Sega Saturn

[analog totem]

ha! No, I actually hadn’t: I’ve really only been doing it when I have a few minutes to actually try playing a game for at least 5 minutes before I mark as playable

[jagged quartz]

I'm actually surprised that isn't a part of the MiSTers turbo setting flow: Off, Turbo, On.

Eh, trifles...

[naive whale]

I think MiSTer Kun just silently judges us all

[frail token]

More than slightly

That's 4k RTX MiSTer Kun lol

[gloomy hedge]

lm,ao

[gloomy hedge]

"I bet that guys ram fuckin SUCKS" - misterkun

[naive whale]

🤣

[mortal mist]

new core - soon 🙂

[shadow merlin]

a fix for clicks!

[mortal mist]

yeess 🍻

[shadow merlin]

Sound is definitely improved, for example in Bulk Slash you would often get a loud "pffffft" sound when starting the game or picking up the navigators and that doesn't happen anymore

There's still some sound issues here and there though. After Burner's sound faded out eventually and had some clicks when starting

[mortal mist]

I'm more afraid of uneven volume levels 😄

recently after the changes , when I turned on Virtual On I thought my speakers would explode

sounds of battle , explosions give a lot of overdrive

[shadow merlin]

Yeah, that’s the risk you run 😅

I tried out Hellslave as it seems to push the Saturn hard and that has constant clipping explosions and graphical bugs

[quick sorrel]

Gonna check Elevator Action Returns and Radiant Silvergun

[quick sorrel]

I’ve been running the core’s volume 3 clicks lower and adjusting the receivers volume as needed;)

[ripe valley]

OutRun is fixed, flame in Burning Rangers NOT fixed.

[wise brook]

the lack of pop and vine boom sounds makes Sakura Wars appear all but perfect

[sacred goblet]

I can't wait trying this New release After work for sound progress !

[wise brook]

original Daytona has a click here and there

[ripe valley]

I head some clicks on Astal and Asuka 120% earlier too.

[wise brook]

this is the audio side coming into the final stretch methinks

[wise brook]

Astal has an additional quirk I've noticed compared to original hardware

after the bird in level 1

the bgm... duplicates itself? I think is the best way to describe it

but

it happens on original hardware too

however on a real saturn it corrects itself after a few seconds

[ripe valley]

I've heard it, but the sound doesn't correct itself after some seconds.

That's why I've opened the issue, as I don't see where the problem is on the code at the moment.

[burnt matrix]

Is it too early to start feeling nostalgic for the audio pops? My Saturn games no longer sound like old-timey records. 😭

[ancient surge]

Sorry grandpa, the future is NOW!

[analog totem]

oooh new build and I’m getting my Reflex adapter today looks like more testing is in order!

[unkempt kelp]

Woo!

[sudden tusk]

Oh snap the horrible audio clipping on shinning force III might be fixed!

Goddang that game is good

[burnt matrix]

HOT TIP:

Rename the latest unstable build to Saturn_20231018 and overwrite the rbf in _Console to avoid having multiple Saturn cores and for Update_All to not overwrite the unstable core.

[ripe valley]

Elevator Action sounds are worse now, newer clicks and pops on top of others already known (when the building is destroyed).

No change on Assault Suits Leynos 2.

Pops when reading a CDDA track are present, that's only for some games on other sound effects.

[mortal mist]

yes, no change for cdda

[ripe valley]

I don't have any new issue tickets to open today (from my test pool), but I can't seem to close any of them either.

[kindred peak]

Whoa. Robby with the no troll info. 😃

Good call out. Thanks!

[tight mica]

@naive whale

[naive whale]

Ooh fun. Thanks for the ping!

If anyone finds any fundamental new improvements @ me so I can get em in a vid 🙂

[tight mica]

Yeah sorry, accidental. BTW thanks for the reply yesterday. You have a lot of fans out there, I'm glad it hasn't inflated your ego. I've seen a few people who got some notoriety and they change.

[naive whale]

Haha I have no ego. Just a burning desire to drag @burnt matrix 🤣

But for real I try to answer everyone who takes the time to comment or ask anything. Least I can do!

[kindred peak]

First time you and Robby meet at a convention or something, I fully expect a tear-filled hug that lingers just a little too long.

Sorry... I ship you both in my FPGA head canon.

[tall radish]

yeah their bromance is getting cringe for sure.

[naive whale]

RoBmance 🤣

[tall radish]

Yeah I don't really care who strokes who. I'm into real women, like Riley Gaines. 🤣

[tall radish]

Loved that show as a kid. Of course shes in Night Trap. Which is videogame related 🙂

[urban lagoon]

heya all is there an LLAPI version of saturn I can download?

[unkempt kelp]

https://tenor.com/view/starwars-obi-wan-now-thats-a-name-ive-not-heard-in-along-time-gif-11814407

Haha I don't think there is an LLAPI build for Saturn.

[tawny forge]

Oh no, not the LLAPI dance again!

[unkempt kelp]

@urban lagoon this looks like the entire LLAPI core list

https://github.com/MiSTer-LLAPI/LLAPI_folder_MiSTer/tree/main/_LLAPI

[tall radish]

No, there is no saturn llapi. Don't hold your breath. We still don't have the new Nuked genesis core in llapi. Hopefully I am wrong, but it's been how many months now?

[unkempt kelp]

The perils of forks. It's hard to keep up over time. I think the builds are automated now but new cores require effort.

[pearl harbor]

It's Saturnday!

[sacred goblet]

What is llapi?

[unkempt kelp]

Exactly

[burnt matrix]

I actually don't know myself but this answer is perfect LOL

[wise brook]

to quote Bob from RetroRGB, "it's a failed project"

[unkempt kelp]

LLAPI stands for "Low Latency API". It was a protocol created that's somewhere in between SNAC and USB. Back then, MiSTer didn't have fast polling USB. Shortly after LLAPI was created, we got fast USB, along with measurements that kind of put LLAPI in an awkward spot. It has always been a fork.

[burnt matrix]

Thank you for explaining it! Ignorant question here but why do people keep it maintained? Shouldn’t it just be retired to eliminate controller protocol confusion.

[unkempt kelp]

The only product that uses it is BlisSTer and Ricardo still sells it.

[tranquil mulch]

That was a really great explanation

[unkempt kelp]

It was one of the first external repos added to update_all

So it lives on 🙂

[tranquil mulch]

A zombie!

[unkempt kelp]

BlisSTer can do regular USB or LLAPI so it's still useful to many. I sold the first round of it and also designed the PCB case for it, then passed the files to Ricardo when I discontinued it from my shop.

[frail token]

How do I know this one but not you

[burnt matrix]

Cause you’ve been here longer and are wiser.

[frail token]

I have?

Are you new

[stiff patrol]

Sunk Cost Fallacy

[burnt matrix]

Oh yeah, I’m going through that with my Pi 5

I’m kidding lol, it’s a cool mini pc

[stiff patrol]

its a cool thing but it isnt a mini pc

[burnt matrix]

oh yeah, well I named it “Mini PC”, top that smart guy!

||it’s my ad free YouTube and mister management device||

[tight mica]

She's awesome

[tawdry lion]

Is it possible for personal reasons to add the unstable Saturn download to my downloader jsons for automatic downloads with update_all?

Or does that require the repo to maintain a json with updated links to the new version?

I do see there's a script for updating Saturn. Was just curious if that's something I could add myself to my own update_all process or if I just need to wait until it's out of WIP status

[zinc vine]

did they implement snac code yet?

[stiff patrol]

yes but not in the released builds you have to sue the Snac Variants

[gloomy hedge]

so is this gonna solve any other issues

other than clicky clicks

anything I can help test with my shitster+3.0goodram

[analog totem]

I’d be surprised if it did

[gloomy hedge]

ya

ClickFix0.1

[lavish wadi]

Some of the pops are gone with Die Hard Arcade, some still present. We now have an issue with run ahead audio though on the title menu. 🤓

[zinc vine]

@naive whale i saw your video on controller question retrobit saturn controller its Bluetooth or 2.4ghz.

[naive whale]

2.4

[zinc vine]

and it works?

i have the black one and it doesnt work

[pearl harbor]

Pretty sure he wouldn't have included it in the video if it didn't work...

[zinc vine]

mine doesnt register no button

[drifting frigate]

Does your 2.4Ghz adapter have a light? Is it solid/blinking/etc? I have one and I'm not sure what happened, but the dongle mounted as a drive after using it in my MiSTer and never worked again. The pairing button does nothing. I tried updating the firmware, but it does nothing as well. And whenever I plug it into my MiSTer it corrupts the boot partition of my SD card. In a PC it just detects and disconnects in a loop. All of my 8bitdo controllers work fine and another Retrobit works fine. My brother has one that failed in the same way. The dongle just died.

They are really cheap dongles. I took it apart to see if maybe I'd blown a fuse.

