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EGA video corruption?

I think my copy also says ega detected. I'll try downloading this other version.

If you could test your ibm ega card without memory upgrade, that would be awesome! The other cards I don't care about as much as I just want to see if the ibm card works.
 
I removed the memory expansion from the EGA card and I see the same corrupted graphics as in your video.

I also tried the following EGA cards...both worked fine in Keen......

Video 7 VEGA Deluxe EGA card
Vtech AutoEGA4+
 
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mikey99 said:
I removed the memory expansion from the EGA card and I see the same corrupted graphics as in your video.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks. So that should mean that I need the extra memory and the card is working normally. Now I need to somehow find one of those cards.
 
Just ran a search ......There are a few listed on the auction site......
search for
1) IBM 6480098
2) IBM EGA (this one has no chips installed)
and
3) RAM TMS4416-15NL TEXAS INST TI 18-Pin DIP TMS4416 Qty 43 + 6480099XM Exp Card
 
mikey99 said:
Just ran a search ......There are a few listed on the auction site......
search for
1) IBM 6480098
2) IBM EGA (this one has no chips installed)
and
3) RAM TMS4416-15NL TEXAS INST TI 18-Pin DIP TMS4416 Qty 43 + 6480099XM Exp Card
Click to expand...

Thanks mikey99!! I got the first one. Did you fill up the ram on your card or did it come maxed out?
 
offensive_Jerk said:
Thanks mikey99!! I got the first one. Did you fill up the ram on your card or did it come maxed out?
Click to expand...

Great !
Looks like the first memory bank is filled, which should give you 128K total. You can add memory one bank at a time for 128/192/256K total video memory.
The IBM Diagnostics diskette has tests for the EGA video memory, it will tell you the amount of memory detected and run tests against that memory.

The memory expansion card I have came already installed on an EGA card with 256K total.
 
Well, I got the expansion card and installed it. I'm still getting some corruption, but the good news is the more RAM I throw at it, the better the games look. These games must require 256K.
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I am actually surprised by this. I didn't think there would be many EGA cards with more than 64K memory. Sure, VGA cards have 256K by default, and they have EGA-compatibility. But I would have thought that regular EGA games would mostly aim for 64K cards.
Especially since 64K already allows for double-buffering and such. As a programmer I don't really see why certain games would require so much more memory. I've always targeted 64K hardware only at least, and never really saw it as a problem.
 
Scali said:
I am actually surprised by this. I didn't think there would be many EGA cards with more than 64K memory.
Click to expand...
All the major 8-bit EGA cards seem to support 256K memory, e.g., ATI, Diamond Flower, DTK, Everex, Genoa, Juko, Paradise, Sigma, STB and Western Digital. So I'm suprised by your statement. :)
 
If someone designed a clone expansion board, they could easily shave eighteen chips off the design by using 64kx4 chips instead of 64kx1 chips. Piggyback the RAM chips and you can save three sockets too!
 
Stone said:
All the major 8-bit EGA cards seem to support 256K memory, e.g., ATI, Diamond Flower, DTK, Everex, Genoa, Juko, Paradise, Sigma, STB and Western Digital. So I'm suprised by your statement. :)
Click to expand...

Yes, but how many of those were sold? And how many of those actually HAD 256K?
I've only seen 64K ones and the odd 128K one.
EGA was incredibly rare anyway. Seems to have landed in the black hole between stock CGA/Hercules cards and early VGA cards.
 
Scali said:
Yes, but how many of those were sold? And how many of those actually HAD 256K?
I've only seen 64K ones and the odd 128K one.
EGA was incredibly rare anyway. Seems to have landed in the black hole between stock CGA/Hercules cards and early VGA cards.
Click to expand...
I don't know how many were sold or what they were sold with. I just know that they were made. :smile:

I do have a 286 with EGA on the motherboard and it has 256K video memory.

I also have a Paradise EGA card and it has 256K video memory, soldered, not socketed.

And I have a DataMedia EGA card with 256K on it (see pic).

P4250259b.jpg

There's three examples of 256K EGA video.
 
My AST-3G-Plus EGA card shipped with 256k soldered. It seems obvious that some of the games the OP is trying to run do require 256k EGA but are running fine in CGA mode on his card. A lot of late 80s through early 90s software had EGA support.
 
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My grandson loves playing The Commander Keen series, Rescue Rover, Monster Bash, Dangerous Dave, Star Goose et el.
 

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I just really love the visual style of EGA games. Now I'll have to find more ram for my card.
I just didn't expect so many of these ega game s I wanted to play would require 256k. I guess by then nobody was really creating for the IBM branded hardware (64k) and using specs for the clone cards.(256k)

I would image the price for an IBM card with the daughter board maxed out with ram would be super expensive compared to a 3rd party manufacturer.
 
Stone said:
Really?????

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?8961-Forgotten-EGA-games

https://www.google.com/search?q=bes...v&sa=X&ei=iwubVLuTEYayggTNsoLACA&ved=0CDcQsAQ
Click to expand...

Uhhh, I'm talking about 256K variations of EGA cards.
You're talking about EGA-support in games in general.
I just don't recall EGA games requiring 256K.
I know a few that had a 128K option, but quite it's not like most EGA games need 256K.
I think the memory is just broken on this card, which causes the artifacts. Either that, or the ALU itself is damaged.
 
offensive_Jerk said:
I just really love the visual style of EGA games.
Click to expand...
Yes, somehow EGA seems softer and richer than VGA does.

offensive_Jerk said:
I just didn't expect so many of these ega game s I wanted to play would require 256k. I guess by then nobody was really creating for the IBM branded hardware (64k) and using specs for the clone cards.(256k)
Click to expand...
I think you're correct.

offensive_Jerk said:
I would image the price for an IBM card with the daughter board maxed out with ram would be super expensive compared to a 3rd party manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Again, you're probably correct on this as well.

You know, I like the old machines for what they were -- clunky dinosaurs. I never thought they played games as well as they should and so I usually got games that were one or two generations older than the machine I had at the time for that reason. So I'm not too keen on playing games on the machine they were 'supposedly' designed for, because, IMO, they just weren't up to snuff on those so-called 'correct' machines. And that's why I'm so thankful for DOSBox, where everything runs as it was hyped, as it should have originally. :)
 
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