Sony PlayStation

[mortal oracle]

Goldeneye is hard if you didn’t use those controls back in the day

Fortunately through a combination of settings you can basically get modern controls with a dual analog controller

I love the 3rd and 4th gen consoles, and have some fond memories playing them as a kid, but they don’t have the same nostalgic pull as the 5th gen, which really landed at the perfect age for me. For every 1 hour I put into a 3rd/4th gen console on MiSTer, I probably put 20 in on a 5th gen console 😂

[vagrant moat]

Honestly, the systems are all good, they all have their strengths and weaknesses for sure.
The Sega Saturn is very novel. Very arcadey.
PS1 is like the next step to the SNES, but without mario games.
N64 is (imo) an uglier looking system but when you get playing the games they are very very well designed, esp the Nintendo ones.

I have a memory of being a kid and walking into a comic book store and seeing the N64 fors the first time.
This is when I first got into PC games. I was big on CD-based games ... I liked video, the audio, I thought CD-based stuff was superior (except the load times haha).

When I first saw Mario 64 I really hated how it looked. I was in fact, almost angry.
So I never gave it a chance.
Well, now I am giving it a chance and it is a great little system. The games are fun, what can I say...

[mortal oracle]

Mario 64 really takes a nose dive on courses 5-8

Been replaying it recently

Fortunately I know it gets better again

[vagrant moat]

Cool.

I should really play through it.

I don't think I ever played more than the very first 5 mins of it haha

[mortal oracle]

Definitely. It’s a great game!

[vagrant moat]

Yeah for sure, I should make that my first N64 game I beat on the MiSTer

[mortal oracle]

Especially when you compare it to other games of the same time

[vagrant moat]

I played only a lot of Mario Kart and Starfox on the n64

[mortal oracle]

Compare SM64 controls to Croc 😩

[vagrant moat]

I gotta say, Starfox really was meant for the n64 and same with mario kart

I could see that the N64 was the answer to many game designers at Nintendo

It is what they wanted when they were designing games for the SNES.

Smooth 3d

That is one thing about the N64 actually. It feels quite smooth if that makes sense.

[mortal oracle]

The N64 definitely feels “Nintendo”, right down to the three handed controller

[vagrant moat]

haha yes

That controller, when I was a teen I felt it was for little kids and didn't like it at the time

But it's not bad, it's different for sure

[mortal oracle]

It’s absolute insanity

But I get how they arrived at it

[tawny palm]

Smooth as Vaseline baby!

[fluid condor]

I prefer real hw in all cases but I'm too cheap to get odes/everdrives so mister is go-to device 9/10 these days. It's just too convenient but different vibe from original for me.

[serene nebula]

I use unmodified hardware, with original games, connected to a CRT. For me flash carts and video modding wasn't part of the equation. I feel that if you're altering the experience and might as well go all the way with that. To me the MiSTer is the apex of that mentality.

To be clear, who gives a shit how people play games. All that matters is they are playing and having fun. So I think flash carts and modding consoles is super cool. Just not something I would do personally but I love 'em.

[fluid condor]

Yeah I hear you. I like the whole feeling of browsing my big stack of cdr, slapping disc in drive, and hitting that big fat power button.

[vestal thicket]

I dunno flashcards and ODEs are close enough to the real thing. Don't need to spend 1200 on a disk that may or may not have errors to feel authentic, IMO. But cool thing about it all is choices, right? We have more today than ever before. Hell, even a Steamdeck with software emulators is a pretty solid option given the OLED screen and portability

[fluid condor]

This whole tactile feeling is missing with miser...

[serene nebula]

Yeah exactly.

Also I will proudly say I'm a hypocrite and if I were starting retro gaming now I would 100% get a flash cart lol

[somber steppe]

I prefer ODEs and harddrives by now. The optical drive is the first thing to break in these 20+ year old consoles, and the discs can literally rot away.

[serene nebula]

so my comments are really based on luxury more than anything

Cartridges fail, discs rot, console hardware fails

etc

so I'm going to enjoy this ride while it all still works, haha

actually I'm not even doing that, I just use the MiSTer LOL

[somber steppe]

And flashcards and modern screens for gameboys completely transform the experience for gameboys and show you just how bad current handhelds are in terms of game selection and ergonomics.

[fluid condor]

Flashdrives/odes hit the good middle ground of authenticity vs. convenience I think.

[serene nebula]

I'd like a fancy GB but I don't think I'd use it

[somber steppe]

Why? You monster.

[serene nebula]

not because it's not awesome, I just think I wouldn't use a handheld at home

[fluid condor]

I also got flashcarts for gb/gba last year and I haven't loaded gb/gba cores since....

[serene nebula]

it's wild man, being able to have AN ENTIRE LIBRARY on a single cart lol

[somber steppe]

I babysit a lot, so busting out a gbc and playing some dragon quest or pokemon trading card game when the kids are asleep is much preferable to me than playing switch tbh.

[fluid condor]

It's also pretty fun to see kids making custom gb carts that holds 2 or 3 games. So you see pokemon blue/red/yellow carts or zelda carts

[somber steppe]

Or making your own romhacks and putting them on a cart. It's honestly very fun and fulfilling.

I can be a game dev like Robby 😄

[fluid condor]

Ha yeah, i'm all for artisanal bootlegging lol

[somber steppe]

Yeah, legality aside for a minute, it's the highest form of love for a game or a franchise someone can express.

[runic edge]

You know what's really great about the PS1?... The way the games twirl around inside when they think you can't see them. If you open it they stop quickly like they weren't

The MiSTer completely eradicates that

Which is a shame

[civic pumice]

Spoken like a fellow "never plays NGCD games" user

[mortal oracle]

Aside from a handful of exclusives, I’m still not sure what the appeal of the NGCD games are over the MVS/AES versions are. Different music but worse animation and longer load times doesn’t seem like a good trade off to me

Although I am completely ignorant to all things neo geo

[patent junco]

I don’t think that’s a controversial take

[tidal pollen]

The appeal at the time was the cost

[hard laurel]

PSIO is dead. Also the way they have treated their customers.. appalling.

[stable perch]

Are those the guys who repeatedly said they'd get a firmware update out, and never did - then, when somebody was ready to create a competing firmware, they said that the release was ready, but wouldn't be published if that competing version came out ?

(As I recall, they also had numerous incompatibilities that they said would be fixed in that promised release)

...or am I thinking of somebody else who treated their customers in an appalling manner ?

[glad raven]

You are remembering correctly. Moreover, I had to fight with them for MORE THAN AN ENTIRE YEAR to get them fix a number of audio problems with the PSIO AND THEY STILL DIDN'T FIX EVERYTHING PROPERLY!

[cobalt silo]

lol

[tawny palm]

Neo Turf Masters on CD is objectively the best version. It has an exclusive course, and the ability to create a profile that saves all your records and stats. Pretty substantial inclusions, and the game runs perfectly with the 4x CD speed option, so the loading times are really quick on MiSTer.

[mortal oracle]

Good to know. That is a good game, so I may check it out at some point 🙂

[serene nebula]

I have a list of NGCD games, they all have extras

[civic pumice]

Let's not pretend Scotland is a serious selling point, lmao

[manic citrus]

cries in incomprehensible accent

[viral inlet]

https://tenor.com/view/demoman-tf2-throwing-throw-bottle-gif-20812693

[tawny palm]

Honestly, the profile saving is the selling point for me. That's a really good option.

[civic pumice]

That's a good reason, yeah

[vagrant moat]

I am strongly considering selling mine.
Wait, can I even sell it? They had some weird thing about reselling if I remember right haha

[hard laurel]

You can't easily sell it no. If they somehow do decide to release a firmware update, your login account on their website is needed in conjunction with your Original Order Number and Device Serial Number in order to get the Firmware update.

I was hoping PSIOWNED would happen but those evil bastards at PSIO threatened them with legal action....

[somber steppe]

This sounds almost like ransomware.

I've got an xstation, you just grab the files from github and shove them in and it's updated.

[tropic stratus]

well, you can sell it. I mean, i bought a used ps1 with psio from ebay 2-3 years ago and it "works". But I never logged in to any account. Why would I when there are no real updates anyway?

[somber steppe]

Imagine buying a used one that is somehow not on the latest firmware.

[hard laurel]

Its things like their shady practices that make me appreciate Robert's amazing PSX Core.

[somber steppe]

Xstation also works really well and does what it says on the box.

I feel like most if not all retro consoles will lose a comparison to mister.

[storm barn]

They should allow unlink the device serial from the account, like phone companies do.

[cobalt silo]

Exactly. Regardless of the issues the device has or doesn't have, if you promise your customers an update, and you even go so far as to include a "progress meter" that shows nearly 100% of the update is finished in 2021.... and you keep delaying and delaying and delaying without communication and it's 2024, you are not worth customers investment

They still haven't restored customer forums, the Discord requires you to verify your name/customer info

just to get in

at one point last year they delayed the update even further because apparently parts of the firmware had been hacked, according to PSIO

It's a borderline scam

[somber steppe]

Is the psx core even hackable? Being open source and everthing.

[somber steppe]

The core uses the same vmc for all discs in a folder correct? So I can stuff all 3 armored core games in a folder to be able to import my ac from one game to the next, right?

[mortal oracle]

Yep

[grand sage]

hey guys, how's compatibility/accuracy with the mister PSX core? i'm hopefully going to own a mister soon, and it would be really nice for it to replace my xstation-modded playstation. the github has some notes under the status section, but i don't know how much of that actually affects playability

[fossil kindle]

it's indistinguishable from the real hardware in terms of actually playing the games

if you put the mister psx core next to a real playstation on say, a CRT display, i don't know if it would be possible to tell the difference.

[grand sage]

that’s very promising! i play a lot of the more popular games but also quite a bit of obscure japanese stuff, so high compatibility is a must for me. it’s just getting tiresome managing so many consoles in my setup, which is why i turned to the mister project

[fossil kindle]

"many games working" is kind of an under-sell, imo. i've never encountered a single issue with it, even loading up every weird jp-only game that piques my interest

[patent junco]

You can see a couple issues people have found on GitHub, but you have to look pretty hard to find them, odds are whatever game you play won’t have any perceptible problems

[fossil kindle]

when the core was in active development, a large amount of people went through every game they could to find bugs. the testing was very very thorough

[grand sage]

very cool! despite me being super happy with my xstation, i never really got a chance to sink my teeth too deep into any one game, and i'm hoping the mister will remedy that. i think i love my n64 and saturn too much to dump them... but the ps1 core sounds absolutely perfect for me

[tropic stratus]

there are a handful of games that have issues that prevent playing and some more with minor issues that shouldn't prevent having fun with the game. Check the issue list if you want: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PSX_MiSTer/issues

[grand sage]

i see i see... compatibility looks very solid overall. i usually don't enable settings like savestates or cpu turbo when offered, and i imagine that would help keep issues to a minimum. very excited to try it out!

