CrossBow
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Posts posted by CrossBow
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On 10/10/2022 at 9:17 PM, socrates63 said:
Hey, Harry!
I'm with Rick. I use the 7800 for 7800 games only. I prefer to use the 2600 for 2600 games because (1) cartridges are easy to insert and remove on the 2600 compared to the death grip of the 7800, (2) some 2600 homebrews don't work on my 7800, and (3) the 2600 switches are easier to use.
I will say that when I got back into playing Atari games several years ago, I started with the 7800 since it's backwards compatible. However, not long after I started playing Atari games again, I ran into the aforementioned issues, so I got a 2600. Besides, the six switch 2600 is an iconic design.
Which 2600 'brews' didn't work on your 7800? Granted I've not played much less own all of them, but all the ones I've played and bought have never been a problem for me?
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1 hour ago, Silver Back said:
HDMI out, SD card, widescreen support, plays 2600 and 7800 cartridges and most importantly... The Atari logo lights up.
I guess it runs games under emulation though? Any thoughts on this development? Anybody been waiting for an easier way to hook these up to modern TVs like this for 7800 games? Honestly I think 99.99 would've been a sweet price 129 isn't bad but not great either.
There is no mention of an SDcard slot. That said, it could still be possible to 'hack' these in the future through the USB port for power provided it includes data lines on it. But it is confirmed to be an emulation device that works in the same way the Retron-77 does. Only it can do 2600 and 7800 games and the compatibility list is a bit better than the R-77 I'm told.
But being an emulation device that is dumping the game contents will pretty much mean that most modern home brews that use additional hardware in the cartridge are a no go for this thing. It also isn't known what emulators they are using for the games.
And yes, I've already put in a pre-order because of course I did...
- Justin, Sabertooth, RickR and 3 others
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48 minutes ago, RickR said:
Very nice to know there is an adapter, thanks! I assume it doesn't work with a front-loader NES though, right? Top loader or fake NES (like Retron)?
There is a picture of them showing how you use with the front loader? So I assume it does work, you just can't press the cartridge down. Kinda like how it was using a Game Genie back in the day.
- socrates63 and RickR
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Ordered this about a week ago and got it in yesterday. This might just be the quickest I've ever bought something from LRG to have it arrive a week later. Though to be fair these were already made up and ready to be sent so...
But yeah I picked up the PS4 version of Blade Runner enhanced. I own the original PC game and have since it was new back in '97 but having a way to play it more comfortably on my much larger display in the game room is always preferred.
This version is the VHS edition of the release that was apparently only available during the San Diego Comic Con and this is from the left overs they had after the convention. Very nice presentation overall as it comes in a VHS like slip cover that even has artificial wear along the edges like VHS covers would develop over the years. Inside that is a box that looks like a VHS tape that contained the standard PS4 release of the game along with a cool steel book case you can put the game into instead.
I was able to spend a bit of time playing it last night and it isn't without its issues. (I knew this before buying it). The video cinematics have some stuttering issues that seems odd considering I have an SSD installed into my PS4 and there is an odd pause hitch that occurs constantly when playing the game in that just moving the cursor around will occasionally make it pause for a second as you move it. Kinda annoying but nothing that has been serious to game play as yet. I was still able to score 49 points in the shooting range in the game the first time I played through it so the controls aren't that bad.
The enhanced art however is a very mixed bag. In the cinematics where they have enhanced it, it looks good and seems to run at 60fps now vs the 30 or whatever the originals did. But on the actual gameplay screens, the enhanced graphics seemed to obscure some texture details more than the originals provided even though the original graphics are quite jagged and have quite a bit of noise in their image compression vs the enhanced. I think what they did was apply some AI upscaling on the original graphics and basically did a single pass of it and called it good enough? Not sure but I'm still enjoying the game all the same!
- Smell Dawg, TrekMD, socrates63 and 2 others
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That village area is the main are where you can essentially just park yourself with machine gun and just keep taking out soldiers left and right with minimal risk to yourself.
Here is one of those locations. If you bring the screen down just a little bit further, this prevents solders from sneaking up from the bottom of the screen but they still come out the of the village door openings constantly. It is also rare for a soldier to sneak up from the left or right side of the screen here. They will come out from the left and right above those builders on the upper half of the screen, but then they have t walk down between the buildings to get you and you can easily take them out before they turn to shoot at you.
