VIC-20 Multicart

Modding and Technical Issues

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6502dude
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Post by 6502dude »

I fixed the wiring bug in my home made eprom burner and moved onto 27C801 chips from the 29F040 chips that I had been using. :D

So far, I have tested and verified 108 games/utilities as fully functional with my layout.

Listing of games tested -here

Progress is slow as I am testing each ROM image to ensure it works beyond initial flash page.

BIN image for Eprom #1 -here

BIN image for Eprom #2 -here

I have not run into any BLK addressing compatibility issues.

Update: 4-16-2007 - now have 135 games / utilities loaded, tested, and working. These occupy 171 - 8K cells.

Update: 4-17-2007 - now have 150 games / utilities loaded, tested, and working. These occupy 190 - 8K cells.
Last edited by 6502dude on Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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nbla000
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Post by nbla000 »

KilrPilr wrote:Ok, I finished sorting the roms I have according to pal,ntsc,pal/ntsc and ones i couldnt get to work.
Don't Forget to add my fixed NTSC to PAL carts and why not my EasyLoad Turbo-Edition ?

PS: Looking in http://members.shaw.ca/vic20/VicCartRoms.zip i've seen that a lot of roms are assumed as NTSC (for example MS PacMan / Donkey Kong / Avenger) but a lot of them may be playable in PAL too using arrows keys at the title screen to center screen, i've fixed only NTSC roms that has not this ability because other are fully playable.
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Post by 6502dude »

nbla000 wrote:Don't Forget to add my fixed NTSC to PAL carts and why not my EasyLoad Turbo-Edition ?
Cool!!! I'll add Easy-Load to my prototype and test it tonight :)

I haven't tried PAL ROMs yet as I haven't got that far yet.
Bear in mind, my unit is just a proptype and schema/esplapion design will be version with final cart list selection.
nbla000 wrote:.. i've seen that a lot of roms are assumed as NTSC (for example MS PacMan / Donkey Kong / Avenger) but a lot of them may be playable in PAL too using arrows keys at the title screen to center screen.

Pole Postion should work as well then with PAL, assuming same logic.

I was wondering why a few of these images were scrolling down the screen and, why I could not center them while I was testing.
I soon found out the cursor down key on one keyboard was "stuck on".
I swapped to another Vic-20 and all was ok.
Until I get this Vic-20 with bad keyboard fixed, I only have 11 spare units :lol:
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nbla000
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Post by nbla000 »

I've converted some unexpanded games to work as cartridge at $a000, on Vice works fine with banks 0 / 1 present too.

6502dude may you try these games on your Multi-Cart ?

At the moment i've converted only these titles:
City Crusher (4k)
Squeeze (8k)
Tetris Alternate version (4k) look this post
Trout (8k)

You may get them here

If they works fine on Multi-Cart and peoples like this work i may convert a lot of other titles (unexpanded games only since Multi-Cart doesn't use additional memory)
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Post by carlsson »

I suppose most of those games copy themselves down to RAM? While it is practical from a point of view, I'm a bit skeptical as it may raise confusion among newbie VIC-20 owners whether those titles exist on real cartridges or not. Today I prefer using a cruncher to get a 4K game into 3.5K.
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6502dude
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Post by 6502dude »

nbla000 wrote:6502dude may you try these games on your Multi-Cart ?

At the moment i've converted only these titles:
City Crusher (4k)
Squeeze (8k)
Tetris Alternate version (4k) look this post
Trout (8k)
If they works fine on Multi-Cart and peoples like this work i may convert a lot of other titles (unexpanded games only since Multi-Cart doesn't use additional memory)
Tried these and they work fine with following exception:
City Crusher screen postion is a little to the right (maybe because i'm in NTSC land)

I included Tetris Alternate version & Trout at my demo of the my Multi-cart project at TPUG meeting tonight.

Nice work on these :D
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nbla000
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Post by nbla000 »

carlsson wrote:I suppose most of those games copy themselves down to RAM?
Yes, is exactly as it works except for multi file games, like Trout and Squeeze, that need a little bit rewriting of first part to move 2nd part to $1000-$1dff instead of load.
carlsson wrote:I'm a bit skeptical as it may raise confusion among newbie VIC-20 owners whether those titles exist on real cartridges or not. Today I prefer using a cruncher to get a 4K game into 3.5K.
These versions are not intended for normal use, crunched versions are better, but are specifically made to include them on multi-cart since this project may only start cartridge.
My dream is 2 multi-cart, one with real cartridges images (PAL fixed too) and another with unexpanded and if supported in the future with expanded games too or a mixed unit with best real cartridge and games.

6502dude wrote: Tried these and they work fine with following exception:
City Crusher screen postion is a little to the right (maybe because i'm in NTSC land)
Yes there is the same problem to the original version on VICE (NTSC mode) i may check the basic to fix problem for NTSC guys.
6502dude wrote: I included Tetris Alternate version & Trout at my demo of the my Multi-cart project at TPUG meeting tonight.
Nice, don't forget to make a video of the meeting to share emotions with us... :wink:

I think to convert my game realised with nippur72, PONG and if possible to make a Tetris version with music too plus other favorite games, do you think it's interesting a multi-cart version with unexpanded games?
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Post by 6502dude »

nbla000 wrote:I think to convert my game realised with nippur72, PONG and if possible to make a Tetris version with music too plus other favorite games, do you think it's interesting a multi-cart version with unexpanded games?
I think having all ones favourite games on one cart is a fantastic idea. I built my prototype to support orginal carts and then added expanded ram which would support storage of prg in rom and transfer to ram to run, or load from disk into expanded ram to run.

Setting up prg games to auto start takes this to another level :)

I tossing some ideas around in my head for a Multi-cart Version 2 design. If I pursue these ideas, development will be on a new board as I have taken Version 1 design as far as I want to.

This may be on hold until fall. This weekend we get our first taste of spring weather with temps around 20C :D
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Post by carlsson »

Of course, new games written from source code (e.g. your Tetris game) have no reason to copy themselves to RAM unless you use self-modifying code. You should be able to make most of it run from ROM.
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nbla000
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Post by nbla000 »

Just for NTSC guys i've refixed City Crusher (PRG2CART) to work fine in both PAL and NTSC mode, link now is updated.
carlsson wrote:Of course, new games written from source code (e.g. your Tetris game) have no reason to copy themselves to RAM
Yes i know, there was only a test, a good test, i promise you that the music version if any will start directly from the rom. :wink:
6502dude
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Post by 6502dude »

nbla000 wrote:Just for NTSC guys i've refixed City Crusher (PRG2CART) to work fine in both PAL and NTSC mode, link now is updated.
Thanks, I'll test tonight :)

Maybe, we should start a new thread (outside hardware forum) for ROM fixes?
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Mobsie
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Post by Mobsie »

Hi,

i w ill one please :D :D :D

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Post by 6502dude »

At the most recent TPUG meeting DigitalQuirk asked how much the parts cost to build my version of "Multi-Cart".

I could not provide an answer.

With the exception of the 27C801 eproms, I had all the other parts already.

I have looked up parts & prices from DigiKey and prepared the attached Bill of Materials for my version of "Multi-Cart".

http://www.bjlyons.com/cbm/vic20/multic ... erials.xls

Over 50% of the parts cost is the the circuit board. I expect better pricing may be obtained from alternate part sources and lower circuit board pricing by doing a circuit board run vs. Vector board.
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Post by 6502dude »

eslapion wrote:If there is something missing in the hardware v1.2 now is the time to be telling me about it.

I have a vacation for the next 2 weeks. I will be working on the hardware.

Hope it will satisfy everyone. All input is welcome.
Hope you had a great vacation.

It's been a couple of weeks now.

Do you have anything to show us?
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nbla000
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Post by nbla000 »

Other unexpanded games converted to work as cartridge at $a000.

New converted titles:
Frantic Fisher (4k)
Mini Kong (PAL/NTSC) (4k)
Pong (4k)
Sno-Cat (4k)
U-Boat (4k)

You may get them here

now i try to convert some 8/16k games.

I've released a New Tetris version (Deluxe) with carlsson music for cart bank5 too not a prg2cart conversion, i will send it soon on this thread.
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