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Document Title: [Tempest Tech.html (html file)]

Tempest Tech Info

Pinouts, switch settings, memory map, ROM info, EAROM 'E' Error

Pinouts for "Tempest" (Atari, 1980)



P20: 44-pin edge connector

        component side        solder side
        --------------        -----------
          +5VDC RETURN  A  1  +5VDC RETURN
                 +5VDC  B  2  +5VDC
                        C  3  +22VDC
                        D  4  -22VDC
                COIN R  E  5  SLAM
                COIN C  F  6  COIN L
             DIAG STEP  H  7  SELF TEST
                 X INV  J  8  OUT 5 (not used)
                 Y INV  K  9  BLUE
                 GREEN  L 10  RED
             VIDEO GND  M 11  MONOCHROME VIDEO
            COIN CTR R  N 12  COIN CTR L
            COIN CTR C  P 13  PWR GND
               PWR GND  R 14  +10.3 VDC UNREG
              Y INVERT  S 15  X INVERT
                 X OUT  T 16  X GND
                 Y GND  U 17  Y OUT
                ~RESET  V 18  E (2.4 kHz clock)
                -22VDC  W 19
                +22VDC  X 20
                 +5VDC  Y 21  +SENSE (+5V)
          +5VDC RETURN  Z 22  -SENSE (GND)

C, D, 19 & 20 appear to be unused

P18: 30-pin edge connector

        component side        solder side
        --------------        -----------
          +5VDC RETURN  A  1  +5VDC RETURN
                 +5VDC  B  2  +5VDC
                 ~COCK  C  3  +22VDC
                AUDIO-  D  4  -22VDC
         AUDIO- RETURN  E  5  AUDIO+
                ~RESET  F  6  AUDIO+ RETURN
                  CLK1  H  7  CLK2
                  DIR1  J  8  DIR2
                 FIRE2  K  9  FIRE1
                  ZAP2  L 10  ZAP1
              P2 START  M 11  P1 START
                -22VDC  N 12  P1 LED
                +22VDC  P 13  P2 LED
                 +5VDC  R 14  +5VDC
          +5VDC RETURN  S 15  +5VDC RETURN


Notes:
------

"RETURN" pins are ground, but specifically for the voltages
indicated.

Ground ~COCK if you're installing in a cocktail table, and
connect X INV to X INVERT and Y INV to Y INVERT. Hook up a 2nd
set of controls to CLK2, DIR2, FIRE2 and ZAP2 and the game will
"flip" for 2 player games.

Tempest Switch Settings


GAME OPTIONS:
(8-position switch at L12 on Analog Vector-Generator PCB)

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   Meaning
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Off Off                         2 lives per game
On  On                          3 lives per game
On  Off                         4 lives per game
Off On                          5 lives per game
        On  On  Off             Bonus life every 10000 pts
        On  On  On              Bonus life every 20000 pts
        On  Off On              Bonus life every 30000 pts
        On  Off Off             Bonus life every 40000 pts
        Off On  On              Bonus life every 50000 pts
        Off On  Off             Bonus life every 60000 pts
        Off Off On              Bonus life every 70000 pts
        Off Off Off             No bonus lives
                    On  On      English
                    On  Off     French
                    Off On      German
                    Off Off     Spanish
                            On  1-credit minimum
                            Off 2-credit minimum


GAME OPTIONS:
(4-position switch at D/E2 on Math Box PCB)

1   2   3   4                   Meaning
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Off                         Minimum rating range: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
    On                          Minimum rating range tied to high score
        Off Off                 Medium difficulty (see notes)
        Off On                  Easy difficulty (see notes)
        On  Off                 Hard difficulty (see notes)
        On  On                  Medium difficulty (see notes)


PRICING OPTIONS:
(8-position switch at N13 on Analog Vector-Generator PCB)

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   Meaning
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
On  On  On                      No bonus coins
On  On  Off                     For every 2 coins, game adds 1 more coin
On  Off On                      For every 4 coins, game adds 1 more coin
On  Off Off                     For every 4 coins, game adds 2 more coins
Off On  On                      For every 5 coins, game adds 1 more coin
Off On  Off                     For every 3 coins, game adds 1 more coin
On  Off                 Off On  Demonstration Mode (see notes)
Off Off                 Off On  Demonstration-Freeze Mode (see notes)
            On                  Left coin mech * 1
            Off                 Left coin mech * 2
                On  On          Right coin mech * 1
                On  Off         Right coin mech * 4
                Off On          Right coin mech * 5
                Off Off         Right coin mech * 6
                        Off On  Free Play
                        Off Off 1 coin 2 plays
                        On  On  1 coin 1 play
                        On  Off 2 coins 1 play


GAME SETTING NOTES:
-------------------

Demonstration Mode:
- Plays a normal game of Tempest, but pressing SUPERZAP sends you
  directly to the next level.

