Jump to content
IGNORED

MiSTer FPGA


Newsdee

Recommended Posts

17 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

It is very much self-inflicted, as I'd much rather use the proper controllers with the appropriate games/systems and I also have USB versions of many of them as it is.

You can try using a regular USB hub (i.e. not the hub board, but the same hub you'd use with a PC/Pi/etc.) and connect many of those controllers.

I'm frequently changing controllers between USB and native depending on the particular game I'm using. Remapping controls is also great (e.g. for Amiga/ST games, mapping Up to a button for jump, etc).

 

4 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Are there any plans for 32X? I don't know if the MiSTer would be capable of that (which is partially why I'm asking), but I'm interested in seeing it if possible.

Take this with a big grain of salt; but somebody is doing an experiment to attach a dual SH-2 to MiSTer as custom add-on, which would help for 32X and possibly a Saturn core. 

 

SH2-hat.thumb.jpg.d2cc9158ab6c8ea6af20654f106a1bc6.jpg

 

We can't know at this stage if that idea will bear fruit, though.

Ultimately it depends on having a good developer motivated to do it. Currently the focus has been in other areas (e.g. X68000, PC Engine CD).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, seastalker said:

Do you feel the core is already on par with the real hardware like the MegaSD is for Sega CD?

Not yet but it's likely it will get there soon. People have been using MDFourier (http://junkerhq.net/MDFourier/mdfourier.html) to analyze and improve the sound on Genesis and SNES cores, and now they are starting to look at the latest PC Engine core.  It just had a massive rewrite of the CPU and VDC code which makes it much more accurate, so now it just needs to iron out the last pieces.

 

As for my own use, I run my modded PC Engines with an XRGB-Mini to upscale to HDMI and a Turbo Everdrive.

I don't have the Terraonion expansion so I can't say how the menu navigation compares to MiSTer, but other than that using a MiSTer is definitely more convenient than my original setup.

(e.g. I can take screenshots with a keyboard press, backup my saves to google drive, use any of my controllers with it, and all that without having accuracy or lag penalties).

 

I do like having some physical media (for games I like) so what I do when I have guests is use the carts/CDs to select what they want to play, but then load it from SD card :)

Edited by Newsdee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Newsdee said:

You can try using a regular USB hub (i.e. not the hub board, but the same hub you'd use with a PC/Pi/etc.) and connect many of those controllers.

I'm frequently changing controllers between USB and native depending on the particular game I'm using. Remapping controls is also great (e.g. for Amiga/ST games, mapping Up to a button for jump, etc).

 

Take this with a big grain of salt; but somebody is doing an experiment to attach a dual SH-2 to MiSTer as custom add-on, which would help for 32X and possibly a Saturn core. 

 

SH2-hat.thumb.jpg.d2cc9158ab6c8ea6af20654f106a1bc6.jpg

 

We can't know at this stage if that idea will bear fruit, though.

Ultimately it depends on having a good developer motivated to do it. Currently the focus has been in other areas (e.g. X68000, PC Engine CD).

Yeah, I've been thinking of trying some additional hardware stuff. One of my friends here in town has a MiSTer and I want to try my SD card on his MiSTer to see what it does. He came to my house a few weeks ago and tried his SD card in my MiSTer and had the same results as me, which is why I think it's my DE10-Nano. I should probably just get a new DE10-Nano so I can retire my Analogue systems and my SuperGrafx. I have the PC Engine mini and Japanese Mega Drive Mini USB controllers, the Retro-Bit 2.4GHz Genesis and Saturn controllers with their USB receivers, and a few 8BitDo SNES/SFC controllers that I can plug in with USB. The d-pads on those 8BitDo controllers are terrible, though, so I could substitute a PS4 controller for those and still get the same buttons. I was actually using the Retro-Bit Saturn controller wirelessly with its receiver for a while and it was awesome, but then it stopped working after a MiSTer update one day and I've yet to be able to get it working on the MiSTer again.

 

Saturn is the system that I am most interested in getting an FPGA version of and #2 is the X68000, so it's nice to see this. The Saturn is pretty complex compared to most other systems due to its hardware, and I guess the 32X is kind of like a simplified and weaker version of the Saturn. I honestly do not expect to see Saturn support on the MiSTer, but if it does appear, I will be extremely happy. I doubt that Analogue would try building a Saturn, but since the MiSTer is not a commercial product, there are no financial risks to having a Saturn core.

