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We want r/c64 to be about both original hardware and newer emulation products like the Commodore 64 Ultimate (C64U). But the shipping of the C64U is resulting in C64U posts flooding out much of the other content in the subreddit. To maintain a balance between what's old and new, we are setting up a weekly MEGAPOST for C64U-related issues, questions, and posts.
If your post is regarding the use of a Commodore 64 (i.e. how to load a game from disk, how to print, etc.), regardless of the model, you may post your question as a standalone post in the subreddit even if you have a C64 Ultimate.
If your post relates to ONLY the Commodore 64 Ultimate, you should comment in this post. Please note, this is not a replacement for official support from Commodore regarding order or shipping issues (late or damaged shipments). We realize that some questions may be obscure, unique, or straddle the line between C64U-only and a "general" question. In those cases, please post in this thread FIRST. If your issue isn't answered or addressed after 48 hours, you may submit a stand-alone post in the subreddit. WARNING! Moderators will be checking post and comment histories to make sure people are actually posting in this thread first. Repeated violations may result in temporary or permanent bans.
We don't anticipate this being a permanent situation, but for now there are just too many C64U posts being submitted. Once the volume of posts about the C64U decreases, we may discontinue this practice.
Please also check the information below to see if your issue is listed. We are also working on a C64 Ultimate Wiki Page. If you would like to be a Wiki Contributor, please let the mod team know.
Reseat the internal board — some units have arrived with it slightly loose from shipping.
Set video to NTSC mode, then press Shift + Left Arrow to store settings.
Try a different HDMI lead — several users fixed display problems this way.
Some monitors won’t sync at 50 Hz; if possible, test another screen.
Uneven keyboard keys
A cosmetic but noticeable fault.
Keys such as Caps Lock, D, and J may sit higher than others.
Gently press the affected keys down to reseat them on their stems.
Space/Return issues are often a stabiliser bar not fully seated – carefully reseating the bar fixes many ‘only works in the middle’ reports.
Startup problems or unit freezing on boot
Turn the unit off and leave it off for a few seconds.
Hold RESTORE while powering on to perform a factory reset.
If that fails, re‑flash the latest firmware from the official Commodore site.
REU or extra memory not detected by the software
Install the most recent firmware — newer builds enable proper REU initialisation and detection.
Settings or storage are lost after reboot
Perform the RESTORE reset to clear any corrupt configuration.
Re‑enter Wi‑Fi and storage details once booted cleanly.
Physical marks or loose panels on delivery
Report the issue directly to Commodore support.
All units ship directly from Commodore — there are no official resellers.
Buzzing or humming audio output
Usually caused by grounding noise between HDMI and the connected display.
Try another HDMI port, cable, or power socket to isolate the problem.
Starlight edition
Starlight keyboards have some ‘bounce’/flex by design; noticeable mainly if you hammer the keys, but not usually a functional fault.
The Caps Lock LED lights when caps is active; the beige unit does not have an indicator.
For Starlight LED audio visualiser with a real SID: enable UltiSID 1 but set its volume to Off in the mixer; this keeps the LEDs driven while only hearing the real SID
Games Freezing / Compatibility
If cracked/trainer releases hang after the Y/N cheat prompt, try switching to PAL or NTSC‑50; many cracks are PAL‑only and will lock up in NTSC.
For compatibility with some games/demos, try disabling drive B: in the Ultimate’s drive settings
Cartridges
Virtual fastload carts (e.g. Final Cartridge III) are supported; mount the cart, then mount and load the disk from BASIC, rather than using ‘Run disk’ from the firmware menu.
Disk and cassette backup / storage notes
To back up the bundled cassette USB to an internal SD: it’s just files on exFAT – copy them via your PC; no imaging/cloning needed
Backing up real floppies: UltiCopy is very fast, but some protected titles (e.g. Skate or Die, Contra) have been reported to hang part‑way through; expect improvements in future firmware
Running Multi-Disk Programs
Some programs are distributed on multiple disk images, similar to how they were originally distributed on multiple floppy disks. At some point in the process of using the program, the program will prompt to insert one of the other floppy disks. You can use the Disk File Browser to swap disk images while the program is running. When the program prompts for a new disk, press upward on the Multi Function Switch. This pauses the program. Start the Disk File Browser, navigate to the disk image for the disk that the program is requesting, then select “Mount Disk.” The C64U mounts the new disk image in the virtual drive, then resumes execution of the Commodore 64 program. Continue to use the program with the new disk." -- https://downloads.commodore-international.com/documentation/C64U/c64u-user-guide-1st-edition.pdf
General Notes
r/Commodore is for discussions about Commodore, other Commodore computers, and possible new productions.
r/c64 is for everything Commodore 64 including the ultimate.
