retro_fan
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Posts posted by retro_fan
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There are a bunch more he's worked on like the Gamate, but they're probably so obscure/terrible that they're little more than a novelty.
Well, some people really enjoy this obscure stuff (especially here), and the Nt mini/Z3K might actually be the only affordable way to test such hardware/games. There is also a matter of preservation, and besides it seems that kevtris simply loves reverse engineering various exotic systems (just check his video channel, everybody).
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Were people complaining about the bezel? I thought it was cool. I just played through Sonic Chaos for the first time this morning...never beat it as a kid, instantly beat it today. The crappy GG screen must have been to blame.
Yeah, the bezel was nice! There should be an option to turn it on/off -- the Z3K should be fully customizable. Actually I wanted to ask kevtris whether he could add a similar feature for other cores, for instance to simulate an old TV frame.
Also some kind of LCD screen emulation would be cool (optional, of course, something like "scanlines" for other consoles), but I'm not sure it's possible on FPGAs. Check out this video (watch it fullscreen, 720p):-
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Usually I implement the fullest version I can so all the games run. I support the extra height display on SMS and game gear (otherwise star trek games would be off center). I have been fighting with the SMS/GG differences for the last week and it was pretty rough. I find it insane that Sega made so many slightly incompatible versions of their own system. It's worse than NES clones. lol
Talking about NES clones... You made this awesome video Reverse Engineering Unlicensed NES Arcade Board, and I would love to see how you reverse engineer in a similar manner a Famicom/NES clone, but not one of these newer ones...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWZqw2xsgMw
Micro Genius clones were considered (especially older ones) to be pretty good imitations of the original console. They were even trying to add some improvements such as turbo buttons or wireless controllers. You definitely should check them out.
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Kevtris, I would like to ask how do you deal with different versions/revisions of the same console in your cores? Do you base your implementations on particular console models? For instance, it is known that SNES Jr. has some compatibility issues or that the sound generated by Twin Famicom is muffled, an option to switch between various consoles versions would be awesome but I guess it'd be really a lot of work to implement such a feature...
When it comes to the Sega Master System, what is interesting is that some later models have a special "extra height" display mode used by Codemasters games. You can read more about incompatibilities between different SMS versions here.
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It sure does. in NES mode, it is outputting an *exact* reproduction of the NES composite. This includes all artifacts, voltage levels, timing, etc. The dot crawl and everything should be absolutely identical to a real NES, including emphasis bits. The s-video mode is the same... if the NES could've outputted s-video. It uses the same voltage levels, timing, etc. the luma levels are the average of the toggling signal that the NES uses to create luma+chroma.
For other cores, I have a digital RGB to composite/s-video converter that runs directly on the FPGA. It is possible to send the NES RGB through this, and in fact I had it set up to do this at one point but it doesn't work now since I broke it somehow. I was going to eventually fix this. So it might come back at some point.
Do you think that the Zimba 3000 might be useful for serious hardware preservation? Maybe some tech museums would be interested in your projects (a grant $$$)? Ask around. I think that in the future you could also try to reproduce analog outputs of other consoles with a similar level of precision as you did with the NES. Is there a better way to convince people to FPGA consoles than connecting an original console and an FPGA one to the same CRT TV model and showing that the output looks identical?
Analogue should create such a comparison video for the Nt mini... This and a lag test... [...]* I have not seen that FF7 hack before. maybe it needs RAM and crashes/fails because of that?
The NES FF7 demake is one of the most interesting Chinese conversions. Read more about it at BootlegGames Wiki and while you're at it, you may also want to check Pokemon Yellow for the NES. I can see that people often use these two games to check the compatibility of clone consoles. I strongly suggest you look through other articles in BootlegGames Wiki, it's such a great resource! You might just find there candidates for new mappers.
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re: the bug tracker doodad, thanks for the info, I will look around. I might have something I can use.
[...]I think it's also crucial to create a guideline ("read this first") on how to report bugs affecting your projects properly. This is to avoid invalid and duplicate reports. For example, the guideline might instruct people to:
- report exactly what version of the game they're playing including region and revision info
- include hardware they're using (in the case of the Hi Def NES or Nt mini peripherals)
- provide TV model
- test the game on the original hardware (whenever possible)
- write what settings were used
- use only good ROM dumps for testing (maybe only No-Intro and in some instances goodset ROMs should be allowed when reporting?)
- format their SD cards in proper way; correct file system, allocation size, etc. (BTW, kevtris, what do you think about SD Card Formatter? Some SD card manufacturers strongly recommend it.)
