Sony PlayStation

[tropic stratus]

also with 7 timing passes, I would expect at least one of these builds to be fine?

[chilly kraken]

Yeah, I’m testing one right now that didn’t have any analog audio distortion

Letting it run over night just in case the scaler stuff pops up after time (I had that happen with the last build - was fine on boot but then had corruption the longer it was on)

If none of these have issues in the morning, I’ll post the build here for others to test

[tropic stratus]

If time changes it, it's most likely temperature 😦

[chilly kraken]

Ya, that was my thought too. It wasn’t a lot of time, so it may have just been I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Either way, just letting it run to rule out anything. I don’t want another bad build - been a string of bad luck publishing builds recently

I was not aware of this but am now going to see how to do it because this manually incrementing seeds is for the birds

[tropic stratus]

it's slightly annoying to start it, because sometimes it fails to start for no reason and if you start it again with the config file it created, it works...
But it saves just so much time and trouble if you need many builds

[chilly kraken]

the only weird artifact I saw is when you start a game in SOTN and it brings up the memory card interface, there is a black line near the top of the screen that flickers while it "accesses the memory card". It was on every version i tested, including the old version of the core, so I assume it's known.

Anyway, please put it through it's paces - then robert can rename it and release it

[tropic stratus]

this was build today(11/7)? I need to rename it to the correct date, because the date is also in the rbf itself and will show if you load the core. Both should match.

but I will wait until someone else tests it, just to be sure 🙂
Thank you for all the effort!

[sinful bloom]

that line appears in overscan top area on my actual PSX

also test out Alien Resurrection - during loads of level chunks in front of doors (similar to how Metroid Prime does it) there's garbage flickering on the top overscan area

neither appear in software emulation

[mortal oracle]

MiSTer wins again

[spring elk]

Oooh... the PSX AF NFB RBF! 👀

[chilly kraken]

Sorry, build date should be 20250710

[opal carbon]

Is there any way to tell a specific game in the PSX core to only use slot 2 memory cards? Found a workaround around for using virtual memory cards with SNAC in games like Gran Turismo 2. If you mount a memory card in slot 2 and tell the game to load from it, the SNAC issues go away.

By default I want most games to just load a card into slot 1 though

Would be even cooler if you could autoload into slot 2 game by game but that’s asking a lot

[tacit laurel]

I really don't know how to explain it, but I think there's an issue with the analog input on the core. To elaborate: when I play a game that has analog enabled by default I like to check for completely analog movement (mainly adventure and platform games) by sightly moving the stick and then doing circles for smooth transitions.

There are some games that If I want to run in circles (Megaman Legends 2, for example), when I reach top left on the analog stick the running animation slightly interrupts (as in I didn't tilt the stick all the way) and only the top left. I've tested various controllers, and it happens with all except one:

• Xbox One controller: happens
• SCUF Envision Pro: happens
• Victrix Pro BFG Xbox: happens
• Switch Pro Controller: happens
• 8bitdo Ultimate 2: happens
• Retrofighters Defender: doesn't happen

Funny thing is that when I check the sticks using MiSTer's input test they seem to be fine, and on the N64 core I can do smooth circles without problem. Can anybody check if it happens to you too?

PD - Sorry for the long post...

[digital zinc]

I had this happen very recently with Parasite Eve on a Dualshock 4, but I was unsure if it was due to spotty analog control code in the game on the PSX itself due to never having used a dual shock controller on a real PSX with it.

I do remember noticing it when moving to the top left, but since it didn't effect the gameplay in that game very much I didn't take much note of it happening in other directions.

[tacit laurel]

Can you try with Megaman Legends 2? It is the game where I notice it the hardest...

[digital zinc]

I've got 2 videos with a dualshock 4, one of parasite eve where it affects the top left and bottom left petty consistently without much thought, and one of Megaman legends 2... though it's only affect the botttom left for me in megaman legends 2.

I also tried with Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time just after, and I had 0 issues moving around with the Dualshock 4.

The videos are of me constantly holding the stick to the edge, I am not letting go of it, or letting it relax at all.

I assume that Aya should be running at a constant speed and not stuttering or walking, and Megaman should not be stopping like he is, but I cannot test this on real hardware, though I imagine this is not how it's supposed to be.

[tacit laurel]

I calibrated the 8bitdo (it uses TMR sticks, and I use it as my main controller for 3d games on MiSTer) and it works slightly better, but it still kinda happens...

[dusky ore]

As someone who played MML2 a lot of different ways, this is "not abnormal" in the sense that I've seen it with plenty of analog inputs across many different devices

My theory has always been that the game really wants a particular analog range (like how a real controller would be) and modern controllers effectively exceed that

[brisk sentinel]

I think I experience this too with Ape Escape using a PSone and a DualShock 2 controller over Reflex Adapt. In my case they felt like bumps or dead zones at north and south only. Haven’t tried other games

[opal carbon]

What model number of PSOne controller are you using?

[brisk sentinel]

SCPH-110

[spark ermine]

Ape escape has always been one of the worst when it comes to being picky about deadzones

[opal carbon]

Wild, I can’t even get my SCPH to work with my Reflex Adapt. What firmware?

Was asking about it in the MisterAddons Discord yesterday “PSX controllers are weird” seemed to be the consensus

[brisk sentinel]

This is the only game I use an analog controller for, otherwise I mainly use the PlayStation Classic controller

I’m on the latest reflex firmware, MPG mode, combo 4, had to map the buttons in Main first, then set Pad 1 to Dualshock in the core

[opal carbon]

Weird, that’s basically what mine is set to and it’s busted.

Random thing for you to try: does turning off Virtual Memory card fix it?

I think the answer will be no but some games display weirdness with SNAC and virtual memory cards.

I imagine it’s totally different since you’re not using SNAC but 🤷

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PSX_MiSTer/issues/291

[brisk sentinel]

I can’t find that option in the core settings. Also when you mapped the controller in main, Stick 1 is the left stick, stick 2 is right. And do you have the analog button on in game?

[opal carbon]

I’ll remap it and test! I installed the Reflex Adapt mappings from update_all

So I might just need to map them

Oh I guess you wouldn’t have the real memory card option since you’re not using SNAC

I guess if you really wanted to you could try to mount a card in the second slot, then tell the game to load or save from that slot to see if that fixes it. That works for me with Gran Turismo 2 with SNAC - but this is a shot in the dark.

My Reflex Adapt acts the fool in Windows though with that controller so I wonder if mine is just messed up.

[foggy quiver]

Using the second card slot as virtual card sounds like a great workaround

[opal carbon]

I wish there was a way specify a single game load from slot 2

[shut escarp]

Not all games will let you use slot 2

[tropic stratus]

Virtual memory cards with SNAC is a hack and done for convenience.
There is no guarantee that it works, because it needs a way to detect the switch from controller to memory card.
This usually happens as most games let go of the controller select to swap to memory card in the same way as switching between pad 1 and 2.
But if they don't do, there is not really a good way to detect it.

[lilac scaffold]

probably best to use save states instead

[tropic stratus]

There is special handling of the analog stick values to cover the edges. We spend quite a bit of time to trim these values, but I can't remember all the details.
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PSX_MiSTer/blob/main/rtl/joypad_pad.vhd#L247-L263
You can try a build with
newAnalog := newAnalog + newAnalog / 4;
instead if it helps.

[manic citrus]

sorg let you do complex analog stick filtering in main for n64, time to do it for psx!

[tropic stratus]

you can try this(load exe, not iso)
With my old logitech controller with round shaped stick covering i cannot get +-127 on the left stick in the corners, but for the right stick I can still get it 😅

[round crag]

Isn't this similar to how the DS4/dualsense doesn't work very well on PS3 that expect a much larger square gate?

[round crag]

Would you be able to hook up a dualshock 3 n try?

[frail storm]

Any idea if this is also adequate for Saturn, PCE-CD, etc? My guess is that it is, but I'd like to be sure before recomcressing my entire personal selection of games for each system 😄

[serene nebula]

I’ve got original hardware and all the games mentioned above I could test and compare against but yeah I can tell you that doesn’t happen with a dual shock on original hardware

and yes I own Mega Man Legends 2 because I am cool 😎

[still palm]

Back when this was reported I tried turismo 2 #1046940919607345272 message and didn't see the problem with a dualshock 1. I tried again today with a black dualshock 2 (scph-10010) settings pad1:snac, pad2:DS, snacmemcard: virtual. and I didn't see any behavior like what's described in the issue. So it can work, I tried both snax and snac to see if either were broke.

used the arcade disc

[opal carbon]

Did you save in the game?

I’ll test with my DS2 when I get home. I also have ordered a DS1 SCPH-1200 to see if that helps.

[still palm]

no I justed played around in the menus and then did a few laps, let me try to save.

[mortal oracle]

Did you already have that photo, or take it specifically for flexing on here? 😏

[opal carbon]

Yeah this is what I’m going to likely do, although I suspect some games will complain about the lack of memory card.

And since some games only want SLOT 1 hence the desire to have game by game settings.

[serene nebula]

I already had it but it was for a previous flexing on here moment lol

[still palm]

Virtual saving seemed fine, saved and loaded a ghost, and saved and loaded a replay in port 1. I think I'd need the other disc to test other saves

[dense wharf]

the mega man legends games are so good...

[opal carbon]

I saw the issue in Arcade as well so Arcade is a fine test of the issue. Strange.

I’ll try controller 2 as DualShock as well. I think mine are both set to SNAC

For folks that use save states are people using auto increment or just saving to the same slot. I’d be worried about overwriting a state by accident but I’m assuming that auto increment increments the new state and guessing which state my latest was seems not ideal.

[mortal oracle]

Nice 😂

[still palm]

Do you have a long cable in between snac/snax and mister? I think that can cause issues with psx.

I guess let me know after you get the DS1 maybe it's just something with the DS2 you're trying. You could try another if you have one

[opal carbon]

I’m using the Multisystem PSX SNAC cart so the cable run is basically non-existent but I have also tried a SNAX and a Retrocastle PSX SNAC adapter with the same results.

Weird. So in retesting with DS2 it works fine. Now my misbehaving controllers are working fine. Wtf.

Nothing changed and this was consistently broken for days across multiple power-offs and I haven’t updated the cores.

Even my NeGCon is working. I’ll have to keep messing with it and see what I managed to change.

All I did yesterday was mount the game save into slot 2 and load the game from slot 2 once. But now the game is working fine with the auto mount to slot 1 option and I confirmed the game cannot see a memory card in slot 2

The NeGCon has never worked with GT2 unless I disabled the virtual memory card option so this is extra weird.

[still palm]

Maybe it was a bad connection between cart and mms or DS2 and cart before, not sure.

[tropic stratus]

could be that it only works if you have a virtual controller in port 2? maybe before it was off?

[still palm]

I tried with both pads set to snac after he said that and it seemed fine, I only had a DS2 in port 1 though. I'll let him test more since they were having the problem.

[opal carbon]

Thanks for checking on it. I’ll do deeper testing but certainly wouldn’t want anyone to waste time on this.

[serene nebula]

If you think about it, this is all a giant waste of time from a certain perspective lol

[chilly kraken]

oh that went places I was not intending

[serene nebula]

I mean, what are we really accomplishing here. Creating problems of our own design just to entertain ourselves until our eventual death. All this complication, strife, and work is just because we have a squishy brain that can never be satiated.

Compared to the vast infinite cosmos, any accomplishments we think are grand or historic mean nothing. Even space dust leaves a greater legacy.

