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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...


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Don't you guys think a small firmware update to the Super NT is long due? I mean, latest update doesn't even load settings on boot...

And MegaSG has some bugs, too, like people getting tearing on Master System games, broken OPL sound in Master System games too, broken voices in Colecovision games, horrid composite pixel blending simulation...

For unselective composite pixel blending simulation alone, an update would be greatly needed, now that the MegaSG isn't the only FPGA MegaDrive hardware.

 

For Analog, it's not good press to leave us with partially broken solutions when they advertise perfection.

And I am sure Kevtris loves his creations.

 

Why not perfect them and leave a good taste so we aquire new machines from them in the future?

Edited by vanfanel
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2 hours ago, vanfanel said:

Why not perfect them and leave a good taste so we aquire new machines from them in the future?

Because they already have your money and perfecting their products doesn’t make them any more money. Making new products does so that’s what they care about

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2 hours ago, vanfanel said:

Don't you guys think a small firmware update to the Super NT is long due? I mean, latest update doesn't even load settings on boot...

And MegaSG has some bugs, too, like people getting tearing on Master System games, broken OPL sound in Master System games too, broken voices in Colecovision games, horrid composite pixel blending simulation...

For unselective composite pixel blending simulation alone, an update would be greatly needed, now that the MegaSG isn't the only FPGA MegaDrive hardware.

 

For Analog, it's not good press to leave us with partially broken solutions when they advertise perfection.

And I am sure Kevtris loves his creations.

 

Why not perfect them and leave a good taste so we aquire new machines from them in the future?

I agree.  I'm very happy with my Analogue products (NT Mini, Super NT, Mega SG) but it is a shame that continued support, firmware updates, & bug fixes seem to not be of any concern to them. 

The Pocket is really not something that interests me too much but I have considered getting one just because it's going to be another great Kevtris project.  I'm on the fence but heavily leaning towards no due to Analogue's terrible customer service, overpriced shipping, & their tendency to forego supporting bug fixes after a the first few weeks in order to move onto a new product.  

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10 hours ago, mario64 said:

Because they already have your money and perfecting their products doesn’t make them any more money. Making new products does so that’s what they care about

This is what worries me. I am also on the fence with the Pocket: I am NOT being left with bugs again. I have learned the lesson. I hope I am wrong on this, but....

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I just remembered that the Nt Mini is supposed to ship soon. I think it was either this month or next month, but I forgot. Either way, maybe I should get an original controller and some cheap Famicom games and/or a Disk System + Disk System games next week so I can avoid 8BitDo (please be as good as the M30 2.4g! Probably won't be, though) and actually have some real games to feed it aside from just Fire Emblem.

 

Edit: ships in July. You'd think that would be on the product's actual page, but it's not. It's on the store page instead.

 

https://www.analogue.co/store/

 

And this was the most recent update on it I could find after 20~30 seconds of searching the internet.

 

 

Edited by Steven Pendleton
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On 6/15/2020 at 3:16 AM, Slipard said:

Knowing Kevtris and based on previous experiences, once Kevtris is done with the next hardware and before he begins work on another one, there will be updates.

That seems to the biggest issue. Analogue keeps moving onto something else, leaving little time for support on previously released systems. 

 

I was going to order the Analogue Pocket, but I am going to hold off because I'm not sure if I'd be able to get the cart adapters to go along with it. I bought the Mega Sg to play original games that I own: The Game Gear, Sega My Card, and SG-1000. I waited a year for the adapters, and then missed out on them because I didn't get the notification until after they had already sold out.

 

I think they should bring out new systems on a more relaxed schedule. Allowing for more features and bugs to be sorted before moving on. I think it's important if they wish to keep up with the competition (MiSTer, PolyMega, etc.).

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Taking things slower would be nice but I assume nobody here knows under how much financial pressure they are. Also nobody knows how much maybe Kevtris himself wants to push things forward. He is a very ambitious guy and I'm sure he tends to put too many things on his todo list like ambitious people tend to do - and that can be the reason some things get put on the backburner. Years are flying by like nothing for busy engineers. But I'm totally cool with that because it's also the reason such super ambitious projects are pulled into existance at all.

Nontheless new Nt Minis are coming, it's not like nothing's happening with the established Analogue products. So I actually think we should take things slower and don't start whining so quickly. The MegaSg is my favourite Mega Drive and the SuperNt is my favourite Super Nintendo, I think they are both spectacular as they are right now. Happy about updates whenever they appear but meanwhile I'm already having lots and lots of fun with them.

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34 minutes ago, Slipard said:

The Mega Sg adapters is a total fiasco, an unbelievable shame. I am still angry at Analogue for it.

And, well, yes, if I can't get the adapters (and the dock! isn't that limited too?), the Pocket is a pass for me.

With how quickly the MiSTer has taken off, I don't know if Analogue can afford any more fiasco's like that. I have been a very loyal customer, but since I came into a MiSTer (just by chance really), I'm rethinking a lot of things. When they were the only game in town you could grudgingly accept the poor customer server and the insulting shipping fees, but not so much anymore. I have a GBA core as is, and it's worked just fine for me so far. I don't really need to deal with all the headaches required to get a Pocket. I probably will, but if this doesn't go smoothly, it will prob be the last thing I buy from them.

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It is true that the MiSTer also made me reconsider many things.

 

To add insult to injury, I was promised twice by Analogue support to be sent the Nt cart protectors. Never received anything.

I sold my Nt, so it is fine since I will get a Nt Mini v2 and I feel lucky to get the best version of it.

