FPGA Based Videogame System

[Flangle]

I'm certain we haven't said it enough, but we love you, Kev. I've gone from scoffing at the "overpriced" Analogue NT Mini to adoring it, precisely because you are either a master strategist or just a retro-philanthropist. For all us beneficiaries, I say, thank you.

[Asaki]

...right now I'm back to working 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week on paid stuff so it will be awhile. When I do get a break I don't really feel like touching anything else.

After 50-60 hours of the physical labor I have to do at work, I just want to collapse into a heap and never move again >_<

 

Nice. You can never have enough kevtris in your diet.

It sure beats the pants off of the usual clickbait, which lately has been "Ten (retro console here) games that are IMPOSSIBLE to beat! If you can beat any of these, you deserve a pat on the back!"

 

 

That's not spam, that's progress!

Well I meant it was a paid ad, and not something a real person actually posted.

[Schizophretard]

Don't overwork yourself. Your health is more important than a bunch of impatient fanboiz.

 

I have yet to see evidence that Kevtris has the same health concerns as us mere mortals. However, I have heard that even gods need to rest on the 7th day.

[Great Hierophant]

I know this is a Rom hack/patch, but Zelda the Legend of link loads and plays on the NT Mini, but won't save. It is MMC5/Mapper 5; PRG:64; CHR:128; Battery-backed SRAM; Submapper is set to 0; PRG RAM under battery = 32k. I suspect it has something to do with the Nes 2.0 submapper. Does anyone know if editing a submapper is a quick fix to get it to save?

 

Are you using the latest version of the patch? The author of the hack released a version on 01-10-17 that fixed saving issues on real hardware. The latest patch isn't compatible with previous saves, unfortunately.

[Sneakyturtleegg]

 

Are you using the latest version of the patch? The author of the hack released a version on 01-10-17 that fixed saving issues on real hardware. The latest patch isn't compatible with previous saves, unfortunately.

 

I was using the latest patch and changed the NES 2.0 header between 0 and 1. No luck.

[Great Hierophant]

I wonder if other MMC5 games that use 32KB for saving are also affected. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 is the only licensed game in English that qualifies.

[Sneakyturtleegg]

I wonder if other MMC5 games that use 32KB for saving are also affected. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 is the only licensed game in English that qualifies.

 

I play tested Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 on the NT Mini. The game loads and the music plays. You can select your campaign, the number of players and the province you want to rule. When it asks for the leader, you need to press left or right on the direction pad to indicate "Y" or "N". When you do this, the graphics become a scrambled mess and the game becomes unplayable. The music still plays/loops and controller input still works in the game, as you can occasionally see the cursor respond to your inputs. I could not get to the point of saving within the game. I was using the Rom in the Smokmonster NT Mini pack by Wolf_.

 

NES Mapper Reader indicates: Mapper 5/MMC5; Horizontal Mirroring; PRG: 256kb (16x16kb pages); CHR: 256kb (32x8kb pages); Battery Backed SRAM: Yes; No NES 2.0 Sub Mapper.

 

NES2Edit iNES Header Editor indicates: Mapper number 5; PRG ROM: 16; CHR ROM Banks: 32; Horizontal Mirroring; Battery Backed SRAM; No NES 2.0 Sub Mapper

Edited April 23, 2017 by Sneakyturtleegg

[Andromeda Stardust]

Perhaps there is a flaw in the MMC5 implementation? It is a very tricky chip to simulate in hardware. Even the available flash carts can only do MMC5 enough to get Castlevania III running. The other ROMs are unplayable, and the homebrew hacks are too large. ROM City Rampage is completely broken on my Everdrive.

[DJTet]

Just wanted to say thanks KevTris, for all your hard work. I really want to get an Analogue NT Mini basically for your cores, but I think I might as well wait for the Zimba 3000. I'll throw my support into the ring, whenever you can get the console made I know you will do it right. I will be on board day one as long as it's $500 or under. Do you think you would be able to do any 32x, Sega CD, or PC Engine/Turbo CD with FPGA? To mention what someone mentioned before in loving your cores for freeing handheld games from bad design/hard to play form factor, it would be awesome to be able to play perfect Sega CD or PC Engine CD roms on an FPGA system.