[naive whale]

That’s weird

[zinc vine]

it works for my saturn perfectly

on the mister it doesnt

[drifting frigate]

Those are two different dongles though. Right? I have my saturn dongle (which is higher quality) and my USB dongle. Are you using the saturn dongle through SNAC or something?

[burnt matrix]

lol dongles

[drifting frigate]

My Saturn connectivity wiener ...thanks Robby... works perfectly. It's just the USB one that sucks.

[burnt matrix]

AHAHAH

[zinc vine]

im using snac adapter with the receiver

not the usb dongle

[drifting frigate]

And you're using the SNAC build from a while ago? If so, then yeah, not sure. That works for me ... though I only really use wired through SNAC.

And if you're new to SNAC, it's important to know that you can't use OSD at all through it. It's ONLY for in-game, you still have to use another controller to get into images. You probably know that, though.

[zinc vine]

i havent try the recent built

[drifting frigate]

It's a few weeks old now, I think. Should be in the pins.

[drifting frigate]

Yeah... Retrobit is hit or miss for me overall. I was pretty upset their analog stick on their retrofighter was actually digital and not advertised correctly. Enough people were upset that they changed copy to 'compatible with Saturn digital pad games.' And I don't see it on their site anymore at all.

Edit: Not retrobit for the wired stick issue....retrofighter

Just dug it out and realized it wasn't RB.

[sudden tusk]

All right so no crackling in shinning force when transitioning from battles or place to place but the sound effect for the blaze magic attack is still garbage

Yep lots of in battle sound effects still have issues .. yet this is still a nice improvement

Further testing ensues

Omg fighters mega mix sounds proper now!!

[naive whale]

Everyone’s dongle

[sudden tusk]

Let’s see if Astal sounds better

[naive whale]

@burnt matrix dongle

[sudden tusk]

@naive whale more pics of vacuum’s!!

https://tenor.com/view/beavis-and-butt-head-laughing-gif-19758205

you said Dongle .

[pearl harbor]

Yep, turn those speakers down for the blaze spell! 😬

Also, whenever someone gets hit by an attack, they do like a....donkey heehaw? Or something?

At least the game no longer seems to crash during battle. I've played through the second battle now with no crashes.

It's also one of the games that really suffer from the lack of gouraud shading support on the core. The 3D characters do not look right at all. I really look forward to when the game matches real hardware! It's such a great SRPG.

Not complaining mind you. It's a work in progress, and the game has improved a ton over the last month or so!

[zinc vine]

it could be the receiver or the snac adapter

[light magnet]

FPGAzumSpass: I am the best gen 5 core developer there is!

srg320: Hold my Obolon.

[burnt matrix]

Nintendo: we must make realistic polygonal graphics!

SEGA: hold my baby bottle

⚔️

[tight mica]

I have this

[tight mica]

I have this too!

[tall radish]

Hello, I just wanted to report that I was playing Devil Summoner and I just got a crash during a FMV (I got past several FMVs but that one made the game crashed). I can't really save just before that moment (and it's like 20 min of gameplay) but I can get a savestate file by using emulator before the moment happened if that can helps... (I'm using last core)

[drifting frigate]

The dev doesn't use the discord. I'd probably submit it as an issue on the Github.

Drop a new issue here: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues

[tall radish]

Understood, thank you !

[drifting frigate]

NP!

[sudden tusk]

Nooooo, I didn’t know that !

[hardy lodge]

Do you know if there is a English patch for that version?

[simple hound]

but what about my precious IO board?!!?!?

[stiff patrol]

you can only have dual ram with a Digital IO board currently

[cursive ravine]

There’s one in the works and a wip version is out there that’s pretty buggy/not complete yet

[hardy lodge]

Nice there is at least something on the horizon. I'm a huge megaten fan.

[tall radish]

I don’t know sorry, only a place where all text is translated with pictures ( https://lparchive.org/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Devil-Summoner/Update 01/ )

[burnt matrix]

MiSTer FaST FacTS

Did you know the game title “Shin Megami Tensei” is Japanese for Megami’s Tense Shin?

[ancient surge]

https://streamable.com/u4io8h

Broken animations in Slayers Royal

[cursive ravine]

Here’s the sega extreme thread about it if you wanna follow the progress. I’m so excited for this! https://segaxtreme.net/threads/translating-shin-megami-tensei-devil-summoner-soul-hackers.25342/

[hardy lodge]

This looks amazing! I own the 3ds version but I would hugely prefer to play the saturn version.

[wise brook]

And we have a winner

had to knuckle down and study for a test this week but now I'm a free man I thought I'd get this confirmed

so between 4 wireless and the multitap, as long as the future osd can give the option, you'll quite easily be able to do the full 10 player mode

[kindred peak]

Now to find 10 friends... or 1...

[tidal marsh]

that 3d pad cable looks pretty long...

wonder if i could get one and not have to use an extension cable to play on the couch

[serene thunder]

It's tough when controller cables get kinky
and you have to unkink them as best you can

Saturn controller cables are notorious

[cyan tapir]

Testing rockman 8 on the latest SS Unstable 20240222_09cd25 core.

[analog totem]

Testing saturn with a real pad on Reflex is

Like, it’s amazing how much more fun I was having playing with a real pad last night…and I was already having a ton of fun just using my DualSense

[ancient surge]

Anyone else experience a memory leak issue where the sound gradually deteriorates on the BIOS the more you swap games?

That happened to me when testing games and I had to do a cold reboot to fix it. Not sure if it's just a fluke or a legitimate bug.

[analog totem]

I’ll be doing more testing soon, so I’ll keep that in mind

Half the time I haven’t even had the sound on for testing since I know its WIP anyways, but maybe I’ll just start turning my OBS on by default when I test so I can hear it 😅

[noble escarp]

Fun fact: I've created a "10 port multitap" for the saturn and the game (bomberman) did detected and used it. Using only a single input port on he saturn.

[gloomy hedge]

I thought you had to cold boot between each stage of every game

😛

for me if I dont coldboot between games it messes up, coldboot just gives me "a chance" for the game to run correctly

[vocal fjord]

Music in Sega rally is working perfect for me for the first time today

[twin canyon]

i've seen this before

https://tenor.com/view/samurai-monkey-gif-23663118

[vocal fjord]

I made two changes however so not sure what helped. Changed to a chd set and updated to the latest build

[burnt matrix]

I'll be your friend! 🍻

[kindred peak]

We can talk about Raspberry Pi and share Sega facts!

[burnt matrix]

👁️ 👄 👁️

[thorn pagoda]

what stuff have you tried out on the pi5 so far?

i've not gotten round to plugging mine in 😄

[clear condor]

config.txt

[cyan tapir]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GRedQyo-UBs&si=Dm6lMbBF0ZFdoxgN

I played Mega Man 8 on the latest Saturn_unstable_20240222_09cd25 core from Mister F.P.G.A.
From my knowledge of the game, which I have played for many years, it is working correctly. There were no problems with the current core with this game.
In this video I show the last Wily Stages of the game + end game.

[unkempt kelp]

Can anyone confirm whether this game is in the Japanese REDUMP set?

Bases Loaded '96: Double Header

[mortal mist]

Yes , but in Japan it's called Moero!! Pro Yakyû '95 Double HeaderJP

[unkempt kelp]

The different year is throwing me off

[unkempt kelp]

Thanks, Kuba!

[mortal mist]

No prob 🍻

[unkempt kelp]

Plowed through some of the JP library while I shipped today

[wise brook]

[unkempt kelp]

What am I looking at?

[burnt matrix]

The girl on the right is the Sakura Wars lady

Probably that game since it’s in English or maybe it’s the columns game since that game got translated too

[hearty marten]

It’s Sakura Wars cos I was playing it just now and just got past that part 😄

[hearty marten]

I think I found a game that doesn’t want to boot on the Saturn core - anyone want to verify? It’s Darkseed

[drifting frigate]

Same for me. Looks like a regression.

I went back to an earlier build and it loads.

I'll go through my historical builds and see if I can find the change that broke it.

Worked in 02/02/24, stopped working in 04/02/24

[drifting frigate]

I filed an issue and will see if I can find the code change that borked it.

Good find

[ripe valley]

Maybe on the INTBACK command (SMPC).

[drifting frigate]

Yeah, that's where I'm starting.

[ancient surge]

Sorry I like Kanna and Kohran more.

[drifting frigate]

Build kicked off 5 min ago...here's hoping.

[hearty marten]

Woah, you guys are productive. Thanks for looking into it!

[drifting frigate]

I'm really good at 'back seat' motivation. Hehe. I wish I could muster it for my own stuff.

[burnt matrix]

I’ll muster it for you. You can dooo it!

[drifting frigate]

It's SMPC, for sure. Now to figure out the line change.

[tall radish]

Kohran best girl

[drifting frigate]

COMM_ST <= CS_WAIT

has a reduced set of entry points compared to the previous implementation of CS_START, so I'm guessing it's missing a state change condition in the CS_IDLE state cycle. But that's a wild guess based just on a first look. I'm going to add a catch-all state change to see if that changes the behavior.

