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FPGA Based Videogame System

kevtris

By kevtris
in Classic Console Discussion

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Interest in an FPGA Videogame System  

682 members have voted

  1. 1. I would pay....

  2. 2. I Would Like Support for...

  3. 3. Games Should Run From...

    • SD Card / USB Memory Sticks
      584
    • Original Cartridges
      442
    • Hopes and Dreams
      65

  4. 4. The Video Inteface Should be...

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Great Hierophant Stargunner

Great Hierophant

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think there may be a bug (as I don't remember it on my model 1) if you go in to the Options menu on TMNT Hyperstone Heist if anybody else could check out to see if it's present on your Mega Sg. There seems to be some weird shaking going on with the screen/dithering effects. Get close to your tv screen.

 

That's the only place I've noticed it so far. It's not really a big deal cause how much time would you actually spend in the Options menu, but just wanted to report it.

 

That is no Mega Sg bug, those pixels shift back and forth on every frame. It is almost impossible to see with composite video, but with RGB its quite noticeable. Turn on the dedithering function and the pixels will show solid strips except around the edges of the text characters.

Edited by Great Hierophant
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CZroe Stargunner

CZroe

Posted
Posted (edited)

Im guessing its the NTSC-U version of Mikey mania on SCD people are reporting issues on?

 

Anyway can confirm it happens on the PAL version as well.

 

Loving the MSG so far!

Yeah. My report was NTSC-U. Switching to the Mega Sg PSU didn’t help. Works fine on my non-TMSS model 1 Genesis.

 

Thanks! Is yours Mega CD model 1 or 2?

Edited by CZroe
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spoonman Moonsweeper

spoonman

Posted
Posted

https://youtu.be/0ZapslSAZCY

This one?

It was edited days ago to tell people that it wasnt the Mega Sg... title and description.

Ms. Pac-Man is essentially a licensed, unlicensed game, made without following official programming guidelines. If polls the controller in a non-standard way that breaks with 6 button controllers. This is precisely why the Mega Sg has the option to force 3 button mode.

Yeah that's the one. I only watched it the one time before the edit.

 

I also never owned a 6 button Gen controller back in the 90's. I rarely bought new Genesis or Mega Drive games after 1992. I put more money into new NeoGeo and SNES carts after that. So none of my games needed one.

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Hydro Thunder River Patroller

Hydro Thunder

Posted
Posted

Got a new Mega Everdrive, along with the Analogue SG and the 8bitDo 2.4 controller.

Summary is that after some hassling with roms / the MegaEverdrive, I really love it, it's just what I hoped for.

 

Haven't had any connection issues with the 8bitDo M30, saw a bunch of complaints on Amazon about it. I haven't had it drop connection at all on the MegaSg, looks like most complaints are with it on original hardware? In any case, it's a fine, fine controller to me. I wouldn't go as far as to rank it above the Genesis 6 button controller for D-pad or button accuracy, but then, that's my favorite game controller of all time so it'd be nearly unthinkable for anyone to achieve that much less with a wireless controller. That said, it's really well weighted (not too heavy or light), balanced, the D-pad is very accurate and easy to perform Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat moves on, and the buttons feel responsive and clicky.

 

Did update my firmware as suggested, fortunately I had an extra SD card laying around (didn't realize I would need one? Maybe I missed the memo...glad I happened to have one).

Ultracore is nice looking but not my sort of game. Feels a little stiff compared to Contra or similar, but sure looks great.

For the MegaSG itself...Love the video options, how easy it is to access the menu, to restart. I can basically do everything I need from the couch with the wireless controller and the Everdrive, it's pretty awesome, gorgeous to look at, easy to navigate and customize. Now to try to budget for all the great homebrews out & coming out soon ... Xeno Crisis, Fix it Felix, etc. :) And to wait for the Retro-Bit controllers to arrive from Castlemania games. I believe they were saying 4/3 is the scheduled ship date. I will enjoy comparing and contrasting the wired Retro-Bit with the 8bitDo M30 and the original Sega Arcade pad.

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CZroe Stargunner

CZroe

Posted
Posted

I figure someone should say something about this:

Hybrid scanlines don’t seem to be working right. They should almost disappear in regions if he Same bright color, but they are always distinct even with boosted gamma.

 

I’m using a 5x integer scale on 1080p, just like I use with UltraHDMI. To compare, Mario’s hat in Super Mario 64 is red, and most of that red will appear solid with scanlines only appearing on the edges or in the darker/shaded areas on the side. That effect simply doesn’t happen with the Mega Sg at 1080p. Perhaps that’s why the manual suggests 720p but integer scaling is much preferable when using scanlines and that is always dictated by your display’s native resolution. It seems to me that whatever algorithm is supposed to handle hybrid scanlines simply isn’t working properly for 1080p.

 

The manual also says that the thickness of the scanlines is considered more correct with 3X (1/3rd) when there is nothing stopping them from blanking two lines per row of source pixels with 5x (2/5ths). 2/5ths is technically closer in every way, but it seems the algorithm only does 1/5th. That’s not the fault of 1080p vs 720p scanlines and now I see people pointing to the manual’s assertion that 720p is just “better” causing them to needlessly avoid integer scaling in 1080p. Sad!

