FPGA Based Videogame System

[Beer Monkey]

Is anyone else's system going into shutdown (from idling, presumably) really fast?

 

Sometimes I'll pause a game and go into the kitchen and make a cup of tea, and I come back and it has shut down (and I'm between save opportunities and have lost progress).

 

Is it just me?

Edited February 15, 2018 by Beer Monkey

[leods]

I'll test it right now buy turning it on and not using it at all. Is the LED still on, or does it turn itself off?

[Beer Monkey]

I'll test it right now buy turning it on and not using it at all. Is the LED still on, or does it turn itself off?

 

The LED is on when I walk away. I'm just playing Donkey Kong (1994; Super Game Boy 2) and leave it on pause and go to make a cup of tea and come back and the system has shut off on its own. The LED shuts off when it does this.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Beer Monkey

[leods]

Did your display go to sleep? I am testig here, and the system is on for a while and no turn off.

[SubElement]

Can someone list some games that aren't saving for them? Just got my SD card today, formatted with fat32format and I am transferring the files now. Would love to test some out so we can get this fixed.

[leods]

From what I've seen it's not a game thing. It's an SD card thing. I had the same games save or not save depending on the SD card or formatting I used.

[mrpopsicleman]

Odd about Star Ocean, do you mean it does not work even with an SD2SNES?

No, it works fine on the SD2SNES, just not on an SD card via the jailbreak loader.

[Mattelot]

Of course he wrote the jailbreak, but he will disavow any knowledge of it which is why he used smokemonster / github as a release portal.

 

Well at the very least, you cannot brick it by sticking files on the SD card, however you might "brick" it in other ways, like giving it a bath, sticking in microwave, or striking it with lightning!

 

Until there is any confirmation, it's all assumption.

 

As far as bricking, I'll just remain open-minded in the logical sense. I can recall so many things that were flagged as "you cannot" or "it's not possible" ... and someone ended up finding a way. Even if it was possible, I would still feel more comfortable knowing Kevtris was the author. People who originated something tend to have the best understanding/control over the product.

[leods]

Will people ever stop stating things as a fact, when they don't know if it is a fact or not? Just stop. Say "I think". No one knows wether Kevtris is working on this or not. And even if he was, that's completely irrelevant to any of us.

 

He's working his ass off, other people are also investing time in this. Can we now just use the system, report the problems and help, instead of keep useless speculation going on?

 

It's clear Kevtris isn#t going to comment on this, or speak about this untill he does. Please respect that. Can people understand this? We've asked the guy, he didn't want to talk. Just leave it.

[atmn]

 

Until there is any confirmation, it's all assumption.

 

As far as bricking, I'll just remain open-minded in the logical sense. I can recall so many things that were flagged as "you cannot" or "it's not possible" ... and someone ended up finding a way. Even if it was possible, I would still feel more comfortable knowing Kevtris was the author. People who originated something tend to have the best understanding/control over the product.

 

There are only 3 different scenarios for this jb firmware.

 

1. Kevtris wrote it, handed over hosting to smokemonster and github since its far bigger in volume than the Nt mini.

2. Kevtris shared the code with someone that made a jb version.

3. Kevtris got hacked.

 

Someone made a custom firmware from scratch is out of the question.

 

 

Im certain that Kevtris implemented the FW update process from the Nt mini that is rock solid.

 

All above is... assumptions ofc.

[atmn]

Will people ever stop stating things as a fact, when they don't know if it is a fact or not? Just stop. Say "I think". No one knows wether Kevtris is working on this or not. And even if he was, that's completely irrelevant to any of us.

 

He's working his ass off, other people are also investing time in this. Can we now just use the system, report the problems and help, instead of keep useless speculation going on?

 

It's clear Kevtris isn#t going to comment on this, or speak about this untill he does. Please respect that. Can people understand this? We've asked the guy, he didn't want to talk. Just leave it.

 

The speculation is all about.. "do i dare test the jailbreak fw if someone evil made the jb"

 

I think they respect us due to our thoughts in this.

[Mattelot]

 

There are only 3 different scenarios for this jb firmware.

 

1. Kevtris wrote it, handed over hosting to smokemonster and github since its far bigger in volume than the Nt mini.

2. Kevtris shared the code with someone that made a jb version.

3. Kevtris got hacked.

 

Someone made a custom firmware from scratch is out of the question.

 

 

Im certain that Kevtris implemented the FW update process from the Nt mini that is rock solid.

 

All above is... assumptions ofc.

 

Or maybe we have someone like ClusterM who is just THAT good.

 

Either way, I'm glad we have it. I've not ordered mine yet (money going towards the wedding... she said "wedding should only cost a few thousand dollars tops" (lol...)) and once it's said/done, I'll order mine. I'm happy to have ROM access over anything else. Extra cores are just icing for me.

[Mattelot]

 

The speculation is all about.. "do i dare test the jailbreak fw if someone evil made the jb"

 

I think they respect us due to our thoughts in this.

 

I think it falls under the same mindset as authenticity. A repro cart works just like an authentic cart but some enthusiasts prefer the authentic item. My SNES mini plays SNES roms just fine... why buy this for roms? It's just all those small technical details that can make/break it for some people.

 

EDIT: I've had that same debate several times over input lag. I've had several people who were seasoned in the forum I was on claim it makes NO difference when many of us know better.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Mattelot

[Kismet]

Will people ever stop stating things as a fact, when they don't know if it is a fact or not? Just stop. Say "I think".