So yeah..if you scroll up a bit more so that the bottom left building in the above pic is off screen, but still have room to move between it and the others you have in the middle of this pic, then stay to the left side...
Well, you get the idea.
Also somewhere on AtariAge, someone mapped out all the hidden POW locations (Unique to the 7800 version I believe), for those bonus points. I can't recall if these locations can be opened again, when you get through both tours of duty though.
- Justin, socrates63 and 7800 Pro Gamer
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15 minutes ago, Justin said:
What's the story with this AV modded Atari 7800?
.JPG.820aefb5c1282993ebe510b02382cea0.JPG)
I worked with Bob (PacManPlus) to get that done for Al. He supplied the special 3D printed case shell and I swapped everything into it with a UAV + mount board setup. He was showing Bob's games on it throughout the show. But that case is a one off special done for Al and AtariAge. I have a similar case shell with black bottom and red top with the Atari 7800 logo in the middle in black.
It also has Bob's Kiloparsec BIOS installed as well. The one I have is my lab test unit. But the shell was designed with AV upgrades in place as it already has nicely centered holes for RCAs and the half moon hole for the s-video jacks I use.
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Wait! is that Father Torque from Full Throttle on the bike on the first row of vehicles?!
And yes I really dig all the 80s car references. Additionally the water being more of a sewer at least makes more sense on why the Frog would die if he jumped into it vs the water from all other games.
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10 hours ago, Jinroh said:
Very good advice. 🙂 Mine is surely due. I'll have to check mine and see how it is before I can get someone to modernize it. 😄 Don't want them leaking all over the motherboard. 😛
Yeap...cause it could very well look like this inside...
This is what most of the OG caps in GGs look like at this point. Notice the yellowing appearance where the caps are soldered to the board vs actual shiny solder? That is the electrolyte having leaked out and corroding the leads, solder, and solder pad underneath.
When you crack the glue loose that holds the caps down, you can really see what this starts to look like...
Looks tasty ehh? Now this is a typical GG. I've seen some that were worse where the leads were basically eaten through and in some more extreme cases, traces on the PCB that get eaten away due to the corrosion. So yeah... GG recaps are mandatory at this point for pretty much every model. This is all a result of the great capacitor plague of the 90s due to formulae stealing and corp espionage. I remember reading all about it when it happened back in the day.
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9 hours ago, TrekMD said:
I always take tons of pictures, so that won't be an issue. 😉 I don't think I knew you're in South Florida also, @Justin.
I'm not sure if I shared this last year but here is my album from PRGE 2022: PRGE 2002 Album
Oh Snap! My cover is blown as you managed to catch me in two of those pics!
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38 minutes ago, Silver Back said:
Up next...
Commando!
Do note that on Commando on some of the levels in the game, there are spots where you can essentially just park yourself and keep mowing down enemy soldiers without much if any risk of death to yourself. I've done this several times to rack up scores in the millions. I guess it could be seen as an cheat or something, but it is just taking advantage of how the game was coded. I own the actual arcade cabinet for this game and I do find that the 7800 version is one of the more better arcade ports for the home to play!
But yeah... you can cheese this one to get a bunch of free men. I usually just shut it off after a bit because I get tired and just turn off the system.
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49 minutes ago, RickR said:
Is there a download demo for this one?
Yeap...the first post on the AA forums has a demo I believe?
https://forums.atariage.com/topic/353709-blockem-sockem-7800/
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1 hour ago, Jinroh said:
Thank you so much for the info @CrossBow. 🙂
I was not sure if that was something you regularly did, replacing the caps since you said it's a pain. 😛
Good info about which caps there should be using to replace too! The job you did is very nice, it looks OEM to me. 😄 I always thought Electrolytic should be used, but I am surprised some people use Ceramic SMD. Good info on your experience with Ceramic jobs. Would be a pain to get glitching or erratic games from the Caps, then have to get them redone later.
Well, most folks just live with it, or in the case of the audio, the new audio boards supposedly remove the hiss issues using ceramics. But again, that is because they are designing a new board specifically for the purpose of using ceramics when the originals weren't. So just depends. And yes, recapping a GG is more time consuming that other consoles but still not that big a deal and I always recap GGs that come to me unless they have been done recently already by someone else as was the case with the one I posted about. Although the caps they used are of questionable quality and the way they were done was a messy, they did seem to be doing the job and the person that owned this GG wasn't expecting it to have to be recapped, so I only cleaned it up, recapped the audio board to fix the issues I mentioned it was having and installed the new LCD upgrade that it was originally sent to me for.
