03565: astrof, astrof2, astrof3: blue background is supposed to be black

ID	Category [?]	Severity [?]	Reproducibility	Date Submitted	Last Update
03565	Color/Palette	Major	Always	Dec 8, 2009, 20:12	Jan 19, 2010, 11:09

Tester	-MAME Source-	View Status	Public	Platform	MAME (Self-compiled)
Assigned To	Haze	Resolution	Fixed	OS	Windows XP (32-bit)
Status [?]	Resolved			Driver	dataeast/astrof.cpp
Version	0.135u2	Fixed in Version	0.135u3	Build	Normal
		Fixed in Git Commit		Github Pull Request #

Summary	03565: astrof, astrof2, astrof3: blue background is supposed to be black
Description	New video and photo evidence confirms the background is supposed to be black.
Steps To Reproduce	Load and start game. Unzip attachment astrof_bg.zip which contains a hard copy of the video, photos, and the original YouTube video link.
Additional Information	The background is correct only on the refueling stage of each level. The black background is questioned in the source.
Github Commit

Flags	Verified with Original, Noted in Source
Regression Version	0.30
Affected Sets / Systems	astrof, astrof2, astrof3

Attached Files	Rocky3-3.jpg (9,724 bytes) Dec 9, 2009, 07:16
	astrof_pcbhack.zip (990 bytes) Dec 9, 2009, 10:44
	astrof_pcbhack_2.zip (920 bytes) Dec 9, 2009, 10:47
	Depeche_Mode-New_Life-Astro Fighter.mp4 (587,221 bytes) Jan 19, 2010, 11:08

No.05243 Haze Senior Tester Dec 8, 2009, 22:14 edited on: Dec 8, 2009, 22:18	the black background is a wire hack to the pcb, causing the prom halves to be inverted, or forced to one or the other. the correct way it was shipped was with a blue background, as it is in MAME. (just as many nibbler boards don't have music because the music rom was removeed etc.) This has been confirmed by people who own the PCB in the past, the new video doesn't prove anything.
No.05244 Gyrovision Tester Dec 8, 2009, 23:57	Wow you make it sound like I have NO idea what I'm talking about! Okay Haze have it YOUR way. I am happy with MAME either way, so thanks. I give up testing.
No.05245 M.A.S.H. Senior Tester Dec 9, 2009, 07:17	In the movie Rocky III (USA 1982) goes Burt Young thru an arcade hall and you can see here Astro Fighter with a blue background (see Rocky3-3.jpg). I don't think it's black, they like it blue in the 80s... Thats all :)
No.05246 Haze Senior Tester Dec 9, 2009, 09:46 edited on: Dec 9, 2009, 10:25	Indeed, this 'war' on Mame having a blue background in Astro Fighter is pointless. As things stand, we have evidence from the PCB, that without a wiremod / hacked PROM the background is blue. If you want to turn it into drama and quit the scene over it, that's your problem. If an unmodified PCB, using the same PROM as MAME, with original labels on all parts, and clearly no replaced parts shows up, and has a black background, the situation will be reevaluated. (and that will mean it being in a position where it can be tested, not just an auction on ebay) Given that people also report the game had an English title screen, and all the sets in MAME only have the Japanese one it's possible there are undumped versions. While I don't have an original reference for this next example, other games of the period, such as Space Attack also have a blue background, despite being on completely different hardware. It is also possible that they decided at the factory that there had been an error in production, and installed the PCB mod before shipping it, that will be difficult to prove. Yes, it's true that for Super Astro Fighter they clearly have Black during gameplay, with Blue for the refuel background, but again, it's not evidence as they may have just seen that it was more popular that way. Note, that if you apply the same colour prom inversion in other games of the driver Tomahawk 777 and Space Fighter Mark II go from having black backgrounds, to having blue ones. In the case of Tomahawk you could argue that makes sense, because it's 'underwater' but even the space area of that becomes blue too. Given that it's a known PCB hack, a driver configuration switch to invert PROM access could probably be added.
No.05247 Haze Senior Tester Dec 9, 2009, 10:48	Note, I've attached a diff which documents the PCB hack in the form of a DRIVER CONFIGURATION switch. ( File Added: astrof_pcbhack_2.zip ) (ignore the first file, i attached the wrong diff)
No.05248 etabeta Developer Dec 9, 2009, 11:17	I would say that a CONFSETTING is the best solution. Shall I go on, and commit it, Haze?
No.05249 Haze Senior Tester Dec 9, 2009, 12:35	feel free to commit the diff.
No.05250 etabeta Developer Dec 9, 2009, 16:06	Driver configuration added
No.05251 Haze Senior Tester Dec 10, 2009, 13:11	the alt tomahawk colours shown in a messageboard thread are the result of using the Astro Fighter PROM with Tomahawk btw. I doubt that was an official configuration, more likely the result of a board conversion in which the colour PROM wasn't replaced. If you use the inversion trick, the only difference in Tomahawk is that the background changes from Black to Blue, the other colours aren't affected. For the older set, it swaps the sky/sea black and blue around. Quite why the 'older' set makes better use of the hardware I do not know.
No.05544 M.A.S.H. Senior Tester Jan 19, 2010, 11:09 edited on: Jan 19, 2010, 11:12	Found Depeche Mode playing Astro Fighter (Black Screen) in their music video 'New Life' of this docu about synth muisc: Synth Britannia - Part 6/9 (-> 0:30) -> see attached video: Depeche_Mode-New_Life-Astro Fighter.mp4