Sega Saturn

[ripe valley]

From what I remember.
Fixing a bug when having a cartridge (Program ROM only) plugged into the port and pressing Select during a game would cause the console to crash with a black screen;
Some cosmetic changes (like on CD+G media).

The first model also presents a bug on one of the ASICs simulating the M68K chip and could impact games like SEGA Ages - OutRun (in the form of a 'hardware bug' which refuses to go through after the first loading screen).
These games have been revised to avoid this M68K bug and achieve compatibility with those from the JPN Model 1 (which is why you have a Rev A of this game and others that I don't immediately remember).

[severe whale]

Nice thanks.

[ripe valley]

Chip partners working with SEGA liked to combine chips functions during revisions of the motherboard.

The VA15 (late) revision even have an only one ASIC which simulate the two SH2 chips.

[wise brook]

do you mean the 2x sh-2?

I wasn't aware of any further consolidation of the chips

I do wonder tho if there were any designs for a "1chip"esq saturn revision

[ripe valley]

Thanks, corrected. Writing too late at night and after a party.

Mea culpa.

[onyx gulch]

Is there games working best on single ram than dual ram? Dual is working well for me but I'm just curious.

[wise brook]

to the best of my knowledge there's no differences right now

[pearl harbor]

The Midway arcade cores and the unfinished Jaguar core the only cores that I know of that benefit from dual ram. And even those are in unfinished states where even with dual ram they're not worth playing.

[burnt matrix]

Went to play Dracula X, had to go do something real quick and left. When I came back I find my five year old playing it and he’s loving it. Now I can’t play lol.

[hearty carbon]

just don't let them play SOTN

[burnt matrix]

Richter is his favorite lol

Oh wow he reached the first save point

[naive whale]

Smart kid

[quick sorrel]

Nice! It’s how I got my nieces and nephews to play 2D games 👍😎👏

[warped saddle]

exposing CHILDREN to Dracula!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[tall radish]

you’re right, Dracula is terrified of kids

…and commitment

[next bronze]

and he also tells not so scary stores to them and tries to convince them they are scary

[warped saddle]

TIL I'm dracula

[quick sorrel]

Well it was Super Mario Bros on NES at first but progressing on to other 2D games that I like 👍 Gotta get them kids into 2D early. 3D is too easy to like and harder to go back to 2D

[tough star]

hey!

[quick sorrel]

So Vampier and Dracula are the same??? Neat!

[pearl harbor]

Now tell him to beat the game. Otherwise his skill is only 3.5/10 Richters.

[clear condor]

What need for the torso, when the legs have all gone?

[tough star]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-ZqSlrCVcE&t=3s

[severe whale]

What did I just watch? 🤯

[tranquil mulch]

That is impressive. That game isn't easy

[wise brook]

a podcast I like did a 1 shot on Space Harrier.
thought I'd share on the relevant pages

#share-media message

[burnt matrix]

It’s extremely silly but having each region’s bios display when loading a game from that region makes me happy. Feels a little more authentic.

[mortal mist]

Wow , I didn't know you could do that on a Raspberry pi5!

[tough star]

Re-enactment of a discord server trying to reenact the famous intro to SotN

[silk mauve]

Which in itself is a re-enactment of the ending to another game.

[burnt matrix]

I actually don’t think you can lmao

[severe whale]

yeah im well aware of the caslevania intro. i was surpirsed how wacky that one was.

[quick sorrel]

Well Radiant Silvergun is near perfect for me 😃👍 Only the rotating forward cube transitions are missing some graphics (but have been for a while).

[burnt matrix]

We’re missing a few odds and ends right?

@open swan does this core need an MDFourier analysis?

[frozen shard]

I've liked that about playing PS1 games

[open swan]

there is no mdfourier yet for it, but there is an FM synth on the saturn technically, so one day there could be

and mdfourier wouldn't be limited to just fm synth, but it's just very good at figuring that out

[hallow fossil]

There is a new beta of the Saturn 240p TS for anyone in that discord and wanting to try it out on the core

#934836721802162197 message

[burnt matrix]

Oh, I thought it was for general sound. My bad, thanks for explaining it.

[wise brook]

it's cool I don't think there's a logged issue yet for 480i analog output but it's completely absent from the core

[open swan]

as a concept it is for general sound

it's to pickup on the differences in filtering and equipment

but i mean for the purposes of emulation accuracy of an fm synth chip you would need somehting that tests the range of what the fm synth chip can do so you can develop a frequency response graph for everything

you can run the equipment test off an ISO on real hardware and in the core to test the cd audio filtering differences

but those will vary depending on model

the mdfourier equipment test is just a wav file that you can burn and run

then yuou can compare against the digital wav sample vs the recording

[edgy hollow]

haven't been active here much but a 2.9 alexey is good enough right? It seemed to be 2 chip but couldn't pull it off at my current state

although have a 2.2 32mb on other slot

[wise brook]

my 2.9 which came with my retrocastle setup has never given me issue

[frail token]

So the way to do this is to have games in regional folders with the bios in the root of each region folder?

And set the core to auto

[burnt matrix]

Yeah that’s what I do

I have a folder with patched games and I threw the JP bios in there too

[pearl harbor]

And here I am insisting on only using the North American bios!

[wise brook]

https://tenor.com/view/sickos-sicko-haha-yes-creeper-gif-25057805

[quick sorrel]

Oh my… elevator action’s sounds god very loud after the maniacal scream was taken care of , especially c button grenades ouch

[mint jungle]

wait the sound in elevator action returns is fixed?

gotta grab the new build

[quick sorrel]

On my setup, no more maniacal oil drum screams but every bomb or grenade makes a huge sound ripping thru the speakers. Not ideal.

[pearl harbor]

The loud scratching noises started back when the overall core's volume was increased about a month ago. So for awhile, it had both the maniacal laughter and the loud scratching. A lot of games are currently having the loud ear-piercing scratching noises since that update. If you really want to blow your ear drums out, try casting a blaze spell in Shining Force 3!

[burnt matrix]

Just a reminder, even if the sound gets fixed, you’re probably still shit at the game you want to play.

[ripe valley]

I've seen that when I tried the final boss on Saturn Bomberman.

As I wanted to test if an issue is resolved after finally beating it.

[burnt matrix]

lol that’s me playing any shoot em up on the core

Wow I get to play Radiant Silvergun again! WOW I’m still dogshit at this game!

[raven prawn]

Wonderful core! THANK YOU! Now I don't have to walk into the other room to play Saturn.

Also wow, that Quake port is something alright. Huh.

[gloomy hedge]

🥹

[ancient surge]

https://vxtwitter.com/memory_fallen/status/1765747557995626661?t=7MffYA_K2vCNuUMDimeXzA&s=19

[mortal mist]

new core alert 🙂

sound!!!

[severe whale]

Nice 😄

[mortal mist]

https://tenor.com/view/too-loud-loud-noise-speaker-gif-5494249

the best place to play, MiSTer!

[severe whale]

:3))))

[burnt matrix]

SOUNDS GOOD

[dusk sonnet]

Whats sounds good?

[hard reef]

After Burner certainly sounds good on this build, also there was some clipping/crackling in some SFX in Necronomicon that is now fixed.

[burnt matrix]

The Saturn with the latest unstable nightly!

[dusk sonnet]

it already sounded good

[burnt matrix]

@naive whale

[burnt matrix]

Now it sounds good-er lol

[naive whale]

Ooh fun

[dusk sonnet]

Yee

[burnt matrix]

Going to test Powerslave, that had noticeable audio crackling

[naive whale]

Give me a list of games to test today 🙂 I’ll capture this afternoon

Sounds like the clipping may be fixed

(Pun not intended)

[burnt matrix]

Powerslave audio clipping fixed, shooting guns sounds good!

Ok that’s all I could test lol. Have a meeting now.

[wooden dew]

That's progress, imo. Perhaps an easy fix.

[mortal mist]

europe bios sound is fixed

[wise brook]

damn another regression

[mortal mist]

haha

[shadow merlin]

Virtual-On sounds a lot better

Dashing and shooting at the same time no longer hurts my ears

[mortal mist]

yeah!

🙂

[naive whale]

Elevator action?

[mortal mist]

Virtual On sounds great 🙂

time for Tomb Raider

nope 😛

not this time

[hard reef]

Clipping seems fixed - iirc it was quite noticeable in the L1 intro when the helicopter appears

[mortal mist]

Virtua Fighter 2 is fixed

the sounds of battle sound as they should 🙂

[wooden dew]

Somebody said something about very loud grenades. Have you come across this?

