Jump to content
IGNORED

PentaGo


darryl1970

Recommended Posts

10 hours ago, Lauren Tyler said:

Is there a chance we might see the alternate arcade theme included?

There are two ways to access the alternate tune:

1. In regular game play, the even number levels play the alternate tune

2. On the attract screens: Right, Left, Right, Left, Up, Down will toggle "Force Tune" mode. When in that mode, the left difficulty switch selects the BG tune (Alt or Popcorn)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/6/2022 at 7:57 PM, darryl1970 said:

There are two ways to access the alternate tune:

1. In regular game play, the even number levels play the alternate tune

2. On the attract screens: Right, Left, Right, Left, Up, Down will toggle "Force Tune" mode. When in that mode, the left difficulty switch selects the BG tune (Alt or Popcorn)

Good to know!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
1 hour ago, SearsRoebuck said:

Since I don't see it listed as a game featured at the Portland Expo, is Penta/Pengo going to be released in October with the other games you did such as Popeye ? 

That would probably depend more on @Albert's backlog of games, so I'll defer to him.

 

I am really impressed  and excited that Popeye is making it to PRGE. I hadn't heard anything for a while, so I thought there may have been issues with the cart  format and POKEY replacements. My friend texted me yesterday, stating that Popeye was going to be at PRGE. I haven't even found the post yet.  :) I am really hoping to be there.

 

Due to various family health issues, I've been unable to visit the forums as much as I'd like. I've had very little time to code. However, I have carved out time here and there, and there are some changes to Penta/Pengo that I am pretty happy with. Here are a few things:

  1. As before, entering a secret joystick combination will switch the game from "Penta" to "another game"... Now that setting saves on your high score device.
  2. I have tweaked the difficulty of Arcade mode. I have mixed feelings about this, but I want more people to be able to enjoy the game for longer. My high score jumped from 131,000 to 188,000.
  3. I've added additional on-screen info for POKEY/TIA mode. The game can be played in fully TIA mode or TIA/POKEY hybrid mode. I wanted to make sure it was obvious to the end user which mode they are in, and POKEY auto-detect is not reliable on all formats and chips. I also wouldn't want to limit somebody with POKEY onboard to not be able to play in TIA mode. @Pat Brady did an excellent job with the TIA music.
  4. Minor sound effect fixes
  5. Clean up redundant code.

Thanks for the interest. Once I think I have a solid wrap-up, I'll create a new demo.

 

--Darryl

  • Like 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Update 07/24/2022

  • Arcade difficulty is easier. The difficulty has been adjusted to ramp up more slowly on the arcade setting. The arcade is ruthless from the beginning, and I want this to be enjoyable. I hope I found a good balance.
  • New on-screen indicators for HS Devices, TIA or POKEY selected (Left Difficulty SW), and more...
  • Updated sound effects.
  • Code cleanup, allowing extra features.
  • The code, "up, down, up, down, left, right", can be entered on the Title screen. This changes the Penta title to an alternate name. This change is saved on your HS device.
  • Another code will unlock the ability to play in CHEAT MODE. This unlock is also saved to your HS device.
  • New Settings page. I was not TRYING to please @ZeroPage Homebrew , by making the game couch compliant, but it's a cool side effect! Some settings are unavailable in the demo.
    • Bonus Levels * - Select Blob mode, @ZeroPage Homebrew mode, and cheat mode (unlocked with code).
    • Force Tune - Previously set with code. This will force the background music to one song. The song is selected by changing the right difficulty. Once forced, the song can be changed mid-game. Left difficulty still switches TIA and POKEY selection.
    • Level Select * - Select starting level and which board layout to play. Select at the beginning of each round.
    • Invincible * - Pento doesn't die when hit by a sno-bee.
    • Reset Unlock ** - Go to page to delete game parameter saves, such as the title change or once cheat mode has been unlocked. New Page!
    • Reset Scores ** - Go to page to delete high score saves for each difficulty. No longer necessary to hold Select and Reset on power-up.

 

Note: In "Cheat Mode" Penta can die, but will never lose a life. In this mode, the "Select" button will automatically clear a level. This was my debug setting. This mode is also available in Popeye, but it is only available in the full version of the games

 

*   -   These modes will disable the high score functionality.

** -   These options are only available if a high score device is present.

 

PengoDemo(7-24-2022a).a78

 

PengoDemoBUP(7-24-2022a).a78

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent update!  The new difficulty settings in arcade mode are appreciated, as is the more gradual ramp-up of difficulty.

