FPGA Based Videogame System

[SegaSnatcher]

 

 

no modding necessary. a simple 1/8" to rca cable is all you need to fix the model 1 va7.

 

Actually that still needs a Mega Amp hence why so many people are installing one in it. Even if you do the mod you talk about the VA7 is still being held back by its flawed audio circuitry.

[RetrogamerX]

Just the other day, I was seriously considering pulling the trigger on the black one, disappointed that the others weren't available and that there was no indication of future availability. Perfect timing to get an email from Analogue announcing preorder opening of the US and SFC models!

 

I'm terrible at making decisions, and I went back and forth, but I finally settled on the SFC design and placed my preorder.

 

Man, that's a lot of money for shipping, though.

 

 

Nice one. You'll be very happy.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Actually that still needs a Mega Amp hence why so many people are installing one in it. Even if you do the mod you talk about the VA7 is still being held back by its flawed audio circuitry.

 

an audio cable is not a mod.

[NE146]

an audio cable is not a mod.

 

Did you mean audio cord?

[SegaSnatcher]

an audio cable is not a mod.

That doesn't fix the VA7 I can assure you. Put in a Mega Amp and you will be blown away.

[Tanooki]

Wow the NTT compatibility issue rears it's head with that SA1 enabled Panic Bomber W game. Very interesting. I'm heavily regretting taking a year to get the game and it's so thin that I can't enjoy it like the PCE CD (and similar SFC) game behave with the added modes. There is such a thing as too bare bones. I hate to roll stuff but it would be the second time on Neo Geo as windjammers sucks too (I know, not popular to say.) Perhaps sell it, get the SFC game since no kit will run it like ever probably. It's good to know it works, even if you need to flip the switch so it does. I did end up using my Super NT again last night for a little while and had some fun on a couple games. This may seem strange, but I'm only enjoying old SFC games I once had 20 years ago, and my existing games, so the other use of the kit isn't doing it for me. Not sure what to do with that other than the ease of swapping titles.

 

I wonder if more updates to that firmware are coming for the games and little things still having issues will pop up soon.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I think the issue here is that certain games halt controller reads for a period of time or dont poll the controller immediately upon boot. The super nt begins automatic controller polling at some point so that it can still intercept hotkey combos in the event the game crashes (retrousb avs for instance cannot intercept the menu hotkey when a game crashes or does not poll the controller). So the game either uses an unorthodox polling routine, or the console's automatic polling interferes with the game somehow resulting in garbage input. My guess is that the ntt fix adjusts the key bits to match a standard controller. Regardless something in the snt's behavior causes the game to throw off a warning screen that normally does not occur on stock oem hardware.

[phoenixdownita]

Krikzz released a beta update for EDN8

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=7811

 

anyone with an Nt Mini cares to test and tell how does the FDS sound now?

It also includes direct VRC7 and Sunsoft 5 support from Necronomfive, how do those compare to kevtris ones?

Finally it claims full MMC5 support ... again is it worse/better/same as per Nt Mini JB FW?

 

NOTE: someone stated that AVS support is now much better as well.

[Deltax5]

I am waiting on a better version. Hopefully he can bring a fixed version with more stuff working. I hear disk games give a error now or something. I shouldn't be to worried cause i don't play those. I hope he does a fix soon. Thou more games run now cause of the updated mappers. For the ED n8

Edited May 12, 2018 by Deltax5

[GarrettCRW]

From the feedback, it sounds like the FDS audio is still broken, even though Krikzz is adamant that it's finally 100%.

[RetrogamerX]

Krikzz released a beta update for EDN8

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=7811

 

anyone with an Nt Mini cares to test and tell how does the FDS sound now?

It also includes direct VRC7 and Sunsoft 5 support from Necronomfive, how do those compare to kevtris ones?

Finally it claims full MMC5 support ... again is it worse/better/same as per Nt Mini JB FW?

 

NOTE: someone stated that AVS support is now much better as well.

 

Nice, I'll wait for full release to play on my Nt Mini

[F34R]

I was about to test it, but.... I'll wait too lol.

[Tanooki]

I added it but I'm not familiar enough to know if the FDS audio is still garbage or not. I knew it was stock bad so I'd click that alt-VRC option for that music and that seemed to clear that issue up.

[atmn]

To the FPGA gurus out there, would it be physically doable to load a NES core into a OSSC? Think its an Altera IV.

Or isnt it any memory on the hardware to make this possible?

 

Just a question..

[bikerspade]

I added it but I'm not familiar enough to know if the FDS audio is still garbage or not.

In the FDS version of Metroid, if you shoot a door, the door opening sound is absent on the latest version of the NT Mini with the last release build of the Everdrive N8 firmware. Does this symptom still occur with this beta N8 firmware?

[Great Hierophant]

In the FDS version of Metroid, if you shoot a door, the door opening sound is absent on the latest version of the NT Mini with the last release build of the Everdrive N8 firmware. Does this symptom still occur with this beta N8 firmware?

