FPGA Based Videogame System

[cacophony]

I had a quick question about the 5x height option. I am playing Metroid and if I choose the 5x height it seems like it's cutting off way too much of the top and bottom. I'm running it on a Dell monitor. I'm just not sure if I'm missing something I'm supposed to do when selecting 5x. Like it's cutting off the entire top and bottom row of blocks at the first screen after pressing start. Or maybe I just don't know how much I'm supposed to be seeing of the game?

 

5x height cuts of approximately the same amount that would have been cut off by the overscan area of a CRT. It's going to vary based on the CRT, but the comparisons I've seen with consumer TVs show that they're about equivalent: https://youtu.be/_y5XJugZRks?t=8m52s

Edited October 28, 2017 by cacophony

[Toth]

Thanks. That answers the question perfectly. I can't believe how much can potentially get cut off even on a real crt with an actual NES.

Edited October 28, 2017 by Toth

[DadsGlasses]

Was hoping that when I got home an NT Mini might be waiting for me. No luck. Tracking says Tuesday 10/31.

[Toth]

Got my Mini today as well; very nice piece of kit. One odd thing though, sometimes it shows the serial number as 1, other times it shows (what I'm assuming is correct) a number in the 5000s, is this cause for concern?

Mine is currently doing that as well with the jailbroken firmware.

[Sneakyturtleegg]

I had a quick question about the 5x height option. I am playing Metroid and if I choose the 5x height it seems like it's cutting off way too much of the top and bottom. I'm running it on a Dell monitor. I'm just not sure if I'm missing something I'm supposed to do when selecting 5x. Like it's cutting off the entire top and bottom row of blocks at the first screen after pressing start. Or maybe I just don't know how much I'm supposed to be seeing of the game?

 

I'm assuming you are playing on a widescreen. I use 5x height and 6x width. I make adjustments on a game by game basis. 720p is a perfect integer scale and doesn't require adjustments. You can also set height to 4x; width to 6x and set aspect ratio to 4:3 on your tv or monitor. All 3 of those settings don't have shimmering when the game scrolls. I can't take credit for figuring that out, as My Life in Gaming put that information out during their review of the NT Mini.

 

Edited October 29, 2017 by Sneakyturtleegg

[Riptide]

Mine is currently doing that as well with the jailbroken firmware.

How quick did you jailbreak? Mine did it on both stock and the jailbroken fw.

[Toth]

How quick did you jailbreak? Mine did it on both stock and the jailbroken fw.

The second day. It's so easy. Just stick the files on the memory card and turn the system on. Like, it doesn't even feel like you're jailbreaking it because it's so easy. Once it boots back up you have extra options and can play games off the SD card.

[Toth]

I'm assuming you are playing on a widescreen. I use 5x height and 6x width. I make adjustments on a game by game basis. 720p is a perfect integer scale and doesn't require adjustments. You can also set height to 4x; width to 6x and set aspect ratio to 4:3 on your tv or monitor. All 3 of those settings don't have shimmering when the game scrolls. I can't take credit for figuring that out, as My Life in Gaming put that information out during their review of the NT Mini.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMwBxL5ZlGw

It's a Dell 1080p monitor. Thanks for the tips. I'll try out the 4x x 6 and set my monitor to 4:3 and see how that looks later today.

[Toth]

How does saving in Star Tropics work? I have set the submapper to 1 like it says and I can play the game and hear the music and everything fine (I used nestopia because nintendulator doesn't seem to have anything called sub mapper where as nestopia can set the mapper or sub mapper.). However, when I want to exit the game it does not prompt me to "Save Game RAM" the way Dragon Warrior does which means the game is not actually saving (I am playing from the SD card). Is there a way to force the RAM save?

 

Edit - Nevermind. I had a bad ROM... The PRG-NVRAM was set to disabled for some reason in the ROM. I downloaded a different ROM that had this setting enabled and everything works fine.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Toth

[Andromeda Stardust]

It's a Dell 1080p monitor. Thanks for the tips. I'll try out the 4x x 6 and set my monitor to 4:3 and see how that looks later today.

6x horizontal (256x6) would output 1536 pixels, which is only 1152 wide on the monitor after scaling the picture to fit 4:3 aspect. This is equivalent to a width of 4.5 pixels onscreen without aspect scaling. so your pixels will have a 9:8 rectangle aspect with 4x vertical. You'll also have slight black bars on the top and bottom.