 

Two things I noticed:

  1. Concerto + POKEY = no detection.  I realise this is probably expected behaviour, but figured I'd mention it anyway.
  2. I'm seeing graphical corruption in a couple of places in the game.  Note the Yars' Revenge-style stuff across the Ice Block and Diamond Block; this clears up once 'SQUASH THE SNO-BEES' has been cleared from the screen and the main title is being drawn.

IMG_0670.thumb.jpg.70808028d20769b86090f0575b7ee35b.jpg

 

IMG_0671.thumb.jpg.0ac35c5993c3d63d2ad48c072ec9d00b.jpg

 

This also happens on the intermission screen between levels - take a look at the GAME TIME area of the screen:

 

IMG_0672.thumb.jpg.d90a25c2eff13e60c9251e3add412a59.jpg

 

Doesn't matter if the game is running as Penta or the alternate title; it happens either way.

 

Plays great, though!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Excellent update!  The new difficulty settings in arcade mode are appreciated, as is the more gradual ramp-up of difficulty.

 

Two things I noticed:

  1. Concerto + POKEY = no detection.  I realise this is probably expected behaviour, but figured I'd mention it anyway.
  2. I'm seeing graphical corruption in a couple of places in the game.  Note the Yars Revenge-style stuff across the Ice Block and Diamond Block; this clears up once 'SQUASH THE SNO-BEES' has been cleared from the screen and the main title is being drawn.

IMG_0670.thumb.jpg.70808028d20769b86090f0575b7ee35b.jpg

 

IMG_0671.thumb.jpg.0ac35c5993c3d63d2ad48c072ec9d00b.jpg

 

This also happens on the intermission screen between levels - take a look at the GAME TIME area of the screen:

 

IMG_0672.thumb.jpg.d90a25c2eff13e60c9251e3add412a59.jpg

 

Doesn't matter if the game is running as Penta or the alternate title; it happens either way.

 

Plays great, though!

Thanks for sharing. I do not experience this with either of my 7800 units. I have tested using Concerto and Dragonfly. Might you have a loose connection or something one-off, like cart being loose?

I hope to hear others' feedback too. Please let me know if it stops or you find a cause.

 

It isn't possible to detect POKEY using Concerto. I do not know if this will change with future firmware update, but it's currently not supported. That was ONE of my reasons for giving the user a choice.

 

I wanted to disable POKEY as an option if POKEY was not present, but I left it available because of Concerto.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, darryl1970 said:

It isn't possible to detect POKEY using Concerto. I do not know if this will change with future firmware update, but it's currently not supported. That was ONE of my reasons for giving the user a choice.

Understood.  Thing is, I'm getting the 'POKEY not detected' message at game startup.

1 minute ago, darryl1970 said:

I wanted to disable POKEY as an option if POKEY was not present, but I left it available because of Concerto.

Gotcha.  FWIW, POKEY is working in Ballblazer and Commando.  I realise those aren't using the same methodology as Pengo, but does at least demonstrate that it's there and functional.

 

I'll look into the other things you mentioned in a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Understood.  Thing is, I'm getting the 'POKEY not detected' message at game startup.

Yes. That is because the Concerto firmware cannot detect if a POKEY is present. That is only inaccurate when using Concerto. I suspect it may be fixed on future Concerto firmware updates. That is why I didn't make the game "gray out" the POKEY option when not present.

7 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Gotcha.  FWIW, POKEY is working in Ballblazer and Commando.  I realise those aren't using the same methodology as Pengo, but does at least demonstrate that it's there and functional.

 

I'll look into the other things you mentioned in a bit.

OK. Sounds good. I appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still getting the horizontal Yars.  Here's what I've tried so far:

  • Cleaned cartridge slot
  • Cleaned Concerto card edge contacts
  • Removed POKEY from Concerto
  • Checked voltage at PSU
  • Checked voltage at key 7800 PCB locations

Everything checks out.  I'm wondering if this might not be down to a 7800 hardware variation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Still getting the horizontal Yars.  Here's what I've tried so far:

  • Cleaned cartridge slot
  • Cleaned Concerto card edge contacts
  • Removed POKEY from Concerto
  • Checked voltage at PSU
  • Checked voltage at key 7800 PCB locations

Everything checks out.  I'm wondering if this might not be down to a 7800 hardware variation.

That's concerning. ? I wonder if anybody else can reproduce.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, darryl1970 said:

That's concerning. ? I wonder if anybody else can reproduce.

Calling @-^CrossBow^-

 

From memory, the 7800s that seem to have the most issues are the late models (Crossbow will correct me if I am off about this).  I'd test on my system but dont have Concerto. 

Edited by SearsRoebuck
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SearsRoebuck said:

Calling @-^CrossBow^-

 

From memory, the 7800s that seem to have the most issues are the late models (Crossbow will correct me if I am off about this).  I'd test on my system but dont have Concerto. 

