FPGA Based Videogame System

[Kismet]

 

They're currently on a shared power conditioner, but in the short term, I could probably get rid of that, and run cheap power strips off of the Projector's UPS, since no more than one of those would reasonably be on at the same time. The projector really needs an UPS, since I lost a lamp after a power outage once (lamp shut off without cooldown cycle).

 

There are currently 3 UPS systems in the room--one mostly for networking/wifi/storage, one for the PC, and one for the projector/AV-gear. I wonder if I could just wire a big gameroom ups right in the utility room with the breaker box and kill off this entire mess. When I start needing new batteries, I'll revisit that idea, but it sounds super-pricey.

 

Note, note my specialty, but UPS systems don't like it if there are additional surge protectors on the protected outputs, it makes the UPS unable to condition the lines or something:

https://www.apc.com/ca/en/faqs/FA158852/

 

 

 

The noise filtration circuitry in a Surge Protector can effectively "mask" some of the load from the UPS, causing the UPS to report a lower percentage of attached load than there actually is. This can cause a user to inadvertently overload their UPS. When the UPS switches to battery, it may be unable to support the equipment attached, causing a dropped load.

Surge protectors filter the power for surges and offer EMI/RFI filtering but do not efficiently distribute the power, meaning that some equipment may be deprived of the necessary amperage it requires to run properly causing your attached equipment (computer, monitor, etc) to shutdown or reboot.

 

At any rate, I'm just aware there is a connection between noise and surge protectors connected to a UPS. I've killed one APC UPS's inverter from overload, but haven't replaced it, (The switch from Geforce 760 to 1080 sent it past it's capacity), at work there's like 10 UPS systems just in the server room, and they are the case example of what not-to-do (power strips plugged into every one of them.) At any rate I doubt this is the exact reason for the noise. You could probably isolate it by seeing if the noise is still generated if you plug it in somewhere else, or if maybe it's the power connector itself that is acting as an antenna. Or drop a faraday cage over the NT Mini just to rule it out entirely.

[RetrogamerX]

SD2SNES 1.9 is out.

 

Announcement

https://sd2snes.de/blog/archives/1036

 

Download page

https://sd2snes.de/blog/downloads

 

Direct download

https://sd2snes.de/files/sd2snes_firmware_v1.9.0.zip

 

When anyone tested it with SuperNt please report

I thought the FW was on 2.0?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Note, note my specialty, but UPS systems don't like it if there are additional surge protectors on the protected outputs, it makes the UPS unable to condition the lines or something:

https://www.apc.com/ca/en/faqs/FA158852/

 

At any rate, I'm just aware there is a connection between noise and surge protectors connected to a UPS. I've killed one APC UPS's inverter from overload, but haven't replaced it, (The switch from Geforce 760 to 1080 sent it past it's capacity), at work there's like 10 UPS systems just in the server room, and they are the case example of what not-to-do (power strips plugged into every one of them.) At any rate I doubt this is the exact reason for the noise. You could probably isolate it by seeing if the noise is still generated if you plug it in somewhere else, or if maybe it's the power connector itself that is acting as an antenna. Or drop a faraday cage over the NT Mini just to rule it out entirely.

Last winter at work, we nuked the inverter on our ups backup. The pc was plugged into the ups. One of my coworkers plugged a space heater to the protected ups instead of using an unprotected outlet. We had a power outage that lasted a few seconds and killed the poor ups.

 

It still say protected, but ever since whenever the power goes down, pc shuts off cold. No big deal as we save often and mostly use the pc to access logs and pull documents for printing.

[Riptide]

 

 

At any rate, I'm just aware there is a connection between noise and surge protectors connected to a UPS. I've killed one APC UPS's inverter from overload, but haven't replaced it, (The switch from Geforce 760 to 1080 sent it past it's capacity), at work there's like 10 UPS systems just in the server room, and they are the case example of what not-to-do (power strips plugged into every one of them.)

Is it ok to do this with "dumb" power strips that have no built in surge protection?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Is it ok to do this with "dumb" power strips that have no built in surge protection?

So-called "dumb" strips (ie no surge protection, with or without a breaker switch) are perfectly fine to daisy chain together as long as the sum of all connected devices do not exceed the amperage rating of the strips or of the outlet.

 

Most retro game consoles run on between 5-12V ~1 amp or less and the bricks consume negligible power. Modern consoles will pull a bit more juice but well under that of a full-size desktop PC which the UPS are designed to protect. A flat panel TV or soundbar isn't going to pull extreme loads either, comparable to a modern game console. The largest load in the OP's room is probably the projector which he rightfully wants to protect the from bulb damage.

 

The OP appears to have a bunch of different conditioners / filters / surge protectors and other stuff daisy-chained. Something is causing a current loop between the projector and the console which is bad. An isolation transformer paired with a Surge/UPS should provide adequate protection and prevent said current loop.

 

It is unwise to daisy chain surge strips, which is why you should use a single surge protector with adequate protection for all plugged devices, followed by "dumb" surge strips daisy chained together if you need additional recepticles for dc adapters and power bricks. Any appliances or electrical devices capable of pulling large loads (space heaters, vacuum cleaners, etc) should not be plugged into the same surge protector as the AV equipment, and preferably be on a completely separate branch circuit.

 

You could easily blow a UPS by plugging heavy duty devices in.

[Tanooki]

I thought the FW was on 2.0?

Nope it was on 1.7.0 for a very long time, then 1.8.0 came out which added the Redguy first bomb drop of the FX1/2 chip, then 1.9.0 now make SA1 among other things official. Either the next will b1 1.10.0 or 2.0.0 which will probably dust up whatever needs fixing and add the SDD1 for the device. It's hard to say really. I'd almost think a middle ground because there's still that one chip the SPC7110 that is being worked on and will fit in the current FPGA space that drives Far East of Eden Zero, Momotaru Densetsu Happy, and Super Power League 4. It's a compression chip I guess like the SDD1 but also has a RTC function for the RPG in the lot. So basically those 3 and the SDD1 for SFAlpha/Zero 2 + Star Ocean will dust off the compatibility to the max it can achieve on the SD2SNES.

 

Perhaps you'll get some little update to add the SDD1 as it's more or less done I believe, bug squishing time right now. Then there's the other chip, the further work on load/save states, and other little perks. Once all that is done I would guess they'd do a 2.0, but who knows, it's their call however to number things.

[Jurai]

nice to see 1.9.0 out with official SA-1 support, anyone know how to use that combined with the SDD1 / savestate stuff? I've always been a little confused on how to properly mix and match the sd2snes stuff

[Reaperman]

 

 

The OP appears to have a bunch of different conditioners / filters / surge protectors and other stuff daisy-chained. Something is causing a current loop between the projector and the console which is bad. An isolation transformer paired with a Surge/UPS should provide adequate protection and prevent said current loop.

 

 

Not daisy-chained. I was considering swapping a power conditioner plugged into the wall (for game systems), for cheap power strips (unprotected) off of a nearby ups for the projector.

 

They're currently on a shared power conditioner, but in the short term, I could probably get rid of that, and run cheap power strips off of the Projector's UPS, since no more than one of those would reasonably be on at the same time.

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Reaperman

[AtariNerd]

Within ten pages, give or take, of over-taking that thread inspired by a mythical, low-karma console, that resultantly inspired this thread.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I kinda wonder how scaling will be handled on the Mega SG (Sega Genesis is 320x240 whereas NES/SNES is 256x240 or 224). Square pixels would be ideal since this resolution creates the intended 4:3 ratio of classic tv. Sega pixels are narrower than Nintendo pixels. Just look at some 16-bit ports on both systems.

 

Also Game Gear has the same resolution as Gameboy, 160x144. Users could upload custom SGB style screen borders on the SD card. A 1080p 7x mode and a 720p 5x mode for Game Gear would also be amazing!

 

Question for Kevtris/Analogue: Will the Game Gear adapter be available for purchase at launch? I bought six games today at GameXChange. Sonic 2, Streets of Rage, Tazmania, Lion King, Alladin, and Garfield.

 

I updated my Super Nt Unofficial Manual today to cover the Ghostly x Analogue Edition's firmware and a few minor changes. Enjoy.

Hi Great Heirophant.

 

Would you mind listing the optimal horizontal/vertical display setting for centered image at 720p? I'm a bit OCD about having the image perfectly centered. I actually prefer 720p over 1080p x5 because the scanlines overall look better to me at this setting.

 

I actually prefer 4:3 integer pixel scaling since it fills more screen area without cropping (or stretching to kingdom come ie 5:3 screen filling). 1080p 5:4 pixels is too windowed. 1080p 6:5 is unnaturally sharp. 480p (2.5:2) is way too soft. 720p 4:3 = Perfection.

[Forsaken]

SD2SNES 1.9 is out.

 

Announcement

https://sd2snes.de/blog/archives/1036

 

Download page

https://sd2snes.de/blog/downloads

 

Direct download

https://sd2snes.de/files/sd2snes_firmware_v1.9.0.zip

 

When anyone tested it with SuperNt please report

DSP-1 games aren't working for me. Mario Kart says "nintendo" and freezes, Pilotwings gets through the intro screens, but just plays music to a black screen when gameplay is to begin.

 

Ok... I tried 1.8.0 and 0.1.7e, and DSP-1 isn't playing for me with those firmwares either.

 

Is DSP-1 just broken on SD2SNES with Super NT?

 

I have the new Rev j SD2SNES.

 

SA-1 games are playing great though.

 

Just my setup, or is DSP-1 broken for anyone else?

Edited December 19, 2018 by Forsaken

[ErebusMaligan]

Is DSP-1 just broken on SD2SNES with Super NT?

 

I just played Mario Kart earlier, and it works fine on my sd2snes running 1.9 on the SuperNT.

 

My cart revision is F though.

 

Do you have the DSP 1-4 bin files in your sd2snes directory?

[Andromeda Stardust]

I used an Everdrive 2.0 with a real DSP1b chip harvested from a Ballz3D cart (My everdrive predates the FPGA DSP implementation by a few months). Works flawless and plays everything. Well except for SA-1 and FX stuff. My physical Ballz3D without the chip is like many of the other DSP games. The intro sequence with the rainbow colored Leonardo Davinci sketch (man inscribed a square/circle) just hangs and freezes. Playable on the Retrofreak without the chip though...

 

Most of those games I'm interested in playing I already own. The talking Parodius is crazy insane fun and well worth it despite I can't understand what is being said. Also I payed $17 shipped to import Kirby Dreamland 3 instead of paying $80 for the US version. Super Mario RPG is the only one you really need the USA / English version to enjoy.

[killersquirel]

Kevtris will the upcoming Mega SG come with an option to display more sprites on the same row like the previous systems had? If so, will there be an option for it for both genesis and master system? I love the option, and there is a couple of master system games that will benefit greatly with that option.

[phoenixdownita]

DSP-1 games aren't working for me. Mario Kart says "nintendo" and freezes, Pilotwings gets through the intro screens, but just plays music to a black screen when gameplay is to begin.

 

Ok... I tried 1.8.0 and 0.1.7e, and DSP-1 isn't playing for me with those firmwares either.

 

Is DSP-1 just broken on SD2SNES with Super NT?

 

I have the new Rev j SD2SNES.

 

SA-1 games are playing great though.

 

Just my setup, or is DSP-1 broken for anyone else?

You need to have the DSP-n roms content in the SD2SNES folder, those don't come with the archive, it has always been the case.

Google around and you'll find what you need .... just pay attention there are 2 formats available (little endian and big endian and only one works, can't remember which one, alternatively the SmokeMonster SD2SNES pack carried them all along).

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=snes+dsp+rom+files

[Forsaken]

 

I just played Mario Kart earlier, and it works fine on my sd2snes running 1.9 on the SuperNT.

 

My cart revision is F though.

 

Do you have the DSP 1-4 bin files in your sd2snes directory?

I didn't know I needed bin files for those, I thought they'd be included with the firmware. I will rummage around for those and report back.

[Forsaken]

 

I just played Mario Kart earlier, and it works fine on my sd2snes running 1.9 on the SuperNT.

 

My cart revision is F though.

 

Do you have the DSP 1-4 bin files in your sd2snes directory?

 

You need to have the DSP-n roms content in the SD2SNES folder, those don't come with the archive, it has always been the case.

Google around and you'll find what you need .... just pay attention there are 2 formats available (little endian and big endian and only one works, can't remember which one, alternatively the SmokeMonster SD2SNES pack carried them all along).

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=snes+dsp+rom+files

You guys saved my sanity. This is my first SD2SNES, got it just a few days ago, so I didn't know about the bins not being included. Stone Age Gamer had the bins with the correct endianess right on their site alongside the SD2SNES.

 

DSP games are working for me now.

 

So far, I'd say the SD2SNES is worth every penny, I've been very impressed. Be damned careful with that micro SD slot on the Rev J though... I'd been pushing the card in with my thumb nail, and my thumbnail slipped off it before it clicked in, and that tiny card went flying all the way across the room.

 

BTW, you can now customize the menu if you like, someone made an automatic menu.bin patching tool to insert your own banner and color scheme. http://www.dotsarecool.com/sd2snesimg/

[ErebusMaligan]

 

Be damned careful with that micro SD slot on the Rev J though... I'd been pushing the card in with my thumb nail, and my thumbnail slipped off it before it clicked in, and that tiny card went flying all the way across the room.

 

Glad you got everything sorted out.

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the micro slots for this same reason. Had a similar issue with the one on my ssds3. I think they are just indented a little too far into the devices. The larger ones are more easy to trigger and cause them to spring up while rummaging around, but they usually just stay in the device and don't fly off anywhere.

[Newsdee]

I used an Everdrive 2.0 with a real DSP1b chip harvested from a Ballz3D cart (My everdrive predates the FPGA DSP implementation by a few months).

So I just found out about Ballz3D trying out chip games on MiSTer... what a game! It's terrible, but it makes you think it could have been better and a proper 3D game for the SNES if they put a bit more effort into it. Maybe it was in developmemt hell and they had to rush it out as it was. I'll give them points for trying something different.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Newsdee

[Prodigal Gun]

Just got my brand new SD2SNES in and updated to 1.9.0. I'm using it in my Super NT. The special chip games work great! However I need to get "in game hooks" and "save states" working. I can't find anything in the menu to activate or deactivate "in game hooks". Are the "save states" a beta add on? Is there any room on the fpga for the "save states" after Red Guy's special chip work? I have googled and searched but I can't find any good guidance for this. Sorry for my ignorance.

[Forsaken]

Just got my brand new SD2SNES in and updated to 1.9.0. I'm using it in my Super NT. The special chip games work great! However I need to get "in game hooks" and "save states" working. I can't find anything in the menu to activate or deactivate "in game hooks". Are the "save states" a beta add on? Is there any room on the fpga for the "save states" after Red Guy's special chip work? I have googled and searched but I can't find any good guidance for this. Sorry for my ignorance.

As far as I know, the save state doesn't work with the SA-1/SFX branch currently. You have to choose one or the other for now. And yes, save state is VERY beta. I don't know if it will be able to fit alongside SA-1 and SFX.

 

For hooks, press X in the menu, go to configuration, then in-game settings, on/off is in there. They aren't really needed for SNT though, since you can do game-genie cheats and cart/system resets with the SNT itself. Press the SNT's reset hotkey very briefly, and the current ROM will reset, hold it for a bit longer, and the SD2SNES will reset fully back to it's main menu. If you have a translucent SD2SNES, you can see the yellow light come on when you've held down the reset hotkey long enough to reset to menu.

 

I feel sorry for people that buy opaque SD2SNES and Everdrives, because there's no way to see the useful indicator LEDs inside unless the case is translucent, and they usually don't mention that in the item descriptions.

 

OH! I should add that you don't "flash" the firmware on an SD2SNES in the sense one normally thinks of it happening. The firmware is ONLY on the SD card, and loaded everytime the SD2SNES is powered up. This means that all you have to do if you want to run different firmwares is setup different SD cards, and switch between them. So you could have a card with the official 1.9.0 for SA-1 and SFX games, another with the save state beta, and still another with the S-DD1 chip support for the few games that use it. Simple as popping one SD out and popping another in.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Forsaken

[Toth]

As far as I know, the save state doesn't work with the SA-1/SFX branch currently. You have to choose one or the other for now. And yes, save state is VERY beta. I don't know if it will be able to fit alongside SA-1 and SFX.

 

For hooks, press X in the menu, go to configuration, then in-game settings, on/off is in there. They aren't really needed for SNT though, since you can do game-genie cheats and cart/system resets with the SNT itself. Press the SNT's reset hotkey very briefly, and the current ROM will reset, hold it for a bit longer, and the SD2SNES will reset fully back to it's main menu. If you have a translucent SD2SNES, you can see the yellow light come on when you've held down the reset hotkey long enough to reset to menu.

 

I feel sorry for people that buy opaque SD2SNES and Everdrives, because there's no way to see the useful indicator LEDs inside unless the case is translucent, and they usually don't mention that in the item descriptions.

 

OH! I should add that you don't "flash" the firmware on an SD2SNES in the sense one normally thinks of it happening. The firmware is ONLY on the SD card, and loaded everytime the SD2SNES is powered up. This means that all you have to do if you want to run different firmwares is setup different SD cards, and switch between them. So you could have a card with the official 1.9.0 for SA-1 and SFX games, another with the save state beta, and still another with the S-DD1 chip support for the few games that use it. Simple as popping one SD out and popping another in.

I splurged for the "light pipes" from stoneagegamer. They do really nice work on the cases. It actually looks pretty cool so you can see the LED on the outside of the case but it's not just a clear window. They look sort of like the hard drive activity lights on some PC cases. I wanted a simple gray case but I wanted to be able to see the LED.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Toth

[F34R]

Analogue listed an update for the Super NT. v4.7

https://support.analogue.co/hc/en-us/articles/360000557452-Super-Nt-Firmware-Update-v4-6

 

v4.7 notes:

- fixes gameboy audio bug
- no other changes

[Forsaken]

I splurged for the "light pipes" from stoneagegamer. They do really nice work on the cases. It actually looks pretty cool so you can see the LED on the outside of the case but it's not just a clear window. They look sort of like the hard drive activity lights on some PC cases. I wanted a simple gray case but I wanted to be able to see the LED.

I didn't even see that there was a light pipe option. I didn't see any options... I just saw the price had dropped temporarily by $50 and they had my favorite color in stock, and clicked "buy" as fast as I could lol

[Jurai]

As far as I know, the save state doesn't work with the SA-1/SFX branch currently. You have to choose one or the other for now. And yes, save state is VERY beta. I don't know if it will be able to fit alongside SA-1 and SFX.

 

For hooks, press X in the menu, go to configuration, then in-game settings, on/off is in there. They aren't really needed for SNT though, since you can do game-genie cheats and cart/system resets with the SNT itself. Press the SNT's reset hotkey very briefly, and the current ROM will reset, hold it for a bit longer, and the SD2SNES will reset fully back to it's main menu. If you have a translucent SD2SNES, you can see the yellow light come on when you've held down the reset hotkey long enough to reset to menu.

 

I feel sorry for people that buy opaque SD2SNES and Everdrives, because there's no way to see the useful indicator LEDs inside unless the case is translucent, and they usually don't mention that in the item descriptions.

 

OH! I should add that you don't "flash" the firmware on an SD2SNES in the sense one normally thinks of it happening. The firmware is ONLY on the SD card, and loaded everytime the SD2SNES is powered up. This means that all you have to do if you want to run different firmwares is setup different SD cards, and switch between them. So you could have a card with the official 1.9.0 for SA-1 and SFX games, another with the save state beta, and still another with the S-DD1 chip support for the few games that use it. Simple as popping one SD out and popping another in.

 

yeah, I don't see savestates ever being 100%, he had to do one-off per-game patching for some titles due to how it's interacting with the APU, Actraiser for example can load you into a dead end if you save at certain points due to triggers tied to certain game actions not executing once you reload, I saw it mostly on boss fights where I would save right before the fight but if I loaded the state back up the game didn't trigger the code to start the boss fight so you'd just walk into a potentially empty room / boss would not do anything