16 minutes ago, Newsdee said:

Not yet but it's likely it will get there soon. People have been using MDFourier (http://junkerhq.net/MDFourier/mdfourier.html) to analyze and improve the sound on Genesis and SNES cores, and now they are starting to look at the latest PC Engine core.  It just had a massive rewrite of the CPU and VDC code which makes it much more accurate, so now it just needs to iron out the last pieces.

 

As for my own use, I run my modded PC Engines with an XRGB-Mini to upscale to HDMI and a Turbo Everdrive.

I don't have the Terraonion expansion so I can't say how the menu navigation compares to MiSTer, but other than that using a MiSTer is much more convenient to me.
(e.g. I can take screenshots with a keyboard press, backup my saves to google drive, and all without having accuracy or lag penalties to my "original" setup).

I have the SSDS3. The MiSTer menu is better in some ways than the SSDS3's menu and worse in some ways. Like I don't know why the MiSTer needs a separate command to run SuperGrafx games at all, but on the SSDS3 you can just choose a SuperGrafx game without having to specify that you want to run a SuperGrafx game. I do have all of my SuperGrafx games inside a SuperGrafx folder just so I can find them, though you can just put them all together if you wanted to. SSDS3's buttons are kind of weird, though, like how I does absolutely nothing most of the time but in the options menu it is the confirm button. Toggling between HuCARD and CD games with Select is a bit weird at first, but you get used to it quickly.

Edited by Steven Pendleton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Are there any plans for 32X? I don't know if the MiSTer would be capable of that (which is partially why I'm asking), but I'm interested in seeing it if possible.

I would LOVE a 32x FPGA solution by hook or by crook. This is not because of the small library of games but because if you ever work on the hardware (open one up and by design it looks like it is on life support with factory patch wires) - you will shorten your life a bit from getting pissed off. :) I'd love a Mister core or a compact standalone about the size of a sonic and knuckles cart that would work with real hardware (Genesis, MegaSG, even the Nomad!) and didn't need wiring nor extra power cables. Sonic and Knuckles flap on top to put the MegaSD in and you have the whole library. Okay fine, I'll buy the adapter to plug the non-real FPGA 32x cart in the top and the Mega SD in the side expansion.   I am sure a 32x solution will appear even if not tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will get X68000 way before 32X... an updated prototype core is going around which can run several games from .HDF files; but it still needs a lot of work (especially the audio).

There is also an Intellivision core beta that seems pretty complete (as far as I can tell), but for some reason is still not in the official repo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Newsdee said:

I don't have the Terraonion expansion so I can't say how the menu navigation compares to MiSTer, but other than that using a MiSTer is definitely more convenient than my original setup.

 

The TerraOnion Super SD System 3 does have in-game reset, but it's pretty wonky in my experience. I feel like MiSTer navigation is a known quantity and extremely solid by running "outside" the console hardware. 

 

I've had some weird behavior switching CD games. For instance tonight, I went from Rondo of Blood to Zero Wing, and it got stuck on a black screen after showing the Super Card 2 v3.0 BIOS. I rebooted the system and launched Zero Wing no problem. I can't always repeat it, but it seems like sometimes switching PCE CD games requires a reboot once in a while. 

 

I do agree with Newsdee that the core will absolutely get there. For HuCards it's so much more convenient than a Turbo Everdrive, and for CD games you can still swap from the couch without getting up even if it does require the occasional reboot. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, derFunkenstein said:

I've had some weird behavior switching CD games. For instance tonight, I went from Rondo of Blood to Zero Wing, and it got stuck on a black screen after showing the Super Card 2 v3.0 BIOS. I rebooted the system and launched Zero Wing no problem. I can't always repeat it, but it seems like sometimes switching PCE CD games requires a reboot once in a while. 

I had a similar issue ONE time when testing cd games on the Mister where the screen went black and cropped to a strage aspect ratio of the bios screen. Resetting fixed it fine.  