 

It depends on which sound engine you are using. If you are using the Nt Mini's built-in FDS audio, the sound won't play regardless of how you run the game. If you use the ED N8's FDS audio, it will make sound but that sound may not be right.

[bikerspade]

 

It depends on which sound engine you are using. If you are using the Nt Mini's built-in FDS audio, the sound won't play regardless of how you run the game. If you use the ED N8's FDS audio, it will make sound but that sound may not be right.

I dunno, I remember having the same issue with the latest firmware version on the HiDef NES with the Everdrive N8 and FDS audio with Metroid doors. The moment I reverted back to an older HiDef NES firmware, it made the sound again (I can't say it was 100% correct but it was better than nothing).

[Great Hierophant]

I dunno, I remember having the same issue with the latest firmware version on the HiDef NES with the Everdrive N8 and FDS audio with Metroid doors. The moment I reverted back to an older HiDef NES firmware, it made the sound again (I can't say it was 100% correct but it was better than nothing).

 

Given that kevtris is responsible for the firmware in both products this would be expected. Unfortunately I do not believe there is a publicly-available firmware revision for the Nt Mini that plays the Metroid FDS door sound, the firmware is too "new".

[bikerspade]

Everdrive N8 v20-beta2 just released:

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=7811.0

[Tanooki]

Other than the VRC6 sounding correctly now in Castlevania III I couldn't tell the difference for what I tried at least. VRC other still seemed to have some buzz going on. Claimed to do something with MMC5 audio, not sure what, dead as a stump on CV3 US unless that one doesn't do special extra audio. I've got a kevtris modded top loader so it has a sound meter showing each channel output and it was flat.

[phoenixdownita]

No US/EU MMC5 game has sound because the NES does not have cart audio wired (CV3 US used MMC5 for the advanced mapping capabilities but the sound is still via std NES audio chip check last post here https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?t=513).

Only Jap games using MMC5 may use the extra sound channels, full support for all the games using MMC5 is new to v20, it used to be just a selected few (like CV3 US among those).

Also integrated audiocore for Sunsoft5B, VRC6, VRC7 (used to be supported via third party mappers), new bunch of mappers support (likely each only supports a few games) and new FDS swap disk pause (via select button) to enjoy the animations/music that some games had at swap time, the FDS audio itself seems still to be not too good albeit a few claimed fixes (I have not had the time to try it out so I have no clue if it is any better than the old).

It seems that savestate have been extended to all mappers (obviously some games are just not gonna work with them).

 

Downside is the removal of the boost audio feature and now some mapper that were tuned to the Famicom AV audio balancing sound too soft on original Famicom and likely NES with audio mod (which is required due to my opening statement) ... unclear if he can put it back [some people advocate a distinct release of the OS for each Famicom type if there's no space in the current OS to handle the extra code to put back an audio volume level feature, we will see].

[newtmonkey]

Krikzz released a beta update for EDN8

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=7811

 

anyone with an Nt Mini cares to test and tell how does the FDS sound now?

It also includes direct VRC7 and Sunsoft 5 support from Necronomfive, how do those compare to kevtris ones?

Finally it claims full MMC5 support ... again is it worse/better/same as per Nt Mini JB FW?

 

NOTE: someone stated that AVS support is now much better as well.

Thank you for mentioning this! I downloaded the new beta firmware and my AVS video problem is all fixed. I previously had no choice but to use AVS firmware 1.10, or I would get black lines all over the screen. Finally I can use interpolation and palettes.

 

I have given up on using fds games on the Everdrive. I have an actual FDS hooked up to an AV Famicom, and the music is still not right on the Everdrive. Luckily, the FDSstick product is cheap as hell and works wonderfully.

[simbin]

Hey all, just heard about the N8, and since this thread is great resource for discussing all things FPGA related...

 

Quick question for you gurus...

Do you still need FDSStick, or now N8, to correctly play FDS roms on Nt mini, or has there been developments with loading from the Nt mini's internal SD?

Edited May 16, 2018 by simbin

[Great Hierophant]

Hey all, just heard about the N8, and since this thread is great resource for discussing all things FPGA related...

 

Quick question for you gurus...

Do you still need FDSStick, or now N8, to correctly play FDS roms on Nt mini, or has there been developments with loading from the Nt mini's internal SD?

 

You cannot play FDS from the Nt Mini's internal SD, you need a real FDS RAM Adapter + Disk Drive or drive emulator like the FDSStick, a NES PowerPak or an EverDrive N8.

[phoenixdownita]

 

You cannot play FDS from the Nt Mini's internal SD, you need a real FDS RAM Adapter + Disk Drive or drive emulator like the FDSStick, a NES PowerPak or an EverDrive N8.

And to add to it some versions of the FDS RAM adapter do not play nice with the Nt Mini .... not sure how to distinguish which ones or if it is even a big enough percentage or just a few (probably the latter), wrt N8 the FDS sound is still off-key (maybe better than it was but still not fixed right).