cfillak

Yeah if they do decide to just implement the whole Sega CD in FPGA, it's highly unlikely that they would delay the release of the Analogue MD/SG/Mega NT if the Genesis core is complete, just to wait for a jailbreak only, piracy dependent feature. If they did plan on implementing Sega CD in FPGA, they would likely just overspec the Mega NT to leave enough headroom/bandwidth for the SCD and just ship it as a Genesis only. It might not be worth the extra cost, and if it causes it to be like 100 dollars more expensive than the Super NT, people would be very confused.

Some cool stuff: http://rgbsource.blogspot.com/2018/03/super-nt-firmware-v44-inadvertent.html It looks like Kevtris' NTT Data Pad fix inadvertently fixed compatibility with a converted Virtual Boy controller. Here's to hoping Kevtris ever musters up the time and interest in a Virtual Boy core. Virtual Boy is one of the gaps in my setup that I've tried to fill with emulation on my Wii, but the quality is poor.

https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Super-NT-Jailbreak/releases/tag/v6.5 I saw "Source Code" and nearly had a heart attack. It's just the firmware, md5sum and readmes packaged up into a zip lol.

I appreciate the NTT Data pad support in the latest official firmware! Hopefully our mysterious benefactor rolls it into the jailbreak firmware

I think people are also missing the point on the preservation angle. It's all well and good to have a system completely documented, emulated/simulated with near 100% accuracy and to have every ROM dumped. But as we've seen with the huge popularity of the SNES Classic, some care needs to be taken into creating a method to get people to easily PLAY THE GAMES. We all walk around with computers capable of decent SNES emulation every single day, but people are ready and willing to pay money for a seamless package that allows them to play their SNES games with controllers on an HDTV. I've played more SNES since I've gotten my Super NT than in the whole last 2-3 years. The Super NT is preserving people's WILLINGNESS and ABILITY to easily play SNES games.

http://thegww.com/q-a-the-polymega-with-bryan-bernal/ This interview seems to explain it a bit. They claim it won't be capable of dumping SNES enhancement chip games, but will use the actual SuperFX/SA-1 hardware on the cart, which seems... unlikely.

This thing has to be snake oil vaporware right? I mean they've got a nice website and the renders look cool and everything, but I have no idea what is supposed to be meant by "Hybrid Emulation". A Linux OS running an emulator plus an FPGA doing I/O from the carts/controllers? They also keep saying that they're not using any open source emulators or frontends. So we're supposed to believe that they wrote cycle-accurate emulators for all of the systems they say the system will support in-house? I could see why someone might want something like this if the emulation is good and they wanted to simplify their streaming setup or something, but I'll be shocked if this thing ever comes out or comes out without some fundamental compromise that makes it not worth it.

Just so you know, you also need the FDS RAM adapter, which looks like it can be had on ebay for ~30 bucks.

No, the jailbreak does not currently support loading of FDS images. I believe FDS expansion audio is fully implemented, but the disk loading/side swapping isn't implemented yet. I believe Kevin said he intended to add that when he had time, but he's obviously currently swamped with launching the Super NT and squashing all the bugs. I think Kevin said something about the FDS audio implementation not having a low pass filter was due to lack of FPGA resources, so I suppose the most "authentic" experience would be the FDS RAM adapter+FDSStick or real FDS unit.

I really wish TV manufacturers would include an option to translate all of their marketing speak in the menus to tell us what is actually going on, what scaling algorithm is being used etc. It's annoying that nearest neighbor scaling isn't an option on every tv, it should be basically free to implement.

There are translation patches for Japan exclusive games like Marvelous, which is a text heavy RPG that uses the SA-1 chip.

Maybe try turning cartridge audio off?

Ok so it looks like Kevtris answered 2 separate questions in that chat: 1. Is it possible to use expansion chips in a pass-through manner with other ROMs, to which he answered yes for DSP1-4, no for the other chips. 2. Does the Super NT FPGA have the specs required to add SuperFX or SA-1 implementations to the core, to which he answered: There is enough space, but the RAM is not fast enough . So I guess that kills the dream of a universally rom compatible Super NT . Either way the SNT is incredible and I've been enjoying it alot. I wonder why RAM is a bottleneck for SA-1? I was under the impression that it was basically a second SNES CPU, maybe it is clocked faster? Edit: I wonder if this has any bearing on the possibility of at least Super FX coming to the SD2SNES?

