MiSTer FPGA Forum

I'm having trouble finding a version of Lucasfilm's classic game Ballblazer for Commodore 64 which would boot in NTSC video mode. There are .tap files of European cassette versions which work only in PAL mode, the .d64 version from Remember claims to be region free, yet it freezes in NTSC for me, and the .g64 image of the American Epyx release seems to have copy protection not yet understandable by MiSTer.

I'm not asking for roms, just want to know if anybody had luck launching this game on the C64 core in NTSC.

Yes, but the Remember version seems to be cracked from tape and at the last second (after all the title screens) it fiddles with the tape motor again and hangs. You can see this if you run it in VICE. Not sure if this is something in the core that can be improved/fixed. You could open an issue on github if there isn't one already.

The "Crackman" version works, although it looks like the raster interrupt is not 100% stable. I am sure many other versions do also...

Dang. I would never have believed this is that hard...but it is.

The original is Vorpal, which won't work on D64 at all (even if cracked with Fast Hack 'Em, Maverick, Golden Oldies...), period. The G64 won't work because Vorpal does funny things with drive speed.

I tried FCIII and Super Snapshot V5 to freeze the NTSC version, no joy.

I tried every crack in TOSEC and on CSDB, and every single one is PAL in origin and thus (with the exception of REM, see below) you get the raster flicker rcade described.

I was quite sure I had this back in the day here in the US and played the crap out of my (not very legal) copy...but if my memory isn't failing me, that version (likely by Eagle Soft Inc.?) is long gone.

Also as rcade noted, sadly, the REM release is flawless on NTSC except that it does indeed tickle the tape motor and thus hangs MiSTer's core.

Ugh.

Thanks for responding, I've opened an issue on github for REM version not working in NTSC mode.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried it on the C128 core (in C64 mode). I'd be curious if that is the same core codebase...

No luck with C128 core. Freezes with C64 mode option set to either "pure c64" or "C128 extensions".

Also, I read the docs attached to the REM version and they say that the game was cracked from disk, not a cassette. Why would it access the motor then? Weird.

Ballblazer works for me on the C64 core. I'm using the Crackman version. The Atari 7800 version looks and plays better. I'm using JiffyDOS .d64 version

@djsquare The Crackman release (and all others on TOSEC except REM) is PAL and thus has nasty flickering raster lines on NTSC.

What exactly is the problem with the core in relation to the tape motor? My first hunch would be that it's a bug if it can't handle jiggling a non-existing motor. A workaround could be to try and patch the game, replacing the write to the tape-motor address with some well-aimed NOP's but that isn't exactly simple. Where can I find the version you're using? It'd be fun to try my hand at this again after 30 years.

Tried it with stock roms?

Yes, tested with stock Commodore KERNAL and disk roms. JiffyDOS doesn't help either.

Bas wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 6:56 am

What exactly is the problem with the core in relation to the tape motor? My first hunch would be that it's a bug if it can't handle jiggling a non-existing motor. A workaround could be to try and patch the game, replacing the write to the tape-motor address with some well-aimed NOP's but that isn't exactly simple. Where can I find the version you're using? It'd be fun to try my hand at this again after 30 years.

An issue has been opened on it:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/C64_MiSTer/issues/157

The crack in question (the only one that does proper NTSC and PAL) is by REM:

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=40532

I found a peculiar thing. Setting the Turbo mode option to "Smart" makes the core pass the Lucasfilm Games screen. What's even more interesting, the same trick works even on a .g64 of the original game disk! There's a catch however, as the game's GUI shows graphic corruption. So the game is playable but not in a 100% perfect form.

An update on the Ballblazing situation, the newest version of the core not only makes the Remember cracked version playable in NTSC, it even boots the original .g64 disk images. Now the third best version of the game can be played in its original intended speed.

The OneLoad64 version also works perfectly in NTSC =)

rhester72 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 9:58 pm

The OneLoad64 version also works perfectly in NTSC =)

It does, and it has stable raster in NTSC unlike the common PAL version.

Which is odd, because OneLoad is all PAL versions.

rcade wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 10:10 pm

Which is odd, because OneLoad is all PAL versions.

Not sure that's universally true, but in this case in particular I suspect they may have 'borrowed' Remember's release.