[shadow merlin]

Sounds so much better. A little bit of clipping still exists when going from one stage to another but it's very minimal. Oops I meant in Virtua Fighter, not Virtual-On 😅

[hard reef]

Grenade bomb didn’t seem overly loud

[naive whale]

Afterburner, Powerslave, VF2, elevator action

Lost so far. I need one more. What do ya got

[mortal mist]

eur bios 🙂

[naive whale]

lol I can’t get 2 minutes out of that

[mortal mist]

why not

[burnt matrix]

maybe if you slow it down

[mortal mist]

yeah

sloooowwww mooooo

[naive whale]

Just because your wife tells you to slow down and make it last doesn’t mean I have the same problems as you

I pack a fast 12….minutes of fun

[burnt matrix]

[naive whale]

C’mon that’s an easy volley. Just respond “yeah centimeters”

[burnt matrix]

Video Game Cringeterica

[burnt matrix]

lol that's good

[mortal mist]

menus have recently been fixed in Grandia , I do not know if this has already shown 😛

[naive whale]

I think I did 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ve got a few Saturn videos ready to go

Five in the chamber

[hard reef]

Audio in Necronomicon is cleaner (sfx were glitchy)

[naive whale]

And yes ignore they all go out at the same time. I hot swap shit based on my mood / what I feel like

Tomorrow will be testing “bangers”

[hard reef]

I don’t know if others had glitchy audio in the Radiant Silvergun cutscene at the start of L1 but that is cleaner now

[wooden dew]

I did! Good to hear... er

[burnt matrix]

@naive whale Manx TT sounds way better

Engine sounds aren’t clipping

[naive whale]

Perfect

[mortal mist]

almost every game sounds better, no more overdriven sounds 🙂

Even shots in Panzer Dragoon caused crackling

[burnt matrix]

yeah but he wants to show good games

[mortal mist]

noooooo

[burnt matrix]

LOL that joke hurt me

Panzer Dragoon is awesome!!!

Need to still play Saga

[pearl harbor]

Heck yeah, more sound updates! Can't wait to test this one out in a bit!

[mortal mist]

I like you , I will survive this pain....

[naive whale]

Still running the bangers ep tomorrow and it may say “some audio crackles but may be fixed by now”

RE had great audio as did Super Tempo so those are good to go

[mortal mist]

many games work very very well , I would be afraid to use the word perfect 🙂

but maybe some

[burnt matrix]

BETTER THAN REAL HARDWARE

[mortal mist]

yeah pi5 is great !

[hearty marten]

Sound being improved is a major win

[dusk sonnet]

Tell me I'm the only one who thinks Shinobi X's song is weird

[hearty marten]

Can it play x-men vs street fighter? (Or JFG on N64…)

If so, it’s better than MiSTer, and so better than real hardware 😉

[mortal mist]

Robby is pi5 expert 😛

[pearl harbor]

Heck yeah, Elevator Action Returns finally sounds correct on all fronts now!

[mortal mist]

https://tenor.com/view/segata-sanshiro-nod-yes-gif-5612081

[pearl harbor]

Time to test Shining Force III

That blaze spell is the ultimate test!

[naive whale]

Hurray

[ancient surge]

Noooo the chipmunks!!

[pearl harbor]

Shining Force III also sounds great now! Blaze spell doesn't destroy my speakers!

This update, along with the previous one from a few days ago, is a game changer. Insane audio improvements all around.

[mortal mist]

man , i love this core

[hearty marten]

Just waiting for Gouraud shading now and then we’re golden. Core finished 😉

[pearl harbor]

Honestly, that's the last remaining big update. Obviously there's plenty more beyond that, but once that is added, so many games will be golden.

[mortal mist]

we are close 🙂

[hearty marten]

I wonder if srg320 and FPGAzumSpass are gonna feel a little bored once the Saturn and N64 cores are “done”. Anything else achievable on the MiSTer must feel easy by comparison

Maybe I’m just talking rubbish though. I don’t know anything about core development

It’s gonna have to be the virtual boy next 😎

[dusk sonnet]

3do

[shell musk]

Which sound you talk about? ring?

[mortal mist]

yes

[pearl harbor]

Sega Ages Afterburner II is also fixed! The last updated brought back the music, and today's update brought back the sound effects!

[mortal mist]

ok time for Dayyytooonnnaaaaaaaaa

let's go awayyyy

[pearl harbor]

Blue blue skyyy!

https://tenor.com/view/cat-gif-25090491

These audio updates are worth my once a week gif.

Time to test Tetris Plus. That's another one that had scratching issues when audio levels were raised.

Aaaand Tetris Plus is also fixed!

[hearty marten]

Sound effects in VF are no longer scratchy either

(Certain moves from Akira seemed to clip when I played the other day)

[hearty marten]

Although I’d be lying if I said they weren’t still loud - maybe that’s accurate though!

[pearl harbor]

I'm struggling to find any remaining audio issues. Every game I'm testing is fixed.

[ripe valley]

So far, so good.

[tidal raptor]

That's awesome news

[pearl harbor]

Radiant Silvergun also sounds perfect to me. All audio is present without issues.

Music, sound effects, and voice.

[naive whale]

Since I have Elevator Actions Returns in the bangers vid I think I’ll just recut VO for tomorrow and make it about audio

[hearty marten]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/16 Sounds seem to be working for me, but I’m not familiar with the game or how common the issues were

NB: I’m using a translated hacked version though

[naive whale]

Sounds like a 2.5V ram issue

I had full sound last time I played

[pearl harbor]

Just tested it, and it sounds accurate to me. Though it's been a long time since I played the game on my real Saturn hardware.

[naive whale]

It’s not that loud

I do think the core default volume should be one “master volume” click to the left still

VF2 on my Saturn with the speakers next to my PVM is never “too loud”

[pearl harbor]

Well the overall volume on the core is a bit loud. I was referring to the audio balancing rather than the overall volume.

[naive whale]

Ahh I see

[hearty marten]

FYI I’m talking about VF1, but I don’t disagree that the core seems a click too loud

[naive whale]

Yes the master volume levels are too high IMO

[pearl harbor]

Yeah, basically if I turn down the volume on my setup a bit, everything sounds fine to me. Whereas before some sound effects massively peaked louder than they should compared to the music and such.

[hearty marten]

To be honest I tend to adjust across all cores and games anyway since they’re all inconsistent as hell

[naive whale]

Yes every system has weird volume

Honestly it’s like TV. Commercials are loud AF. Show is normal

[hearty marten]

You wouldn’t notice as much if it weren’t for the fact that it’s so easy to go from one game on one gen to another within a few seconds

[ripe valley]

I need to evaluate the issue later today.
There was some missing sound effects even with the previous build.

[hearty marten]

Puts the “SEGA” intro into a whole new perspective 😂

[pearl harbor]

Damn, playing some VF2 right now, and Lion saying that he doesn't make a habit of fighting the elderly hits different now than it did back in the 90s...

[hearty marten]

Let all your friends and neighbours know you play Sega, rather than boring kiddie Nintendo

[pine tundra]

Core is near perfection!!! Just to centered analog video with pal game 😉

[burnt matrix]

@subtle seal, so good!

[hearty marten]

It’s been working for a while, but Baku Baku Animal is

[pearl harbor]

X-Men vs Street Fighter still crashes. Though that's expected since this was an audio update.

[ripe valley]

@hearty marten For Asuka 120%, the bug is quite subtle and seems to depend on the number of sound effects the SCSP needs to mix at the same time.

[hearty marten]

My crappy playing probably didn’t help in terms of needing multiple sound effects then

[naive whale]

Checked tomorrows vid. Just need to change some VO and it can be about improved audio. Hurray for planning ahead 🤣

[hearty marten]

You just ruined the illusion 😔

[tawny pendant]

Any other games besides Sega Rally that people have trouble with on older RAM? A lot of games are working great on my multisystem setup... but Sega Rally is still very buggy audio wise and won't load the 2nd level 90% of the time. Older versions in Feb loaded the 2nd level fine.

[thorn pagoda]

i wonder what it is about sega rally in particular

[tawny pendant]

Thing is the only problem prior was music would cut out randomly.... now music seems better but the sound effects cut out and will repeat continuosly.

[pearl harbor]

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the older ram issues are simply never resolved on the core. Saturn is complicated enough as it is, so I can see srg320 focusing on ensuring the core is stable enough with newer ram.

[thorn pagoda]

just seems weird its kind of the only game thats so consistently inconsistent

it actually works on all my misters right now so i'm not complaining at all 🙂

[mortal mist]

there are more of them , virtual on , Radiant Silvergun , Thunderforce V, Manx TT, Nights

and these are just some examples ,probably the list is longer. Something stutters , music disappears , crashes on intro

I don't have this problem , it's just the titles that people have reported

[zealous storm]

it was based on a forum thread, hence the cacophony of randomness.

