[Coco] Zaxxon - CoCo3 w/RGB

[L. Curtis Boyle]

Agree completely. Some games (on a Coco 3) can be patched, if they used PMODE 4 in a PMODE 3 style (basically treating it as a 128x192x4 color screen), by changing the mode stored at $FF22 to PMODE 3, and then changing the 4 palettes (in some cases, you can actually make the games look better than they originally looked, even on NTSC). Others used it as a PMODE 4 (256x192x2) but used odd/even pixels for color in parts, but these will show with odd artifacts around the edges of shapes designed for the 256 horizontal resolution (Donkey King, and some hi-res adventure games that drew text as if it were a 256 resolution screen are two examples).
So, you can patch some things to look just as good as NTSC (if they did a “pure” 128x192 4 color, just using the artifacting NTSC PMODE 4 color set), and others will partly work, but in some spots look worse.

L. Curtis Boyle
curtisboyle at sasktel.net



> On Jul 11, 2015, at 4:49 PM, Nick Marentes <nickma at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> 
> On 12/07/2015 2:01 AM, John B wrote:
> > When I load Zaxxon with my CoCo3 using RGB it looks horrible. The colors> are way off. Is there a toggle or patch for the game to enable RGB?>
> 
> Colors way off on RGB?
> 
> Zaxxon doesn't have color. It uses Black and White PMODE4.
> 
> The only reason you are meant to see reds and blues is because of the false colors that come from NTSC composite/RF video.
> 
> On RGB where the colors are true, black and white is all you'll see.
> 
> I think you have a patched version of Zaxxon with forces PMODE3. It this case, yes, the colors will be off and this is normal when the original game is patched to use a mode it wasn't meant for. The 4 colors of PMODE3 can be redefined on a CoCo3. Unfortunately, you are stuck with odd colors of a CoCo1/2.
> 
> Nick
> 
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