Concerto firmware thread

[tonykapolka]

Has any one gotten an Indy 500 (2600) rom working on the Concerto?  I've tried four or five different dumps and can't get any working...  thanks!

[+mksmith]

10 hours ago, tonykapolka said:

Has any one gotten an Indy 500 (2600) rom working on the Concerto?  I've tried four or five different dumps and can't get any working...  thanks!

You may find that currently quite a few of the 2600 games are not yet configured to work on the Concerto as Fred worked mainly on getting the 7800 functionality up and running.  Look out for a future update which will allow more 2600 and 7800 games to load.

[+batari]

11 hours ago, tonykapolka said:

Has any one gotten an Indy 500 (2600) rom working on the Concerto?  I've tried four or five different dumps and can't get any working...  thanks!

Concerto doesn't yet support 2k games, which is why this doesn't work.

 

Until a new firmware is released that fixes the issue, you can use 4k conversions of these 2k games.

 

Attached are are some 4k conversions of 2k games that I have found.

4k_conversions_of_2k_games.zip

[5200Fanatic]

Thanks very much!

[5200Fanatic]

On 10/6/2021 at 1:56 AM, x=usr(1536) said:

It's extremely easy.

 

The Concerto already has a socket in place for the POKEY, so there's no need for soldering.  Make sure that it's oriented correctly and that all of the legs on the chip are are aligned with the corresponding holes in the socket, and press down until it's in.

 

It's pretty much the same thing as inserting a cartridge into a cartridge slot, but with a little more precision involved.

Thanks!

[Avenger75]

I just received my Concerto today, the firmware indicate version 0.94.

All the 7800 games play correctly on my 7800 PAL with the concerto.

The old 2600 games works also.

But I have issues with the last homebrew demo rom  like the one of Champ Game (Galagon, Mappy, etc...). When I launch them, I see briefly on screen a  small yellow circle on the left of the screen then a letter "e" of the same size on the right of the screen.

Then nothing happen, the  screen remains black.

 

If I plug my harmony Encore cartridge with the same roms, they are launched and can be played correctly.

 

Do you know what is the problem with my Concerto and the last homebrew rom ?

[+DrVenkman]

2 hours ago, Avenger75 said:

But I have issues with the last homebrew demo rom  like the one of Champ Game (Galagon, Mappy, etc...). When I launch them, I see briefly on screen a  small yellow circle on the left of the screen then a letter "e" of the same size on the right of the screen.

Then nothing happen, the  screen remains black.

 

If I plug my harmony Encore cartridge with the same roms, they are launched and can be played correctly.

 

Do you know what is the problem with my Concerto and the last homebrew rom ?

These Champ homebrews use on-cart ARM processors. They demos will generally run on a Harmony Cart, but not (yet?) on Concerto. The current Concerto firmware doesn’t support ARM processor use for 2600 games .

[Avenger75]

Thanks DrVenkman  for the answer,  I understand now.

 

I will use the Harmony for ARM processor game.

Edited October 15, 2021 by Avenger75

[mb1860]

Hello all,

I'm a happy owner of a 7800-Pal-unit. I got my Concerto last week.

I saved the eeloader_pal50.bin and 0.95noflash firmware on it and it works well but I haven't a clear
 bootscreen ( a lot of pixel-mistakes) but the main menu works fine and I can start the most software on my cheap china no name micro-sd card - let me say - good work for hard- and software.

My problem is, that I can't use the card together with the housing (the used black one).
The naked board works fine (without the housing). Is there a possibility to use an other housing. I tried
to modify my housing but it doesn't work.

Sorry when this is the wrong thread.

 

mb1860

[+batari]

You can install the Harmony Encore firmware on a Concerto and play all of the ARM games. I'd only bother with that option if you don't also have a Harmony cart though. Eventually the ARM games will be supported natively by Concerto firmware, though.

[Avenger75]

On 10/17/2021 at 8:34 PM, batari said:

You can install the Harmony Encore firmware on a Concerto and play all of the ARM games. I'd only bother with that option if you don't also have a Harmony cart though. Eventually the ARM games will be supported natively by Concerto firmware, though.

If I install the Harmony Encore firmware on my Concerto, do I have to copy hbios_106_PAL50.bin to the root of the SD ? and after that will the Concerto  be able to launch the 7800 games ?

[+DrVenkman]

5 hours ago, Avenger75 said:

If I install the Harmony Encore firmware on my Concerto, do I have to copy hbios_106_PAL50.bin to the root of the SD ? and after that will the Concerto  be able to launch the 7800 games ?