[tawny pendant]

I have a dual setup as well; but I enjoy seeing how and if the issue progresses as the core does. I love the first level of Sega Rally so I don't mind playing it over and over. Curious if @unkempt kelp would consider making a right angled RAM unit that we could upgrade the multisystem with.

[naive whale]

exporting vid. Gonna run tomorrow

[unkempt kelp]

I've been asked this before. I can take a look but someone might beat me to it 🙂

I don't have a MMS so I don't know the SDRAM dimensions or anything

[naive whale]

I am selling the dude my dev Pippin. I can try and get you in touch if you want. I’m sure they have specs

[unkempt kelp]

Thanks, I just remembered it's on Github

[gloomy hedge]

did some quick testing cotton 2 still crashes on me pretty much immediately in stage 1

(3.0 ram cursed de10, etc. etc.)

sega rally time - yay the intro music... oh sound completely cutout after

new regression for me

immediate white screen after that

cant even get into stage 1

cold reboot try again

@tawny pendant now I cant even get to "car select" on sega rally

white screens after picking "arcade"

complete regression

[gloomy hedge]

newer ram means jack shit

I have newer ram, hasnt helped me at all

or rather, helped me a tiny bit but like I said - sega rally right now is way waorse than 2.15 core and now wont even get to car select

as SOON as sound cuts off, the game will ALWAYS white screen

it is 100% tied to the sound

I just speed ran got to car select and then it crashed

[naive whale]

if I can find some time soon Aktane I should come over with my shit and we can test together

I want to put a diff card in YOUR MiSTer

[gloomy hedge]

yep

good idea

I have two, lets add a third to the mix

[naive whale]

your cursed experience seems to be wildly diff

like another variable is affecting things

[gloomy hedge]

my 2.5 and 3.0 have similar behavior but the 3.0 is slightly more compatible although it could be placebo

it felt more stable in some games like hyper duel menus and such

[gloomy hedge]

well pick a variable and I'll test it

I literally did a brand new sd card with nothing on it except sega rally fresh from mr. fusion

same behavior

[naive whale]

I want to throw my SD card in your MiSTer with my files and see if its repeatable

[gloomy hedge]

right lets do it

I'm here whenever lol

good news - every other core is dope

other good news - I bought a saturn so the testing is just for the community, decided to sell a kidney and buy a retro tink and all that shit and cables and all that

so I am no longer bothered by it, happy to test, but its less frustrating knowing I can actually play the game should I wish

[naive whale]

meanwhile I am capturing Sega Rally on Steam Deck for Model 2 lol

[tawny pendant]

That happens on the net link edition for me as well.

[naive whale]

I sent aktane some new versions to test

[gloomy hedge]

yes see

so wait

netlink edition is worse compatibility right now?

nope

just tried regular

same exact video as aboive

here it is for reference

I'll try the awbacon roms and lets see

[tawny pendant]

@gloomy hedge... I'm certain someone would have mentioned this before, but just in case. When I upgraded my other mister to dual ram I still had the same issues as single. I swapped the RAM to different sockets and it started working perfect after that.

And yes Netlink editions seems to perform worse now

[subtle seal]

indeed

[gloomy hedge]

for me it is 1:1

[gloomy hedge]

what do you mean different sockets?

I dont think I have any other sockets

@naive whale about to boot up, fingers crossed its somehow redumps fault lol

[naive whale]

at least this will eliminate one potential variable on the checklist

[gloomy hedge]

variable eliminated unfortunately

[naive whale]

Damn. Fair enough

[gloomy hedge]

didnt try japan

will try now for shits

[mortal mist]

@gloomy hedge Have you checked how dualsdram works?

[pearl harbor]

Definitely seems to be something unrelated to ram on your end Aktane.

[gloomy hedge]

and japan

[gloomy hedge]

the only thing left is the nano itself

and unless someone is about to send me a free nano, I'm pretty much out of options

but again, like I said, I am impatient and bought a saturn so its all good

if my mister works 1:1 perfectly with every core except this one, thats fine by me, but I think it indicates that my mister is totally fine too

[naive whale]

my wife leaves her current job Sunday @gloomy hedge and we have 11 days off together. Once she starts her new gig if a core hasnt solved it by then Ill throw a couple MiSTers and some shit in my car and drive to your joint and we can do some checking

[gloomy hedge]

its up to you my dude

this is all for the community, I no longer have a horse in the race haha

all I have is my experience to which I will say "ymmv, I got a new ram stick and it didnt do anything really for me"

but also why does @tawny pendant also have the same experience?

seems like its not just me?

[naive whale]

well if its not working by late this month I can bring over diff RAM I know is 100%, diff NANO boards we can swap RAM into, etc etc...and really find the root cause

[alpine pagoda]

Also on multisystem here, only tested sega rally, but white screened after first level here too. hadn't had that before, it used to just drop the engine sound/music at some point.

[gloomy hedge]

sounds like its a finnicky one, so thats the thing, everyone is getting further than me, which is fine, but the behavior is the same in that it is not coded correctly at the moment in the core

[gloomy hedge]

no I dont have a dual sdram setup

so I dont know exactly what I would do with that

[alpine pagoda]

I think yours is just cursed 🙂

[gloomy hedge]

based

[mortal mist]

You don't need anything more than two sdramas and a de10

It is worth a try

You have 2.5 and 3.0 I guess it's not a problem

[gloomy hedge]

looks like my second slot has something in it

[mortal mist]

You don't need i/o

[mortal mist]

Yeah io board

[gloomy hedge]

I get this feeling

That if I disconnected it, I would not have HDMI?

[wise brook]

nah

[gloomy hedge]

I'm confused

[wise brook]

io is for analog

[silk mauve]

HDMI is part of the de10 nano. You can't get rid of it.

The top board is the IO board and is optional.

[gloomy hedge]

Oh so it's the flat piece on top?

[gloomy hedge]

It has a fan on it?

[mortal mist]

As you can see I still have hdmi 🤪

[wise brook]

maybe

some versions use a big heat sync

[silk mauve]

Right, the one with the fan on it is the IO board. It's not needed, just a cool add-on

[gloomy hedge]

You guys are cool but I really don't want to take apart my mister just to have it not work again

Every single other thing works and I've learned not to compromise that for this one core

I'll fuck something up

[silk mauve]

I agree. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Especially if you're not comfortable

[wise brook]

be gentle, lift it apart evenly and don't use more force than necessary

[gloomy hedge]

I'm not, I think the core is just too early for me

[gloomy hedge]

I'm good

[wise brook]

it's cool

[gloomy hedge]

It's honestly not me, it's the core and I'm not gonna bend over backwards for the core especially since others are having issues anyway

I do all this and then I get a white screen after stage 1, yay haha

It's not worth it

[wise brook]

I've rebuilt/built my MiSTer a few times at this point but I can understand how intimidating it can be

[gloomy hedge]

Yeah I don't like tinkering with expensive 🫰🏽 equipment

[silk mauve]

I'm planning on potentially reducing the girth of my sandwich with the new IO board coming out.

[gloomy hedge]

That is somehow double the cost that it was

[wise brook]

I just finished tinkering with something else myself!

[gloomy hedge]

I actually like gaming more than tinkering, I find that tinkering I just make the thing work after weeks and then I never play anything

Because I'm exhausted

[wise brook]

hope y'all can appreciate some fine soldering work

if I do say so myself

[gloomy hedge]

Japanese Saturn?

[wise brook]

yep!

[gloomy hedge]

So what's the mod?

[wise brook]

a switchless region free mod is on the left and F-Ram is on the right with the 2 blue wires

[gloomy hedge]

Btw thanks for the lesson @mortal mist

I now know more about my mister and that's a very good thing

[gloomy hedge]

What is Fram

You didn't want to just go with the pseudo Kai?

[wise brook]

non volatile ferrite ram

[gloomy hedge]

That is more confusing than fram

Lmao

I'm outta my league

[wise brook]

so the Saturn was so "consumer friendly" it came with its own memory card built in!

but

[gloomy hedge]

Yes I believe mine has that

They die right?

[wise brook]

it's a S-Ram chip, volatile, which means it must be powered at all times to hold its data

F-Ram can hold data even when there's no voltage

[gloomy hedge]

Ah wild

That's not ram!