[hidden mist]

‎ 🎩

🧿👄🧿 ✨
‎ 🫴

[chilly kraken]

we could get real into the spirtitual weeds here, so instead I will just say "yes, that about sums it up"

[chilly kraken]

https://tenor.com/uFJJ.gif

[manic citrus]

it should be. the suggested value for psx is a trade off, the default chunksize is double that, which means it takes longer to decompress which may be an issue at faster cd speeds. basically a bigger chunk takes longer to decompress, but you have to decompress less (since you cache the result).

other cores can probably benefit from it too, they just tend to be less sensitive

[desert otter]

We are space dust and we are the legacy.

At least that's what we like to think

[opal carbon]

Should the official multi tap port 1 memory card port work with SNAC?

[opal carbon]

Mine does not read memory cards in the games I’ve tried.

[shut escarp]

Yes, but some games wont recognize a multi-tap if they dont use it

If thats the case for a game you're itchin to play, You can load the raw bios, and manually mount a virtual card to slot 2, and SNAC memcard slot 1, and copy them over to the virtual card

[opal carbon]

Hmm my multitap must be broken then since it doesn’t display my memory card in the raw bios

Also you can’t mix real and virtual memory cards can you??

Woah seems like you can if you set P2 to a non SNAC mode. Sweet.

But yeah if my multitap should see my memory card in the raw bios mine busy be fucky

[lilac scaffold]

just to make sure, you've got pad1 set to 'SNAC-Port1' and SNAC memcard set to 'real'?

[opal carbon]

I do

And the memory card works with a Retro Castle adapter so I know the card is good.

I would like to use my Multisystem PSX SNAC cart and just leave a multitap plugged in with a memory card in slot A for P1 use

Just want to make sure that’s possible before I go looking for another multitap.

Do games that don’t see the multitap still treat Port A like Port 1 and just ignore ports B-D or do they just not work at all? I basically just want to leave it plugged in permanently, happy to use Port 2 on SNAC for normal P2 duty and not have a real Port 2 memory card.

[opal carbon]

If you feel like trying one more thing: can you make sure you unmount any memory cards from slot 2? Go to mount a card in slot 2 via the core menu but hit Backspace unstead of selecting a .sav. I figured out why my controller started working: if I have any memory card mounted in slot 2 GT2 works perfectly. If I unmount a card from slot 2 it breaks analog controls for my PSONE and DS2 controllers over SNAC.

It seems like memory card mounts persist through reboots so what was happening was I had mounted a memory card into slot 2 at some point during testing and didn't realize it was still mounted. I'm not telling the game to use slot two at all, the slot just has to be populated with a virtual memory card, it's wild.

I love that it seems to fix my issue but I have no idea why this would work.

[tropic stratus]

Could actually be the case: if the game notices that port 2 has a memory card, it might let go of the select line for pad one, enabling the virtual mem card switch detection to work

As the card 2 is remembered forever, you would then not fall into this pit unless you never mapped a card to it

If someone can verify this, we should add it to the readme

[chilly kraken]

Nudging folks on this. I'd like to feel confident that this is ok to release. Could folks (@mystic loom ) take a look? #1046940919607345272 message

[still palm]

OK I had a card mounted in port 2 before. I unmounted that and Turismo 2 starting acting like what's described in the issue, jumpy controls in menu and in options where it says "steering" it shows if you have analog or digital controls with an icon that was toggling. Switching to snacmemcard:real makes it stop.

I think this may be kind of a game specific bug, I tried some other games briefly in this configuration (no card mounted in port 2, and virtual snac MC)and they seemed to work. It may affect others, I didn't try every game obviously.

Probably need to look through the issues and check which games a controller bug was reported, they may be related

[still palm]

Yeah with multitap port 1 MC should work with any game, the other ports would only work if the games support them. port 1 gets passed through iirc.

[opal carbon]

Yeah I suspect this is super game specific. I’ll look through the GitHub issues too and take a crack at the other games folks were having trouble with.

[tropic stratus]

Well, the games have never been designed to depend on slot 1 pad and memory card needing a select line drop. It's just a quirk of the virtual memcard detection logic.
I currently can't think of a good way around other than putting that in the readme.
Forcing SNAC on second slot seems weird as does mounting some memcard to slot 2 that will never be saved

But I'm open to suggestions

[opal carbon]

Is the only way to get the core to use SNAC on slot 2 to put a real memory card in Port 2?

Or does it default to SNAC until you load virtual?

(Assuming Real is selected in the core options)

[still palm]

I was testing pad1:snac, pad2:DS, snacmemcard: virtual. Like 1 person might.

I also tried pad1:snac, pad2:snac, snacmemcard: virtual hoping that would fix the problem if I had a pad in port 2, it didn't

but that game may not read pad 2, not sure

My guess as to what's happening is the game is trying to read pad 1 too fast and it's getting messed up, But I'd have to look deeper to know that.

Like there may be more time between pad 1 reads on a real psx playing Turismo 2

And somehow mounting a virtual card on port 2 changes the time the core takes to read pad 1 again and that fixes the problem

[mystic loom]

Will test this once I get home later tonight. Currently working a convention, trying to sell some JP PS1 stuff I had extras of

[still palm]

Maybe in readme it could say snac users using virtual MC mount a card in both slots to avoid problems, if that fixes other games people were having trouble with like Final fantsy , silent hill

[tropic stratus]

it seems there is no section for SNAC+Virtual memcard at all yet...

[still palm]

FF8 shows a problem(jumpy controls) on the title screen with both cards unmounted and pad1:snac, pad2:DS, snacmemcard: virtual, it's not as bad with card 1 mounted, and seems to go away with both mounted. The in game menu doesn't seem to show this problem with both unmounted, so it's probably not only game specific but also part of game specific. Like the game isn't doing much else on the title screen.

Silent hill I couldn't break it maybe I didn't try the right thing. https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/PSX_MiSTer/issues/311 I just tried those because they were mentioned here

[still palm]

Maybe SH is acting weird on title screen with nothing mounted and better with card 1 mounted, but controller has to be in analog mode(red light lit) to see the problem???

[tropic stratus]

The question is: if we remove the virtual memcard + snac hack, then everything would be fine?
If yes, I don't see an issue to be honest.

Maybe the documentation can tell about it or even the core could tell "hack" at virtual memcard with snac so it's clearer for everyone that this is not typical functionality

[still palm]

I'd say a warning in the readme that virtual memcard is a hack would be preferable to users since it seems to work ok for a lot of games.

It needs tested more before we decide anything, I've probably have always had 2 cards mounted when testing virtual MCs + snac

Do you think the core takes the same amount of time when it tries to read from the memory card that isn't there as a real psx does?

I doubt you want to mess with that if that is the problem, I remember you doing some timing stuff but that may have been n64

[tropic stratus]

n64 i made sure it's 100% matching, psx is roughly. It was in the +-5% area

PSX is more difficult, because controllers differ and I have 1 waiting time for all emulated types

There was a testrom to check the controller timing, but I can't remember which at the moment

[abstract drift]

i think you made that testrom didn't you ? its probably in the archved psx channel

[still palm]

I'm leaning toward the wait time for a card that isn't there being a little too short, but I could be wrong.

not sure how you'd even test that

[still palm]

We could just increase the generic wait time and see if that fixes things then if so try to measure it with a test rom or something.

[tropic stratus]

you are right, I made the testrom, completly forgot that.
But yes, it only tests the pad, not memcard.
Would need to be modified to also test that.
https://github.com/RobertPeip/PSX/blob/master/JOY/Joypad/Joypad.asm

[opal carbon]

Unrelated to the virtual memory card stuff but I was pleased to see that when I finally got a working multitap yesterday that my Memcard Pro 2 works properly as long as I provide it power over USB (I just plug it into a spare port on the MiSTer). With that BIOS patch it even passes GameID to the MCP2 so it can manage making memory cards for me, it’s all so slick.

Related to the virtual memory card: I’m assuming that we should test with the stock SCPH-7000-7002 BIOS set that ships with update-all? I’m gonna write a script to swap between my patched BIOS for the MCP and stock and all my testing was on stock from update-all

[opal carbon]

Also suspecting my two SCPH-110 PSOne controllers are cursed since the dual shock mode turns itself off randomly when using SNAC and real memory cards and are not working properly with the Reflex Adapt but I have a SPCH-1200 on the way and PS2 pads work. More stuff to test. I feel like I hit every weird corner case there is in this core, lol

[abstract drift]

you can just use the patched bios all the time afaik, it wont harm anything to send the gameid even if nothing is listening

[opal carbon]

Yeah I’d rather rule it out as a variable just to be safe but good to know that’s all it’s doing.

Really pumped it works on MiSTer though!

Might be cool to have a patched BIOS option in update_all. I know it’s still considered experimental but maybe one day it’ll get there.

[tacit laurel]

Noticing some weird behavior on the latest stable regarding FMVs: there are some vertical lines that appear on FMVs on the latest stable (25.07.06). Here are some pictures for comparison. They are barely noticeable but they're there...

[chilly kraken]

Try this core: #1046940919607345272 message The current live version has scaler issues. This one should not.

[chilly kraken]

@tropic stratus I feel pretty confident in this build. I have had SAM running on just the PSX for a day or two now and haven't seen any scaler issues. Also, had someone on taki's discord try it and it cleared up their analog audio issues. What do you think?

[tropic stratus]

sounds good. Should I upload it or will you do a pull request?

[chilly kraken]

Whatever you prefer. Happy to do a PR

[tropic stratus]

It's just fair, you did the work, you can do some more, haha 🤣

[chilly kraken]

lol

Sorg is gonna be like "jesus christ, please ship a core that works"

PR done

[opal carbon]

Anyone happen to have a favorite rumble motor test? I want to see if my Multisystem PSX SNAC cart is stepping up to 7.6V like SNAX is supposed to (I have both). Rumble seems fine to me so it’s just a curiosity but wasn’t sure the best apples to apples comparison.

[tropic stratus]

thank you, merged

[chilly kraken]

comon robby, it's tuesday - i like to make it halfway through the week before the dread starts to creep in

[dense wharf]

robby thats the old image ill get the new one

[tulip moat]

1994 was 267 years ago.

[chilly kraken]

We the People of the Sony Corporation of Japan, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this PlayStation entertainment system. urnotrede

[spark ermine]

Til i learned I'm 267 years old

[somber steppe]

Baby.

[tacit laurel]

Thanks!

Any chance of getting a new 2xCPU core?

[chilly kraken]

if I knew how to build it, I would

but the project only has the dual ram and single ram versions

if Robert wants to share how to do it, I will build a couple

but this build changes nothing - it is just a seed shuffle

so unless you're having issues with the 2xcpu build, you can use the old one with no issue

[waxen elk]

If you're okay with pwm versions this guy updates turbo pretty quickly. Nothing yet though
https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=7565

[tropic stratus]

there is branch for the 2xCPU, so all changes need to be merged over, check for conflicts and it can be build. Timing is way more difficult to reach

Probably not worth at the moment

[opal carbon]

What’s the process to get from merged PR to update_all?

[chilly kraken]

I can look at it later today

will give me an excuse to try this whole automated seed thing that robert was talking about

make my life easier 🙂

[serene nebula]

What are you a farmer

all these seeds

[chilly kraken]

my grandfather was a farmer. it is my birthright

[chilly kraken]

We're cooking, chat

[chilly kraken]

I haven't had a chance to test this but the design space explorer says it's good. YMMV

[spring elk]

Risky Click of the Day™

[lusty coral]

Il try and give it a look at some point. Not sure when. This month is super busy for me.

I always use the 2XCPU core for the PSX

Guess I have another reason for a Resident Evil playthrough

Is there anything specific you would want me to keep an eye out?

[chilly kraken]

Just make sure there are no scaler issues (and also confirm it’s the 2x cpu because GitHub desktop plays with branches weirdly)

Also if folks have analog audio, checking that it’s fine in ypbpr would also be good

[lusty coral]

Okay dokey boss. Il let you know when I give it a crack.

