Re: Asteroids and 'wiggly' diagonal lines

I think someone else briefly mentioned this but if you have an mysterious
invisible line of distortion then it usually means a bad bit output on one of
the vector counters. I think they are 74LS191's? I had this problem once
before, if the line is vertical then look in X counters and horizontal would be
Y counters. Since the bit is faulty you can usually track it down by simply
putting the game onto the crosshatch screen and then making sure that all
outputs of the vector counters are pulsing with a logic probe. If one is stuck
high or low, then you can make a good guess that that output is faulty (unless
what it connects to is holding it steady).

Phil Morris wrote:

> >
> >I would also like to point out that 'slight' wiggling (only very slight) is
> >sometimes just unavoidable and inherrent in vector games.. :)
>
> They're a bit more than 'slight', but aren't terrible either. The worst
> artifact when playing the game is as noted by another poster, ie the effect
> of the objects seemingly moving over an invisble vertical line. Also, on
> moving objects, the 'wiggly lines' make the objects look a bit weird. Hard
> to explain. :)
>
> >If you really are bothered about it, and its your only machine, or you were
> >looking to sell it, then perhaps you would go to the trouble of hunting it
> >down... but if you have a large bunch of machines.. it falls to the bottom
> >of the priority list... at least its working and playable! heh
>
> Damn right too. Well, it was until I noticed this 'sparking' sound from the
> monitor. :(
>
> Thanks,
> Phil
>
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Received on Sun Jan 13 15:19:48 2002