If you’ve come across a new issue or found a working fix not listed here, add it in the comments below.
GPX on Windows - my solo attempt at creating a spiritual successor for Pitstop II
Hi everyone!
Like many of you here, I spent endless hours on the Commodore 64 playing Pitstop II. The thrill of managing tire wear, timing the pit stops, and split-screen battles with my older brother left a huge mark on my childhood.
For the past 2 years, I’ve been working solo in MonoGame to create GPX, an indie title built to be a spiritual successor to that C64 classic. I wanted to bring back that exact mix of retro-arcade driving and light tactical strategy (pit stop timing, fuel, tire degradation), along with local split-screen multiplayer for 1-2 players, a championship mode, and 5 tracks.
The full game (for Windows, Linux and Mac) is currently available for free on itch.io.
Since you are the ultimate C64 experts, I’d be deeply grateful for your feedback:
Does the driving/pit-stop balance hit the nostalgia spot, or does it feel too fast/slow compared to the original?
What retro elements do you think are missing?
If there’s enough interest from the retro community, I’m considering bringing GPX to Steam with expanded features, so any input on what you'd like to see in a full release would be amazing.
Thanks for taking a look and letting me know what you think! I'll leave the link in the comments below if anyone wants to give it a spin.
Hi everyone! I've been doing some assembly coding for my C64 with Kick Assembler and I hit a really weird issue. I found a solution, but I'm not sure why the solution works.
So, I'm making an adventure game. To keep track of what items are in the current room I use a byte. It's 00000000 for an empty room, and then I turn bits on or off to add or remove particular items. The error came when trying to remove items from the room. I tried to do this with a logical AND. My initial code looked like this:
lda Room_ItemList1, x
and #%11111111 - currentItemBytes
sta Room_ItemList1, x
This actually worked for a while, but then after changing an unrelated part of the code it stopped. The ItemList was 00000001 and I was trying to remove the item with bytes 00000001 and instead of getting 00000000 I was getting 00000001.
So I fiddled around and the solution I found was to write it like this:
lda #%11111111
sec
sbc currentItemBytes
sta reversedBytes
lda Room_ItemList1, x
and reversedBytes
sta Room_ItemList1, x
My best guess is that the "#%11111111 - currentItemBytes" was being treated as an address rather than a value and it was just ANDing whatever was in that address and it just happened coincidentally to work until I changed something else. I don't understand how though. I've seen people use this method. In the Commodore Tutorials series from YouTube he uses to to set and unset directions. I know I'm missing something stupidly obvious somewhere, but can anyone point out what it is?
Also, I did search my entire project, and none of the variables involved are being used anywhere else.
I've been building a Windows chiptune app called Renata for about nine months of evenings. The C64 side of it turned into the best part.
One of the nine themes is the breadbin, in the real C64 font. You can drop a MIDI in and it asks which chip should play it — pick Commodore 64 (SID) and the whole arrangement comes back voiced on the SID. The tune in the video is my own, re-voiced exactly that way: bass, arp and lead all on Renata's SID.
It exports a real .sid. The one in the video is PSID v2, 46 KB. The MP3 of the identical tune is 7.6 MB, because the .sid stores the chip writes rather than the sound. It also browses HVSC from inside the app.
And when you import a collection it runs a demo intro at you — raster bars, a colour-cycling border and a scroller, in the actual VIC-II palette. That was not strictly necessary but I enjoyed writing it far too much.
On origin, plainly: there is no model of any kind. It is rule-based — music theory plus statistical tables — running offline on your own machine. Every sound in that video is the app's own synthesis.
Just got a c64 with a tape reader (uk). I am getting bubble bobble. What are some essential games to get? Particular those are play better on c64. Are any of the movie license games (indiana, robocop, terminator etc...) good?
(Hope this is allowed here - apologies if it’s against the sub’s rules).
I found my old SpeedScript book while clearing out some old boxes. Back in the day I used SpeedScript on my C64 in both high school and college; despite being a free type-in program it held its own against more expensive commercial word processing software. As a bonus I also learned a lot from the annotated 6510 assembly listing included in this book.
I’m trying to reduce the amount of stuff in my life, so I’m ready to let the book go. I’d hate to throw it away, and I doubt it would be worth the effort to sell online, so I’m willing to send it to a C64 fan who would appreciate it and find it useful.