Won't be for a while though

[serene nebula]

The unstable core with improved deinterlacing (what’s pinned) is superseded by the latest stable, correct?

[desert otter]

I don't know about a favorite but WipeOut 3 supports vibration and vibrates often with things like boosting, hitting stuff, and weapons

Tekken 3 vibrates while fighting

Quake II also has vibration

[abstract drift]

MGS has a test in its options where you can fire the individual motors

[timber veldt]

SAM can cause issues

Since it changes cores via core menu, and that can cause unwanted issues

[chilly kraken]

Yeah, mostly it just causes Zakk headaches

[void scroll]

I think the new bob deinterlacing is not included with the new stable. I don't recall if there was even a PR for that. What you get is the new 480i filter for weave di.

[lusty coral]

I think it's the 2x core. Just loaded it onto my mister. (Not sure how I'd tell differently to be honest)

Everything seems fine so far? Albeit I havent done any proper gameplay yet

[chilly kraken]

yeah, I have no idea how to tell if it's the 2x core because I don't use it

[lusty coral]

Actually I could

One momento

It's not going to be the best test

I'm hoping that by running Duke Nukem Time to Kill. I know that game cannot keep a stable frame rate. I'm just going to compare the frame rates between the normal core and 2xcore (then compare it to your core)

Loaded in and not moved in Duke Nukem Time to Kill

Normal core: 20fps
'official' 2xturbocore: 29/30fps

So if your core is around 29/30fps. Then it's the 2xcore

(if someone else has any better way of testing then feel free haha)

Jesusfish2xcore: 29/30fps

So yeah, it's the correct 2xcore. That's for sure. Scaling seems fine. I use these settings in my mister ini:
Vscale_mode:4
Vsync_adjust:2
Vrr:1
HDR is on aswell

[chilly kraken]

perfect. I will start running it to see if there are any scaler issues

[lusty coral]

Il try and get some gaming done over the weekend. Now I normally use the 2xcore with either the turbo set to the middle setting depending on the game..I just find that turbo setting helps some games that struggle maintaining a stable frame rate.

I really can't get over how nice Silent Hill 1 looks like on the Mister

Perfection

[chilly kraken]

I ported the updates to the PSX core over the to 2x repository so that will be up to date with the main core once robert accepts the PR

[lusty coral]

Sweet

Thank you kindly JesusFish. I'm not sure there's any other people out there that uses the 2xcore like I do. So cheers for sorting that out 🙂

[feral swift]

I used it mostly, although I'm not sure if I mainly prefer the regular core for PSX.

[lusty coral]

I tend to always default to the 2xcore for any psx gaming.

[chilly kraken]

if anyone can test analog audio out (with vga_mode=ypbpr set in your ini file) that would be helpful too. I don't have a mister set up for that (I fixing that I promise)

[opal carbon]

Trying to understand how Virtual Memory Card mounting works in the core. Here is what I’m seeing:

1. Unmount VMC from both slots
2. Manually mount VMC card in slot 2 (Gran Turismo 2)
3. Save core settings
4. Launch Gran Turismo 2, confirm game auto loads proper memory card into slot 1 by telling the game to load slot 1 and confirming expected save file loads
5. Cold reboot
6. Boot PSX core to raw BIOS, Memory Card Manager shows Gran Turismo 2 memory card still mounted in slot 2, slot 1 empty
7. Unmount VMC from slot 2
8. Save core settings
9. Cold reboot
10. Boot PSX core to raw BIOS, Memory Card Manager shows both slots empty

This actually works exactly how I want it to, but I’m curious if this is expected?

If this works, then at least for GT2, mounting any VMC into slot 2 and saving the settings will “fix” the analog controller issues with SNAC and the “fix” persists. I know we sort of established this days ago but I am back to testing and just want to confirm it all works like I’m expecting.

[prisma gull]

Hey all,
did anyone use nocash's xboo psx bios?
mister's psx core seem to be able to launch any bios except for PSX-XBOO.
Even openbios works (https://canoeboot.org/docs/install/playstation.html)

I've tried with original 256K size, doubling it into 512K, or filling 0s to 512K, but MiSTer seem to not be able to boot it.

duckstation runs fine with it

[manic citrus]

I built like 10 cores to see how many of them had hdmi video corruption, and only one of them does. is my machine the golden build server?

[chilly kraken]

I had the same thing. I had one with bad scaler shit and one with analog video shit

Im just real bad at choosing

[manic citrus]

I just generated random numbers for seeds

[manic citrus]

I was hoping more of them failed so I could start removing commits from the framework/scaler to see if I could get any idea of why Robert seems to be having so much trouble with builds

[coral lichen]

I tried searching around but does the PSX core have issues on Mister Pi with FF7 battle transitions? I’m in the grasslands and every time a battle triggers, the image distorts (in an unintended way) and then goes black before coming back in the battle screen.

I thought it was maybe a vsync/vrr issue but I disabled VRR and tried all vsync modes with no change.

[chilly kraken]

you mean mister pi?

[coral lichen]

On my De10 board it seems to be ok, there is some slight tearing which is normal.

[coral lichen]

Yeah sorry

[chilly kraken]

have you run update_all.sh in the last day or so?

there was an issue with the july 6th release, but yesterday's release (labeled july 10th) should be fine

[coral lichen]

I had the release from a few days ago and ran the update to get the newest core before posting. I also tried an unstable core I had lying around from January, all had similar problems.

[chilly kraken]

interesting. can you post a save state in the overworld and I can take a look

[coral lichen]

I know its not exactly what you asked for but this is my save file that I'm loading and then if you take a few steps, a battle should trigger.

[chilly kraken]

ill take a look in a sec

[coral lichen]

No rush at all. Thanks

[chilly kraken]

disc 1. yeah?

[coral lichen]

yes

[chilly kraken]

can you take a video of what you're seeing because it looks fine here on both a mister pi and de10

[coral lichen]

I’ll have to grab it tomorrow but definitely. Thanks for checking. I noticed on SoTN I was also getting some black horizontal lines intermittently, so maybe a compatibility issue with my LG C1. I had played hours of SNES and TG-16 with no hiccups.. but I’ll grab a vid and then try another HDMI, etc.

[chilly kraken]

I would bet that was the old core if you haven't checked since yesterday's update

[sinful bloom]

Is that while area is loading during transition or saving the game?

In the top overscan area?

If this is what I think it is it happens in both my DE-10 and actual PS1

And never ever seen in software emulation

[bright girder]

Trying to find good ps1 homebrew is a pain. Does anybody know of anything notable that isn’t here?

Zia and the goddess of magic is a rpg maker looking game I found, but I don’t think I want to spend 15 bucks on it lol

[void scroll]

Try enabling fixed vblanks and hblanks with vertical crop. It should get rid of that.

[soft granite]

https://amzn.eu/d/aiEwVxM

Anybody tried or thought of trying this controller with PSX core?

[lusty coral]

That looks cool

I use the ultimate 2c for ps1

[coral minnow]

i have it and have used it on the psx core before, doesn't beat a ds1 in nostalgic feel of course, but it's competent

[soft granite]

I hear you in regards to DS1 for nostalgia but this has arguably a 'better' dpad and more feature rich.

1000hz polling rate also. Ticks a lot of Mister boxes.

[chilly kraken]

2xcpu build is now in github for folks who want it

[lusty coral]

Much appreciated boss

[serene nebula]

You’re welcome!

[lusty coral]

One day you will get a thanks from me. And that's when I see a Gamecom core on my mister

[strong hatch]

Cave story is outdated (I believe the last version was r7), there's the conversion of Tetris Grand Master 1 floating around if you count that as homebrew.

[clear rock]

Is this an overclocked core like the 80MHz n64 core?

[opal carbon]

IDK if you consider fan translations homebrew (I do) but: https://www.romhacking.net/?page=translations&status=1&platform=17&languageid=12&order=&perpage=20&dir=&title=&transsearch=Go

[chilly kraken]

ya

[lusty coral]

Makes a noticeable difference too

[stuck lark]

First time Mister user. I'm trying the PSX (latest stable) Core. It boots to the PSX menu, with Main Menu, Memory Card and CD Player options. But F12 won't bring up the OSD to pick a game. Joypad doesn't respond. I've tried all keys and combinations. It doesn't seem to respond at all?

[somber steppe]

I don't use a keyboard myself but if you use a controller that's not via snac you can define a button for the osd in main. Alternatively if you have a io board installed you can press the middle button on it to open the osd.

[stuck lark]

I'll try and define a button for the OSD menu on the controller. It's just a generic USB controller.

[obtuse dune]

The controller has to be mapped in the Mister Input config (main menu) and the core too.

[chilly kraken]

yeah, but they are saying that f12 doesn’t bring it up

which it should

regardless of mapping

[stuck lark]

Correct

It works in other Cores

[chilly kraken]

and you have the 07.10.2025 psx core, yeah?

[shut escarp]

OSD button on the mister itself doesn't work either?

[chilly kraken]

that’s a good shout

[stuck lark]

Where's that then, I've got a Checkmate Mistix board, with a DE10 Nano attached. Is it on the Nano? (Sorry)

[chilly kraken]

no, might be on the mistix, lemme look

I just tested f12 on mine (and it works) so something is funky on your side

[stuck lark]

Maybe the BIOS I grabbed via online search has an issue

[manic citrus]

F12 not bringing up the menu kinda implies main crashed

or is at least uniquely wedged somehow

[stuck lark]

It seems that way

[chilly kraken]

I don’t see buttons on the mistix board

[stuck lark]

No I can't see any, just had a look

[chilly kraken]

what’s the date on the psx core?

[stuck lark]

PSX_20250710.rbf

[chilly kraken]

hrm

post your mister.ini

[stuck lark]

Thanks, will do.

[chilly kraken]

also, if you have anything in /media/fat/config with PSX in it, blow that up

[stuck lark]

(I searched online and downloaded SCPH1001.bin)

[chilly kraken]

ohhh

[stuck lark]

Will do. Thanks.

[chilly kraken]

that could be it too

in update all, enable the bios database

and have it grab the bios for you

(backup your SCPH1001.bin and delete it)

[stuck lark]

Will do (I guess I need to be online for that). I'll just find a long Ethernet cable.

I don't seem to have a media/ folder

Also, where is the Mister.ini located please

The boot.rom was in my games/PSX folder (I assume that's correct).

Here is the .ini file

[chilly kraken]

Yeah, boot.rom and a zip file should be what update all grabs

[stuck lark]

Ok, just running a super long cable down to my router and I'll try.

[stuck lark]

I'm pretty sure it's online

Is there a way I can ping Google from something on the Mister to confirm or an equivalent of IPCONFIG

[chilly kraken]

Grab the latest update_all script https://github.com/theypsilon/Update_All_MiSTer/blob/master/update_all.sh

[stuck lark]

Thanks, I'll move the SD back to the PC and see where to put that 🙂

[chilly kraken]

We are just striking out right and left

Do you have update.sh in your scripts menu? Can you run that?

[stuck lark]

I do. I can some OS version errors, let me me grab that

[chilly kraken]

We are quickly approaching the blow it up and start over. Do you have another memory stick we can use to start fresh with?

[stuck lark]

Ok, I have FTP to the Mister now, so no more swapping the SD

There's nothing in Media/Fat/Config re. PSX

Yes, I can get another SD card, 2 mins.

[chilly kraken]

Grab this and image your sd card with it https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/mr-fusion/releases/tag/v2.10

[stuck lark]

Done, extraced. Shall I burn it with Etcher

[chilly kraken]

Yep. Then it goes into your mister

[stuck lark]

Done

Moving it to the Mister now

[chilly kraken]

It cooks in there for 2 minutes

Then it comes out and we put update all on it

[stuck lark]

Installing, please stand-by

(the other card - originally a 32GB, which I moved to a 128. Was pre-setup as part of the Checkmate package I bought.