[tall radish]

wow are you finally fixing the controller issues on saturn?

[drifting frigate]

Me? If so, no just trying to get Dark Seed booting to find the root cause of the regression.

[unkempt kelp]

Controller issues?

[drifting frigate]

Guessing missing analog triggers, which is bugged and already commented by Sorelig as a host issue.

But that's me speaking for @tall radish

[frail token]

wait what, so it can't be fixed?

[drifting frigate]

Dunno. Probably can be, but the HPS is currently not sending analog values correctly for triggers. You can simulate this by trying to assign something like right thumb stick to trigger in the OS and it will freeze the mapping app. But that's for modern analog. The analog triggers on the 3D pad are different yet again.

They work perfectly over SNAC, mind you. All of this is non-SNAC.

All seems very 'not currently super important' from a core dev standpoint. If you crack open the saturn controller mapping stuff you can see it's kind of a mess, but the core-function stuff is all working.

[unkempt kelp]

Yeah it's a deeper issue requiring extra analog axis to be added globally.

[burnt matrix]

I wonder if you could cheat it by assigning the analog triggers to an analog axis of the second analog stick

[drifting frigate]

That's what I was talking about crashing the app

I've tried a few things and can get a sort of half-assed analog working on the thumbstick, but it requires updating the hps file in the Sat core and rebuilding. And it's not anything close to functional.

[unkempt kelp]

I think each trigger must be its own axis, otherwise they'd be impossible to distinguish from each other

[drifting frigate]

The Z1/Z2 signals exist in the core, though...but are full 8bit values each vs shared 8bit 127/-127.

[unkempt kelp]

Yeah because if you had both triggers equally pressed it would read 0

[drifting frigate]

So some choke code and surely you could.

Right

[unkempt kelp]

I actually like Sorg's wait and see approach

[drifting frigate]

Yep

[unkempt kelp]

Once the core is ready, and there's a need, then add it

Reflex Adapt is ready

[drifting frigate]

And, just like a boring field trip...SNAC saves the day.

[unkempt kelp]

Supports 3D pad

[drifting frigate]

Yep, and it maps to pitch/yaw on Windows for the triggers, so it's even sending the correctly choked signals, when they're ready to be wired up.

[unkempt kelp]

@noble escarp is awesome

[burnt matrix]

HE IS!!!

[drifting frigate]

AbsoLUTEly

[unkempt kelp]

I added a few pivot tables to a new worksheet on the Saturn testing sheet for easy identification of non-playable games.

[frail token]

God I was wondering when you were going to add pivot tables

[unkempt kelp]

The core is getting better and better

[frail token]

Big if true

[unkempt kelp]

Dinierto, I hardly recognize you haha

[frail token]

Yeah, I think this pic is temporary, I'm in flux lol

it was briefly amusing

[pearl harbor]

Not my Dinierto!

[gloomy hedge]

which set and was it consistent? or a fluke?

chd vs bin never really made a diff for me

but willing to try anything to get my beloved sega rally to run properly

[unkempt kelp]

Is that the only game you've tested?

[zinc tinsel]

I searched for some info about the Saturn BIOS, but seem to have more questions that I had before 😉

The github page list the original bios file hashes found in various systems. Some years ago, someone found the mechanism how the region lock works and made patches for all of them to create region free bios files.

Do these also work from experience? - If not, is there a list of which game needs a specific bios file?

[stiff patrol]

Thwy work

I use the Hitachi Hi Saturn 1.02 jp Region free bios

[zinc tinsel]

Have you experience a difference to the compatibility, if you used that region free BIOS?

[stiff patrol]

They seem to work fine

[zinc tinsel]

I mean, mainly to the compatibility listed in Kubas list.

[zinc tinsel]

Nice to hear.

Will try that version today.

[stiff patrol]

see your pm

[zinc tinsel]

Many thanks! Seems to work a lot better now with that version!

The version I tested is now Hi Saturn 1.02 JP (region free bios), SHA1 735494ba1b8b9be4930c1c3d62dcc93fb52c71ae with Region set to USA. Odd combination, but if it works it works 😉

[ripe valley]

Just some games in Europe need their region forced on the core, like Lemmings 3D and WarCraft II.

[wise brook]

setting region to usa, which on real hardware involves changing several soldered connections, also sets the priority for what language appears on a cold boot.

the bios being region free is mostly a time saving measure so you don't have to flip between US/JP for each game in that region

[gloomy galleon]

Hello i have been having trouble running nights into dreams in various core versions lately. Other games i try to run seems to run fine. I have single ram and a crt monitor. Any suggestions? 😔

[analog totem]

@gloomy galleon are you using a redump copy of the game and is it in bin/cue format or CHD? Also, what Bios file are you using?

[celest ingot]

What do you mean by "trouble running"? Game won't load? Freezes? Sound issues?

[gloomy galleon]

Its in bin/cue format I tries various bioses Saturn v1.01a (WW-RF).bin Bios Saturn 1.01a (U) [!].bin Bios Hi-Saturn 1.02 (J).bin

[gloomy galleon]

Sorry I was not clear/ After the sega logo it only shows blak screen

[stiff patrol]

what version of ram and is it 2 chip or 4 chip

2chp 2.5 is adequate , 2 chip v2.9/3.0 is best and 4 chip is this core wont ever run

[ancient surge]

You might need to reset your settings.

[gloomy galleon]

It was two chips v 2.5 I guess

[gloomy galleon]

Which sett'ngs the mister.ini?

[ancient surge]

Both the core and mister.ini just to be safe. We've had cases where starting fresh does fix problems with the SEGA Saturn core.

[burnt matrix]

I may try that myself. Powerslave is back to being a garbled audio mess for me lol.

[gloomy galleon]

Reseting the core settings didnt work? Is it Ok to create a new mister ini instead of changing the main one

I coppied the mister ini from the main repository created a new config tried to run with it. CRT didnt work so I olugged in a HDMI. Trued also with diferrent bios also. Same result black screen after Sega logo

[tough star]

@gloomy galleon you can have multiple mister.ini files

@gloomy galleon https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/advanced/ini/

[gloomy galleon]

Yes i renamed the ini file in the main branch and tried it that way. 👍

[ancient surge]

Then I guess it's just the 2.5 RAM causing compatibility issues?

[analog totem]

testing the Sega Ages and compilation games is so much nicer now that I know the ABC+Start combo to get back to the main menu

[burnt matrix]

Oh nice, I didn’t know that. Does that collection also have Galaxy Force II?

[analog totem]

yeah I actually just tested that one

Galaxy Force II is part of Sega Ages, but I think that’s the only game on that disc

[burnt matrix]

Huh

[wise brook]

all games on saturn can reset with either a+b+c or x+y+z & start.
once get you back to the title screen, twice gets you back to the bios

[analog totem]

ahhh even better tip!

I swear I tried abc+start with a couple games and it didn’t work, so maybe those ones were xyz+start

[wise brook]

I think it's part of the development documentation that all devs were supposed to follow

[ancient surge]

The soft reset comes in handy if you are playing something like Dragon Force or Shining Force and you need a way to quickly restart after a massive screw up.

[loud perch]

Is there a way to load an action replay cartridge on the Saturn core?

[tough star]

If you push hard enough it should fit

[loud perch]

i tried to boot the cartridge bin but whatever i do the bios just loops for me

[drifting frigate]

There's currently no cart writeback and I'm sure other pieces required to use AR aren't wired up yet. So, given what I know about the core, I'm gonna say 'no.' But maybe someone has more info.

[stiff patrol]

given how full the FPGA already is with the core . I would say never

[drifting frigate]

It's so full you can only add two or three signal taps at most.

It's packed.

[loud perch]

i see

is there a chance cheats could make it into the core do you think?

[stiff patrol]

the core is stuffed

its the biggest core currently so unlikely too

[wise brook]

https://tenor.com/view/dumb-and-dumber-jimcarrey-chance-telling-me-theres-a-chance-gif-5465317

[loud perch]

makes sense
i'm a fighting game TO and there's something we wanted to use cheats for
but we might just have to hack the rom directly

[stiff patrol]

core isnt finished and is really pushing the De10, Things like cheats wont be high on the priority list

[wise brook]

so when can i expect Netlink, FDD & GPS support?

[stiff patrol]

For you a special core is coming 2567

[wise brook]

but I don't intend to live that long

[stiff patrol]

well stop being a mortal

[drifting frigate]

The core is nowhere near ready for a tourney anyway. It's way off real hardware, still.

