Jump to content
IGNORED

FPGA Based Videogame System


kevtris

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
    • Original Cartridges
    • Hopes and Dreams
  4. 4. The Video Inteface Should be...


  • Please sign in to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

I forgot about the subsidized thing. I should probably see about getting my MiSTer to actually function properly because it currently doesn't. I still have not gotten around to getting a better SD card for it than the one that it came with. Not sure if that is the problem with it, but right now I hate the MiSTer since it's mostly unusable.  

How much does Analogue pay for the FPGAs used in their other systems? After 15~20 seconds of internet searching, I haven't seen any prices.

 

Likely through component vendors or the same partners who stuff the board. 

Off the top of my head, places like:

Digikey

Mouser

Arrow Electronics

Jameco

Newark

LCSC

...any number of Chinese vendors.

 

A lot of PCB manufacturers have component libraries too so you can get the board made and "stuffed" by the same people. I think LCSC used to be partnered with PCBWAY or JLCPCB. Both offer assembly.

 

I did a search for "Cyclone V" on Digikey and got well over a thousand results. The first one was actually a Cyclone IV, but I digress. :)

 

And don't forget Saturn has two CPUs.

 

Yeah. I think it's a given that Saturn would take a beefier FPGA and would be more complex than the PlayStation even if the PSX had better 3D performance.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, CZroe said:

Likely through component vendors or the same partners who stuff the board. 

Off the top of my head, places like:

Digikey

Mouser

Arrow Electronics

Jameco

Newark

LCSC

...any number of Chinese vendors.

 

A lot of PCB manufacturers have component libraries too so you can get the board made and "stuffed" by the same people. I think LCSC used to be partnered with PCBWAY or JLCPCB. Both offer assembly.

 

I did a search for "Cyclone V" on Digikey and got well over a thousand results. The first one was actually a Cyclone IV, but I digress. :)

 

 

Yeah, I checked Mouser earlier but there were a lot of them and I wasn't sure which one I was looking for. Also had a meeting to go to about 30 seconds later, so I didn't have a lot of time to check.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is Kevin still working on bug fixes on the Mega Sg at this point, or has it been moved on from?

I recall there being some issues with sound accuracy on Master System FM sound.

 

Also, I was just reminded that Sewer Sam and Squish 'em Sam on the Sg (ColecoVision core) do not play the audio samples at all.

It should sound like this 

 

 

but the samples don't play correctly. I realize it's more or less a "bonus" core included with the jailbreak firmware, but it would be nice to have these games work as they do on real hardware, and on the Coleco Phoenix FPGA console. I still remember playing Squish 'Em Sam on my ColecoVision back in the day and I was really impressed when hearing actual digitized voices..."Squish em!" "Money money money!" "Wow", and "whoops", from a home gaming console..all without the need for an add-on voice synthesis module, as previous console required.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's an official Sega Master System game (Desert Strike) that doesn't even play on the Mega Sg, but sadly it seems like bug corrections stopped shortly after launch. So despite Analogue's promise of "total accuracy" and full compatibility with the Genesis and Master System libraries, they're still not quite there. That said, I think we should not lose sight that 99.9% of their supported libraries do play accurately. 

 

For another issue, I don't think the bug with the last Super Nt patch with retaining your video settings has ever been rectified as well. You still have to go into the video settings upon bootup to get your saved settings to take effect, instead of it being automatic like it's supposed to be.

 

Hopefully someday when Kevtris gets a breather he'll tackle some of the remaining issues with these two. They're tantalizing close to perfection and I'm sure he has a list of what he wants to fix on both, but I imagine it's time to go back to them to implement his changes that he's lacking.

 

Following this scene though makes me feel safe to say he's a perfectionist, so I bet you he'll give them the once over at least one more time before they're truly done with firmware updates. 

Edited by Atariboy
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Atariboy said:

There's an official Sega Master System game (Desert Strike) that doesn't even play on the Mega Sg, but sadly it seems like bug corrections stopped shortly after launch. So despite Analogue's promise of "total accuracy" and full compatibility with the Genesis and Master System libraries, they're still not quite there. That said, I think we should not lose sight that 99.9% of their supported libraries do play accurately. 

 

For another issue, I don't think the bug with the last Super Nt patch with retaining your video settings has ever been rectified as well. You still have to go into the video settings upon bootup to get your saved settings to take effect, instead of it being automatic like it's supposed to be.

 

Hopefully someday when Kevtris gets a breather he'll tackle some of the remaining issues with these two. They're tantalizing close to perfection and I'm sure he has a list of what he wants to fix on both, but I imagine it's time to go back to them to implement his changes that he's lacking.

 

Following this scene though makes me feel safe to say he's a perfectionist, so I bet you he'll give them the once over at least one more time before they're truly done with firmware updates. 

Apparently Sonic CD is also broken unless you use the MegaSD. Shin Megami Tensei always seems to crash when you get to the name entry screen. At least, that's what it does on MegaSD. Not sure what happens with a real game and Mega-CD since my Mega-CD, as I have mentioned before, just does not work with my Mega Sg for whatever reason. Official Gleylancer reprint doesn't work on 7.7 after working fine on all previous firmware versions. Sailor Moon has some weird crap going on with the row of pixels at the very bottom left, but at least the game functions properly otherwise. There are probably more broken games that nobody's tried or reported, though.