 

If you can force 4:3 mode on your display, the best option is to use 720p 3 vertical 5 horizontal pixels, then use your display aspect to force 4:3 mode. This will yield a perfect 4:3 screen size for your NES games, with absolutely no cropping or black bars, and a not-to-skinny, not-to-wide 5:4 pixel aspect.

 

If you insist on 1080p mode, you could go up to 7x horizontal without cropping for 1792 pixels wide. 4x3 conversion yields 1344 pixels wide, ideal 4:3 picture width of 1440. With 4x vertical scaling, this yields a total viewable area of 960x1344, resulting in a 5.25:4 pixel aspect. This is 1.31, very close to the 1.33:1 aspect you get with 4:3 scaling at 720p, which is ever so slightly wide looking. But you could bump the vertical scale to 5x and get a screen ratio of 5.25:5 or 21:20, which is almost square. If 5x vertical, 8x horizontal was an option, it would crop 8 pixels off each side and 12 pixels off the top and bottom. Forced 4:3 mode on your display would give you a nice, slightly overscanned picture with 6:5 or 1.2 pixel aspect, which ironically is identical to using 5x vertical, 6x horizontal and cropping the outermost 8 pixels. I could see this mode being somehow useful if you used an ancient 4:3 aspect display, otherwise it's redundant.

 

And 720p with 5x3 pixels would scale flawlessly to full screen on an old 1600x1200 display like my Samsung Syncmaster 213T. Yes I actually tested this monitor with my AVS, but was unable to get sound out of the HDMI->DVI cable.

[Toth]

Ok, one more kind of weird thing. Has anyone played paperboy? If I use a real Nintendo controller (I tried 5 different genuine controllers) with this game the Left/Right controls don't work properly. If I use the 8bitdo controller or a third party Joycard Sansui controller it works fine. I am totally stumped on this one. I wish I had a real cart to test but this is from an SD card.

 

Edit - Ok, it only happens if I have the system hooked up via RGB. Component or HDMI and there are no issues. I have only noticed this issue with this game so I am not going to worry about it. It's weird though.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Toth

[kevtris]

Ok, one more kind of weird thing. Has anyone played paperboy? If I use a real Nintendo controller (I tried 5 different genuine controllers) with this game the Left/Right controls don't work properly. If I use the 8bitdo controller or a third party Joycard Sansui controller it works fine. I am totally stumped on this one. I wish I had a real cart to test but this is from an SD card.

The fire/start buttons work fine though? If so that's really weird. Are you using controllers from a PAL system?

[Toth]

The fire/start buttons work fine though? If so that's really weird. Are you using controllers from a PAL system?

The controllers are just nes controllers I have obtained over the years. Here is a video of what it does (Sorry, it was easier to film in portrait). You can see my character is acting all crazy. That is just me holding left or right. I switch controllers part way through and you can see it is normal then. This only happens when hooked up via RGB and the system is set to RGB with composite sync. I couldn't get either of the other sync options (separate sync or sync on green) to work properly with my monitor. Other games work fine. I played Dragon Warrior, Spy Hunter, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Star Tropics and they all worked like normal. I also tried a couple different ROMS of Paperboy including one from Cylum's NES set which I have heard are good ROMS.

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Toth

[Wolf_]

The controllers are just nes controllers I have obtained over the years. Here is a video of what it does (Sorry, it was easier to film in portrait). You can see my character is acting all crazy. That is just me holding left or right. I switch controllers part way through and you can see it is normal then. This only happens when hooked up via RGB and the system is set to RGB with composite sync. I couldn't get either of the other sync options (separate sync or sync on green) to work properly with my monitor. Other games work fine. I played Dragon Warrior, Spy Hunter, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Star Tropics and they all worked like normal. I also tried a couple different ROMS of Paperboy including one from Cylum's NES set which I have heard are good ROMS.

 

 

But seriously, have you tried any other nes controllers with it to see if the problem is an issue with reading the nes controller or if it is just that specific controller that has the problem?

 

Also does the issue show up in any other games/cores?