[serene nebula]

I have over 500 PS1 games and three PS1 systems plugged in and ready to go. The core is superior.

It’s made my entire PS1 library redundant effectively

I don’t know what other higher compliment you can give other than that, haha

[grand sage]

that's what i like to hear lol. no higher praise than that imo. very reassuring!

[serene nebula]

I actually got a MiSTer primarily for this core. But then I discovered It’s also made the rest of my retro gaming library redundant lol

Like everyone has preferences and MiSTer is awesome but not for everyone. I like to play original games on original systems using original displays like a CRT.

But the MiSTer is the first time I played an emulated system that felt exactly like the original. So much so that its convenience and video connection versatility has basically replaced all my games. I think I’m over three thousand games now and yeah I only play retro on MiSTer now.

[somber steppe]

I also have a beautiful xstation modded psx together with a memcard pro and the mister made it purely decorative.

[serene nebula]

Well for what it’s worth I think it’s pretty damn cool you have that

[grand sage]

the xstation is a wonderful piece of kit but the convenience factor of the mister seems unmatched. i don't plan on selling any of my consoles or games, but it would be nice to just have them out for shelf decor, instead of messing with an octopus of wires in an attempt to get everything easily accessible

[somber steppe]

Well for what it's worth I think it's pretty damn cool we have you.

[somber steppe]

I still have mine connected via rt4k, got it originally because koudelka wouldn't run right in every software emulation I tried. Of course it runs perfectly on mister. Y'all try koudelka, such a cool game.

[serene nebula]

Hell yeah brother

I didn’t know it had issues working in software emulators that’s funny

[abstract drift]

its neat! it also runs really well with turbo on the core

[somber steppe]

There are sound cut outs in dialogue, which sucks because it was mocapped and recorded by a real American theater group. No weird 90s vo here!

[somber steppe]

Yeah I love her! I mean it! It!

[grand sage]

does dual SDRAM help with the performance of the ps1 core at all, or is a single module okay? ive been told that having dual modules fixes a minor audio issue, but i don’t know if there’s anything beyond that

[oblique frost]

single is fine and good and all you need

the audio thing is nothing perceptible at all

[somber steppe]

Is there even a dualram version of the core?

[oblique frost]

yup

[grand sage]

good to hear... or rather not hear in this case lol. i was planning on buying a kit with a single ram module so i can have analog out. i know you can get analog video via direct video with the digital i/o board, but it seems like a bit more trouble than it's worth, especially with ypbpr signals

[somber steppe]

Just get a single ram setup. The dual ram only gets promoted because of sunken cost fallacy.

[grand sage]

noted..

[final salmon]

Rumble question, was doing SNAC tests yesterday and figured should have my question in this chat really.

Reading old chat, so might be out of date info, but is the PSX core rumble able to do the same increments as original hardware, not just a single weak or strong? Seen old comments saying it couldn't do the fine gradients, but I didn't know if SNAC had an impact, if this is an issue at all even. Couldn't see any GitHub issues noting it

Playing MGS intro (on a PS2 admittedly), rumble varying weakly through the entirety of the Hind D scene at the top of the elevator. On the core only came on at the more intense moments. SNAC is a 5V if that would matter

[ivory verge]

As far as I know SNAX has 7V and thus better vibration

this is probably the right value for psx pads with vibration

[final salmon]

Anyone with SNAX notice the lack of vibration increments though? I wonder if this a general core issue, perhaps with a SNAX workaround. Or I could just be missing something

[abstract drift]

as far as i can tell the snac/snax rumble is just like the real thing

if you're using usb or bluetooth controllers it lacks ... something

it varies by game how noticable that is, its pretty stark in Gran Turismo iirc

[final salmon]

I had thought it like original too.
What I really should do, before anyone else needs to double check, is play the MGS opening again and record the controller vibrating for a proper reference. Then play and contrast on the core. Starting to doubt myself 🤣

Yesterday I felt very confident it wasn't just the strength being different, but that it wasn't rumbling... I'm sure others would have played MGS though.

[waxen elk]

Did a bunch of tests with two external hard drives directly connected and used through the network. My results: Western Digital Black gaming hdds are awful.

For the time being, I'm just going to turn off the CD error message and when things freeze I'll pretend that I'm playing RuneScape in the dial up days

My Toshiba drive worked great, but is sadly too small

[somber steppe]

I use a sd card, like the pleb I am. 💪

[serene nebula]

It’s the simplest really. I see a lot of inexperienced users get tripped up with setting up external or networked drives.

[bright girder]

The second your core was halfway mature I chucked my psio on marketplace so fast. I was beyond sick of psio at that point. Thanks for making the best option!

[grand sage]

Anyone know why this edge artefact shows up in Casper if I don't turn horizontal crop on

[serene nebula]

Probably how the original game was

[ivory verge]

It's a normal thing , present also in real hardware

Overscan area

"Fixed Hblank as well as Fixed Vblank can help delivering correct aspect rations and keeping the screen in sync with e.g. shaking animations. Both also offer crop options for games that depend on CRT viewports to hide artifacts at the edge of the image."

[lapis tide]

Hello. For PSX core does chd games have to be in their own directory?

[ivory verge]

yes

[lapis tide]

Does exist a script/bat file that create automatically folder with chd inside?

[ivory verge]

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Natrox/MiSTer_Utils_Natrox/chd-management/scripts/psx_internal_chd_organize.sh

[lapis tide]

The script dosn't move .lsb .sbi files into directories. This is normal?

[ivory verge]

I'm sorry, but I've never used it, nor do I use CHD

[lapis tide]

Does have sbi files have to be in same folders as chd files? I have some m3u files too for multi disc games but i don't know if it's usefull with mister core

[ivory verge]

it is not necessary for MiSTer, it is sufficient that all game disks are in the same folder

(multi disc )

[grand sage]

Just updated the PS1 core from PSX_20230503 and getting a ton of static and gliching when booting the core and when resolution switches. The scaler seems to struggle in a way it didnt before the framework updates.

[dark mountain]

SBI should be in the same folder.

But you don't need M3U files on MiSTer.

[lapis tide]

Thanks. The script have to be updated to move chd and sbi file in the created folder.

[dark mountain]

I know also that some works are being done behind closed doors at the moment (since at least 2022) for integrating the SBI informations inside the CHD in the future.

But that will probably need some updates on the libCHDR library, some changes on the format that will need to be pushed too on all emulators/ODE and updating/recreating the concerned games files with the correct infos.
Everything only for some PAL LibCrypt-protected games...

[serene nebula]

Weird, been using the latest PSX core and haven’t seen any of that on my end.

[lilac scaffold]

As long as you have the sbi.zip in/games/PSX you shouldn't need the SBI files for individual games. Update all gets it

[patent junco]

No issues for me since updating, but I only play on CRT without the scaler

[lapis tide]

The sbi.zip have to contains all sbi files with the sames names as chd files?

[lilac scaffold]

It uses the game ID

Eg SLES-02681.sbi
My understanding is the sbi.zip covers all official releases that need it

If you use update all and have BIOS database enabled in it, you should be good to go

[lapis tide]

Ok thanks !

[grand sage]

Thanks for checking. Yeah really odd, same with a fresh isntall too. Makes games that switch between 240p and 480i a lot horrible to play.

At least the older core still works fine.

[serene nebula]

@scenic reef got an interesting bug for ya ^

[abstract drift]

isn't this why we have that black frame transition option?

[dark mountain]

Okay, thanks for the information

So, no need for individual files

[grand sage]

Same result with or without the black frame option enabled. On the PSX_20230503 core this stuff doesn't show even if it's off and it doen't struggle to stabalise the image.

[scenic reef]

Did you do a full power cycle of the MiSTer and then test again?

[grand sage]

I did, but it happens every time I load the core or the res switches.

[scenic reef]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PSX_MiSTer/blob/main/sys/ascal.vhd#L225 - yes, but it appears to not be working right anymore. this is the signal in the scaler that he customized for that. i'm going to investigate what happened, maybe i missed something...

[dusky marten]

swblack : IN std_logic := '0';        -- will output 3 black frame on every resolution switch

[scenic reef]

oh i did i think... i can probably fix this shortly

[grand sage]

Thanks, much appreciated.

[scenic reef]

to permanently fix this i really should propose to add this officially into the framework since i can see it helping in other cores that do resolution switching, maybe? or maybe it's only a psx issue

it's basically an issue with the framework itself and the black screen transition option is a workaround for it, when i updated sys i thought i maintained the switch but there was another file where it was present that i accidentally updated without retaining this customization

[serene nebula]

@scenic reef sorry to ping ya early in the morning. You're awesome, dude. Thank you.

[scenic reef]

no, thank you for letting me know before more people update and mention it. it's something i failed to notice

does the saturn core have the same kind of garbage in the framebuffer on resolution switches?

[grand sage]

I don't have Saturn set up whilst it is WIP but could check later once I have finished work if someone hasnt done so already by then.

[scenic reef]

if it does it in more than one core than it can be justified to add to the framework officially imo

i wish quartus gave an error when you tried to instantiate a module without instantiating or assigning all of it's ports tbh

that would have caught my mistake, but i should have been more careful, my mistake still in the end

it gives an error if you try to assign a port that doesn't exist on that module, but it doesn't do the inverse lol

so odd

[dark mountain]

If I understand well what you have asked.

I remember having some 'garbage' from previous games played on a same session on the Saturn core when switching resolutions some weeks ago.
We could try to recreate the issue with playing a game like Astra Superstars for a bit, like until the first battle and immediately after changing to Nights and resetting the core.
During the Sonic Team logo, we could see some leftover from Astra left on the framebuffer for a brief moment.

[scenic reef]

it will take awhile to get a build out since i have to run multiple seeds of compilation for this to find one that meets timing requirements, so the update won't be until way later today

[abstract drift]

quite a few cores could benefit i expect? anything that changes resolutions a lot

[grand sage]

Checked Saturn and a couple of 480i N64 games and neither have garbage frames on res switches like PS1.

Actually, see a junk frame on N64 sometimes when booting the core or resetting the game, also see one when switching to the clean hdmi option. But nothing happening in game.

[scenic reef]

yeah i think i remember it being pretty specific to ps1 or something like that

[abstract drift]

saturns 480i isn't actually 480i yet so that might change

[harsh shale]

whoah you got the dreamcast core running?

[ebon tinsel]

It's Thunking

[scenic reef]

@grand sage @serene nebula test plz

[grand sage]

Looks good, the black frame option works and even with it off I don’t see any static garbage in the frames when res switching, only exiting the bios which it has always done. So pretty confident in saying everything is back to normal, thanks for the fix!

[serene nebula]

Ok, give me a bit. Hit work hard today giving a shitton of feedback.

But this is seriously awesome, thank you!

[scenic reef]

no worries at all

i'm going to have to test it a bit for other stuff across my 3 MiSTer's to see if there are marginal timing issues, but I don't anticipate them since I did a 10 seed run and this was the best quality fit

[somber steppe]

Anything specific we're testing for?

