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retro_fan

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Posts posted by retro_fan

  2. Posted

    I have finished up a big update to the firmware today! There's a lot of little fixes and changes. Here's a list:

     

    [...]

    * Added ability to change highlight text colour in the menus. I cannot add it to NES composite s/vid due to space (but it works on other cores).

     

    [...]

     

    There's a new menu entry in the video menu to set the highlight colour now to 1 of 7 different values if you so choose. It defaults to green.

    Do you think that you could gray out/"remove" options which do not work for certain outputs (mostly analog, I suppose) like cropping or this text highlight when using these output methods? So that people wouldn't wonder, for instance, why the cropping slider does nothing, and just to keep the menu clean.

     

    Since I am recreating the hardware, I can make it do anything. I most likely will do what I did with the game gear- you can either select no bios (straight startup) or a bios (it shows the screen).

     

    The SNES will output high quality RGB using the DAC I am using now, which is excellent. It is much higher quality than the one on the SNES. I will probably target one of the multi chip versions, since it won't have those glitches. But I can tweak the hardware slightly if needed to fix them.

    Yeah, I guess going for the cleanest RBG and HDMI outputs is the right decision. And wherever possible recreating composite outputs for the ultimate nostalgia factor.

  5. Posted · Edited by retro_fan

     

    This whole thread is about people's preferences taking a step backwards. For similar types of reasons that you can't relate to why I would think it would be kind of neat if someday people used FPGA's to preserve CRT's others couldn't relate to why we would want to use FPGA's to preserve retro consoles. They could say that instead of preserving retro consoles gaming should just be improved, that we should only use modern consoles and other modern gaming technology, there are no good reasons other than nostalgia to play retro games, etc.

     

    Anyway, this talk about an ideal gaming experience is within a thread for a current FPGA console that has analog outputs for CRT's and a future FPGA console that will have analog outputs for CRT's. So, CRT's, FPGA's, and/or both are entirely relevant to this conversation. Besides, if you really feel that way that it shouldn't be brought into the discussion then you shouldn't have responded. You could have just let me post my one post about it, moved on, and then wait for the conversation to go in the course that you would prefer.

     

    Finally CRT people are speaking up for themselves! Let us not be bullied by those Horribly Demented Media Intruders! :P But to be honest, I am actually willing to pay more, so that both HDMI fans and CRT fans are happy. It's just great to have a choice with FPGAs between enhancement and preservation. As I have already mentioned my favorite output is composite.

    Some people never upgraded to a digital television and still use CRTs. Some graphics were designed for a specific display technology and only display correctly there. There are some graphic effects that by design are not only CRT related but NTSC colour related that get lossed with digital signals.

    Exactly, The Case for Composite. It's also worth mentioning here that even emulator users who always had access to the pixel perfect image are degrading it on purpose A Link to the Past: How To Add CRT Filters to 16-Bit Games on PC.

    • Like 2

  7. Posted

    If anyone was wondering whether a Patreon can be a viable financing option, CEMU (experimental Wii U emulator) is now at the $13,000 a month level. I guess this is is somewhat related to this news:

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vBE7Ueas7E

     

    Well... How is this connected with the Nt mini/Z3K you ask? For instance, Kevtris' reply to whether Sega and TG-16/PCE CD hardware will be supported should not be "the amount of work for it is insane" because it makes it sound as if he wants to suddenly stop working on the Z3K after release (we know that you're working on this alone, and it's not like we cannot wait 2-3 years after the Z3K release for CD hardware support), but instead "I need more funds, I'm setting a new goal on my Patreon page". :P If time is money than more money means more time. :)

     

    This CD hardware matter was just an example, but continuous Zimba 3000 support would ensure that new units are being sold.

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    [...]

     

    At the time, I don't know if zumba existed or not. I have had the name "Zimba 3000" for about 6 or 7 years now, but I never revealed it until the whole retro video game system debacle. You can call it the "Z3K" if you need something easier to remember.

    I think "Zimba" is a really nice name, but I have another suggestion as well... :grin:

     

    CHAMELEON 3000

    • Like 1

  9. Posted · Edited by retro_fan

    How about implementing a .pdf reader? Would that be too difficult? It would be nice to have some manuals and maps on the SD card for reference.

    It does not seem to be possible, this thing operates on a similar level as real hardware. Have you ever seen a .pdf reader on NES? :) Manuals in text files + some tips & tricks might be possible though (and maybe + some simple graphics, but we need to ask kevtris). Of course, such text files should be provided by the community.