Rebooted to a blank Cores menu

F12

Scripts > I have Wifi (which I don't have) and Update

(no updateall currently)

Shall I go with update

Oh, I see I copy that update all script you had me download a moment ago

...added that, I'll move it back and run update_all.sh?

It's doing stuff!

(Thank you btw)

[chilly kraken]

perfect :). once all that finishes (it will likely reboot) you can move games and stuff from your other sd card back over

you will want to make sure you turn on the bios database on update_all

then, finally, psx should boot 🤞

[stuck lark]

Where do I turn that on please and do I then run update_all again

[opal carbon]

Rerun update_all, press UP when prompted to enter the settings menu

Enable Extra Content —> Enable BIOS Database, back out until you can save settings and then let it re-run

It’ll go much faster this time but grab all the BIOS files you need

[stuck lark]

Thank you. I will try this 🙂

[opal carbon]

Once you get it working if you want to see what else update_all can do this guide is decent: https://misterreplay.com/mister-fpga-guide.html#basicinstallation

But keep it simple at first

[stuck lark]

Will do. 🙂

Appreciated all

Is there a newer FTP script. I tried the one from the old SD and it connected when booting from that, but now it will now. I'm using SFTP, root and 1 from FileZilla

(just running the bios update now)

I guess it's the ones here https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Scripts_MiSTer

[chilly kraken]

ftp is built in

it should be enabled by default

login/password is root/1

[stuck lark]

Hmm, I wander if I've screwed it up but moving the old FTP script over and running it.

It's just downloading all the Mame Roms. I'll check when done.

Everything works nicely now. Thank you very much. I'm going to repeat the process from scatch now in case I screwed the FTP up and then image my SD card before making further changes. Really appreciate the help gents

[chilly kraken]

[stuck lark]

(is there a network settings menu somewhere please. FTP still isn't working (there's no default script for it) and I can't ping the Mister. But it has Web access and I can see it on my LAN as 192.168.1.39

I've tried FTP and SFTP with no port specified

Pinging 192.168.1.39 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.169: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.169: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.169: Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.39:
Packets: Sent = 3, Received = 3, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Control-C

That's interesting, why is 169 trying to reply when I'm pinging .39 odd...

[chilly kraken]

I think your router may be confused

[stuck lark]

I'll give it a reboot in the morning. Might be a stuck session or something.

[manic citrus]

.169 is whatever you are pinging from

[stuck lark]

I just noticed that was my PC IP address, yeah. Makes sense. It's like the Mister has ICMP turned off or something.

[chilly kraken]

ahh that makes sense, because it can't see it

[stuck lark]

But if I run Advanced IP Scanner, it picks the Mister up at .39 (surely that tool, just uses Ping on sequential addresses in the subnet until it finds stuff)

I'll have a play, I've rebooted the router.

[shut escarp]

the mister will display it's ip on the main menu if it has one

[stuck lark]

Yeah, I saw that on a video. Oddly it doesn't do that. But still has web access and shows an IP on my LAN.

[coral lichen]

@chilly kraken @sinful bloom @void scroll I’ll try playing with the fixed vblanks/hblanks

[chilly kraken]

and de10 with the same memory card works fine on that display (same cords)?

I ask because that looks like a desync issue

[coral lichen]

Very possible - that’s why I was gonna try a new hdmi later. I will try the de10 here, too. The de10 is connected to a different display but they’re both C1 OLEDs.

[chilly kraken]

I would pop the card out of the mister pip, put it in the de 10, hook the de 10 to that display with the same cables (obviously power won't work, but everything else).

Are you running video_mode=14?

[coral lichen]

I was in 14 originally but switched it to 8? (1920x1080 60hz) and still had the same problem. Also changed HDMI and the same thing happened.

[chilly kraken]

try the de10 (with the mister pi's sd card). that will absolutely isolate the issue to the mister pi

[void scroll]

Did you manage to enable fixed horizontal and vertical blanks plus vertical crop option?

[coral lichen]

Yes @void scroll I feel like such a jabroni - I noticed that when the screen transition happens that my TV’s picture mode was flapping between game optimizer mode and “APS” (default picture profile on LG OLED). Fixed HBlank was already on but when I enabled Fixed VBlank the problem 99% went away.

When you change resolutions on certain devices the LG’s seem to treat it as a whole new device with completely different settings profiles so for some reason the battle transition is just causing my TV to rotate through profiles and then switch back to game mode once it’s fully loaded. I’m guessing that’s why I got the weird color flash and artifacts instead of just a black screen like when the display is trying to lock on to the signal.

[wild sinew]

Good homebrew for anything is rare, unless it's uniquely suitable for that system (utilities and a couple special cases like Virtual Boy emulation on 3ds) or it's something that gets ported everywhere. Or unless it's an 8 bit system where it's much easier for one person to make a game that takes advantage of the system.

And not counting commercially available aftermarket games as homebrew.

There's also the question of whether to count computer systems. Obviously if freeware for those is homebrew, there's plenty of good homebrew.

[buoyant plinth]

Try setting the HDMI port name to “PC” - this sets a minimal processing mode (less than game mode) that may help avoid that mess. It’s a dumb LG super-sekrit thing.

[lusty coral]

Had to do this with my TV too. (TCL qm8b). Set it to pc, vrr and HDR on and not had any issues since

[feral swift]

I'm running into an issue with Castlevania Chronicles getting stuck at the screen where the game checks for a save file on the memory card. When I choose not to load anything it goes back to checking the card. What can I do here? CD images are Redump and it's the same way with both USA and Europe releases.

[chilly kraken]

do you have a save file?

I had to dismiss the message twice

[feral swift]

No, I just want to start the game.

[chilly kraken]

Weird. I was able to get in after selecting no. I can try on another mister in a bit

[feral swift]

I'm not using the most up to date PSX core, I ran update all last time around a month or two ago if that helps. Could it be related to my core config?

[chilly kraken]

What’s the date on the core?

[feral swift]

22.09.2024

[chilly kraken]

Yeah, that core should be fine. I wonder if it’s a config file. Copy the psx ones to back them up, and then blow them up.

[feral swift]

Is it enough to reset all settings from within the core menu, or do I have to delte the files from the sd card?

Tried resetting from the core menu. Still can't get past the card loading screen.

[chilly kraken]

checking a couple of other misters quick

Ok, going to ask you a question. you don’t have to answer it in the chat - it can be our little secret and we can move on with our lives

are you pressing circle instead of x?

this is a safe space 🙂

[feral swift]

I actually did, OMG. I failed the IQ entry test...

Thanks for figuring it out.

[feral swift]

To be fair, I was well past my bedtime, testing and troubleshooting the IIR audio filter, and my brain was totally fried by then. 😅

[serene nebula]

lol Limited Run charging $35 for a port of Fear Effect 1 meanwhile I’m over here rocking both

[manic citrus]

you're sitting on a gold mine, Trebek

[cosmic tulip]

Most likely their terrible emulator running the game

[chilly kraken]

@manic citrus I should have updated the framework when I was doing the recomps for the psx core. If I update it and wire up HDMI_BOB_DEINT, that gives the core the new bob right? Or does something else have to be done?

[manic citrus]

you have to wire it to the option in the menu for weave/bob

and make sure that option isn't still setting VGA_F1 to a constant

[sinful bloom]

And here's their evil PAL twins

Kind of underrated series

And no, that wasn't ten pounds

[waxen elk]

I need to get back into it. Got stuck on a part in 1 and never went back

[mild forge]

Does the dual ram version of the 2xcpu core still get updated or does the single ram version of that core do the job exactly the same at this point?

[chilly kraken]

There really isn’t a benefit to the dual ram version. The sound is (imperceptibly) more accurate at the cost of the speed being (imperceptibly) less accurate

[mild forge]

Gotcha

[sullen vale]

Hi, I don't know where to post that but I have a question regarding PSX core and the fore PAL games to 60 hZ option.

It seems the PSX logo is stretched vertically and I think my games are too (PAL games)

is there a way to avoid that behaviour ?

[sullen vale]

left is PAL forced 60 Hz et right is NTSC-US native 60 Hz

[tulip moat]

Don't use PAL on a NTSC CRT.

[sullen vale]

I am on a PAL CRT 😉 With a PAL game (FF8) and to avoid slowness and vertically compressed image the force 60 Hz option is great. But if there was a way to avoid this vertical stretching it would be perfect (in game it does not seem too streched but I think it is a bit).

[dense wharf]

have you tried using a ntsc game instead?

[dusky ore]

PAL60 is like NTSC isn't it? 525 lines vs. 625? It makes a bit of a sense to me that forcing PAL(50) to 60Hz means there's going to be some amount of stretch

[sullen vale]

Yes, but I wanted to have the translation I played when I was young 🤩

if there is no other choice, I ll switch to the NTSC-US and english version

[serene nebula]

Don’t give in to these NTSC zombies, stay true t to your heart PAL-brother!

Us PALs can’t never be beaten!

[sullen vale]

PAL games with bad 50 hz optimization have black bars up and down and I know some games have patches to switch them to 60 Hz without the black bars and the proper image proportion.
So I thought there was a way to do that with the force 60 Hz option in the FPGA core directly

[dusky ore]

Right, since you're looking at a 240p image being rendered over 288p. The issue is that PAL50 has "more lines", and you trade some of those lines for speed in PAL60, which gives you that stretch. Does FF8 in PAL render completely (no black bars) in PAL50?

[sullen vale]

Yep there are black bars in PAL50 (left image). On forced 60 Hz no black bars but the image seems stretched... However it may be the proper proportion and I just have a weird feeling because I am not used to play the game like this 😄

[feral swift]

I'd just keep it as it is honestly. You can instead try running it with the PSX turbo core if that makes a difference.

[sullen vale]

I could get used to the black bars and the compressed image, however it is really too slow....

[feral swift]

I think battle sequences were limited to 15fps, I'm not sure if using the NTSC conversion will really help much in this case.

If it does make a difference, you can use it as is. I'd try to check if your monitor could move the image further up as it's cut off on the bottom.

Keep in mind that back when we played on CRTs nobody was ever checking if it had good geometry, color balance or a slightly stretched image, we were simply just using whatever CRT we had available to play the games. I'm saying this in the sense that I notice that a lot of people are often overthinking and hyper focusing on small details, instead of actually just playing games and having fun.

[buoyant plinth]

And the audience here is highly prone to getting stuck in that very loop 🙂

[dawn axle]

The 3D animations having low fps is normal, none of the PS1 FF games could do even 30fps in battle scenes. The menus however should be running at 50/60fps

[mild forge]

I’ve spent so much more time with this project testing and tinkering than actually just having fun with the games but I wouldn’t have it any other way honestly

[sullen vale]

there is definitively a difference of speed when I run in PAL.50 and PAL60 (forced).
I was already aware of this back then ^^ That's why I purchased my games in NTSC-US when I could. I was just checking if there was a way to fix it with this option. It seems not, at least not directly in the core ! 🙂

Thanks for your answers

[dawn axle]

Yeah pretty sure it’s a hardcoded limitation in the game itself

[sullen vale]

(50/60 Hz have nohting to do with fps, it is the refresh rate, so 60 Hz seems smoother than 50 Hz)

[dusky ore]

Just as a note, the image on the right looks similar to when I played FF8 back in the day, just proportionally. I'm assuming that's the forced 60Hz?

[sullen vale]

Yes it is the forced 60 Hz for PAL games, OK so the proportion may be normal on games, not on boot (bios). It may be because I'm really not used too not have small fat heros 🙂

[dusky ore]

If FF8 wasn't updated for 50Hz properly (which given how much is prerendered, makes sense to me) then this honestly makes sense to me. 50Hz would be squished because there's more lines being drawn to the CRT

[serene nebula]

Tangent but FF8 was such a massive visual leap over 7. What a massive change a cohesive and consistent art style has.