[wise brook]

I'm working on a cycle accurate replica of myself for this very reason

[loud perch]

have already run stuff on it

it's much closer to hardware than emu and way more convenient overall

[loud perch]

inputs and speed are closer to hardware than emu for asuka at least
and mister size/convenience/controller compatibility makes everything way less of a logistical nightmare

so we put up with a couple visual bugs

[drifting frigate]

Well, it's got actual timing bugs, but yeah, can't argue convenience. My Saturn is a pain in the ass and I don't move it anywhere. Super finicky.

[stiff patrol]

you are using it wrong if its a pain in the arse

[drifting frigate]

I'll try holding it like an iPhone 6...

No change.

More I mean recaps and loose connections and a CD lid that opens when a light breeze blows through. I should just do a full recap and be done with it instead of doing them as they fail, though. That's on me.

[loud perch]

in any case thanks for the info, have to see what we can do

[drifting frigate]

Image hacks should work fine. I use plenty on the core. So you should be sorted in that respect.

[loud perch]

our finest nerds have thus fair failed to crack the rom but maybe we just need to give it another shot :p

[drifting frigate]

Hehehe. I suggest, as against best judgement as it sounds, MAME for a quick and easy debugger. I contribute to this, 32X, and MegaCD and was having nothing but trouble from most of the other debuggers. MAME is not excellent, but it does a better job than most.

[tough star]

thanks for all the testing guys 🙂

[gloomy hedge]

me? I've tested a ton of games

I usually post here when I test

[unkempt kelp]

Ah, maybe you can get access to the spreadsheet @mortal mist @tough star

[mortal mist]

As far as I know Aktane has problems with core performance even with sdram 3.0

Unless something has changed ?

[gloomy hedge]

nopesies

off top:
cotton 2 crashes, cotton boomerang same
soukyugurentai sound cuts
manxtt sound cuts
thunderforce 5 crashes
burning rangers intro crashes
virtual on stops at "enemy splash" before match, doesnt get further
sega rally - white screen of death randomly between stages
Hyper duel intro doesnt run - game runs
Radiant silvergun - no sound

I should probably retest blast wind on this new core but im not sure if they'll be any changes there

[analog totem]

Oh, I didn’t realize you can unmount a disc image if you go back to select the game, hover over it and then hold B (back) and press A (confirm). Just had a game that wouldn’t load at first, but after unmounting and relaunching it worked 🤷‍♂️

[shadow merlin]

You can also use backspace on a keyboard to unmount if you don't have a controller to hand

[gloomy hedge]

@unkempt kelp should I be adding my shit ram experience to the spreadsheet?

I feel like others are getting better results

so I dont know

[unkempt kelp]

Might be your DE10-nano then. Really hard to say.

[shadow merlin]

I played some Virtual-On earlier and apart from some loud audio distortion when you shoot and run at the same time it seem to be running fine on my system 🤷

[mortal mist]

Yes , Aktane has different results than most of us

[tough star]

only @kuba can grant access

[analog totem]

poor @gloomy hedge 😔

[shadow merlin]

I know, just thought I'd mention it as I had happened to play a game in his test list today

[gloomy hedge]

mhm!

[unkempt kelp]

My take is to ignore most sound issues and focus on games that are playable. I personally only play enough of the game to get into the gameplay.

That helps identify no boot and bootable games

[twin canyon]

"the core is in a good place" aka "im twelve an wat is dis"

[gloomy hedge]

yeah but I dont have anything to add really to the current testing in that regard

[unkempt kelp]

Sure you do, there are like 1000 untested games still

[analog totem]

@gloomy hedge you could test games that haven’t been tested yet and if they’re marked as no boot, they’ll get tested faster by the rest of us 😅

[unkempt kelp]

Yeah that's most of what I do

[gloomy hedge]

ohhh okay

[twin canyon]

what are you playing

[unkempt kelp]

Boots, plays, mark on the sheet

[gloomy hedge]

gotcha, will do

[twin canyon]

it's nights into dreams, isn't it

[unkempt kelp]

Once everything's playable, the bug searching gets more refined

[unkempt kelp]

That game has vibes!

[analog totem]

I’m still finding plenty of JP exclusives worth playing that haven’t been tested

[twin canyon]

https://tenor.com/view/monkey-hit-human-gif-23637931

vibe this

[unkempt kelp]

And there's a new tab that shows a list of games with issues

Others can easily verify

[gloomy hedge]

what does bootable mean vs playable

what defines a boot

[twin canyon]

obviously COTTON is the goat

[unkempt kelp]

Can't get into the game

[analog totem]

bootable means you at least get past the sega logo

[unkempt kelp]

Like some games loop back to the title screen when you start

Alone in the Dark 2 I think is an example

[gloomy hedge]

so burning rangers is bootable because I can get 1 second into the intro right

[analog totem]

yeah or they freeze before you get into gameplay

[gloomy hedge]

ye

[analog totem]

there’s a golf game I tested that lets you set all the game rules but the. crashes on “now loading” so it’s Bootable

[gloomy hedge]

can someone give me access

I can add stuff to this

[unkempt kelp]

Kuba can

[gloomy hedge]

@mortal mist for games that actually boot on mine, I can at least add to the sheet or are playable, even though someone else can get further

although again

I dont know if this is valuable information but I guess it could be?

[mortal mist]

As far as I'm concerned, Burning Rangers is playable

[gloomy hedge]

right thats fine, we won't go backwards

I wont change any responses

[analog totem]

@gloomy hedge if someone else already marked it as playable you probably shouldn’t add any notes

[mortal mist]

What if we have different results ? Which will be the right one ?

[gloomy hedge]

no I wont

[analog totem]

But if it’s thus far untested, and it doesn’t boot for you, mark it as such or even if it’s playable for you, of course

[gloomy hedge]

@unkempt kelp I'm causing trouble

lets pause here

I dont need to create mayhem

let the "real misters" do the testing

[analog totem]

I personally think it’s fine as long as you stick to what I mentioned…but Idk if you have interest in testing a bunch of games you’ve never played or not

[gloomy hedge]

yeah im good for now I'll just continue to provide the "it may work for you but it also may not work for others" perspective

[unkempt kelp]

Yeah, in some ways, if you're able to play the game, then it's a good sign

Just go through games that haven't been tested

We can always double check your work

I tested maybe 50 games yesterday and only 1 wasn't playable

[analog totem]

yeah Pork’s right too…if it works for you it should work for just about anyone else 😅

[gloomy hedge]

thats my perspective as well but its fine, I am looking and 99% of games here I would play are already tested

there's a couple on the side like for example fighting vipers Japan vs fighting vipers USA

which I have USA but not Japan

[drowsy hull]

time to expand your horizon and hit that (imaginary) random button on a full set

[gloomy hedge]

hahaha

lets get some PSYCHOTRON going

some fucking star bowling or whatever

[analog totem]

maybe some Star Bowling 2, even…

[gloomy hedge]

it'll prob crash on my shit

I dont have a full saturn set, I get games one by one lol

so I have to DL, whip out the SD, etc. etc.

[analog totem]

ah yeah that would be a bit of a pain for testing

[gloomy hedge]

I'll test a few and just tell you @analog totem

if I have any good news

[analog totem]

I’d love to hear some good news

[gloomy hedge]

me too but my mister is a bitch

[drowsy hull]

there will always be one untested mahjong left

[gloomy hedge]

also im surprised you guys dont have like

"placeholders" for the multi region games

because is it really useful to RETEST those?

like having a quick v lookup that says " yo - USA version works "

would cut a lot of this down to valuable data

[analog totem]

Yeah, it would be nice if it called out that the game’s been tested for another region

[gloomy hedge]

it would be a single formula right

[analog totem]

I’ve only been testing JP exclusives really

[drowsy hull]

does shining the holy ark(na) boot yet?

[gloomy hedge]

completely playable

|| on cool misters only ||

[analog totem]

yes its marked as playable

[drowsy hull]

nice

what a few months can change...

[unkempt kelp]

I did all of my favorites, then went A-Z

Lots of visual novels

I don't read any Japanese but I enable turbo and just hold buttons while doing something elese

[analog totem]

Yeah, I did a long slow gradual process where I wittled down a full set to only things that looked playable to me…My results aren’t 100% perfect, but I’ve really only run into a couple so far that I truly can’t play

[gloomy hedge]

so there is no distinction for sound?

[analog totem]

no one seems to be noting sounds issue right now for the most part

[gloomy hedge]

k

@mortal mist for stuff like KOF

which version did you test?

[analog totem]

Does anyone happen to know if Sokyuu Gurentai - Otokuyou is any different compared to Sokyuu Gurentai ? Loaded them both and they seem the same?

[mortal mist]

Otokuyou is second revision

[analog totem]

oh nice

i guess i’ll keep it in that case

[mortal mist]

Fixed some bugs

[mortal mist]

They should all work 🙂

[analog totem]

hmm maybe I should dump the original then unless gameplay is changed

[prisma wraith]

second revision that fixes a bug that made it not work with action replay adapters. also has a bonus sound test menu

[mortal mist]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/134

Beware 🙂

[analog totem]

I actually experienced that bug a whole back

but on a second play it didn’t happen

[mortal mist]

Set to Japan region with 1st rev

[analog totem]

ah

[prisma wraith]

gameplay is the same.