[Toth]

Haha, I know... I realized I filmed it like that after I was done but it worked ok for this and was easier to hold my phone that way It happens with all of my NES controllers and no other games that I have tried which is why I am not too concerned. I just didn't know if it was some obvious known thing like with the way sync works or something with some games or if I had to do some sort of special thing like I did with Star Tropics and setting the sub mapper to 1.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Toth

[gulps]

For Wireless the best is hands down:

RetroUsb lagless rf nes controller - looks like ass, makes me want to throw this boomerang looking mofo out a window to see if it comes back to me but it is the fastest wireless controller period so I have to recommend it as it simply has no equal in performance. https://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=154

 

If you don't mind using bluetooth (and the tiny bit of latency that comes with it) then the Switch pro is my all time favorite wireless controller, the Dualshock 4 is also amazing and based on button layouts you might want to have both to switch between anyways. (To use these on the nt mini you just need to sync them to your 8bitdo Retro Receiver. Might have to update the firmware first. Their wireless nes controller is also great if you want a close to stock nes controller that is wireless but I'm more than happy with my switch pro/ds4, besides it comes with the nt so isn't really worth mentioning.)

 

Wired controllers are pretty simple. OG Nes controller is amazeballs and still holds up after all these years, plus it just feels right to play nes games with it.

 

 

I updated the 8bitdo NES receiver to pair the original Nintendo Switch Pro gamepad... Woah! Incredible gamepad, I think is far superior than the 8bitdo NES N30 gamepad.

 

 

When I stop playing and I power off the NT MINI the 8bitdo NES receiver always displays a full blue light and the Switch Pro gamepad displays the P1 led as paired all the time. Only goes to "sleep" mode if I disconnect the 8bitdo NES receiver... Are there any mode to switch off the 8bitdo NES receiver? They light brighter than the NT MINI led

 

 

The Jailbroken is easy to install. The smokemonster pack is awesome too. Only I found one issue with the Game Gear game "Castle of Illusion" that the screen looks weird (darkblue colors). Maybe is the rom.

 

 

I'm waiting for the new VGA-to-SCART diagram to test the analog TV signal at my CRT

[SubElement]

It arrived in Australia! Wooooo!

 

A few quick questions if y’all don’t mind.

 

1. When running the hacked firmware, is there no way to access settings while a rom is loaded?
2. If I have an FDS RAM Adapater plugged in, can I run a rom off the system and get it to use “cartridge” audio?

It’s almost 1am here so my brain is fried...

[atmn]

1. Yes, just press start egen you access the menu.

2. Yes, turn up cart audio. Default is set to 0.

 

Skickat från min ONEPLUS A3003 via Tapatalk

[SubElement]

1. Yes, just press start egen you access the menu.

2. Yes, turn up cart audio. Default is set to 0.

 

Skickat från min ONEPLUS A3003 via Tapatalk

 

 

Thank you! I’ll try both these tomorrow.

 

Whats a good natural setting for the cart audio?

[Tusecsy]

 

But seriously, have you tried any other nes controllers with it to see if the problem is an issue with reading the nes controller or if it is just that specific controller that has the problem?

 

Also does the issue show up in any other games/cores?

 

Who the fuck watches videos in landscape mode? I much prefer vertical video, way more convenient. Also can view, charge and dock at the same time...

Edited October 30, 2017 by Tusecsy

[atmn]

 

 

Thank you! I’ll try both these tomorrow.

 

Whats a good natural setting for the cart audio?

 

I belive I put it right in the middle, think FDS is a bit higher than carts with expansion sound so that is 2 steps lower.

 

At least thats my settings.

 

Will try the "paperboy-controller" issue myself and see if I can replicate the issue.

[Wolf_]

 

Who the fuck watches videos in landscape mode? I much prefer vertical video, way more convenient. Also can view, charge and dock at the same time...

Literally everyone. Any camera-man would murder you on sight you uncultured swine.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Wolf_

[Flojomojo]

Wow. How is this even open to debate? Video is landscape, period.

 

I got a $10 wireless charger that goes both ways just for the option to do that.

[retro_fan]

The fire/start buttons work fine though? If so that's really weird. Are you using controllers from a PAL system?

 

It looks like a really cool bug to investigate. BTW, have you already chosen a bug tracker for your projects?

[retro_fan]

[...] Only I found one issue with the Game Gear game "Castle of Illusion" that the screen looks weird (darkblue colors). Maybe is the rom.

 

Even small things are worth looking into -- the end result is always a better product.