[scenic reef]

this was just to restore the black screen transition, but if you see anything out of the ordinary graphically or with sound in any of the games you are used to, let me know please

gives you an idea of how many hours of compilation it takes to get 11 seed runs lol

[somber steppe]

Between 30s and 1 minute, not too bad. 🤡

[mortal oracle]

For those who don’t understand the columns - how’s the timing?

[lapis tide]

For psx core the sbi.zip file containing all sbi files have to be at the root of the sdcard/games/PSX/ folder? I need a link to download the zip file because i understand that the name of the sbi have to be the GAME ID but all packs i found on the net have the sbi file named with the name of the game (= name of the cue file)
EDIT : I Found it !!! 🙂

[ivory verge]

Games/PSX/

[scenic reef]

negative number in the slack column means that the worst case path of logic for those types of timing (setup, hold, recovery, removal) took that much longer in nanoseconds to reach the destination than it should have taken in order to get there in time. a positive number means it had that much extra slack in time when it gets there

positive slack = good

[serene nebula]

Sorry I didn’t get to try your core update today. Got a major presentation on my systems coming up so I’ve been putting in the hours.

[scenic reef]

don't apologize, ur a big important game dev man

this is just fun emulators

[serene nebula]

fun emulators at the best though

[tropic stratus]

not too bad, 6 out of 10 reach timing closure 🙂

[scenic reef]

yeah, some of them took longer since i was multitasking on that pc with other stuff hehe

in general i feel like 6-8/10 is pretty normal

[hallow gorge]

Wait

Mister is not an emulator

Mister is real hardware mimic

[full nimbus]

Mister uses the FPGA to emulate the original HW

[hallow gorge]

Rewire

It is hardware level rewiring not software on top of windows

[full nimbus]

its an emualtion of the original HW inside a FPGA

[hallow gorge]

Rewiring

[full nimbus]

you keep saying rewiring but thats just how a FPGA functions. Its not creating wires its reconfiguring the FPGA to behave as a HW component

[hallow gorge]

Thank you

[full nimbus]

the DE10 has space for multiple HW Components

so Things like the PSX can exsit

[hallow gorge]

Yup

[full nimbus]

it doesnt have to be a 1:1 to the Real HW though

[hallow gorge]

But it can

[full nimbus]

the Jaguar core is a 1:1 and its such a nightmare to work on no one wants to touch it

[hallow gorge]

Y?

[full nimbus]

1:1 doesnt make it easy to debug or work with

[hallow gorge]

But it perfects it

[full nimbus]

its based on the same netlists used to make the original HW

but its not great for a FPGA

[hallow gorge]

For developers you mean?

Because it is hard to maintain?

[full nimbus]

Its not efficent use of the FPGA

[hallow gorge]

Y?

[full nimbus]

it uses things that are good for HW but bad for a FPGA

[hallow gorge]

I don’t get it. What part bad for fpga? Give an example

[mortal oracle]

#fpga-platforms message

[full nimbus]

yep its offtopic

[mortal oracle]

Not complaining about off-topic - just linking to a message where Kitrinx covered this the other day

[hallow gorge]

I went there

I want to know more

[full nimbus]

and Yes Kitrinx know more about this stuff than I will ever

so if she says its so its so

[mortal oracle]

Yeah, that's basically my view as well 😄

[hallow gorge]

Will I want to know

So I am going to research

[full nimbus]

Kitrinx in that linked posts says why

its very esoteric but 1:1 with silicon is not always best for a FPGA or the poor human who has to debug it

[mortal oracle]

Here's a made up analogy off the top of my head... when adding numbers together, doing things in binary works well for circuits/computers - but it's certainly not optimal if you're a human. Different technologies benefit from different approaches.

[hallow gorge]

I. Enough said. I got it. Makes sense now. Thank you.

[summer sage]

amongst other things, fpga's are very bad at latches. silicon is very good at latches and uses the a lot. If you are making a large, functional design this should be taken into consideration.

the most glaring reason though is there's no way for the compiler to have space to optimize a net-level design for the hardware you are using, it's wasteful and huge and demanding and not really better beyond a somewhat misplaced peace of mind

[tawny palm]

I was watching the latest Game Boy Works episode, and Jeremy referred to FPGA as hardware "simulation". Kind of liked the sound of it, but in the end it's all just words!

[coral rose]

Just to say thank you Robert

[bronze aurora]

PSX is the best Mister core, don't even argue with me about it

[final salmon]

Got some video of the vibration issue I found in MGS.
Would be great if anyone else could test on the PSX core too, SNAC or not.
The core seems to vibrate far less during this introductory scene in MGS. It is the cutscene that takes place just after going up the starting elevator, then codex call, straight into this scene. Testing against a PS2. I believe not 100% perfect to PSX, but can't imagine vibration would be different.

Perhaps it is just a consequene of the low voltage SNAC? I thought it would be less strong, but still vibrate when it should... Perhaps that's all it is?

Dualsense virbates throught the scene fine. Actually, it vibrates more than the PS2 with a Dualshock did, so perhaps there are PS1 to PS2 vibration or controller differences there!
Just before codex call as lift reaches the top; PS2 vibrated only as it hit the top. PSX core + Dualsense vibrated on the way up too. How odd.....

[waxen elk]

Any chance these turbo cores can be added to the unstable json?

[scenic reef]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Template_MiSTer/blob/master/mycore.sv#L19 argument debunked

[dusky marten]

module emu

[scenic reef]

Internally facing tri-state logic cannot be synthesized on an FPGA, so that's an example of something that physically cannot be recreated that may have been present in older original hardware designs.

You have to do a workaround by making an input and an output port instead of one inout port if that inout port is connected internally in the original design.

All of the old analog VLSI and IC designs also cannot be 1:1 synthesized and it's all just a pure digital approximation instead, as well.

this whole thing and all

[serene nebula]

It’s not emulation its preservation

[mortal oracle]

It’s not an emulator because I spent $600 on it and I want to lord over the software emulator peasants

[scenic reef]

well i submitted the PR that fixes my clumsy mistake. sorry everyone.

[manic citrus]

imagine using software

[mortal oracle]

I feel dirty just thinking about it

[serene nebula]

What happened? No need to apologize, you’re doing everyone here an amazing service!

[somber steppe]

Don't need to, I've got ALL the cores

[scenic reef]

updating the framework i missed one o fthe two locations where the modification to the framework specific to that core was done to make the black transitions option work

[mortal oracle]

PR merged so I guess the new release comes down via update_all now

Thanks @scenic reef

[coral rose]

🤓

[weak widget]

Wait, how come your MiSTer has a PSX port?

[serene nebula]

It’s the PlayStation classic controller.

[weak widget]

Ah right. So it's USB A?

[serene nebula]

Yup, they’re pretty good controllers too

Perfect for enjoying the core imo

[weak widget]

Yeah great never thought use these

I still have my SNES mini classic, let's see if they also have USB ports

[serene nebula]

They don’t

[weak widget]

Shame. Luckily I bought the SNES controller for the Switch. Although I think it's not as good as the original SNES ones

[kind ravine]

GBros adapter works with them, and you could probably get a reflex adapt and the wii adapter too.

[patent junco]

there a couple of decent options for adapting Wii Classic controllers (the same port + protocol used by the NES + SNES mini controllers) to USB. Raphnet have made one for a while now that works quite well, if you are willing to spend a little bit more and are interested in adapting other types of console controllers as well then the Reflex Adaptor from MiSTerAddons is awesome

Reflex is also awesome if you already invested in the SNAX ecosystem, it uses the same type of HDMI dongle

[patent junco]

sorry I missed that you mentioned it too, but yeah seconded on recommending Reflex. GBros is IIRC quite laggy though so not sure I'd recommend it unless you already have one...

[kind ravine]

Yeah, laggy on mister is quite relative though, I think it’s still under a frame wired, if you have the controllers already and can find one for cheap. But yeah, it’s not the optimal solution, but it works fine enough.

I’d have recommended having them around to use classic controllers with switch online stuff too, but the lack of ZL/ZR renders them pretty useless for that, unfortunately.

[weak widget]

Didn't know about these adapters you both mentioned, thanks

[hard laurel]

You are also aware of SNAC right? You can get a PSX SNAC Adapter to use Real PS1 Controllers with MiSTer?

[somber steppe]

I can't get armored core to show up as 100%. I've got all the weapons (also the secret ones), completed all missions and defeated all optional acs (also both in the last mission). What am I missing?

[mortal oracle]

Not familiar with the game, but does this link help? https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/196633-armored-core/49973810

[somber steppe]

I already did all that.

It's just stuck at 98%. I actually redid every mission to make sure.

[mortal oracle]

There’s a post on Reddit about looting a radar and failing a mission too. Not sure if that helps?

https://www.reddit.com/r/armoredcore/s/KeBDrbLgYY

[somber steppe]

Yeah I counted all my parts against the wiki. I've got that radar.

[mortal oracle]

Yeah - all I’m doing is googling so I suspect I’m not helping here! Fingers crossed someone is able to help or you can figure it out some other way!

[somber steppe]

It's a really fun game, you should try and 100% it to see if it does the same for you. 😋

[mortal oracle]

I remember playing the demo as a kid and enjoying it. I’m currently working my way through OoT on the N64 core, and RE2 on the PSX core. Maybe after those 🙂

With a little bit of Advance Wars on the side. It seems I can only play games on cores Robert created 😂

[somber steppe]

Those are all good choices. I just finished oot 100% a few weeks ago and always preferred the original resident evil trilogy to the remakes. Same with advance wars. That gorgeous sprite work is so much prettier than those new 3d graphics in the switch version.

[mortal oracle]

I’ve never finished any of these games - this is my first time. So I haven’t even attempted the remakes of the RE games. I had RE1 and 3 as a kid, but never 2. Took me a long time to get round to playing it…

Always found the RE games too tense as a kid. Even now I feel like there’s some kind of childhood conditioning coming into play 😂

Although maybe horror games just aren’t my thing

[abstract drift]

might help to know its almost impossible to run out of ammo in re2

[mortal oracle]

Spoilers!

That is good to know though 😄

Thank you!

[abstract drift]

just like, there's definitely no need to ever use the knife, and you've got plenty of shotgun shells for every licker you meet

(or grenades if you're claire)

[mortal oracle]

L…l..licker?!? 😱

[abstract drift]

sorry, they appear in the first 10 minutes i assumed you'd seen one

[mortal oracle]

(I’m kidding)

Nah, I have 🙂

[abstract drift]

also though if you want to dodge lickers they're pretty easy to avoid, i can't remember which now but they're either right or left handed, you can learn which it is and then run by the opposite side and nearly always get by w/out damage

[mortal oracle]

They’re evil so they’re almost certainly left handed

[abstract drift]

i know its the opposite of hunters 😄 always takes me a minute when i go from re1 to 2

[mortal oracle]

There’s an early jump scare which almost gave me a heart attack - you backtrack through an early boarded up area and 😱

[abstract drift]

haha

[mortal oracle]

Should’ve seen it coming really. It’s like looking at a mirror in a horror movie

Scariest thing ever - playing the RE7 VR demo early on, and having a cat brush by my leg 😂

[abstract drift]

oh also you don't really need to be shy about saving, there's 25-27 ink ribbons

yeah i'm not sure a "flat" game will ever scare me again since VR heh

[mortal oracle]

I started Visage but noped out pretty early

That seemed good

“Good”

[abstract drift]

there's a new one i need to check out, OverDark i think it's called

[mortal oracle]

It’s a no from me dawg

[somber steppe]

Ay I'm gonna say it: the arena in project phantasma isn't all that great.