This is confusing. This sounds like somebody asking if using chip enhanced carts' co-processors as pass through for ROMs is possible. People have said that this would be possible with the DSP chips, but not possible with SA-1 or SuperFX because the ROM is located behind the chips. I don't know why this is being mixed up with the memory bandwidth of the Super NT.

All this CRT talk makes me grateful that my friend hooked me up with a NIB BVM20F1U for 60 bucks from the broadcaster he works at. It'll probably be the last CRT I own, unless I can miraculously find maybe a 24 inch multiformat monitor for a decent price. It'd be nice to play GameCube at native 480p for the first time ever. The only things I don't like about the monitor I got is that it doesn't do composite or s-video without an expensive expansion card, and that it's a little bit small for light gun games. As for Sega CD, the only action I've seen anywhere about an ODE solution (ie, just replacing the optical drive on the Sega CD unit, not replacing the whole unit) is from Cybdyn Systems, the company behind the PS-IO flashcart/ODE: http://www.cybdyn-systems.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=502 The company seems to have some interest in taking a crack at it, but only after they've fully gotten tooled up for mass production of PS-IO and their next project DC-IO for Dreamcast (Both of which I'm pretty excited about).

I'm not really hip to the SNES speedrunning scene, but I know alot of memory manipulation based glitches are very prevalent in the N64 scene. If there are similar well known glitches for SNES games it might be useful to get people familiar with them to put the Super NT through its paces with that kind of stuff to try to stomp out any subtle issues and discover edge cases.

Is there a definitive list anywhere of SNES games that have save batteries/SRAM?

I don't know about the viability of combo FPGA systems, until whatever mechanism that flashes a new core onto the FPGA gets faster, or the FPGAs get big/cheap enough where you could have 2 or more cores loaded simultaneously. That being said, here's my roadmap predictions/hopes and dreams in (sort of) chronological order: - Analogue MD : Genesis/Mega Drive clone with an expansion slot to plug into a real Sega CD unit and is compatible with 32X via analog video out only - Analogue GB : Portable FPGA system with a gameboy cart slot, marketed as a Gameboy/Gameboy Color clone (Hopefully with core store support for other portable consoles) - Analogue TG : TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine/SuperGrafx clone, has a HuCard/TurboChip slot, no expansion slot which people get very mad at, but CD image loading is added via "secret" jailbreak firmware. - Analogue NG : Neo Geo AES/MVS clone that plays Neo Geo carts/roms, gets Neo Geo CD image loading in jailbreak firmware A few year gap - Analogue PS : Kevin has mentioned that PS1 may be doable on current FPGA tech which is very exciting, but I am not sure how elegantly an optical drive solution would work as well as the issue of the BIOS. Sony seems pretty litigious so while I'd rather not have an optical drive, I think they'll have to provide some "legitimate" use for their system, even if CD image loading comes in a jailbreak. Another gap - Analogue releases 4K compatible versions of all of their previously released consoles, either retiring the old models or still selling them at a reduced cost. - Maybe tech has gotten to a point where Sega CD and/or 32X seem doable, and they take a crack at an ultimate Sega Genesis/CD/32X all-in-one (advertised as playing 32X carts through the slot, but loads CD images via jailbreak) - Maybe N64 is possible now

Imo scanlines help out alot more for NES and other 8-bit games than SNES/Genesis. NES graphics are often very sparse and fake scanlines help to break up the visual "sameness" on display, especially when scaled up to a high resolution on a large display. SNES and Genesis games had more detailed sprites, backgrounds and animations than their 8-bit counterparts, so scanlines aren't as necessary imo. I still usually play with them on though. Scanlines can also really help out the look of early 3D games.

I guess I must have been misinformed by this: https://www.destructoid.com/blogs/able+to+think/the-mess-that-is-hooking-up-the-sega-trio-482195.phtml I know the Genesis model 1 outputs mono audio only via the multi-out, but I don't know what happens with Sega CD audio. Why is that mixing port even there? Edit: Oh I didn't read the whole article I just saw the final cable setup. It describes the audio degradation/filtering that happens. Edit 2: JFC what an overengineered mess.

