Galaxian Sprite Misalignment

[InsaneDavid]

Now that I've had my cocktail for about a month I have a question about some of the sprites. It seems that pretty much all the sprites have a slight adjustment problem with how their colors line up. It was like this when I played it at the show and the game has absolutely no operational errors, but I'm curious just the same. Text and shots look fine but the enemies as well as the Galaxip seem to have parts of their sprites shifted over a half pixel or so...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GalaxianCocktail-010.jpg

It shows most with the flagship, either the yellow and red is a hair over to the right or the blue is a hair over to the left. This is how it always is but is not replicated exactly when the display flips for player two. Aside from that there are no odd glitches when the sprites are moving around or anything. If you take a close look you can see that some of this carries over onto the other enemies. The only other minor graphic abnormality I see is that when in player two mode some of the sprites seem to "reflect" at the very bottom edge (player two bottom) of the screen but if anything I figure that this could simply be overscan that could be resolved by moving monitor center or stretching the image.

So, anyone have any ideas about the sprites? Possibly a convergence problem? The monitor is the original 19" Electrohome G07. It doesn't bother me or hurt gameplay but I'd still like to know what the problem is. Either way, if not damaging to the life of the hardware, it's no big deal. Thanks!

[Videogamerdaryll]

I got something like that when I was making monitor adjustments with the adjustment pots on the back of the monitor/of the Ms Pac Man Cocktail that I believe we have the same monitor.

I went too far with the pot then had it back off..


Turned the pot too far AHhhhhhhhh...backed it off..:D

[madman77]

Yep, not a board problem, but a monitor adjustment problem. Most likely it's a convergence issue.

[Peale]

Believe it or not, that's acceptable convergence. If you try and "fix" it, you'll make it worse.

Just fair warning.

[InsaneDavid]

Believe it or not, that's acceptable convergence. If you try and "fix" it, you'll make it worse.

Just fair warning.

That's what I thought and now that it's confirmed to be nothing but I'm just going to leave it alone and enjoy my game. Thanks everyone!

[InsaneDavid]

If you decide to try and adjust it, make a mark across all the rings so you can at least get it back to where you start :)

Smart. I'll probably leave it alone, I'm good with most electronic repairs but I really do get nervous messing around a live monitor neck. Any safety tips when adjusting convergence on a cocktail?

[Peale]

Smart. I'll probably leave it alone, I'm good with most electronic repairs but I really do get nervous messing around a live monitor neck. Any safety tips when adjusting convergence on a cocktail?

No more than any other monitor. Adjusting convergence is a PITA. With the "problem" you have, I like to employ the DFWI principle.

[InsaneDavid]

Fixed it, well, as much as I could...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GalaxianCocktail-011.jpg

There's a tiny bit of green that bleeds through red here and there but I couldn't get it to file back away completely without messing other stuff up. I can live with that. The big problems are fixed however, the flagships look correct as does the Galaxip and the aliens don't look lopsided anymore. I also narrowed the playfield a hair since the screen was traveling off viewing area on one side a bit. Also got some nail polish from my girlfriend and resealed the convergence rings.

Funny enough though the power switch broke, as in came apart in two pieces. LOL Says it's rated for 6A and I don't have a switch rated for that so I popped it back together as best as possible and I'm using an in-line extension cord switch for power on/off now.

[madman77]

Looks good.

[InsaneDavid]

Couple more tweaks, I widened the playfield a little more, basically to the max that my monitor will allow yet still keep the image centered. It seems to be missing a few adjustment points that most Electrohome G07's have. For a 28 year old display though, it's excellent now.

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GalaxianCocktail-012.jpg

And a closeup of all the enemy sprites during the attract screen, much better...

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/GalaxianCocktail-013.jpg

[COUNT SMRIFNACK]

Looks very nice. Good job!! I have a GO7 in my upright cab. and I love the pic. quality, even though adjustment is harder than the WG I had before. Again, nice work!

[InsaneDavid]

Looks very nice. Good job!! I have a GO7 in my upright cab. and I love the pic. quality, even though adjustment is harder than the WG I had before. Again, nice work!

Yeah, the Galaxian upright manual shows all this monitor adjustment crap that made absolutely no sense. Shows a whole bunch of adjustment controls that I couldn't find. Turns out the monitor it was talking about was one of those old WG's that a lot of games had. The cocktail Galaxian manual omits the detailed monitor instructions, instead providing general information. I used a PDF of the G07 manual to learn what was what. My monitor doesn't have a "screen" knob (only focus), no horizontal centering jumper, and no V-Lin adjustment. So centering and filling the screen had to basically be done with one hand tied behind my back. It's not like those parts are missing, they're just not present on the board my monitor has.

The extreme lower right corner (facing player 1) curves out a tiny bit, but can only be seen if you put the Galaxip over there and then look really close for it on the extreme lower outside edge. I don't want to mess with the monitor yoke and it's something no one notices (including me) so that's how it will remain. If I wanted to be picky I could also say that the screen isn't perfectly aligned with the cabinet, but again, it's like 1/16th of an inch off and one of those anal details that are no big deal.

I'm done messing around inside the cabinet for awhile, I actually smacked my elbow into the monitor neck board when I was reinstalling the power switch. Thankfully the cabinet was off and I didn't break anything. As said above, I don't use the switch anymore (mainly since with some use I think it'll pop apart again) and use an inline power switch to control power to the socket the machine is plugged into. Once I find one that matches the rating I'll replace the switch. The other alternate idea was to just wire nut the switch leads together and use an inline power strip - which is basically what I'm doing right now.

[Peale]

My monitor doesn't have a "screen" knob (only focus), no horizontal centering jumper, and no V-Lin adjustment. So centering and filling the screen had to basically be done with one hand tied behind my back. It's not like those parts are missing, they're just not present on the board my monitor has.

All CRT monitors have a screen control. If it's a K4600 it's located on the neckboard instead of the flyback. It's confusing.

[InsaneDavid]

All CRT monitors have a screen control. If it's a K4600 it's located on the neckboard instead of the flyback. It's confusing.

Ah, okay, that's what that dial back there is, thanks. Mine's a G07-904 and that's where it is.