[bitter lintel]

i didn't play the demo but i played and finished the full game last year. i didn't want to go back down into the cellar!

i had to enable fast snap in the controls and even then i had a kind of weak motion sickness throughout the game but i managed to get through it and loved it. it's janky and far from perfect and played on ps5 it's still very low res.... but... it was quite immersive

[mortal oracle]

^ basically this 😂

I want to play it, but it’s not good for the ol’ ticker

[runic edge]

Anyone have an issue with Time Crisis aim drifting over snac with a guncon?

Point blank and project titan work fine

Just original Time Crisis is borked

Borked I tells you!

I searched here and Google and only find one thread where they say the problem was with the original game release

[visual depot]

you using SNAC or SNAX?

or are you using RetroCastle's adapter

[runic edge]

Snac

[visual depot]

Is it this?

[runic edge]

Not that one

[visual depot]

https://misteraddons.com/products/snax

This then?

[runic edge]

But it's just the one game don't work!!!?

Couldn't be a problem with the original release could it!!!??

That would be madness

[visual depot]

it's the first I've heard of the issue tbh

you conneccting it directly to the User IO port with a very very short USB cable I take it?

[runic edge]

Yes sireee bob

[visual depot]

I'm talking like half a foot or like 15cm, maaaaaybe 20cm

[runic edge]

It's about 10cm

Less even

[visual depot]

k

well.... hmm....

[runic edge]

Well not to worry

[visual depot]

someone else might have to give insight on this

I don't have that adapter.

[runic edge]

Plenty of point blank to play

[visual depot]

I know misterfpga.co.uk is a vetted shop though

[runic edge]

Which works fine

Yeah cool guy good shop

I suspect maybe that game is the problem

Thanks for the help dude

I shall continue onward with my search for a solution

The world ill needs another godforsaken conundrum such as this bamboozling the minds of men

[abstract drift]

drifting how much? never noticed this

[visual depot]

Maybe I should ask @runic edge what guncon is it?

Also what crt are you using?

[runic edge]

Oh it's a normal guncon and the crt is a normal trinitron (kv-21x5u)

[visual depot]

how much drift are we talking? I've used my Guncon with that game with no issues

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163726821987

I have the Japanese one

[runic edge]

It's a weird one. After I calibrate it remains centered for maybe 10 seconds and then drifts off to the bottom right.

Then it remains there, slightly down and to the right

Again this happens only on the first Time Crisis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5HogNw8E9A

It's kind of referenced here but

I thought I played the original back in the day with no issue

!!!???

In The video description he says the original release had an issue on the real hardware

[visual depot]

the issue mentioned is NOT what you're experiencing

they're mentioning that the aim would askew the closer you point at the edge of the screen

yours is not that

[visual depot]

Do you have another guncon to test?

The PlayStation handles light guns differently. The GunCon is unusual in that the processing for aim tracking is handled in the gun, rather than the console. So it's possible your GunCon is partially malfunctioning

Maybe some way Time Crisis sends a signal to the CRT that it doesn't like

that's not drifting... drift is if it would slowly over time move off to the side. That is much more drastic and sounds like some kind of malfunction to me

[runic edge]

I think your right

That would explain it

It has to be the gun itself then

I didn't realise that was the way they worked

Yeah I can see now he is talking about a kind of similar problem but different

I mean it couldn't be the game cuz everyone would know

About it

[full nimbus]

make sure by using a known redump bin/cue from a ceratin archive site

Also ensure you have all the unsafe options off

and that you are not using the turbo core

[runic edge]

Oooooh unsafe options I never checked!

OK so it's fixed now

I hang my head in shame..

The shame... the shame of it all!

Thanks for your help guys now let us never speak of this again

Fixed hblank was on.

[full nimbus]

simple fix

[visual depot]

the best fix

[tawny palm]

Speaking of drifting. I was just playing some Ridge Racer. 😎

[runic edge]

If this was that Shogun program, I feel like I would have to commit seppuku now.

Luckily it's not and I can just wander away without a care in the world

[visual depot]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaBUeINW_3s

[patent junco]

A full MiSTer setup with all of the bells and whistles probably isn’t too far off 599 US dollars…

[visual depot]

maybe best not to post that here. I forgot what was later in the video

[winged sage]

Noclip put out that press conference in 1080 recently https://youtu.be/JcUexLJtYyo?si=zcZ-2lGd5gL9cMqR

[frail storm]

Hey guys, have you tried to play Parappa the Rapper on the PSX core? I have a very low latency setup (CRT TV, vsync_adjust=2 on MiSTer.ini, wired 1000Hz polling rate controller, etc) but still I can't even pass first stage.
On the same setup. I can play other rythm games like Bust A Groove without problems (not to mention arcades or console games I know by muscle memory, no problems at all), but with Parappa, inputs seem to register out of time, or not register at all, etc.. it's a complete disaster. Have you tried the game on the core?

[storm barn]

If you are running the game using a CHD, try it unpacked. If you are using the network or any media connected into USB, try using the primary SD card.

Out of curiosity, how are you connecting to the TV? What controller are you using, with what adapter?

[frail storm]

It's unpacked, and it lives on a local, fast microSD. I have no problems with audio or video in games with streaming resources of any kind.
It's connected to the TV via an VGA-to-SCART cable. My controller is an 8bitdo SN30Pro (wired via USB)

It's not my setup, for sure. Have you played the game?

[visual depot]

vsync_adjust to my knowledge doesnt' affect analogue output

Are you using an analog IO board or a direct video adapter

[frail storm]

RetroCastle's IO board

again, I have zero problems with lag in games

[visual depot]

What VGA to SCART cable are you using?

[storm barn]

No, but I will try soon.

[frail storm]

A cable by ManuFerhi (maker of the SiDi, SiDi128, etc), it's totally passive, no electronics/buffering involved

It's only Parappa that's impossible to play well on the core

[runic edge]

Check that all the unsafe options are off also hblank off!!!!

!!!!!

[visual depot]

@frail storm what hiddenbymoon said

[grand sage]

Why hblank off?

[visual depot]

they personally found that setting to be the cause of their trouble a day or two ago

But it's advised to make sure all the unsafe options are off when trying to debug issues like this

they're called unsafe for a reason

[grand sage]

What trouble can that option being off cause? Edit: Saw their issue, gun related.

[abstract drift]

PTR just has famously messed up timing

the visuals onscreen are almost completely unaligned to what you should be doing

[frail storm]

I think you mean "fixed hblank"? It's off, as is "fixed vblank" which is what should have effect on timming

[frail storm]

Jeez... then is it a broken game?

It was famous and I got 2-3 stages completed back in the day (I am a way better player today than in 1997/98..)

[meager parrot]

Starts really going off the rails at the cooking sequence with the chicken

Before that is pretty manageable

[abstract drift]

somehow i completed it as a youngling

maybe the PAL version is better? but even back then i remember thinking it was kind of bullshit lol

you have to play along to the music, kind of

ignore all the visual cues

[sand minnow]

Are the PSP and PS4 versions of PaRappa worse, or were reviewers just remembering the original wrong?

[oblique frost]

the visual cues in the PaRappa games are just guidelines anyway, you're supposed to freestyle for max pointage

[devout spruce]

as long as your inputs are roughly spaced apart similarly to how they are on the timeline above, the game... generally is ok with it?

but its timing is always wild with what it accepts and what it doesnt accept

[storm barn]

I can only say for the PSP version, it feels better than PS1.

I had trouble on third stage playing on the core. The cursor kinda stutters, can't recall if it was like that on hardware.

[silent bridge]

Don’t get cocky, it’s gonna get rocky

[storm barn]

I played a bit today, Dualsense via bluetooth and a standard 50 inch led TV (TN panel), had little trouble to reach 3rd stage.

[strong hatch]

I remember running into this issue on real hardware, the game really just has awkward timing for sure

[lost pecan]

May sound crazy but have you tried adding lag? It's possible your inputs might be too early, especially on an extremely low latency system like yours and if you skilfully play other rhythm games well. Either that or the visuals are throwing you off. There are only 3 possibilities really : inputs exptected too early, too late or the game has broken variable requirements. Also the region/version ie. Pal/Ntsc would also make a difference (50/60hz). So yeah try adding lag or timing/delaying your inputs. I played it and beat the first 3 stages on my second try. It's as people above have already said: ignore the visual cues and press keys to the beat. It also ignores multiple entries of the same button as long as it's the right button so I spammed it to the beat where needed.

[grand sage]

Nah Parappa's just janky as fuck, it's not a very good game.

[lost pecan]

I disagree: it's a really good game if you can just use your ears and sense of rhythm instead of visual cues. Also the game is easily beatable (I also completed it as a kid and my vid below shows it has near perfect audio timing) ~~there has to be some method to the madness. I'm going to play it now.

[lost pecan]

sorry I keep editing this as I beat each stage! : Actually just downloaded it and beat the 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th stages on 1st or 2nd tries. Visually my timing was off so it was 2 to 3 grey dots after the visual cue (I basically didn't use the screen at input time, just did it by pressing it to the music). Feel free to DM for version/bios info.
Recorded my 3rd try : https://youtu.be/zCxBbRJ4BIU

[devout spruce]

the music is catchy, but the timing will always be janky, no matter what version of the game or what platform you play it on

[lost pecan]

Audio timing was actually pretty spot on. Visual timing is ahead though (at least on stage 1 and after that the only way to get through the game is to ignore the visual cues) so that's the reason everyone says the timing is janky. My vid above shows it hits exactly on the beat. And with a good sense of rhythm the game even allows a small amount of "freestyle".

[storm barn]

Most of time, pressing a few more buttons keeping the timing earns more points. Back then I was able to reach the Cool mode, but then it enters in a kind of mode you need to remember what to press, it is hard.

[frail storm]

Thanks for all that information! I cleared 1, 2 and 3 in a breeze following your advices! 😄
What a wonky broken piece of shit of a game, and how fun and absurd it is, I love it 😄

How did I manage back in 1997 to get to the final stage, I don't know. Maybe I was SO bad playing that the game though I was good, if we look at it's broken rules

[lost pecan]

Never underestimate the stubborn unstoppable force that was an 80's or 90s kid determined to complete a stage in a video game! 😂 Glad you got it sorted.
Your question (re)introduced me to a bunch of fun and laughs so thanks so much! 🙏🏽

[mortal oracle]

Kick, punch, it’s all in the mind…

[frail storm]

If you wanna test me / I'm sure you'll find...

