Hello, Guest the thread was viewed817 times and contains 7 replies

last post from katarakt at the

Joystick issues on new Mega65

  • I received my Mega65 earlier this January and have only recently been able to try it out. Unfortunately it seems that there might be some issue with joystick Port 1. The problem is that the fire button does not activate on the joystick in Port 1.


    I have three different TAC-2 joysticks, the issue is the same on every one of the joysticks. All 3 TAC-2 work perfectly when inserted in Port 2.


    The problem exists in the Mega65 environment, i.e. with the games on the included demodisks. The problem also exists in the GO64 mode with C64 games, and with the C64 Core with all C64 games I have tried.


    I have the latest Core and ROMs installed. I have not done any "hot-swapping" of joysticks.


    Anyone has any idea on what could be wrong?

  • Hi,

    this does indeed sound very strange.

    Do you have anything else connected or just the TAC-2 to port 1 ?

    Since all the logic is in the FPGA, in principle it sounds like a bad solder point, but to be honest, this is really the first time for me that i hear something like this. Trenz produces their PCBs with highest quality. (But never say never ;-) )

    Have you done an external inspection of port 1 ? does anything looks unusual ?

    My suggestion would be, to jump over to our Discord server (link in my signature) and ask over there too, maybe @Gardners or somebody else there has an idea.

    EDIT: I just created a topic there.

    If nothing else helps, to get rid of that annoyance, Trenz is very customer friendly and they will swap the machine.

    Maybe you really had bad luck and received a "monday"-machine...

  • We had several discussions at the Discord server regarding your issue:


    - could you try, if port 1 fire works with the C64core:

    - how does your MEGA65 configuration looks like (Hold ALT-key when powering MEGA65 up and go to configure)

    Does it looks like this ?:

    - Could you give the joystick tester a go ?

    - Could you connect a joystick to port 2, then use the MEGA65 freezer (holt RESTORE for ~1.5seconds) and select swap joystick, is the fire button working then ?

  • Thanks for your suggestions, I have tried it all now, let me go through it below:


    Question: - could you try, if port 1 fire works with the C64core:

    Answer: Yes, I have tried it extensively with the C64core. There is no fire button action on any physical joystick inserted into Port 1


    Question: - how does your MEGA65 configuration looks like (Hold ALT-key when powering MEGA65 up and go to configure) Does it looks like this ?:

    Answer: No, it intially had both Joy 1 1351 DE-JITTER and Joy 2 1351 DE-JITTER in the "ON" positions. I tried to change both of them to "OFF" but did not notice any difference in trying to trigger the fire button in Port 1


    Question: - Could you give the joystick tester a go ?

    Answer: Great tool! I have tried it now. All joysticks that are inserted in Port 2 I am able to press the Fire button and get a reaction on the screen. Even if I switch them logically (by using the freezer). If I try it the other way around and insert a joystick in Port 1, I am unable to get any reaction from the fire button.


    Question: - Could you connect a joystick to port 2, then use the MEGA65 freezer (holt RESTORE for ~1.5seconds) and select swap joystick, is the fire button working then ?

    Answer: I have tried this extensively in all different modes, both the Mega65 mode, the GO64 mode and with the C64core. I am unable to get any reaction from the fire button in joysticks inserted physically in Port 1. For joysticks inserted in Port 2 there is never any problem.


    I tried to take pictures from the outside of the ports and also with the case opened. But, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for:


    Outside:


    Inside:

  • Question: - Could you connect a joystick to port 2, then use the MEGA65 freezer (holt RESTORE for ~1.5seconds) and select swap joystick, is the fire button working then ?

    Answer: I have tried this extensively in all different modes, both the Mega65 mode, the GO64 mode and with the C64core. I am unable to get any reaction from the fire button in joysticks inserted physically in Port 1. For joysticks inserted in Port 2 there is never any problem.

    No, plug the joystick in port 2, start the MEGA65, press RESTORE for ~1.5 seconds, inside the FREEZE menu press (J) to (logically) swap the Joystickports (Now the MEGA65 treats Port 1 as Port 2 and vice versa), resume, by pressing -F3-
    (You could test the same in C64core via the HELP key and select -swap Joysticks-

    Is a game that requires Port 1 fire then working ? (with the Joystick plugged in port 2, but treated as port 1) ?

    If yes, then it is indeed a hardware problem and you should contact Trenz.

  • Yes, if I only have a Joystick in Port 2 and swap the joystickports logically from within the FREEZE menu or within the C64core to Port 1, then Port 1 will work.


    It seems then that I have to contact Trenz and see what the best way forward is. Thanks for the assistance!

    Sorry, to hear. Yes please contact Trenz, like i said, they are very customer friendly. Let them know, that you've tried all possible checks together with the MEGA Team and all points towards an hardware/pcb issue with the board.