FPGA Based Videogame System

[SegaSnatcher]

34 minutes ago, jamon1567 said:

So moving past all the speculation and controversy, I'm not really sure what some of these improvements actually mean from the end user perspective. A few questions I have below if anyone can answer.

 

NES 2.0 ROM support. What will that allow that the previous Mini didn't?

 

300 mappers supported. How many were there for the original? Are these additional mappers new ones that are used in indy games and homebrew, or was there missing support for certain games in the original Mini?

 

FDS audio core and N163 audio core. Wasn't support for the FDS on the original Mini that you could actually plug one in and use the original hardware? If so, why would there have even been an audio core for the FDS? Does the enhanced audio core suggest that FDS will work fully through the jailbreak now? And just what is N163? Never heard of it....

 

What is controller pass-through and why would I want it?

 

What was optimized on the composite output?

Proper 2.0 support basically means you won't run into games with header issues.  The original no intro 1.0 sets were pretty much optimized for emulator use.  

FDS core: could be used with N8 Pro over its own FDS channel and possibly via a JB.  

Passthrough Mode: Basically makes the controller speak directly to the FPGA without any processing so in theory you get less latency, how much, don't know, also some peripherals might need pass-through mode to work.

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by SegaSnatcher

[Sho]

Can see my last post to see an answer to some of those questions lol

[jamon1567]

4 minutes ago, Sho said:

Can see my last post to see an answer to some of those questions lol

Yup, just got done reading, thanks!

[jamon1567]

6 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Passthrough Mode: Basically makes the controller speak directly to the FPGA without and processing so in theory you get less latency, how much, don't know, also some peripherals might need pass-through mode to work.

Is it something that is going to be enabled by default then? I guess I kinda just assumed this was how the original Mini worked if using OEM controllers, so wasn't sure what this would change.

[SegaSnatcher]

1 minute ago, jamon1567 said:

Is it something that is going to be enabled by default then? I guess I kinda just assumed this was how the original Mini worked if using OEM controllers, so wasn't sure what this would change.

No, because when you turn it on you lose access to the menu.  You have to hit reset twice or something on the system to disable it.

[jamon1567]

BTW, that part about Kev rewriting it because he got better is just a typical Kev thing to do lol. Also part of the reason I pre-ordered the Noir even though I have a Mini. It isn't surprising at all that he just couldn't help himself 

[Sho]

3 minutes ago, jamon1567 said:

BTW, that part about Kev rewriting it because he got better is just a typical Kev thing to do lol. Also part of the reason I pre-ordered the Noir even though I have a Mini. It isn't surprising at all that he just couldn't help himself 

Pretty much, lol.  I could quote at least 3 occasions with people completely flabbergasted on why Kev would go through so much work.  It really is just that simple as he says.  If Taber is a perfectionist by way of a Steve Jobs, Kevtris is kinda like a Woz in his own right.  He really is a guy who likes the challenge and continuously improving upon his previous work, even if it means completely starting from 0. ?

[Steven Pendleton]

14 hours ago, CZroe said:

Sounds like a mixed up AM/PM deal, which made it advance a day at noon since the game thought it was midnight. 

 

 

That said, the RTC is supposed to run off it's own crystal for keeping time when the game isn't turned on so it's interesting to see it doesn't keep time from there while running on the system.

 

 

I forgot something important in my reply to this, so I'll reply again.

 

When I did this test, I made sure to do it outside my house (my house in-game, not in real life), because the time of day is reflected by the game's color palette, and it was definitely using the daytime color palette when I started this test, so there is no way it could have been an AM/PM thing.

 

I'm going to try this again tomorrow when I don't have work. I'm going to repeat the exact experiment: 1045 with the day set to Monday even though it's going to be Wednesday in real life, and I'm going to go stand on exactly the same tile that I parked my little dude on in the game to do the test while I wait for 2236, even though standing on that exact tile won't change anything.

