Sega Saturn

[lofty spire]

always "what is Sakura Wars" and never "how is Sakura Wars"

[gloomy hedge]

Is Robby a Harem Gamer

[burnt matrix]

It’s a harem game? What’s a harem game?

[lofty spire]

harem deez

[drowsy hull]

Treat yourself to some mahjongs

[burnt matrix]

I thought you fought in mechs

[gloomy hedge]

And in the sheets

[drowsy hull]

You sure do, but that is only after the dating sim part

[burnt matrix]

What the hell it’s a dating sim? LOL

[gloomy hedge]

When are we gonna get dating Sims without all the stupid mech combat in my way

[burnt matrix]

I thought it was an SRPG

It’s not like inappropriate is it

[gloomy hedge]

Robert AKA HAREM_GAMER_420_69

[drowsy hull]

japan appropriate

[burnt matrix]

🫨

[brittle pecan]

Same thing happens to me too on single SDRAM and the new io analog pro board. menu loads no problem but I get a black screen when trying to load my game..this game worked no problems for me a few weeks ago

[wise brook]

framework update issue?

[burnt matrix]

Ok so I didn’t get an answer, is Sakura Wars like a must play Saturn game?

[lofty spire]

if you don't have enough strategy RPGs on the Saturn, Sakura Wars is another one that also has Visual Novel/dating sim aspects

if that sounds appealing, go for it

[hearty carbon]

I wish someone would do one for WW2 nerds. I want to see Monty and Patton tease out love on the battlefield through their intense rivalry which blooms into a passionate makeout session.

[pearl harbor]

So Robby is starting a Saturn harem!? What is this timeline!?

[wise brook]

do you want a trailer to sell it to you?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kygR1kawkuE

or to put it into nintendo gamer terms

do you like Fire Emblem? then try this

i think the lips system is cool af

[gloomy hedge]

The LIPS system 👁️👄 👁️robby

[lofty spire]

being the massive Fire Emblem pervert that i am, i'm curious about Sakura Wars

[burnt matrix]

fire emblem “pervert”??

[lofty spire]

don't worry about it 🙂

[burnt matrix]

You like it so much it’s perverted?

[lofty spire]

🙂

[burnt matrix]

is that a saying now

[hardy lodge]

Fire emblem is 100x better since they introduced all the waifus, so I recon sakura wars is 100x better than that.

[pearl harbor]

Waifu Emblem is a good time.

[hardy lodge]

I'm a complete casual, but for some reason fe6 is my favorite by a mile. There are also romhacks for all the advance titles which supposedly make them better. Gonna try them at some point.

[wise brook]

[gusty quest]

Yeah me too

[edgy hollow]

Reminds me i should check if galaxy angel's 2nd game has been translated

[ripe valley]

It's here.

New release.

[wise brook]

https://tenor.com/view/sakura-wars-sakura-taisen-sega-saturn-sakura-sakura-shinguji-gif-27294025

[ripe valley]

The previous build had the same problem with Doukyuusei and True Pinball too, the new release have fixed the issue now.

cc @brittle pecan

[wise brook]

no change on grandia for me

[ripe valley]

No changes on :

• Die Hard Arcade;
• Dead or Alive (slowdowns are worse);
• Time Gal & Ninja Hayate:
• Street Fighter Zero 3 (music is not synchronized during intro).

Fixes :

• Mortal Kombat II (cropped publisher screen);
• True Pinball (garbled graphics);
• Doukyuusei if (garbled menus);
• Assault Suits Leynos 2 (garbled intro);
• Virtua Fighter 2 (staff scroll).

Magic Knight Rayearth intro seems to work fine now on my systems.

But I need a confirmation from a second tester.

[brittle pecan]

Magic Knight Rayearth intro seems ok..not sure if the weird frame pacing after the logo appears with the stars in the background is normal tho?

after the logo appears the video stutters a little every few seconds but doesnt desync with the audio so I'm not sure if this is a normal thing

[thorn pagoda]

Guess that explains why it works on 32mb chips now - sounds like the interleaving is out

[warped saddle]

I wonder if that has a side effect of it working on those 4chip ones too

[ripe valley]

EDIT : I've retested the JPN version instead of the US one...

[rich violet]

Is there any difference between the single and dual ram builds any more? Would the dual one work on a single ram MiSTer?

[mortal mist]

No change here

Still stutters - ds core

[tawny forge]

Saturn core will work on 64mb setups then?

[high bramble]

This latest unstable build is amazing.
This is the first time I've heard music and sound effects in Sega Rally Championship on my original MiSTer Multisystem board.

[tawny forge]

Wondering if that’s something that could be done on the N64 core in order to help with RAM latency?

[warped saddle]

isn't the n64 issue ddr3, not sdram?

[ripe valley]

I've tested the... JPN version (and twice) instead of the US one.
That's Sunday for everyone. 😅

Mea culpa.

[tawny forge]

Oh you’re right!

[winter phoenix]

uh yes

Top 5 Saturn game

[winter phoenix]

It has relationship-building through dialogue choices that affects your teammates’ performance during the tactical strategy missions (it’s not an RPG, though; you don’t level up stats). It’s more like a point-and-click adventure game between the strategy portions. It eventually culminates in an ending with the girl you’re closest to.

[pastel basalt]

Have you played the gbc game? http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sakura-wars-game-boy/amp/

[winter phoenix]

No but I know about it. There’s a fan translation for that one, too

[pastel basalt]

It’s on the list for gbc games to try for me, don’t know if it’s any good. Sakura Wars is cool but the timer for answering questions stresses me out lol

[celest ingot]

No to both 😂

[naive whale]

seems like a LOT of people are getting sound now per my comments

[high bramble]

I was just about to order another RAM module for my second MiSTer for this reason... but now it appears that I don't need to.

I may still do it anyway. Not sure yet.

[visual grove]

Haha where was this one right after Robert called it as impossible to get 100%

[wise brook]

the MiSTer “community” has many idea’s guys

[warped saddle]

I like the ongoing mister trend of people buying new/additional hardware to run devel cores and then the developer makes it not necessary

[visual grove]

Have you considered dual ram???

[wise brook]

dual? bruh i’m thinking quad ram what could go wrong

[warped saddle]

my favorite was the stage event when Robert basically said he didn't even bother with dual ram himself. the collective wtf from everyone who ran out to get dual ram to run the core

[sacred goblet]

Does the last unstable release include 2.5 ram fix from the test version?

[wet hull]

Yeah the crazy FUD from both users and sellers lol

[mortal mist]

Yes

[high bramble]

Dual-RAM?
I was this close to selling my MiSTers, since N64 and Saturn cores were impossible! 😏

[high bramble]

This is the first single-RAM build of the core that works with the MiSTer Multisystem's built-in RAM module to allow the music and sound from Sega Rally Championship to work. Up until now, all I've ever managed to get out of it was occasional pops and clicks.

