XEGS having issues with uploading certain games on Ultimate Cart

[BIGHMW]

Hey guys,

 

I just took delivery on a well-kept-up XEGS as it came in today's mail, it will go alongside my 2600 Jr (short rainbow version), 5200, and 7800 in my army of Atari systems in which I will be playing on, the XEGS was also going to replace my newly-gotten 65XE as my 8-bit computer unit of choice, but, I am having issues with my Ultimate Cart not uploading certain games, so here's the scoop:

 

I tried uploading the 5200-to-8-bit conversion of Pac-Man on the XEGS, it works fine on the 65XE, but, when I try to load it up on the XEGS, the display shows the built-in game, Missile Command, instead. The same thing also occurred when trying to upload Tempest Xtreem, good on the 65XE, but no dice on the XEGS. Is there a common issue with lack of compatibility with certain ports on the XEGS as opposed to the 65XE??? All of my files I use on 8-bit are .xex files.

[+videofx]

If you tell me where you got those files I can try in my XEGS with my ultimate card and see if I have the same problem

[BIGHMW]

UPDATE:

 

I accidentally did the joystick and fire button down at the same time and it displayed "End Of List" on the top menu, then I pressed the reboot button on the cart (and then reset on the XEGS after that) and went to both Tempest Xtreem (or Pac-Man (5200)) and it uploaeded the proper game, but, after that when I rebooted the cart it went back to displaying Missile Command instead.

 

Here are the two offending files I was talking about:

 

Check back with an update on what you find, thanks.  

 

 

Pac-Man (5200).xex Tempest Xtreem.xex

[BIGHMW]

Well, I just got home from work about an hour ago, and I tried to play some more ports on my Ultimate Cart through my XEGS and it won't pull up the 5200 "Glenn The 5200 Man" 8-bit port of Centipede, I get the opening screen that reads "Glenn The 5200 man presents Centipede", only to see it then go to a messed-up read of the built-in Missile Command port instead. This is a real bummer.  

 

As for Tempest Xtreem, it pulls it up only after I do that right with the stick/hold the fire button trick to make it crash with "end of list" on the top page of the menu, and then rebooting it and selecting Tempest Xtreem, but then when I try to play it the game crashes mid-gameplay. This is really frustrating I never had this issue on my 65XE, I even tried uploading them to another SD card and that didn't work either. Anyone else have issues using their Ultimate Cart with a XEGS, and if so, how do you deal with it???

 

BTW, the 5200-to-8-bit port of Pac-Man does work but only after doing that do-hickey thing at the top page, but that's it.

[BIGHMW]

1 hour ago, BIGHMW said:

Well, I just got home from work about an hour ago, and I tried to play some more ports on my Ultimate Cart through my XEGS and it won't pull up the 5200 "Glenn The 5200 Man" 8-bit port of Centipede, I get the opening screen that reads "Glenn The 5200 man presents Centipede", only to see it then go to a messed-up read of the built-in Missile Command port instead. This is a real bummer.  

 

As for Tempest Xtreem, it pulls it up only after I do that right with the stick/hold the fire button trick to make it crash with "end of list" on the top page of the menu, and then rebooting it and selecting Tempest Xtreem, but then when I try to play it the game crashes mid-gameplay. This is really frustrating I never had this issue on my 65XE, I even tried uploading them to another SD card and that didn't work either. Anyone else have issues using their Ultimate Cart with a XEGS, and if so, how do you deal with it???

 

BTW, the 5200-to-8-bit port of Pac-Man does work but only after doing that do-hickey thing at the top page, but that's it.

 

I tried that same do-hickey thing with both Tempest Xtreem, (and also with the "Glenn the 5200 Man" Centipede) first using the main menu (for me it is "8-bit") and held down the fire button and then moved right on the joystick while holding down the fire button to bring up "End Of List" which freezes it, then hit the "crash" button on the Ultimate Cart, then reset, then went to the particular game with the problem, it loaded up fine after that, with no problems, but, there SHOULD BE a fix for this so I don't have to do this all the time, but yes the games do work, you just have to do that.

 

Here is the sequence of actions you have to go through:

 

power ON > move right with the stick/hold down the fire button (brings up "End Of List" on screen) > hit the "crash" button on the cart > then reset > select game with problem > loads up fine with no issues after that.

Edited December 25, 2020 by BIGHMW

[fakecortex]

I was having the same loading problem with Popeye Arcade and your trick worked! Thanks!

[BIGHMW]

3 hours ago, fakecortex said:

I was having the same loading problem with Popeye Arcade and your trick worked! Thanks!

Any more cases of this happening, and also, does this happen with the AVG Cart??? Does anyone use the AVG Cart on an XEGS???

[darwinmac]

On 5/19/2021 at 11:14 PM, BIGHMW said:

Any more cases of this happening, and also, does this happen with the AVG Cart??? Does anyone use the AVG Cart on an XEGS???

I just tried to duplicate your findings on my NTSC XEGS. I have been unsuccessful. I can run the converted 5200 versions of Centipede and Popeye without having to press the crash button and reboot. I was able to play the games directly from a cold boot. 
 

Do I need to play other games first to see the problem? My XEGS is stock. I only have the Ultimate Cart and an Sdrive Max attracted externally. Obviously, I can’t use the Max when the Ultimate Cart is plugged in. 
 

Bob C

[fakecortex]

On 5/20/2021 at 2:14 AM, BIGHMW said:

Any more cases of this happening, and also, does this happen with the AVG Cart??? Does anyone use the AVG Cart on an XEGS???

No luck loading Hazard Run ?  Attaching the file if anyone is interested...

Hazard Run.xex

Edited June 22, 2021 by fakecortex

[+Nezgar]

Does the ROM/RAM test pass OK with the built in self-test?

 

The ROM is a known common failure point in the XEGS, it's possible your ROM is "marginal". Also a good RAM test might be prudent. One of the best is Shoestring's OS ROM replacement as it is very thorough and identifies to specific chips that are bad, but there are other utility disks with various RAM checks.

[fakecortex]

2 hours ago, Nezgar said:

Does the ROM/RAM test pass OK with the built in self-test?

 

The ROM is a known common failure point in the XEGS, it's possible your ROM is "marginal". Also a good RAM test might be prudent. One of the best is Shoestring's OS ROM replacement as it is very thorough and identifies to specific chips that are bad, but there are other utility disks with various RAM checks.

All good on the built in test. I have no clue about running other tests. I'm chalking this up to a limitation of the cart and me not knowing my way around my 8-bit. Outside of programming a guess the number game 20+ years ago, I've only used them as consoles ??‍♂️

[_The Doctor__]

there is a thread with a number of fix ups for the ultimate cart, a boot.rom has been produced. copy it to the sd card and see if things change