Sega Genesis units sold: 30.75 million Sega Genesis library: 897 games Sega CD units sold: 2.24 million Sega CD library: 209 games Sega 32X units sold: 665,000 Sega 32X library: 40 games (All of these statistics are from Wikipedia) My guess is that the Sega CD was successful enough and has a large enough library to justify Analogue addressing it with an additional hardware component in a future "Analogue MD/SG", ie including an expansion slot for a Sega CD unit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if you use a Genesis model 2 + SCD Model 2 combo, the stereo audio gets mixed automatically without any cables? Does the mixed stereo audio get sent out through the multi-out or do you still need to use the stereo RCA jacks on the SCD unit? What would be required to make the 32X work via an Analogue MD's HDMI seems to be unlikely to happen. Analogue's announcement of their external DAC said it would be compatible with the Super NT and "future Analogue consoles". It seems like they're suggesting that no future consoles will have a built-in DAC, any any CRT enthusiasts should just buy the external box, which honestly makes alot of business sense. So for 32X to work you'd need the external DAC, and then some kind of wiring adapter to go from Dsub-15 to the Genesis mini-DIN (or whatever it's called), which would plug into the AV in on the 32X. To use the Analogue MD's HDMI you'd then need a port to plug the 32X's AV out into on the Analogue MD that would do an analog to digital conversion. I highly doubt they will include this extra component for an add-on that sold so poorly and has such a small library. Luckily, if the Genesis FPGA core is programmed correctly, there's really nothing stopping the 32X add-on from working with analog video, as long as you have the external DAC. My one request is that the external DAC should have an HDMI pass-through. Then you could switch between analog and digital video with a toggle like on the NT Mini. Then you could have the Analogue MD's HDMI passed through the DAC for playing Genesis/SCD games, and switch to "DAC mode" when you want to play 32X, and have the DAC fed into the 32X, and the 32X fed into an OSSC or other scaler. It's a messy, kludge solution that honors the original experience! I think once an Analogue MD comes out and the Genesis core is polished and finalized, maybe sometime down the road in 5 years if/when Analogue rereleases 4K capable versions of all of their consoles, perhaps Kevtris will go back and try to address the whole Sega Sandwich entirely in FPGA.

2. I think the type of overclocking you're talking about is impossible. Overclocking an internal FPGA implementation of the SuperFX would probably be possible. People seem to be confused about translation patches. There is no clone console that applies translation patches "on-the-fly" to a cartridge. The Retron 5 dumps the cartridge to a ROM, applies the patch, then runs a software emulator to play the patched ROM. The Super NT reads data off the cartridge the same way a SNES does. It doesn't read the whole ROM at once so its not going to be able to patch the parts its reading on the fly. The NT Mini has the CopyNES feature, which allows you to dump your carts to ROM files on the SD card, which you can then apply translation patches to on your PC. You're not going to be able to play translations of SA-1 or other chip games until the SA-1 chip is implemented in the jailbreak core or on the SD2SNES. 3. I would hope a simple HDMI switch would work with the DAC, but that may be more complicated than I know. 4. I would definitely buy one of each of the adapters 5. Yeah I'm fully on board the Analogue/Kevtris train. The only thing I could see myself skipping is an Analogue Nt "Micro" redesigned plastic NES, because I already have an NT Mini. I would put money on the next project being a Genesis console. 6. I'm really glad they ditched aluminum actually. As much of a tank the NT Mini is, I always feel so nervous moving it around for some reason. It feels like an expensive luxury watch that I don't want to damage. The Super NT feels much more like something I could put in a bag and bring to a friend's place. I would still rather it have a built-in DAC, but I understand that as a business decision.

People, there's not going to be a Sega CD FPGA solution that in any way is the size of a "dongle". Look at the hardware that's in the Sega CD. It has its own 68K CPU. It's basically a second Genesis, it's not of a similar scope as the TG-CD/PCE-CD, which AFAIK provided a CD interface and a bit more RAM.

Dang that sucks. I'll definitely keep mine around for all the keypad controller based cores.

Well that's good to know. I just loaded up Mega Man X and it doesn't like the NTT Data pad either. I guess I'll have to give my regular SNES controllers a good cleaning and bring them back into rotation then.