But yes, recapping the GG is mandatory at this point if it hasn't been done already. You should see what the caps looked like on that second one I posted before I redid them...ugh. Caught that one in time.
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9 hours ago, Jinroh said:
Very good. 🙂 You got it cleaned up very well, and the screen looks very nice.
Do you recommend any particular re-capper?
I can't solder anymore since surviving my stroke (can't even write anymore with my dominant hand), and was thinking of getting my Game Gear modernized.
Well obviously I can suggest myself LOL! But I'm sure there are quite a few techs out there that can provide such services. Just have to ask around and see if there is someone close to you to try and save on shipping etc. I will say that in my opinion, I would stay away from those that recap using ceramic SMD style over the standard electrolytics. Yes the ceramic type will certainly last longer, but they aren't the correct type of cap that was designed to be used. I've installed a few and while they technically do work, I did experience some odd glitching on graphics in a few games and especially constant hissing from the audio.
My guess is that is why there are other replacement boards you can purchase for the GG such as power boards that provide you with USB-C for power and have charging circuits on them to have LiPOs installed vs the older AAs... etc. There are even replacement audio boards you can purchase. But I've never had any issues using standard electrolytic caps and the original boards provided any leak damage is cleaned up and the caps are installed in a proper manner.
One interesting thing about the GG is that you will heard a lot of folks refer to the caps in it as being early SMD style and that actually isn't true at all. They are standard radial electrolytic caps in a square housing with the leads bent to solder onto SMD pads. So using standard radial caps is just replacing with what was in there originally but with higher quality ones that should last much longer than the originals did.
The pic above is what that board looked like after I cleaned all the old flux off it..etc. But it isn't what one of my normal recapped GGs would look like. Here is one I did most recently to give you an idea of how they really should look with proper quality brand caps.
- Justin, Smell Dawg and Jinroh
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I cannot this year as the cost is just too much right now for me. That said, I will be there in spirit with all the different consoles that will be there and setup for folks to play the new games and enjoy.
- Justin, socrates63, TrekMD and 1 other
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On 2/25/2023 at 2:11 AM, MaximumRD said:
Current Desktop - side note, I've personally never played NO MAN'S SKY in any form but it makes for a cool wallpaper imho. Anyone played / enjoyed / recommend it? 🤔🤷🏼♂️Not sure it's my type of game but screenshots from it do seem intriguing.
I haven't taken that many screen shots from the game but play it quite often. That said, this is one of the few I've kept over the years and is my favorite scene with all the planets aligned as they were. It was an accident I happened to land in this spot to do this but I'm sure glad I did and took the screen shot. This is from the PS4 version that I play and it still looks pretty amazing graphically.
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Ninja Golf wasn't a game I ever knew about back then until I got into collecting about a decade later. I think Ninja Golf being a late release, likely came out not long after I had stopped playing consoles and switched to PC gaming. But I also know that part of the reason I started to play my 7800 less and less around '89 was because most locations in my town weren't carrying games for the 7800 anymore.
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13 hours ago, RickR said:
Game Drive! You and @CrossBow will have to let us know what you think!
And really nice other stuff too. I should buy that McDonald's game for Genesis too!
And mine arrived yesterday!
I was messing around with it quite a bit last night (I should have been doing other stuff...but...ehh). And it isn't perfect by any means, but it is right up there with my Dragon Fly on what it can do currently and since it can play Rikki & Vikki with full audio, it does have the DF beat in that regard. But ONLY that regard.
Covox audio isn't working currently on the 7800GD and will have to be addressed in future FW updates. Some games have issues playing on the 7800GD, and the AV out is pretty picky on what will or won't work from it at the current time. There will be a hardware revision of the 7800GD to address the AV output stuff. Likely the next batch of them will have that in place.
- socrates63, RickR, Sabertooth and 4 others
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4 hours ago, Silver Back said:
Took down another game for the 3rd episode of Man vs 7800! Hope you guys like it. I know I have to work on speaking clearer but Im learning a bit more with each video! And as always any feedback or criticism is appreciated!
