FPGA Based Videogame System

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

Unfortunately the shorting issues don't appear to be the only problem with the Noir:

 

https://twitter.com/matthughson/status/1391600949542604812

[Retroblox]

It's very, very quiet on the Polymega twitter at the moment. No hype posts for over three months.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

11 minutes ago, Reaperman said:

 

about 10k orders

 

Crikey. I wonder how many of those are scalper orders.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

2 minutes ago, seastalker said:

There is already a pre-order for sale on Ebay for $650.

 

 

In one sense, I'd be happy if the next pre-order is many months from now just to save up for it better.  Is anyone else surprised that the dock only comes in black when they are selling a white Pocket?

Which one did people get (or attempt to get)- black or white?  Since the OG Gameboy was beige, one could go either way. I like the black thinking scratches and marks won't show and it looks like the MegaSG. The white could look like my DS though. 

The white one is very 'Apple', I'm sure it will be popular for that reason amongst others.

 

I went for the black one as I expect letterboxing for GBA will be less obvious against the black body. Unless there's a white letterboxing mode of course but I haven't seen anything mentioned.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

7 minutes ago, Reaperman said:

I figure later on there could be a bugfixed version--probably in a special edition with some kind of music partnership.

I'd buy a purple Warp edition Pocket in a heartbeat

 

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

5 minutes ago, Enragedwhale said:

Despite being on the fence I ordered two of everything except the audio cables (one for a mate to combine shipping, no scalping here) and it was $69 delivered to the U.K. for both.

 

Got it all ordered in 6 mins according to my confirmation email! 
 

I bet they reopen preorders before May 2021, they did with the Mini NT noir.

I ordered mine (Pocket, dock, case and screen protector) within three minute (Aug 03 08:03AM according to my confirmation email), had no issue with the shipping calculator to here in the UK. Shipping was $34.99, probably because I just ordered the one Pocket. I feel sorry for those that had issues that prevented them from getting their order in, I can't see why Analogue would limit this so much other than to create artificial scarcity.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

50 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

There was a recent interview with Taber and he said its very easy, but will void the warranty.    

Basically you just remove 4 screws from the back and the battery is right there. 

 

GamesBeat: How easy is it to replace the battery?

Taber: Technically, easy. Remove four screws on the back of the unit and the battery is directly below. It’s connected via a plug, so simply unplug it and a battery can be swapped out. We don’t suggest users do this themselves — it will void your warranty — but the battery is designed to be exchanged with ease.

Thanks, that's pretty reassuring and I'm sure the warranty will be long expired by the time the battery needs to be replaced.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

I'm just wondering how easy it will be to swap out the battery on the Pocket when it inevitably starts dying.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

1 hour ago, vanfanel said:

seeing how they release the next big thing while they abandon previous implementations with bugs is really infuriating.

This is what annoys me with the support for the original NT Mini. When Analogue announced on their Twitter that the Noir will have "all known game bugs fixed" I asked on the discord if the original NT Mini will get the bug fixes where kevtris replied that "I probably won't backport fixes due to various reasons". I understand that the Noir will have a completely new and rewritten NES core but if kev understands what was causing the bugs why can't the fixes be implemented in the original NT Mini NES core? Obviously his time is limited due to his work on the Noir and the Pocket, but it really does make a mockery of Analogue's spiel on "absolute accuracy... you’ll be experiencing the NES free of any compromises" on the NT Mini product page. Again I'm not blaming any of this on kev, but Analogue's position of allowing time for just a couple of months of support for the most recently released console before moving kev on to the next product is pretty infuriating for the customers when the previous consoles remain in a buggy state.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

3 hours ago, Toth said:

 Hasn't the Nt Mini been allowed for speedruns?  If the accuracy of that core is in question I doubt it will be allowed for speedrunning in the future nor would the Noir.

On Speedrun.com, whether or not it is allowed is usually on a game-by-game basis, based on the decision of the moderators for that particular game. Either way, the NT Mini would need to using the analog output to match the exact frame rate/game speed of a real NES.

 

I know it's accepted as original hardware for Super Mario Bros but I'm not really sure about any other game.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

3 minutes ago, cacophony said:

Latest quote from Kevtris after probing: "the intv core will fit on the ntm 1 but I don't have time to add it"

He confirmed no backporting of the bug fixes to the OG NT mini either.