[analog totem]

ok awesome, I’m actually gonna move the first rev to the leftovers bin in that case

I try to keep my sets as close to 1g1r as possible if I can

[sinful verge]

@gloomy hedge LTTP, have you tried unplugging your ram, blowing on pins and holds, and plug it back in?? (No joke, serious suggestion lol)

[gloomy hedge]

its brand new

it just got put in like a week ago

its pretty snug

it took a good amount of force to get it in

I dont think this will be an issue

[sinful verge]

I'm basically asking if you tried resitting parts

[gloomy hedge]

@analog totem KOF97 Japan does not boot im an idiot disregard

[sinful verge]

Maybe bent pins and such

[mortal mist]

With 1/4mb ram?

[gloomy hedge]

no im saying I literally just put that ram in

and everything was fine

[gloomy hedge]

oh wait no oops lol I thought I had that checked

thats on me lol

KOF97 is about to be marked playable hang tight - def boots

holy fuck the loading times on this is amazing

Kof97 Japan playable, sound working, no music but that could have just been that stage

@mortal mist @analog totem feel free to mark playable

and sorry about the ram, - I'll be more careful

[analog totem]

yep i just tested it myself so i can

[gloomy hedge]

music works in the sound test

but yeah all good here for this one

music working in stage

[analog totem]

music’s working here

[gloomy hedge]

yep

all good

perfect pretty much

[analog totem]

good news, yay!

[gloomy hedge]

like not just playable but like prob good to go

[analog totem]

yeah seems to play great

[gloomy hedge]

uh oh bad news

Blast Wind regression

sound effects now crackle and sound overboosted and are clipping

including the sound issue from before where sounds would cycle infinitely

this is worse than previous cores

@analog totem can you test this?

just drop it in and play for literally 5 min you'll hear it

[analog totem]

sure i can do one more real wuick

yeah it’s the same for me

sounds just keep playing when the game is paused…I’m guessing that’s not right

yeah it’s the same sounds repeating

well look at that, mine and @gloomy hedge ‘s MiSTers aren’t so different after all

[gloomy hedge]

thats fine but

did you get the crackling super boosted sfx?

that part was the same before

thats not a regression

but the super distorted SFX is a regression

also luck of the irish, got my quick sega rally run but it white screened AFTER the run and before you put your initials in, so funny how random it is with the WSOD

[analog totem]

yep super boosted and crackling effects ✅

[gloomy hedge]

regression confirmed

thanks!

im done for now but will alert of any further testing 🙂

[burnt matrix]

make sure to retest Castlevania symphony of the night. @twin canyon and I have been doing daily runs but we need more people to make sure

[quick sorrel]

Aren't v2.9 and 3.0 RAM essentially the same?

[wise brook]

@gloomy hedge I've never thought to check before but what power supply do you use with your de-10?

also I blame kitten for my inability to beat this game

[pulsar jasper]

hey yall! Is there a website we can browse to tell us all we need re: how to get the saturn core working?

the readme on the official wiki is very barebones

eg which bios to use, etc

[pearl harbor]

Pretty much. I think I remember Porkchop (aka MiSTerAddons), say something like there is just something positioned a bit differently on it, and that the actual ram itself is the same.

[tough star]

which page is that?

[quick sorrel]

What’s your setup? You listed Radiant Silvergun as having no sound yet, I’ve never had that, at least since October last year. It has audio crackling occasionally and dial-up modem sounds to varying degrees on some bosses but never no sound. FYI - I have a 2.9 RAM module

[quick sorrel]

I thought so (like one component of it is located in a better position).

[brittle tulip]

Has anyone played Myst on the Saturn core? In the generator room if you hit a second button, it crashes. It seems like this is a common problem, but I'm wondering if anyone has gotten it to work. I assume it's a setting if it's not a bad ROM

[burnt matrix]

Check the pins, there’s a link to everything you need, including a well written FAQ and a well produced YouTube video

[analog totem]

I’ll try to test this next chance I have if someone doesn’t beat me to it

[pulsar jasper]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer

@tough star have you created a Saturn page? Like your psx and n64 pages?

[tough star]

https://vampier.net/Saturn/

it's hopelessly outdated 😄

you don't need to init the memory card anymore

and thanks 🙂 I just like to make those pages to keep most questions away from the devs

[pulsar jasper]

thanks for what you do!

[native dagger]

Trying Goiken Muyou: Anarchy in the Nippon for the first time and this game is kind of gorgeous

[gloomy hedge]

Whatever MisterAddons gave me when I bought it 😜

[gloomy hedge]

Don't worry about it

I have tried everything. Every suggestion imaginable, the folks around here can attest to this

There's nothing wrong with my setup, it's the core.

I have a mister from like 2020 or so premade from mister add-ons without any case, and then a 3.0 ram that was sent to me by pork

[gloomy hedge]

Haha let the cat play!

[native dagger]

Goiken Muyou: Anarchy in the Nippon is playable with single ram if anyone wants to update the sheet

Groove on Fight seems to be stuck on the first screen with graphics issues. I'm on unstable 02.22

[quick sorrel]

Oh, are you the one who has the cursed MiSTer? 🤔😅

[gloomy hedge]

Hahaha I guess so

It wasn't cursed until this core tho 😆

[quick sorrel]

Messages always scroll by way too quickly but I feel like somebody jokes about someone having a cursed MiSTEr. here 🤷‍♂️😂

[gloomy hedge]

My only worry is if Saturns are gonna get more expensive or will mister get more expensive... Or will mars be the thing

I just wanna play some damn Saturn games with no input lag 😆

I've almost bought a Saturn a few times but I know it's a terrible idea

This core is basically what I got so let's see how far it can get!

When I'm playing any other core I remember why I love my mister, it was always so bullet proof compared to the full on hassle of PC emulators

[burnt matrix]

Honestly Mednefen is pretty good

[gloomy hedge]

We'll see how far this one goes

[gloomy hedge]

Trash input lag, we talked about this

It's fine for casuals

[quick sorrel]

I’ve had Saturn since it came out, and some@back up units too. But this core for HDTV usage is the chefs kiss

[gloomy hedge]

That's not why we have misters though

[burnt matrix]

what seriously

[gloomy hedge]

Yeah man it's like hella input lag

[burnt matrix]

damn nvm

[gloomy hedge]

I play shmups you have to remember

Sega Rally is no problem

[quick sorrel]

Mednafen’s lag isn’t that bad. I can play Silvergun just a good as on MiSTer - tho haven’t played it on real hardware in 20 years

[gloomy hedge]

I can and have cleared that on mednafen beetle

In fact it was my first 1CC 😜

[burnt matrix]

yah I play casual

[gloomy hedge]

Nah no way, I don't believe it. If that is the case then mister is fucking up

[quick sorrel]

I’m casually hardcore 😎

[burnt matrix]

I notice input lag but its not a hindrance

[gloomy hedge]

Like playing cotton 2 on mednafen feels so sloshy

And on mister it's snappy the way it's supposed to be

[quick sorrel]

What controller are you using?

[gloomy hedge]

Same with something like blast wind

Saturn controller

[burnt matrix]

I haven’t tried a shmup I should try that

[quick sorrel]

Which Saturn?

[burnt matrix]

I played Powerslave and panzer dragoon rpg

[gloomy hedge]

M30, retrobit, and a real Saturn controller with an 8bitdo mod kit

All 3

Retrobit both wired and wireless depending on if I'm playing on switch or PC or mister

On mister my daily driver is a Saturn retrobit wired but I know the rubber is gonna go, already had one go.

[gloomy hedge]

I never played powerslave but I'm sure rpgs are no issue

[quick sorrel]

I’ve been using my SLS Sega Saturn USB controller as well as the PS2 Saturn controller. I’m no 1CC guy, but I play Silvergun w/o getting hit for at least the first 5 stages.

[gloomy hedge]

I haven't tried RSG, maybe it's one of the more responsive ones

Because there are already pretty good RSG ports that are very responsive

So it wasn't really on my list to play

[quick sorrel]

I don’t perceive any lag in my setup but I shouldn’t try to convince a proper shooter player 😅🤪

[burnt matrix]

Anyways it sounds like you need to git gud

[gloomy hedge]

I'm usually looking to play games I can't play otherwise

[burnt matrix]

got gud with lag

elevate your skills to be beyond the lag

Be the lag

[quick sorrel]

I’m really convinced that most modern gamers that didn’t grow up back in the day, or accustomed to playing on set ups with significantly more lag than actually existed back then

[gloomy hedge]

I love how your advocating for PC emulation as a mister discord mod

[burnt matrix]

I know, it makes@me@laugh

[gloomy hedge]

And I'm over here saying that mister is our only hope for Saturn lol!