[dusky ore]

I mean it does make sense, FF7 came out first. Better grasp of the console, though I like FF7's distinct look

The way enemy models look in battle, and personally I think the "chibi" character models on the field stand out more

[abstract drift]

isn't the bios always going to be noticably stretched vertically in pal60 mode

it's actually the same vertical stretch that you want, to correct the AR in the game

its just the bios screens are shaped correctly for 50hz

[wise skiff]

Curious what you guys think is more accurate

a PSIO with the most recent firmware etc running on a real PS1

orrrr... the MiSTer PS1 core.

[sinful bloom]

here's PSIO's compatibility list

it's primarily emulating a CD-ROM drive but that list is more than just "sound issues fixed with the turbo core"

okay, my bad, here's current open issues

[bright girder]

Do we trust that list though? Considering Matt (the guy behind cybdyn) used to casually suppress the issues he felt weren’t issues to make the product look better despite outcry in the forums, it’s apparently fine if the game has timing issues like crazy so long as it boots and plays.

[sinful bloom]

I dunno, I just see what I google

[bright girder]

Had a psio for years, and I loved it for a while until the issues began to mount with it. Between Matt putting his hands over his ears and pretending his customers and bugs weren’t real and literal years going by between firmware updates… not to mention regressions in the firmwares every time.

His main focus currently is all about drm and not getting his firmware cloned on AliExpress, however I’m pretty sure people have modded even the newest firmware at this point…

My main two practical gripes with psio were the main menu took ages to load like up to a minute and a half, and you just never knew when something was going to freeze, because you’d get random unreported black screens a lot, so I’d never feel comfortable playing a long game on it.

[bright girder]

That’s fair. The list looks compelling, but I just have first hand experience with how they deal with issues.

[wise skiff]

The guy behind PSIO is definitely a little odd

They spend 90% of their energy worrying about ripoff products

Or at least it seems that way

One thing that’s weird is the registration process for the PSIO just to get firmware

Seems overly complex

Firmware should just be a simple download

Customer service should come before “stickin it to Ali Express ripoffs” imo

[mystic flare]

remember how he threatened to ruin someone for the crime of making an open-source firmware replacement

a vile piece of excrement

[abstract drift]

if you're determined to do real hardware at this point i'd wait for the mstation ODE

[bright girder]

Or an AliExpress psio lmao, I don’t normally recommend bootleg things but in this case I’d be fine with it.

But you would be at the mercy of whatever the compatibility actually is. I hear you can update the firmware with a modified version

Xstation or mode all the way I think is the way

[wise skiff]

I have t heard of this yet

One thing that bugged me about the PSIO is my crappy soldering skills ruined the first PlayStation I ever owned

[abstract drift]

its from the xstation creator

[wise skiff]

So I gave up and sent it into Stone Age gamer and they did the soldering for me

Was amazing service from them

[abstract drift]

should be no solder or maybe literally 1 solder point for power apparently

[wise skiff]

Wow amazing

Can’t wait

[abstract drift]

just use the core until it comes out, the cores amazing

[wise skiff]

I can do electrolytic cap changes with (mostly) ease haha but other stuff is hard

The N64 RGB mod was my toughest successful mod

[wise skiff]

It is awesome I must say

[bright girder]

I botched my first psio job too, fortunately I found another ps1 at value village a week later and got another attempt

[wise skiff]

Nice

They’re pretty cheap

[bright girder]

Working with shitty solder irons will wreck stuff lmao

[wise skiff]

I got a ps1 for $40 from a guy who said he never used it (sadly cuz of a nerve issue in his hands he said he got soon after buying it) and had just stored in a closet all these years

[bright girder]

I remember I watched voultars install video and got some courage with my Walmart fire stick

[sinful bloom]

I would sing praises to XStation if my PS1 modded with it wasn't problematic at all

and in order to see what's wrong with it I have to desolder a massive heatsink plate

which might also be a "I did a terrible job, overpriced for it, please don't look"

it just stops reading data from various sd cards at random intervals

[serene nebula]

PS1 MiSTer core is more accurate 👍

[mortal oracle]

This is wild to me

[shut escarp]

i bought an Xstation and then like a month later the PS1 core started progressing... so i never bothered getting it installed so it sits in a drawer

[serene nebula]

I just say shit and hope it’s true

[runic edge]

MiSTer is king.

KING!!!!

https://tenor.com/view/tekken-king-cradle-gif-23931096

and the guy being rolled around is a normal ps1

[rose ermine]

That's Lei Wulong! Don't forget that name

https://youtu.be/ec2wfOllhNg

[runic edge]

Haha I can never remember his name because I always just called him Jackie chan!

[opal carbon]

I will probably build a PS1 hardware when the mstation comes out. The PSX core is amazing but I keep hitting all the weird corner cases with SNAC. Like a yard full of rakes.

My favorite feature about MiSTer though is it can handle large libraries and it remembers cursor position. Most ODEs reset the cursor position when you go back to main menu because, you know, you just restarted the console.

I do a lot of A-Z console library deep dives and it’s so nice on the MiSTer (as long as SNAC is working, lol)

[rapid garden]

only A-Z? no 007 games?

[opal carbon]

I mean how could I miss 007 Racing

[serene nebula]

What’s up with your SNAC? I’ve got an endless array of weird PS2 peripherals and they all worked fine for me.

[dense wharf]

yeah snac always works for me too

[opal carbon]

I’ve been bellyaching about it here for a while but here are the issues I’ve run into:

• Virtual memory cards break analog controls in some games
• Memcard Pro 2 doesn’t work via PSX Multitap
• Most SNAC adapters (such as the official Multisystem cartridge) don’t support enough voltage for the rumble motors
• Random controller dropouts in Gran Turismo 2 (can’t reproduce it, rebooting the console seemed to magically fix it)

[serene nebula]

Oh ok, sorry to hear friend

[dense wharf]

gotta check mine for rumble

[opal carbon]

Rumble works with the wrong voltage but it’s very weak

[dense wharf]

psx core no longer accurate :(

[serene nebula]

I used two shock packs tied to my arms and a dual shock while playing gran Turismo 2 rally racing lol

[opal carbon]

I am thinking of moving to a Retrocastle setup just so I can use their SNAC adapter since it seems to be the best PSX SNAC adapter

[dense wharf]

admittedly i never did think of putting a memcard pro 2 into a psx multitap

[opal carbon]

it sort of works if you also plug in USB power, but it fucks with the controller inputs

I have also found that PSOne controllers, PS2, and original Dualshocks all have slightly different behavior

TBH the PS2 controller seems like the most stable across the most situations but… I’m weird and prefer the DS1

So at this point I might just be going SNAX —> PS2 controller with virtual memory cards and just calling it

The MCP2 works amazing with the MiSTer with the custom PSX BIOS that sends GameID. My dream setup is to just be able to use a DS1 and the MCP2

But the only adapter I have with a memory cards slot is the Retrocastle adapter and it’s so janky to just have a bare PCB on the floor with cables running out of it

[serene nebula]

DS1 is better than DS2 anyways, no mushy analog buttons

[dense wharf]

the DS1 is better

yeah it doesnt have the funny buttons

[opal carbon]

And the DS1 “dualshock button” is easier to press than the PSOne models. And the sticks feel better to me but that might be placebo.

[serene nebula]

We support you and your platypus

[opal carbon]

I have learned I am very picky about controllers and I can’t tell if I feel proud of this or ashamed.

[serene nebula]

It’s neither a point of pride nor something to be shameful about. You just know you better than anyone else.

[dense wharf]

simply use the analogless ps1 controller and no snac issues!

[opal carbon]

I’ve considered this! But I am mostly playing Gran Turismo 2 and analog is really nice in that game.

Although all the license test demos are done with a digital pad which is funny.

[dense wharf]

driving games?!? with analog sticks???!?

on ps1 you're supposed to use negcon!

[opal carbon]

The Negcon was how I first discovered the analog issues

I’ve been using the Negcon with a Reflex Adapt on PC to play the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer. It’s amazing. My Reflex Adapt won’t work with most of my actual PSX controllers for some reason, but the Negcon works lol

I’m having a lot of Sony related controller issues in my life right now

Spent the last two years diving deep into Sega consoles and I think I pissed off the ghost of some Sony exec.

[hidden mist]

‎ 🎩

🧿👄🧿 ✨
‎ 🫴

[dense wharf]

thank you pissfingers

[hidden mist]

‎ 🎩

🧿👄🧿 ✨
‎ 🫴

[opal carbon]

WAT

[shut escarp]

I have one I use for my guncon setup and I like it well

[opal carbon]

Memory card support and the proper voltage for the DualShock motors is rare

If the retro castle adapter was in a nice case it would be perfect

[bright girder]

Strongly endorse that Retrocastle adapter as well, I second that it should be in a case. I desoldered off the dummy usb connecter on the back so it could plug straight into my mister whenever I use it.

[opal carbon]

I’m using USB extension cables for mine. I know it shouldn’t bother me but it do

Plus this machine gets used in a place where it will be on the floor in the path of human and animal foot traffic so having a janky PCB hanging off the front of the MiSTer feels extra bad.

[buoyant plinth]

Oh you totally should, plugging snacs directly into the MiSTer is a risky idea mechanically at the best of times

[opal carbon]

Its extensions so less worried about the MiSTer side and more worried about the Retrocastle PCB getting crunched

Just using a short USB 3.0 A male to female cable

[clear rock]

The Retrocastle SNAC adapter is the closest thing I have seen to the kind of adapter I want but it's weird memcard locations and bare PCB is a little off for me. I with I could find one two two controller ports and two memcard ports.

Is there any way I can wire an actual controller port assembly from a real PSX into a SNAC adapter? i have a broken old PSX and the controller/memcard port is just one assembly with a ribbon cable, is it possible to just wire that ribbon cable to a USB 3.0 plug to use as a SNAC adapter?

[serene nebula]

SNAC isn’t USB

[clear rock]

I know, but the SNAC ports on most MiSTers use a USB 3.0 plug, I didn't mean it was wired up like USB

[shut escarp]

I’ve seen ones like you’re describing

[serene nebula]

Oh ok, awesome.

[magic arch]

Are there any known issues caused by .CHD?

[mortal oracle]

Not if you convert to chd yourself and stay away from very high read speeds

Normal or moderate cd speeds are fine

[sinful bloom]

I thought .chd would save space but actually for my PS1 and Saturn library the compression cut like 12-15% of space and it was not worth it for my 2tb usb hdd

[mortal oracle]

It’s more like 50% for me I think. Depends what games you have though

Maybe saves 40%, but I think it was decent

[serene nebula]

I have a 512GB micro sd card and CHD is my lifeline

I have like every single game I could ever possibly want to play and then some and still have 80GB free thanks to CHD.

[waxen elk]

2tb SD card here. Chds allow me to fit in more games I'll never play

[somber steppe]

I'm superstitious so I don't use CHD anymore.

[clear rock]

Appatently it breaks disks with multiple indexes. Most consoles didn't use those (the psx core for example dosen't even support them even in bin/cue) but a few games on some consoles did. I managed to compress my PSX games from around 300GB down to about 150GB by turning them into CHD)

[mortal oracle]

#1046941029296779344 message

these games (Saturn)

[manic citrus]

I could probably come up with a mister specific metadata format for those and instructions on how to add them. unfortunately it requires re-compressing the chd since for some insane reason you can't add metadata to a compressed chd

[magic arch]

You would prolly want to try and put it into MAME, so we don’t end up with two different implementations when MAME eventually adds it on its own.

Then again, I don’t know how complicated MAME is, or if that’d be a headache in of itself.