  10. Posted · Edited by retro_fan

    Apart from these FPGA projects mentioned by Newsdee there are also quite a few interesting hobby/computer science experiments:

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7TWjnaF_U4

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBLUrRrSCE

     

    There are already a few NES implementations, for instance:

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-nf4N9ZTbY

     

    I have already mentioned this in the Z3K thread, DOS gaming on FPGA:

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s73LzJVA5o

     

    Some people want to improve old hardware using FPGAs, check out the MEGA65 project or the Vampire 2 Amiga accelerator.

  11. Posted

    Kevtris is a guest on the My Life In Gaming live stream, starting now if anybody is interested:

     

    This stream is really awesome and you should definitely watch it guys (I know it's long, but there's lot of useful info). What you can learn from this video and what is really bothering me is that kevtris is buying practically all the hardware (often very expensive) himself and doing most of the work in his free time. I think it would be good if the community could finance this stuff... maybe there would be enough funds for kevtris to spend more time on his retro FPGA projects.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    Yep! I just tested it again with Zelda 2 to make sure and I played it for 40 minutes with no issues using the FDSStick and the latest firmware for it. I've also played the original Legend of Zelda for hours without any issues and Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa. This works on both my Hi-Def NES modded AV Famicom and the NT Mini.

     

    Also the FDSEmu which has issues, does work in the Hi-Def AV Famicom without any issues. Not sure what's going on there, but I think the FDSStick is a lot more common anyway (from what I can tell, the fdsemu is no longer sold)

    Have you tested the FDSEmu with the analog output of the Nt mini (timing is different)?

  13. Posted

    It IS possible to generate video on i.e. the 2600 the exact same way a real system does it, but I have not done this. I might go back and add it, but right now I have been trying hard to get all my cores converted and playable and debugged first so people can play them.

    It's awesome that you're even considering adding stuff like this. Of course, it is not a priority, but still super-awesome for the sake of completeness.

  14. Posted

     

    Keep in mind that it's generating 48Khz 16bit audio on the output side for HDMI spec. On a real NES, it's mixing 4 digital channels of undefined "sampling rates" that are generated digitally and goes into multiple filters (two high pass filters and one low pass filter). (Also why when software emulators artificially limit themselves to 22khz or 32khz, it acts as a high-pass filter.)

     

    To create all the analog artifacts comes back to the same reason why scanlines are a taste thing and shouldn't be enabled by default. The equivalent of "scanlines" for audio to make it sound like an old TV would mean applying additional low-pass filters, noise and normalizing the audio to make it louder, hence many of the trademark distortion noises of 8-bit systems. The NT Mini produces "too clean" output so distorting the video with scanlines and distorting the audio makes it less clean. Some people want it, other people don't like it.

     

    [...]

    To be honest, I wasn't referring to HDMI here (mainly). In the Nt mini specs you can find that 48khz 16 bit audio is generated for the analog output as well, so this is what I'm wondering about. An optional old TV audio filter would be nice, but I'm actually considering hooking up the Nt mini/Z3K to a real old TV via composite/RF. :) Let's not forget that the Nt mini/Z3K is also very interesting to people that don't want to use HDMI -- I stopped using emulators years ago so that I could enjoy raw, dirty composite picture again.

     

    Regarding hooking up the Nt mini/Z3K to an old TV, there was also this really interesting question by Great Hierophant that kevtris probably did not notice:

     

    "If or when the cores for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Odyssey2, Intellivision and Colecovision are released, how will their analog lo-fi color signals be processed? The NES generates composite color inside the chip, not RGB and the Nt Mini outputs the exact same composite signal that the real NES does. From what I can tell, the Atari consoles and the Intellivision also generate color in the composite domain. The Odyssey2 and Colecovision seem to generate color in the RGB or YPrPb domain."

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    [...]

     

    The NES is generating digital sound too though. The only differences I can tell is that all NES/Famicoms have an awful 60hz buzz due to the video trace coming too close to the audio trace, and that the audio mixing circuit tends to filter the output, usually with a low-pass filter. (Which honestly the low-pass filter was probably added to make it difficult to hear the 60hz buzz)

     

    I'm kinda surprised low-pass filtering is wanted, when I bought a Twin Famicom a few years ago the first thing I did was clip the low-pass filter off of the board to get cleaner sound! I can understand that accuracy is desired, though.