[twin canyon]

and look at you now

[slate bluff]

Dumb question, but does dual SDRAM literally mean two physical sticks of RAM or does it mean one physical stick with two chips on it?

And is there any reason at all to have more than 128MB currently?

[pearl harbor]

Happy Saturnday everyone! Who cares about dads when we have Saturns!

[tall radish]

It's two sticks of RAM.

[past forge]

Happy for the guys with older/previously semi-incompatible sticks that can fully enjoy now!

[burnt matrix]

No cores need dual ram

Dual ram isn’t needed by anything. Yes there’s a half complete Jaguar core but we ignore that lol.

[pearl harbor]

We need dual ram for dual the fun. It makes us feel super! ||I don't have dual ram.||

[brittle pecan]

I've tested the regular English rom as well as the english reworked design patched rom with the same results..just tested the Jap rom and had no intro problems

[ripe valley]

Thanks for the tests.

[hardy lodge]

I have the flickering as well. The walls of the throne room violently phase in and out of existence. This is with the 24.05.16 core.

I just booted the psx version of grandia to compare them, why are the street textures of the psx versions mangled?

[pearl harbor]

It's always been that way. Even the new HD remaster has that problem because it's based on the PS1 version.

[hardy lodge]

But why though? If the Saturn can pull them off properly the psx should've been able to do the same since it's better right?

[pearl harbor]

It was just a terrible port. That's really what it boils down to.

[burnt matrix]

Hopefully people learn their lesson to be patient with this latest Saturn build as the example.

[minor shale]

I'm one of those users, I didn't know it was an isolated issue though. I'm pretty sure I have a 2.9 RAM module from Legacy Pixels.

I'm about 16 hours in and yeah, the < 60 frame rate and flickering can get bad at points, but it's still very playable.

[slate bluff]

I have two sticks of 64 MB SDRAM from 2019. Grandia has had texture flickering for me. Still playable. I just ordered one stick of 128 MB. Hopefully that will fix the issue.

[minor shale]

Yeah I'm on a single 128 MB module.

[burnt matrix]

It definitely should. Dual ram isn’t needed for any current and likely future cores so it’s a must-have upgrade going to 128mb.

[minor shale]

I'm not sure it'll fix the flickering issue but yeah.

[sinful verge]

In the same spirit, could you please ask Sorg to add PWM to main thank you 🙏

[serene thunder]

I have a very old MiSTer with 128MB and a pretty current MiSTer with 128 + 32
Had a few sessions recently where I hardly saw any issue at all
Radiant Silvergun etc. were glorious

Maybe heard some clicks in FMV audio in a couple games

I wonder if CD loading speed boosts will eventually be an option
Saroo seems to show that you can send the data quite a bit faster in some cases

[wise brook]

laughs in VDP2

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P6SAcITReZY

[burnt matrix]

Grandia PS1 reigns supreme

[wise brook]

long story short Saturn has the kind of hardware that is perfect for the worlds you see in game.

ps1 does a respectable job but the texture assets are far from the ps1’s strengths

[burnt matrix]

omg I can’t do Sakura Wars, just so much talking and it’s just small talk. The music is nice though.

And there’s a fat baby mode too, WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED

[drowsy hull]

failing again at a sega title

[burnt matrix]

Is that like a mandatory Saturn requirement? “All games must have fat babies”

[drowsy hull]

go play mystaria then

[trim nimbus]

reigns supreme at being the worst?

I once played a playstation and the next day had to get glasses

[burnt matrix]

so mean!

[wise brook]

why you no like chibi?
your old avi was chibi

[burnt matrix]

It’s just a comedy bit

[wise brook]

also beat the 1st chapter pls before giving up, you can at least say you’d experienced all aspects of the game

[burnt matrix]

maaaaan, the third character you meet is an ultra Karen tho

Told me to pick up a fork and I said “lol no” and she flipped out and said she was going to speak to my manager

[wise brook]

That’s my wife damn you

https://tenor.com/view/will-smith-chris-rock-jada-pinkett-smith-oscars2022-smack-gif-25234614

[pearl harbor]

They did it for you! Gotta reach that fat baby quota.

[burnt matrix]

Amok is freaking awesome! Why don’t you Sega nerds talk about this game more.

[burnt matrix]

Ok I just did my second city level and I’m done with this game. I should never have doubted you Sega nerds!

[umbral bluff]

Hi there , I can't save symphony of the night I have a video of what I'm doing

[pearl harbor]

Is that the only game that isn't saving for you? Or is it just Symphony of the Night that isn't saving?

[leaden dagger]

how do you initialize the ram or whatever so you can save in the core

[ancient surge]

You need to save in-game first. It depends on the game, some are automatic, some you need to manually save, etc.

[tawdry lion]

https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/basics/saves/

This explains it well 🙂

It requires you to save the game somehow in-game (be it automatic at checkpoints or with a manual save) and then opening the MiSTer OSD (on-screen display).

You'll probably want to turn autosave on for any cores it's not already enabled. You can do this in the core settings menus for each core.

This is requires because game RAM updates so often (often every few seconds or even more), even when save information hasn't actually changed, that it would destroy SD cards with how many writes would occur if the MiSTer wrote every SRAM change.

This is a preventative measure so you have better SD card longevity.

There really isn't a way to easily detect SRAM updates that are actually proper save changes

[subtle tusk]

SD cards are much better at sustained writes than they used to be, but yeah lots of games write to SRAM way more often than necessary.

[quaint dove]

Doesn’t the original Zelda even use SRAM as work RAM sometimes?

[tawdry lion]

I'd imagine a lot of games do

[gloomy hedge]

my other ram is a work ram

[drifting crown]

When in that room press up on dpad. The dodecahedron will spin and a message will pop up. Choose the left option with A. The dodecahedron will morph into a coffin. When complete then open the mister menu to write the save to disk

[umbral bluff]

Does the saturn core has to save the game automatically or Do I have to save the game manually (after the coffin in game) using the *"Save BackUp RAM" option in the Mister Menu ?

[mortal mist]

If you have the autosave option enabled then when you open osd it saves automatically

Do you have the games in separate folders?

[warped cliff]

the bios doesn't seem to boot for me anymore. was there some kind of update?

[mortal mist]

No change for bios

[pearl harbor]

It looked like he did have them in separate folders in the video he posted earlier. I'm honestly not sure why it isn't saving for him. It looks like he's doing everything right. Maybe he's not using an SD card or something?

[drifting crown]

After the coffin spinny thingy the save will be stored in the Saturn core working ram. You then have to open the osd menu. If you have auto save enabled this will automatically write the save to a file on your sdcard. If this is not enabled you will have to manually select write save n the osd. It is best to turn auto save on. However you still need to open the osd to write the save to disc even with this enabled.

[umbral bluff]

Still not being able to save

My Game and folder structure is like this , maybe the game name with the '+' is somehow preventing mister from making the sav file for that game ?