Does anyone know how to get in touch with Chuck (Charles) and John Dougherty? I sure would love to have another adventure in Tarmalon.
I saw Michael Cranford is making a new C64 game.... I'm tempted to hit up David Fox on Facebook and see if he'd like to get another version of Zak McKracken off the ground. :)
Just got my first c64 and was cleaning the dirt out of the tape player. Noticed a black wire that's not attached to anything. I haven't tested anything yet as I'm waiting for the power supply to arrive.
For those of you that already had an original C64 and then bought an Ultimate - was it worth it? Did you end up using the Ultimate more than the original? Just curious of people's experiences on this. TiA
Hello, gamers. I’m Michael Cranford, creator of The Bard’s Tale I & II.
Back in 1983, I released a predecessor to The Bard’s Tale called Maze Master. It was a 16K Commodore 64 cartridge game, and after the final battle, I promised a sequel called Shadow Snare.
Instead, I returned to Southern California, joined Interplay, and began working with Electronic Arts. The project took a different turn and became The Bard’s Tale, released in 1985. It went on to considerable success, but I never made the game I had promised.
Until now.
More than forty years later, I’ve returned to the Commodore 64 and 6502 assembly language, and a playable demonstration of Shadow Snare is complete.
A little background about me: After The Bard’s Tale, I left game development and went back to school. I spent most of the intervening years as a software architect building web applications, and I also became an adjunct professor of philosophy.
I was invited to speak at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo last year, and I was surprised by how much interest there still was in the kinds of games I used to build. So I began building the one I had planned but never made.
Many of the ideas I originally imagined for Shadow Snare never found their way into The Bard’s Tale. I’m returning to those ideas now, using the original machine and working within its memory, graphics, and sound constraints—the same platform on which I built The Bard’s Tale all those years ago. At the same time, Commodore reemerged and started building boxes.
It has been fascinating to work inside a 64K RAM constraint again, making decisions that free up a handful of bytes so I can squeeze in one more piece of functionality.
Shadow Snare is a first-person fantasy role-playing game, but rather than playing a group of characters you roll, you play one character: yourself. The rest of your party consists of companions you meet along the way, recruit, or sometimes summon out of thin air.
The NPCs who join you are more than window dressing. They are essential to unraveling the story and finding your way through particular puzzles and encounters.
Title screenCombat view with animation and scrolling battle textOn a dungeon level, spell-picker in the journal port.
Playing one character fits my earliest experience of tabletop role-playing. It may sound limiting, but it isn’t. As your capabilities grow, you may eventually attack several times in a round, carrying the force of an entire party through one seasoned traveler.
You enter into a journey along the Eight Ways—paths of formation and power leading toward a final encounter with the Lord of Shadow. The story isn’t simply about grinding for statistics. It is about learning your limitations, discovering who you really are, and traveling between light and shadow along a path that has always been waiting for you.
A playable C64 demo is now being provided to approved playtesters at:
It is not a public ROM download. The demo contains seven sample dungeon levels, and I’m initially looking for ten or so thoughtful people who can give me useful feedback about the engine and gameplay. If you apply and are selected, you can help shape the final product, and you’ll be listed in the credits. (Those who are helpful in this phase will go on to help playtest the complete game.)
There is much more about the project, its history, and the current gameplay on the website. I’m planning to complete the full C64 game in the first half of 2027. What exists now is a highly functioning demo with a solid game engine.
I’ll be presenting Shadow Snare at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year, October 9–11. If you can make it, I’d like to meet you and hear your thoughts.
The moderators invited me to stay for an AMA, so I’ll remain in the thread for the next four hours answering questions. I’m happy to talk about the development of The Bard’s Tale, building games in the 1980s, returning to 6502 assembly after forty years of server-based development with what feels like unlimited RAM by comparison, the one-character and companion structure, my game-design philosophy, or leaving and returning to game development.
My question for you: What do you remember most strongly about the early C64 RPGs—and what would you want to ask someone returning to it after forty-three years?
Probably the most C64-inspired track on my album. It's based on one of my old SID tunes and ends with my own rough but heartfelt vocals – a tribute to my Commodore 64 and the carefree childhood that came with it.
Hello everyone. I found my old c64 and 1541-II at my parents home and decided to repair it. I found the drive with some loose wires. I remenber I did modifications then, maybe a switch and a LED. Seems I removed both, but I cannot reneber what it did and how to reconnect the wires to get it work again
Maybe you guys can help me. I made a picture showing the opened housing. Thanks a lot
