Nordic Power: Difference between revisions

From ReplayResources
Jump to navigationJump to search
(Created page with ''''Nordic Power''' is an Category:Action Replay clone which was apparently available in german only. Not even rip offs or hacks of this one have been spotted as of yet. Plea…')
 
No edit summary
 
(48 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Nordic Power''' is an [[:Category:Action Replay]] clone which was apparently available in german only. Not even rip offs or hacks of this one have been spotted as of yet. Please feel free to supply your own. '''Atomic Power''' notes please see below - All ''Nordic Power'' notes apply to ''Atomic'' as well!
__NOTOC__
{{Infobox


|image        = [[File:Atomic_Nordic_Power_Screenshot.gif|alt=Action, Atomic and Nordic Power Screenshots]]
|imagestyle  =
|headerstyle  = background:#ccf;
|labelstyle  = background:#ddf;
|datastyle    =
|caption      = Action, Atomic and Nordic Power Screenshots
|captionstyle =


== Tech ==
|header1 = Technical Info
|label1  =  
|data1  =
|header2 =
|label2  = ROM
|data2  = 32 kbyte
|header3 =
|label3  = RAM
|data3  = 8 kbyte
|header4 =
|label4  = Hardware features
|data4  = 1 Button ''Freeze''<br>
1 Button ''Reset''
|header5 =
|label5  = Manual
|data5  = [[:Media:Nordic_Power_Manual_german.pdf|PDF: 19 pages ''Nordic Power'' german]]<br>
[[Nordic_Power_Manual_german_iDOC.txt|TXT: german from iDOC.txt]]<br>
|header6 =
|label6  = [[CRT ID]]
|data6  = 9
|header7 =
|label7  = Programming
|data7  = See [[Nordic Power#Tech|Tech Section]]
 
}}
'''Nordic Power''' and '''Action Power''' are [[:Category:Action Replay|Action Replay]] clones which apparently were available in german speaking countries only.
 
==Power Series==
''Atomic Power 1.1'' is a 100% copy of the ''Nordic Power 1.0'' translated to english with name and color changes. No signs of the commercial availability of ''Atomic Power'' were found and the "Frank&Joe" copyright hints for a custom text hack on the eprom.
There is no ROM available for the ''Action Gear'' yet but the current '''Power''' line of products likely looks like this:
 
* Nordic Power v1.0 (c)Copyright 1989, D&E,Venlo
* Atomic Power v1.1 (c)Copyright 1990, Frank&Joe - 100% clone of the v1.0, english translation applied
* Nordic Power v2.1 (c)Copyright 1989, D&E,Venlo - [[:File:64er_90_02_AR_NP.pdf|This 64'er review]] screenshots the '''2.1'''
* Nordic Power v7.2 (c)1989,1991 Gameworks, Ltd.
* Action Power v8.1 (c)1989-1994 A.S.I. Ltd., UK
* Action Gear ([[:File:64er_96_10_Action_Gear_Review.pdf|german review]])
 
{{quote|Thanks to Bugjam for the Nordic Power 2.1 and Graham for the Action Power 8.1 ROM dumps!}}
 
{{Infobox
|name        = Infobox/doc
|bodystyle    =
|title        = Nordic Power Advert
|titlestyle  =
 
|image        = [[File:Nordic_Power_Werbung.jpg|320px|alt=Nordic Power Advert]]
|imagestyle  =
|headerstyle  = background:#ccf;
|labelstyle  = background:#ddf;
|datastyle    =
}}
[[File:Nordic_Power_Cartridge.jpg|thumb|left]]
 
{{Infobox
|name        = Infobox/doc
|bodystyle    =
|title        = Nordic Power Manual Cover
|titlestyle  =  


* 32 KB ROM
|image        = [[File:Nordic_Power_Manual_Cover.jpg|320px|alt=Nordic Power Manual Cover]]
* 8 KB RAM
|imagestyle  =
* Action Replay alike hardware with some changed wiring leading to different bank switching behaviour
|headerstyle  = background:#ccf;
* [[Nordic Power registers]] - missing
|labelstyle  = background:#ddf;
|datastyle    =
}}