[mortal oracle]

The things I’ll teach ya, is sure to beat ya

[frail storm]

Neverthless you'll get a lesson from teacher now!

[visual depot]

Shut up and eat your pocky

[silent bridge]

In today’s rerelease of the game, somehow tick tocky would be incorporated in the rhyme for the kids

[visual depot]

They'll probably tell you "don't mock me!"

[silent bridge]

Don’t mock me, I watch the tick tocky, gonna call my friend Rocky, then we gonna eat all the Pocky

[tawny palm]

https://tenor.com/view/pocky-rocky-pocky-and-rocky-snes-super-nintendo-co-op-gif-26301999

[somber steppe]

I finished all 3 ac games now on the core. Both ace combat and armored core. They all worked perfectly. But damnit project phantasma isn't all that good, is it?

[waxen elk]

Is panzer general and allied general supposed to be pushed so far off screen on a crt

Nevermind, the camera starts on the edge of the map 😄

Which happens to just be a black void

[cosmic tulip]

have you tried the recent rom hack for true analog controls

[somber steppe]

Ace combat 2+3 have those already, so I take it you mean for armored core? No, but that sounds fun.

[cosmic tulip]

armored core

[somber steppe]

Could you link it please?

I only found a prepatched version, but we won't link that here 😅

[strong hatch]

https://github.com/VanLaser/analog-controls-for-armored-core-ps2

[somber steppe]

I tried the ps1 version, I bound the shooting and jumping actions to the triggers. Works well, but it's sooooo unfamiliar after playing them with the vanilla controls for so long.

Is there something similar for ff7?

[fluid path]

Hey I have an issue with the PSX core - everytime I load a CHD it prompts Unsafe Option Used. Also, I have to reload the core to change games. Any ideas? I’m ran updateall yesterday, not running any of the Unsafe options under Misc

nvm got rid of the unsafe option (60hz pal hack) even though everything i run is ntsc. still, i cant change games

[grand sage]

are all of your games in their own subdirectories or are they all just in /media/fat/games/PSX? for me, I had to reset the core every time I switched games when I had them all in /media/fat/games/PSX cause the core will assume that any disc images sharing a directory are part of the same multi-CD game

[fluid path]

youre correct, all CHDs are just in games/PSX

However I do have a final fantasy set in a folder - just tried to open the folder and mister crashes lol

[grand sage]

that’s not good haha. try moving one of your known working games to a subdirectory and see if it works? note you’ll temporarily lose your saves — one other disadvantage to not using subdirectories is the PSX core will use a shared memory card for everything. but you can open that shared memory card in the bios later and do some save management as needed.

[fluid path]

okay I made three folders and you were right! this works perfect

Time to make 290 folders, thank you for your help!

[grand sage]

haha nice! no problem! there may be a script floating around that could help by the way, but I did mine by hand

[fluid path]

Great tip about the memory cards. Seems it would be better to keep them separate

[grand sage]

oh yeah absolutely, you run out of space so fast on the mister

well, with the mister, cause we have so many games to play

each card is what, 512k? god sony charged so much for that

[fluid path]

ah so the virtual mem card is also the official size as well?

[grand sage]

yep! but properly managed all your games will get their own card, so it’s maximally compatible with no issues. just the inconvenience of having to move saves between cards in the bios when you first do this (and if you want any extra content like the Psycho Mantis dialog in MGS)

[devout spruce]

I had a script that made folders for each file... The biggest struggle after that was tracking down each multi disc game and putting them in the same folder

[fluid path]

thats good to know! definitely seems like the way to go. i’m glad i havent invested any time in this core yet so i dont mind starting from scratch. ready to dive in though! also do you have any idea what causes this screen flicker/blank? i get it quite often. Finally got it looking really nice in HDR on my OLED but this is the last thing that bugs me. not sure if its system wide or the core. Saturn does it as well

[grand sage]

ahh yep, I think that’s a resolution/refresh rate change — your TV has to re-sync to the new video signal. there’s a few options to mitigate that, but everything has a trade-off. for me I just put up with it to get a minimally-laggy signal even though my TV takes a bit longer to re-sync than yours does. there are some options in the ini for this — let me grab the manual

[fluid path]

I think I’ll just do it by hand. question, does all cores open a game from a directory straight from the folder without opening it like the psx core does? seems like a nice way to keep tags without seeing them on the menu

[fluid path]

i was afraid it was vsync. i have mine set to 2 low latency mode.

[grand sage]

check out the vsync_adjust and VRR settings here: https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/basics/video/#vsync_adjust note that there are lag tradeoffs. however you can set vsync_adjust and other settings per core (VRR I haven’t had luck with setting per core, your mileage will vary) and also keep more than one INI (which I do when resolution changes get out of hand)

[fluid path]

my tv gets 10ms input lag at 1080/1440/2160 @ 60hz. shame we cant push the mister to 1080@120, id get 5ms of lag and could probably then afford the extra lag for a more compatible vsync option

my tv does have freesync

[grand sage]

there’s another setting that applies: for me, vscale_mode=4 makes re-syncs take a lot longer, so I just deal with the black bars

[fluid path]

but i have vrr off as i wasnt sure i could tell a difference when trying to troubleshoot display issues

i’m currently using vscale-1, ill pull the manual up now

[grand sage]

so this is where you have to experiment — VRR may help or may make things worse, depending on your TV. essentially you’ll probably end up finding the best compromise for you between all the settings

or possibly a set of inis, one for games that re-sync too much and one for low-lag

[fluid path]

ill try vsync-2 , vrr freesync-2 , video mode = 1440, and vscale-4 and see what happens

super helpful, I appreciate it!

ive seen these docs before but finally making sense of it

[grand sage]

oh yeah, one note of caution: once you’ve got things working well on PSX, Saturn, and n64, make sure you give it a try on NES or SNES and a selection of older arcade games. NES/SNES run at 60.1hz (I think? going from memory) which was just above what my TV supports directly, so my PSX-tuned settings caused my TV to drop a lot of frames in NES and SNES (visible as smooth scrolling being janky as fuck). some old arcade games also have really weird refresh rates and resolutions too so they’re a good stress test

[grand sage]

no problem at all! this is where the mister gets really fun and frustrating — getting the perfect setup for your hardware

[fluid path]

that is the most true statement lol

[fluid path]

ever have your Menu button not work during PSX gameplay? lol

[grand sage]

huh, I haven’t! that’s weird. no other inputs are dropping?

[fluid path]

keyboard and gamepad both, things like mister volume controls still work

btw vsync=2 working great with freesync on my tv, thanks again!

nope, everything else works great

[grand sage]

nice! I’m glad VRR fixed everything up, that’s awesome!

huh I’m stumped on that OSD issue though. maybe a reboot could help? but that’s just a random guess

[fluid path]

strange bug, physical button on mister worked, now controller and keyboard do again lol

[fluid path]

anyone know if there's a way to add the 2X build to my downloader.ini so it get's updated when I run updateall?

[grand sage]

I don’t think so unfortunately 😦 to my knowledge nobody has published the metadata file necessary for that. I’d actually love it — just something that tracks the latest turbo cores and other odds and ends that get posted to discord and essentially nowhere else

this did remind me to download the 2x core myself

[fluid path]

ill have to keep an eye out then! I’d love it for the n64 turbo core as well

[fluid path]

the n64 turbo core is at least posted to github, so maybe possible soon?

[grand sage]

I’ve never built a discord bot, but I wonder how difficult it’d be to write one to grab RBFs from #test-builds and #unstable-nightlies and write the metadata for each one into a downloader custom database

[grand sage]

maybe! I’m not sure why getting the turbo cores is so manual right now, to be honest

[tawny palm]

I think the idea is that if you manually download and install it, you're likely to be someone who understands that it's a core that isn't perfect and can have issues/inaccuracies. And hence, you're not going to report said issues due to that understanding. But if it was automated, that opens the floodgates and you'll have users who aren't "power users" that could run into issues with it and report them without understanding that those issues aren't present in the "normal" version of the core.

[grand sage]

sure

[fluid path]

I get that too from the perspective of not including it in Mister Main (I dont think they should be), however giving people the ability to add it manually to their downloader I think implies what you were saying in itself, no?

[tawny palm]

I am far from an expert on the subject, it was just my speculation honestly. That said, for something that is unlikely to be updated any time soon, if ever, wouldn't it actually be more work to create an updater for it, instead of just dropping it into the _Console folder? I've personally never made or edited an updater file though, so I really don't know.

[fluid path]

id rather there be something in github to add it to downloader rather than having to always watch the discord. you’re right, it may never be, but there’s a chance

[serene nebula]

It’s not updated often, there’s really no benefit to doing that. If someone wants it they’ll grab it.

[deft sphinx]

You can already add a line to your download ini to download unstable nightlies cores, don't think you can for test builds though as those are just added here and not part of Main

[manic citrus]

I think it's quite deliberate that the 2x core isn't in a binary form on github

[harsh shale]

So where is it?

[ebon tinsel]

It is. It's just in Robert's personal repo. https://github.com/RobertPeip/PSX_MiSTer/tree/main/releases

20230304 is newest.

[serene nebula]

I have it pinned too for easy access

[grand sage]

isn’t the one in #test-builds newer? is that one not recommended?

[serene nebula]

Yes thank you, I’ll update the pin now

[sharp hatch]

anybody know if this core has been updated with the yc framework? the old yc core is working fine over composite but the main one isn't giving me audio or video

[sharp hatch]

ok searched a little after posting like a dummy... seems like this was an issue on a recent build or with a particular dac that's now fixed, though I'm still struggling with it. I'll try some previous versions and see if I can't find one besides yc that gives me something.

[sharp hatch]

yc & 20230503 cores work normally. 20240318 gives only audio on the opening playstation logo, but boots into games with flickering at each resolution change (black transitions turned on). 20240410 & 20240418 either do nothing when loading a game, or gives only audio for the playstation logo then stops without booting anything.
I'm happy to stick to the old cores for now but gimme a slap if this could be user error.

[fluid condor]

Are you using unstable main?

[sharp hatch]

stable main from update all

[viral inlet]

That sounds like the opening to a youtube video

"Hey, y'all, it's ya boy Stable Main from Update All..."

[fluid condor]

Try latest unstable main

[sharp hatch]

that's working too, I'll roll with it

[harsh shale]

so I seem to recall it being discussed that it'd be difficult to implement CD ROM reading of discs, is that correct?

[viral inlet]

can you not load up a dump of a disc and have the core read it?

Or do you mean with an actual disc drive?

[harsh shale]

an actual disc drive with an actual PS1 disc

[viral inlet]

ahhh.

[patent junco]

meanwhile people playing on original hardware are going out of their way to not use discs with often expensive and difficult to install mods 😆

[harsh shale]

right lol

[somber steppe]

Like me with my xstation.

