derFunkenstein Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Don't think this has been mentioned elsewhere. New version of the SD2SNES using a more powerful (and not at all discontinued) FPGA has been announced. https://twitter.com/krikzz/status/1091876756477394944 Here's the thread on krikzz's forums: http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=8578.0 Not really sure what's so great about it right at release, but the possibilities are much greater. Things that have been kicked around by ikari and krikzz include turbo mode for Super FX chips (which I would guess to mean better framerates on those games), full save-state (including SPC audio) support, and maybe Super Game Boy. All for the same price as the current SD2SNES, apparently. The first SD2SNES isn't super interesting to me. I already own all the extra-chip games I have any interest in, so I'm more eyeing the Super Everdrive X5. But Super Game Boy support and playing Game Boy games would alter that for me, for sure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 The save state feature is going to be the biggest draw, and I am sure there will be improvements for SFX and SA1... perhaps hacks that use SA1 the MSU will be playable. For those that already have the current SD2SNES, it will be a judgement call. An upgrade isn't worth it to me at this point and time. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Yeah if the save state action is solid, I just might consider. That alone to me makes all the difference these days in replaying a lot of the old console games if I was being honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F34R Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I can't pay near $200 for save states. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I do need to eventually upgrade my old Super Everdrive V2. Glad I held off as long as I did. Save States and Super Game Boy support would make it a definite buy for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punisher5.0 Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Interesting. I didnt see this coming because we were told SD2SNES hardware was final. I could see getting one with the 20% off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Interesting. I didnt see this coming because we were told SD2SNES hardware was final. I could see getting one with the 20% off. Yeah, I don't think they planned on the FPGA in the original SD2SNES being discontinued so soon. Since the newer FPGA will be more capable, I guess they figured it made sense to add more features on top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I don't see any personal value in this. I don't care to turbo clock FX games and going back 20 years in emulation I've never liked or used save states (the exception was the retron5 making it to hot saves if you changed games and I'd typically bypass it anyway.) I like the existing one as it plays and does everything a real system can do minus to dumpy Shogi games only released in Japan and I can live fine without having that. I don't even bother with MSU stuff though I could, just don't really care to alter the games from how they were intended. I can see how that stuff would appeal to some people though so whatever, but in the end it's a necessity due to the parts not being able to be sourced anymore entirely for the original style board/chipset so for that it's a necessity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Yeah, I don't think they planned on the FPGA in the original SD2SNES being discontinued so soon. Since the newer FPGA will be more capable, I guess they figured it made sense to add more features on top. Well on their discord channel ikari has been talking up the sd3snes, that one shouldn't be the Pro as this problem kind of just cropped up. That other one, it was meant to have a larger and faster FPGA to allow for what this thing is talking about doing, but more including the couple existing games that don't fit in the space of the current cartridge. Maybe the Pro is the 3 and they wiggled both into one, haven't been keeping up but it is out of nowhere and interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I'd like to see how these save states work. That is a main feature of the X7 for the Genesis, but in my hands, it is a complete crap shoot if it works or not. I sometimes think if an X5 would have been enough.... If anything, I'd like to see a GUI for the cheats on the original SD2SNES as I don't have the patience I used to have to grid away. Not sure if that is something that is hard or if Ikari hasn't gotten around to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Someone has already hacked in partial save state support into the current SD2SNES, probably would work about the same I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 I don't even use the save states on the Everdrives that I own which have them! I rarely play a game for very long anymore, no time! I'm not surprised that ikari_01 was already looking towards developing something more sophisticated. Either way, the Pro is supposedly going to cost what the current cart does now, around $200. I doubt I will upgrade, to be honest. I upgraded to Mega Everdrive from Everdrive MD, as well as Master Everdrive and Gameboy, because they were significant hardware improvements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Nice. I'm still waiting to get one, because the entry ticket price is expensive. Overall I think the price is still worth it, given the price of so many games. Of course I can always wait to get more functionnalities, but mostly, as long as it can play 99,99% of the existing games, I'm fine with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 I don't even use the save states on the Everdrives that I own which have them! I rarely play a game for very long anymore, no time! Hey, thats exactly a situation where save states work out! e.g. Years ago I could sit and finish Blaster Master in one sitting. Not anymore.. instead I beat it 5 -10 minutes at a time as convenient over several weeks/months. Thanks save states! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 ikari_01 makes an appearance on SmokeMonster's show to discuss. As krikzz has already explained, the revision was due to hardware availability. Obviously newer parts will have higher capabilities but anything that could be programmed is totally theoretical. https://youtu.be/KOy_AItdwog?t=99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Black_Tiger Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Save states would be cool. I already have an SD2SNES and just bought cheap SFC carts of the DSP/SFX games I want and a couple SNES versions that were cheap as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derFunkenstein Posted February 6, 2019 Author Share Posted February 6, 2019 (edited) ikari_01 makes an appearance on SmokeMonster's show to discuss. As krikzz has already explained, the revision was due to hardware availability. Obviously newer parts will have higher capabilities but anything that could be programmed is totally theoretical. https://youtu.be/KOy_AItdwog?t=99 Thanks for the link. Krikzz seemed to be saying that turbo and save states were a done deal, where here it's still all kind of up in the air. I hope that one day the people that work on firmware make it worthwhile for folks to upgrade. Otherwise it's just great that the project will live on even though the original FPGA has been discontinued. Edited February 6, 2019 by derFunkenstein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 (edited) Since the Super NT sadly didn't get the GB/GBC core, I'd love to see that extra horsepower with this revision be taken advantage of eventually with full pre-GBA Game Boy support. My Super Game Boy and Everdrive are just fine on my Super NT, but GBC games on the Super NT would be a great bonus to get when buying this SD2SNES revision. Turbo would also be great to see. Been tempted to buy a clean looking ASCII gamepad for the SNES, but if there are plans to perhaps implement this in the SD2SNES Pro, even better than spending $25 on a controller off Ebay that might prove to not be in the best of shape internally. Not sure how such a basic feature as autofire got missed by the Super NT. Hopefully that's on the wish list when Kevtris gets a few minutes someday down the road to tinker with the Super NT firmware again. It's handy in certain games and sometimes it's also a fun cheat to play around with (Like in the Electronic Arts 'Strike' series, where it turns your weak chain gun when just holding down the fire button into a powerful weapon with autofire quickly cycling the fire button on/off). Edited February 6, 2019 by Atariboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I don't think it could hack it, the GBC non-hybrid games I think would be beyond the capability. Ikari seemed to feel the SuperGB would be doable most likely within the space of the FPGA. The GBC hardware itself had 2x the CPU clock and 4x the available RAM to use which I think would be over the top, plus would need a core created for it which is asking even more. The SGB itself is what it is, already the software is there, so it has a leg up on being supported which at least would go for like 1/2 the GBC games in standard mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derFunkenstein Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) Turbo would also be great to see. Been tempted to buy a clean looking ASCII gamepad for the SNES, but if there are plans to perhaps implement this in the SD2SNES Pro, even better than spending $25 on a controller off Ebay that might prove to not be in the best of shape internally. I'm pretty sure by "turbo" they're talking about overclocking the SuperFX chip, which would have the potential to increase frame rates. Not auto-fire Edited February 7, 2019 by derFunkenstein 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 I'm pretty sure by "turbo" they're talking about overclocking the SuperFX chip, which would have the potential to increase frame rates. Not auto-fire That makes sense, thanks. I didn't put it together when I read your post, even though I had previously read that Super FX overclocking was a possibility with this revision. I always wanted one of those ASCII gamepads anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 I would think that overclocking SFX is the only "guaranteed" upgrade at this point. However, like I said, the SD2SNES, having an Open Source OS/plug-in, allows for others to contribute, which in the past year and a half, is what has happened. That being said, save states are already available for most games in the current firmware. It's not perfect, due to the complexities of storing the SNES's audio chip state in FPGA and then to SD. The greater FPGA in the Pro would likely correct those plus make it available to chip games like SA-1 and SFX, because the old FPGA didn't have the room. I do not know if Krikzz has "tested" any of this, but I think it will happen. That's what is likely, and frankly, if you are an SNES diehard, I think it's worth the upgrade. Sell your SD2SNES, take a bit of a hit on it, and get the new one. Now, beyond those upgrades, the rest is highly theoretical as I said before. Super Gameboy, at least to me, is mehhhhh. If they get it work now, okay cool, if not, I could take it or leave it. At the end of the day, this change was made by Krikzz, as he has often done, for hardware cost/sourcing reasons. This is what is done by ALL game hardware makers throughout history. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Clae Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Looks like I picked the wrong time to buy an SD2SNES last year. The value of save states (not used for cheating) on an adult schedule should not be overlooked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoolDave Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Looks like I picked the wrong time to buy an SD2SNES last year. The value of save states (not used for cheating) on an adult schedule should not be overlooked. Agreed... A big draw for me is save states... I gut used to having a Retron 5 and real time save states was an EPIC thing. I picked up 2 devices so far, a Mega Drive x3 and a Everdrive N8 and love the feature....too bad it does not work on EVERY game... but, at $100, I would be all over this....$200 is just too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Save states are good for adults, but they are not all that reliable on the carts that support them (N8 and MD X7). I'd like to see how well it works for others with the new SD2SNES. Everyone else can beta test. It seems like the other new feature is the ability to play those SA1 MSU 1 hacks. For other new features though, who knows. It depends on 3rd party efforts. Might happen next month... might not be until another year. Look how long it took to get SA1 and SFX support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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