 

Yes, Super Nt settings are still not functioning properly upon boot if you try to play games from the SD card slot. Carts and the 2 Turrican games are fine, though.

 

I also forgot that if you set 320 and 256 modes to the same value (for proper 4:3, for example), the screen visibly shifts to the left or right by a few pixels when a game changes resolutions. That shouldn't happen at all.

Edited by Steven Pendleton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/11/2020 at 11:39 AM, Slipard said:

Well, last report I had is, what, a month ago, and it stated there is still some lag.

There are a number of ways to have essentially zero introduced lag, so as a blanked statement it's not accurate. Unless by "some" you mean 1ms?

 

The scaler has had a mode for 1 or 2 years that only adds a handful of scanlines of lag (similar to Analogue zero lag mode). Or if you hookup to a CRT there is no scaler so no lag there.

For controllers there are various options to wire directly to bypass USB lag. Or if you insist on USB you can enable 1000Mhz polling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will have to verify  that. MiSTer crow is one of the most unreliable information wise, so I'll have to test by myself.

 

Anyway, I just received my tracking number for the Analogue DAC. Now waiting for the adapters...

Edited by Slipard
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Atariboy said:

There's an official Sega Master System game (Desert Strike) that doesn't even play on the Mega Sg, but sadly it seems like bug corrections stopped shortly after launch. So despite Analogue's promise of "total accuracy" and full compatibility with the Genesis and Master System libraries, they're still not quite there. That said, I think we should not lose sight that 99.9% of their supported libraries do play accurately. 

 

For another issue, I don't think the bug with the last Super Nt patch with retaining your video settings has ever been rectified as well. You still have to go into the video settings upon bootup to get your saved settings to take effect, instead of it being automatic like it's supposed to be.

 

Hopefully someday when Kevtris gets a breather he'll tackle some of the remaining issues with these two. They're tantalizing close to perfection and I'm sure he has a list of what he wants to fix on both, but I imagine it's time to go back to them to implement his changes that he's lacking.

 

Following this scene though makes me feel safe to say he's a perfectionist, so I bet you he'll give them the once over at least one more time before they're truly done with firmware updates. 

 

Ahh. I didn't know about that one. Well hopefully Analogue will realize how important it is to have these systems with "total accuracy" work with everything that the original hardware is capable of. I wish they would slow down with the releases and give ample time to get these systems as close to perfection as possible. 

 

Does anyone know if Kevtris' ColecoVision core for the Nt Mini works better than the one for the Mega Sg? Or does that also have trouble playing digitized audio samples?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, spoonman said:

Does anyone know if Kevtris' ColecoVision core for the Nt Mini works better than the one for the Mega Sg? Or does that also have trouble playing digitized audio samples?

I don't know the answer to this, but since you bring it up, I sure hope if there are improvements that it is implemented in the Nt Mini, ESPECIALLY now that they are making another run. I am also hoping that the work done on the pocket bears fruit on the Mini as well because the GB and GBC cores need some work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, XtraSmiley said:

Hey Kevtris, I'm sure you cannot talk about what exactly you are working on at the moment, but can you chime in and let us know you're OK and not sick or anything? I'm sure you're busy, but it's been awhile since you've posted!

He was alive this morning and seems to be fine and going on.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/14/2020 at 5:08 AM, spoonman said:

Does anyone know if Kevtris' ColecoVision core for the Nt Mini works better than the one for the Mega Sg? Or does that also have trouble playing digitized audio samples?

The Colecovision core on the MegaSG seems to be a bit more refined and updated than the NT Mini's. As to be expected since it was release a few years later. The MSG CV core does support Super Game Module games and more homebrew releases. The NT Mini CV core is still great though and I never had any problems with the retail releases I played.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/13/2020 at 1:12 PM, Steven Pendleton said:

Apparently Sonic CD is also broken unless you use the MegaSD. 

What’s up with Sonic CD? I know it used to crash on the bonus stages but that has been fixed. I’ve played quite a bit of it and not noticed any issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Steven Pendleton said:

https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Mega-Sg-Jailbreak/issues/63

 

Works fine on MegaSD for whatever reason.

Ah I was on 4.5 until recently. Final fight as well, maybe two of the best mega cd games! I do get frustrated at the lingering firmware issues. 
 

Not that it matters much to me as my Mega SG seems to be lost in the post after its repair anyway......
 

Glad I still have my VA0 jap MD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Enragedwhale said:

Ah I was on 4.5 until recently. Final fight as well, maybe two of the best mega cd games! I do get frustrated at the lingering firmware issues. 
 

Not that it matters much to me as my Mega SG seems to be lost in the post after its repair anyway......
 

Glad I still have my VA0 jap MD.

That's why. 4.7/7.7 broke some stuff. I used to use my Mega Sg for a week and then use my Japanese Mega Drive tower for a week. Then I got the SuperGrafx, which takes up a lot of space on my desk, so now I just use the Mega Sg unless I need to test something. I used to have 12 game systems on my desk. Then I found a SuperGrafx and now I only have 8.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Enragedwhale said:

Speaking of issues has anybody else experienced screen tearing in MS games with 4.7? Tends to be when the scrolling vertically. Not sure if it was there in older firmwares but definitely seen it deep duck trouble and Bart vs the space mutants.

https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Mega-Sg-Jailbreak/issues/64

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...