[burnt matrix]

take my place

[gloomy hedge]

Because it totally is

[pulsar jasper]

hey guys, is the saturn core grabbed by update_all the single or dual ram version? Or is that not a thing anymore?

[burnt matrix]

Yeah that is 100% the case

[gloomy hedge]

Oh definitely. If they were using their parents 180ms plasmas hehehe

[burnt matrix]

Single ram, get the latest unstable instead

[gloomy hedge]

Buuuut modern gamers don't need a mister

[burnt matrix]

Check the pins for info

Single ram or dual ram doesn’t seem to matter

[gloomy hedge]

They don't need anything but a Pandora box and credit feeding

I'm looking for dead on accuracy, no input lag, on an HDMI screen, anything less should be blasphemy on a mister server

Otherwise what is the point 🤔

[burnt matrix]

I just play retro games on my mister

because it’s easiest and nicest

[gloomy hedge]

For stuff like NES or whatever it's honestly a tossup between mister and retroarch but even then, most people use runahead to shave off some input lag.

[warped cliff]

Yeah I really enjoy playing SMW on it

[frail token]

is this true
Can it be done

[gloomy hedge]

I legitimately have never enjoyed Mike Tysons punchout properly until mister

[frail token]

I just loop update_all

[gloomy hedge]

Based

Any%

Update all no glitch

[burnt matrix]

update all has lag

hmmm

[gloomy hedge]

it's laggy AF

Fuckin

Hit update all wait for all the cheats

For all you damn casuals

99% cheat downloads 1% old Saturn core from 5 months ago

[quick sorrel]

So you didn't play it on a CRT on a NES?

[gloomy hedge]

No I never had a NES growing up

My first system was actually a saturn

[quick sorrel]

Whoa.

[gloomy hedge]

It's called being poor as fuck lol

I had a CRT throughout college though until I moved out of my college apartment, I just gave it to the nearby game store

Since then I have been CRT and plasma free

Mike Tyson is pretty fun on mister tho is my point, and on retroarch it's ok but with runahead it's even more responsive it almost feels cheaty

[quick sorrel]

I guess so. But I also knew poor kids who somehow had more than me.

Punch Out on MiSTer is legit tho.

[gloomy hedge]

Yep

It's perfect

I trust in my mister

Shit works

And I don't have to deal with stuttery bullshit or bad input lag orgsync or fresync or bad frame timing

Tuning all that crap is a mess

#share-media message

Forgot I did this actually lol

[warped cliff]

can't wait until Saturn reaches that level of perfection

[gloomy hedge]

It's already very responsive

So it's almost there

Just sound is the big issue

When mine crashes it's all related to sound

[warped cliff]

also timings. plenty of games still play too fast

[gloomy hedge]

You can hear the sound die and then the game not long after

[gloomy hedge]

Yeah I haven't looked for that yet

I hope that isn't why I felt certain games were much more responsive than Saturn emulators

Lol!

Well we will find out soon enough

[burnt matrix]

Oh damn? Is it noticeable

[gloomy hedge]

One thing the core sorely needs is a flip screen option tho

[warped cliff]

not only is it responsive, it's responsive at higher fps than it should be 😄

[gloomy hedge]

It's really important

[burnt matrix]

I am not familiar with Saturn

[gloomy hedge]

I can't play these Tate games on my damn Tate screen

And almost all the good shmups have to be played like that

You can't play the shit 4:3 modes

They're garbage

That's a big big option. The games run fine already but I need to be able to flip screen

[burnt matrix]

I like to play the vertical shooters and then stretch them out

[warped cliff]

Also it would be nice if the Saturn analog stick were accurately simulated. So you can use DS controller or N64 controller if you don't have a 3d controller w/ SNAC

[burnt matrix]

Widescreen shmups

Super big fat ships

[warped cliff]

Nights Into Dreams is hard to control without analog stick for me

[quick sorrel]

Some shooters tate 90 and some 270. That's why my shooter monitor's swivel bracket can go both directions.

[quick sorrel]

Oh, you~

[pearl harbor]

Fat baby ships!

[burnt matrix]

Saturn is the coolest system for casuals. It’s like a never ending stream of content you never played.

[pearl harbor]

I knew it was cool before it was cool. That makes me cool. 😎

[pulsar jasper]

hmmm...so i get the bios screen to show up when i load the core...but launching a game results in just a black screen; im getting sound tho?!?

im using the region-free Hi-Saturn bios

(named boot.rom)

[quick sorrel]

Should be boot.bin

[pearl harbor]

That was last summer!

[quick sorrel]

Oh? Mine still is labeled that and still works just fine 😄

[pearl harbor]

The ghost of boot.bin still haunts us!

Are you manually loading it?

It works if you manually load it. But boot.rom automatically loads it.

[quick sorrel]

No, it's shows the BIOS on the core loading, and again afterwards when I load a game.

I'd have to check if I have a boot.rom. What's the directory for it?

[pearl harbor]

I believe you just put it in the Saturn games folder.

[pulsar jasper]

it works!

just had to reload once

battle garrega, so rad 🙂

[burnt matrix]

what’s a garrega anyways

Why is it battling

so many questions this Saturn core provides

[pearl harbor]

You. You are a garrega!

[pulsar jasper]

lol

[quick sorrel]

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird. I have it in my PC's MiSTer backup folder as boot.bin but it shows boot.rom in the MiSTer Saturn games directory

[quick sorrel]

(I heard that in Schwarzenegger's voice from Conan)

By the way, if we CHD a bin/cue game that has multiple bins, CHDMAN combines them, yeah?

[burnt matrix]

Yah

but when you convert back from chd to bin/cue it’s just one bin

[pearl harbor]

You could say that it combines them!

[quick sorrel]

Nice 😄

[pearl harbor]

I do my best.

[quick sorrel]

Speaking of, do you know how to convert a PSP pbp/eboot to work with PPSSPP?

[pearl harbor]

Robby pays me $1 per pun.

[burnt matrix]

I can’t afford it lol

[burnt matrix]

I don’t, sorry.

I just deleted mine lol

[quick sorrel]

S'alright. There's a PS1 to PSP conversion that has a translation that doesn't seem to exist anywhere else. Baffling.

[burnt matrix]

Ohhhh what game

[quick sorrel]

Wolf Fang (PS1). Kinda Contra, kinda shooter.

Only JP release but somehow someone made a PS1 to PSP eboot with EN translation.

[burnt matrix]

Apparently this can convert PSP eboots back to ISO? I haven’t tried or used the program at all so the risk is yours to take, haha.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/icetea/

[quick sorrel]

High five. It worked but the games itself is not translated tho claiming it to be. Oh, well. Thx anyway. Good to have program.

[burnt matrix]

Damn, sorry man

[quick sorrel]

It’s all bueno. I now have a useful prog for certain situations 👍

[drifting frigate]

I took a look to see if any of the available PSN/PSP versions were English. I was able to source the Hamster release, but alas. Still JP.

Despite having an NPU sku

[drifting frigate]

Ah, yeah, it was released in the US untranslated. Boo.

[mortal mist]

try with 1/4mb cart , game works , there are graphic errors in the backgrounds

[quick sorrel]

Ah, nice find though. I guess I didn’t find that as I was always searching with English key words. So far it is pretty fun.

[cold egret]

I love this game and have been waiting for the glitchy backgrounds to be fixed

[ember sky]

Starting from 2024/2/17, the "In the Hunt" game's title seems to have a bomb blast sound, There seems to be a clipping problem, but the 2024/2/15 version does not.

[mortal mist]

Yes , in many games this occurs, the volume level is uneven, after changes some sounds give a big overdrive

[ember sky]

OK, thank you for informing me, I will wait for a few versions to be updated and then observe.

[native dagger]

Ah thanks that worked. I don't really know anything about the Saturn so is that cartridge option something that would be dynamic in the future?

Were these cartridges you bought separate and inserted into the system?

[ripe valley]

If we do this, it will require a separate database, like for software emulators (or the DB for the N64 core).
Serial number detection from the header.
This is how it works at least on Kronos, Mednafen and Nova (some are internal databases).

Something like that.

[native dagger]

Gotcha, I was just wondering since I got tripped up by it because I'm unfamiliar with it but that makes sense

[ripe valley]

I've done that DB on NOVA years ago for the account of Steve Kwok.

You have the games which require strictly the 1MB cart and the others that could work with the 4MB cart (or either 1MB/4MB for some later SNK games).

The list is not exhaustive as of 2024, as we didn't had some hacks back then, like the Akumajou Dracula X (4MB hack).
But I can share the idea and maybe someone could redo it better at a later time.

[gloomy hedge]

Right but what if you have your mister running an arcade cab..

[ancient surge]

Srg asked me about the Slayers Royal animation bug I mentioned a while back, so it sounds like he wants to try and fix it asap.

I haven't responded yet simply because yesterday was really chaotic, so I couldn't get back to him.