 

I am happy to report that I put all my bin/cues tediously into their own folders and tested EVERY game I have to see if it boots...  The handful that did not were bad rips, so I replaced them with REDUMP ones which now load fine. I'm happy to say that when using "[CD] Super CD-ROM System (J) (v3.0)", ALL games load up for me (even the small amount of bin/ISO ones!!) except two UNL games:  AV Tanjou (Japan) (Unl) and Hi-Leg Fantasy (JP) trying SEVERAL copies of the games. Anyone else have this issue? I even tried with REDUMP discs and using ALT1 and ALT2 of the former. Are there no good rips available? Not likely.  Compatibility issue with the core? Possible if they are Unl titles.

 

By 'every' game, I mean from my complete albeit 3 years old Hyperspin databases. That won't include unplayable games unless knowing Japanese, non-game titles or any very recent homebrew I may have missed.  I don't know if others have tested every such PCE-CD game with the core. Hopefully my journey helps the core authors from a Q/A or testing standpoint. 

 

I'm VERY happy with the core status and features and I don't know what needs to be ironed out.  I'd have to find a Terraonion cart at a damn good price to justify it now.  

 

 

 

ADDED TO POST:

Am I the only one that finds Mister's auto-fire feature both non-intuitive and awkward?  If I step away from Mister for too long, I forget HOW to set the buttons up and manually search the Mister main page to find THIS PART? Could this feature be set in each core's menu? Most times I fumble with the adjustment of miliseconds and toggle between 100ms and OFF.  The PCE core would most benefit from this in the OSD and Bonk's Adventure is my go to for testing, due to his rapid spin like on real TG16 controllers. Is there a place to put in a feature request for this? 

 

 

Edited by seastalker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've noted one bug so far in PC Engine CD.  In Gradius 2, the music in the Moai stage stops partway through (I think it's supposed to switch to a different track that plays the same song at a faster tempo) but the music stops altogether.  When I reach the boss, it plays the voice clip, then the boss music starts once I reach the 3 big faces.  After that it's smooth sailing.  This happens every time I play the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, zetastrike said:

I've noted one bug so far in PC Engine CD.  In Gradius 2, the music in the Moai stage stops partway through (I think it's supposed to switch to a different track that plays the same song at a faster tempo) but the music stops altogether.  When I reach the boss, it plays the voice clip, then the boss music starts once I reach the 3 big faces.  After that it's smooth sailing.  This happens every time I play the game.

Please open a ticket on the github TG16 MISTer page. They are working quickly to address bugs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/21/2020 at 1:41 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Has anyone tried the PC Engine mini turbo controller on the MiSTer yet? I'm curious to see how well it works, specifically with the turbo.

It would also be nice to see how they stack against the new 8bitdo ones. Maybe they have wired mode as well?

 

In other news: CPS1 core by Jotego is now public!

 

Also.... if I ever had TWO mister setups, one would be in my upcoming Amiga 1200 new case/keyboard/keycaps setup for computers but if I had one for a living room build mainly for consoles, having built in Saturn controller ports (or SNES for other people), would be amazing... So... 

 

Now THIS is an 'Ataribox' I can be proud of! ;)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, seastalker said:

It would also be nice to see how they stack against the new 8bitdo ones. Maybe they have wired mode as well?

I'm mostly curious about it because the turbo on my PC Engine mini controller is crazy fast compared to all 3 of my real PC Engine controllers. I want to compare it to a real controller using Chris Covell's PC Engine controller testing thingy, but since I don't have a way to do that on my real PC Engines and my MiSTer only works with my PS4 controller, I can't test it myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now that PC Engine CD support is out has anyone tried FX Unit Yuki? The sound seems to be overall too high and there's a constant hum when I play it. Just trying to see if this is only happening to me or if others are experiencing it before putting in a bug report. This might also just be an issue with the game too, but I don't really know. I'm experiencing this system for the first time currently outside of playing Bonk on retail demo units as a kid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Ricdeau said:

Now that PC Engine CD support is out has anyone tried FX Unit Yuki? The sound seems to be overall too high and there's a constant hum when I play it. Just trying to see if this is only happening to me or if others are experiencing it before putting in a bug report. This might also just be an issue with the game too, but I don't really know. I'm experiencing this system for the first time currently outside of playing Bonk on retail demo units as a kid.

Same thing happened with the second wave Super SD System 3. I only had a beta version at the time, but I don't think it was much different than the final version aside from a bug.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Black_Tiger said:

Same thing happened with the second wave Super SD System 3. I only had a beta version at the time, but I don't think it was much different than the final version aside from a bug.