== ROM Description ==
== ROM Description ==


Basically there is just one ROM available. The two versions found on the net actually contain a 3 byte difference only. Interestingly these 3 bytes are at offset $4000 of the ROM, representing pointer information (CBM80 pointers). Now the confusion starts:
''Nordic Power'' is likely based on the 4.x series of the [[:Category:Action_Replay|Action Replay]] with quite a few changes which could only be done with the source code available. The jump from '''2.1''' to '''7.2''' sure was due to marketing reasons and making up a number higher than the '''6''' the Action Replay was going by at the time. The ''Nordic Power 7.2'' ROM was changed to some extent but on many things appeared more to be moving code around and fixing a couple of small glitches. Investigations here are pending, but no new options were found so far. The update to ''Action Power 8.1'' introduced a feature on the freezer named ''Timerstop''. Investigations on this one are also still pending. :)
 
There are two slightly different ''Nordic Power 1.0'' ROMs on the net. The change does not affect workability or fix bad emulation though and can be dismissed.
 
All versions replace spr/spr and spr/bkg with "LDA/X/Y #$00 ; NOP ($EA)" when running the sprite collision killer on the freezer. Thats just fine, but the amount of occurences told to the user often is doubled for some weird reason. There is no [[:Category:Pokefinder|Pokefinder]] on these cartridges but an option to enter [[Pokes_(Explained)|Pokes]].
 
'''Important Notice''' would be that '''''Nordic Power'' hardware''' can be used with standard 4.1 and later [[Action Replay]] ROMs including '''v5.0''', '''v6.0''' and hacked versions.
The hardware allows a 16kb ROM banking mode which could even be used to play games using that configuration, but they would require patching and possibly even more attention. This 16kb mode is not available on ''Action Replay'' hardware. The original hardware also carries a '''Datel''' writing and differs only slightly from AR v5 hardware.
 
== Notes ==
 
* [[Extensions]] for Action Replay should work. If we run across incompatibilities it will be stated there.


* ROM no.1 contains EF FC 0C at offset $4000 leading to $FCEF and $800C as pointers.
* ROM no.2 contains 0C 80 09 at offset $4000 leading to $800C and $8009 as pointers.


The '''Atomic Power''' is using the ROM no.1 as base, while I regard no.2 as "correct". All Action Replay carts have the no.2 pointers and they make sense after all. So how come there are two Nordic Power versions around? To be honest - we have no idea. Our best guess is that someone ''fixed'' the pointers and spread a crt then while the no.1 pointers were introduced by the creators of Nordic Power. This makes sense due to the fact that the bank 2 (offset $4000 - cart is 4*8kb banks and I number them 0 to 3) pointers are not used on Action Replay (hope to recall this correctly).
== Tech ==


== Atomic Power ==
The following is shamelessly ripped from [https://sourceforge.net/p/vice-emu/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/vice/src/c64/cart/atomicpower.c atomicpower.c] from the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/vice-emu/ VICE emulator]. Text was written by Groepaz:
This 1.1 version is a 100% copy of ''Nordic Power'' with the texts being translated 'on the binary'. The code was not touched or moved apart from some color information. This suits the year information as well


<pre>
    - the hardware is very similar to Action Replay 5, with one exception


== ROM Files ==
    32K rom, 4*8k pages
    8K ram
    io1 (writes)
    7    extra ROM bank selector (A15) (unused)
    6    1 = resets FREEZE-mode (turns back to normal mode)
    5    1 = enable RAM at ROML ($8000-$9FFF) &
            I/O2 ($DF00-$DFFF = $9F00-$9FFF)
    4    ROM bank selector high (A14)
    3    ROM bank selector low  (A13)
    2    1 = disable cartridge (turn off $DE00)
    1    1 = /EXROM high
    0    1 = /GAME low
 
    different to original AR:
 
    if bit 5 (RAM enable) is 1,
        bit 0,1 (exrom/game) is == 2 (cart off),
        bit 2,6,7 (cart disable, freeze clear) are 0,
 
      then Cart ROM (Bank 0..3) is mapped at 8000-9fff,
        and Cart RAM (Bank 0) is mapped at A000-bfff
        and Cart RAM (Bank 0) is is enabled in io2 area
        using 16K Game config
 
    io2 (r/w)
          cart RAM (if enabled) or cart ROM
</pre>


to be upped
== [[Wantlist|Missing]]==
* Action Gear ROM dump
* Expansion disk images
* Manual scans
* Box fotos