That's some OP shit

Nice

I just have a Fenrir mod someone else put in and a pseudo Kai all in one

[wise brook]

I'm not sure what the psudo is for once you've got a fenrir

[gloomy hedge]

4MB ram expansion

[wise brook]

ohh

[gloomy hedge]

And then can't I use it as a memory card expansion?

Like for games that are too big for internal ?

[wise brook]

I imported the originals myself

[gloomy hedge]

That part I'm not so sure on

Original what?

Oh Ram cards?

[wise brook]

1mg & 4mg ram expansions

[gloomy hedge]

Right I'm pretty sure this is cheaper than that haha and then it also has extra memory

Say for like dezaemon 2 games or something

[wise brook]

and the Netlink! I've actually gotten mine online

[gloomy hedge]

Oh yeah I've never seen a netlink befoee

Pic would be cool sometime

But I guess we should stay on topic
.insert Sega Rally WSOD here

[ripe valley]

Asuka 120% seems to work okay on the sound effects now.
I had the same issue on Rayman on the menus too with previus builds, I cannot reproduce them even after 10 tries.

[untold spear]

with the luck you had with the saturn core, i'd almost expected ya to get a saturn, fire it up and then freeze in cotton 2

lol

like segata had cursed you or something

[gloomy hedge]

dude

honestly

I was waiting

for that to happen legit

I had a small panic attack the first time I booted it

but nah the saturn is good

[sick python]

Playing the Saturn core for an hour then switching to another core forgetting to adjust the volume first

[untold spear]

i thought they raised the volume

seemed to be louder recently anyway

did it get quieter this update

[sick python]

Oh? Maybe I need to update again, been a few weeks

[untold spear]

i think srg reworked something to do with sound and it got louder. think this recent one fixed some sound issues but i haven't tried it

going to when i get home

[ripe valley]

The volume levels are much better now.

[untold spear]

i didn't check chat but were there more games working better this update

[ripe valley]

The issue was the levels on the DSP (Digital Sound Processor) not completely implemented some weeks ago.
Everything was read without amplification on the final stage for the sound.

Now these go to 11.

[gloomy hedge]

@mortal mist so I actually got a little inspired and was about to take my mister apart but then ... I realized... I use analog audio and I have a violent hatred for hdmi audio lol 😛

so while it could be a fun experiment, it would not work long term for me and

so I cant

[burnt matrix]

why must you hate good things

[gloomy hedge]

HDMI audio suckssss. There's one thing I hate more than video lag, it's audio lag. I always want analog audio where possible, optical works too. It helps with my setup to separate video and audio 🤝🏾

[pearl harbor]

I've never noticed audio lag in anything with my setup that wasn't something introduced with the software itself. Like the Sega Genesis Mini has horrendous audio lag. I play a lot of rhythm games too, and nothing at all.

[gloomy hedge]

your setup is probably just better than mine

I find most hdmi receivers even when set to stereo have a good amount of audio lag when compared to RCA

[pearl harbor]

Yeah, a good receiver would never do that.

[gloomy hedge]

yeah I dont have that

but what I do have is an audio interface and amazing monitors

so I need to get the audio into that somehow

so either way, I have to split the audio out from HDMI

[serene thunder]

Oh you don't have the optical output

[gloomy hedge]

Ive tried some decent hdmi receivers back in the day( like 2011 era?) and I just could not find one that was lagless, it always felt like I had audio lag

[gloomy hedge]

most cheap computer monitors, like the ones I have, have an output, but thats total garbage

I dont want audio going into those and then coming out, thats even worse than a receiver haha

[burnt matrix]

why must you hate audio lag

[serene thunder]

I was using the recommended cheap DAC, then got a slightly better one
Then I went back to an HDMI audio extractor

[gloomy hedge]

because it is the the evil devil

not even the cool devil

[serene thunder]

No I mean the MiSTer optical audio output

[gloomy hedge]

yeah I dont want to deal w audio extractors but I assume they work, I just literally havent tried them

[gloomy hedge]

oh yeah good point, no, my audio interface I dont think accepts optical

it accepts a SPDIF tho? hm, but no I am using analog audio

[serene thunder]

I convert the toslink to analog

[dusk sonnet]

@gloomy hedge your toslink works well?

[burnt matrix]

you know what they say about SPDIF

[serene thunder]

... ?

[burnt matrix]

SPDIF ma baaaaaawwls

[serene thunder]

My latest nerd touch was to put a 4-channel headphone amp/mixer on the coffee table in the projector room

I ran the toslink to a DAC and then it runs through a 1 foot RCA cable to the amp

each channel on the amp has mini and standard size audio jacks

I wonder if it could drive 8 sets of cans

[dusk sonnet]

Any configuration to gets audio from toslink connection?

[serene thunder]

No, but you can enable the 96 kHz option

[dusk sonnet]

I think my mister doesn't work with the toslink output. the light shines but there is no audio. what is your dac?

[gloomy hedge]

the reason for this is I have about 12 unpictured music things in this image lol like guitars, mics, synths, midi shit, etc.

the retrotink is not here yet so its in grey for now, neither are the cables

not pictured - Headphone amp...

[gloomy hedge]

never used it

dont know

[serene thunder]

The recommended DAC was not working for me and needed to be power cycled a lot

[gloomy hedge]

I guess the reason I dont go with a DAC is because I have a preamp?

all my audio sounds stellar, I dont have any issues with the audio

but of course my audio interface is amping it

though that should be as transparent as possible, not adding any color

[serene thunder]

Sound quality is important to me
Just saw DUNE 2 and the sound was bonkers in the theater
Their picture quality did kind of blow, though

podunk theater

[gloomy hedge]

that sukkkckkckkcs

but yeah sound is 90% of hte film anyways 😛

that shit changes the whole game

[serene thunder]

Especially in DUNE 2 where the visuals are so B&W

like actual "B&W" in one part

(infrared cameras)

[gloomy hedge]

wild

I havent seen it but yeah I can imagine

[hearty carbon]

It's a cool scene.

Sequence, I guess.

[serene thunder]

I should have gone IMAX but was feeling lazy

Sure I missed tons of fine detail on stuff

I'm trying to think of a single movie rn that I am anticipating

Soon I will page through the graveyard that is the IMDB release schedule

[frail token]

Dune 2 was awesome, although Villeneuve really likes to show and not tell, so it bums me all the details he leaves out

Ghostbusters is my next film I'll see in the theater

[serene thunder]

IMO what Hollyweird should do is remaster and even correct flaws in effects
with 80s movies, etc.
Then re-release in theaters
Newbs will get the best presentation, while existing fans get mind-blowing updated presentation
But you don't want a Luca$ situation where they fix stuff that ain't broke

[frail token]

also, uhh Saturn stuff

[serene thunder]

I am always thinking of SEGA

[frail token]

I've been lobbying this for years

Like Neverending Story. CGI Falcor but make it as authentic to the animatronics as possible. Just fix the janky facial expressions

stuff like that

[serene thunder]

What could go wrong

[quick sorrel]

I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay with a redo of The Neverending Story kind of like the non-pixel Switch Radiant Silvergun look

[serene thunder]

As long as the original version is preserved and available, I'm OK

But not into the idea of replacing the originals

https://tenor.com/view/sega-gif-24026592

[frail token]

Falcor's mouth is janky AF it's stuff like that that I struggle with when I watch older movies

[quick sorrel]

You’re just being too adulty 😛 just remember how it was when you were little. I watched it recently for the first time in 20+ years and it was all fine 🤓

[serene thunder]

On VHS, on a small CRT

using coaxial cable

[sudden tusk]

What has gotten into you! ?

[serene thunder]

Tummy hurts from too many cuisines interacting

Like what happens when you consume chicken tikka, poi, a Wendy's frosty, poke, and birthday cake

[quick sorrel]

That’s a helluva combo, $5.99?

[serene thunder]

In Texas, possibly

[burnt matrix]

Sorry, I was just having fun. Lol

[sudden tusk]

No worries me too!

[sonic spindle]

Can someone send me link to latest beta release of the core and 4MB cartridge BIN file ?

[burnt matrix]

Here you go, amigo: #unstable-nightlies message

I don’t believe you need a 4MB cartridge Bin file. It’s just a core option you can toggle.

[frail token]

I thought his mouth was janky when I was little

[tall radish]

Sign me up. Then we can be the three amigos

[burnt matrix]

We’re all amigos! 🍻

[quick sorrel]

Clearly a cooler dude than I 🙇

[frail token]

It's true

[quick sorrel]

I still do the three amigos salute when a certain group of friends get together to play games 😎

[quick sorrel]

Oh man, only 8 more hours to try the new core. Gonna be a long wait. 😅

[jagged quartz]

sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference!

