Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

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Kilo
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Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Kilo »

So...
I've got the new bootloader. But with the original one it doesn't work too.

I can see every game in the bootloader and can select each game.
But...almost every came crashes the uzebox or got some strange chars on the tv.

Some games doesn't start right. And some games freezes or even crashes. Sometimes I get no signal on the tv.

Could it be a SD card problem or a hardware problem?
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Artcfox
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Artcfox »

Kilo wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2017 6:15 pm So...
I've got the new bootloader. But with the original one it doesn't work too.
Which version are you referring to as the "new bootloader"?

Edit: Try flashing this diagnostic program using a programmer, and report what the results are: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9404
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Kilo
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Kilo »

I use the actual bootloader from here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9405
Top post!

But as I said, the Problems are the same with the old bootloader 0.4.5

Ok, I will test it with the diagnostic program
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Kilo
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Kilo »

Okay... the programm said that everything is ok.
Like the picture from the post.
Everything green... hm

Some games are shifted on the TV.
Solitaire e.g. is unable to play. It seems like I have some sync problems.
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Jubatian »

Kilo wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2017 6:53 pm Okay... the programm said that everything is ok.
Like the picture from the post.
Everything green... hm

Some games are shifted on the TV.
Solitaire e.g. is unable to play. It seems like I have some sync problems.
How are you programming it? I mean do you upload it with ISP or the bootloader? (If you are uploading with the bootloader, it may reveal problems in the bootloader, such as with the old one it can reveal whether the programming was faulty due to poor SD connection)

What you see exactly from the program's output on the TV? (Such as do you see the character patterns on the edges) My TV for example wants to display SCART input at 200 pixels height, so basically I can only play FoaD and a few other "thin screen" games with the E-Uzebox.

If the picture is right, try newer games such as most things from the Master repo, Foad, Bugz, Laser Puzzle, Tank Fu or Iros. These all have identical accurate sync and should work. You may check problematic games with CUzeBox to see whether their sync is good (on the edges CUzeBox displays sync accuracy, normally those are dark blue, but if the sync has problems, you will see red lines there).
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Kilo
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Kilo »

Funny, I think I had those problems years ago.

Ok...
Well, Foad for example crashes during I try to jump. I don't know which Version anymore.
TRON is half bent. The upper side and the lower side of the Screen is shifted.
Also with Solitaire.

btw.: Your XMBurner is also to big for my Screen. I can't see the left Frame. But you're also having These probs, right?

If I try to Flash a game from the bootloader, sometimes the progressbar contains empty blocks (not filled).
A game which I made worked perfectly. But now it crashes when I only press the direction pad.

It Looks like Errors while flashing the games or a power supply issue.
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Jubatian
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Jubatian »

Kilo wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2017 7:22 pm(...)
btw.: Your XMBurner is also to big for my Screen. I can't see the left Frame. But you're also having These probs, right?

If I try to Flash a game from the bootloader, sometimes the progressbar contains empty blocks (not filled).
A game which I made worked perfectly. But now it crashes when I only press the direction pad.

It Looks like Errors while flashing the games or a power supply issue.
Missing the left or right is normal, the 1440 clock wide "traditional" Uzebox modes are typically just too wide. I meant the height now: my TV displays SCART input using NTSC timing at 200 rows, so typical 224 row tall Uzebox games miss some (often critical) top & bottom tile rows.

If you have "mysterious" crashes, try to upload XMBurner and check how it reacts to controller activity or just having it on for a while, so typical stuff you would be doing if you had a game running (XMBurner itself does not react to controller input, but if some way the controller input affects your power for example, brownouting the ATMega causing it to perform incorrect execution, XMBurner will detect it and display an error).

EDIT: Empty blocks in the new bootloader just mean that the contents of the Flash already matched what it fetched from the SD card, so no programming was required. This could often happen between similar games such as ones using the same video mode with the same configuration, or different versions of the same game, and it is normal.
Last edited by Jubatian on Tue Dec 05, 2017 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Kilo
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Kilo »

I will try!

But why are some games e.g. Solitaire or Tron distorted??
I had this Problem with Tron years ago.
Could it be the TV? Because of wrong PAL NTSC switching?
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Jubatian »

Kilo wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2017 7:34 pm I will try!

But why are some games e.g. Solitaire or Tron distorted??
I had this Problem with Tron years ago.
Could it be the TV? Because of wrong PAL NTSC switching?
I checked these two games. Both have very poor sync, they both seem to fail to correctly time their lines (not 1820 clocks) which also means that due to the timer interrupt (which ticks at 1820 clocks), there is a broken line at the end of the video frame. This could throw a picky TV set out of sync. Check dubious games with CUzeBox, if the edges are not dark blue, then the game could have problems on picky TV sets! (Not always, if you see a yellow dot at the bottom right at the end of the video frame, that's a clear indication that the game's video mode is more or less broken and may not sync proper)
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Kilo
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Re: Problems! Crashes! TV & Game issues

Post by Kilo »

Ok. Thanks!

So in short: I have the wrong TV and I live in the wrong tv code country :D
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