This one's an A3 85 unit, so more or less middle of the run, at least by date of manufacture.

 

I'll have to open it up again to double-check, but my recollection is that this one has a Rockwell CPU and those were known for having issues in certain circumstances.  I think I have one spare Synertek SALLY kicking around here somewhere.  Next time I have a block of a couple of hours free I'll see about doing a CPU swap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

This one's an A3 85 unit, so more or less middle of the run, at least by date of manufacture.

 

I'll have to open it up again to double-check, but my recollection is that this one has a Rockwell CPU and those were known for having issues in certain circumstances.  I think I have one spare Synertek SALLY kicking around here somewhere.  Next time I have a block of a couple of hours free I'll see about doing a CPU swap.

 

Well that probably rules it out because mine is actually at85. Not too far off from yours. Hopefully crossbow can give us an idea since he knows these better than anybody.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, I was busy this weekend working on other projects and didn't login to AtariAge at all so just playing some catch up here.

 

@x=usr(1536) is the specific issue only the latest build of this game and through your Concerto only? Have you tried to remove the pokey from the concerto to see if anything changes? If you said that previously above I apologize as I didn't read everything and did my usual skimming of the details.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

That's concerning. ? I wonder if anybody else can reproduce.

POKEY@450 titles 'standard' builds typically will have some graphical corruptions with titles under the Concerto or crash completely. 

 

Currently, I am receiving a yellow screen with a few address references at the top when I try to run the latest demo. 

 

There are typically a couple of changes that need to be made to the standard binary to assist with: a. minimizing the graphic corruption to only the beginning of lines that typically feature alpha numeric information often seen on title and instruction screens.  b. allowing POKEY music to playback.

 

One of the modification is excluding pokey@450 from the header, but there are some code change(s) as well with respects to POKEY initialization or/and reference(s), there also may be something(s) else.

 

@mksmith is likely to be able to provide better specifics on the necessary tweaks, as is needed with Arkanoid and Millie & Molly which allows those specialized builds to play with POKEY sound and minimal graphic corruption under the Concerto.

 

That being stated, I do believe the issues mentioned are specific to the Concerto and not the game itself as it runs perfect under the MiSTer FPGA and A7800.  A test under DragonFly may help to verify further.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  

37 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

@x=usr(1536) is the specific issue only the latest build of this game and through your Concerto only?

Re: latest build: nope, I can also reproduce this in the 20211113 build.  As for through the Concerto, that's a yes as I unfortunately don't have another way to test except via emulation - and the 7800 is one of the few machines I have that does not have a backup system, so can't test on a different one to see what happens.

37 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Have you tried to remove the pokey from the concerto to see if anything changes?

Yes.  No change on either build, though I did just pick up on something that doesn't apply to the current build:

 

With the 20211113 build, the 'SPECIAL THANKS' text at the top of the credits screen also has the horizontal Yars effect going on.  However, unlike the other two, this one is a single colour matching the text colour.  This was more difficult to get a decent photo of than the other two were, but if you look closely you can see it:

 

IMG_0676.thumb.jpg.fff5683eca516d36d12711e09771c56f.jpg

 

This does not happen with the current build.  However, both of them have the title screen / intermission screen effect.  POKEY installed or removed does not appear to make a difference.

37 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

If you said that previously above I apologize as I didn't read everything and did my usual skimming of the details.

No worries - you got me to compare against the previous build which I forgot to do initially :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Trebor said:

POKEY@450 titles 'standard' builds typically will have some graphical corruptions with titles under the Concerto or crash completely. 

That is very disappointing. I wonder why I do not have any issues with my Concerto. I was excited at how well everything played on Concerto. What a bummer. :(

12 minutes ago, Trebor said:

Currently, I am receiving a yellow screen with a few address references at the top when I try to run the latest demo. 

Even worse. :( (Thanks for checking though)

12 minutes ago, Trebor said:

There are typically a couple of changes that need to be made to the standard binary to assist with: a. minimizing the graphic corruption to only the beginning of lines that typically feature alpha numeric information often seen on title and instruction screens.  b. allowing POKEY music to playback.

 

One of the modification is excluding pokey@450 from the header, but there are some code change(s) as well with respects to POKEY initialization or/and reference(s), there also may be something(s) else.

Interesting. I wonder if I disable POKEY. The game sounds pretty decent with TIA. That could be a "fix" until Concerto firmware is updated.

12 minutes ago, Trebor said:

 

@mksmith is likely to be able to provide better specifics on the necessary tweaks, as is needed with Arkanoid and Millie & Molly which allows those specialized builds to play with POKEY sound and minimal graphic corruption under the Concerto.