It seems that Saturn is incredibly nuanced, though. It's a testament to to the amount of work that's going into the core.

I cant wait until Tomb raider is fixed!

It seems resident evil is fixed.

no more...

[jagged quartz]

I just had a funny thought: back in the day developers had to develop their games to use all of a consoles tricks. Now, core developers have to add all the tricks to support the software. 😄

[vocal comet]

Haha, very true! How the turns have tabled!

[jagged quartz]

I was literally just thinking that! "My how the turntables"

[mortal mist]

Resident Evil is perfect now 🙂

[jagged quartz]

I mean... It's still Resident Evil on Saturn...

[vocal comet]

Pizza carton Chris and Jill would like a word with you

That battle mode music though

[mortal mist]

good game , good Resident 🙂

[jagged quartz]

Saturn just wasn't Able to compete with Playstation directly. Any multiplats tend to be be better on PlayStation, objectively.

Now, it's original games, on the other hand, are an absolute treat!

[mortal mist]

PlayStation will always be in first place for me, but I also love Saturn 🙂

[vocal comet]

Same here, there’s a lot to love about the saturn. One thing would be the white controller with the colored buttons. I don’t know why, but that color scheme is just

[jagged quartz]

Which bios screen do you prefer? I like the US one, I guess since that is what I know.

[mortal mist]

at startup i have JP 🙂

[jagged quartz]

Also, in my opinion the US version has a better sounding intro as well. More like a game console. The Japanese version sounds more like an appliance to me.

[mortal mist]

but I watch all of them because I set auto region 🙂

[jagged quartz]

I'm a pleb... Only one bios, so I don't get different audio for the Japanese games. 😆

[mortal mist]

more authentic experience for me 😉

[rigid obsidian]

I like the hitachi saturn one most by far.

[severe whale]

tried out this patch yesterday: https://segaxtreme.net/resources/boot-directly-into-psyth.299/

really cool shmup hidden within this dating sim

[zealous karma]

There is color banding in Tomb Raider. In the first area you can clearly see the banding in the snow towards the first arrow trap. I thought it was due to me running analogue through the IO board. But I tried first with Direct Video and got the same result, so I thought maybe my adapter was bad. So I finally connected to my flat panel TV through HDMI and it is exactly the same.
I have a genuine Saturn and the output is S-Video but I have no banding through the Saturn.
Can anybody confirm its a core issue here?

[mortal mist]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/96

maybe related ?

🙂

[zealous karma]

thanks Kuba! 🙂

[mortal mist]

gourard shading is not complete

[zealous karma]

Do you have an example where you can clearly see a difference from 18bit to 24bit in any core? I just cant see any difference in anything between my IO board and Direct Video. But there should be a difference in color quality. Just want to make sure my adapter is fine

[mortal mist]

Symphony of the Night intro on PSX ?

[zealous karma]

right, will check with that. Thanks!

[severe whale]

just a question regarding the PWM

so it outputs 24 bit

what was the output of original hardware? or does the core output 24 bit colours in the HDMI but the limitation is in the DAC?

[ripe valley]

From what I read on the source code, some functions for doing smoothing on the general Gouraud shading seem to be missing at the moment.
That's why we have should see banding, blocky renditions of Nights, or even errors on the field on Pandemonium.

I mean, that's how I understand it at the moment.

[supple vine]

You can see the Goraud Shading bug in Tempest 2000 as well. There’s a line between colors in the bottom half that shouldn’t be there.

[burnt matrix]

Burning Rangers looks atrocious without gourad shading. Feels like the game is falling apart at the seams.

[trim nimbus]

Nah, that is just the way the game always looks

[mortal mist]

In latest core, sound stutters when we speed up bios animations

Arguably it's a punishment that we're doing this, but it works differently than the previous core 🤪

[wise brook]

I was wondering what caused that.

[mortal mist]

I mentioned it on github, maybe it's a simple matter

[naive whale]

That’s how it feels on real hardware too…held together with duct tape and dreams

[burnt matrix]

Lol, it’s fun to play though. It’s just without the shading you can really see each individual quad in the environment with major z-fighting issues

[kind stump]

Sorg is releasing a new IO board with an onboard DAC for audio and video thats going to hopefully make things a bit better, especially for not having extra hardware for audio

[silk mauve]

Is this the board we can pre-order on sites like Castlemania right now?

[gloomy hedge]

z on z violence makes me sick

[pearl harbor]

Nights into Dreams is the most stark example in my opinion!

And Shining Force III!

[naive whale]

I mention shading in todays vid. That it’s still MIA

5 hours till Saturnday

[slow osprey]

Is this a new digital IO board or analog?

[frail token]

Only mister thing I know of on castlemania is the Retrocastle builds

[silk mauve]

Maybe that's what I'm thinking of.

[frail token]

Maybe, but you should know they've been receiving some heat lately due to shipping issues or something, I think there's a reddit post about it

[sudden tusk]

https://tenor.com/view/sonic-kid-when-will-you-learn-bag-eyeglasses-kid-gif-15571057

[silk mauve]

Frikken Fricks!

[kind stump]

Analog! of course

[tall radish]

I certainly do. https://tenor.com/view/sip-drink-drinking-eyebrow-raise-bob-harris-gif-17105792

[sacred goblet]

Hello. I'm sorry i dont understand the interest of the New digital Io board (with dac). Exist an article explaining it?

[severe whale]

sorry for being a broken record, but are there any plans to implement mouse support on the saturn core similiar to the PSX core?

[misty raven]

golden axe audio seems fixed 🥳

[ripe valley]

Possibly a feature request at a much later time.

Let's wait at least some fixes before on the VDP chips (like on the Gouraud shading), just to be sure that we could have some remaining resources.

[gloomy hedge]

Wild stix appeared

[naive whale]

Saturnday is go! popped one up on #share-media

[gloomy hedge]

However... I'm still waiting on this core so I can use my hori twin stix

[gloomy hedge]

Baby bro

[naive whale]

I’m gonna steal one from you

[warped saddle]

and then publish a video about it

[gloomy hedge]

its a shame Virtual On 4(Force) did not work for me, game is way too slow, they ruined it, but at least OT is still sick... I still havent played the old one in literally years, was hoping this core would let me! but now ... now the saturn is here so I'ma def get my wish

[gloomy hedge]

https://tenor.com/view/angry-angry-cat-mad-cat-mad-death-stare-gif-2007099240114134459

I need both and u know it

(come on over whenever)

[naive whale]

I want to mod one for a two player Beast Busters / Op Tiger panel

[gloomy hedge]

Haven't played either one of those games... Lol are they rare digital control games with analog looking sticks or something?!?

[naive whale]

Rare arcade light gun games with X/Y coordinate guns

[gloomy hedge]

😮

[naive whale]

I use a PC flight stick but I always wanted to use one of these as a dual wield panel

[gloomy hedge]

just remember they are digital thats all

which makes them ultra niche

[naive whale]

Ooh well…fuck Nevermind

I thought they were pot based

[gloomy hedge]

yeah thats what I was saying haha

they're just fancy 2 jlfs

with buttons on top

basically

thats why its like only a few games would want a stick but no analog control

super weird ass games

like bulk slash 😛

[tall radish]

robotron arcade core could be interesting

[gloomy hedge]

I havent tried it but for stuff like that I just prefer 2 jlfs

when you're not like piloting something, they feel a bit odd

[tawny forge]

Anyone getting a black screen freeze in SFZ3? I can’t replicate this. This is from a friend

[gloomy hedge]

although you guys know I did play sw Racer with them on N64 with someones help 😛 #1096015979055697940 message

[tall radish]

sounds like a ram issue then.

or possibly chd issue. Would be my guesses. Since it works for you

[tawny forge]

He’s got audio issues in Sega Rally Championship which are now fixed with latest version. But now SFZ3 just black screens for him

He’s tried with CHD and bin/cues. Same ones I’ve been using flawlessly

[tall radish]

Do you know what version of ram he has?

[tawny forge]

99% sure it’s 2.5

[tall radish]

oh yeah, thats the ish then.

[tawny forge]

I’ve seen audio issues with 2.5 so far but never a black screen freeze

On SFZ3

[tall radish]

yours might be hitting a tighter tolerance.

[tawny forge]

Would love to known if someone hits the same issue. Maybe with those 4-chip modules?

[tall radish]

have him run a memory test and see if that lines up. Compare it to what your getting. I was seeing 160mhz with my v2.9 ram.

[naive whale]

Man does anyone make a double panel flight stick with pots

[tall radish]

You have 4 chip? That is notorious for being an issue with the saturn core

[tawny forge]

No

That’s a friends and his is 2-chip

[ripe valley]

Someone on the issue tracker should had that same problem.

