Hardware tests of WIP please

[christophertumber]

Hello!

Would any of you guys who have the capability to run binaries on real hardware do me a favour and test this .BIN? I've run it on the 5 Vectrex I have running and MESS. Richard H has run it on his Vectrex. It runs fine on everything except my oldest (lowest serial number) Model 3000 where it has problems. I'm abusing the hardware a little bit so I'd like to verify whether or not it's an isolated problem to that one machine or not (that machine seems to be fine otherwise).

Should look something like this:


Thanks

Attachments:

SPECTRE - BAK.BIN (24.27 KB)

[centaura]

Hi Christopher. Be welcome

I can do a test in my spanish vectrex, and in few days I can test it into one of the vectrex usa versions made in taiwan (I´m not sure if they were the first manufactured)

I will take note of the serial number and rom version, case it could be helpful

[wazzal]

Works great on my HP 3000 SN 0123676

[centaura]

Nice gameplay

Model 3000-G1-EURO
Serial 3059118
Rom Checksum 7931

[christophertumber]

Thanks guys!

For the record, the machines I've tested it on are:

Taiwan 3000 110258 - Fail
Taiwan 3000 141981 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1015335 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1012059 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1013071 - Ok

[cNp]

Hey Chris, nice to see some new work from you!

First off I really like the game, it's nice to have another Pac Man mechanic game and the amount of lines you have going on some of the levels is unbelievable, kudos!

I have 2x 3000 UI-UK made in HK

Serial number 201nnnn = works perfect, lines amazingly straight, lined up at corners and dots down the middle of the alleyways



Serial number 203nnnn = lines not lining up, dots increasingly off line toward sthe right to the point the dots are hidden under the lines of the boxes eventually.



Given the HW is essentially the same I guess that's just down to that Vectrex not being as well aligned generally. Perhaps for a game like this it's worth having a calibration screen in the final product.

cNp

[mikiex]

This is what it looks like on my
3000 UI UK (Made in HK)
Serial 2016547

Which has had no mods...so probably quite out of whack.. the only thing I did was vac the dust out.
Good to see your still doing Vectrex stuff Chris

It's interesting CNPs other Vectrex seems to be near identically out of alignment to mine ......

[vectrexmad]

Apr 27, 2014 15:01:12 GMT -5 christophertumber said:

Thanks guys!

For the record, the machines I've tested it on are:

Taiwan 3000 110258 - Fail
Taiwan 3000 141981 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1015335 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1012059 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1013071 - Ok

Hi Chris, nice to see you are still active with the Vectrex.
When you say fail, what exactly are you meaning? Completly distorted graphics?
I've only tried one Vectrex so far (my main one), and it shows near enough what the others have shown, except as you view the array of squares from left to right, the squares appear to get smaller in width.

This Vectrex is
U010700A
Made in Tawain


However, I never aligned it, so that is probably the issue, though it presents most games ok.

p.s. that program shows a lot of promise. You must have done something clever, with getting all those vectors to display, without a lot of wobble/flickering.

[Mayhem]

How bizarre... I've just written about a version of the same arcade game on the Vic20 for Retro Gamer magazine!

Is the name change deliberate btw? The original arcade is called Spectar, being the sequel to Targ.

I shall try to give the BIN a go on my UK Vectrex and Kouso tomorrow hopefully... too late for tonight sadly. If you need folks to hardcore playtest down the line, give me a shout, I've got quite a bit of experience playing both versions

[VECTREXER]

My Daily "beater" Vectrex.
Vectrex
GCE 1982
HP 3000
Serial Number 0044484
FCC ID CNW9YKHP3000
UL 921Z
Made In Hong Kong
Checksum B796

[christophertumber]

Apr 27, 2014 15:11:32 GMT -5 cNp said:

Given the HW is essentially the same I guess that's just down to that Vectrex not being as well aligned generally. Perhaps for a game like this it's worth having a calibration screen in the final product.

Or you could just fix your damn machine


I have a machine where the left border edge eventually is offscreen at the bottom but I think your machine is the "worst" out of alignment I've seen. Which means I'll be bugging the hell out of you for tolerance testing

I have a calibration routine I wrote back in the day to account for drift but I'm not sure that's the case here and YASI approach, which looks like it tweaks the scale function, might work better.

[christophertumber]

Apr 27, 2014 17:05:51 GMT -5 vectrexmad said:

When you say fail, what exactly are you meaning? Completly distorted graphics?

This is a fail (potato quality photo, sorry) - The grid is solid instead of "blocks". It's either a hardware issue related to this particular machine or it may be a hardware change that was made after production and only affects early models. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on, just not if it's unique or a bunch of people would experience this. I'm hoping someone will chime in with another low serial number...

[VECTREXER]

Oh Chris T. please write a new version of the Test Cart which will allow us all to prove we have a perfect machine and do not need to fix a damn thing!

[centaura]

Apr 27, 2014 15:01:12 GMT -5 christophertumber said:

Thanks guys!

For the record, the machines I've tested it on are:

Taiwan 3000 110258 - Fail
Taiwan 3000 141981 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1015335 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1012059 - Ok
HK 3000-C1 1013071 - Ok

I have a Taiwan 3000 112215, thinking it´s in the "hot range"...
That vectrex is in other city, where I have to go; so I will can to test it next week, almost for sure.

[Rapetou33]

Hi chris!

works perfectly on

- 3000 GI-euro 3022121 (HK)
- 3000 GI-euro 3098214(HK)

Thanks very much for this new game!!!