 

I think real scientific tests start to show accurate results once you have around 40,000 sets of test results or something like that, but I forget the exact number and it might actually be 4,000 or 400,000 instead. Obviously I'm not going to run this test 40,000 times since that would take just over 109.5 years in real time if I did 1 test per day, but it's still interesting enough to do maybe a few times. I might do it again on Thursday and Friday with the buffer mode set on fully buffered just to see what happens.

 

It would be best to actually constantly monitor the thing over the course of the 11 hours and 51 minutes instead of unplugging the Super Nt's HDMI cable and plugging in something else instead, but if I get the same results, I think I'll do that on Thursday instead of trying the fully buffered mode. I wonder if my PC monitor is susceptible to burn-in...

Edited July 7, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[kevtris]

the super gameboy 2 uses its own crystal and doesn't have any use for the 21MHz clock coming from the system, so the GB cart will get the proper 2^22MHz signal it expects.  I think the RTCs on the carts have their own 32KHz crystals anyways, and will always run on that regardless of what clock you're driving into the GB itself.   Thus, using the RTC to check the system clock accuracy won't produce meaningful results I wouldn't think.

 

 

[Steven Pendleton]

9 minutes ago, kevtris said:

the super gameboy 2 uses its own crystal and doesn't have any use for the 21MHz clock coming from the system, so the GB cart will get the proper 2^22MHz signal it expects.  I think the RTCs on the carts have their own 32KHz crystals anyways, and will always run on that regardless of what clock you're driving into the GB itself.   Thus, using the RTC to check the system clock accuracy won't produce meaningful results I wouldn't think.

 

 

Alright, thanks. I still find it very interesting that I got the results that I did. I'll try it again, but since this implementation of the Super Game Boy 2 in the SD2SNES (Pro) is still very early, it's entirely possible that it's something to do with that instead.

[jamon1567]

Question for Kev. I noticed while I was watching the video Analogue put out that outlined the new features on the Noir and noticed there was an option to enable dejitter. The current Nt Mini and the Super Nt through the DAC both have the jitter issue on my Ikegami HTM monitor(their multiformat line, but I also think this may be an issue on some of the multiformat JVC monitors as well), so this is a welcome feature. However, I was wondering if this fix was going to find it's way into the Super Nt firmware as well since it too suffers from this problem if using the DAC?

[Jurai]

it's pretty god damn bullshit that Analogue didn't mention any of the myriad of improvements to the system before preorders closed while original NT Mini owners were of the impression the only real change was it being black and having an improved cart slot and were content not to get the new one. JFC

[Jagasian]

Kevtris re-did the NES core because the NES is his first console core and clearly the console that Kevtris knows better than anybody else in all of existence.  He made his first NES core as a hobby.  He enjoys making it, enjoys completely knowing the console, and creating the best version of the NES ever... even better than the real NES, better than any NES made by Nintendo.

 

It would be a mistake to miss out on collecting this console.

[kevtris]

9 hours ago, jamon1567 said:

Question for Kev. I noticed while I was watching the video Analogue put out that outlined the new features on the Noir and noticed there was an option to enable dejitter. The current Nt Mini and the Super Nt through the DAC both have the jitter issue on my Ikegami HTM monitor(their multiformat line, but I also think this may be an issue on some of the multiformat JVC monitors as well), so this is a welcome feature. However, I was wondering if this fix was going to find it's way into the Super Nt firmware as well since it too suffers from this problem if using the DAC?

yeah I was going to add it in on the snt at some point

[jamon1567]

5 hours ago, kevtris said:

yeah I was going to add it in on the snt at some point

Awesome, thank you! That's a nice but easily overlooked feature since it affects so few people, so really happy to see it!

 

Edit: I'd also ask that if you ever do get a chance to revisit the current Nt Mini firmware to port back any of these new changes/fixes (of the ones that can be anyway), please consider adding this to your list. I was planning on retiring my current Nt Mini to my CRT room, so this would be a big bonus!