I know he's busy too. I will do whatever I can to minimize these issues. I wish there was something obvious. :(

12 minutes ago, Trebor said:

That being stated, I do believe the issues mentioned are specific to the Concerto and not the game itself as it runs perfect under the MiSTer FPGA and A7800.  A test under DragonFly may help to verify further.

Thank you for checking. I guess it also works on SOME Concerto carts. I run it flawlessly on two different 7800's. Dragonfly works flawless for me in both systems.

6 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

  

Re: latest build: nope, I can also reproduce this in the 20211113 build.  As for through the Concerto, that's a yes as I unfortunately don't have another way to test except via emulation - and the 7800 is one of the few machines I have that does not have a backup system, so can't test on a different one to see what happens.

Yes.  No change on either build, though I did just pick up on something I hadn't noticed previously:

Just out of curiosity, I set the project to exclude POKEY. (To hear background music, the left difficulty switch will need flipped.) If you don't mind, could you tell me if this fixes your issue. I am just curious if it's actually caused by POKEY. This isn't a definite proof, but it might help.

 

PengoDemoNoPOKEY(7-25-2022).a78

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

Just out of curiosity, I set the project to exclude POKEY. (To hear background music, the left difficulty switch will need flipped.) If you don't mind, could you tell me if this fixes your issue. I am just curious if it's actually caused by POKEY. This isn't a definite proof, but it might help.

Unfortunately, there was no change with this build.  The credits screen was still fine, but the title and intermission screens had the same effect on them as previously.  Moving the left difficulty switch had no discernible impact other than disabling the background and intermission music (which I realise is as intended, but figured I'd mention it anyway).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@x=usr(1536) & @Trebor I have a theory.

 

I started thinking about what changes I made. I added a lot, and I utilized a little extra space. That all seems pretty sterile, and I wouldn't expect it to cause issues, since since it was mostly added in the bank to save scores and play intermissions.

 

However, I enabled dmahole stuffing, to allow for more information to be plotted in my bank 8, which is the attract sequence. (Titles, Antarctic, and coin-up screen)

 

I removed the dmahole 0 noflow from this build. I removed some plotted text in bank 8, which freed up enough room to run the game. I'd rather have a flawless display than extra text. Plotchar uses a lot a space.

 

Please let me know if this solves the issue. I used this in Popeye, so I don't understand how that doesn't cause issues. It's the only MAJOR change I made in this though, and I can see that affecting graphics.

 

Please Let me know if this works! PengoDemoNoDMA(7-25-2022).a78

 

--Darryl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, darryl1970 said:

Please let me know if this solves the issue.

Unfortunately, the issues are still there.  I'm going to open this thing up again and double-double-check for anything I may have missed previously.

 

Might even take the opportunity to swap out for a Synertek CPU and see what happens.  I'd like to rule out the one that's in there if possible.

 

I just don't want to send you down the software hole if my machine is having a hardware issue.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Unfortunately, the issues are still there.  I'm going to open this thing up again and double-double-check for anything I may have missed previously.

 

Might even take the opportunity to swap out for a Synertek CPU and see what happens.  I'd like to rule out the one that's in there if possible.

 

I just don't want to send you down the software hole if my machine is having a hardware issue.

Before swapping out the CPU...check if Atari factory bodged in the ceramic cap on the bottom of the board from the CPU pin 25 to ground? They might also have attached it off Maria's pin 30 to ground. If it is present... you could try and see what happens if you lift that resistor off the pin to see if anything changes. It might actually look like a resistor...but it is a banded ceramic cap. But I would remove it if you change out to a different CPU as I've only seen that factory bodge on the Rockwell systems and even had to add it to one that had a bad NCR CPU and all I had was a Rockwell on hand. @Trebor owns that 7800 now.

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Before swapping out the CPU...check if Atari factory bodged in the ceramic cap on the bottom of the board from the CPU pin 25 to ground? They might also have attached it off Maria's pin 30 to ground.

Neither bodge is there - in fact, there aren't any on the underside at all.  FWIW, I was thinking this one had a Rockwell CPU; it's actually an NCR.  Must've been confusing it with the 5200, which was swapped some time ago.

 

My Harbor Freight temperature gun says that it's sitting at 109°F - 112°F.  Not terribly high, but definitely warmer than the others.  That's also with the top half of the case and RF shield removed, so air circulation is a lot better around it now than it has been.  The 'NCR' text on the top appears to be almost totally gone right where the highest readings are, so I suspect it's been getting a lot warmer than that.

 

In any event, I'm going to wait for dark before I go out and work on this thing.  It's 104°F outside right now, electricity is at a ludicrously high rate, and the one place I have to work on this is going to be an oven until I can turn on the A/C without being bankrupted.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...