THE SPECTRUM - ULA Plus Enhanced Colours - Better? Worse? Different?

[@jayme69]

I'm glad they included the feature but probably only useful for games that were designed with ULA Plus in mind. Great video and keep up the awesome work!

[@desperatedan3985]

You can’t beat the original look, no need for change👌

[@3057luis]

Some of them look interesting, but may be that thing of changing our common objects colour.

[@Stephen-2097]

Nice video to show the effect of utilizing the ULA Plus feature. I really like the attention to detail and care RGL have shown with their consoles. I think the only thing people feel could be better is the selection of games. But this is difficult for RGL as I imagine the licensing is a tough, long drawn out process of negotiations etc It seems to be a big stumbling block when it comes to compilations on devices like this and multi game carts for Nintendo, Xbox to Evercade etc Still, it’s nice to have what we do get and it’s a perfect time capsule to fire up now and again. And compared to regular consoles, except for firmware updates, there’s no need to be connected online, verification by a server (which could disappear in the medium to distant future) etc This is the problem with current game preservation. Stand alone devices like this are the only way to go for long term, fully licensed and legal games etc

[@RocketMagnetUK]

ULA i think has 64 colours vs the original 15 of a Speccy. So turning on ULA+ overrides the original palette but a game not written for ULA+ will only use the first 15 colours of the ULA+ Palette.. which don't align 1:1 with the original colours?.. that's my guess anyway. So to get the benefit of ULA the game needs to be written to take advantage of it.. Alien Girl for example you can see all the additional colours.

[@HappyCodingZX]

ULAplus can be good if you have an arcade conversion and want to make the colours closer to the arcade. It's also good for novelty effects such as the ones I did with Manic Miner Trick or Treat, or Atic Atac which gives a nice lamplight effect. Modern homebrew can also benefit from the flexibility as well, but for most of the classic Spectrum games, it kind of feels like change for change's sake in my opinion, most of the time it's not what the designers intended, i.e not broken and doesn't really need fixing.

[@MIKandJEAN]

Cool stuff. I think Chuckie Egg looked easier on the eyes, but being a classic I'd stick to the original. It definitely works better with Alien Girl, a modern game which more than likely had the ULA in mind when it was designed. 👍 I've actually put mine back in it's box and will mess around with it more once the Alpha has cooled down, January is normally a bland time for gaming lol. I had to make sure it worked and that it did thankfully. I also have the hardback speccy manual coming so looking forward to that! No Evercade stuff arived yet, won't be long though. Cheers Crazy! 👍

[@CrazyBurger]

@@MIKandJEAN Its going to be a busy week for Evercade.. no sign of anything yet though.

[@samaeldrakul4191]

how do you map a controller sir? heard you mention it in your vid 😊

[@CrazyBurger]

@@samaeldrakul4191 Next vid.

[@pomegran100]

I'm pretty sure a game has to be developed with ULA in mind for you to get the benefit

[@3057luis]

I think a lot of games with enhanced colour are much older than ULAplus. So it is an emulation add-on only.

[@3057luis]

So, as far as I see that´s only about palette changing but doesn´t get better colour output by manipulating the paper ink. So the squared sprints are still there. May be impossible to achieve or am I going to program the ultimate spectrum emulator myself, with that feature?

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

It doesn't make Exolon any less frustrating. 😊

[@drrev40]

I think just seeing the colour brown on a 'Spectrum' felt so unusual and exotic!

[@CrazyBurger]

@@drrev40 lol 😆

[@TheCaffeineKid]

I downloaded that pack and found a fun game in it called Gem Chaser which I had never played before. The back catalogue and new games for the Speccy seem endless. :)

[@CrazyBurger]

@@TheCaffeineKid nice.. yeah endless.. 10s of thousands out there.

[@DuckAlertBeats]

Anytime know if there's any way to make system settings stick? Model type, loading speed etc. Keeps resetting on me! Also wish you could save favourites from the usb user games folders too.. Don't know if I'm missing something, but hope they'll add that in a firmware update!