Let's me check for a bit.

[tawny forge]

Only found the audio issue one for SFZ3

The OP is the same one for this issue

[ripe valley]

Okay, I mixed up.

[tawny forge]

Previously he had audio issues. Now it’s a freeze

Good news for him is that audio issues in other games is fixed 😄

[lucid vortex]

Latest unstable nightly.... And all previous I've tried... Panzer dragoon saga freezes during initial FMV... Can bypass it but game has no sound at all. Is this everyone's experience or have I done something wrong here...

[gloomy hedge]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134955152505?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1GRRscysfR52mHmNMC4Sisw63&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=134955152505&targetid=1585159291611&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9021441&poi=&campaignid=19894961968&mkgroupid=148855406073&rlsatarget=pla-1585159291611&abcId=9307911&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAi6uvBhADEiwAWiyRdixOeO0T3C-NYJDfV_gpjqrW2SCRinDyPtOaDWn4ZhgwymnbsYMmuBoCMbsQAvD_BwE

or this https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-16000M-SPACE-SIM-STICK-pc/dp/B076XKZML8/ref=asc_df_B076XKZML8/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312191396630&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17208271534972712044&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021441&hvtargid=pla-527737812610&psc=1&mcid=6a56cab4791a3f4592db891124d1a6e5&gclid=CjwKCAiAi6uvBhADEiwAWiyRdmLoxS2te_ZeTqBpcxS_DECYluqD3AFzDUkNOujmBF416YFaX8l3PxoCFKMQAvD_BwE

good luck findin em tho

[naive whale]

See I knew there was a reason I liked you

I just gotta google it and make sure it’s not opto

[burnt matrix]

IS GEWD STICKS

ME LIKELY

[gloomy hedge]

never used either myself

so I can vouch for them exactly zero percent

[kindred sundial]

I know this core is still very much a WIP but I’m still getting audio dropouts with the newest core. Tested Panzer Dragoon I and II. Both of them freeze during the intro. I can bypass that and get in game but once in game the sound fx dropout within a minute. Is this a mileage may vary or should this work the same for everyone?

[tawny forge]

Ok so freezes and audio issues are still common.

Thanks folks

[woeful quarry]

Is the latest mister unstable needed for the current Saturn core?

[quick sorrel]

I remember seeing the box for the Hori EX thinking it had to be huge, and damn it dwarfs the Sega twin stick. How much does that weigh? @gloomy hedge

[gloomy hedge]

If weighs about as much as a fightstick maybe a bit more

It's more it's just big haha

[quick sorrel]

What, 10 pounds?

Oh, never mind

[gloomy hedge]

I can lift it up by both sticks

[quick sorrel]

Mostly hollow then

[gloomy hedge]

Which is how I sometimes move it around

And that doesn't bother me or feel like I'm gonna break it

[quick sorrel]

Hori does make solid stuff

[gloomy hedge]

But yes it's massive

And it doesn't feel good on lap

It needs a desk

The Saturn one oddly feels fine on lap

[quick sorrel]

Nah that is definitely a table stick

The Hori

[gloomy hedge]

Like I was surprised

Yeah yeah

You're spot on

[gloomy hedge]

Don't think so

[woeful quarry]

Thanks

[neon fern]

question, I heard that the latest unstable auto-detects bios, I only have been using high saturn 1.3 and renamed it boot.bin, when I add other bios files, do I have to rename them boot1.bin or something like that?

[mortal mist]

cd_bios.rom

Bios for the region placed in the games folder

Of course, separately for each region

And if you are using one bios it should be named boot.rom not boot.bin

[neon fern]

ah yah, it is named boot.bin currently, only rolled with one so far but hearing maybe that different bios behave differently in the core so I wanted to add a USA and Japan bios to try them

I basically have all my games just in the games/saturn folder so didn't know, sounds like I should just structure them a bit between region and add the separate bios? sorry for dumb question

[mortal mist]

There were also changes for Saturn in mister main , so I recommend using unstable for now

[misty raven]

Yeah the easiest thing to do is make a Japan folder and put all your jp games in there

[mortal mist]

Yes I have folders with games from each region

[misty raven]

Along with jp bios renamed cd_bios.rom

[neon fern]

understood, many thanks 🙂

[misty raven]

fwiw afaik the Sega cd and pce cd work the same way

[peak bear]

I have one of these. Best way to play Ace Combat 2 and 3. Bought it just for those lol

[ripe valley]

I've tested SFZ3, Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon II and Panzer Dragoon Saga for a moment just before.
I cannot reproduce the issues mentioned earlier on my two systems (Single and Dual v2.9).

SFZ3 - I've watched the whole intro and the first attract mode completely + beating the 3 first characters without any issue
Panzer Dragoon, I've watched the whole intro FMV, done the two first stages; >> Some minor issue with the reticula color
Panzer Dragoon II, I've watched the whole intro FMV, done the first stage entirely: >> No audio dropouts even on that game
Panzer Dragoon Saga, I've watched the whole intro FMV and done some of the first gaming sequences >> Only some shading on the walls and the Edge character are incorrect (like with Nights, Burning Rangers and other 3D affected games).

[neon fern]

Hmm initial game load with the corresponding bios with "auto" region saved in settings, when I switch to another set in different region it won't load unless I manually switch the region in core

[ember terrace]

Hi all. Is there a way to simulate cartridge memory for saved games? for instance, in deep fear I can save to a slot in system memory, but I see three slots in cartridge memory that I can't access. System memory fills up pretty quick. thanksk

[bleak escarp]

Tested new build, Fighters Megamix still lagging on walled stages oh well some day. This core is still a marvel

[mortal mist]

Do you have an unstable MiSTer main?

[mortal mist]

There is currently no support for external memory

[neon fern]

Ah no, I'm not, guessing that needs to be in there

[ember terrace]

Thanks!

[neon fern]

Ah thanks, I just look at a few channels here in the discord, hard to keep up

Which I'm grateful especially for this one, thanks for pointing me in the right direction @mortal mist

[lucid vortex]

@ripe valley I'm impressed ... I can't panzer dragoon to run actual gameplay with the unstable ... I can't get sound with the update all core .... And panzer dragoon saga hangs during the first FMV ... Tried multiple bios versions and different ISOs as well

[topaz path]

I don’t think anyone should be using the update_all from last October for anything at this point

Apologies if I’m jumping in without context

[lucid vortex]

Yeah I only tested it ... Since for me at least... I could get panzer saga running (without sound)... With unstable I can't get into the game...

Everyone having different experiences seems like... As I've heard panzer saga should run

[analog totem]

I would try downloading a fresh copy of unstable main and replacing the current one

[lucid vortex]

Just to make sure I'm doing that right... Grab the file from the unstable nightlies ... Drag it to the consoles dir? That's it?

Wondering if I'm missing a step or something

[analog totem]

@lucid vortex no you need to replace the MiSTer file inside of media/fat with the latest unstable MiSTer file: #unstable-nightlies message

sounds to me like maybe you didn’t do that? Which would probably explain why you can’t get games to launch with the latest core.

when you download that file, rename it MiSTer with no file extension and replace the existing MiSTer file

[lucid vortex]

Doing this

Thank you btw

[analog totem]

i would wait for several seconds after you replace the file and then completely shut down the MiSTer and then turn it back on

then try the core again…I presume you already put the latest unstable core on the card?

[lucid vortex]

Yup I did .. completely missed the step regarding unstable main

Def my bad there

[gloomy hedge]

based

[lucid vortex]

Sadly didn't fix the issue. Panzer saga loads... FMV makes it drop to bios.

[analog totem]

@lucid vortex what sdram version do you have?

[lucid vortex]

2.5

[analog totem]

that could potentially be the issue

[lucid vortex]

Time for an update?

[analog totem]

2.9/3.0 is generally more stable with this core

[lucid vortex]

That makes sense to me.

[analog totem]

or just wait. As the core itself gets more stable, your ram might be fine

others use 2.5 ram with no issues

that said, updating’s no a bad idea

and if you get another stick, you can always move the 2.5 stick to the other ram slot and run a dual ram setup (not that it’s really useful at the moment) if you don’t have an analogue i/o board

[lucid vortex]

I have an ironclad plus... Pretty sure dual works on it with some compromises... Can't remember what though

But yeah this ... Is a good idea

Thanks @analog totem!

[analog totem]

no prob!

[quasi grove]

Is the latest build core in Update all? because i was told id find it here . want to support and test it.

