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Pokey + Concerto Compatibility Tests


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Pokey + Concerto Compatibility Tests

 

I've started a list of Pokey supported games (derived from this one) to test whether my Pokey chip (C012294-31 IMP) is fully working with my Concerto cart. I'm concerned that things may not be working 100% on my end and may be issues stemming from a combination of my particular 7800+Pokey+Concerto.

 

Please keep in mind that these test are only reflective of whether they're working on my system, not anyone else's. I've already been in touch with some of the developers, some of whom are who are experiencing different results than I am, so I already know that there are either issues with my hardware or there are still incompatibilities to work out. Hopefully this list will help someone, but primarily it's a list for me to know whether I should play the game using my Concerto cart on the show or still use emulation.

 

Whenever there is a new version of the game released or a new Concerto firmware released I'll update the list.

 

- James

 

Fully Working:

  • Ballblazer - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Beef Drop - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Commando - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Froggie - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Ms. Pac-Man 320 - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Pac-Man 320 - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Pac-Man Collection - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Pac-Man Plus 320 - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Super Circus AtariAge - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Serpentine - Fully working! (Last Tested 20210122) NOTE: Game has white background instead of black, see here.

 

Partially Working:

  • Donkey Kong PK - Sound out of tune notes, particularly the last note of "How High Can You Get". (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Galaxian (WIP) - Some sounds not working correctly that work in JS7800, particularly the ship explosion. Developer aware of issue. (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Millie & Molly - Some out of tune notes with Concerto version. Versions without concerto support have display issues when starting game. Developer aware of issue. (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Popeye (WIP) - Some out of tune notes. Developer aware of issue. (Last Tested 20210122)

 

No Pokey Audio:

  • Arkanoid (WIP) - No Pokey audio at all. Developer aware of issue. (Last Tested 20210122) NOTE: DISPLAY ISSUE, game goes to glitchy screen when starting a new game.
  • Danger Zone - No Pokey audio at all. Developer aware of issue. (Last Tested 20210122)
  • Pokey Kong (Hack) - No Pokey audio at all. (Last Tested 20210122)

 

N/A - Not Implemented Yet

  • E.X.O. (WIP) - Doesn't run, size not supported by Concerto right now. Developer aware of issue. (Last Tested 20210122)
Edited by ZeroPage Homebrew
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Here's the full video of the all the Homebrew Pokey games I tested today with my Pokey + Concerto cart, the results have been listed in the top post.

 

 

Here's the two original retail games that had a Pokey chip in them, Ballblazer and Commando:

 

 

- James

Edited by ZeroPage Homebrew
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All of the originals run the pokey @ $4000 with all the modern ones running @ $450.  Fred initially indicated base support was @ $4000 with the return to development and I think he and Mike may have discussed the move by modern homebrews to the new location and preliminary support was added.  The initialisation routine in 7800basic has caused some issues and a bypass has been determined (Darryl has manually implemented for Popeye currently). I'm trying to add it into our pokeysound driver but testing has been very slow at my end ? (so busy!!)  

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On 1/22/2021 at 6:25 PM, mksmith said:

All of the originals run the pokey @ $4000 with all the modern ones running @ $450.  Fred initially indicated base support was @ $4000 with the return to development and I think he and Mike may have discussed the move by modern homebrews to the new location and preliminary support was added.  The initialisation routine in 7800basic has caused some issues and a bypass has been determined (Darryl has manually implemented for Popeye currently). I'm trying to add it into our pokeysound driver but testing has been very slow at my end ? (so busy!!)  

 

Thanks for the info Matt, that helps me understand the situation a bit better.

 

- James

 

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1 minute ago, Muddyfunster said:

Just to jump on the tails of Matt's post.

 

With Danger Zone it's more a case of the firmware doesn't support the scheme used in Danger Zone yet, but I expect it will get added in time (POKEY @$450 on 48KB ROMS). Fred has bigger fish to fry before he gets to that I think.

 

Looking through the firmware thread for the Concerto cart Fred definitely has his work cut out for him.

 

I'm also looking forward to my Dragonfly cart (I just paid for it the other day, hooray!) so I have more options for playing games on physical hardware. ? 

 

- James

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10 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

 

Looking through the firmware thread for the Concerto cart Fred definitely has his work cut out for him.

 

I'm also looking forward to my Dragonfly cart (I just paid for it the other day, hooray!) so I have more options for playing games on physical hardware. ? 

 

- James

The Dragonfly will definitely provide options for the small number of games & demos that won't fit on Concerto (E.X.O is guilty as charged!).

 

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14 hours ago, Muddyfunster said:

The Dragonfly will definitely provide options for the small number of games & demos that won't fit on Concerto (E.X.O is guilty as charged!).

E.X.O is a big reason to purchase a Dragonfly, can't wait! ?

 

In other news, my Dragonfly is in the mail and on its way!

 

- James

 

image.thumb.png.6a1e10d639aaafbd7112fc7965dbe863.png

Edited by ZeroPage Homebrew
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15 hours ago, Muddyfunster said:

The Dragonfly will definitely provide options for the small number of games & demos that won't fit on Concerto (E.X.O is guilty as charged!).

 

I made sure I was added to the Dragonfly preorder list as soon as I could, just to play E.X.O.?

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Just in time before I switched out my Pokey for one out of my 5200's, there were Concerto specific updates to Millie and Mollie and also Arkanoid just posted.