If I'd known a few months earlier about mister I could have saved some money.

[patent junco]

Haha yeah, I’m luck enough to have only done very cheap and easy mods/soft mods for the systems I care about

Ie. Dreamcast, Xbox, Wii

[somber steppe]

I went all out on mine. Memcard pro, packer punch scart cable, retrofighters defender (which is not that great) 😅

Did the same to my gc and ps2, in hopes it'll motivate Robert to make a core to spite me.

[serene nebula]

I’ll take it off your hands for free

[serene nebula]

Do you think this memory card will work with SNAC?

[viral inlet]

Honestly, if you said "Laura Croft memory card" I would have pictured a way worse thing

[tawny palm]

I appreciate the strategically placed chip in the paint on that one...

[somber steppe]

Must have been cold some day.

[ebon tinsel]

It locked all my MGS2 saves in the freezer. :/

[shut escarp]

Lemme check

[ebon tinsel]

J'lara Vanessa Croft

[tawny palm]

How will we ever know if it doesn't have the same chipped paint!?

We need that apples to apples comparison!

[silent bridge]

Half-way steamrolled LC

[silent bridge]

Ey all, how're the load times on Chrono Trigger for PS1? Does the disc speed mod work well or cause any issues?

Wanted to play with the FMVs this playthrough

[runic edge]

More like melons to melons eh? Eh?

EH?

Am I right guys?

[ivory verge]

Should work fine with turbo and speed hack

[desert otter]

Wasn't the whole deal with that memory card that it was done upside down or something?

[serene nebula]

This is my memory card because I am a real man

[somber steppe]

So true Robby. Girls are scary!

[odd glen]

The key is using bin/cue disc images. CHD is too slow to support the faster speeds

[ivory verge]

Yes , that's true 🙂

I never used chd , I forget it

[odd glen]

I also run from ethernet so not sure how much that helps vs normal SD card access speeds

[serene nebula]

The base compression of CHD is not compatible with speed hacks but I use zstd compressed CHD and it handles it just fine.

[odd glen]

Sweet. Will have to check that out

[serene nebula]

I mean if you have the storage space you don’t need it. I just live in a 512mb SD card world and CHD is not just a way of life but necessary for survival lol

[silent bridge]

by using, for /r %%i in (*.cue, *.gdi, *.iso) do chdman createcd -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.chd", for PS1, where should I add the zstd bit?

I've updated my chdman to the MAME 265 version as well

[patent junco]

you pass it as an arg to chdman, so just after the createcd part you would have -c zstd along with the other args

[meager parrot]

what does zstd do exactly?

[serene nebula]

I don’t know, it sounded cool when I typed it

[patent junco]

it's a compression algorithm that gives better compression ratio and afaik should decompress faster

[serene nebula]

@odd glen I was mistaken, I use cdzl,cdfl

[serene nebula]

for /r %%i in (*.cue, *.iso, *.gdi) do chdman createcd -c cdzl,cdfl -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.chd"

[silent bridge]

Thanks 😄 On a side note, if I wanted to add a FLAC compression for TG16 CD games, would I just add a comma after the cdfl in the above bat code?

[serene nebula]

uhhh, I dunno

tell me how it goes lol

I use cdzl,zdfl on all my games. I haven't run into any problems

except for the part where CHD nukes the additional index info lol

[silent bridge]

Oh kay. Cuz I found on the https://docs.mamedev.org/tools/chdman.html that flac is possible to use but it doesn't list how to use the args (at least not that I can decipher)

[serene nebula]

yeah, then adding flac would probably work

[silent bridge]

you mean just comma flac?

[serene nebula]

yah

I can test real quick for you if you want

[silent bridge]

oh cool thanks

[serene nebula]

it took it

damn I should've edited it

[silent bridge]

nice! Thanks. Gonna try that on PCE CD games and see how the compression works

how should it be edited?

[serene nebula]

no I mean edit the image and add in shit like "VBcoreNow" or "NASisForTools"

[silent bridge]

oh, no clue about that stuff, never heard of it until just now too

are the cdzl and cdfl args okay for TG16 CD games? or does it not matter?

[serene nebula]

sorry, I'm trying to make a bad joke

[serene nebula]

I dunno

[silent bridge]

alright

I'll try it out

[manic citrus]

cdfl IS flac

you do not need to add 'flac' to the command line. it's probably ignored for cd images anyways

[silent bridge]

the mamedev page said that if there is redbook audio it would compress it, if none, it ignores it, so it should be okay to leave the argument in, shouldn't it?

[patent junco]

looking at the mame docs now, does that mean you should use cdzs instead of zstd as well? It's not really very clear...

and yeah I haven't tried yet

[manic citrus]

you should only be using things that start with 'cd'

so cdzs, cdfl, cdlz, cdzl

"lz" is the "slow" one. so maybe do just cdfl,cdzs

[serene nebula]

I thought you were the “slow” one

[patent junco]

yeah I'm not really sure why you'd want to use zlib now that we have ztsd...

[manic citrus]

and if you want to 100% hit psx 8x speeds, do --hunksize of like 3 or 4 sectors

sector size being 2448

so --hunksize 9792

[silent bridge]

what would you need to add to your bat to try that?

[manic citrus]

just add --hunksize 9792 to the chdman command line. so after the 'createcd' is fine

[silent bridge]

like this?

for /r %%i in (*.cue, *.iso, *.gdi) do chdman createcd --hunksize 9792 -c cdzl,cdfl -i "%%i" -o "%%~ni.chd"

[manic citrus]

yeah

[lilac scaffold]

thanks, I was using -c zstd,cdfl -hs 9792 which seemed to work
changed to -c cdzs,cdfl -hs 9792 and the filesize is quite a bit smaller

Compression: cdzs (CD Zstandard), cdfl (CD FLAC)
Logical size: 449,883,648
Compression complete ... final ratio = 28.9%

Compression: zstd (Zstandard), cdfl (CD FLAC)
Logical size: 449,883,648
Compression complete ... final ratio = 35.4%

[somber steppe]

I don't understand a thing but I get the urge to recompress all my cd based games.

[silent bridge]

does -hs 9792 work the same as --hunksize 9792? What difference does two hyphens mean?

[lilac scaffold]

https://docs.mamedev.org/tools/chdman.html#createcd

its just a shorter version of the parameter name

[lilac scaffold]

haha, i mostly dont use high CD speeds so just changed my batch file for future games 🙂

[somber steppe]

I don't use speed ups and I failed to implement your little cheat code anyway. 🙈

[lilac scaffold]

for /r %%i in (*.cue) do chdman createcd -i "%%i" -o "%%~pi%%~ni.chd" -f -c cdzs,cdfl -hs 9792
That's what I use

then a bit more to auto delete the bin/cue files from all the subfolders so I can just copy em over to sd

[somber steppe]

I have to decompress them from chd to bin/cue first since I only archived the conpressed versions at some point.

[lilac scaffold]

ahh, gotcha

[somber steppe]

I'm running a backup right now, but will try your code after that is done.

[lilac scaffold]

eh, no real point to recompress if not using high cd speeds

the smaller hunk size means slightly worse compression, but with the benefit of lower overhead when decompressing (can run higher cd speed)

[somber steppe]

I mostly enjoy the plug&play nature of the mister, which is why I hardly bother with experimental stuff like speed hacks or turbo cores. But even more compatible compression would be interesting.

[lilac scaffold]

cdlz,cdfl - Ape Escape (USA).chd 116,589,430
cdzs,cdfl - Ape Escape (USA).chd 118,094,817
cdzl,cdfl - Ape Escape (USA).chd 124,623,219
cdlz,cdfl -hs 9792 - Ape Escape (USA).chd 129,717,834
cdzs,cdfl -hs 9792 - Ape Escape (USA).chd 130,006,388
cdzl,cdfl -hs 9792 - Ape Escape (USA).chd 135,592,883
Ape Escape (USA).bin 432,238,800

Note: DONT use cdlz, just for comparison 🙂

[somber steppe]

This simply replaces the content of the .bat, doesn't it? Doesn't work for me.

Decompressed the .chd file with cdhman like usual.

[lilac scaffold]

that will, for each .cue file in a subfolder of where its run, create a chd in the same folder with same filename

[somber steppe]

yeah the vanilla .bat does that, but somehow the altered ones I create just plop a window open for a moment but then close again.

[lilac scaffold]

do you have chdman.exe in same folder?

[somber steppe]

Yeah

I replaced the content of the cue to chd bat

I just opened it with the text editor and saved it, probably I did something wrong?

[lilac scaffold]

i copied the line from my post into a txt file, renamed extension to bat, ran it in a location that had a subfolder with a bin/cue in it
<removed wall of txt>

open a cmd prompt in the location and run it, or add a second line with 'pause' so you can see the output

[somber steppe]

It says invalid compressor cdzs specified

[lilac scaffold]

you need a newer chdman 🙂

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/releases/download/mame0265/mame0265b_64bit.exe

its in there

that compression format only got added to chdman fairly recently

[somber steppe]

More like caveman, am I right? I tend to just keep the same files for years if they work.

[lilac scaffold]

and Zakk added support on MiSTer 🙂

[somber steppe]

Now it works. Thanks!

[lilac scaffold]

no probs 👍

[silent bridge]

@zakk did? Legendary 😄

[lapis tide]

cdzs has been added recently to the chd format specification? It's used for all track types (data, audio)?

[lilac scaffold]

its an optional format yeah, flac is used for cdaudio tracks still

"cdzs – Zstandard for CD-ROM data
Compresses audio data and subchannel data from CD-ROM sectors separately using the Zstandard algorithm. This gives very good compression and decompression performance with better compression ratios than zlib deflate, but older software may not support CHD files that use Zstandard compression."

hmm perhaps im wrong and it doesnt use flac....

lemme try a muti bin game

[manic citrus]

chdman always picks the best compression for a hunk, if I remember right

[lilac scaffold]

output doesnt specify what format its using per track, --verbose isnt supported for the command, and i'm too lazy to look up how to confirm what formats are actually in the chd :p

i just assumed flac would be used for audio, they're all lossless and guessed it would be best for that

[manic citrus]

info -v -i <whatever.chd>

tons (if not "most") psx games don't use cdaudio anyways

[lilac scaffold]

edit: derp, scrolling down...
" Hunks Percent Name

---

   699     1.0%  Copy from self
 7,868    11.4%  CD Zstandard
60,595    87.6%  CD FLAC"

tyvm

[mortal oracle]

You’re safe for PSX games, fortunately 🙂

[mystic loom]

Out of curiosity, is there anyone currently looking at figuring out support for the arcade boards that used PS1 hardware?

[full nimbus]

no one has said so

[mystic loom]

Is the general consensus that Namco System 11 & 12 are both doable, when someone does wind up tackling it? I know one of the main differences between the two platforms is higher clock speed on the R3000A, which we’ve seen exceeded on MiSTer with the PSX Turbo functionality.