[wise brook]

oh no

[wise brook]

did you get the ram with it?

the 4-chip A-Ram?

[wise brook]

no, that's why your here lol

grab the unstable-builds mister file and the core

name and paste them appropriately

[quasi grove]

github?

[wise brook]

if you don't see it, update your roles

[quasi grove]

ok apreciate the help but im an old timer, update roles?

[wise brook]

click on channels & Roles tab

click on "I want it all"

[quasi grove]

ok i found it ,, apreciated ❤️

[wise brook]

is it all working for you yet?

[quasi grove]

yes thank you cheers. got the core up and running.

[wise brook]

heck yeah

[gloomy hedge]

Legit I wouldn't

But I don't know

Everyone says there's something wrong with my setup but I can't recommend anyone to upgrade ram. My advice is to wait, the core is extremely volatile and is still in like alpha to me, stuff breaks before stuff gets fixed

Impossible to determine what are the factors to a good setup

Getting newer ram is what I would call "an experimental upgrade"

[mortal mist]

I wouldn't even dare to say that something is wrong with your kit, I think people are just surprised that after replacing sdram with new 3.0 you still have problems

I have 3 de10 nano purchased in 2019, 2020 and 2022 , each at the moment with sdram 2.9 and Saturn works ok , had problems many months ago with core stability

After the changes for sdram core started to work ok for me , I was also disappointed that it worked for others and not for me

I think something can still change , hopefully and it will also start to work for you and for all those having problems with saturn core

[gloomy hedge]

yeah totally!

my thing is just that the core is mad early, and im expecting too much stability

im excited for what the core has to offer and there is a solid road ahead and lots of changes happening rapidly 🙂

[ripe valley]

Now, we will "dissect" the system of Aktane, searching why he core doesn't want to be nicer with the user.

😁

[lucid vortex]

With the iron clad? No.

[lucid vortex]

I love experiments though haha

[gloomy hedge]

Then enjoy it! It'll be fun 😌

Just want people going in eyes wide open

[lucid vortex]

Appreciate it for sure. We'll see if it helps or not, fingers crossed etc

[gloomy hedge]

All the power to it, it will help! 😎❤️

[paper tiger]

approx how big is a complete saturn set.. anyone know offhand?

[ripe valley]

640GB approx in CHD for the absolute fullset (games, demos, programs, betas, protos).

[paper tiger]

ty

[gloomy hedge]

CHD... the forbidden format

😏

[ripe valley]

Forbidden for you.

😛

[ancient surge]

The sheer size is why I would rather curate the library and pick individual games to put into the folder.

With ROMs they're typically so small you can get away with the entire library, but it's a lot more impractical with bin/cue or CHD.

[ripe valley]

For the Saturn system, I've left a 'Top 250' list of games + some games that need some attention for the tests (which will be removed when the core is mature enough).

[ripe valley]

I've opened two feature requests on the issue tracker after our discussions from yesterday (mouse and twin stick support).

We will see if srg320 should be interested to check them at a later time or even respond on the two tickets.

[gloomy hedge]

https://tenor.com/view/im-pretty-sure-its-illegal-lilly-virgin-river-its-not-legal-you-cant-do-that-gif-19860519

[hollow quiver]

Am I crazy or is there something weird and “flipped” about the lighting/shading. For instance look at the kids in nights on latest.

[burnt matrix]

Yeah I think it’s due to lack of gourad shading

[frail token]

Oh man my favorite Neo Geo game is Gouraud: Mark of the Shades

[burnt matrix]

I actually chuckled out loud at that one lmao

[frail token]

you're welcome lol

[burnt matrix]

A+

[hollow quiver]

idk I think the direction is reversed regardless. I’m going to check on on real Saturn later

[mortal mist]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/61

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/96

[mortal mist]

Problems with gouraud shading are reported

[hollow quiver]

mister

real

[mortal mist]

Yeah

[ocean wasp]

That's why burning rangers looks like it's falling apart

[mortal mist]

Correct

I think this will be srg320 next target

[drifting frigate]

Barely Arrangeders

I'm still so glad to have even what we have. The core is how I played it first. Learning the hype was real on that one was great. I kinda really wish Nightdive would do a proper high res remake for modern systems.

[pearl harbor]

Yeah, the gouraud shading missing affects a bunch of games. Nights is probably the most visible example, but it's a problem in Shining Force III and Burning Rangers as well.

[ocean wasp]

Yeah it's all great how far the core has become until now. Still have problems with multidisc games with saves not working from time to timw

[pearl harbor]

Once that's implemented, the core will be shockingly close to being considered complete outside of the remaining games that crash still like X-Men vs Street Fighter.

[ocean wasp]

Played Torico (2 CHD in 1 folder) sometimes my save gets recognised sometimes not

Same problem with policenauts. Worked fine for 9h playtime over several days. Next day save was not readable even still on SD card and the game asked for new game

[pearl harbor]

I haven't tried any multi-disc games long enough to reach a second disc yet on the core.

[hollow quiver]

I added to the issue

only certain polys are flipped

[pearl harbor]

Don't add to our problems!
||I'm kidding of course.||

[hollow quiver]

it will look like real soon

[burnt matrix]

Good point, that’s the issue in Powerslave

[pearl harbor]

Sonic Jam's 3D section is another example of it.

[drifting frigate]

https://tenor.com/view/carnac-the-magnificent-johnny-carson-the-tonight-show-prediction-feathered-turban-gif-24610250

Powerslave: TL;DR

[mortal mist]

it's not only that #1046941029296779344 message

[wise brook]

the future of Saturn is looking bright

gonna miss this setup

[mortal mist]

https://tenor.com/view/happy-early-birthday-now-gimmee-gif-15731324811646516558

[wise brook]

it's a pretty pog setup if I do say so myself

the best hdmi adapter too

[burnt matrix]

What’s that furry thing to the right?

[pearl harbor]

It's Robby!

[burnt matrix]

LMAO that’s awesome

[wise brook]

so I'm selling that one with its original box wireless controller and everything. hoping for a clean $600

might make myself another couple of ironclad MiSTer setups

[mortal mist]

I sold a similar set at this price

[gloomy hedge]

[steady karma]

Sound is great on many titles woah

Soukyuu Gurentai has no more pops at all so far

Can crank the volume on dat shiet

[hollow quiver]

[sudden tusk]

And WWF in your house is broken af

[craggy horizon]

Is it known that even in the latest unstable builds, audio fadeouts aren't working correctly? (They sound more like step functions than smooth fades... very noticeable at the end of the SEGA logo song in the Astal attract mode, as well as in Bulk Slash at ends of boss victory sequences).

[pine elm]

I'm probably late for the party, but the recent Saturn Core update has substantially improved the audio: Virtua Fighter 2 finally has sound with single SDRAM!! 🥳

[tall radish]

I have dual ram but updates are always exciting.

[amber lichen]

I have no ram but still look Howard to updates

[frozen shard]

Shucks!

[light pine]

i have a 2.9 and played panzer2 the first time today. great game. havent had any audio issues on the latest nightly that i could tell on this game

i had extremely minor issues with panzer1 audio. the latest nightly fixed so much for me in other games as well

[frozen shard]

I'll get my RAM situation sorted when new I/O is available

[light pine]

yea, best to wait and see how it sorts out

[mortal mist]

The same effect is when you speed up the bios animation

@craggy horizon https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/144#issuecomment-1987160748 I've added your finding to the bios ticket , thanks !

[quick sorrel]

I noticed the echo or something in the BIOS as well. Also, Radiant Silvergun secret dogs seem to echo similarly.

[wise brook]

srg320 in one month, first flipped the games with audio issues from 80% to 20%, then resolved the majority of issues with that 20%

the pareto distribution in full effect

if you like what you're seeing and hearing, consider donating to his patreon like myself

[burnt matrix]

Core Developer

https://www.patreon.com/srg320

(this core’s developer is srg320, aka Sergiy; please consider joining his Patreon to help support development)

[severe whale]

Just played through Elevator Action 2 with my son. Must be one of the coolest game on Saturn

[naive whale]

It’s one of Taito’s best

[light pine]

Love that game

[severe whale]

yet another game to add to the list of brilliant saturn games that never came to the west

saturn owners in the west got bummed

[wise brook]

I thought the Taito f3 used an SH-2 like the Saturn... i must have misremembered

[pearl harbor]

Yep, Elevator Action Returns is a gosh darn classic.

[naive whale]

Nah just your typical 68K

Well 68020 but I mean it’s all nuclear 68k family

[tiny shuttle]

hey there. do i need to be on a different version of mister main to run the unstable nightly build?