== Binaries ==


[[Media:Nordic_Power_binaries_rr.c64.org_2021-04.rar|Nordic_Power_binaries_rr.c64.org_2021-04.rar]] contains just the C64 binaries:


== Notes ==
* ''Nordic Power v1.0'' 1989.bin and .crt (german)
* [[:Category:Extensions]] for Action Replay will work
* ''Atomic Power v1.1'' 1990.bin and .crt (english)
* ''Nordic Power v2.1'' 1991.bin and .crt (german)
* ''Nordic Power v7.2'' 1991.bin and .crt (german)
* ''Action Power v8.1'' 1994.bin and .crt (german)
** ''Action Power v8.1'' hacked_Transcom_eng_yugoslavian_1993.bin and .crt - Transcom text hack (mostly english, partly yugoslavian - minor version and year are likely fake)


[[Media:Nordic_Power_all_rr.c64.org_2021-04.rar|Nordic_Power_all_rr.c64.org_2021-04.rar]] contains:


== Remains ==
* all of the above
* [[:Media:Nordic_Power_Manual_german.pdf|PDF: 19 pages Nordic Power Manual german]]
* [[Nordic_Power_Manual_german_iDOC.txt|TXT: Nordic Power Manual (german) iDOC.txt]]


* Tooldisks
== Trivia ==
* Manual Scan
* The command ''CBM'' hints for 5.x Action Replay series
* Boxphoto
* Nova Load file transfer hints for pre 5.x Action Replay
* Loader saving crashes - asks for enhancement disk before - but loader seems in ROM?


== Weblinks ==


* add link to CBM80 pointer explanation
* [http://cbmhardware.de/misc/nordic.php German CBMHardware page] has some stuff. '''Ok ok''' - the linked '''MK.gif''' ([[:File:Action_Replay_MK5_6.gif|same file]]) indeed shows the ''Nordic Power'' schematics as hardware knowing people tell. The contents of the used ''82S129'' makes the difference here.
* more pics to upload
* [https://csdb.dk CSDb] has a release of a hacked ''Nordic Power 7.2'' at hxxps://csdb.dk/release/?id=187122 - the changes are debatable and therefore no direct link.




[[File:AtomicPower powerup.png]]
[[Category:Nordic_Power]]
[[File:AtomicPower freezer.png]]
[[Category:Action_Replay]]
[[File:AtomicPower basic.png]]

Latest revision as of 11:57, 25 April 2021

Action, Atomic and Nordic Power Screenshots
Action, Atomic and Nordic Power Screenshots
Technical Info
ROM 32 kbyte
RAM 8 kbyte
Hardware features 1 Button Freeze
1 Button Reset
Manual PDF: 19 pages Nordic Power german
TXT: german from iDOC.txt
CRT ID 9
Programming See Tech Section

Nordic Power and Action Power are Action Replay clones which apparently were available in german speaking countries only.

Power Series

Atomic Power 1.1 is a 100% copy of the Nordic Power 1.0 translated to english with name and color changes. No signs of the commercial availability of Atomic Power were found and the "Frank&Joe" copyright hints for a custom text hack on the eprom. There is no ROM available for the Action Gear yet but the current Power line of products likely looks like this:

  • Nordic Power v1.0 (c)Copyright 1989, D&E,Venlo
  • Atomic Power v1.1 (c)Copyright 1990, Frank&Joe - 100% clone of the v1.0, english translation applied
  • Nordic Power v2.1 (c)Copyright 1989, D&E,Venlo - This 64'er review screenshots the 2.1
  • Nordic Power v7.2 (c)1989,1991 Gameworks, Ltd.
  • Action Power v8.1 (c)1989-1994 A.S.I. Ltd., UK
  • Action Gear (german review)

Thanks to Bugjam for the Nordic Power 2.1 and Graham for the Action Power 8.1 ROM dumps!