[@CrazyBurger]

@@DuckAlertBeats You probably need to just create a favourites folder yourself. Probably not ideal.

[@DuckAlertBeats]

@CrazyBurger Right I guess that's one way to do it yeah

[@snufkinmatt162]

ULA plus is only meant to be switched on for games designed for it. It will have a pretty random effect on other games so expecting an enhancement on these makes no sense.

[@Stephen-2097]

An update from Amazon told me my new expected delivery date is January 11th 2025! I’ll just have to keep watching your videos until it arrives 😂 I’m so disappointed, especially as it was a preorder.

[@CrazyBurger]

@@Stephen-2097 oh ffs. That's ridiculous. Might be better trying to get one from Smyths.

[@Stephen-2097]

@@CrazyBurgerYeah, I’m pretty disappointed. I chased down the Super Pockets but a bit fed up so since my pre order is still on my Amazon profile I’m just going to leave it and I might get lucky and it turns up sooner. At least I’m not charged for it until it actually dispatches.

[@Antoniosanchez-qd8zy]

The Spectrum PCUAE Carousel 5.1.0 is now available.

[@CrazyBurger]

@@Antoniosanchez-qd8zy ?

[@andyb4321]

🎉Hiya crazy just to let you know got my alpha deluxe and evercade have just shipped all the remaining games out today 🎉🎉Xmas has come early

[@CrazyBurger]

@@andyb4321 wow.. Nice. All the remaining games? I've had notification too but not for the last 2 carts.

[@andyb4321]

@@CrazyBurger yep toplan 3 and data 2 and metal dragon arriving tomorrow good luck

[@CrazyBurger]

@@andyb4321 Ah I tell I lie, those 2 carts are also shipping. Usually 48 hrs for me. At best.

[@sonnyb67587]

After seeing this demo, I am sticking to original colours.

[@billgordon6489]

Nah, stick with the original palette imo 👍🏻

[@Florin76]

ULAplus = how to convert your Speccy into a C64 🤣

[@mrpositronia]

Depends on the game. I don't like the C64-esque colour palette on one of the games. But I never liked ther C64 colour palette anyway.

[@sambagogo777]

I thought Quazatron looked much nicer. The rest I was largely ambivalent to.

[@CrazyBurger]

Yeah I agree on that one. Definitely improved the experience

[@DuckAlertBeats]

Original colours all day!

[@Megaace9]

Original colors for me.

[@ZXSpectrum128K]

Still very little software support despite a spate of multicolour engine games

[@jasejj]

In most cases it just makes games look like lazy Speccy ports to the MSX with its slightly "off" colour palette.

[@3057luis]

I actually didn´t spot any difference until I saw this movie clip.

[@MrSoy_]

Aye.

[@SteveNorman]

I guess this is okay for games made with it in mind but it seems pretty pointless to me otherwise. I’ve definitely not seen anything look better with it.

[@buggerlugz6753]

Shame someone can't create a workaround for ULA to stop the colour bleeding of the original games.

[@CrazyBurger]

Ha all part of the Spectrum experience though..

[@marknorville9611]

The original is far better, watching the ones on the right hand side was awful. However, the main attraction of the Speccy cannot be brought back, you are better off just using an emulator. You do not have a loading screen, and the speccy used to sit on your lap, or did mine at least, and it used to get red hot. You cannot bring back the past no matter how much you try. If you want the experience then try and find an original and use that.

[@CrazyBurger]

@@marknorville9611 You can have the original loading screens when playing your own games.

[@Stephen-2097]

@@CrazyBurgerthis is one of the really neat features. Especially being able to change the loading speed… from actual to super fast and instant etc

[@SpeccyMan]

Honest opinion - The ULA Plus colours make a mockery of the word enhanced. Not all change is progress.

[@lawrence.porter]

ULA looks washed out. I don’t see a valid reason for this ever having been created for the Spectrum and I doubt any true fan would use it.

[@willrobinson7599]

Waste of time if u ask me , don't really see any point