[drifting crown]

Try renaming your cue file - don’t rename the bin files though!

Also, make your bed.

[hearty marten]

That’s a weird one. I’m not a Saturn man, but is there a way of manually formatting a card?

(Virtual card)

[drifting crown]

Also, are you fully up to date and what date Saturn core are you using?

[umbral bluff]

Okay so... I finally fixed the problem , I've done so by immediately choosing the "SAVE BACKUP RAM" option in the mister OSD immediately after booting my symphony of the night game , I didn't know that option was actually for forcing the core the create the .sav file for the game . After this I have 2 questions , Isn't the core supposed to create these files immediately and automatically after booting any game ? And also , I'm trying to change my saturn core system settings (date , language) but no matter how I try those setting are reset by the time I quit the core any ideas how to fix this ?

[hearty marten]

Suspect it’s some weirdness of needing a pre formatted memory card. Some games are fussy like that, I think. Might be wrong though

The time is because the core doesn’t have RTC functionality, as far as I’m aware. (Real time clock)

[wise brook]

[serene thunder]

Wow, Grandia on Saturn really does trounce the PSX

[hearty marten]

Oh, nice! My bad!

Completely missed that one

[wise brook]

it came just after we needed it for christmas nights

[hearty marten]

There’s always this Christmas 🙂

Also, you should know that the only game that should be played at Christmas is Shenmue 😉

[wise brook]

3:20 of the Sega Rally Review done 1hour 20 to go

it’s so f’ng good

it not a review, it’s a documentary of passion, talent and ambition

worthy of one of the greatest games ever made

now playable on a MiSTer near you!

[hearty marten]

Sounds like Tim Rogers’ review of Dragon Quest

[wise brook]

erm

i tried really hard to watch his Boku No Natsuyasumi review

and he sure does provide insight

i just really really don’t enjoy his presentation

[hearty marten]

To be fair I’ve only seen that and like an hour of his tokemeki memorial video

He’s an acquired taste, for sure

[wise brook]

i hope i can inspire just one person to even start watching Pandemonium’s review it’s too good to miss

i’ve got this condition where i can’t help but try and broaden the terminally nintendo gamers horizons

[tawny forge]

Is Marvel Super Heroes slow on real hardware as well?

[serene thunder]

Game does not run great on Saturn

[burnt matrix]

imagine playing Saturn when there’s no Mario 64

[burnt matrix]

PS1 Grandia reigns supreme!

[winter phoenix]

Wait until you compare the water

[serene thunder]

Saturn water looks trippier, but PSX does OK with a different approach

The shadow effect on Saturn is nice

[woeful quarry]

Does one need the latest MiSTer main or unstable to try this new build? I haven’t run update_all in a few months

[tiny flare]

should be fine with stable MiSTer main, there haven't been any relevant commits since the last release

[untold lintel]

if you don't pick turbo, yes, and if you don't know how to play well, doubly so

then you see someone who knows how to play and you get hit by this in a match https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aNn4auaWTs

[serene thunder]

But I think what we're referring to is how the Saturn port actually slows down sometimes

[strong zephyr]

I played it with a friend, pal copy too (was playing my own disc) … and then moved to cps2 version on mister and yes saturn port indeed slow(er). Don’t think ntsc msh does much better, and reviews of the time mentioned enabling the 1/4mb cart made it slower still.

[serene thunder]

iirc Super Turbo also slows down randomly on this port

Unless the arcade is that way, which I doubt

[wise brook]

mentally i’m here

[woeful quarry]

Thanks! Just tried out the new build and sound is working perfectly in my few test games where it wasn't before!

Panzer Dragoon had no sound before, and Clockwork Knight wouldn't even load, both work great now

[dreamy hull]

i love the sega saturn!

[astral crane]

I love it even more.

today is a gooooood day

metroid day 😄 so happy

[dreamy hull]

New 2d zelda has me hype

[strong zephyr]

For me its raystorm or force…or galactic attack? Really looks awesome and do like the lock on mechanic

For the direct, zelda and that defend the highschool game got my attention, there was a third but already forgot :X

[quaint dove]

I'm thinking that was a complaint about that collection when it came out.

[umbral bluff]

Which game is that ?

[burnt matrix]

Sega Rally

[half hornet]

Is lightgun support still unavailable in the Saturn core, or am I missing a setting somewhere?

[burnt matrix]

Unavailable at the moment

[half hornet]

Gotcha, just thought I'd double-check - thanks!

[clear condor]

he's running out of non-gun things to do though!

[half hornet]

srg320 loading pistol "But I'm a healer Verilog dev..."

Seriously though, can't wait to try out HotD in the core when gun support is added - I got a Wii Zapper set up with my MiSTer and it's been fun to fiddle around with lightgun games :3

Certainly way easier than dropping $160 for a Sinden Lightgun lol

[hearty marten]

Core really is seeming quite far along nowadays. The number of bugs is getting to be quite small. 🙂

[pearl harbor]

One lightgun game by Christmas.

[hearty marten]

I really really need to get me a CRT

As if time crisis on the PSX core weren’t reason enough

[burnt matrix]

Get a GunCon 3 if a CRT is out of your budget, living space

Works on all the cores and works pretty damn well

[hearty marten]

I’ve heard good things, but I’m skeptical of IR tracking based solutions 😄

Accept no lag, accept no light gun substitute. That’s why I’m here 😄

But I appreciate the recommendation, and it’s good to hear that it works pretty well. I may well cave at some point

[burnt matrix]

I heard this is the channel to talk about how much better Grandia is on the PS1

[quick sorrel]

Why are light guns such a different beast when it comes to programming them into an FPGA?

[serene thunder]

CRT displays needed for most of them, so that has to be faked somehow on modern displays

Or just use a CRT

[burnt matrix]

The core developer would also need to have access to a lightgun for SNAC and USB use

[pearl harbor]

I can also vouch for guncon 3s on MiSTer. They work shockingly well in my experience. Well enough that I can't tell the difference between it and an old school lightgun on a CRT outside of not being able to use it right up against the screen. From a normal sitting distance, it works perfect.

[radiant karma]

My experience has been quite the opposite, using a 48 inch tv no matter what i did I couldn't get reliable tracking at regular distances. I did eventually realize that as long as I used smaller sized displays, like 27-32 inch, it was much better. Still a far cry from the simplicity of using snac and a crt.

[pearl harbor]

Weird. I'm using a 55inch TV, and it's been perfect. I don't even use the on-screen cursor. It's turned off entirely.

I just aim and it always hits the target (unless my aim is off of course).

I've had my brother-in-law test it and my 10 year old nephew test it as well, and they also didn't have any issues with it.

It even works playing two players with each person needing to sit off center from the TV.

Though I am using Porkchop's sensors. So maybe that affects it?

[radiant karma]

Maybe that could be a difference, I am using the included sensors.

