FPGA Based Videogame System

[AtariNerd]

Ummm, hmm. Probably doesn't mean or portend what I think it might, but hmmm.

 

"plus:
Sega CD BIOS substitution works properly now on games like snatcher."

[CZroe]

Ummm, hmm. Probably doesn't mean or portend what I think it might, but hmmm.

 

"plus:

Sega CD BIOS substitution works properly now on games like snatcher."

It’s just talking about a feature that’s been in the jailbreak all along that didn’t work right for games like Snatcher.

 

Even without a Mega Sg you can boot Sega CD games from another region provided you load an alternate region’s BIOS and boot the CD from there. You can do that with a flash cart or the Mega Sg jailbreak. It boots the substitute BIOS like a cart, which boots instead of the BIOS built in to the Sega CD.

 

That means it’s really just part of the jailbreak’s flashcart functionality and not some step toward handling CD images from the SD card. Sorry.

Edited April 16, 2019 by CZroe

[derFunkenstein]

 

It's possible that v4.7 was only released to fix something that v4.6 introduced, but I was under the impression that 4.6 only installed on Ghostly machines--if there were SGB audio issues with v4.6 on regular devices then they were probably there in 4.5. I don't use a SGB so I think I'm gonna install the v6.6 jailbreak, but if SGB is something you're interested in I feel like v4.7 is gonna be your safest bet. Would love to find out one way or another though.

 

I just got my SGB today. Music plays fine once I remembered to enable cartridge audio. I have the 6.6 Jailbreak software (based on 4.5) installed.

[Razzie.P]

For the Super NT, what does "Launch System Timing" do, other than enable compatibility with Game Genie and SNES Powerpack? The reference manual just lists this --

 

• Launch System Timing – The Game Genie and SNES PowerPak require this option to be enabled when those devices are plugged into the Super Nt’s cartridge slot.

However, if all it does is help compatibility, seems like that's the sort of thing that would just be always enabled in the backend. So I'm wondering if there's any benefit to turning it off when not using the Powerpack, or are there any negatives to leaving it always checked?

[CZroe]

For the Super NT, what does "Launch System Timing" do, other than enable compatibility with Game Genie and SNES Powerpack? The reference manual just lists this --

 

• Launch System Timing – The Game Genie and SNES PowerPak require this option to be enabled when those devices are plugged into the Super Nt’s cartridge slot.

However, if all it does is help compatibility, seems like that's the sort of thing that would just be always enabled in the backend. So I'm wondering if there's any benefit to turning it off when not using the Powerpack, or are there any negatives to leaving it always checked?

IIRC, the Naki GameSaver Plus doesn’t like having it enabled. I have one so I can try it out but the thing was always flaky even on real consoles (late models too). Edited April 17, 2019 by CZroe

[spoonman]

HD Mode 7...A revelation in how SNES Mode 7 is displayed!

 

Has anyone seen this yet?

https://www.pcgamer.com/amp/this-snes-emulator-mod-makes-mode-7-graphics-hd-with-amazing-results

 

When a friend sent me the link I figured it was another blurry filter, then I saw Byuu's (Bsnes) Tweets...then In saw the video proof.. And WOW! It's a huge improvement over a stock SNES. Is there any way this could be added to the Super Nt??

 

This seems like one of the biggest advancements in SNES emulation in quite some time.

 

Without HD Mode 7

With HD Mode 7

 

Seeing it in motion is believing though!

https://youtu.be/6VrzJ6Y1kjQ

 

Samples of Mode 7 in Actraiser, Demon's Crest, Dragon Quest III, Final Fantasy VI, and more just look so much nicer.

 

If this at all possible on the Super Nt, it could become one of the biggest selling points of it IMO.

[Kaide]

That is impressive. I think implementing it on the SNT depends on when the scaling happens.

 

If it’s a post-step after the PPUs, then it gets a lot more complicated and expensive to implement. I suspect this is the case since the MSG has pretty much the same scaler with tweaks. It also saves some RAM if you only need to blit into a low res buffer and scale as part of outputting to HDMI.

 

If I had to guess, this is done in BSNES by having the PPUs draw into the full-size buffer. Mode 7 wouldn’t need to scale, while sprites and other modes would do scaling as part of the blitting process into that buffer.

[Pixelboy]

Samples of Mode 7 in Actraiser, Demon's Crest, Dragon Quest III, Final Fantasy VI, and more just look so much nicer.

 

If this at all possible on the Super Nt, it could become one of the biggest selling points of it IMO.

How the heck did they pull off that kind of smooth anti-aliasing? Very impressive!

[CZroe]

I want to see it with something like 2x SuperSai scaling applied to the source image before mode 7 effects.

[spoonman]

That is impressive. I think implementing it on the SNT depends on when the scaling happens.

If it’s a post-step after the PPUs, then it gets a lot more complicated and expensive to implement. I suspect this is the case since the MSG has pretty much the same scaler with tweaks. It also saves some RAM if you only need to blit into a low res buffer and scale as part of outputting to HDMI.

If I had to guess, this is done in BSNES by having the PPUs draw into the full-size buffer. Mode 7 wouldn’t need to scale, while sprites and other modes would do scaling as part of the blitting process into that buffer.

The fact that Byuu has implemented it into Bsnes should be a plus. IIR

I want to see it with something like 2x SuperSai scaling applied to the source image before mode 7 effects.