Demonstration-Freeze Mode:
- Just like Demonstration Mode, but with frozen screen action.

Both Demonstration Modes:
- Pressing RESET in either mode will cause the game to lock up.
  To recover, set switch 1 to On.
- You can start at any level from 1..81, so it's an easy way of
  seeing what the game can throw at you
- The score is zeroed at the end of the game, so you also don't
  have to worry about artificially high scores disrupting your
  scoring records as stored in the game's EAROM.

Easy Difficulty:
- Enemies move more slowly
- One less enemy shot on the screen at any given time

Hard Difficulty:
- Enemies move more quickly
- 1-4 more enemy shots on the screen at any given time
- One more enemy may be on the screen at any given time

High Scores:
- Changing toggles 1-5 at L12 (more/fewer lives, bonus ship levels)
  will erase the high score table.
- You should also wait 8-10 seconds after a game has been played
  before entering self-test mode or powering down; otherwise, you
  might erase or corrupt the high score table.

Tempest Memory Map

     TEMPEST
     -------
     HEX        R/W   D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D2 D0  function
     0000-7FFF  R/W   D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   program ram (2K)
     0800-080F   W                D  D  D  D   Colour ram

     0C00        R                         D   Right coin sw
     0C00        R                      D      Center coin sw
     0C00        R                   D         Left coin sw
     0C00        R                D            Slam sw
     0C00        R             D               Self test sw
     0C00        R          D                  Diagnostic step sw
     0C00        R       D                     Halt
     0C00        R    D                        3khz ??
     0D00        R    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   option switches
     0E00        R    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   option switches

     2000-2FFF  R/W   D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Vector Ram (4K)
     3000-3FFF   R    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Vector Rom (4K)

     4000        W                         D   Right coin counter 
     4000        W                      D      left  coin counter 
     4000        W                D            Video invert - x 
     4000        W             D               Video invert - y 
     4800        W                             Vector generator GO 

     5000        W                             WD clear
     5800        W                             Vect gen reset

     6000-603F   W    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   EAROM write
     6040        W    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   EAROM control
     6040        R    D                        Mathbox status
     6050        R    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   EAROM read

     6060        R    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Mathbox read
     6070        R    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Mathbox read
     6080-609F   W    D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Mathbox start

     60C0-60CF  R/W   D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Custom audio chip 1
     60D0-60DF  R/W   D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Custom audio chip 2

     60E0        R                         D   one player start LED
     60E0        R                      D      two player start LED
     60E0        R                   D         FLIP 

     9000-DFFF  R     D  D  D  D  D  D  D  D   Program ROM (20K)

     notes: program ram decode may be incorrect, but it appears like 
     this on the schematics, and the troubleshooting guide.
     
     ZAP1,FIRE1,FIRE2,ZAP2 go to pokey2 , bits 3,and 4
     (depending on state of FLIP)
     player1 start, player2 start are pokey2 , bits 5 and 6
     
     encoder wheel goes to pokey1 bits 0-3
     pokey1, bit4 is cocktail detect 

Tempest ROM information

Submitted by woodcock@bnr.ca (Gregg Woodcock)


Jeff Hendrix (jeffh@bod.net) wrote:
: I am trying to update some tempests to version 3 ROMs (to prevent the
: screen from collapsing between players)
: I downloaded all the Tempest ROM images from Jess's site and I split apart
: the version 3 ROMs to fit on 2716s. When I did checksum compares on these
: files against the version 2 ROMs, they were all identical except for ROM
: H1 but the readme says that the only ROMs that changed where E1, F1, &
: MN1.

