Certain games left shifted on screen

[gmc]

I've got a VIC-20 PAL Version connected to a LCD monitor via a RetroTink 2X Pro. This has been working well and have no issues using my VIC.

I'm now trying to create a cart with a few 8k games on which is selectable via dip switches. I'm noticing a few games are left shifted off the screen. Most of the games work 100% but there is a small handful giving issues.

I've checked and they are PAL Versions, so am not 100% sure what is causing this. Tried adjusting some of the settings on the RetroTink but that doesn't help.

Are there certain games that are just not compatible?

So far the ones giving issues are:
Seawolf
Jelly Monsters
Poker
Jupiter Lander
Avenger
Road Race
QBert

[Lechuck]

Some games did allow centering by using cursor keys (I think that some also allowed centering by using the joystick from presentation screen). Not sure if that will work with the ones you mention but might be worth to try…

Cheers

[gmc]

Thanks, didn't realise you could do that. It's fixed the issue on 3 of them

[Mike]

[...] I'm noticing a few [cartridge] games are left shifted off the screen. [...] I've checked and they are PAL Versions, so am not 100% sure what is causing this.[...]

That topic pops up every now and then. You may check out the threads ...

• Why do many cartridges require re-centering the screen?
• Cartridge Game Picture Position out of place
• problem with cartridge and screen
• VC-20 Screen off-center for cartridge games.
• Screen shifting to the left

... for more info.

Tried adjusting some of the settings on the RetroTink but that doesn't help.

This is because PAL and NTSC VIC chips need different default values in their registers to position the display window correctly - those values eventually adjusted by offsets if the display window has been resized. If this is not honoured by the programmer, the display window is just at the wrong place and this is not anything an adapter like RetroTink could be supposed to correct. Neither could a PAL <-> NTSC adapter do anything about that: when operated with NTSC register values, a PAL VIC still outputs a PAL signal, even if the output is now deranged.