- what SD card to use
- avoid situations when data on the SD card might get corrupted like forgetting to safely remove the SD card
- clean cartridges before reporting (cleaning tips included, some people don't know about the eraser method. One more question, does the Nt mini require cleaner carts than the original NES? I've heard that games which work on the NES, sometimes need cleaning before running them on the mini.
- read what the limitations of FPGAs (included in the guideline) are, so that they won't keep asking for something impossible
- etc.
There are actually bug trackers which force the user to fill certain text fields before clicking the "report" button. This increases validity ratio.
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[...]Yes a bug tracker is probably a good idea but I don't really have much clue how to set one up.
Hmm... There are a few free bug trackers, from a user point of view (I'm not a programmer) I think I like Bugzilla the most, but of course you should choose something that suits you best. Does anyone here know how to set a bug tracker up and could help kevtris?
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Kevtris, there is Hi Def NES, Nt mini, and now these additional cores. Maybe it would be a good idea to start using some kind of bug/feature tracking system for your projects? People discuss your work in many places such as various message boards or comments to your YT videos, it can get messy and it's easy to miss something important. I think some centralized bug/feature reporting system could benefit both you and us -- users:
- automatic notifications about bug/feature status change (via mail, for instance)
- you can categorize bugs/features to show people what's important/possible
- you could easily show people that a given bug has already been reported and you're working on it
- bug trackers have historical value for a project
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As many of you know from reading the announcements, I have been working on the Analogue nt mini. This is an FPGA based NES/Famicom system that takes cartridges.
It seemed like a waste to only have one system on it, so I have decided unofficially to release all of my existing FPGA videogame cores on the system for free via "Jailbroken" firmware. The Core Store is officially open for business!
[...]
Wow! Dude, you really need a Patreon account so that we can support your efforts FINANCIALLY. Some people may also want to donate hardware, I guess.
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A list of features that people would like to see implemented for the Analogue NT mini.
I think this list is also interesting in the context of the Zimba 3000. One can find there some really interesting ideas.
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watch the video from 4:55 to 6:40. He first shows CGA graphics on an LCD and compares them to EGA. EGA looks pretty good and CGA looks crap, it's basically shades of pink. Then he takes out another computer and shows CGA via composite output and it looks just as good as EGA did, with the same colors as EGA had on that other computer. So basically, CGA has to be played via component to be enjoyable. Using it with RGBI (which is a digital 1 bit per channel version of RGB explained in another part of the video) really makes it look crap because it's missing the smoothing that component provided due to limited signal bandwidth and crt smearing.
But this CGA stuff would probably be most beneficial for computer cores. Yeah, I would really like to see a DOS core in the future:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s73LzJVA5o
Cheater, I actually thought that you would comment on my ideas regarding the ethernet port on the Zimba 3000. Nobody's interested in multiplayer and achievement support?
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Yeah it was interesting reading about the CRT stuff! I wasn't really planning on any "crt emulation" since doing that on the FPGA can be... tough. [...]
This might have been so cool for the HDMI output! But you would keep improving the Z3K even after launch, right? Maybe then... In the meantime, check out this awesome Micro64 emulator CRT simulation menu, one can even tweak noise and glitches!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1qEP2vMe-I
[...]Ethernet: leave it in, even if it's just an unpopulated footprint. On the one hand, people are working on ethernet expansions for old consoles (there's ethernet for the famicom being worked on). Homebrew games will be able to connect to the internet! Fairly exciting. On the other hand, maybe you can then get roms from a network share (if someone is so inclined to write support for that). Finally, people who want to use this as a dev board will be able to do this.
[...]Maybe not only homebrew games, but commercial ones as well. See for yourself what the creator of Everdrives is experimenting with, Battle City on-line co-op!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6OeJYWAJ6c
Actually, in the past there was this thing called XBAND. An official modem enabling on-line multiplayer on the Sega Genesis and the SNES!! With cool menus (this music and art style!), messages, avatars, and other community stuff. When I first learned about it, I could not believe it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnnND_UTU6Y
Yup, SNES Doom deathmatch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P3JGxBNUyM
If it was possible then... Are you writing down ideas, kevtris?
So yeah, some kind of the internet connectivity would be USEFUL. Not to mention that the Z3K could also possess RetroAchievements support.
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FPGA Based Videogame System
in Classic Console Discussion
Posted · Edited by retro_fan
I have mentioned Patreon, but maybe there is a better platform? It seems that kevtris also accepts hardware donations, he could make a list what he wants the most. For instance, kevtris created a Gamate Core because someone was nice enough to send him the console. I wonder when kevtris will start accepting arcade boards...
BTW, Eicar, as a professional programmer, you might be interested in the earlier discussion in this thread regarding a bug-tracker choice for the Nt mini/Z3K and other projects. I have also proposed an idea to create a guideline for effective bug reporting.