[quick sorrel]

So of course on a CRT it doesn’t need to be faked, why wouldn’t it be implemented for CRTs initially without modern display support? Parity? Or just doesn’t work that way I suppose.

[full cedar]

Gun4IR if you want to go all out. Can DIY something pretty impressive if you have the time and energy. That genuinely has no lag compared to console. There's also Gun4All/OpenFIRE but I'm not sure if those are/will be compatible with mister.

[visual grove]

IR based solutions tend to be pretty impacted by reflected ir light from windows and such. Does it have the same issue if you play at night?

[radiant karma]

Now that you mention it, I have only played during daytime. And I have a very large window on the side wall. Thanks for the suggestion.

[pearl harbor]

Time to close them blinds.

[hearty marten]

Don’t need to close no blinds if you’re part of the CRT master race

(Which I am not)

Although I might be tempted to pick up a GunCon 3 on my travels this weekend

£70 from CEX! 🤯

[umbral bluff]

Where can I be notified if a new saturn core is released ?

[hearty marten]

https://discord.com/channels/647909397477195803/807613978154762252

[umbral bluff]

ty

[junior hatch]

Anybody else have issues running Radiant Silvergun? Been noticing this issue in every core after 5/16.

[pearl harbor]

Can you be more specific? The game won't boot at all? Or something in the game not working properly after it boots?

[wise brook]

good catch

[ripe valley]

Yes.

[ancient surge]

Noticed that he's been focusing on cleaning up the hi-res issues. Maybe he's preparing to fix the major problem of interlacing not working properly over analog?

[ripe valley]

There is a problem with the single RAM compilation, only the dual RAM one is working right now.

[trim nimbus]

Dual ram requirement confirmed!

[ripe valley]

https://tenor.com/view/sheep-gif-4520105

Seems to be an error when loading metadata on Docker build.

[naive whale]

fancy stuff

[burnt matrix]

I mean I’m honestly excited for a new Saturn build lol

@sudden tusk + @pearl harbor SATURNDAY!!!

[warped saddle]

yeah, someone will need to manually kick off the single sdram build, or wait until another commit happens. I thought I had permission to do that but I guess not

[naive whale]

Someone has been hitting the Alamo hard today

[ripe valley]

For Single RAM plebs.

I've changed my mind.

Fitter operations were rather long.

[pearl harbor]

Robby doing the Sega lord's work!

Nice, Street Fighter The Movie fix. I noticed that there was a sprite layering issue in a recent play test I did of it. I couldn't remember what stage it was though that had the problem.

[sudden tusk]

And it’s my bday to boot!

Srg knows and this build is a personal gift to me

[pearl harbor]

https://tenor.com/view/happy-birthday-happy-birthday-to-you-hbd-birthday-celebrate-gif-15722789

[sudden tusk]

https://tenor.com/view/gracias-gif-gracias-amigo-gracias-amiga-gracias-por-todo-gracias-siempre-gif-7988377933296155713

[burnt matrix]

how is new saturn build

about to check it out

[wise brook]

well, at the hotel i’m at we’ve got my MiSTer playing some Sega Rally

place is so old it has one plug for the tv and nothing else, but ivory’s MiSTer setup is so good i can run it off a battery bank

[brittle pecan]

is this for single ram?

[ripe valley]

Yes, I've manually compiled the core as the bot is out-of-service today.

An issue was found when I'm reading back some compatibility lists here.
But never reported on the tracker before, so let's do it.
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/221

[trim nimbus]

I thought @burnt matrix was responsible for Sega preferring meshes instead of transparencies on the Model 2?

[quick sorrel]

What kind of special MiSTer set up is that?

[burnt matrix]

Damn that’s legitimately cool.

[tiny flare]

is the SNAC option in the current core wired up to anything? I haven't tried since using blue's special build a while back

[burnt matrix]

Regular controllers and the 3D pad

[tiny flare]

yeah no Virtua Gun support yet I know

[burnt matrix]

Blue has a snac build that includes support for everything but the virtua gun

It’s awesome, virtual on twin sticks and the mission controller works great

[tiny flare]

but was trying just my 3D pad before and couldn't get it to work, wasn't sure if it was an actual issue, or just the dodgy port on my SNAC dongle not cooperating - of course it was the latter

[burnt matrix]

Yeah haha, I have the same issue

@pearl harbor bought a Saturn cable from MisterAddons recently and says his cable has been perfect so maybe it’s fixed now

[tiny flare]

nice, I'll have to try and grab another one in a future order

[quick sorrel]

Unstable nightlies no single RAM Saturn?

[tiny flare]

#1046941029296779344 message

[pearl harbor]

It definitely was on my end at least. I've heard from others though that said they also bought one recently, and still had some issues with it.

But my own experience was that I bought one of the older ones, and had the issue where you need to pull the plug out a bit to get it to detect the controller. And then the new version did not have that issue. So noticable improvement on my end for sure.

[burnt matrix]

Appreciate the detailed response, amigo!

[ember terrace]

does anyone know or have a link to where SRG320 posts notes about each unstable nightly release? is it on github somewhere? Thanks!

[warped saddle]

the commit history of the repo

[ember terrace]

thank you

[junior hatch]

It loads Sega screen after HiSaturn bios video intro as if game is about to start like normal, but then stops and goes to Saturn menu screen.
EDIT: Works now after the most recent unstable release from today, Thanks!

[wise brook]

RetroCastle is the story, ivory who runs it is a chinese based seller, makes a damn good io board and case

[quick sorrel]

Oh gotcha. Would happen to have a link for the USB and battery setup for them?

[wise brook]

it’s an Amazon Anker 10’000mah and a usb cable

i’ll find the specific model, but all you need is for one to output 5v3a and your good

looks like this model has been replaced but i think any current generation model costing over $15 should have the necessary oomph

[polar mountain]

This is awesome!!

Do you know how long it lasts?

[tiny flare]

Eat your heart out Taki, the MiSTer portable is already here

[polar mountain]

I've got a 9" pvm with a battery slot.

I could finally play old games in a dingy in the middle of the ocean

Actually I'd love to make a mini wireless cocktail table.

For little kids to play on

[wise brook]

10000mah means it’s really 6666mah at 5v, if the upper needs of the MiSTer is 5v-3a aka 15w… 100 hours?

armchair math, seems too good to be true

[polar mountain]

Thanks for the info!

[tiny flare]

Pandamonium vid inspired me to play some Rally tonight

[kindred peak]

This photo is a flex. IYKYK. 😄

[drifting crown]

10000mah is 10AH. If the mister is drawing 2A you should get up to 5 hours depending on the health of the cells in the battery.

[idle vortex]

🚨 CODE VIOLATION 🚨

@kindred peak You have violated rule #221 - trying to out flex Robby

[kindred peak]

Oh no! It's the video game police!

[burnt matrix]

I played Albert Odyssey and they just made a Super Nintendo rpg?