The readme is definitely wrong; I have confirmed your observations.
Here is my tempest.rom file:

Tempest board versions -01 and -02 (most boards) use all the ROM
sockets.  All EPROMs are type 2716 but you can substitute a 4716, 2516,
or TMS 2516 (but *NOT* TMS 2716) if you can't find a 2716.

loc  part num    cksm  filename
---  ----------  ----  ----------
D1   136002-101  ????  
E1   136002-102  ????  
F1   136002-103  ????  
H1   136002-104  ????  
J1   136002-105  ????  
K1   136002-106  ????  
LM1  136002-107  ????  
MN1  136002-108  ????  
P1   136002-109  ????  
R1   136002-110  ????  
NP3  136002-111  ????  136002.111
R3   136002-112  ????  136002.112

Any of the follwoing ROMs can be interchanged with the corresponding
ROMs in the previous set.  The 117 ROM is the one responsible for the
backdoor to features after scoring 180,000.  This rom set is generally
referred to as "Version 1".

loc  part num    cksm  filename
---  ----------  ----  ----------
D1   136002-113  ????  136002.113
E1   136002-114  ????  136002.114
F1   136002-115  ????  136002.115
H1   136002-116  ????  136002.116
J1   136002-117  ????  136002.117
K1   136002-118  ????  136002.118
LM1  136002-119  ????  136002.119
MN1  136002-120  ????  136002.120
P1   136002-121  ????  136002.121
R1   136002-122  ????  136002.122
NP3  136002-123  ????  136002.123
R3   136002-124  ????  136002.124

The '2xx' ROMs replace the corresponding '1xx' ROMs on later released
boards.  The 217 ROM removes the score backdoors that allow free games
and access to test, options, and statistics screens.  The first 2 are
2716s and the second 2 are 2532s.  This rom set is generally referred to
as "Version 2".

loc  part num    cksm  filename
---  ----------  ----  ----------
F1   136002-217  ????  136002.217 (2716)
R1   136002-222  ????  136002.222 (2716)
J1   136002-235  ????  136002.235 (2532)
P1   136002-237  ????  136002.237 (2532)

Tempest board versions -03 and -04 are strapped to use 2532s (32K
instead of 16K for 2716s) and only use every other ROM socket.  These
boards use the following ROMs which includes a fix that keeps the spot
killer from collapsing the screen during the intermissions between 1st
and 2nd players in a 2 player game.  This ROM set is generally referred
to as "Version 3".

loc  part num    cksm  filename
---  ----------  ----  ----------
D1   136002-133  ????  136002.133 (121+222)
F1   136002-134  ????  136002.134 (119+120)
J1   136002-135  ????  
LM1  136002-136  ????  136002.136 (115+316)
P1   136002-137  ????  
NP3  136002-138  ????  136002.138 (123+124)

Since most people won't want to restrap a 2716 Tempest board to get the
bug fix, here is the 2716 version of the essential 2532 file.  There are
only 2 difference between the Version 2 ROM set and the Version 3 ROM
set.  If you replace these 2 ROMs, you will have all of the "Version 3"
code changes.  The change for the player intermission screen fix is
contained in the ROM at H1; I don't know what the ROM at location K1
changes.  Please note that Atari never released any 136002.3xx ROMs so
if you ever see one, it was done by a hack like you!

loc  part num    cksm  filename
---  ----------  ----  ----------
H1   136002-316  ????  136002.316
K1   136002-318  ????  136002.318

A gamer/operator who shall remain nameless reverse engineered the ROMs
enough to find the level table.  He constructed some new level shapes
that can be played if you replace the ROM at location K1 with the
following ROM.  Please note that this ROM file competes with the
Version 3 ROM set so you must put back the Version 2 ROMs.  It should
be easy to find the location of the shape data and drop it into the
Version 3 ROM at K1; perhaps somebody will actually do this...

loc  part num    cksm  filename
---  ----------  ----  ----------
K1   136002-418  ????  136002.418

The following ROMs are from the math box (the smaller, square PCB).  The
ROM at location A1 is type 74S288 (32 x 8) and all the rest are type
74S287 = AM27S21 (256 x 4).  The same ROMs were used in Battlezone,
RedBaron, Vortex {a (black and white?) Tempest prototype}, and Tempest.

loc  part num    cksm  filename
---  ----------  ----  ----------
A1   136002-126  ????  136002.126 
E1   136002-127  ????  136002.127 
F1   136002-128  ????  136002.128 
H1   136002-129  ????  136002.129 
J1   136002-130  ????  136002.130 
K1   136002-131  ????  136002.131 
L1   136002-132  ????  136002.132 
--

Tempest High Score 'E' Error Troubleshooting

Before buying an EAROM and replacing it, check the -28V supply that is created by the 3KHz clock pulse and the -22V input voltage.

The 3KHz signal drives an op-amp with its (-) supply at -22v (hence a 22V peak to peak signal at 3 KHZ). This signal is then fed into a voltage doubler circuit the will produce about -40V on the negative side of C21. the voltage is dropped across R27(1Kohm) and regulated by Zener Diode CR2. It is then filtered again and sent to the EAROM.

If this voltage is not here you WILL get an EAROM failure.

So check these points: