FPGA Based Videogame System

[MikaelTarquin]

Bug report : Noticed that the Pokemon Trading Card Game won't boot in the Gameboy Color core, yet runs just fine in the Gameboy core.

 

This might be a known issue. Figured I may as well make sure!

I've noticed this as well. I realize the GBC core is a work-in-progress, though I figured I'd echo this. I've also noticed funky behavior in Mega Man Xtreme. Over time, sprites lose their color (becoming almost a grey silhouette), and navigating the menu is tricky since the cursor doesn't seem to show up.

[Flangle]

Could someone please PM me a link to the O2 voice module bios? Dang, some of these roms and bios's are super hard to find. Any help receives triple chocolate fudge Karma.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Flangle

[phoenixdownita]

Well it's firmware friday again! This time, it's Odyssey^2 including The Voice. Since this is a system with a keyboard, I also finished the PS2 keyboard adapter. These aren't for sale yet though, but I have included a schematic for those who wish to build it. I have made it so start/select/A/X on the controller emulate pressing 1, 2, 3, 4 on the keyboard to allow most games to be started. Only a couple really need the keyboard.

 

http://blog.kevtris.org/blogfiles/ntm_firmware_verJB1.9.zip

 

....

Time to update that first post

[Fafner]

 

not at this time

nope not yet

 

re: the galaxy of controllers possible to use on cores: I don't have time right now to add half a dozen controllers to every core unfortunately. I need to get the rest of these cores converted before I run out of time. Deadlines on paid stuff are fast approaching so I am trying to get the last few cores released before that hits. So unfortunately I can't do a lot of controller adding and stuff yet. Eventually I hope to go back and add more options and things but for now I don't have the time.

I'll happily take what ever you have the time and inclination to finish!

So happy with all of this!

[Flangle]

Kevtris - several people are reporting garbled voice with the only voice module files they can find. Mostly very old ones. Were you working with newer dumps? (Newer than 2009 and earlier)

[Fafner]

Yow!

Not having luck with the voice module on Odyssey....

Got the bios files named right and turned it on in the core menu and all I hear is

"BRAAAAAAAA EEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRREE AAAAAAAAAAA"

[simbin]

Kevtris - several people are reporting garbled voice with the only voice module files they can find. Mostly very old ones. Were you working with newer dumps? (Newer than 2009 and earlier)

 

 

Yow!

Not having luck with the voice module on Odyssey....

Got the bios files named right and turned it on in the core menu and all I hear is

"BRAAAAAAAA EEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRREE AAAAAAAAAAA"

 

I thought it was just me but now it looks like something might be up.

Edited March 25, 2017 by simbin

[coderkind]

kevtris - managed to try out Duck Hunt for the first time in decades yesterday and had a blast (pun intended); amazing work with the console.

 

One platform I haven't seen mentioned in this thread so far has been Nintendo's Game & Watch; are there any plans for this as a core?

[Sneakyturtleegg]

Not sure if this is a bug or a bad rom. I've tried several times to load Namco Classic II in the NES core. The intro starts and it freezes shortly thereafter. If I hit a button, it freezes. I've hit select a few times and it has shut the NT Mini down. This is a Japanese game that uses expanded audio, so that may have something to do with it. Has anybody else tried this game? Can anybody else reproduce this?

[rezb1t]

Not sure if this is a bug or a bad rom. I've tried several times to load Namco Classic II in the NES core. The intro starts and it freezes shortly thereafter. If I hit a button, it freezes. I've hit select a few times and it has shut the NT Mini down. This is a Japanese game that uses expanded audio, so that may have something to do with it. Has anybody else tried this game? Can anybody else reproduce this?

Yep this was actually discussed a few pages ago, Namco Classic II crashes if loaded via the NES core, it also doesn't seem to play properly on the NT mini if you use an Everdrive, though it doesn't crash, just has lots of graphical glitching.

 

It's not the ROM because the same Everdrive works perfectly in an unmodified famicom and a hi-def nes modded famicom.

 

A game that uses the same mapper, Sangokushi II Haou No Tairiku, also fails to boot. This one works perfectly with an Everdrive n8 + NT Mini combo from what I can tell.

 

 

Only other game with a supported mapper known to crash/play incorrectly on the NES core right now is Dragon Buster II for Famicom.

Edited March 25, 2017 by rezb1t

[Sneakyturtleegg]

I've also noticed this with the Odyssey 2 core -- 1) Load the core and a game; 2) Hit select + down. From that point on in this core, the buttons on the menu turn white along with the directional pad. The games seem to work fine. If you back out to the main menu, the buttons will be red and look fine. I am using composite video on a CRT. I haven't tried any other analogue video yet (composite or s-video). This is something minor, but I just wanted to throw it out there.

[pcfreak324]

Only other game known to crash/play incorrectly right now is Dragon Buster II for Famicom.

The popular hack Tetris Zero also doesn't work. But this is not the NT's fault. You can get the game to work by fixing the header.

[retrorgb]

re: the galaxy of controllers possible to use on cores: I don't have time right now to add half a dozen controllers to every core unfortunately. I need to get the rest of these cores converted before I run out of time. Deadlines on paid stuff are fast approaching so I am trying to get the last few cores released before that hits. So unfortunately I can't do a lot of controller adding and stuff yet. Eventually I hope to go back and add more options and things but for now I don't have the time.

 

So, just to be clear:

 

Rather then deal with altering the code for all the cores to support the rare Famicom controllers with the number pads, you created the PS2 adapter that people can make themsleves, or soon buy. This will allow people to use standard NES controllers to play all the games from each core and any time a number press is required, they can just hit the button on the keyboard. Did I get that right? Seems like the perfect solution to me.

 

...also, I think you forgot to update the 1st post with this latest firmware

[Fafner]

 

So, just to be clear:

 

Rather then deal with altering the code for all the cores to support the rare Famicom controllers with the number pads, you created the PS2 adapter that people can make themsleves, or soon buy. This will allow people to use standard NES controllers to play all the games from each core and any time a number press is required, they can just hit the button on the keyboard. Did I get that right? Seems like the perfect solution to me.

 

...also, I think you forgot to update the 1st post with this latest firmware

Such a lovely solution!

 

Is there any way the 8bitdo receiver could be made to pair with a bluetooth keyboard?

[Wolf_]

Such a lovely solution!

 

Is there any way the 8bitdo receiver could be made to pair with a bluetooth keyboard?

The problem is that the Nt mini only accepts 8bits of data in from the controller port at a time so it only works with basic controls. If the data were sent in over the ps2 port though something like that might be possible.

[Boojakascha]

Kevtris, is it possible that you dropped light gun support, when attempting to play the NES/Famicom as core instead of from the main menu? Would it be possible to fix that?

[cacophony]

Kevtris, is it possible that you dropped light gun support, when attempting to play the NES/Famicom as core instead of from the main menu? Would it be possible to fix that?

 

Light gun games work for you when using a cartridge but not when using a rom? You're hooked to a CRT, right?

(I don't have a CRT at the moment, so I can't test this myself)

Edited March 25, 2017 by cacophony

[Boojakascha]

 

You're hooked to a CRT, right?

 

Yes... And with an Everdrive it works on those ones which support the mappers...

My analogue is a real bummer so far... I just bought it for light gun games and I can't use it as I want so far...

 

Kevtris, speaking of mappers: Strike Wolf seems to glitch out :-(

[cacophony]

 

Yes... And with an Everdrive it works on those ones which support the mappers...

My analogue is a real bummer so far... I just bought it for light gun games and I can't use it as I want so far...

 

I'm sure kevtris will fix this one quickly. Thanks for reporting it.

[Fafner]

The problem is that the Nt mini only accepts 8bits of data in from the controller port at a time so it only works with basic controls. If the data were sent in over the ps2 port though something like that might be possible.

I see.

 

Thanks for the break down!

[Andromeda Stardust]

The problem is that the Nt mini only accepts 8bits of data in from the controller port at a time so it only works with basic controls. If the data were sent in over the ps2 port though something like that might be possible.

are u sure? For nes, the system spits as many bites as the game requests. 4 other system, depends on how the core is programmed.

[Wolf_]

are u sure? For nes, the system spits as many bites as the game requests. 4 other system, depends on how the core is programmed.

I recall Kev saying maybe 20 or 30 pages back that the issue with not supporting more advanced controllers was a bit limit. I'm not sure if that was in reference to a specific core or not and don't really want to look up the quote.

[kevtris]

Kevtris, is it possible that you dropped light gun support, when attempting to play the NES/Famicom as core instead of from the main menu? Would it be possible to fix that?

I didn't. Remember, light guns don't work on HDMI, you must use them with analog outputs only (RGB, composite, s-vid, and component).

 

The problem is that the Nt mini only accepts 8bits of data in from the controller port at a time so it only works with basic controls. If the data were sent in over the ps2 port though something like that might be possible.

This isn't true. the pack in controller returns 12 bits, and the NTT data controller returns 32.

 

Such a lovely solution!

 

Is there any way the 8bitdo receiver could be made to pair with a bluetooth keyboard?

This has been discussed, actually. I wanted to make sure the rest of the NES development community got a say on how this worked so that it can be used on homebrew games effectively.

 

So, just to be clear:

 

Rather then deal with altering the code for all the cores to support the rare Famicom controllers with the number pads, you created the PS2 adapter that people can make themsleves, or soon buy. This will allow people to use standard NES controllers to play all the games from each core and any time a number press is required, they can just hit the button on the keyboard. Did I get that right? Seems like the perfect solution to me.

 

...also, I think you forgot to update the 1st post with this latest firmware

yes, that's the idea... and yeah I forgot. I will do that today.

 

I've also noticed this with the Odyssey 2 core -- 1) Load the core and a game; 2) Hit select + down. From that point on in this core, the buttons on the menu turn white along with the directional pad. The games seem to work fine. If you back out to the main menu, the buttons will be red and look fine. I am using composite video on a CRT. I haven't tried any other analogue video yet (composite or s-video). This is something minor, but I just wanted to throw it out there.

This is normal. There is a good reason for it- I don't have enough multipliers to go around on the FPGA, so I had to sacrifice colour in the menu. There *is* a bug I noticed though- the text on the A/B buttons isn't visible, so I will fix that so they are a different shade of grey to make it visible. This was a technical compromise. The arcadia 2001 and channel F do this too.

 

Yep this was actually discussed a few pages ago, Namco Classic II crashes if loaded via the NES core, it also doesn't seem to play properly on the NT mini if you use an Everdrive, though it doesn't crash, just has lots of graphical glitching.

 

It's not the ROM because the same Everdrive works perfectly in an unmodified famicom and a hi-def nes modded famicom.

 

A game that uses the same mapper, Sangokushi II Haou No Tairiku, also fails to boot. This one works perfectly with an Everdrive n8 + NT Mini combo from what I can tell.

 

 

Only other game with a supported mapper known to crash/play incorrectly on the NES core right now is Dragon Buster II for Famicom.

I just put those three on the todo to look at. I am not sure what's going on with it yet.

[Boojakascha]

I didn't. Remember, light guns don't work on HDMI, you must use them with analog outputs only (RGB, composite, s-vid, and component).

 

Now that I knew it should work I retried with Duck Hunt and alike. It really works.

 

It was just bad luck as I tried

- 3 in 1 Supergun

- Crime Busters

- Master Shooter

- Strike Wolf

 

all those didn't work! Strike Wolf glitches out completely...

"3 in 1 Supergun" and "Master Shooter" work on my Famicom AV. So I think they should also work on the Analogue NT mini... "Crime Busters" and "Strike Wolf" has mapper problems with the Everdrive, so I didn't came very far trying those on original hardware..

 

I think "Crime Busters" and "Strike Wolf" would be really worthwhile being fixed, as those are great games.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Boojakascha

[Sneakyturtleegg]

With Odyssey 2 emulation, I see there are additional sound or voice files required. Are these necessary for the O2 core on the NT Mini? If so where do they need to go?