I also have some different videos in the works if you want to subscribe to me over on YouTube! Ok enough of that, here's the video:
I got to be really good at this game when I was younger and preferred to play my 7800 version over my step-bro's NES version. The elbow punch is the most powerful attack and using the enemy stance to your advantage is the key here. As you stated, the enemy has two states. They are either going after your and following the player on the same plane as you stated, or they are walking in your direction but on a different line of plane on the game screen. So what I did was move the controller up and down quickly to get the attacking enemy to switch to wonder mode and then come down and elbow punch them over and over. I also used the reverse jump kick but mostly once I got enemies locked in ontop of each other in a corners and such to wallop them.
On the green Abobo's just before entering the final lair, I found a way to get them to come one at a time if you didn't go too far beyond the screen and then again using the elbow punch of them was key to taking them down quickly. I got to the point where I could pretty much beat the game anytime I played it only loosing 1 life. I think I was able to do it on a single life a few times even.
I doubt I could now though as it has been 20+ years since I played this but I'm sure if I took some time it would all come back to me.
- TrekMD, 7800 Pro Gamer and socrates63
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38 minutes ago, Silver Back said:
Well here's the thing @CrossBow is I noticed it and I was playing on a crt. Maybe it depends what revision console you have?
Oh I wasn't disagreeing with you! I know it is there, but I was essentially out voted on the issue by the other testers. So yes it could matter on the revision of console, but then it seems odd that this is the first time I can recall something like this on a game acting that different between revisions. The two systems I tested it with was an A3 and A1 series consoles.
Same thing in regards to the elevator timings. I was still able to. and still able to get the elevators largely to always be in my favor once I get it locked in a few levels in. But apparently no one else was able to replicate that either?!
- socrates63, Justin and 7800 Pro Gamer
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1 hour ago, RickR said:
THANK YOU for this info. I was going to take stock of my 5200 sticks and re-order parts as necessary. And that pricing is great IMO too.
I've always done the "foil dots" method of fixing buttons given a working mylar. Aluminum foil, a hole punch, and Elmer's glue. But this would save a ton of time and is probably a better long term solution.
Exactly my though! for the time needed to do the cleaning and foil dot method, I think this is a better option because this only takes a few min to install and is likely to last for a very long time given everything is gold on gold contact, and the contact points themselves on these new mylars are much larger than Atari or the other Vendor's designs.
- Justin, socrates63 and DegasElite
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3 minutes ago, RickR said:
Assembly isn't hard, given good tools. It's just a much different way of thinking/organizing code.
I'd wonder if that CPU "halt" that Maria can do for DMA may also cause some slowdown. If I understood correctly and my memory is still ok, I think the 7800 uses sprites for everything, even backgrounds? Meh, something to look into if I ever get time to do something fun like that.
This is absolutely true. The 7800 can do games like Robotron and Asteroids better than any other system of the time. No flicker at all. No limitations on the type or direction of movement. Rotating rocks that move really fast? No problem.
NES version of "Ballblazer" is a good one to consider...it just isn't as good on NES as it is on 5200, 8-bit, and 7800. Oh, and the C64 version is horrible.
BallBlazer is best on the 7800 with the slightly increased color palette and especially much smoother overall game play speed! There is some improvement in the graphics on the 7800 version as well. Really noticed when you see the rotofoyls up close as they appear much more jagged and pixelated on the 5200 / 8-bit vs the 7800.
- socrates63 and RickR
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On 7/24/2023 at 5:56 PM, Silver Back said:
You know I've noticed slowdown in games where I doubt there should be any. The 7800 runs Robotron flawlessly and I've seen it display incredible amounts of visuals and run smooth as butter. But the other day when playing keystone Koppers I noticed slowdown on screens where all three levels had obstacles and the crook. Maybe it's because there is some pretty looking backgrounds instead of black but I would think the 7800 should still be fine. Could that be an effect of 7800basic using a lot of resources?
I brought this up a few times with Lewis during beta testing. Here is the odd thing. I was the only one of the testers to notice this slow down to any degree. There was much more of it and much worse in earlier builds. But yes it seems that once you have radios blinking away on all floors on a screen, that the system has trouble at that point. But again, it wasn't something that Lewis was able to replicate to the same degree I was showing. I even recorded screen footage of the plays where it would come up at 60fps and you could see the slowdown plain as day, but Lewis and the other testers couldn't replicate it or didn't notice it as they were playing on CRTs and I might have been the only one playing with AV upgrades etc in place.