[serene nebula]

Yeah, most likely doable. Considering the N64 functions great they should definitely work. But the core developer has no interest in doing an arcade board so someone else would need to tackle it. Considering the high skill involved and requiring arcade board schematics/traces it is currently unlikely.

[waxen elk]

Anything to note about the changes to CD code from the news post?

[mortal oracle]

I think Zakk’s chd stuff was around performance improvements, and the other thing mainly affected audio cds, so probably only vib ribbon if you have your own CDs ripped: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/pull/888

[visual depot]

is this safe for Saturn as well?

[waxen elk]

https://youtu.be/XdkeiIj2R4c

Anyone try this in 2x core yet?

[waxen elk]

I'll try testing it out. Also apparently invented time travel

It works pretty well actually

Master Edition of PSX Doom also running very well

[manic citrus]

it shouldn't break saturn, but it won't help either.

[visual depot]

I see.

[fluid path]

@waxen elk that looks really fun

@waxen elk I'll try it now

[desert otter]

@waxen elk I just felt like two pings wasn't enough so I'm adding a third

[fluid path]

@desert otter i'm pretty @desert otter new to @desert otter Discord

[desert otter]

It's like Beetlejuice. Gotta do it three times to summon him

[fluid path]

haha, do replys not notify and pings do? i realized i responded before scrolling down so without hitting reply it was really out of context - added the ping to be clear what i was responding to

i didn't know the difference if there is one

[desert otter]

It's all the same

The only time it doesn't notify is if you do a reply then toggle off the @

[fluid path]

ah i see, on the far right @ ON

thanks for the explaination!

[serene nebula]

If you missed it, here’s a helpful video that covers every widescreen PS1 game - #share-media message

[silent bridge]

presuming as there aren't any speed hacks in the Saturn core as of yet

[visual depot]

considering it's still labeled as Work in progress, I doubt that's a focus at the current moment. But no, not currently

There's also not a guarantee it will even be possible

some cores can some can't

[somber steppe]

Anybody familiar with the tenchu games on psx? Are they good? I beat sekiro if that helps.

[viral inlet]

I enjoyed them back in the day but they're going to feel pretty rough coming from Sekiro

If someone said they're proto Sekiro, which they kind of are, just be ready for the protoplasm version and not the prototype version.

[somber steppe]

Can't be worse than learning how to play sekiro correctly. The last few months I played more and more psx action games and I'm really starting to appreciate the old school design over newer games.

[viral inlet]

There weren't that many games like Tenchu when it came out.

It's got a strange tone to it. Weird little game.

[somber steppe]

Many psx games have a very unique style. One I liked a lot as a kid was T'ai fu. It's about a kung fu tiger.

[desert otter]

This sums up 90% of all things in Japan

[viral inlet]

And the games industry is better off because of it.

🤣

[buoyant plinth]

Mostly. Could do with fewer bikini DLCs though.

[serene nebula]

Tenchu rocks, Sekiro is the dream Tenchu sequel I always wanted except I’m crap at it lol.

[somber steppe]

Sekiro is all about practice and some hidden mechanics which aren't explained. When I started I was pure shit, now I can fly through the game. Given I only beat it 4 times for the endings and only did 1 boss rush.

[serene nebula]

game is amazing, unfortunately I don’t have the time to git gud at it

[somber steppe]

Well it's not running away and you'll be retired some day. But I think the game would be significantly worse if it was any easier.

[serene nebula]

Yeah I don’t want the game design vision changed

The game is what it is and it’s extremely fair for the skill they expect the players to be at.

The game also gives you all the tools you need to be successful. Some a little more opaque than others but that’s ok, nothing a quick internet search can’t fix.

[somber steppe]

Also building these skills is so fun and exhilarating.

[serene nebula]

It’s just literally I’m not good and I need to set aside time to improve.

[serene nebula]

Yah it’s such a great game.

There’s a really measured difficulty ramp up that tests specific player skill sets. Once you clue-in on what to do you feel great because you don’t notice the game nudging you to learn it.

[serene nebula]

I don’t get into those arguments because both sides are fiercely protective of their viewpoints but I will say that the complainers don’t have the insight or design education to offer valid counterpoints,

I suck, I know, but I know it’s me and not the game being unfair.

[somber steppe]

Also, sometimes one just has a hankering to get their ass mercilessly slapped. I know I do sometimes.

[somber steppe]

I would love to trade skill with you, so I can experience it again.

[serene nebula]

Please! I want to enjoy more of the game. It’s so beautiful.

[somber steppe]

You'll enjoy it in a retirement home, don't you worry. 🫂

[visual depot]

I am not asking for a link. This is more just discussion. Is it just me or are there no PSX Redump complete listing on archive.org?

[serene nebula]

There used to be

[visual depot]

Like all I could find that's "complete" is just # - F

[serene nebula]

Got taken down like a month ago

[visual depot]

I could have sworn there was one too...

damn really?

sigh

The internet really just isn't what it used to be

[silent bridge]

Aren’t there other archive dumps that are practically the same as redump? Or is there truly something unique about them?

[visual depot]

Well... two things. One... having verified good dumps is important, as a lot of dumps have bad or corrupted bits that are actually the source of some glitches or crashes since they were dumped using inappropriate software that wasn't doing secure ripping to verify data as it ripped, etc

Two... the PSX core expects you have Redump-verified dumps as that is what is tested with it during development

[visual depot]

There aren't any other projects that are complete that are used to verify disc-related media. Redump is the standard for Disc games and No-Intro is for cartridges

[somber steppe]

@manic citrus iirc you mentioned something about having a theory about why the mister drops sound for a second when opening the menu in ff7 and ff8 while dv1 is enabled?

[visual depot]

idk how long ago that was but the first thing that comes to mind is how the CHD was made if using that

And if it was a verified good Redump

chdman has had constant updates and a lot of chd users are using CHD's built with hugely outdated executables.... and there's also arguments that help them run better with the core, like with faster speeds

[visual depot]

see this area for the discussion them being -c cdzs,cdfl -hs 9792

[somber steppe]

I just recompressed my images this sunday with the newest cdhman and the recommended settings. Zack mentioned something a few weeks ago when the psx core got the fw update about some timing issues that could be the reason, but I can't remember for the life of me what exactly he said.

[visual depot]

anything with cd** is fine, avoid others. But cdzs seems to be the recommended

[visual depot]

it was most likely this

Both cdzl and cdzs are fine, but cdzs compresses smaller (newer zstd standard... zlib is very old). cdlz will cause issues so avoid that.

[manic citrus]

I don't know what's going on here, but whatever you are talking about is irrelevant to what they asked

[visual depot]

Sorry...

[manic citrus]

I think I know what is going on there, but I never verified it. it's probably due to the fact that res switches in DV have to write an hdmi infoframe, and that is probably just a bit too slow

I just haven't had time to look

[somber steppe]

So it's in infoframe timing issue? You knew you mentioned something about some bandwidth may not being quiet enough or something. 😅

I just checked the issue with my newly compressed images and it persists, so I thought I'd ask you what that theory way back then was.

[manic citrus]

the i2c bus is slow, it's probably stalling main

[somber steppe]

Thank you for your brain. 👍

[visual depot]

idk his brain seems kind of sus

[somber steppe]

If I learned one thing in math class it's that number and letters don't mix easily. And he connected to letters with a number = genius. 😅

[odd glen]

Not a real fix but for the PSX core, Ive basically just started disabling DV and instead run HDMI or ypbpr into the RT4X. Looks amazing and no more hitches between certain resolution changes.

The slow infoframe theory makes sense

[serene nebula]

@hollow stratus did you know Killing Time was ported to the PS1? Plays pretty great on the PSX core.

[hollow stratus]

I did. I’ve got one of the test discs in my collection. Beta pre release version

Sadly it freezes all the time

[serene nebula]

oh that's cool, is that the one that's available online?

[hollow stratus]

Yeah same build. It’s got a much better frame rate but prone to crashing

[ebon tinsel]

The one in the Win95 pack doesn't crash, but it's barely playable. Plays very marginally better on the core I compiled. Not enough to say 'playable' but moreso than the current release or unstable cores.

[tawny palm]

I'm not here to police it, but just be aware that asking for this is against the rules of this Discord server. Just keep it in mind going forward!

[somber steppe]

Yeah we can only offer love and validation!

[hard laurel]

Can't really discuss what is effectively "Piracy" here.

[runic edge]

Did you guys know that Blackbeard was called Blackbeard because he had a long, luxuriant black beard?

[somber steppe]

What about long john silver?

[runic edge]

Hold on I'm looking it up

Yep giant metal penis

Apparently

[frail storm]

Was Killing Time a good version on PSX? 3DO version seems to use the 3DO capabilities pretty well.

You made me curious about the PSX version now... 🙂

On 3DO it was a damn fun game

[desert otter]

Ah, Reddit.... When you just can't figure it out on your own anymore.

[paper carbon]

Please don’t ask for ROMs here, read #rules thank you.

Please don’t encourage this here.

[serene nebula]

Can I ask for RAMs?

[paper carbon]

You may download more RAM, yes.

[stable perch]

That old chestnut

[hallow gorge]

omg!! I got it! I got it!'

[serene nebula]

@paper carbon is a harsh but fair ruler, long live SubElement!

[hallow gorge]

three days people have not finalized it yet and still talking about it.

[serene nebula]

yeah, way to go!

I hope you’re proud of yourself

[hallow gorge]

LOL! Actually.....

Yeah! I am.

Now I want to see if people can keep PMing an saying the samething for one full year! - grin -

Come on people! You have a full year! Chop! Chop!

[paper carbon]

It was not my intention pile on, just wanted to make it clear from a Mod POV.

[hallow gorge]

I am ok with it. I like the attention of my name PMed even if it is saying the samething over and over

[manic citrus]

I bittorrent all my ram these days

[hallow gorge]

but RAM is Random Access Memory

Why bother bittrorrent those? They will be empty next power cycle

[viral inlet]

You power cycle??? Gasp!

[desert otter]

Just use a thin client and the cloud for all the extra resources

Ez

[covert holly]

Super newbie here. What are people's go-to presets for making psx games look "clearer" on a modern monitor? So far I think soft scanlines and sony VGA have been the best at that without adding too much

[mortal oracle]

I just tend to use the filters that @serene nebula created :), i.e. for PSX, the “5th Gen Console” one

But I’m also super lazy and don’t have an actual CRT to compare with, so I just go for something that roughly approximates the image that’s in my head

[covert holly]

Cool, I'll try that one out.
Not looking to approximate any nostalgia. Just get rid of that gnarley pixilated look it has when nothing is applied

[bitter lintel]

robby's a poser. just use what i use. gba-1 or 2 with however soft scanlines you want

[glacial orbit]

Snake man you have GBA2?

[desert otter]

Enable the texture filtering and set it to like medium-ish. Should make it a little better, but on top of that a mask filter helps a bit (not scanlines).

