Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!ncrcom!ncrlnk!ncr-mpd!kentd From: kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent.Dalton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech Subject: Re: Forcing the scan rate to 50Hz [Sure wish they wouldn't!] Message-ID: Date: 21 Mar 91 09:19:32 GMT References: <95276@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1991Mar20.052658.9162@wam.umd.edu> Sender: uucp@ncr-mpd.FtCollins.NCR.COM Followup-To: comp.sys.atari.st.tech Distribution: comp Organization: NCR Microelectronics, Ft. Collins, CO Lines: 39 In-reply-to: dmb@wam.umd.edu's message of 20 Mar 91 05:26:58 GMT >>>>> On 20 Mar 91 05:26:58 GMT, dmb@wam.umd.edu (David M. Baggett) said: >European TVs work at 50 Hz. We make up for the fewer frames per second by >having more vertical resolution and properly-encoded colours. > The only real reason game writers alter the scan rate is so the game > play timing won't change. Games run 16.3% faster on U.S. ST's because > the scan rate is 60Hz here. This means Joust, e.g., is more difficult > in the U.S. than it is in the UK, something I always make clear when > comparing high scores with my British competitors. :-) I used to have only a mono monitor and would use an old color color TV with it. The TV's controls were broken so I couldn't adjust the picture for 50Hz games and demos... Fortunately, I now also have an SC1224 that syncs to 50Hz properly. What I used to do, though, is if the game wasn't too heavily copy protected, disassemble it and look for code which changes the hardware register that controls the sync rate, then change it to put it in 60Hz. Most of the time it worked. I forget the exact address of the register but if anyone's interested I can look it up. After a while, I wrote a TSR that could toggle between 50Hz/60Hz using a hot key. This was more hit and miss, since most games/demos autoboot making it hard to install the TSR and also some completely take over the keyboard so the hot key doesn't work. If the Hz change worked, it almost never affected the functionality of the game. -- /**************************************************************************/ /* Kent Dalton * EMail: Kent.Dalton@FtCollins.NCR.COM */ /* NCR Microelectronics * CIS: 72320,3306 */ /* 2001 Danfield Ct. MS470A * */ /* Fort Collins, Colorado 80525 * (303) 223-5100 X-319 */ /**************************************************************************/ Fortune: Earn cash in your spare time -- blackmail your friends.