Yeah, I've heard LoopyNES is supposed to be the most accurate (which would explain why it runs only 6 fps on my now-ancient 400 MHz AMD-K6/2) :)

I'd still like to know what I'm doing wrong as far as programming, though; both Chris Covell's stuff and mcmartin's NES tutorial program work on LoopyNES with no problem. My code's basically the same, since about all it does at this point is initialize the PPU and stuff and then draw a Name Table. The only real difference between my code and theirs is size in some cases (I use slightly different routines), so I was wondering if maybe my problem has something to do with CPU timing.

I guess my real question is, then, EXACTLY how many scanlines are supposed to occur before VBlank?

"There is a loud SAKRAHAH! and everything turns chartreuse."