Nordic Power Advert
Nordic Power Advert
Nordic Power Cartridge.jpg
Nordic Power Manual Cover
Nordic Power Manual Cover

ROM Description

Nordic Power is likely based on the 4.x series of the Action Replay with quite a few changes which could only be done with the source code available. The jump from 2.1 to 7.2 sure was due to marketing reasons and making up a number higher than the 6 the Action Replay was going by at the time. The Nordic Power 7.2 ROM was changed to some extent but on many things appeared more to be moving code around and fixing a couple of small glitches. Investigations here are pending, but no new options were found so far. The update to Action Power 8.1 introduced a feature on the freezer named Timerstop. Investigations on this one are also still pending. :)

There are two slightly different Nordic Power 1.0 ROMs on the net. The change does not affect workability or fix bad emulation though and can be dismissed.

All versions replace spr/spr and spr/bkg with "LDA/X/Y #$00 ; NOP ($EA)" when running the sprite collision killer on the freezer. Thats just fine, but the amount of occurences told to the user often is doubled for some weird reason. There is no Pokefinder on these cartridges but an option to enter Pokes.

Important Notice would be that Nordic Power hardware can be used with standard 4.1 and later Action Replay ROMs including v5.0, v6.0 and hacked versions. The hardware allows a 16kb ROM banking mode which could even be used to play games using that configuration, but they would require patching and possibly even more attention. This 16kb mode is not available on Action Replay hardware. The original hardware also carries a Datel writing and differs only slightly from AR v5 hardware.

Notes

  • Extensions for Action Replay should work. If we run across incompatibilities it will be stated there.


Tech

The following is shamelessly ripped from atomicpower.c from the VICE emulator. Text was written by Groepaz: 

    - the hardware is very similar to Action Replay 5, with one exception

    32K rom, 4*8k pages
    8K ram
 
    io1 (writes)
 
    7    extra ROM bank selector (A15) (unused)
    6    1 = resets FREEZE-mode (turns back to normal mode)
    5    1 = enable RAM at ROML ($8000-$9FFF) &
             I/O2 ($DF00-$DFFF = $9F00-$9FFF)
    4    ROM bank selector high (A14)
    3    ROM bank selector low  (A13)
    2    1 = disable cartridge (turn off $DE00)
    1    1 = /EXROM high
    0    1 = /GAME low
  
    different to original AR:
   
     if bit 5 (RAM enable) is 1,
        bit 0,1 (exrom/game) is == 2 (cart off),
        bit 2,6,7 (cart disable, freeze clear) are 0,
   
       then Cart ROM (Bank 0..3) is mapped at 8000-9fff,
        and Cart RAM (Bank 0) is mapped at A000-bfff
        and Cart RAM (Bank 0) is is enabled in io2 area
        using 16K Game config
   
     io2 (r/w)
           cart RAM (if enabled) or cart ROM

Missing

  • Action Gear ROM dump
  • Expansion disk images
  • Manual scans
  • Box fotos

Binaries

Nordic_Power_binaries_rr.c64.org_2021-04.rar contains just the C64 binaries:

  • Nordic Power v1.0 1989.bin and .crt (german)
  • Atomic Power v1.1 1990.bin and .crt (english)
  • Nordic Power v2.1 1991.bin and .crt (german)
  • Nordic Power v7.2 1991.bin and .crt (german)
  • Action Power v8.1 1994.bin and .crt (german)
    • Action Power v8.1 hacked_Transcom_eng_yugoslavian_1993.bin and .crt - Transcom text hack (mostly english, partly yugoslavian - minor version and year are likely fake)

Nordic_Power_all_rr.c64.org_2021-04.rar contains:

Trivia

  • The command CBM hints for 5.x Action Replay series
  • Nova Load file transfer hints for pre 5.x Action Replay
  • Loader saving crashes - asks for enhancement disk before - but loader seems in ROM?

Weblinks

  • German CBMHardware page has some stuff. Ok ok - the linked MK.gif (same file) indeed shows the Nordic Power schematics as hardware knowing people tell. The contents of the used 82S129 makes the difference here.
  • CSDb has a release of a hacked Nordic Power 7.2 at hxxps://csdb.dk/release/?id=187122 - the changes are debatable and therefore no direct link.
Retrieved from "https://rr.pokefinder.org/rrwiki/index.php?title=Nordic_Power&oldid=5327"