 

Thanks again with your hard work, I understand your hesitation at a patreon but I think a $1 a month or $5 a month option where you stated that nothing of value is guaranteed and you'd be surprised at the amount of people who would help. Good luck with everything at work and thanks again for your amazing service to the community.

[Sneakyturtleegg]

I wonder if other MMC5 games that use 32KB for saving are also affected. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 is the only licensed game in English that qualifies.

 

I believe Bandit Kings from China and Uncharted Waters are both U.S. releases with MMC5/Mapper 5. I also downloaded and tested Uncharted Waters on the NT Mini. It is also a MMC5/Mapper 5 game with battery backup SRAM. I had similar results as Romance of the Three Kingdoms II. The game would load and I could enter the information to start a game. The graphics would scramble when I would try to save the game. The music would continue/loop, but other input seemed unresponsive.

 

At the moment, with JB firmware 2.0, I suspect any of the MMC5/Mapper 5 games with battery backup SRAM will not work correctly on the NT Mini.

 

According to NESDEV, these are all of the MMC5/Mapper 5 NES/Famicom games:

 

Castlevania 3 - Working. The Japanese version and the translations also work - No battery backup SRAM.

**Just Breed - Untested - Has Battery backup SRAM

**Uncharted Waters - Not Working - Has battery backup SRAM

**Romance of the Three Kingdoms II - Not Working - Has battery backup SRAM

Laser Invasion - Loads, but inconclusive test with NES Zapper - No battery backup SRAM

**Metal Slader Glory - Untested - Has Battery Backup SRAM

Uchuu Keibitai SDF - Working - No battery backup SRAM

Shin 4 Nin Uchi Mahjong - Yakuman Tengoku - Seems to be working. I played a little bit of it, but it has a lot of Japanese text since it is a Mahjong game - No no battery backup SRAM.

**Bandit Kings of Ancient China - Untested - Has battery backup SRAM

**Zelda The Legend of Link (Hack) - Loads and is playable but will not save - Has battery backup SRAM

**These games are MMC5/Mapper 5 with battery backup SRAM and do not appear to be included in the Smokemonster NT Mini Rom pack by Wolf_.

[RevQuixo]

 

**These games are MMC5/Mapper 5 with battery backup SRAM and do not appear to be included in the Smokemonster NT Mini Rom pack by Wolf_.

 

 

They are all in the most recent pack i think, I found them all in my directories at least.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Thanks again with your hard work, I understand your hesitation at a patreon but I think a $1 a month or $5 a month option where you stated that nothing of value is guaranteed and you'd be surprised at the amount of people who would help. Good luck with everything at work and thanks again for your amazing service to the community.

QFT.

 

 

 

 

According to NESDEV, these are all of the MMC5/Mapper 5 NES/Famicom games:

 

Castlevania 3 - Working. The Japanese version and the translations also work - No battery backup SRAM.

FYI, Castlevania III Japanese version uses the VRC6 chip. The soundtrack on that game is amazing. Have played it on my PowerPak.

 

Also MMC5 Famicom carts, some of them use extra audio channels. Obviously NES MMC5 games do not.

[Boojakascha]

It's me again digging out old stuff concerning the support of the game "Strike Wolf" I actually found the needed Mapper! =)

It's on GitHub at https://github.com/TASVideos/BizHawk/blob/master/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Boards/Mapper036.cs

 

That might help.

 

And concerning light gun support for other cores than NES: You said you would love to use the Zapper as much code is already present. Personally I think that wouldn't work. But I did a Sega Light Phaser to NES adapter. So it behaves like a Zapper (aka your code can reach it as if it was a zapper) but it reads with better tech. and much less noise. I have the scheme and a "video of proof" on YouTube.

[RevQuixo]

Has anyone been able to get R.C. Grand Prix working on the Master System core? I've been testing everything in the US set (submitted a number of changes to Smokemonster) but I can't get this one to run at all with any bios or Fm setting.

 

Edit: Hmm...there is a version in the prototype folder that works...weird.

Edited April 23, 2017 by RevQuixo

[RevQuixo]

Okay,looks like the version in the set (or at least my version had a bad checksum..working fine now.

