Posts by turrican9

Quote from Jens

Is the game available for C64? Haven't seen it! Do you have a download link, so we can test?

And yes, I too didn't know this game was released for the C64 until probably 5 or 6 years back. C64 has so vast of a gamebase that I discover titles I didn't know about quite often.

I did find a working CRT version of Shadows of the beast. This easyflash games collection contains Shadows of the beast amongst other games. The first time I started this easyflash cart, shadows of the beast did not work. But all times after that the game started up fine. First time I booted this cart I also got some kind of easyflash logo animation. After that first time I didn't see that logo anymore and shadows of the beast would work every time. It's a 1MB cart and shadows of the beast is 256KB. So at least this is an alternative for people who must play the cart version until the Ocean crt issue is fixed.

It's Beta 9i where the Ocean CRT changes were made. I downloaded the Beta 9i and looked in the 'what's new notes'

"FPGA Core:

- Fix in VIC-II emulation, Sprite vs Sprite collisions were wrong for some pixel

values

- Fixed 512k Ocean Cartridge mapping

- When CPU is crashed, force a reset when pressing the menu button. Allows to

enter the menu when CPU is crashed.

- Fixed REU behavior when triggered by a Read-modify-write instruction operating

at FF00.

- REU timing fixes. The REU can steal one cycle during badlines or at the

beginning of sprite DMA.

- REU/VIC-II combined timing fix. Added emulation of slow BA signal for the

first sprite 0 DMA fetch, allowing REU to steal two cycles."

Quote from Tobias

I confirm this - the .crt from my testrepo also just shows a black screen

No idea what the problem would be it.... unfortunately no time to look at it right now either - it would help if you could check what update introduced the problem. Another interesting test would be using the menu system from the last working update with the latest core.

Thanks for confirming. I came to think about something. When Soul Force from Protovision was released a few years back, none of the official Soul Force CRT images was working with my TC64V2s. A cracked easyflash version did work. I made a post about it in these forums and I believe you made some changes in the next release of the firmware where you fixed some stuff related to that specific size of Ocean CRT images (The size used by Soul Force). I think you said it was an uncommon Ocean CRT size. Protovision later released both an Easyflash and C64GS version of the CRT images after I had contacted them about the issue. So maybe the problem we're seeing with the Shadows Of The Beast Ocean CRT is related to the changes you made with regards to the Soul Force Ocean CRT problem.

Found my old thread,

I never had Shadows Of The Beast CRT working. Just now I tried to download this one

Don't know if this is the same CRT that comes with the OneLoad64 Games Collection V3 package. Which results in the same black screen. The one in the first link is the Ocean image. I believe I've tried others as well.

I did try to reset the settings back to factory default. No change. System is PAL C64, shortboards 250469 Rev A and Rev B. Cartridge mode. I don't remember if I tried standalone mode with this game. Starting the Shadows Of The Beast CRT always results in a black screen. Other CRTs are working fine. Tried alot of games.

Oh, and if it matters, using the VGA output.

Edit: And I did just now try the CRT image from the first link, in VICE. And there it works just fine. Also using the latest TC64 V2 firmware (Beta 9Q).

Edit 2: Just tried my TC64 V2 in standalone mode using the dockingstation. Both with PAL and NTSC. Same problem.

I noticed shadows of the beast CRT not working on my TC64V2s. Black screen. Is this a known problem?

yeah. I've been using PFSAIO for quite a few years now. I switched all my Amigas from FFS to PFSAIO. Most of my Amigas are using 8GB CF cards with 3 partitions. I am also using classic workbench on all of them. 8GB is really enough for the whole whdload games and demos library with alot of space left. So this is also why I never saw any point in trying one of those 'modern' kickstarts and just stick to Kickstart 3.1. Which works well with all my setups. (ACA 1221, ACA1233, ACA 620, Furia, ACA 500 and ACA 500 +. A500s, A600s and A1200s.

I never understood the reason for all these 'new' kickstarts. I run 3.1 or older on all my Amigas and never found a reason to why I should need one of those "modern" kickstarts.

I just now realised that the middle (white) button can be used for going back to menu by holding it for 0.7 seconds. So that's problem solved for me 😊

Quote from Tobias

We actually have a similar problem in VICE - the SIDs dynamic range is surprisingly high, so in order to prevent clipping, the overall volume must be a bit lower.

I see. Thank you for the explanation

So I noticed the volume level from the emulated SID when using TC64s line out with C64 core is quite low compared to connecting to real SID/Armsid/Nano Swinsid or VS all other cores I've tried for my TC64V2s.

It's to the point where I have to adjust the volume on my speakers quite a bit lower if I switch to real SID or other cores. And then If I go back to the C64 core and emulated SID I need to up the volume quite a bit.

Any particular reason to why the line out volume was set quite low for the C64 core?

yes, tried just switching the TC64V2 itself in the same setup. Same monitor, same cable, same everything.

So my first TC64V2 I bought shortly after they were released. My second one I bought maybe one year after. The first one shows noticeable more ghosting than the second one. Not a huge amount, but noticeable. Small variations between the same components? I assume they are built exactly the same?

With that said, picture quality is still superior on my TC64 V2s (even with some ghosting) VS using s-video to my retro tink mini and then to HDMI. Every time I try to connect my C64s via native means (via C64 video port) I am disgusted by the jailbars, much lower colour saturation and always glad to be back to TC64s much cleaner and vibrant VGA output.

Another good example is the Mist VIC20 core. It looks 100 times better VS my real VIC20 using composite to retro tink mini.

Quote from redrumloa

I have a v1 and have never seen any ghosting. I've used at least 4 different LCD monitors during this time and not seen ghosting on any of them. That's using both PAL and NTSC 64s. IIRC I've only used as standalone with 1 LCD, but no ghosting seen there either.

Lucky you. I get it with the docking station aswell. But I have two TC64 V2's and not V1. One of my TC64s show a little less ghosting than the other one.

So been messing around with the 15KHz PAL mode in the Amiga AGA core, VIC20 core, C16 core and Atari ST core. My BenQ BL702A and BL912 can handle 15KHz and I get a much improved picture quality over 31KHz. So if we had a 15KHz mode for the C64 core aswell it would have been a nice option which can give much improved picture quality for monitors that handles it.

If you fail with that GottaGoFastRAM, the ACA 1221lc would be a nice option for your ACA500 meob It's currently in stock aswell

I am using an older ACA 1221 (fully unlocked and overclocked) with my ACA500. Works really well

Quote from Jens

"hope" in terms of a software fix possibility: Yes, as Tobias can surely implement something like that. However, I need him on Keyrah V3 right now, so it's going to be some time until he can go back to Chameleon development. And even then, it's up to him to prioritize this.

Thanks. So I'm not holding my breath then. 768x576@50Hz works nice enough for now. Doesn't fill the whole screen like the 720x576@50Hz profile but can live with. If a fix for me turns up in the future It would be nice. But not the end of the world if not.

Thanks again.

So any hope based on the info from my last post?