So this could be somewhat 7800 specific. We already know that in addition to the red-headed step child treatment is received under the Tramiel banner, that it also seemed very much to be a console that was pieced together from whatever they had lying around or whomever was able to provide them with the cheapest batch of parts that month. That various bodges inside them on a console to console basis kinda demonstrates this.
The 6502C 'Sally' was also the same used in the 5200 and 8-bit computers. So the 7800 can operate with any of them from those other systems.
- socrates63 and RickR
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- Popular Post
So I hinted about this in another thread elsewhere, but though it might be good to give it is own post.
So a new challenger has emerged online under the website AtariRepairParts.com and as the name implies they provide replacement parts for Atari stuff. However, as they are very very new, the parts available is basically limited to just a few things. But, perhaps the most interesting is their replacement mylar and membrane buttons for the standard OEM 5200 controller (CX-52). Similar to another well known vendor, AtariRepairParts has created their own mylar and button replacements that are also gold plated.
The main difference here is that they cost for a complete set is about 50% less of the other well known vendor. They also don't have any limits on the number of items you can order and have PayPal so payments are easy to make.
I ordered two sets of these replacements for just under $50 shipped. That might seem like a lot for something so old, but again for the price of 2 sets to install into one controllers from AtariRepairParts compared to that same price for just a single controller from the other vendor, it is a good deal.
I received them in yesterday and only ordered them a few days prior, so they arrived very quickly! Here is my initial impressions of these new replacement rebuild kits..
First lets talk about how everything arrived. It was delivered in a bubble mailer using a section of card stock and envelope to protect and prevent bending of the mylar flex. The membrane buttons were just loose in the padded envelope but as this is all very light weight and small, I don't have any issues with this packing.
The first thing you notice is that the mylar is a very matte black finish in color overall. But you can still see the traces etc. Ever contact point on the flex is gold plated including the fingers that insert into the controller wire harness connector. Additionally, it could have been the way it looked, but I believe that section with the fingers is a tad longer than the stock mylar so they seat in further and more secure as a result. The mylar overall is also a little thicker than the stock mylar and more rigid as a result. But I don't find this to be a negative at all since it means it should be able to withstand the flexing and bending it has to go through much better over time. The mylar also has preaffixed adhesive pads so that it can attach to the keypad support plate, and each of the arms for the fire buttons on the mylar will attach to the vertical supports on the controller properly. In the past I've had to keep double sided tape on hand with replacements so this is a welcome thing to have! I do think another strip should be included for the top row buttons as it doesn't have one for that part. But if you consider the fact that the membrane buttons sit on top of that section, I guess it isn't as critical.
The membrane buttons appear to be new and look and feel like the originals. This is good and bad because a lot of folks don't like the mushy feel of the original buttons and these will retain that original feel. However, similar to the mylar, each contact on the membrane has a gold plated disc that is secured to the buttons. So gold on gold contact will minimize any corrosion over the years from occurring.
Installation is a breeze since everything is of the same size as original parts so it just all fits in place where it should. Even the small holes on the keypad to line it up on the support tray are present and in the correct location. So yeah provided you know how to take the original controller apart properly, installing a set of these should only take a few minutes time.
I played a few games of The Last Starfighter to break it all in and I have to say that everything worked great! My only criticism is that the top row membrane buttons seem to sit a little lower than the originals and as a result I found them difficult to actually press and make contact. But they do work it just requires a little more direct pressing than I'm used to with my older buttons and foil taped contact pads hehe. Still, the quality of these replacement parts are very nice and I imagine the controller will not require much if any maintenance in the future since the only real failure point now would be the cabling or potentiometers inside the controller itself of which, there aren't any replacements for yet at this time.
- walter_J64bit, Sabertooth, DegasElite and 5 others
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Atari 2600 or Atari 7800 - which one do you use for gaming?
in Atari 2600
Posted
Oh...that might be one that is effected by the extra timing circuit that some 7800s have. Disabling that part of the 7800 would likely correct the issue for you. I don't own that physically, but I know Space Rocks works in all of my flash carts I've used with my 7800. Well those that support games of that type anyway.