[Great Hierophant]

I believe Bandit Kings from China and Uncharted Waters are both U.S. releases with MMC5/Mapper 5. I also downloaded and tested Uncharted Waters on the NT Mini. It is also a MMC5/Mapper 5 game with battery backup SRAM. I had similar results as Romance of the Three Kingdoms II. The game would load and I could enter the information to start a game. The graphics would scramble when I would try to save the game. The music would continue/loop, but other input seemed unresponsive.

 

At the moment, with JB firmware 2.0, I suspect any of the MMC5/Mapper 5 games with battery backup SRAM will not work correctly on the NT Mini.

 

According to NESDEV, these are all of the MMC5/Mapper 5 NES/Famicom games:

 

Castlevania 3 - Working. The Japanese version and the translations also work - No battery backup SRAM.

 

**Just Breed - Untested - Has Battery backup SRAM

 

**Uncharted Waters - Not Working - Has battery backup SRAM

 

**Romance of the Three Kingdoms II - Not Working - Has battery backup SRAM

 

Laser Invasion - Loads, but inconclusive test with NES Zapper - No battery backup SRAM

 

**Metal Slader Glory - Untested - Has Battery Backup SRAM

 

Uchuu Keibitai SDF - Working - No battery backup SRAM

 

Shin 4 Nin Uchi Mahjong - Yakuman Tengoku - Seems to be working. I played a little bit of it, but it has a lot of Japanese text since it is a Mahjong game - No no battery backup SRAM.

 

**Bandit Kings of Ancient China - Untested - Has battery backup SRAM

 

**Zelda The Legend of Link (Hack) - Loads and is playable but will not save - Has battery backup SRAM

 

**These games are MMC5/Mapper 5 with battery backup SRAM and do not appear to be included in the Smokemonster NT Mini Rom pack by Wolf_.

Although it is extremely unlikely, I wonder if these save game problems would affect real MMC5 cartridge games. I have a few, but no NT Mini to test.

 

Perhaps there is a flaw in the MMC5 implementation? It is a very tricky chip to simulate in hardware. Even the available flash carts can only do MMC5 enough to get Castlevania III running. The other ROMs are unplayable, and the homebrew hacks are too large. ROM City Rampage is completely broken on my Everdrive.

Although it isn't perfect and does not support MMC5 expansion audio, Loopy's MMC5 PowerPak mapper can run many more games than just Castlevania III.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Great Hierophant

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Although it isn't perfect and does not support MMC5 expansion audio, Loopy's MMC5 PowerPak mapper can run many more games than just Castlevania III.

I have the loopy mappers installed over the original latest betas, which haven't been updated on Bunnyboy's site in many years. They also have savestate Powermappers but those don't interest me much, especially with the way PowerPak handles save data. +1 for Everdrive autosaving.

 

I can't get ROM City Rampage to run on anything (Powerpak or Everdrive) except emulators, but the existence of a hardware protos proves it works on real hardware. Japanese version of CVIII is better anyway if you've done the sound mod (Stock VRC6 and FM-7 are much better on Powerpak than Everdrive, but someone posted a fix over on Krikzz forums), and most of the other MMC5 games are huge strategy/RPG stuff that I can't get into anyway. The Zelda and Mario All-Stars hacks need 2Mbyte PRG unfortunately so they aren't going to work on any existing flash cart and I can't make myself to sit and play games on PC emulators...

[doug0909]

As I debate whether I am going to buy the Analogue NT Mini or wait for the Zimba 3000.... 2 Questions:

(1) Does the NT Mini (hacked) play my favorite arcade port of all time, Mario Bros. - Classic Series (French or Japanese version) - with the .nds file off of the Powerpak or through the SD card slot? When playing it, can the hardware settings remove the only flaw in the otherwise perfect port, the flickering when there are a lot of enemies on screen at once?

 

(2) When FPGA'ing (is that a word?) my favorite system, the Odyssey 2, how do keyboard inputs work?

 

Thanks!

Edited April 24, 2017 by doug0909

[Mattelot]

As I debate whether I am going to buy the Analogue NT Mini or wait for the Zimba 3000.... 2 Questions:

(1) Does the NT Mini (hacked) play my favorite arcade port of all time, Mario Bros. - Classic Series (French or Japanese version) - with the .nds file off of the Powerpak or through the SD card slot? When playing it, can the hardware settings remove the only flaw in the otherwise perfect port, the flickering when there are a lot of enemies on screen at once?