[wise brook]

that was part of it,
10ah at 3.7v, but because we’re kicking the Voltage up to 5v it’s 6.6AH

so 3.3 hours ish

[drifting crown]

Is it not rated for the voltage output of 5v. I would expect it to be 5v 10AH (50Wh)

[wise brook]

neat

[subtle tusk]

Albert Odyssey is a SNES RPG and Shining Wisdom is a Genesis RPG

[wise brook]

I thought this would be a megabits versus megabytes marketing equivalent

[polar mountain]

I adore Sega Rally. I wouldn't change anything about it. I don't even want to fix the transparency effects. I think I might be in love with it.

The port specifically

What an incredible piece of work by sega.

[tawdry lion]

I think this is a bit of a miscalculation... this 10Ah figure most likely has a single LiPo cell, which is nominally at 3.7V. So energy capacity would be 37Wh.
The load Wattage would be 5V * 3A, so 15W.

37/15 = ~2.47 hours

Could be less depending on the quality and quality control of the cell

Some power banks perform worse or better depending on where they're sourced

[delicate mantle]

walter

[kindred peak]

ThatsBait.gif

[burnt matrix]

lol you know my tricks

[wise brook]

so update, i started playing Sega Rally at 19:30, power pack just ran out 10 mins ago

so 4 hours on a 10’000mah,

not bad at all

best part, it ran out just as i was being roped into playing a 2nd round of Mario Party 2

i was planning to play 4 player Saturn Bomberman, then realized we can’t select multitap without snac

[tawdry lion]

Must be an actual 50Wh then

That and/or it just isn't pulling the full 15W at all times, which is more likely the real reason.

[burnt matrix]

If I could will a romhack into existence it would be people making new levels for the 3D world in Sonic Jam.

[gloomy hedge]

speaking of romhacks

did you guys see this

http://daifukkat.su/hacks/rsg_ex/

[burnt matrix]

New Saturn “game” just dropped - https://segaxtreme.net/threads/pandamonium-reviews-episode-33-sega-rally-championship-cinepak-edition-12-disc-mega-pak.25600/

[trim nimbus]

Does it use the vcd card?

[wise brook]

no and thank you very much

this is

[wise brook]

https://fixvx.com/pandamoniumgr/status/1804263939100078143?s=46

[winter phoenix]

Never heard of that hack before … it’s been around for a year already? Where’d you find out about it?

[warped saddle]

no, trap just typo'd

[subtle tusk]

I wonder what happened to this https://youtu.be/G6XZGyH8HRM

[gloomy hedge]

Classic trap

[gloomy hedge]

He dropped it a couple days ago

Trapx0f is who we are referring to

[winter phoenix]

Oh, so it’s new then

Cool

[kind quarry]

i think i have brain damage why did i make this

[burnt matrix]

It’s a funny meme lol

[trim nimbus]

Think @burnt matrix, think! You’ll outlast every fragile, insignificant capacitor on this planet. You’ll live to see these discs crumble to dust and blow away!

[frail token]

So did Mark when his dad was through

[hallow fossil]

I didn't realise the Saturn had a keyboard, what was it used for?

[frail token]

Just finished reading Invincible, I can't recommend it enough

[burnt matrix]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CNwRlwBh8p0

[hallow fossil]

Interesting

https://segaretro.org/Saturn_Keyboard

[burnt matrix]

Seems like there’s programming software for it

[hallow fossil]

I am guessing this isn't supported (yet)?

[burnt matrix]

Yeah Game Basic

[hallow fossil]

Nice it works with US version of Duke Nukem 3D

[serene thunder]

Death Tank

[hallow fossil]

I am assuming the protocols etc. needed to implement it are out there

Maybe this makes sense to someone...
https://docs.exodusemulator.com/Archives/SSDDV1R1E/a/a03/hon/p099.htm

[hallow fossil]

The keyboard isn't as shockingly expensive as I thought it might be, maybe a hundred dollars in the US

[ripe valley]

There was also a Word Processor on the system, and you can save on floppy discs.

But support for these peripherals are a little bit complex.
I only know a WIP version of NOVA which could support those at the moment.

[burnt matrix]

Could you also use the keyboard to message your mom to pick you up from the library?

[hallow fossil]

Only one way for you to find out Robby

Presumably adding in keyboard support over SNAC and USB isn't too complex (although possibly a bit tedious) if the required data is out there. I assume emulators all support keyboard?

[hallow fossil]

How did connecting a floppy drive work? Was there a special Saturn floppy drive?

[wise brook]

yeah

it connects via the serial port

and uses its own power supply, a MD2 style one iirc

[hallow fossil]

How bizarre, I never knew about this

[wise brook]

i mean, you know how cheap FD’s were. you basically got cheap near infinite storage as opposed to the Cartridges

there’s a stg maker on saturn that it was perfect for

oh and saving in Panzer Dragoon had an icon for it

[hallow fossil]

Interesting

What happens if you select to save this way on the core?

[wise brook]

it wouldn’t give you the option, it had to detect the hardware to appear

[hallow fossil]

Ah, got you

[ripe valley]

Sorry, I had to go out for the last hour.

For the FDD.
https://segaretro.org/Saturn_Floppy_Drive

[hallow fossil]

Thanks for the link, this is interesting. Is there any tangible benefit for an emulator supporting this or was it purely a way of saving? Guessing no homebrew loading or anything?

[ripe valley]

Just for preservation purposes, ultra niche.

That's also why it's not supported outside of NOVA.
Steve Kwok wanted to tackle some super rare functions on the system.
See it like the GBE+ version of the Saturn in terms of software emulation.

[wise brook]

only thing i can think of is Dezaemon saves

[hallow fossil]

What is special about those saves?

[hallow fossil]

Is there anything else really obscure that the core doesn't support but theoretically could?

[serene thunder]

MIDI?

https://segaretro.org/Saturn_MIDI_Interface_Box

[hallow fossil]

Oh, that's interesting

[serene thunder]

Two titles

[hallow fossil]

We have cores that support midi keyboards don't we?

That new Gameboy midi player for start

[serene thunder]

Is that a core or a ROM for a core?

[topaz mica]

I remember reading about this, pretty cool.

[serene thunder]

We need this guy to get into MiSTer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0kq0yCTpNE&pp=ygUTbG9vayBtdW0gbWVnYSBkcml2ZQ%3D%3D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-02iH6l308&pp=ygUTbG9vayBtdW0gbWVnYSBkcml2ZQ%3D%3D

[ripe valley]

As feasible ? I don't know so much.

[drifting crown]

I think it’ll be this. I reckon between 1 and 2A under normal use without too many usb devices attached

[quaint dove]

Overseas mode is intriguing.
https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=724

[gloomy hedge]

whats the tldr

[quaint dove]

You get vulcan shot, green homing, and sword. That's it.

Not sure why. Somebody said it's possibly because Die Hard Arcade only used two buttons and it was the most common ST-V game in the US but - that game had three buttons.