I have some audio issues with FX Unit Yuki on my SSDS3. I am using a Transcend SD card, though, and apparently those cause audio issues on the SSDS3.

 

I've dumped my game disc twice, and the second dump works much better than the first dump. Used I think Alcohol for the first time and then TurboRip for the second. Might try a new SD card, and sometimes I have audio issues in Dracula X as well, so I think I should get a new SD card. I dumped that with TurboRip as well, I think.

 

I have the newest SSDS3 revision from November.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I have some audio issues with FX Unit Yuki on my SSDS3. I am using a Transcend SD card, though, and apparently those cause audio issues on the SSDS3.

 

I've dumped my game disc twice, and the second dump works much better than the first dump. Used I think Alcohol for the first time and then TurboRip for the second. Might try a new SD card, and sometimes I have audio issues in Dracula X as well, so I think I should get a new SD card. I dumped that with TurboRip as well, I think.

 

I have the newest SSDS3 revision from November.

I think that I wasn't able to use TurboRip on the release version when it first came out. But TurboRip might have IP blocked me.

 

I let neodev know back then about the audio issues and it was before FX Unit Yuki released. I now have the newest SSS3, but still only play the final beta because it has a stage select cheat code.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Black_Tiger said:

I think that I wasn't able to use TurboRip on the release version when it first came out. But TurboRip might have IP blocked me.

 

I let neodev know back then about the audio issues and it was before FX Unit Yuki released. I now have the newest SSS3, but still only play the final beta because it has a stage select cheat code.

Yes, the guy that made TurboRip is super unhinged. That doesn't surprise me.

 

I'm not sure if a new SD card will fix the problems with FX Unit Yuki, but I'm pretty sure it will fix Rondo. It's not pressing, though, so I've not bothered to get a new SD card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Yes, the guy that made TurboRip is super unhinged. That doesn't surprise me.

 

I'm not sure if a new SD card will fix the problems with FX Unit Yuki, but I'm pretty sure it will fix Rondo. It's not pressing, though, so I've not bothered to get a new SD card.

I was one of many who he blocked in many ways and TurboRip does an online check each time it starts up, so anything's possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Black_Tiger said:

I was one of many who he blocked in many ways and TurboRip does an online check each time it starts up, so anything's possible.

I didn't know it does that. Why would it need an online check other than to check for updates? I can only think of a few reasons, and they are not positive. I might delete it now...

 

I wonder if the MiSTer supports TurboRipped games, now that I think about it. I know, I'm pretty ignorant and can go find out myself, so maybe I will.

 

I guess you could always use one of the versions of Alcohol if you wanted, but I had varying success with it on the SSDS3. Of course, that's not the MiSTer, so who knows. Not sure what the best option for dumping my PC Engine CD games is aside from TurboRip. HuCARDs are easy enough with the SSDS3's dumping thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/20/2020 at 11:14 AM, seastalker said:

except two UNL games:  AV Tanjou (Japan) (Unl) and Hi-Leg Fantasy (JP) 

[Quoting myself, I know...]

I now have both remaining titles working.  It seems these two UNL games need their own Arcade card "cd_bios.rom" file in each of the games' root directory.

 

Also, that add-on board for possible 32x and Saturn Mister support is most interesting.  In theory, would it need a sacrificed 32x by desoldering it's special chips? What hypothetical hardware would be needed for Dreamcast/Naomi arcade support?

Edited by seastalker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/26/2020 at 11:08 PM, Steven Pendleton said:

I didn't know it does that. Why would it need an online check other than to check for updates? I can only think of a few reasons, and they are not positive. I might delete it now...

 

I wonder if the MiSTer supports TurboRipped games, now that I think about it. I know, I'm pretty ignorant and can go find out myself, so maybe I will.

 

I guess you could always use one of the versions of Alcohol if you wanted, but I had varying success with it on the SSDS3. Of course, that's not the MiSTer, so who knows. Not sure what the best option for dumping my PC Engine CD games is aside from TurboRip. HuCARDs are easy enough with the SSDS3's dumping thing.

The downfall of pcenginefx began when someone pointed out that Turborip checks a flagged website each time it boots.

 

That person was the first to get banned.

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...