If you can show me where that hacked port is, I can certainly try it and find out. I play all ROMs via that SD card slot and if the flaw is in the ROM itself, it will exist when simulation occurs.

[gulps]

Does that mean we won't be getting the FDS, Atari 5200, Atari Lynx, Wonderswan, NeoGeo Pocket Color, or TurboGrafx-16? Or simply that those are the last two cores you've got mostly ironed out and the rest may still be a thing but with a more significant delay?

 

 

What are the status actually for the Famicom Disk System (FDS) at the nt mini? Is fully supported?

 

Or only some units/revision works..?

Specifications at Analogue shown that is supported. But I saw comments at this thread about some issues related.

[RevQuixo]

 

 

 

What are the status actually for the Famicom Disk System (FDS) at the nt mini? Is fully supported?

 

Or only some units/revision works..?

Specifications at Analogue shown that is supported. But I saw comments at this thread about some issues related.

 

 

As far as I know it was working with all of the units Kevtris tested, but not on some of the units that others have tried. I don't think we've narrowed down a definitive list of revisions that work or don't work and it seems that some of the corruption in graphics/gameplay only occurs after gaming for more than a few minutes. I think there is a post a few pages back that isolated some IRQ timing issues and that Kevtris was going to look into that avenue.

 

This is before he got busy though so it may take awhile to be fully explored.

[rezb1t]

As I debate whether I am going to buy the Analogue NT Mini or wait for the Zimba 3000.... 2 Questions:

(1) Does the NT Mini (hacked) play my favorite arcade port of all time, Mario Bros. - Classic Series (French or Japanese version) - with the .nds file off of the Powerpak or through the SD card slot? When playing it, can the hardware settings remove the only flaw in the otherwise perfect port, the flickering when there are a lot of enemies on screen at once?

 

(2) When FPGA'ing (is that a word?) my favorite system, the Odyssey 2, how do keyboard inputs work?

 

Thanks!

Yep sure does, I just tested out the Mario Bros - Classic Series french ROM in PAL mode. Works great. The JP version works fine too in NTSC mode. This is loading the roms off of an SD card with the v2.0 JB firmware on the NT Mini

 

The Odyssey 2 keyboard inputs work with a PS/2 to Famicom exp port adapter that kevtris made. I think he released the files to make your own, but none have been sold from what I can tell.

[Great Hierophant]

Yep sure does, I just tested out the Mario Bros - Classic Series french ROM in PAL mode. Works great. The JP version works fine too in NTSC mode. This is loading the roms off of an SD card with the v2.0 JB firmware on the NT Mini

Isn't the Japanese NTSC version Kaettekita Mario Bros for the Famicom Disk System? If so, you are loading off an FDS RAM Adapter, NES PowerPak or EverDrive N8, because the JB firmware doesn't emulate the FDS.

[rezb1t]

Isn't the Japanese NTSC version Kaettekita Mario Bros for the Famicom Disk System? If so, you are loading off an FDS RAM Adapter, NES PowerPak or EverDrive N8, because the JB firmware doesn't emulate the FDS.

Good point, glossed over that. For the JP version I'm using a famicom disk system ram adapter + fdsstick.

 

I haven't tried the Everdrive yet but it worked with most fds games I tried so I would assume it'd work

[gulps]

 

As far as I know it was working with all of the units Kevtris tested, but not on some of the units that others have tried. I don't think we've narrowed down a definitive list of revisions that work or don't work and it seems that some of the corruption in graphics/gameplay only occurs after gaming for more than a few minutes. I think there is a post a few pages back that isolated some IRQ timing issues and that Kevtris was going to look into that avenue.

 

This is before he got busy though so it may take awhile to be fully explored.

 

Thanks @RevQuixo. I Hope Kevtris has time to investigate it. And it has only minor bugs easy to fix.

 

 

Good point, glossed over that. For the JP version I'm using a famicom disk system ram adapter + fdsstick.

 

I haven't tried the Everdrive yet but it worked with most fds games I tried so I would assume it'd work

 

This means that the modified FDS for USB stick could work well!? Great!