Anyway, that bug was just something that naturally happened while I was playing the game. I didn't do anything in particular to activate it, it just happens.

[tall radish]

https://tenor.com/view/guiding-bolt-gif-20926822

[quick sorrel]

This is a problem… for fancy folk such as yourself 🤓

(Wish I had an arcade cab)

[gloomy hedge]

haha I actually dont have my mister hooked up to mine

my mister is hooked up upstairs where I have two monitors, one yoko, one tate next to each other

I cant add a third because it would obscure the speaker

unfortunately I cant swing the other one over easily because my setup and cables, everything is already perfectly organized

[gloomy hedge]

by the way battle greg arcade proper is already on mister if you want to run that... thats the way to play it ... however... the saturn version DOES have the SEEABLE pink bullets so I can see why it would be the choice!

[burnt matrix]

That arcade core is ultra finicky with ram, lot of people have problems loading the game (and Kingdom Grindprix too) unfortunately. Literally the only core that gives me problems lol. So I just play it on the Saturn.

[ancient surge]

Had to provide Srg with a quick guide on how to enter a battle in Slayers Royal since apparently he didn't know how.

Hopefully it's enough for him to figure out why the animations aren't working.

[gloomy hedge]

WHAT?

thats weird ive never really had an issue but Ive only played batrider on it

please tell me there isnt other finnicky bullshit on the mister other than saturn

ive had like no issues with my mister at all until this core

actually not true, I cleared sorcer striker on it

and also bakraid actually

garegga is one I ahvent played on there tho

[burnt matrix]

I mean you might be fine

Lots of people don’t have an issue but that’s literally the only arcade core I’ve seen people come in here and complain about not working.

[burnt matrix]

Well the Saturn core is still under heavy development so it’s expected. The other core is unofficial and using stuff that isn’t part of the framework so it’s not held to the same high standards so I’m also not surprised there’s issues. Which is a shame because it’s a beautifully done core, just needs a bit more QA.

[gloomy hedge]

yeah thats good to note

[gloomy hedge]

yeah for sure

I expect issues w the saturn core since its still ultra early

but I thought the raizing core was pretty dang good

oh well!

its definitely a little rough around the edges

[burnt matrix]

It’s ok, at the end of the day it’s amazing it’s even there. Just luck of the draw I have issues.

[gloomy hedge]

to be honest, its not okay to me

I have been saying to everyone that mister is the best BECAUSE there is no issues

everything just works

because thats been my experience

if you have to fiddle with stuff, then at that point might as well just keep your pc emulators

in any case no worries just stuff to learn I guess

of course cores have to be "finished" before I can declare that haa

[quick sorrel]

This is the way.

[gloomy hedge]

[tough star]

twiiiiiiinbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[gloomy hedge]

👬 🐝

[tough star]

https://tenor.com/view/twinbee-anime-ova-1990s-gif-22693744

[fallen terrace]

Is there a currently update script for Saturn unstable? The one I've got seems to not recognise anything past October.

[tough star]

Vampier Saturn page is the same

[mortal mist]

well I don't have any other, just a vampier one 😛

[quick sorrel]

@gloomy hedge As you are the STG lord, is there any real difference between Layer Section and Galactic Attack? Just name only? Cuz I've occasionally seen small regional differences like in Super Aleste and Space Megaforce, the voices and power up numbers I think.

[gloomy hedge]

So - yeah you're spot on for Super Aleste and Space Megaforce, there's actually musical differences between those as well. And the ending cutscene is different too.

As far as Rayforce, Layer Section, Galactic Attack, and Gunlock - no difference that I have heard of.

[quick sorrel]

Nice. Thanks 😄

[gloomy hedge]

Although, I'm sure you know this, the Saturn mode of many of these tate games is all squished and usually much more difficult or weirdly balanced because of a lack of vertical space

When I say saturn version, I mean "Saturn mode"

Vs "arcade mode"

[quick sorrel]

Might not have noticed but I don't tend to play the Saturn modes if the games have them. Don't know why. Maybe I subconsciously noticed they're squished. Could also be I played a lot of tate shooters in MAME before the Saturn versions.

Silvergun is one that I do though cuz I don't believe the arcade version lets you build exp.

[dreamy ingot]

You're welcome! And you thanks for outputting all those videos on FPGA gaming! 🙂

[severe whale]

Does the core handle multiple disc games? I plan on giving Policenauts (3CD) and Phantasmagoria (8 CD) a go. Does it switch CDs automatically or does one need to load the second CD?

[ripe valley]

For Policenauts, when the game is asking for the second or third disc, I'm loading the corresponding disc on the OSD and do a RESET on the core.
The console will reboot inside the core and load the correct disc directly after the BIOS screen.

I've never tested with Phantasmagoria.

[severe whale]

ah thanks

i wouldnt have guessed to reset the core

[ripe valley]

I've tried once months ago and it worked since then.

I've not completely finished the game but the 3 discs can be loaded.

[severe whale]

cheers

[naive whale]

Saturn capture time. New video style "testing the best"...the games people consider the best Saturn games ever

taking suggestions for part 2...part 1 is getting captured today

[bleak escarp]

Fighters megamix is the game I test every new build, still silently hoping for the day certain levels don't lag

[naive whale]

weird flames in Burning Rangers are gone now...just not rendering

[wise brook]

anything by Kenji Eno of course

I recommend this to just for it's title alone

[pearl harbor]

Dragon Force is my personal favorite Saturn game! Also love Magic Knight Rayearth!

[short shore]

Obvi panzer dragoon games, nights, bulk slash, and personally I'd like to see the leaked NTSC deep fear

[naive whale]

a human of tastes I see!

exported episode 1 now. Will start episode 2 weds

[wise brook]

have you had a chance to see the documentary on him yet?

[drifting frigate]

I've never heard you talk about Magic Knight Rayearth once....

</s>

[burnt matrix]

🪄 🏹 ⚔️

[frail token]

https://tenor.com/view/chris-pratt-no-idea-i-have-no-idea-whats-going-on-gif-9674831

[burnt matrix]

Everyone is a fat baby in that game!

[drifting frigate]

And smell of cabbage.

[ancient surge]

Magic Knight Rayearth vs. Puyo Puyo who's winning the fat baby competition.

[pearl harbor]

I may or may not have a problem.

[drifting frigate]

Still the main character of Messiah.

[burnt matrix]

LOL that game was pretty cool

I remember being hyped for it

[drifting frigate]

Music by Tommy Tallarico. His mother is very proud.

[acoustic sable]

Did you know you can just design a tshirt and have it made?

Tommy does!

Be like Tommy

(Don't be like Tommy)

[severe whale]

How do one turn on the mouse in the Saturn core? I’ve hooked up my usb mouse to my mister but can’t make it turn on. I want to use it in Policenauts

Or do one have to get a snac? 😦

[drifting frigate]

Right now, SNAC. Mouse is stubbed out but not implemented.

And it may not be implemented in SNAC either. As I don't think arbitrary X/Y is in the core yet (needed for light gun as well).

But I don't have a real Sat mouse to test. It would be awesome for Policenauts, for sure.

[severe whale]

That’s sad 😦

It works on the psx core

But I would prefer to play the Saturn version

Craaaaaaaaaap

The scream you just heard was mine of pure dispair

[serene thunder]

Somehow, we find a way to persist

[inner token]

Sat mouse does work with snac

think the sega genesis mouse would work too but I haven't tested that.

[drifting frigate]

Thanks for clarifying!

[frail token]

Small if true

[sturdy loom]

Dark Savior! Its placement on "best of Saturn" lists is sporadic at best, but I genuinely think it's a cool game with a lot of neat ideas (jury is out on the execution)

[naive whale]

Maybe for a part 3

This is “bangers” to start

[pearl harbor]

So we're starting with Virtual Hydlide then?

I have a copy that I won from some Youtuber that you could borrow if you need it.

[mortal mist]

new core alert 🙂

[ancient surge]

Oh good Slayers Royal is getting the bug fix

[wise brook]

and I've even got an hour to play it before work

[wise brook]

good lord I can't wait for the crt output to support 480i

put an end to this inadvertent bob-deinterlacing

[ancient surge]

Meanwhile HDMI isn't much better; really aggressive combing artifacts and no way to fix/change it.

It's why I'm excited about getting the Morph 4K by March to clean up the 480i artfacts.

[hardy lodge]

The rt4k does a great job with the deinterlacing for star wars episode 1 racer in high def mode via direct video.

I'm mostly excited for the morph so it'll speed up the new framework adoption for proper dv1 on the mister side.

[burnt matrix]

omg burning rangers fix?

[naive whale]

damn it I just exported that episode...are flames back?

can anyone confirm if Burning Rangers has fire again? please 🙂

[trim nimbus]

Pretty sure there is a cream for that….

[naive whale]

Lol

[primal osprey]

Does the 4ktink not do this?