It'll still kind of have that classic pixelated shimmer because it's still low resolution render source, (scaling doesn't make it render higher yes like an emulator can) but it'll be a little nicer I think

[covert holly]

Oh nice, I didn't see there was a whole different menu on a different (psx) tab. This looks good, thanks!

[bitter lintel]

wat

[tacit fox]

Is this a known issue? https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=7957&sid=64261f2bd4a804ee5be7aec1bd689f4a

[serene nebula]

I saw that post earlier. I have no idea if cheats could corrupt his game save in any way but I’m glad they pointed that out.

[ivory verge]

The only way to verify this is to play again without the codes

[abstract drift]

i finished that version of re2 many times during testing so i'd be suprised if that was reproducible

[bitter lintel]

you can always finish it one more time

game never gets stale after a playthrough or two

https://tenor.com/view/tyler-hynes-hynies-deadly-double-cross-i-mean-kinda-i-mean-kind-of-gif-19655115

[somber steppe]

Try playing a semi-recent ubisoft game then.

[bitter lintel]

but why

[somber steppe]

You'll experience staleness like never before

[bitter lintel]

i know

we all know

[shut escarp]

https://vxtwitter.com/DozeD9/status/1791541661551522018

[young cairn]

Can I make the mister let me use analog sticks on PSX games that didn't use them?

[shut escarp]

yes, you can have them duplicate the dpad

[young cairn]

Oh neat!

[somber steppe]

It's super weird that that wasn't a feature on the original ps1/2.

[silent bridge]

MGS did it somewhat - enabling the analog button made the stick work but it wasn’t true analog movement that I could tell. Or my memory is wrong.

[somber steppe]

For example in armored core you can use the stick for movement on mister but not on original hardware. That's true also for armored core 2 on ps2, which is insane to me.

[patent junco]

I guess they were still figuring stuff out back then, the analogue thumbstick as we know it today had only been invented a few short years earlier…

Although yeah, something as basic as just being able to remap your controls at a system level is an alarmingly recent development in the console world 🤷‍♂️

[viral inlet]

Shit, remapping controls at all wasn't commonplace if you go far enough back

[somber steppe]

I'm still annoyed when games don't offer it in the game itself. If it's on the system level I have to change it each time if I only want it in a specific game and not the other.

Particularly infuriating is dark souls on switch. It has full button remap but the option for confirm and cancel in menus is grayed out.

So unlike any other game on switch it makes you confirm with b and cancel with a 🤡

[serene nebula]

Allowing for full button remapping is surprisingly difficult if you don’t take it into account from the beginning.

It’s much easier for development to hardcode it. I’m not saying that’s good or a valid reason, it’s just easier.

[somber steppe]

I guess the best solution would be for per game remapping on the system level. That being said, it still wouldn't help if you just want to change the functionality of a button in the menu but not the game itself.

[serene nebula]

it’s a challenge because button selection for gameplay inputs is very purposeful but not everyone can play that way so it’s important to allow remapping for accessibility reasons.

[somber steppe]

Not allowing it also has the vibe of "we made the game so we know best". Plenty of accessibility features is also used by people who aren't intended to use them, it's just a win win.

I prefer to turn off quick time events myself, even though I'm not the intended user of the feature.

[serene nebula]

Yeah I agree. In some aspects that vibe is true but that flies out the window when it comes to accessibility.

[somber steppe]

If I was in Texas I'd get you a dev knows best mug. 🤡

[serene nebula]

lmao and with a clown emoji, I would genuinely appreciate it and you’d troll me daily, win/win!

[harsh shale]

Wow

[slate stratus]

Does anyone know if the RetroTink 5x has any issues with resolution changes via component video on the psx core?

[waxen elk]

A mode to put dpad on analog for older dpad only games would be nice

[somber steppe]

Set the Gamepad in the core to "digital" and it's doing exactly that.

[ancient steppe]

I'm seeing the psx cores swap down/circle on final fantasy IX. Have you guys seen that?

[serene nebula]

Probably how the original game was or some controller config you have

[ancient steppe]

only get that on dualshock, on digital its fine

[tawny palm]

Am I reading that right? The down button on the d-pad is being swapped with the circle button?

That definitely hasn't happened on my end.

[lucid wing]

just curious, how many LUTs does the PSX core use?

[little frost]

Have you tried deleting your config file for that controller for the PSX core and then redefining? Or deleting the config file for main MiSTer menu and redoing it?

[ancient steppe]

@little frost I didnt mess with files but I remapped the controller and still like this. I need to test other games

[little frost]

delete those cfg files and then remap and see if the issue persists

[serene nebula]

Yes definitely delete the cfg files. You have something funky going on, on your end.

[ancient steppe]

that did the trick, thanks guys

I even had old config files from when the core used to be called playstation

[serene nebula]

I don’t know if it was ever called PlayStation? I could be wrong.

[ancient steppe]

yep it did https://github.com/RobertPeip/PlayStation_MiSTer/commit/06fe704214e4f759dab40a3dc2d393209d4de085

now I did wish the core didn't crash so much on fast forward :/

[serene nebula]

Oh it was before I got a MiSTer, that explains it lol

but the core being renamed means those config files were invalid and not used

[ancient steppe]

i used it a lot after that

it was just lingering there

[serene nebula]

Ohhh

[ancient steppe]

I've been using/testing the core since day 1

[serene nebula]

damn that’s pretty cool

It’s the core that convinced me to get a MiSTer

[ancient steppe]

nice 😄

ohh I think it wasnt the core crashing but switching to a mode my tv couldn't see. I enabled 480i output to hdmi and it passed the point I was "Crashing" (Getting black screen)

ah crap, black screen again :/

ok I think fast forward breaks things

@tropic stratus can fast forward crash the core (is it unstable or something)?

[silent bridge]

PS core has fast forward? 😳

[tawny palm]

Robby is a MiSTer noob confirmed! ||...I also didn't have my MiSTer at that point. ||

[tropic stratus]

the fast forward feature is a very nasty hack that just increases the speed of the video out, resulting in more vsync interrupts per second, speeding up many games ingame(but not loading). It also breaks FMVs often. Therefore it's not really advertised. For best results i recommend using vsync_adjust=0

I used it a lot in FF8 without any crashes, but cannot say if FF9 would be stable with it

[ancient steppe]

ah I see. Makes sense now. I saw that if I reduce the output mister resolution to 1920x1080 it no longer crashes and I get some glitches when changing scenes/resolutions (but totally playable now)

I'm using it to go through the battles which take forever on the real hardware 😆 (and I imagined you did this on ff8 for the same reason: too much bloat)

[somber steppe]

The battles in ff9 seem quite a bit slower than in ff7 and ff8.

[ancient steppe]

a lot slower :/

[serene nebula]

yah

[visual depot]

If I recall the engine was slowing down wasn't it?

[somber steppe]

Didn't notice that but the atb bars just drag forever even when set to fast. My guess is they slowed it down compared to 7/8 since you have 4 party members so more inputs to juggle if playing with atb active mode.

[tropic stratus]

FF8 has a lot more running around and grinding compared to 9, so I really wanted the fastforward. FF9 can be played from start to finish without grinding at all. Sure some spots are not first time wins, but overall i liked the difficulty and pace a lot. The only FF ever where i could beat the last boss without cheats or other tricks. I was a fan of FF8 for 20 years, but FF9 easily is the better game for me. Without any nostalgia, so that means a lot.

[somber steppe]

I like all the final fantasy up to 10. It just feels like in ff9 you're waiting more often in combat to be able to do any input than in ff7 and ff8.

12 was weird and a tad bit boring but serviceable. 13 was just bad (imo!) and 15 is bill kaulitz on the road. Never tried 16 but looks more like devil may cry than a ff I enjoyed.

[rancid anchor]

I disliked most things about 10, but the queued battle system is so much better than RTB

though if you crank the battle speed up and set to "wait" mode, most of the FFs can feel pretty close to this

[somber steppe]

That's what I do 👍

[rancid anchor]

it also took me a long time to realize that 9 is the best mainline FF on PSX, but it's so true

[somber steppe]

Mechanically definitely, though I still have a soft spot for the ff7 story. FF8 is filled with weird mechanics and the story is ok.

[rancid anchor]

I have a stronger connection to the FF7 soundtrack for sure though

[serene nebula]

oh yeah without question; FF9 is the best PSX one

[ancient steppe]

I never played 10 so I bought it on steam (also bought 9 again because I thought the pc port was bearable).....9 on steam is a horrible mess and here I am playing the psx version again

I also really like 12 in a bizarre way (too bad they destroyed the history of the game before release)

but my favorite rpg ever is final fantasy tactics 😄

and the WoTL patch on the psx version rules

[somber steppe]

Pls don't recommend patches without providing a link. You'll make me search for it everywhere.

[ancient steppe]

https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=12767.0

🙂

just remember you need to own the base psx game for this to work

[somber steppe]

So is this a patch for the psx version with the psp content?

I must admit I've only played fft advance. But I'm considering playing fft when my ff marathon is finished.

[serene nebula]

I’m sorry, please don’t share that content here. MiSTer is about accuracy to original hardware and any deviations to that will hurt Miyamoto-sama’s feelings.

[somber steppe]

It's fine, I asked him. I was just on the phone with him.

[ancient steppe]

is it against the rules? If so I'll remove the link

[somber steppe]

Robby is against the rules.

[serene nebula]

No sorry I’m kidding

I was making a bad joke sorry

[somber steppe]

If it's just a patch it's fine.

[ancient steppe]

I imagined so

[somber steppe]

Robby is just jelly bout me making new friends.

[serene nebula]

I was making fun of the “mister is all about accuracy” and the “you can only experience the games as originally intended” crowds

[serene nebula]

it’s true

[ancient steppe]

to be fair I still think FFT (the original one) is the best rpg ever created 😛

its just that WoTL make it freshier with new content from the psp version

(which slows down like hell)

(and the iOS version does too 😦 )

[ancient steppe]

you are in for a treat. FFT is very so so next to the other fft games

even ffta2 is better than the original

[serene nebula]

FFT isn’t good

[ancient steppe]

its ok if you use the patch to remove the judge rules

[serene nebula]

it’s GREAT!

[somber steppe]

Never played a2. But I'll try fft with that patch when I get to it. Thanks a lot.

[somber steppe]

That joke isn't getting old.

IT'S ANCIENT

[ancient steppe]

the order goes like: psx wotl > psx fft > tactics ogre > wotl > fft a2 > fft a 😆

[serene nebula]

wat

[somber steppe]

I liked ffta as a kid. Learning all the different skills and bribing the judges.

Also I'm on team newt. Reality is for losers.

[tawny palm]

I will never understand why they removed analog control from the remasters of FF8 and FF9. Navigating the environments is horrendous in those versions.

[somber steppe]

I think they were lost in early pc ports, as pcs didnt probably support controllers yet. And these versions were ported and ported and ported over the years.

[odd glen]

How does one enable fast forward in the PS1 core??? Is it mappable to a key???