[manic citrus]

mame has no interest in it

[opal carbon]

This is my dream: https://www.printables.com/model/390353-psx-snac-adapter-case-for-mms/files since I have a multi system but the instructions for this project are vague. It’s based on an open source SNAC board that can be wired correctly to support 7.5v and real memory cards but it’s all a bigger project than I’m willing to take on. Would probably pay someone $100 for that without blinking.

If I lose my job again I’ll look at this more seriously

[spring elk]

Oooh, that would be perfect for my MMS.

[opal carbon]

I’m bummed that the official MMS cart has neither memory card support nor proper 7.5v for rumble. I can’t get them to even confirm they intend to do 7.5v, they won’t respond on discord.

And my support ticket told me to go talk to heber

[spring elk]

Neil has pretty much washed his hands of all support related to the MMS... and ever since making it all open source, Heber I'm sure isn't far behind.

[opal carbon]

I was a big MMS supporter but since their new setup doesn’t have a proper SNAC port and you’re stuck with their carts so I’m not going to be upgrading

[spring elk]

It is now up to the community to come up with solutions, as far as I know.

Same here. I see no reason to upgrade mine, really. I've had the original since batch 1.

[opal carbon]

Yeah I’m not mad about any of it, they’re a small outfit and I’ve gotten more than my moneys worth from my MMS just a little disappointed.

I think not putting a SNAC port compatible with existing projects on the MMS2 is a big oversight personally

[forest trench]

There was also this one from Crown Arcade, but it appears it's no longer listed on their site:

it supported 7.5v as well

[waxen elk]

Just 105%ed Crash 3.

Fun games

[sinful bloom]

okay, which Platinum Relic was the worst?

[waxen elk]

I only needed gold actually

Every single under water and the Arabian fire bomb levels.

The coco water ski levels are always pretty fun.

[shut escarp]

Crown makes good stuff

[clear rock]

7.5v? So if I were to convert my actual PSX's controller ports to SNAC I would need more than to just re-pin it to the SNAC port?

[cosmic tulip]

Hes selling them on ebay

[opal carbon]

thank you! Ordered one

[cosmic tulip]

same

[opal carbon]

Too bad it needs an external PSU but at least I’ll know I’m getting 7.5v

Excited to use the MCP2 with my setup again!

[opal carbon]

Looks like there are two left and here is the link: https://ebay.us/m/v5aAU5

[opal carbon]

Yes if you want rumble to work properly. If you’re handy with electronics I suspect this project will get you squared away with everything you need: https://github.com/blue212/SNAC-PSX

This new adapter is reminding me about the other issue I’ve had with my MMS and SNAC: SNAX and the Retrocastle board only work when the SNAC jumper is set to 5v. I wonder if my MMS I just broken.

[opal carbon]

Is the Last Played / Recently Played script compatible with the MRA files generated by the Gamesmenu script? I'm trying to have it list recent PSX games in my library. Sometmes the ROM will show up in Recently Played but it won't actually load the game (boots to raw BIOS). Last Played seems to work as expected.

[waxen elk]

Anyone else having issues with dropped inputs or in some cases stuck inputs when playing CTR.

I have an 8 bitdo wireless controller (which very well could be the problem) and I'm noticing two different problems when I use it

Wireless using 8bitdo Bluetooth adapter: When steering occasionally it'll just stop turning like the analog is just randomly dropping out

Wired: Occasionally when doing a triple power slide, it feels like I get locked in to the direction. Almost like the analog stick is getting stuck in that direction

[serene nebula]

I’d try a different controller both wireless and wired to see if you have the same problem.

I had that issue but it turned out it was my wireless dongle.

[waxen elk]

I ended up updating the firmware for the dongle and controller. I THINK that fixed it. It certainly feels more responsive, but I've been wrong before

[waxen elk]

Also had to boot into windows to update it

[waxen elk]

Don't forget to properly chunk up your CTR time trial ghosts.

[mortal oracle]

Scary

[lusty coral]

PSX is still my favourite core on the mister. It handles the Resident Evil games and Silent Hill amazingly

And being able to turn off dithering, Silent Hill looks amazing.

[mortal oracle]

This should be a crime

The dithering is essential to the experience

||I’ve barely played Silent Hill||

[somber steppe]

It's amazing. Got all endings.

[mortal oracle]

I’m a scaredy cat

[somber steppe]

It's better the more scared you are.

[mortal oracle]

Took me like 27 years to build up the courage to finish resident evil 1

[somber steppe]

I played that as a kid.

DS version is best. 😎

[mortal oracle]

I also played it as a kid, but never got further than ||going outside||

If that tbh

[somber steppe]

You're a very sensitive and fragile young man.

[mortal oracle]

I couldn’t will up the courage. Too much tension with the creepy music, visuals, limited everything

tbh I think I played it too young

[somber steppe]

No such thing.

[mortal oracle]

So I was almost conditioned to be scared after that

My parents didn’t pay attention to age ratings on games so I probably played it when I was like 7

[somber steppe]

I have older siblings so I watched and played a lot of shit I wasn't supposed to. You grow into it.

[mortal oracle]

I was the oldest. Nobody older to protect me or let me watch

I watched my older cousin once, it was less scary that way

But being alone playing it

[somber steppe]

You have such a wrong perception of what having older siblings is like. They don't protect you from scary movies. They make you watch it and laugh their asses off.

[mortal oracle]

That lightens the mood

[lusty coral]

It was the opposite for me. Id be watching my grandad

He would write down all the codes and solutions too on paper for his next playthrough

[somber steppe]

Watch him play resident evil on the game.com?

[lusty coral]

Unfortunately not. Why do you think I haven't beat it on the Gamecom. I'm too scared

I feel like the black and white 1 frame screen adds to the horror

[mortal oracle]

I want to finish RE2, 3 and Silent Hill at some point

[lusty coral]

3 is my favourite followed by Code Veronica

[mortal oracle]

I’ve repeatedly bought RE games and then never played them because I hadn’t finished the previous ones - including 3 and CV 😅

[somber steppe]

If CV was that good it'd be on mister. 😎

[lusty coral]

Wow

Just to prove I do own RE2 on the gamecom

For any Gamecom disbelievers out there.

[lusty coral]

I'm actually offended

[somber steppe]

I said what I said.

[shut escarp]

I'm offended at RE2 on game.com

[mortal oracle]

If the MiSTer had DC and PS2 support it would be perfect

[lusty coral]

What is strange is that it uses the NTSC artwork. Even in pal land.

I think the Gamecom released in the UK?

[mortal oracle]

I feel like I had one, briefly

[somber steppe]

Y u h8 gc? 😭

[mortal oracle]

I like the GC

I just didn’t want to be greedy 😅

[somber steppe]

MiSTer is the essence of greed.

All platforms caught in a tiny box.

[mortal oracle]

If the MiSTer had the DC, Xbox, GC and PS2, it would be perfect

[rapid garden]

this baby has so many game consoles shoved into its little cyclone chip

[somber steppe]

https://tenor.com/view/whoa-mr-grooberson-paul-rudd-ghostbusters-afterlife-dropped-it-gif-19668692

[serene nebula]

lol yeah, it’s pretty hilarious

[mortal oracle]

I was awful to my brother. I remember watching The Ring with my parents, and he was just a kid and somehow ended up watching some of the movie…

As soon as it ended I called our house phone with my mobile

He was so scared, it was the funniest thing ever to me at the time 😂

[spring elk]

Yeah, looking back, I'm downright ashamed of all the crap I put my younger brother through when we were kids.
He turned out okay though... I think. 🤔 🤷‍♂️

[mortal oracle]

But still I believe @somber steppe’s siblings protected him from the mean zombies in resident evil

[somber steppe]

No.

You're just a scaredy cat.

[mortal oracle]

I am also that

[zinc jungle]

Anybody got a compatibility list?

[abstract drift]

there isn't one - its compatible with everything except the issues here

[zinc jungle]

Oh neat

Well, one other question would be

I got a digital Multisystem 2, so I don't have a choice outside of a reflex adapter

I guess my question is if anyone here has used Bemani controllers with it

Reflex Adapter.

Oh I CHECKED

YEEEEAAAHHH!!

Nvm.

[lilac scaffold]

Richard/Heber mentioned a 'cart' to add a standard user io/SNAC port to the MMS2 too

bit of a bummer its not there by default, seems like a cool design

oh my bad, the digital MMS2 doesnt support the 'carts'
that's odd, regular digital IO boards support the user IO port

[zinc jungle]

Im working around it lol

[wanton crown]

I have a bug report to make :
first video is on a real psx, sound never stutters :

Second video below is from the mister psx core (latest stable release), and sound stutters typically when changing screens (by changing map or opening the menu as I do here) :

Here is the save file if you want to reproduce, pick the 3rd slot (the one with the highest playtime), and use the NTSC-U version of FF VIII's cd4

I'm just using a perfectly fine .bin/.cue (hash checked) directly on the mister

[manic citrus]

are you using analog out or direct video?

[wanton crown]

analog out

I noticed it because I did the full playthrough on my real psx, then switched to mister for gathering all the missing cards, and when backtracking in Ultimecia's castle I noticed something was wrong on my hear, and double checked against my real psx

[manic citrus]

can you upload your MiSter.ini here?

[wanton crown]

I didn't mention it but it pretty much happens on every screen with some sound, not just Ultimecia's castle (at first I thought it could be related to the number of polygons to draw because in some places FF8 's fps really drop, on a real console or not)

[manic citrus]

highly suspect it is due to direct_video=1

let me try to reproduce

[wanton crown]

I can change it real quick and test too
but yea I used this mister with both a retrotink 4K and my crt, hence why some values are left "dangling" but I did it on purpose, as I thought if you were using the analog board the direct_video=1 would be ignored anyway

@manic citrus you were right, I can't reproduce it anymore with direct_video=0

problem fixed I guess ?

[manic citrus]

it still has to update the hdmi registers via i2c, and it does it on resolution change. I have a potential fix for it but long ago someone thought this was an issue and then when I fixed it said 'oh nevermind I changed my switch and that was it' but perhaps it was not

[wanton crown]

would be nice to have a fix for that but not really urgent

I don't think you can change backgrounds without direct_video=1 ?

since some updates the background on mister is a bit glitchy on CRTs (menu is ok, just the background)
I don't remember if direct_video=1 is also required to display scripts output properly on CRT

[manic citrus]

it is, although it's not really intentional just sort of a byproduct of how dv is implemented

[wanton crown]

alright, thanks for solving my issue anyway

[somber steppe]

I feel like that someone was me. 😅

[manic citrus]

hah maybe?

[somber steppe]

Deffo had sound cutting due to a shitty hdmi switch and also desync from time to time on 240p->480i transitions. If other people still notice issues pls don't stop fixing them because of me, I'm pretty dumb. 😅

[manic citrus]

well the first time around I couldn't hear it, but with this game I can! so that helps

[abstract drift]

disabling pause core on slow-cd can help with some audio dropouts

[opal carbon]

Interesting. So some games have audio stutter when using direct video?

I just got a tink 4k and was going to start playing with it.

[manic citrus]

yes, but now that I have a reproducible case I can fix it

[somber steppe]

I believe in Zakk! ||don't forget to make a dualram build with the fix! ||

[tropic stratus]

this sounds more like a fix in mister main, caused by recalculating the HDMi parameters on resolution switch?

In any case, thank you so much for looking into it!

[chilly kraken]

Zakk loves direct video bugs

[wanton crown]

glad my FF8 playthrough could bring something useful to mister

[opal carbon]

As a person who plans on doing an FF8 play through on MiSTer I appreciate all of this!