[gloomy hedge]

oh thats kinda intriguing actually

[burnt matrix]

She didn’t pick me up

[tiny flare]

neat, RSG EX seems to work great on the core, not that I'm anywhere near good enough at this game for the scoring mode to actually matter at all...

[manic mica]

https://gran-turismo.fandom.com/wiki/Driving_Force_GT

these are dirt cheap and i mean dirt cheap

[polar mountain]

The DF GT is my favourite wheel! It's got this raw jittery force feedback that's a lot of fun 😁 and the little built in gearstick is perfect for Outrun.

[shell musk]

maybe already asked but where is new single ram build?

[kind bough]

#1046941029296779344 message

[shell musk]

@kind bough Thank You!

[naive whale]

Daytona time over on #share-media

[pearl harbor]

Interesting. I actually just noticed a super minor visual difference between the two in your video. On the expert track, the map on MiSTer has this odd extra line of pixels on it. I should test it myself and see if it's there on my end.

At the top of the curve.

[serene thunder]

Looks like uneven scaling or something

[gloomy hedge]

not for that line on the top left

that is something else

the big black rectangle thing

[high bramble]

Yeah, initially it looks like improper scaling... but then that would be replicated further down the image, and it doesn't seem to be.

[serene thunder]

weird, wild stuff

[pearl harbor]

Just tested it on my end, and yeah, it's there. Even more interesting is that I also then tested it on the last stable build from March 23rd, and the issue is not there in that build. So this is actually a regression. Don't know what build it started on though.

[burnt matrix]

Sounds like added content to me

[pearl harbor]

You're not wrong! It literally is!

Enjoy it while it lasts Robby! I just submitted it as an issue on Github! Your Daytona DLC's days are numbered!

[burnt matrix]

I’m playing the superior Netlink version tho

[naive whale]

Damn that’s some close observations

[pearl harbor]

My eye for detail was infamous at my old job. It was both my blessing, and my curse!

[gloomy hedge]

stupid ROBBY dlc

[burnt matrix]

The best dlc

[burnt matrix]

I was thinking of reviewing Saturn games using a unique format. It’s called “Time tO TransparEncy Mesh, or ToTeM for short.

Basically count how long it takes to see a dithered transparency mesh and rate it low if it’s quick or high if it takes a while to see it or you don’t see it at all.

Using ToTeM we can see that Burning Rangers is probably the worst game on Saturn.

Meanwhile ToTeM demonstrates that Bug! is one of the best.

[pearl harbor]

Go home Robby, you're drunk!

[gloomy hedge]

Wait but doesn't Sega Rally have that immediately on the windows

Rally bros

We're dead

Die hard arcade is also gonna get floxed

[serene thunder]

Tryrush Deppy

[warped saddle]

is this like rating 90s demoscene stuff based on how long it takes before they have a 'flying through a tunnel' scene?

[median pollen]

I have a question about save files and this core. I was playing Albert Odyssey and had a save file being written in the expected manner, named after the game. Today I went to resume my game and something very bizarre happened. When I went to load it, it was obviously from a much earlier part of the game. I switched the order that I loaded bios and game (I think I usually was selecting the game disc first, then bios), and when I did that it loaded the correct save. But now, when I bring up the MiSTer menu to trigger the auto save, it takes a lot longer to write and doesn't update the Albert Odyssey save file, but rather a boot.sav. It seems it's treating the bios as a game and writing the whole internal memory to the save file, though it's the same size so I'm not sure why it takes so long. Is this expected? Anything I can do to prevent this in the future?

[mortal mist]

The bios should load automatically at core startup. Do you have it named boot.rom ?

[median pollen]

Ah I had it boot.bin, thanks I'll try that!

[pearl harbor]

The ghost of boot.bin continues to haunt us!

[serene thunder]

Type "monkejuice" three times

[pearl harbor]

monkejuice

....monkejuice

I'm scared!

..................||monkejuice!!||

[serene thunder]

Phew, it banished boot.bin monkey

[pearl harbor]

And all is right in the world.

[gloomy hedge]

boot.ass

(sorry Im low effort today)

[hearty marten]

Number of issues in the core seems to be incredibly small now 😎

[naive whale]

Die Hard Arcade capture time for a special MiSTer vid

as in the best saturn game not featuring bomberman

[hearty marten]

What’s your favourite PS1 game? Bomberman World?

[naive whale]

Crash 2

[high bramble]

I would have guessed Katamari Damacy

D'oh... that's a PS2 game.

[clear condor]

I'm excited for when lightgun support lands - both because then I can play lightgun games, and because that will mean Sergiy thinks the core is in a good enough place that he can focus on something silly like lightgun support

[hallow fossil]

It certainly feels like we are getting closer to the fun features and polish phase

I popped in a feature request for cheats, will be interesting to see how complex/viable that is

I saw a ticket in for mouse support, I thought that was already supported?

[wise brook]

snac

[hallow fossil]

As in, SNAC is not yet supported?

But USB is?

[wise brook]

snac mouse was supported by the custom snac builds made by @inner token

it may not yet be ready with srg320’s current releases

[hallow fossil]

This was the ticket I saw

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/146

[tiny flare]

Light guns are the feature I’m most excited for, can’t wait to use my Virtua Gun with this core!

[pearl harbor]

Sounds like you need a "crash" course in PS1 games!

[hallow fossil]

House of The Dead will be amazing when it works

[burnt matrix]

Using ToTeM we can see that House of the Dead is one of the worst games on Saturn,

[astral crane]

https://tenor.com/view/ネコトーテム-にゃんこ大戦争-超ネコ祭-gif-12663575

[burnt matrix]

If anyone is unfamiliar with ToTeM, my incredible and revolutionary scoring system for Saturn games, please see this post - #1046941029296779344 message

Bug! Is our reigning Saturn champ. Thanks to ToTeM we can scientifically prove it is in fact the best game on Saturn.

🎶🎷🐛

[gloomy hedge]

so what you're saying is, all we have to do is look for bomberman in the die hard arcade code and it would be the best saturn game?

[humble epoch]

Where does the Wipeout port score on ToTeM?

[burnt matrix]

Very low, this was at 3 minutes in 😔

[hearty marten]

How about that crappy Bomberman game?

[burnt matrix]

Damn it must be one of all the time greats, not a single mesh transparency to be found in an hour of gameplay.

ToTeM never fails!

[hearty marten]

I know a guy who will be happy to hear that 😂

[mint gorge]

There's 3D pad support in the latest unstable yeah?
I'm using the misteraddons SNAX adapter + saturn adapter but I've never gotten my 3D pad working with it

[tiny flare]

yeah, it works via SNAC in the latest build

[lofty spire]

take you a SNAC break

[pearl harbor]

Did you pull the plug out of the connecter a bit? It works on the core, but sometimes you need to do that with Saturn adapters.