[mortal mist]

there have been changes to the mister main for Saturn , so I recommend using the unstable mister main at this time

[tiny shuttle]

thanks

[mortal mist]

for region selection option "auto" also requires unstable mister main

[burnt matrix]

Is it though?

[hallow fossil]

Does the core support the memory expansion carts?

[mortal mist]

nope

not yet

only internal memory

[hallow fossil]

Cool, got you, good to know

[burnt matrix]

lmao the game is awesome

I should really play more

I literally want “wow this is an amazing sequel!” and stopped playing

[pearl harbor]

If you're not playing it right now, are you truly living?

[frail token]

what game

[rotund steeple]

The explosions in Guardian Force are distorted, compared to a real Saturn. Probably due to the "Volume increase" fixes.

[mortal mist]

core 20240307 ?

[rotund steeple]

Yep, latest test core

[mortal mist]

ok thanks

[burnt matrix]

Elevator Action EX

[naive whale]

take the core master volume down two notches. It helps in some game

some sfx are still clipping channels and distorting

[ancient surge]

Keep in mind that is some cases, the bad audio is accurate to the original hardware.

Like Twinkle Star Sprites having those heavily compressed voice clips is not an emulation error, it's genuinely that bad.

[warped saddle]

need a core option that simulates the terrible audio track qualilty of those bin+mp3 rips that were popular

[sudden tusk]

Just beat sf zero 3 on the hardest difficulty cause I’m an OP OG

Frum da streets!!

Praise me!

[steady karma]

I'm still playing through Grandia.

I prefer it over FF

[severe whale]

I’m playing Mega Man 8. Surprisingly good soundtrack in this :-)))

Plays very nice

[burnt matrix]

How is it on the Saturn core?

[steady karma]

Had no issues so far. Using a translation patch also

I've uploaded it on Archive org in CHD for Mister if you need it

[burnt matrix]

Ohhhh nice, is it that much better than the PS1 version? I bought the port to Switch but wasn’t sure what the consensus was on that one.

[fallow oracle]

really good game btw

[pearl harbor]

The Switch port? Avoid avoid avoid!!!

[drowsy hull]

it has longer loading times and slightly worse performance

but 3d battle arenas and correctly oriented start town floor textures

so…

[serene thunder]

Now do Survival Mode on hardest

[ocean wasp]

Still on disc 1? Pray that you don't lose your savegame after switching to disc 2. Had several problems with save games and multi disc games when switching disc (policenauts, phantasm, Torico)

[steady karma]

Yeah. Thanks for the heads up. Are you putting the disks in the same folder?

[steady karma]

Usually for CD games, you need a folder for each game and if it's multidisk the disks need to share a folder.

[ocean wasp]

Yes all discs of the game in 1 folder

Format I use is CHD

[ripe valley]

No problem for me on Policenauts.

I didn't take time to finish (once more) the game, but I could go to the 3rd disc without a hitch.

[severe whale]

im waiting for mouse support until i play the saturn version

[ripe valley]

I've done a feature request for you (and some other users) on that matter.

Could be helpful for some games like Worms too.

[severe whale]

bless you

[crimson hemlock]

Just installed a new 3.0 RAM and holy hell it’s like a completely different core! I had nothing but trouble with my 2.5 to the point it bordered on unusable but comparatively the 3.0 is a night and day difference

[celest ingot]

I just got my 3.0 delivered last week but won't have a chance to try it until next month. Glad to hear that it makes a significant difference!

[wise brook]

and they'll soon be an opportunity to upgrade the io board for that sweet sweet 24bit analog color

[strong zephyr]

Happy to hear it works and i have an irl friend who also experienced it. Still with everything else working fine it doesn’t feel right to upgrade. Though ofc having dual ram is fun. But hardy tempting. Not holding my breath for mk and the jag well…maybe if the core was mature but a beta core for a failed console…that also (relatively) recently got an excellent emulator….

[ocean wasp]

That's when it killed my save on 3rd disc. But I think the cause has something to do maybe with autosave

[gloomy hedge]

nice!

meanwhile I had a little trouble with the 2.5, and a little less trouble with the 3.0 but def not night and day, maybe very subtle

its always great when things starst to work though, hope that is the experience for everyone

[crimson hemlock]

Just using Sega Rally as an example, on 2.5 I’d get audio cut outs, white screen crashes between levels, literally couldn’t finish a 3 stage competition. With the 3.0 it was completely problem free, finished all 3 stages with no freezes, audio issues or anything

[gloomy hedge]

That's insane. I still get all that stuff on my 3.0 ram

Maybe I got a dud

With the newest core I can't even get to stage 1 lmao

[crimson hemlock]

That is odd, does it pass all the RAM tests and everything? If I recall my 3.0 runs at 150 whereas I feel the 2.5 topped out something like 143

[severe whale]

Isn’t it already working with 24 bit in PWM mode?

[gloomy hedge]

my 3.0 is 145 I think I did it above somwehere

my 2.5 was the same I think

141 maybe

I dont think that should matter that much

its fine I should really stop complaining about it here, I feel like an idiot lol

thats why I bought a saturn : P

[crimson hemlock]

Very underrated consoles, pop a phantom modchip in or grab a Fenrir and all good 👍

[pearl harbor]

Part of me has always wanted to mod my Saturn, but the other part of me is too afraid to mess with it.

[wise brook]

what kind of mod work you looking for?

[drifting crown]

The fenrir is pretty much plug and play. Modchips need a single wire for 5v. The pseudosaturn carts just plug and play also.

[gloomy hedge]

Yeah Fenrir is already in, got my scart in today

Yeah I got a pseudo cart just for the ram and also extra mem

[crimson hemlock]

They’re not too bad, I live in PAL land and was lucky enough to get a revision of the console where you can just wire a switch in the rear battery compartment to switch 50 and 60hz and then as @drifting crown says the phantom is simply a case of soldering a jumper and a 5v wire, very simple

[wise brook]

sadly you gotta go a bit deeper if you want to truly convert a pal saturn to ntsc

you need to replace the oscillator and that it a massive ball ache

on some revisions it's not even possible

if you don't you'll get audio stuttering

some folks don't notice it until they do

[pearl harbor]

The MiSTer core has kind of killed my interest in modding it. But for years I wanted to make it so I didn't need the disc drive to play games. Just load games onto an SD card and play them on my Saturn. But yeah, I feel like I just don't need that anymore.

[thorn pagoda]

i boxed up my saturn w/mode a while back

[wise brook]

maybe just treat yourself to a Saroo?

[thorn pagoda]

you could always get an ntsc saturn, they aren't that expensive

[wise brook]

tbh, I've committed myself to donating to srg320 and other core developers rather than agonizing over importing, modding and buying a flashcard for the neo geo

[thorn pagoda]

good call tbh

[wise brook]

best part is I don't have to give money to terraonion

cause frankly, screw that company

[crimson hemlock]

Yeah, it’s “good enough” for my needs so not going to worry about it. Importing an NTSC unit is an option but I need to trim down my console collection rather than add to it. Bringing myself to have to deal with the agony that is eBay really puts me off

[lavish wadi]

What game is this?

[subtle tusk]

Project X Zone

AKA "why a lot of video game characters have a low Ryu Number"

[lavish wadi]

Thank you! - I’m in hopes that we will get a Segagaga english translation one day

[gloomy hedge]

atta way

[gloomy hedge]

yeah I donate to the gangsters for a few reasons but the big thing is just lets get these games out there in proper form for folks to play without the hoops and the inaccuracies

[sudden tusk]

Good idea !

What do I get if I finish it ?

[serene thunder]

I honestly can't remember, but I was able to do it with Mika a few times
You do fight multiple opponents at once in some fights
It can get pretty nail-biting

[sudden tusk]

Right on !I main v ism Mika and a ism Karin ..

[serene thunder]

I think the ending is just a standard soup of credits and basic SF graphics

[serene thunder]

Karin is so fun to control with the counters

Mika is able to overcome the worst cheeze the CPU has to offer, tho

[sudden tusk]

Yeah Karin is a hoot!

Will give both a shot

[serene thunder]

I also quite enjoy Honda, Blanka, Claw, Ghief, Fei, etc

[sudden tusk]

Blanka is op af

[serene thunder]

SFA3 is great on DC and Saturn

[sudden tusk]

Hell yeah!

Ima have to agree

[serene thunder]

So much stuff to mess with

[sudden tusk]

I mostly just been messing with the difficulty

But yeah gonna sit down with survival mode here in a few

[serene thunder]

Sometimes level 8 doesn't seem to make a huge difference
Esp with the notorious games like USA Super Turbo