 

But the Mega Sg adapters fiasco is still bugging me.

 

Now, Kevtris has stated that MiSTer RAM design don't allow accurate timings on some of the SNES expansion chips (Super FX, SA1...), so it is fine, I have my Super Nt.

 

But I am planning to buy a MiSTer and I wonder about going full MiSTer and become a MiSTer evangelist.

 

I love Kevtris' work, but sometimes, I feel like he is Cuphead, Tabber the Devil and that Kevtris doesn't know yet he lost all his lives without a continue.

Edited by Slipard
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7 hours ago, Slipard said:

It is true that the MiSTer also made me reconsider many things.

 

To add insult to injury, I was promised twice by Analogue support to be sent the Nt cart protectors. Never received anything.

I sold my Nt, so it is fine since I will get a Nt Mini v2 and I feel lucky to get the best version of it.

 

But the Mega Sg adapters fiasco is still bugging me.

 

Now, Kevtris has stated that MiSTer RAM design don't allow accurate timings on some of the SNES expansion chips (Super FX, SA1...), so it is fine, I have my Super Nt.

 

But I am planning to buy a MiSTer and I wonder about going full MiSTer and become a MiSTer evangelist.

 

I love Kevtris' work, but sometimes, I feel like he is Cuphead, Tabber the Devil and that Kevtris doesn't know yet he lost all his lives without a continue.

Ill say something about MiSTer and accuracy. I have an Ikegami multiformat monitor that is super picky about sync. Both my NES and SNES have this jitter problem when I use them. This is apparently also an issue through an OSSC as well, and the reason it's an issue on these late model Ikegamis is, unlike their BVM counterparts, they don't have VCR mode to account for the slight differences in sync. They make the dejitter board to fix this issue on upscalers, and I've also confirmed it works on my monitor. Interestingly though, both the Nt Mini and Super Nt through the DAC do the same thing, but my MiSTer does not. Point being, Kevs creations are on a different level as far as accuracy goes, good or bad. I have no idea why in this scenario his recreations act "properly" while a MiSTer does not, but they do and at least in my mind it's because he's the best guy in the biz and takes the extra time to make sure its a literal one for one recreation.

 

All that said, there is nothing Kev can do to cover for the fact that Analogue has been lacking for a long time. I heard about the issues they had with the original Nt's, and the fact that there are still original customers out there that haven't been made right by is embarrassing. It's just a damn shame because there isn't anyone out there that has the eye for design like they do, coupled with having the best engineer in the game. I do hope they read this though and realize that they're coming up short, and that they also are running out of good will and need to correct these things.

Edited by jamon1567
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14 hours ago, jamon1567 said:

Ill say something about MiSTer and accuracy. I have an Ikegami multiformat monitor that is super picky about sync. Both my NES and SNES have this jitter problem when I use them. This is apparently also an issue through an OSSC as well, and the reason it's an issue on these late model Ikegamis is, unlike their BVM counterparts, they don't have VCR mode to account for the slight differences in sync. They make the dejitter board to fix this issue on upscalers, and I've also confirmed it works on my monitor. Interestingly though, both the Nt Mini and Super Nt through the DAC do the same thing, but my MiSTer does not. Point being, Kevs creations are on a different level as far as accuracy goes, good or bad. I have no idea why in this scenario his recreations act "properly" while a MiSTer does not, but they do and at least in my mind it's because he's the best guy in the biz and takes the extra time to make sure its a literal one for one recreation.

 

The reason why it works on MiSTer is documented here:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/NES_MiSTer/blob/master/rtl/nes.v#L191

 

Quote

// The infamous NES jitter is important for accuracy, but wreks havok on modern devices and scalers,
// so what I do here is pause the whole system for one PPU clock and insert a "fake" ppu clock to
// replace the missing pixel. Thus the system runs accurately (ableit a few nanoseconds per frame slower)
// but all video devices stay happy.

 

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17 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

When is the pocket suppose to come out? That thing looks/sounds great!

If you like the fact that you probably won't get the dock because it's limited quantity will be gone in a second and the fact that once released, all the bugs you will discover won't be fixed, yeah, it is great.

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2 hours ago, Slipard said:

If you like the fact that you probably won't get the dock because it's limited quantity will be gone in a second and the fact that once released, all the bugs you will discover won't be fixed, yeah, it is great.

Kind of like the Switch, good things don't stay in stock I guess.

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15 hours ago, Slipard said:

If you like the fact that you probably won't get the dock because it's limited quantity will be gone in a second and the fact that once released, all the bugs you will discover won't be fixed, yeah, it is great.

Give it a rest. We get it, you're angry and salty and want everyone to know it, but your endless tantrums aren't helpful.

 

15 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

When is the pocket suppose to come out? That thing looks/sounds great!

 

All we know is what's on Analogue's site, and that just says 2020.

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42 minutes ago, Cosmic Owl said:

Give it a rest. We get it, you're angry and salty and want everyone to know it, but your endless tantrums aren't helpful.

People come here to get the truth. If they want the lies, they have Analogue's website.

 

Don't like me ? Ignore me. Your job, not mine.

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15 hours ago, Slipard said:

People come here to get the truth. If they want the lies, they have Analogue's website.

 

Don't like me ? Ignore me. Your job, not mine.

I don't think anyone is taking issue with speaking the truth, or at least your take on it. And I don't even necessarily disagree with anything you seem to have taken issue with.   But your delivery really does sound like a twelve year old throwing a tantrum.

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