Most of those filters seem to alter the original graphics a bit too much for my liking. This seems to maintain the sharpness of the original while multiplying the source x4. Almost like a vectorized tilemap.

[RetrogamerX]

Thanks for the updated firmware 4.4 jailbreak.

[zetastrike]

Thanks for the updated firmware 4.4 jailbreak.

I really appreciate the save game confirmation when bringing up the menu. I noticed that it mentioned the GG core being set at zero delay by default now. Was that not the case before? I never felt any lag.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727AZ using Tapatalk

[CZroe]

Most of those filters seem to alter the original graphics a bit too much for my liking. This seems to maintain the sharpness of the original while multiplying the source x4. Almost like a vectorized tilemap.

Same here. I literally just want to see what it looks like. It’s not like we were preserving perfect pixels in every perspective with normal Mode 7 anyway.

 

I was always impressed in GBA SNES sports where the rotation effect somehow looked better despite the lower resolution. The rolling Chomp Rock in Yoshi’s Island, for example.

Edited April 17, 2019 by CZroe

[Kaide]

The fact that Byuu has implemented it into Bsnes should be a plus. IIR

 

I’m not really sure what point you are trying to get at exactly?

[Kismet]

Same here. I literally just want to see what it looks like. It’s not like we were preserving perfect pixels in every perspective with normal Mode 7 anyway.

 

I was always impressed in GBA SNES sports where the rotation effect somehow looked better despite the lower resolution. The rolling Chomp Rock in Yoshi’s Island, for example.

 

AFAIK, Emulators have had "high res mode 7" way back in the ZSNES DOS days. The issue would be ensuring this would work with all carts (particularly expansion chip games) and it would deviate from the goal of having an accurate FPGA re-implementation.

 

Though I'm also of the mind that I think if it were to possible to do a "Super PPU" , it would probably be in the same vein of "allow more sprites" features in the NES core of the mini NT.

[Toth]

How does passthough mode actually work? When I select passthrough mode and then back out of that menu the MegaSG just freezes and I cannot do anything. All I see is the Analogue logo in the middle of the display and I have to turn the power off at that point...the reset button won't work. It did this on 4.3 and 4.4. What is supposed to happen when you select passthrough mode? I just wanted to turn it on to try it out with my genesis controllers just mostly out of curiosity and the fact the system wouldn't need to spend time processing the controls even though the time (latency) is minimal.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Toth

[derFunkenstein]

I don't like the high-res mode 7 stuff. I can see that it would appeal to others, especially those who have no nostalgia for the 16-bit generation. It just looks wrong to me.

[nick3092]

If this at all possible on the Super Nt, it could become one of the biggest selling points of it IMO.

Kevtris said on Discord that this can't be done in hardware. It's basically an emulator only feature.

 

Specifically:

 

"not possible

 

that's an emulator trick that doesn't conduct well to hardware"

[vanfanel]

Have you guys noticed that, when you speak to the henchmen in Alex Kidd in Miracle Word, a strange high-pitch tone is present after the dialog text is printed?

That does not happen on my Master System, thats for sure. Did anybody else notice that?

[NE146]

Kevtris said on Discord that this can't be done in hardware. It's basically an emulator only feature.

 

Specifically:

 

"not possible

 

that's an emulator trick that doesn't conduct well to hardware"

 

 

Kinda like what Emu-DX did when emulating arcade Donkey Kong?

 

[Jagasian]

Id rather have my chunky, accurate pixels than that Donkey Kong visual nightmare.

[cybercylon]

My... that version of Donkey Kong (Emu-DX) is a visual monstrosity.

[Kismet]

 

 

Kinda like what Emu-DX did when emulating arcade Donkey Kong?

 

 

 

That is a crime, that is horribly ugly, I sure hope that's just a proof of concept.

 

That undoubtedly uses look up tables to replace graphics at load time. eg "draw $1234 at $X $Y" , a NES, SNES, SMS, MD and any other 8-bit or 16-bit console/arcade could probably do the same thing on a per-title basis, but really, this is madness, you're basically not drawing the machine's frame buffer and replacing it with a "HD" frame buffer. Of course in the N64 emu's (where this kind of thing has been going on for a while) what they do is straight up replace the textures sent to the host GPU and leave the emulated GPU alone. 8-bit/16-bit consoles don't do texture loads so this scheme requires instead tracking the PPU/VDP data.

 

Like in my mind this seems like something that someone would do as a proof-of-concept as as way to run old games on high resolution hardware to try to appeal to people who don't want to look at the blocky vintage graphics, but like, to quote my dad "why are you playing an old game?" (playing a pixelart game made in 2010.) If that's really what people think the appeal of pixelart is, then sorry no.

[NE146]

It wasn't a proof of concept at all... It was entirely playable! I might still have a copy on my hard drive somewhere... Mind you it came out around 1999 or so, i.e. twenty years ago (surprised you guys didn't already know about it). The point is though, it's entirely in the emulator realm of things. Ditto for stuff like the "enhanced" graphics in xbox live titles w/ Robotron, etc. etc.

 

Fwiw here's the Galaxian screen. Personally I liked it a lot. You can judge with 2019 eyes, but keep in mind the current consoles of the time were N64 & PSX Last I heard (again ~20 years ago) the author lost his work in a hard drive crash and that was pretty much the end of that.

 

[newtmonkey]

The problem with those is that they look horrible even judging from 1999 eyes (or even 1979/1981 eyes for that matter)!