If you install the Encore firmware, your Concerto will effectively BECOME a Harmony Encore and will not work with 7800 titles at all. If you want the cart to fully support all 2600 binaries, you will have to wait for Fred to release an updated Concerto-specific firmware. 

[+batari]

12 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

If you install the Encore firmware, your Concerto will effectively BECOME a Harmony Encore and will not work with 7800 titles at all. If you want the cart to fully support all 2600 binaries, you will have to wait for Fred to release an updated Concerto-specific firmware. 

This is true, but you can always turn it back into a Concerto by installing the Concerto firmware. It is a bit of a hassle just for playing a game or two, but if someone does not have a Harmony Encore at all, it is an avenue for playing games that otherwise are not yet supported by the Concerto firmware.

[Avenger75]

I understand the advantage to be able to convert Concerto into an Harmony card for those who don't own one.

As I have both the Harmony Encore for my 2600 and the Concerto, waiting for future Concerto firmware update, I will plug the Harmony Encore to play ARM games.

 

 

[chopperthedog]

Having a pokey issue with cart received this week. UAV modded system, real ballblazer cart works as it should with strong equal levels between pokey and tia. With pokey/concerto the pokey level is like 90% lower in volume compared to tia. At first I thought pokey was bad, swapped/borrowed pokey from asteroids deluxe board and same result, but realized that I can hear a faint level of distorted pokey audio through speaker. Hope someone can help.

 

 

good day.

[+DrVenkman]

3 hours ago, chopperthedog said:

Having a pokey issue with cart received this week. UAV modded system, real ballblazer cart works as it should with strong equal levels between pokey and tia. With pokey/concerto the pokey level is like 90% lower in volume compared to tia.

This is almost certainly an issue with the way your mod is wired up. Ballblazer is pure POKEY. Commando uses both POKEY and TIA. How does that game sound?

 

Consider starting a new thread with photos of your installation so we can help diagnose and troubleshoot. 

[chopperthedog]

This is almost certainly an issue with the way your mod is wired up. Ballblazer is pure POKEY. Commando uses both POKEY and TIA. How does that game sound?
 
Consider starting a new thread with photos of your installation so we can help diagnose and troubleshoot. 

Hard to f up lifting 2 resistors and adding a cap and since a ballblazer cart sounded fine I knew it wasn't my work or system. Upon checking pin outs of pokey/cart edge in some documents along with following traces and checking continuity it became obvious that my blank R15 was to blame. Thankfully the value needed was printed on PCB, installed missing resistor and I have full pokey volume now.



good day.

[+batari]

4 hours ago, chopperthedog said:

Hard to f up lifting 2 resistors and adding a cap and since a ballblazer cart sounded fine I knew it wasn't my work or system. Upon checking pin outs of pokey/cart edge in some documents along with following traces and checking continuity it became obvious that my blank R15 was to blame. Thankfully the value needed was printed on PCB, installed missing resistor and I have full pokey volume now.



good day.

Yep, that resistor should be there! Sorry for the oversight. This one passed testing as I test the sound with a HOKEY these days and the resistor is not needed for a HOKEY.

[chopperthedog]

15 hours ago, batari said:

Yep, that resistor should be there! Sorry for the oversight. This one passed testing as I test the sound with a HOKEY these days and the resistor is not needed for a HOKEY.

Right on. Glad I was able to figure it out on my own without it turning into a bunch pm's or sending cart back to you. Should symptom pop up on another, we got some time saving knowledge now.

 

 

good day.

[Yurkie]

what post # is the latest firmware please.

[Yurkie]

BonQ original and hack on Trebor pack crashes as does a rom Ken gave me personally years ago. Any solution for this please I LOVE this game.

[zezba9000]

19 minutes ago, Yurkie said:

what post # is the latest firmware please.

Maybe this should be linked to on first thread post & updated there?

[+Trebor]

1 hour ago, Yurkie said:

BonQ original and hack on Trebor pack crashes as does a rom Ken gave me personally years ago. Any solution for this please I LOVE this game.

Hacks folder of the PROPack, there is the file: 'BonQ (Final AtariAge) (No POKEY Init Hack) (20210403).a78'  That should work fine.

 

Thanks to @RevEngfor providing the reason it happens to, and the fix for, the original.

[+Trebor]

1 hour ago, Yurkie said:

what post # is the latest firmware please.

hbios_concerto_0.95noflash.bin from the above post.

[Yurkie]

13 minutes ago, Trebor said:

Hacks folder of the PROPack, there is the file: 'BonQ (Final AtariAge) (No POKEY Init Hack) (20210403).a78'  That should work fine.

 

Thanks to @RevEngfor providing the reason it happens to, and the fix for, the original.

That one crashes too.