[abstract drift]

yeah thanks for looking into it again zakk

i never notice these things myself but it bothers me knowing they exist anyway lol

[wanton crown]

I never did FF8 before because most people say it's not a good final fantasy, just never listen to anyone it's in my top 3 FF games now

[abstract drift]

there are no truly bad FF games, at least on PSX

[opal carbon]

I find that a lot of my favorite games are the entry in the series nobody likes.

[wanton crown]

FF8 surely is one of the weirdest FF game I've played though, I guess it's why it can be a big hit or a miss

[somber steppe]

I'd say up to and including psx

[abstract drift]

try possibly the actual worst FF game, that weird PSP action(?) game with vincent as the lead guy

i think it has a ps2 port also

[wanton crown]

that was a PS2 game only iirc

Dirge of Cerberus

[abstract drift]

you're probably right its been 84 years since i thought about that game heh

[coral lichen]

I've seen a lot of longtime rpg fans play final fantasy viii using their spells in common battles

im convinced a majority of people who don't like it don't realize they're supposed to stock magic and they get beat down and begin to dislike it

[abstract drift]

even if you did realize that the drawing mechanic is boring

[opal carbon]

I remember the summons being really broken too

Which I don’t see as a negative

[wanton crown]

the game is completely overwhelming at first, too many things to read and learn, but once you do, and if you do enjoy it of course, you're set for our of the best final fantasy ever imo
but I can totally understand people who dislike it

[coral lichen]

I think the drawing made finding new creatures interesting because you had to check and see what magic they all had

and then later in the game you draw more spells, but early game it is tedious if you want to stock up

[abstract drift]

yeah they should of just made it so 1 draw gives 99 whatevers or something

[wanton crown]

exactly, and when you discover you can transform them into cards and recycle those cards into magic... the rabbit hole starts

[abstract drift]

you can probably apply a cheat for that actually

[coral lichen]

but if you just sit there and stock spells the second you get to the overworld for an hour then you can coast through the game pretty easy, so thats probably why you only get a couple early on

[wanton crown]

I'm so deep in the rabbit hole I'm writing an AI to play Triple Triad, it's not that easy to make one, I counted that there are roughly 3 billion (totally problem-dependent) outcomes for a single duel, can't bruteforce

it's an upper-bound estimation though

[coral lichen]

yeah triple triad was interesting, I do play periodically but im garbage and lose my cards and never looked too deep into how to not suck

but I like there's multiple ways to power up in that game

[dawn axle]

FF8 is the kind of game that will punish you for trying to min-max and over level, not unlike FF2. When you just play the game “normally” it’s a lot more enjoyable

[wanton crown]

ahah yea, and keep in mind it's an AI running on PS1. I wouldn't go as far as spending probably a hundred hours decompiling the Triple Triad AI on ps1, but they surely have some good heuristics going on

sometimes the AI "forks" (in a chess manner) you (well it doesn't need to go that deep in its tree search to find it, but still)

[abstract drift]

are you sure it isn't just playing randomly

[wanton crown]

pretty sure it's not

[abstract drift]

there's probably a 50k word text file with no paragraph breaks written in 1998 on gamefaqs that deconstructs it entirely

there's a very similar card game in FF9 if you're enjoying that aspect and want more btw

[wanton crown]

I found that to be mostly untrue, yes if you JUST keep leveling without getting better magic, you'll feel punished, but you just gotta understand leveling is mostly pointless, can be useful to get some better stats but that's it.
People who say you must complete the game at the lowest level you can are totally wrong, there are level 100 (fixed) enemies like the ultimate optional boss, and some enemies on the world map at a specific place.

[wanton crown]

yea I finished FF9 completely on mister, the card game isn't as good as FF8 imho and isn't even very rewarding compared to FF8

[abstract drift]

nice

[coral lichen]

you can just turn the enemies into cards and not level im pretty sure

[abstract drift]

probably the most annoying/obtuse mechanic in ff8 is that SEED rank thing with the salary or whatever

[dawn axle]

oh yeah, I meant more just grinding for hours drawing magic. the "punishment" is that broken characters take away any challenge left. but agreed, leveling is the best way to get some of the best magic anyways

[wanton crown]

yea but doing that (changing enemy into card) on every encounter can be ennoying (you can the option to nullify random encounters pretty early if you wish so though), I'd say just farm magic, but not exp, and you'll be good, doesn't matter if you take a lot of exp or get some exp there and there as long as you take care of your magic stocks

[coral lichen]

seed rank isn't complicated, just don't use summons

[abstract drift]

it also has a bunch of conditions on that first mission

though maybe it is limited to that

[coral lichen]

idk if there's any special bonus to the first mission but its pretty much just don't run from battles and don't use your gf's - the seeds have to get the kills or it doesn't count

as soon as you stock enough magic your regular attack is about as strong as a summon anyway

[abstract drift]

i think you have to find some NPCs and must defeat the spider boss before leaving

it is entirely optional though afaik it doesn't do anything but give you money

[coral lichen]

Now I want to replay it. I've been wanting to play X but MiSTer is the only thing I have hooked up right now.

I never played IX, so maybe I should just start chipping away at that. 10 year old me snubbed the fantasy setting having only played 7 and 8.

[abstract drift]

9 is really good

[chilly kraken]

9 is good

[mortal oracle]

I’ve heard many people say good things about 9

[somber steppe]

1-9 are good.

But 9 is among the best.

[mortal oracle]

I’ve heard 6-9 are the best of the best

[serene nebula]

Is 9 good?

[wanton crown]

yea 9 is highly regarded, my top is probably FFX > FF8 > FF9 > FF7 > FF6

[surreal raft]

9 was really good i liked it more than 7

i will probably never play 8 unless i mod it on pc to get rid of the junction system

and this is 0 nostalgia involved because i only recently played 9 for the first time and i played 7 around 7 years ago maybe

[somber steppe]

The junction system isn't that bad. Since the game is pretty easy and you only have to really engage with it from time to time.

What's the common opinion on the ffx sphere grid? I'm not really a fan of it but I think it's kinda funny how every time square tried to get away from a traditional level system like in ff2, ff8 and ffx they just made it worse.

[digital zinc]

The junction system has an auto mode, you can pretty much almost completely ignore it and be just fine.

[dense wharf]

the sphere grid is really cool

[wanton crown]

sphere grid is really nice, and you can even beat the game without it (not recommended for a first playthrough at all)

[chilly kraken]

I will always be a X boi

[serene nebula]

Was 9 good, anyone play it?

[wanton crown]

X is very hard to top for me, it was my first Final Fantasy on the ps2, the universe, the clothes, the background, the music, really insane

[opal carbon]

I really want to play X but the remasters are awful and my PS2 isn’t set up yet

[wanton crown]

we just answered that after your last message

[opal carbon]

I played it when it came out but never finished it

[wanton crown]

beware that HD remaster of FFX has changed the faces, and not for the good lol

[serene nebula]

pardon me, was just being a goof

but thank you

[opal carbon]

Yeah I bought the X remaster and started it this year. Thought to myself “I remember this game looking a LOT better” and then learned about the faces and returned the game.

I can’t think of a game with a remaster that bad

[wanton crown]

agreed

[opal carbon]

Imagine all the people that had to sign off on those faces

I know you can mod it but screw that

[digital zinc]

The game is great and has some of my all time favourite and most memorable characters of any FF game, except the story is paced terribly IMO, they back-load it heavily, far more than any other FF game I've played.

[wanton crown]

back in highschool it was the time where I would start checking video game websites and hope for news about a FFX remaster, and when it finally came, I was so sad that they butchered the graphics.
But not everyone agrees on this though (some prefer the HD remaster somehow lol...), but to me it's unforgiveable

[opal carbon]

I am usually a “people can like what they like” but I can’t fathom thinking the remaster looks better.

And I am fine with some pretty half assed remasters (Chrono Cross)

[wanton crown]

I can only agree ...

[opal carbon]

It looks so much worse in motion

[wanton crown]

it's also funny seeing people discover the PS2 graphics when they only did the HD remaster

I've seen a few people I know going "wow!"

[opal carbon]

Yeah X looked insane when it came out on PS2

Truly felt next gen

And I think it has aged pretty well, so WHY DO THIS REMASTER?

[wanton crown]

yea I went crazy over the game back then, too bad I was stuck at a certain boss, was too young and only RPG I knew was Pokemon so I played FFX badly

since then I've beaten the game without sphere grid, and even combining no sphere grid, overdrives, no flee, no aeons ... very very hard

[opal carbon]

It just came out during a time when I was doing more stuff outside of the house so I stalled out on it at some point and never returned. Really looking forward to a fresh playthrough once I get a PS2 set up, probably later this year.

I have only recently really started finishing games anyway. Back then the only JRPGs I actually finished were Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and FF7

Serial dabbler

[wanton crown]

ah yes I really need to play Chrono Trigger and cross, also xenogears

[opal carbon]

I’m really happy to see Cross getting a small resurgence. It’s probably my fav JRPG

[wanton crown]

I know someone who's easily done 1000+, maybe even 2000 games in his lifetime so far, and Chrono Trigger is his top 1

[opal carbon]

I get why people like Trigger more but I love Cross and would choose it over Trigger if I was only allowed to play one.

Also started Radical Dreamers this year and am really enjoying it, need to go out to the woods and just finish it in a sitting I think.

Also don’t sleep on Vagrant Story if you haven’t done that yet. I’m playing it for the first time and it’s sooooo interesting.

[wanton crown]

ahah yes it's on my list as well, but I'll be doing FF4 on the SNES on the mister now that I'm done with FF8

original version, japanese script, hope I'll like it

[opal carbon]

Vagrant Story has the best graphics on PS1. I cannot believe they made a game look like that with that hardware.

Just boot it up and watch the intro

[wanton crown]

interesting, I thought FF9 had the best graphics

but I can see Vagrant story being at the top as well

[opal carbon]

Totally different vibe but Vagrant Story feels a generation ahead to me. FF9 feels like good art design but feels like a PS1 game to me.

[somber steppe]

Your ntsc yuna is gorgeous. I grew up with pal pancake face yuna, so the hd remake at least alleviated that.

[mortal oracle]

First time I’ve seen a comparison of the graphics. You just saved me buying the remaster

I don’t follow the rereleases

[wanton crown]

same, played PAL, but since then I got the means to play all stuff in NTSC

[mortal oracle]

Why did they change her face?

[wanton crown]

there are very recent mods that fix the faces on the remaster, but everything else stays the same, your choice
https://www.reddit.com/r/finalfantasyx/comments/1ghy7qa/comment/lv0ww1y/

I just stick to ps2 because I never bought the remaster and don't want to support such a poorly made product, but not everyone still has a ps2 nor as the will to mod the official network/drive adapter for sata and all

[mortal oracle]

Thanks. I’ll probably stick to the original versions because mods just seem like more hassle to me 😅

[wanton crown]

yea, I don't like the "there are mods" argument for poorly made products

[opal carbon]

I’m using it as a north star to motivate me to build out a PS2

Kind of like how Panzer Dragoon Saga being crazy expensive was a north star to get me to build a Saturn and start my retro game hobby. (Funny story I still haven’t played it yet!)

[wanton crown]

how's the saturn core these days ?

[opal carbon]

I hear it’s nearly perfect

[wanton crown]

looking at you Grandia

[opal carbon]

I think that Grandia has some graphical glitches

Oh nm it looks like MisterPi and not all MisterPi: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/355

[wanton crown]

will try

[opal carbon]

I have a Saturn with a MODE, a Saturn with a SAROO, and a Fenrir Lite on preorder so I haven’t really needed the core yet.

But srg320 is a hero

[wanton crown]

I went into the ODE rabbit hole a while ago, and still own all of them (ps1, n64, gamecube...) but sold my SNES with my evedrive since the snes core is perfect to me
Saturn was probably going to be my last purchase but since I got mister I'm just waiting for it to be good enough

[opal carbon]

I had built my Saturn before the core came out, else I would do the same thing.