[tiny flare]

yeah, I had to wiggle mine around a bit to get it to work last time I tried it

[mint gorge]

I've not tried that, I'll do that and report back. Thank you!

[naive whale]

Die Bomb Arcade

[serene thunder]

https://tenor.com/view/simpsons-sideshow-bob-die-bart-tattoo-gif-5453892

[mint gorge]

Alright, I tried again and I noticed games won't go past the Sega logo when a controller isn't detected, so I've been trying to use that to see if a controller gets detected at all.

• Tried both ports on the SNAX adapter
• Tried multiple different builds
• Tried wiggling it as much as I could and pulled out the connector various amounts
  I've never tested this 3D Control Pad on real hardware, so there's a possibility it is defective. I know it's not the SNAX adapter because my NeGcon works with no issue. If it is my controller or the adapter itself that's unfortunate. I know I did order the misteraddons Saturn adapter fairly early on so maybe it's an earlier revision that doesn't support the 3D pad. I wish I had real hardware to test it with

[tiny flare]

I think it should work even on the most basic SNAC adaptor, let alone the newer revisions, so that shouldn't be an issue at least

[frail token]

Is core done yet

[quaint dove]

Dude they got that out in 2003 get with it

[frail token]

https://tenor.com/view/krule-john-c-reilly-what-face-reaction-gif-16881707

[tawdry lion]

https://tenor.com/view/cynical-reviews-cynicalreviews-dnd-dungeonsanddragons-gif-21819149

[serene thunder]

https://tenor.com/view/white-russian-big-lebowski-doubliface-gif-18060190

[serene thunder]

So cheezily entertaining

[quaint dove]

Sometimes even the finest palate just wants some goddamned junk food

[serene thunder]

Also see: Volcano

[lofty spire]

you ever just think about the Sega Saturn?

[frail token]

https://tenor.com/view/would-ya-just-look-at-it-gif-10242814

[serene thunder]

Been playing it since launch in the USA

[lofty spire]

aw hell yeah, super jealous

[serene thunder]

Started importing and reselling dirtbag modchips for CD-Rs lol

You could also order "silvers" of games from HK
Which were pressed as opposed to CD-Rs

My fave was "R. Sivergun"

I was playing that recently on the core and was really impressed

Started getting my dogs collected

[quaint dove]

I remember having friends over and pulling out the multi tap and staying up so late playing death tank we all got loopy

[serene thunder]

Yeah I was wondering about DT Zwei on the core

[quaint dove]

I bought PowerSlave just for death tank and was very pleasantly surprised by PowerSlave itself

[gloomy hedge]

gimme

[inner token]

you should use the left port of snax, should be good if you bought the saturn adapter from porkchop(misteraddons). One thing to check is make sure the jumper next to the user port on io board is set to io6 and not 3v3. If not set you'll notice that start and C don't work with Sega Genesis.

[burnt matrix]

i am now a single ram plebe

[lofty spire]

welcome to single ram house 🙂

[burnt matrix]

sorry to bug ya but do you have a single ram version of your snac build for the saturn core?

[inner token]

I haven't done any saturn builds in a while, think the last one I posted was here, it should be single ram <#1046941029296779344 message>

[burnt matrix]

breaking news, all the transparency meshes look good on a crt

[mint gorge]

yep, its set to io6. I bought the saturn adapter from misteraddons. so I guess the issue is with my controller. I'll try cleaning the contacts but on the controller but they look fine to me from an external inspection

fwiw the controller was detected for a split second but no button inputs were detected in digital or analog mode

[quaint dove]

Try pulling the controller cable out a bit from the adapter

The Saturn ports people can source aren’t very good so it can finicky.

[mint gorge]

I've tried reseating the controller side of the cable as well

[quaint dove]

3D Pads had a switch to appear as a regular controller I think? Maybe try that?

Oh wait you did

[naive whale]

Good job @pearl harbor all those years of looking down at tiny things finally paid off!

[waxen vortex]

That's me 🙂

[pearl harbor]

You've just rocket started me into the big time!

You can call me, the pixel peeper! .....

[waxen vortex]

I can also do some comparisons as I have a Fenrir and a Japanese Model 1 Saturn.

[burnt matrix]

Fenrir could be adding lines too 👀

[pearl harbor]

Robby could also be adding lines.

[lucid vortex]

does anyone know if saturn core currently supporting multitap?

I don't see a setting for it so, assuming not?

[polar mountain]

I think it's not supported yet, outside of snac.

[lucid vortex]

ok thank you

[quick sorrel]

Oh? No 10-player Saturn Bomberman yet? Now that’s something to look forward to

[sudden tusk]

Bomberman is overrated af!

[pearl harbor]

You just incurred the wrath of Awbacon!

[sudden tusk]

He’s probably too busy listening to about 40 seconds of some weak tracks

[clear condor]

these are the weak tracks you remember

[naive whale]

I ignore @sudden tusk he's maybe the dumbest of all you Wisconsinites

and thats saying something!

[gloomy hedge]

finally cleared Sega Rally - uploading the full vod but here's a fun little compilation of awesome voice lines

[kindred peak]

I'm out here answering the hard questions.

Take your Saturn Quake save file, copy it and rename it to match your Saturn Duke 3D save file.

Start Saturn Duke 3D. It will say no saves exist. Choose yes to create one.

Instant access to Death Tank Zwei.

[quaint dove]

DEATH TANK DEATH TANK MY TANK IS A DEATH TANK YOUR TANK IS A DEATH TANK 𝔻𝔼𝔸𝕋ℍ 𝕋𝔸ℕ𝕂!

So much fun with that game

[humble epoch]

Those of you with a fenrir, is loader Kai worth updating too?

[alpine pagoda]

you can also just put quake in the duke 3d folder

[kindred peak]

For save files? Mine is just a flat directory.

[alpine pagoda]

I meant the game folder. if you put two games in one folder they'll share save files

[kindred peak]

Oh, gotcha. That would tip over my whole organized apple cart. 😅

[alpine pagoda]

haha, yeah well the other way works fine too 🙂

[pearl harbor]

So you're saying that he's still a genious? The dumbest of the smartest?

[hearty marten]

I think I read that you can also use a PowerSlave save as well

Which is good if true, because I don’t have Saturn Quake

[kindred peak]

Yeah! I did it the way I knew. I had both of these for my Saturn in 97.

Still have.

Lobotomy was a cool company. Came in too late to really help the Saturn show itself off in the market.

[naive whale]

The only smart people from Wisconsin were the ones who moved out of state

[pearl harbor]

Says the person who comes from the land of bad cheese!

Only smart people make good cheese.

[clear condor]

https://tenor.com/view/rlm-redlettermedia-sad-gif-5892533

[kindred peak]

As the current Minnesotan in the room: you're both from terrible states.