 

I can't really blame kevtris as he can only work on one thing at a time and Analogue have him working on so many projects but considering Analogue were claiming "absolute accuracy" from the very start with the NT Mini (and is still in the website spiel), to know that these bugs will not be addressed in the same way that they will be with the Noir, especially as the Noir was advertised as "the same NT Mini you know and love", is really a damn shame. The core at its very basic - how accurately it runs the games - should be absolutely on par with both models, even if the original Mini doesn't get the updated extras like interpolation.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

3 hours ago, Sho said:

It says right above the highlighted "updated UI".  How did so many people miss this?  And new features should have been a given considering they have been on the same path of using a similar UI (with features) consistently since the Super NT's release, especially when they have mentioned before they want all future consoles to be consistent for DAC use.  Kevtris & Analogue have consistently provided a better and better user experience with each console they've released.  Why would they have taken 3-5 steps back with a simple re-release of the Nt Mini?

 

You seriously could have just made a good bet on the assumption that much more was coming and purchased a console.  If the console didn't end up being so much more, you could have still sold it back at value or at a slight (or decent) profit on eBay or locally.  Sorry to say, but this wasn't exactly a bad purchase either way if this was your first Nt Mini.  Now for people who already had an older Nt Mini and didn't want to take the gamble, I'm not sure what to say.   It seems like it's about 50/50 on people who didn't purchase, or bought with the anticipation of new features (or to collect).

The UI is such a minimal part of the console, after all no one buys it to just look at the menu screens. It's the extra features that the Noir will have over the original NT Mini that are a sore point, most of all interpolation which will allow the games to be played at their proper screen ratio without pixel shimmering. After all, they were advertising the Noir, at its core, as the same product ("one final run", "the same Nt mini you know and love"). And while I do understand that products can be updated over time, without advertising the improvements beforehand it leaves us original owners with a dilemma over whether it would be worth buying the new model, after all $500 is a lot of money to be paying up front, months in advance of a product even being ready to ship.

 

All I can say is I hope us original owners at the very least get the new "100% rewritten" NES core if it turns out to be more accurate.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

 

Obviously not, with all the brand new features the Noir is getting.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

2 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Too bad there is nothing that Analogue can do about it legally that I know of. People were doing the same for the Limited Run Games releases of Rebel Assault and Secret of Monkey Island before the actual preorders were live. I wonder if any of those fools who scalped on ebay sold and had to cancel because they were not able to get them from LRG before they sold out. I hope so.

eBay's policy on pre-sale items is that the seller must be able to fulfill the order and deliver the item within 30 days of sale. As the new NT Mini run doesn't ship until ~June (I think), anyone can report the listings. Whether eBay take action however, I don't know. I would hope that they would close the listings.

 

"Presale listings must clearly state that they are "presale" in the title and description, and guarantee delivery within 30 days of purchase."

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/presale-listings-policy?id=4252

 

I've noticed that most of the listings do not mention the release date and have the normal delivery estimates as if this was a readily available item. If the sellers weren't already scummy enough.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

4 hours ago, CZroe said:

This is, like, the third time I've posted this but the message keeps disappearing into the ether. Anyway, I confirmed that it still does this with 720p on a 1080p display. Gets worse as you slide the Scanline Width down to +0. Isn't limited to Hybrid Scanlines either (does it with Normal Scanlines). Would post a pic except that AtariAge suddenly no longer works with Tapatalk.

 

Been expecting Tapatalk to quit working. It's going to suck to jump through hoops to get stuff hosted elsewhere and copy-paste on a phone that unloads apps as soon as you multi-task away from it... and I do almost all my forums and social media from my phone.

Thanks for checking and confirming, I forgot to mention in my original post that I was using a 1080p display. I've gone through the settings on both my TV and A/V receiver to make sure that the TV is upscaling the 720p signal from the Sg properly but nothing I can do will correct it.

 

I don't have a 720p display to test this with unfortunately.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

1 hour ago, vanfanel said:

I suspect that you are hearing the so-called ladder effect of the MegaDrive/Genesis sound chip...

Would this still be the cause of the crackling even if I have the ladder effect depth set to 0 though? I'm just trying to work out if this is the correct behaviour of the (simulated) YM2612 chip or something that needs to be looked at further by kevtris.

 

Additionally I've found that if you select 2X Sine as the YM212 waveform you get a whole bunch of constant  crackling even when no other sound is playing.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

There also appears to be audio issues with the main Genesis core which I'm pretty sure weren't there with the previous firmware version. There seems to be some slight crackling on one or more of the synth channels:

 

 

If someone could test this and verify I will add it to the Github page.

 

Ok, so I rolled back my firmware to 4.3 and the crackling is still there, not sure how I didn't notice it before. It's especially obvious when listening to music track 12 in the Ghouls 'n Ghosts options menu.

 

So now I'm wondering this is something that is a wider issue with the Mega Sg, or just with my unit? If it's a wider issue, how does it compare to a real YM2612 chip in a genuine Genesis console?