Edited July 9, 2020 by jamon1567

[atmn]

Kev: are the Hi-Def NES out of production. Are there gonna be some more?

[Enragedwhale]

It’s been a little while since I checked in on here. Is it still the case that neither Sonic CD or Final Fight CD are working on the MSG?

[Steven Pendleton]

2 hours ago, Enragedwhale said:

It’s been a little while since I checked in on here. Is it still the case that neither Sonic CD or Final Fight CD are working on the MSG?

Sonic CD works if you use the MegaSD. Not sure about Final Fight.

[lame gag]

3 hours ago, Enragedwhale said:

It’s been a little while since I checked in on here. Is it still the case that neither Sonic CD or Final Fight CD are working on the MSG?

I played both through to completion on the Mega SD and they worked. I can't confirm if they now work through real Mega CD hardware though.

Edited July 15, 2020 by lame gag

[jamon1567]

Kev, question about the Noir if you're able to answer. Will it act like the old Mini in that it stays in a kind of standby mode to power the controller port so you can start it with a controller, or will it function like the Super Nt and Mega Sg and require a physical power on? Hoping for the latter, but wanted to know nonetheless.

[kevtris]

On 7/15/2020 at 4:13 PM, jamon1567 said:

Kev, question about the Noir if you're able to answer. Will it act like the old Mini in that it stays in a kind of standby mode to power the controller port so you can start it with a controller, or will it function like the Super Nt and Mega Sg and require a physical power on? Hoping for the latter, but wanted to know nonetheless.

yes this one works the same way.

[newtmonkey]

I had nothing to do today, so I spent this morning tweaking the settings for the Super NT to finally get hybrid scanlines working properly at 720p with the latest official firmware (v4.9).  (Note that scanlines work with pretty much any settings at 1080p.)

 

Super NT 720p scanlines

 

Issue: Enabling scanlines in 720p causes several issues depending on other settings:

• Uneven scanline width
• Hybrid scanlines look no different from regular scanlines
• Scanlines are inserted incorrectly (for example, in the middle of what should normally be a single row of pixels)

 

There are individual options to resolve each of these, but only one combination I found that resolves them all at once:

1. Ensure "Height" is set to 720 exactly
2. Adjust the vertical position upward until hybrid scanlines switch on
3. Ensure that both vertical and horizontal interpolation are ON

 

This will unfortunately result in a softer image as even vertical interpolation must be turned on, but it's the only way to ensure that the scanline effect overlaps the screen properly.

Edited July 17, 2020 by newtmonkey

[newtmonkey]

I took another look at the settings and realized what seems to be wrong.  Under the default settings, the scanline effect does not line up correctly with the image underneath it (instead of black lines being inserted between "scanlines" they are inserted OVER the "scanlines").  This not only looks wrong, but prevents the hybrid scanlines from working correctly.  Moving the image several pixels upward fixes this issue and therefore makes the hybrid scanlines work as intended.

 

When set to 1080p everything works by default, so this is definitely an issue with only 720p.

[Steven Pendleton]

32 minutes ago, newtmonkey said:

I took another look at the settings and realized what seems to be wrong.  Under the default settings, the scanline effect does not line up correctly with the image underneath it (instead of black lines being inserted between "scanlines" they are inserted OVER the "scanlines").  This not only looks wrong, but prevents the hybrid scanlines from working correctly.  Moving the image several pixels upward fixes this issue and therefore makes the hybrid scanlines work as intended.

 

When set to 1080p everything works by default, so this is definitely an issue with only 720p.

Yeah, I gave up trying to use 720p with scanlines and I use 1080p with scanlines now. Still, I found a relatively nice 720p scanline setting yesterday or the day before. Not sure if I saved it, though...

 

If I did save it, I'll post it here when I get home unless I see it again and decide it looks horrible.

[Steven Pendleton]

Has there been any word about this

 

 

being fixed on the new Nt mini?