 

Did update my firmware as suggested, fortunately I had an extra SD card laying around (didn't realize I would need one? Maybe I missed the memo...glad I happened to have one).

They said to use a blank one but I didn’t. Just threw the update on the same SD card I was using between my SD2SNES and Super Nt and it worked great. Didn’t lose anything that was already on the card despite their warnings.
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CZroe Stargunner

CZroe

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yeah. Hybrid scanlines are definitely broken and only work right with 3x 720p:

b37dfb628ac9c1896fbf1a17b8255e99.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190331/7df76658cd409022f3d722efd3291297.jpg

...not even with 2x 720p:

350624f44455edea66535a6617323292.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190331/16a8bb6978f79996f27e57b394e11a50.jpg

 

In the first pic where hybrid scanlines are working, notice that the scanlines completely disappear in the solid white part of the clouds and the layer just above the most distant mountains. That doesn’t happen in the second pic even though hybrid scanlines are still turned on.

 

1080p has the same issue, though the lines are much thinner:

248cd9f183d0a5db29f2a2faa640edf5.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190331/0520b3ae2d0411710f0635e75058213a.jpg

 

Turning the scanline depth down, the white areas do not appear solid until you get as low as 10, which is just before scanlines disappear across the entire image.

 

That’s broken.

 

Another observation: Scanlines in 1080p are only one line thick when they should optionally allow for two lines: each source pixel tripled in height and with a double-thick scanline to make up 5 lines total. It might be considered too dark until you properly implement hybrid scanlines.

 

On that note, even the 3x 720p hybrid scanlines leave something to be desired. The blue sky should also be solid, but UltraHDMI seems to behave like this with blues sometimes too and, since this is supposedly MarshallH’s algorithm, I kind of expected that. Still, for double-thick scanlines it might be good to merge any areas of solid color (same above and beneath) regardless of the brightness. There is no detail there for scanlines to aid in distinguishing so it just darkens the image without contributing to a higher perceived resolution.

 

It can’t be as simple as comparing the color above and below the line since the edges would not feather into scanlines, so a each row where a solid color gets copies to the scanline should blend/feather the color into the rest of the scanline at the edges. This will simulate how CRTs often bloom areas of the same color with scanlines being more distinct where there is contrasting detail. Those areas are typically edges, diagonals, curves, etc, which hides some of the aliasing, since your brain perceives extra detail behind the “screen” of scanlines.

 

First thing is first though: Let’s see hybrid scanlines working the way they work in 3x 720p but in all other resolutions. :)

Edited by CZroe
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CZroe Stargunner

CZroe

Posted
Posted

It would be nice to hear anything from Analogue about the DAC. Just open up the preorders and take my money, I'm hoping they don't have an order restriction because I want to order about 8 of them.

Agreed. Figured they’d already know if if was able to do 32X for sure so being cagey about it doesn’t bode well, but I still want them just for, well, analog output.
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F34R Dragonstomper

F34R

Posted
Posted

Here's some info...

 

 


I wanna note that the guys behind the Sg have basically said to me that the 32X is something they're not yet giving up on, and Analogue is working on a digital to analog converter that, among other things, could allow the 32X to work. Their main problem with the 32X, they say, is the way its analog connection back to the system works.

On the converter: "It will allow you to use 32x and of course give access to every single analog video and audio output. It's the end all be all and completes the Analogue ecosystem. Meaning you can play all your systems on CRTs, light gun games, analog only peripherals, etc"

If this'll work in action is another question, but basically - it might be possible to plug a 32X in down the line, but it'll require extra hardware and require you to spend more money. I mean, in the end... it's not like there's an enormous amount being missed out on with 32X, but still.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/df-retro-analogue-mega-sg-review-the-ultimate-genesis-mega-drive-clone.108743/post-19408950

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Newsdee Stargunner

Newsdee

Posted
Posted

The problem with using a 32X with the DAC is that it would only work with RGB or compoaite output, losing one of the main advantages of the Sg.

 

I suppose Analogue could come up with their own version of the 32X in HDMI... but is there a market for such a device? I can't see it costing less than 100 or 150 bucks.

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CZroe Stargunner

CZroe

Posted
Posted

I've been having a great time with my Mega Everdrive X7 playing Genesis, SMS and SG1000 games! Gamegear games do not work but I do not understand why some reviews still say SMS games do not work with an Everdrive.

 

Hoping for bug fixes as I'm sure Kevtris is on it!

A few reasons.

 

First is that they didn’t notice the sticker telling them to update immediately for full Master System compatibility.

 

Another is that they have an X3 or older Mega Everdrive that requires a work-around to start the game after you flash it (launch Ultracore then Run Cartridge)... and none knew the work-around.

 

Next is that they likely had a Sega CD connected. Some SMS games have trouble when the Sega CD is connected and powered on.

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derFunkenstein Stargunner

derFunkenstein

Posted
Posted

After tweaking my Mega Sg to my liking, I recorded a couple songs from its headphone output and from the headphone jack on my VA6 model 1 Genesis. I realize this is totally arbitrary, because my settings don't match yours and the Mega Sg is so configurable, but I just wanted to provide a point of comparison. In the video descriptions you'll find the settings I'm using with current firmware.

 

Here are the results:

 

https://youtu.be/Ffuek4cXE8A

 

https://youtu.be/MzkoUIykUW0

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