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

So, you noticed the audio problems with RASTAN, too?

Can you post your findings with carts on the github issue page?

 

https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Mega-Sg-Jailbreak/issues

There also appears to be audio issues with the main Genesis core which I'm pretty sure weren't there with the previous firmware version. There seems to be some slight crackling on one or more of the synth channels:

 

Is it just me or is there audio crackling since the latest firmware update? Try listening during the intros to Streets of Rage 1 or 2, or on the Ghouls 'n Ghosts title screen, especially just before it fades to the demo. You may need to plug headphones into your TV/AV receiver to hear it properly.

If someone could test this and verify I will add it to the Github page.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

Is it just me or is there audio crackling since the latest firmware update? Try listening during the intros to Streets of Rage 1 or 2, or on the Ghouls 'n Ghosts title screen, especially just before it fades to the demo. You may need to plug headphones into your TV/AV receiver to hear it properly.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

I’ll check when I get home but I suspect it’s an artifact of non-integer scaling, which is why we need scanlines fixed for 5x and 1080p.

 

I have my Mega Sg set at 720p with 3x vertical scaling so I don't think the issue is non-integer scaling.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

Not sure if this has already been pointed out however there seems to be an issue with hybrid scanlines in 720p mode where the scanlines don't brighten uniformly.

 

Basically the screen seems to be segmented into three horizontal sections of scanlines. If you load up the 240p test suite and display a pure white background, as you increase the scanline depth slider on the Mega Sg, first the scanlines in the centre third of the screen will lighten, then the top third, and finally the bottom third. It's only really visible on white parts of the screen but it's still a bit of an annoyance, especially in games that occasionally have large white sections being displayed on screen.

 

It's kind of hard to see in the below photo due to the moire effect but the issue is definitely there:

 

 

The settings @720p were:

 

Hybrid scanlines: on

Hybrid scanline depth:40

Scanline sub-brightness: 255

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

I actually quite like the default settings of the Mega SG. No tuning required for me it sounds crystal clear and perhaps even better than a real Genesis. However I understand the need for the controls and changing it to sound like a specific Genesis. That said although Kevtris has done amazing work on the audio side, I do think the one missing thing which would upgrade the sound options would be presets... like you could select the specific model of Genesis or something... that would be pretty cool!

 

Agreed, presets would be great.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

 

I can confirm this behavior. At the default 720p setting, hybrid scanline depth settings above 80 have no effect. The same is true at default 1080p settings for hybrid scaline depth settings above 112.

 

 

They’re simply broken at 1080p. Don’t know what Kevtris is doing differently from MarshallH, but it’s clearly broken for anything other than 3x720p while Marshall’s work fine, agnostic of any output resolution you choose. Mega Sg’s hybrid scanlines are even broken on 2x windowed 720p!

 

Seems odd that Analogue would just throw up their hands and say something grossly over-simplified like “scanlines work better with 720p” rather than ask Kevtris to fix something clearly fixable... unless it isn’t.

 

Kevin?

 

Hybrid scanlines look like ass at 1080p. Having a very thin black line that goes through perfectly white areas looks ridiculous. I play at 720p with hybrid scanlines. I can confirm that there's no change once you get beyond a certain point at both resolutions, though.

 

 

 

They should be able to get much darker at 720p. Try dropping the height to 719 and then adjust the scanline intensity and they will go much darker. That suggests to me that they are broken even at 720p and this seems to be the case for both normal and hybrid scanlines.

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

 

On the subject of scanlines, i've noticed that in 720p mode at 3x screen height, using the normal non-hybrid scanlines the line darkness/intensity will reach its maximum somewhere on the depth slider between 60-80 and anything more than that doesn't seem to affect them at all.

 

It's only when you go in to the Width & Height settings and change the height to anything less than 720 that the scanlines will darken beyond this at higher depth settings, although by changing the height to a non-integer scale this obviously starts to mess up the scanline spacing a bit.

 

Sorry to keep bringing this up but can someone else please test this on their own Mega Sg to see if this appears to be an issue?

[FPGA Based Videogame System]

 

On the subject of scanlines, i've noticed that in 720p mode at 3x screen height, using the normal non-hybrid scanlines the line darkness/intensity will reach its maximum somewhere on the depth slider between 60-80 and anything more than that doesn't seem to affect them at all.

 

It's only when you go in to the Width & Height settings and change the height to anything less than 720 that the scanlines will darken beyond this at higher depth settings, although by changing the height to a non-integer scale this obviously starts to mess up the scanline spacing a bit.

 

This probably got lost in all the jailbreak excitement, but can anybody test the above on their system and confirm if this is an issue?