[wanton crown]

man back then if someone told me there was no need for a PSIO, and neither (arguably) a Xstation because PSX core was going to be a thing on mister... would have saved some money

[cosmic tulip]

There's mods now that restore the og faces I believe

[opal carbon]

I may still build an ODE setup because I am shockingly good at finding corner cases, lol

Waiting for the mStation

[wanton crown]

kind of same, mstation will be the killer

but I have come to the conclusion that psx core is enough, even for a purist like me

I still can't let go of my hardware though

[opal carbon]

Yeah I think the same is true for me

Especially if my Crown Arcade SNAC adapter shows up this week and works as advertised.

But PSX hardware is cheap so I’m curious about the mStation. My main issue is that I have been spoiled by 1G1R libraries and none of the ODEs support CHDs lol

I know most people don’t want to deal with libraries that big though

[wanton crown]

yea I just connect to my mister using ftp and import the games I need, so I just use raw formats

[surreal raft]

i too feel of the 3 ps1 rpg 9 looked nicest to me

[cosmic tulip]

I think Mister, Mednafen and duckstation covers most of what I want

[surreal raft]

currently playing Grandia 2 on DC for first time and enjoying it

[cosmic tulip]

waiting on mine too

[surreal raft]

i should ask in saturn channel if Grandia 1 runs well on the core

because i heard saturn version best for 1

and i dont want to buy a saturn for 1 game

[chilly kraken]

it still has the flickering problem

for some folks

pretty sure there is a save on that issue if you want to test it on your machine

[opal carbon]

Sounds like Grandia is one of the few games where having dual ram is helpful

[somber steppe]

I got dualram for grandia specifically.

[opal carbon]

That’s another thing that I’m not thrilled about my Multisystem for, no dual ram option.

[opal carbon]

Hmm. Wonder if I can rig up N8n to auto convert saves from Retroarch to my Memcard Pro 2 and keep everything in sync. MiSTer is my preferred console but I do play PSX on my iPad from time to time.

[lusty coral]

I know I spoke about this before but is there like a way to maybe put in a request, suggestion or even a bounty?

Id love to see some sort of frame cap you can enable. There's quite a few games that just have an inconsistent framerate. Even when using the 2xcpu aswell as turbo mode. If we take Duke Nukem Time to Kill for example. I reckon the game could run a lot better with a 30fps frame cap on it. Without it the frame rate hits around 40 and drops consistently. I know the frame rate cap was not on original hardware and the framerates that games have are intentional. I just thought it might be a good experimental feature

[somber steppe]

Afaik this would need to be implemented on a per game basis.

Like a romhack.

[lusty coral]

Ah interesting

[solar fable]

If someone can give me the save states and everything else I need, I'll try to find a board that has this issue and send it to SRG.

[manic citrus]

I don't think it is a mister pi issue, it happens on normal de10s too

[solar fable]

I can just help by giving him hardware that has the issue at default DDR clocks. He doesn't have a board that can make it happen 😓

[lusty coral]

I don't even think a save state is needed. Just try the single ram Saturn core and boot up Grandia. The flickering is at the start if I remember correctly.

[somber steppe]

Yeah the flicker is at the very start after the anime sequence. Probably still helpful to make a savestate since that sequence runs for like 2 minutes. The background flickers on and off in the throne room scene after that. I also heard there is the same issue later in a museum (?). Didn't play that far.

Had the same issue on a de10 nano and was completely fixed when I switched to dualram.

[mortal oracle]

But this is on the Saturn core where state states aren’t an option

Not sure why it’s being discussed in here 😅

NB: you can use a normal save though, if that saves time

[manic dirge]

Same with Chrono Trigger. DS version is the best one. It's essentially the PSX port with the beautiful FMV cutscenes, but without the shitty load times.

[scenic reef]

DS version has inferior audio compared to SNES and the added content is almost a distraction that tries to retcon Chrono Cross's story in. I still think the DS version is the 2nd best though personally.

The new steam version and the PSX version are both pretty bad lol

[manic dirge]

I'm so glad that Chrono Cross got a remaster after all these years... Now we just need a "2D-HD" remake of Chrono Trigger.

I'm one of the weirdos that likes Cross over Trigger, but I played Cross first on my PSX.

[scenic reef]

I hope they leave poor Chrono trigger alone. It doesn't need any remake. It just needs an accurate release and not the mobile-port nonsense they've done to it

[manic dirge]

The mobile port was abysmal as hell

Even the steam version is poopoo

[scenic reef]

And that's what the steam version was, is a version of the mobile port

[manic dirge]

Makes sense.

I was reading further up, someone said playing Silent Hill without the dithering was a crime, and I kinda have to agree. But having the texture filtering on helps a bunch and makes the game look slightly better without really altering how it feels.

Playing it on a PS2 with texture filtering on is the best experience I've had so far.

[serene nebula]

Chrono trigger experts, wha about the iOS version?

[mortal oracle]

The correct answer is to use the version that runs on MiSTer

[cosmic tulip]

So snes or playstation?

[mortal oracle]

As long as it’s on MiSTer, it doesn’t matter

But the correct answer is SNES

[somber steppe]

As an RPG Adonis I agree with this.

[mortal oracle]

It is settled

[opal carbon]

Didn’t they eventually patch the Steam / mobile version to make the text at least not look like comic sans?

[opal carbon]

Tbh I think the original art style is so strong that just a nicely upscale version with some quality of life features, the cutscenes, the original music, and none of the fuckery. I’ve never engaged with the extra content so I don’t know if it’s trash but trust folks on here so maybe skip that.

[cosmic tulip]

no

There are mods I think though

People consider The Best Version to be DS for some reason

[opal carbon]

I did all my time on the SNES version but was going to likely revisit the DS version this year. Didn’t know about the music being worse that would be a dealbreaker for me.

The extra content seems skippable but music > cutscenes.

Portability does increase my chances of beating a game though.

I remember the PSX version’s load times on real hardware back in the day and it felt like a sick joke.

And I was verrrrry patient in those days. I beat the awful PC port of FF7 with the memory leak that would make scene transitions take minutes.

Clearly we need a DF Retro episode on Chrono Trigger

Oh right the translation is different between the SNES and DS version. Frog speaks totally different. Hard pass.

[vestal thicket]

You have less resolution on the DS too so it's kind of zoomed in. DS being the best I think comes from all the extra content and for awhile (early 2010's) you could pick it up for like 10 dollars EVERYWHERE. They made a bajillion copies of the game so it was easy to get. I think the DS is a solid version but I wouldn't put it above SNES. Cutscenes are cool but there are MSU1 mods for that. If you have a DS and want to play it mobile though there is nothing wrong with the DS version.

Chrono Cross's HD remake is...awful. It's a really low-effort port. Mister with the turbo core is a cool way to play it but the original PSX release is still the best, IMO.

[scenic reef]

still has all the weird texture problems, the tiles for the map are basically textures in this version and them forcing widescreen lead to a bunch of weird corrupted looking mismatched tiles

scaling algorithm they used is trash too

[opal carbon]

Why is this so hard for them

[scenic reef]

different pixel scaling for menus/text versus background is jarring too and looks wrong

[scenic reef]

because they just loaned out the job to some dark developer probably that does trashy mobile games

no effort

no feedback from the community considered

[opal carbon]

I know the prevailing theory is that Cross getting a Switch port before Trigger means that some full remake is happening but I wonder if Square just doesn’t care about Trigger and thinks it’s “done”

[manic dirge]

I read that one of the Square people accidentally hinted at Trigger getting a remake.

So there's still hope.

[opal carbon]

Maybe it’ll be a 6 part remake eclipsing what they’re doing for 7

(I liked the first part of the 7 remake, haven’t gotten far in the second part, but it’s all very silly)

[vestal thicket]

I could see Chrono Trigger getting a HD2D remake similar to something like DQ3. I think it'd fit the game well and the art style. Hopefully it's not a reimagining like FF7, I don't think the game needs that at all. Just make a new Chrono game if that's what you want to do.

What sucks is I am sure the sales of Chrono Cross HD are pretty poor. They see that and think no one wants Chrono games, or at least not Cross instead of seeing the truth in that no one wants a complete garbage port that's inferior to the original in most every way.

[dense wharf]

i think chrono trigger should get a faithful remaster without the weird issues , hd-2d remakes usually have a bizarre look to them

[somber steppe]

Yeah but tbf it's always a weird thing when they put a sequel on a platform but not the first part. And I was planning to pick up chrono cross on switch at some point but on switch 2 it's not available on the eshop, so rip.

[opal carbon]

I thought the port was fine honestly. I turned off the weird new graphics, but I beat it before they added the “smoothness” patch and was satisfied with it overall. Honestly was just happy they didn’t mess with it too much and including Radical Dreamers was more than I could have hoped for.

[opal carbon]

It’s apparently one of the few games that isn’t fully compatible with Switch 2 but nobody is quite sure what the issue is. Hopefully they’ll patch it soon and re-list it for Switch 2.

[somber steppe]

Yeah, even Borderlands 3 isn't available for purchase right now. I already contacted a dev of Borderlands 4 but he just keeps ignoring me.

[mortal oracle]

Lazy devs, amirite?

[manic citrus]

I bet he's just staring at himself in a mirror

[somber steppe]

Like a parrot?

Probably.

[mortal oracle]

Do parrots flex?

[empty yacht]

does robby?

[manic dirge]

The 7 remake pisses me off.
I just want to play the entire remake (all installments and DLC) on ONE console. I bought a PS4 Pro exactly for playing the FF7 Remake.
But us PS4 Pro users only got the first game, and then the PS5 launched. We didn't even get the first DLC on PS4 Pro, and now the next installments have been put on PS5. Is the game going to conclude on PS5, or will I have to get a PS6 just to play through the entire "remake" of 7? It's ridiculous.

Golden Sun's trilogy pulled the same bullshit, first 2 games on GBA, 3rd game on DS. Halo's trilogy is fractured too, first 2 games on OG Xbox, 3rd game on 360. Metroid Prime 1 and 2 were on GameCube. 3 was on Wii. I want game devs to keep a trilogy on one damn system.

[hidden mist]

‎ 🎩

🧿👄🧿 ✨
‎ 🫴

[abstract drift]

the console you are looking for is called PC

[manic dirge]

As much as I love my PC, I don't prioritize it for gaming.

[abstract drift]

fair i was half trolling

i'm waiting for them to finish it then do the superDX we stitched it all together version then i'll play it

[manic dirge]

I'd love that, having to buy one copy of the game for like $120 or something with all parts, all DLC, etc. I'd be down.

[somber steppe]

The 7 remake isn't even a remake. It's like it wants to be anything but ff7. Different gameplay and different ||story||. Also golden sun was pretty finished with the lost age. The ds game is pretty bad imo and not worth it.

[opal carbon]

The first installment of the FF7 remake took 5 years to make. Pick any 5 year stretch on this chart and feel what I feel

[spark ermine]

Can't wait for 2030 for the ff7 remake to be complete

[opal carbon]

For example, VI - VIII came out in the same period of time

I think modern games are fun but WTF is going on with dev cycles??

(I know there are devs in this channel and I am not trying to criticize anyone, it’s just a big change and I am confused!)

[manic dirge]

True, 5 years for the first installment is acceptable and understandable... But 2nd and 3rd installments should be quicker because you already have a ton of assets done, the engine is done, main character models are done for the most-part... It's not like they have to start each installment from scratch, they have a foundation to start from and should take 2 to 3 years for each one.

I don't think that's too much to ask.

[somber steppe]

Focus on graphics not on gameplay. I don't even know who ff13, 15 and 16 are for tbh.