 

I think people here don't have the first clue how to program, otherwise they would realize how asinine the suggestion that kevtris released a broken sdcard jb firmware anonymously. There is no reason to do that. There is no conspiracy here guys.

 

The most obvious answer is "it doesn't matter, they just rushed it out untested", and whatever hacking or disassembly/assembly they did to do it didn't do enough. If it was simply unhiding a menu option to load from the SD card, it may very well have been incomplete, and the next firmware might optimize it out to prevent further leaks of it. If it was actually added by a skilled person, it still doesn't need to be kevtris because anyone who knows PIC32 can do it, and if you note, PIC32 chips are not unique to just the Super NT. The FPGA core however would require having the source code to the core, and that just won't be a thing unless someone else who was working on a FPGA SNES were to replace kevtris's core.

 

People clearly can't wrap their head around this, otherwise they would realize that asking about expansion chips or other cores is not going to get an answer because only kevtris knows how the FPGA is wired up. To port a MiSTer core or something like that to it would not be a trivial undertaking despite also being on a Cyclone V FPGA, because the SoC in it is not the same.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Kismet

[Retro Reloaded]

I think I'm going to keep using my SD2SNES until things get sorted out...

 

I wouldn't blame Kevtris if he took a much earned break from all things tech related for a decent chunk of time.

[DadsGlasses]

This has happened to me about 3 times now. My guess is under two minutes, and suddenly its down. Only solution has been to completely power down.

 

Controller doesnt work and reset button on console doesnt work. Black screen.

 

 

Is anyone else's system going into shutdown (from idling, presumably) really fast?

 

Sometimes I'll pause a game and go into the kitchen and make a cup of tea, and I come back and it has shut down (and I'm between save opportunities and have lost progress).

 

Is it just me?

[DadsGlasses]

 

I think people here don't have the first clue how to program.

 

You see right through me.

[Pixelboy]

This has happened to me about 3 times now. My guess is under two minutes, and suddenly its down. Only solution has been to completely power down.

 

Controller doesnt work and reset button on console doesnt work. Black screen.

Jailbroken or original? Just curious.

[DadsGlasses]

Jailbroken or original? Just curious.

Once with original firmware and twice with JB.

[bikerspade]

Upon first run, halfway through a first level of Super Mario World, my Samsung TV flashed to black for a second or two, and then back to the game. This usually occurs only when there's a changing resolution. I thought it was odd, but continued playing for a very long time, through various levels, other games (Mario Kart, Turrican DC, Mega Man X2) and the whole time this problem did not occur once more. Very odd how it only happened that once and (so far) never again. I wonder if others experienced that oddity. It was a one off event which didn't recur, and I hope doesn't recur again.

I experienced the same thing with my Sony Bravia TV. I've experienced this before with the NT Mini and the Hi-Def NES too (only happens once each time you turn on the system, within the first minute).

[ginoscope]

Anyone having issues with Ninja Warriors? The game freezes for me when I pause it at the start of level 1.

 

I am on the jailbreak firmware and I tried the game running from the SD and from the Super Everdrive and got the same results.

 

Other than that the system exceeded my expectations amazing work Kevtris.

[NE146]

Anyone having issues with Ninja Warriors? The game freezes for me when I pause it at the start of level 1.

 

I just started up my Super NT with DEFAULT firmware out of the box (did not update it) and do not have this problem with Ninja Warriors.. the game pauses fine.

 

I'll update the firmware later but just wanted to give it a try... tested out Yoshi's Island, Kirby Super Star, Mario RPG, Stunt Race FX, and all worked great

 

What I found cool was using a Super Gameboy.. just pop in a GB Everdrive and you have a whole other library of stuff (GB/GBC) to run in hi-def on this bad boy with the benefit of being able to get the SGB Enhanced games in all their glory (something you couldn't do on the NT Mini with the GB Cores). Pretty awesome sauce Gameboy Space Invaders was able to launch it's built in SNES mode fine and everything. Thanks Kev!

 

Edited February 15, 2018 by NE146

[Smoke Monster]

In case you missed it, that idea didn't seem to help from what I can tell:

 

https://www.resetera.com/posts/4557692/

and

https://www.resetera.com/posts/4559248/

 

Is there anyone that has reliably been able to save? (I can't try myself until the weekend, unfortunately)

 

Do you have a Super Nt Smoke Monster?

Ahh, I see. Thanks for the links. I have a Super NT ordered from batch two, but I won't see it until June when I make a trip home. Too risky to have sent it to Brazil, with the 100% import fees on tech.

[dj_convoy]

Your best bet is to patch the ROM and put it in the SD card or SD2SNES. I don't think the latter supports auto IPS patching, either.

 

Applying these patches need to be ROM based, so that rules out carts unless the unit acts like a dumper before running. Technically doable but would be a lot of work (I suppose). It would also prevent using the real expansion chips inside the cart (if any).

 

That said, I do agree IPS patching on the fly would be an awesome feature to have!

That's precisely what I use my Retron 5 for, so something like that (yes, I realize there's the jailbreak) would be a big push towards me trading up to the NT.

[Zorlac]

Weird question, but I watched an interview with Kevtris where he mentioned that there are still some analog signals coming off carts. What are these signals?? Was this just in reference to the Super Game Boy that produces its own sound?