[wise brook]

||yes||

[hardy lodge]

The more external scalers are used the more it'll be implemented I imagine.

[primal osprey]

Ah yes-agreed!

[severe whale]

Is mouse support possible for the core in the future?

[naive whale]

Ugh gotta cut in now lol

[hard reef]

Flames seem present

[naive whale]

Thanks!

[sudden tusk]

Burning strangers

[burnt matrix]

It would be nice to get gourad shading to enjoy that game in its full

[ancient surge]

Don't know when srg will tackle that. Guessing he's making sure the VDP1, VDP2, etc. stuff is stable enough so the gouraud shading doesn't introduce new bugs.

[burnt matrix]

yeah that’s definitely smart

[trim nimbus]

based on zet-sensei’s comments on many of the recent regressions, it sounds like srg is focusing on freeing up room right now?

[naive whale]

Seemingly so. Core is basically at capacity it seems. Gotta claw back some overhead

But like anything I’m sure cleaning up bits here and there will be in order. Streamlining things. Removing old non functional parts that just haven’t been cleaned up. Plus rewriting chunks to be more efficient

[kind quarry]

this is a completely laypersons understanding of how cores work: would their be a method to develop multiple versions of the same core, with respect to room available. such as a parser that launches the “sega rally” sega saturn core if it detects that file? or is that maybe too intricate for the MiSTER to handle?

so you’d have dozens of “cores” that are all the saturn, but allow for specific methods to run the files accurately?

[trim nimbus]

the functionality sort of exists, in regards to mgl files, but I don’t ever see the bifurcation of cores happening like that

[burnt matrix]

That won't happen.

[naive whale]

Theoretically yes. You could fork cores so that games that use XYZ functions but not ABC run on THAT core

In practice…no

[burnt matrix]

Then it becomes like a software emulator and that approach is fundamentally opposed to how FPGA core development is handled.

[kind quarry]

Ha, true!

[pearl harbor]

Happy Saturnday everyone!

[kind quarry]

Okay, thank you for the answer! SRG has been doing a lot of cool stuff and i’m excited to see what the coming months bring from him.

[burnt matrix]

@kind quarry it's a good idea, I hope I didn't come across as shitting on it. It's just a philosophical difference between FPGA and Software emulation development.

[kind quarry]

Not at all, you gave me the exact answer i needed 🙂

[ripe valley]

I could also be wrong like with the flames on Burning Rangers (it was a fault on the VDP1, and not the VDP2).

I've seen the core just now, will test it later.

[trim nimbus]

this isn’t specifically about the new changes, I was remembering back when the first wave of regressions hit, and your “revert” pushed the available space pretty close to zero

[thorn pagoda]

that is roughly how the snes core operates an analog pocket afaik

to swap out all the extra chps needed for weird carts

[ancient fractal]

Yeah. As for disabling parts of the base system, that is generally not a workable solution in any shape

[thorn pagoda]

that only really works because you can be 100% sure that mario isn't going to try and use an SA-1 and stuff

yeah

[ancient fractal]

For example, both Saturn and DS have roughly a 2D PPU and a 3D PPU if looking at the systems very generally. So people without detailed knowledge of the systems tend to ask for a 2D only core since that seems possible and they’re mostly interested in the 2D games anyway.

But of course if there is a triangle/quad blitter available on a system it will be used for 2D too.

There’s also the fact that there’s rather few completely one-way components that you can disable and have zero side effects.

[burnt matrix]

Finally had a chance to test out today’s Saturn core and Powerslave sounds great for me! Some slight audio crunch when selecting menu options with noticeable audio crunch when firing your guns.

But I’m no longer getting severely garbled repeating audio like with prior core releases! 🥳

[naive whale]

Weird last core on Powerslave I never had repeating audio

Nights def has a lot of crunch in the sound effects though. ESP when you blow up a pod

[burnt matrix]

Yeah I think the Powerslave issue is unique to me lol

[trim nimbus]

Wait, does that mean elevator action is fixed?

[naive whale]

Would have to check

The audio can still be weird

[trim nimbus]

Yeah, but that is the first thing that springs to mind when I hear random repeated audio.

[pearl harbor]

It's not fixed. In fact, since recent audio updates, the game's audio has had further regression. In addition to the maniacal laughter during explosions, the game also has a lot of crackling in certain areas.

[dusk sonnet]

Rtc in the actual core works?

[quick sorrel]

Isn’t that the normal process? Write the basics, when things get established, revise things to further improve them. SRG has made really good cores so in time this surely will be too.

[subtle tusk]

I don't know how beneficial it would be to pick and choose what hardware functions are implemented based on the game because on a CD system every game has access to the same set of hardware functions.

We sort of had that situation on the N64 but I doubt a separate TLB core that omitted things to make room would have worked.

[coarse night]

@ripe valley There might be a regression with Power Drift with the latest core version (dual ram) - during the attract loop there are red triangles flashing in the corners at extreme tilt angles. I never noticed that before.

[severe whale]

Anyone got Super Tempo working? it doesnt load for me

[mortal mist]

are you using the latest test core ?

[severe whale]

yes

i dont have the double ram though

so maybe thats the issue?

[mortal mist]

works with single , it was fixed 2 weeks ago

[severe whale]

i just did an update_all this morning

hmm maybe its the version of the game i got

[mortal mist]

nah its old core 2023

via update all

[severe whale]

aha

[mortal mist]

#unstable-nightlies message

try new test core

[severe whale]

cant access that

[mortal mist]

channels and roles

[severe whale]

:S

how late do the test cores go into update_all

?

i mean how big is the time discrepancy

[mortal mist]

when the author considers that the core is ready 🙂

[severe whale]

yeah but in general 😄 im quite new to this core

[mortal mist]

So far there have been two , the last from October. It's hard to say

[severe whale]

oh

[mortal mist]

there's a lot left to do

core from october (update all ) is a beta version

[severe whale]

i was under the impression that the update_all gave me the latest version since it's in update_all and the core is therefor official

[mortal mist]

But it can be a beta 🙂

[severe whale]

gotta get a way to update to the beta version

no wonder ive had issues in some games

if im sitting on a freaking october version lol

[mortal mist]

Since then, a lot has changed

core is in constant development , test cores appear very often

[ripe valley]

The core have changed quite a bit since last October.

[ripe valley]

Okay I will check later today and report the issue to the tracker if necessary.

[severe whale]

is this the latest nightly build? Saturn_DualSDRAM_unstable_20240227_07098f.rbf

[mortal mist]

its dualsdram

latest

[severe whale]

ok i suppost most of the betatestings are done with dualram then

[mortal mist]

nope

[severe whale]

oh nevermind

[mortal mist]

quite a few people test with one sdram 🙂

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BpCRjALSAAe4lQGfaJgoiDZu6aLFrVOLdSEJqN4EgIg/

[severe whale]

i found this as well Saturn_unstable_20240227_07098f.rbf

[mortal mist]

yeah 🙂

[severe whale]

gotta try it out :-)))

[fiery kindle]

Anyone know how I can get my hands on Sakura Wars (Saturn) chapter save games? I lost my save and REALLY don't want to start from the beginning.. I've been searching around and I'm about to give up, but thought I'd ask here..

[severe whale]

that did the trick. Super Tempo works in the latest beta build!

[mortal mist]

what did you do with the poor game save ? 😛

@gloomy hedge it's the bright side 😛

[gloomy hedge]

So let's see

[gloomy hedge]

I dunno ooo

I have no CRTs I have no OSSC no retrotink...

[mortal mist]

always good to have Saturn

[gloomy hedge]

Yeah I'm hoping so

I need to figure out a display solution though of course

But it should help us do some testing as well I suppose 😉

I still want the mister core to get to the point where I just wasted a lot of money tho...

For a few reasons lol

One of which is that I have my hori dual sticks on mister but not Saturn ones

May have to buy a Saturn dual stick...

Ugh what have I done....

[mortal mist]

core still has a lot of problems , and as I wrote, Saturn is always worth having 🙂

[fiery kindle]

I'm not going to admit to having destroyed my sega saturn. It was working one moment, I packed it away.. Pulled it out later.. fried.

oh wait, i did admit it

[mortal mist]

😄

[quick sorrel]

Maybe not be so hasty to sell of the Saturn collection eh?

[ripe valley]

The framebuffer rotation mode have been implemented on last Jan 25th and the screen could rotate as needed for the game.
The limitation of that port is that you can see parts of the screen on the two lower corners that are without any sprites when the screen rotates in extreme angles.
I've compared with my original JPN system just a moment ago (and some other videos done with a capture card), we have the same behavior as the core.

"It's not a bug, it's a feature."

[mortal mist]

thanks for checking @ripe valley 🙂

[severe whale]

i hope the core gets mouse support similiar to how it works on the psx core

[coarse night]

Its not the missing triangles but the solid (red) triangles. Checked again with the core they are now solid blue. I never noticed those before, need to check again with real hardware.