     

    Please don't bring back that horrible 60hz buzz. I'm so glad it's not present here. :P

    Yeah, you're right it's digital, I simply got too much into the cd vs vinyl analogy. :ponder: Hmm... But this "48khz 16bit" does mean something, doesn't it? I have nothing against bringing back the buzz as an option. You can already find there settings which do much worse things to sound than some buzzing. :)

     

    I'm not sure kevtris referred to the Twin Famicom in the fragment I quoted...

  16. Posted · Edited by retro_fan

    honestly I thought the MM3 samples sounded pretty much the same. The famicom has some lowpass filtering in there I think for the audio path, so I obviously don't have this. The FDS has more severe filtering (which is on the RAM adapter itself). The actual audio generation is fine but I think it's just this lack of lowpassing. I kinda like the cleaner sound too, so I think it basically comes down to what you prefer.

     

    The review was pretty awesome though! I will be talking with them on their live stream this sunday at 9PM eastern, btw. That should be a lot of fun.

     

    Well, maybe I will ask a few audio related questions too. :)

     

    1) Nt mini generates 48khz 16bit audio, so I guess this results in crisper sound and that's cool... But maybe original lower quality NES audio has some nostalgic value as well. Err... something like cd vs vinyl? I love how you recreated the NES composite signal with all the artifacts, is something similar possible for audio, i.e. recreation without all this digital crispness, or are there some technical limitations connected with the analog nature of the audio signal? Original quality audio seems like a nice (optional!!!) feature.

     

    2) If the Famicom "has some lowpass filtering" maybe it could be implemented for expansion audio in your NES core as well (at least optionally), since the expansion audio was originally present on the Famicom and not the NES. :P

     

    3) Kevtris, how do you check your FPGA implementation against original audio? A simple ear test or do you look at some signals (or maybe both)?

     

    4) Some time ago you talked about problems with implementing "external analog hardware" for your C64 core. Could you explain this in more detail? I don't know much about the Commodore... :grin:

  18. Posted

    yes it is, at least for NES. PAL is a lot more hit or miss on my other cores, because I don't have any PAL systems to test/RE at the time. The 2600 core for example is NTSC only but it runs PAL games; I only have one oscillator and not enough PLLs so I can't output PAL 2600 video, but it does output 50fps NTSC (and I guess the RGB is PAL rate so you can use that). Frame buffer systems (gameboy, etc) will/can output PAL just fine and I will add it to GB since it's pretty easy, I just forgot before I released it.

     

    [...]

    Do you need a whole PAL console for testing? Or is it enough if someone will send you PAL chips for these consoles from Europe (smaller package)?

  19. Posted

    [...]

     

    Looking at MAME, there's a data file for every chip on the motherboard for each game. When looking at the literally thousands of games produced all with seemingly unique hardware, from a modular perspective, there's relatively few unique chips between them, and building a motherboard piecewise from FPGA implementations of each chip would be relatively straightforward.

     

    [...]

    Do you have any numbers, Kosmic? I wonder how many chips would have to be implemented to cover at least popular 8-bit and 16-bit arcade publishers, i.e. Konami, Capcom, Sega, etc. If kevtris will decide at some point to work on arcade machines, he could join forces with, for instance, the MAME project (to get arcade boards + documentation -- the PCBs aren't cheap...), I guess they also might be interested in good FPGA arcade implementations. BTW, there was this project called MameVHDL (archived link) whose goal was "generating electronic schematics from M.A.M.E. into VHDL", but it does not seem to be active any more.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

     

    Personally I feel like his time is better spent on Nt Mini cores + Zimba 3k work. Unless... can we clone an accurate version of kevtris on an FPGA? :)

    He can always make the cart some time after the Z3K release. And of course, it's bit a different target than the Zimba, I suppose. "I'm only playing on a original console" type of thing. Mind you that mappers and software are already there, so it's a matter of reusing this stuff in a clever way.

  23. Posted

    If or when the cores for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Odyssey2, Intellivision and Colecovision are released, how will their analog lo-fi color signals be processed? The NES generates composite color inside the chip, not RGB and the Nt Mini outputs the exact same composite signal that the real NES does. From what I can tell, the Atari consoles and the Intellivision also generate color in the composite domain. The Odyssey2 and Colecovision seem to generate color in the RGB or YPrPb domain.

     

    [...]

    Good question! I'm not sure I fully understand the concept of "digital RGB to composite/s-video converter" that kevtris is talking about here. BTW, I have really enjoyed your article The Case for Composite, Great Hierophant.

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