 48K ROMS in the firmware ? I know we talked about that briefly a while ago, wondered if that was close :)

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2K 2600 games do not work for me either. Likely got broke the same time as the 64K 7800 games. Or maybe haven't gotten implemented yet, I can't remember now if they worked on a previous firmware. I am sure it will get fixed in a future firmware update.

 

Mitch

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm going through Trebor's 7800 pack (version 3.8), testing all the retail and homebrew games on my 7800.  These are the specs of my system:

 

Longhorn Engineer S-Video Mod.

Model #: X 209 001022. 

 

Once I finish a group, I'll post the full color-coded chart, with notes on what works and what doesn't.  As of now, I've only gone through the first page of the homebrews and I've only found 3 that don't work.  They are:

 

7ix - Unsupported filename error.

Arkanoid (ChunkyPixel Games) Demo - Game loads, intro plays, then crashes before first level.

BonQ (Final Atariage) - Crashes during loading

 

EDIT:  I can only test NTSC files, BTW.  PAL games will be skipped.

Edited by Deteacher
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31 minutes ago, Deteacher said:

7ix - Unsupported filename error.

Arkanoid (ChunkyPixel Games) Demo - Game loads, intro plays, then crashes before first level.

BonQ (Final Atariage) - Crashes during loading

7ix error is due to an unknown/unrecognized file size that was provisioned (It's a 28KB ROM file with header), a non-standard configuration.  

 

Arkanoid issue is the result of a configuration not yet fully supported.   There is a "Concerto fixed" version available to hold users over until the necessary support is added to Concerto.

 

B*nQ eats RAM carts.  :D   It's an initialization bug in the final game code in which @RevEng graciously provided a fix.  It is contained in the 'Hacks' folder of Trebors PROPack.

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For posterity, an issue mentioned here isolated an NCR Sally as being the root cause of a console having issues with Concerto:

 

image.png.30c13517ce2ffd8796a00db00780eb8e.png

 

 

Recently, multiple Rockwell Sally's have been found to be the issue with console compatibility with the DragonFly:

 

1202451038_rockwell-cpu2(Copy).jpg.6a61651ea53444d88a70ea1b239a138d.jpg

 

rockwell-cpu1 (Copy).jpg

 

1969912076_rockwell-cpu3(Copy).jpg.2d13e70cffa664d46534fcb8240e073e.jpg

 

 

We also know the below NCR Sally works fine with (at least) Concerto:

 

image.png.6576bbe02d0cc4c4d62410071e94cd25.png

 

This NCR is known to work fine with (at least) DragonFly:

 

image.png.1fc466a60456ec77a5d590b9332a1c8d.png

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I hope this information will help. I pulled a Sally chip from my old 4 port 5200 and installed in my early 7800 with expansion port. Alien brigade work perfectly now. Not sure what a difference it made, but works perfectly now.

 

7800-1.jpg

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17 hours ago, Tempest said:

How strange.  I hope a workaround can be found other than buying a compatible chip.

Ditto. 

 

 But in the A8 world, there have been reports over the last couple years of certain upgrades and configurations not playing nice with specific SALLY’s before. I think we’re just running into edge cases of aging and component tolerances due to using the machines in ways other than how they were originally expected to be used. It’s likely that these issue will get worse in coming years for marginal chips as they age.

 

That said, I have an actually MOS (not Mostek) SALLY that I pulled from my spare 5200 parts board. I wonder how it would do in my 7800’s, neither of which will run Alien Brigade from my Concerto. 

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