 

Might as well test those two builds with the current Pokey before I swap it out! 5200 Pokey tests coming soon...

 

- James

 

image.thumb.png.4e19d0431b07d98b2d3be82f02a55ee2.png

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Hi James,

 

As you have seen @Trebor updated my Millie & Molly and Arkanoid ROMs to fix them for working on the Concerto.  We have been doing some further testing of 7800basic builds on the Concerto today and made the following discoveries:

  • 144k ROM is the best supported ROM size and should work without additional change (Popeye)
  • 128K+RAM ROM will work but the ROM header will need to be manually changed to remove the pokey @ $450 flag (Millie & Molly, Arkanoid)
  • 128K ROM does not produce any pokey sound

@batari also advised that the 144k bins fail proper detection but are currently handled by the Concerto to work, 128K+RAM with pokey @ 450 flag fails detection and defaults to 128K.

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  • 4 weeks later...

OPERATION 5200 EXTRACTION!

 

I kept forgetting to post this but here's the pictures from the Pokey extraction I did on one of my 5200's on Feb 14th to try to solve the Pokey issues I was having with the chip that Best Electronics sent me.

 

Here's the two port Atari 5200 I extracted the Pokey chip from. It was the one of the three I have in the roughest shape.

 

PXL_20210215_012536714.thumb.jpg.048a5b15dbd777710861abf677fedb12.jpgPXL_20210215_012557410.thumb.jpg.ac842dc9382bd2c9a13cde110f3e6940.jpgPXL_20210215_012900201.thumb.jpg.78888becad77916873ea69ce050f4078.jpgPXL_20210215_013608029.thumb.jpg.a8f9fbe25f5783d702c1da7abfaa817d.jpg

 

The Pokey chip in the 5200 is labelled

 

TOP: 8227 CO 12294-03

BOTTOM: C 10679 / 226

 

made by Signetics. It was quite easy to take out with my IC puller, so the whole operation was fairly painless.

 

PXL_20210215_013837443.thumb.jpg.7ea726189f89b5c334b9af9f2bf1e4aa.jpgPXL_20210215_014523417.thumb.jpg.8665228ce40b1b6a0edae7ff5c793c3d.jpgPXL_20210215_014547648.thumb.jpg.d63903ca88566ef60c061d5dbda5eecd.jpgPXL_20210215_014554168.thumb.jpg.5b1722c2e2447f320a8eb8b2a8fb0f20.jpg

 

 

The one I got from Best Electronics was misbehaving a LOT in Popeye with the music, missing notes and playing the wrong ones. It was a very tight fit putting it in and quite hard getting it out as well with the IC puller. Here's the IMP chip I got from them:

 

IMP 8322FQA

C012294-31

I10010-01

 

 

PXL_20210215_014723160.thumb.jpg.1bf843b34e82f038e67bf5d66350d807.jpg

 

Here's a picture of the Signetics chip from the 5200 installed in the Concerto cart.

 

PXL_20210215_015214867.thumb.jpg.d29dcc7cb9df0d955073fee517705090.jpg

 

It performs a lot better than the IMP Pokey chip in Popeye but not perfect and it was also having some consistent trouble playing the music in Arkanoid. You can hear various game sound performances in any shows after Feb 14th. I'm guessing that a Concerto firmware update will solve a lot of the issues I'm having with one or both of the chips and I can settle on one of the chips after that. In the mean time I'll be keeping both chips handy to swap out when the firmware gets updated.

 

I do have a DragonFly cart scheduled to arrive any day (it's been travelling around the world for a month) and I haven't heard of any sound issues in the Dragonfly thread so it'll be a good demo cart for the show until the Concerto gets an update. I'm more partial to the on screen menus with the Concerto than having to stand over the console scrolling through an on small cart display with the Dragonfly.

 

- James

Edited by ZeroPage Homebrew
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I have a new demo build of E.X.O. bubbling along that should be ready for release in a couple of weeks, so hopefully your Dragonfly arrives soon :)

 

It has a ton of changes including a complete rewrite of the collision system and about 50 bug fixes, tweaks, changes and enhancements, not to mention the fab POKEY tunes.

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1 hour ago, Muddyfunster said:

I have a new demo build of E.X.O. bubbling along that should be ready for release in a couple of weeks, so hopefully your Dragonfly arrives soon :)

 

It has a ton of changes including a complete rewrite of the collision system and about 50 bug fixes, tweaks, changes and enhancements, not to mention the fab POKEY tunes.

Ooooh, very exciting!! I've got a Dragonfly special show waiting in the wings for it to arrive that will feature E.X.O.!! I checked the mail today, my light gun arrived but no Dragonfly cart yet. I'll keep waiting and checking!

 

Can't wait to groove to the INCREDIBLE tunes that I've been hearing snippets of from @Synthpopalooza while playing E.X.O.!!

 

- James

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18 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Ooooh, very exciting!! I've got a Dragonfly special show waiting in the wings for it to arrive that will feature E.X.O.!! I checked the mail today, my light gun arrived but no Dragonfly cart yet. I'll keep waiting and checking!

 

Can't wait to groove to the INCREDIBLE tunes that I've been hearing snippets of from @Synthpopalooza while playing E.X.O.!!

 

- James

Can vouch for the tunes coming in EXO ? Bobby doing some very nice work ???

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