Even from New York I'm doing my part to keep the silly midwestern rivalries alive. 😅

[visual grove]

And stop the Foot clan

[trim nimbus]

Speaking of foot clan, I currently have a rental car from Minnesota and it smells like feet.

Is that the magical cheese smell I hear so much about?

[pearl harbor]

Magical cheese smell only comes from Wisconsin.

[noble escarp]

I like the Kai loader more than the native one.
Plus: It supports some oddball controllers, like the megadrive one, that I use 90% of the time on my saturn.

[humble epoch]

Thanks! I might give it a shot. Doing some cleaning and decided to pull my old Trinitron out of storage which means I can break out my Saturn and PS2.

[plush pelican]

recommend me fast paced game on the Saturn

as in, not an RPG

[topaz mica]

Three Dirty Dwarves

[plush pelican]

gotcha, checking it out now

[plush pelican]

damn this is a hard game haha

[plush pelican]

does the game crash for you during the loading screen for the second level?

[faint sparrow]

Just seeing this. Do these work across systems on the Mister?

[sudden tusk]

@naive whale I resent that!

[naive whale]

I said what I said

[sudden tusk]

Now we must fight on fightcade !

[sudden tusk]

Well sir , I have no choice but to challenge you to a kof98 duel!

Or fighting game of your choice !

[naive whale]

Way of the Warrior!

[pearl harbor]

Settling your beef to White Zombie.

[polar mountain]

Elevator Action 2!

[hearty carbon]

Imagine being exposed to White Zombie through that game

Just associating it forever with Way of the Warrior

[pearl harbor]

If I'm being completely honest, it was my first exposure to White Zombie back in the day! And you're right, I do always associate it with Way of the Warrior! 🤣

[hearty carbon]

That's wild.

It's a good fucking album though.

[sudden tusk]

Is that even on fightcade?

OMG you bring your 3DO to Wisconsin and it’s on!

[gloomy hedge]

why are you plebs recommending slow ass games when dude asked for SPEEEED

[sudden tusk]

https://tenor.com/view/white-zombie-rob-zombie-heavy-metal-heavy-metal-music-music-gif-20279313

Love this album!

[gloomy hedge]

elevator action returns is amazing though

I would go with like die hard arcade or hyper duel or somethin

virtual on

now thats got some speed

[sudden tusk]

Tempest 2000

[gloomy hedge]

cotton boomerang is pretty dope and fast paced too

was playing that yesterday

[sudden tusk]

Any panzer dragoon, except for saga unless you like RPGs

[gloomy hedge]

ehh

maybe

[sudden tusk]

That’s fast paced, all action and can be difficult

[gloomy hedge]

yeah fair enough

[sudden tusk]

It all depends on what he means by fast pace ..

For me fast paced is anything by capcom on the Saturn , vf2 , fighters megamix , etc

[hearty carbon]

Yeah, I guess I'd have to ask what you consider fast paced on other platforms in that era

[serene thunder]

I look for manic action
Like Gunstar Heroes, GnG, etc

I've heard the term "enemy hell"

As opposed to bullet hell

Smash TV

[hearty carbon]

That's not really 'of the era' though, right? There are fighting games, racing games, shooters, beat-em ups, but it kind of feels like a lot of genres slowed down around the PSX/N64/Saturn era

[serene thunder]

Saturn has gotta have some shooties

That fit the bill

[hearty carbon]

it does for sure

[serene thunder]

Silhouette Mirage is kind of mind-bending mania

[gloomy hedge]

https://youtu.be/IjIi8t9tjSg

dedicated to @burnt matrix

also yes, next up will be the 1st / 1st and the unlock of the STRATOS ❤️ where you at ROBERT

[plush pelican]

What a beautiful game. They don't make them like that anymore. I love this game. For as much bullshit as it throws at you, the challenge is fair because it forces you to use everything the previous level taught you. Getting frame perfect attacks was very satisfying as well.

[serene thunder]

Maybe a weird companion piece to Ninja Baseball Bat Man

That game rules
Could have been ported to Saturn fo sho

[plush pelican]

Ninja Baseball Bat Man was great!

[gloomy hedge]

one of my favorite games growing up as a kid

[pearl harbor]

And thanks to the illustrious Wickerwaka, it's playable on MiSTer!

[plush pelican]

I didn't get to play Saturn so the library is brand new to me.

[plush pelican]

Ninja Baseball? I had the pleasure of playing it with Wicker haha

[gloomy hedge]

well then you're in for a treat with die hard arcade

[plush pelican]

I played the PS2 port through Sega Ages.

[gloomy hedge]

oh I didnt realize that had been ported

weeeird I wonder what it looks like on ps2

[plush pelican]

several Saturn games and Model 2 games were ported to PS2.

[gloomy hedge]

I have that sega rally disk

that thing is so weird

[plush pelican]

Die Hard Arcade has a Saturn and enhanced.

[plush pelican]

what's wierd about the sega rally disk?

[gloomy hedge]

its like a perfect arcade port, no frills no nothing

60fps pretty much 1:1 with arcade

feels nothing like the saturn version

it was specifically a bonus disc

its like the weirdest thing to put into the ps2, it just like loads up and you're in

[serene thunder]

PS2 has a ton of SEGA on tap with SEGA AGES

[plush pelican]

That was the first time I got to play Virtua Fighter 2.

[gloomy hedge]

for me that was on PC

[serene thunder]

Playable soon, only on MARS

[plush pelican]

oh yeah, that Hokuto no Ken remakes is GREAT!

[serene thunder]

Saturn did get this stuff

I need to get into that Galaxy Force II

[plush pelican]

I couldn't get into Galaxy Force for the same reason as Space Harrier.

Afterburner too.

Afterburner Climax is awesome though.

[wise brook]

i was talking with some fpga engineers, one of them said none of the next gen platforms will likely pull off ps2

Dreamcast & PSP being their likely upper limit

[plush pelican]

PSP FPGA will be amazing.

[hearty marten]

NDS with actual touch screens is what I’m holding out for

[wise brook]

there is an ugly af hdmi mod for psp that would do most of what i would want

[hearty marten]

(Also Dreamcast)

[serene thunder]

Yeah I'm just waiting for the eventual super NUC to pair with an FPGA system
split the duties between pre and post PSX

[hearty marten]

Duct tape a Pi to a MiSTer 😂

You could call it… Mr Pi

[wise brook]

recompile-esq pc ports might be the best hope for ps2

i’d love for a similar process with the Saturn and such

[gloomy hedge]

bye bye MiST american Pi

[quick sorrel]

So it seems that CELL is just too advanced for this world.
Seriously though, if the engineers you spoke to said PS2 is unlikely, I wonder how many FPGA LEs it would need compared to the count for a DC core.

[lusty rapids]

ps2 wasn't cell

ps3 was cell

[lofty spire]

PS2 was the Emotion engine

iirc

[gloomy hedge]

that is correct

[lusty rapids]

and the EE was a mishmash of a MIPS core with some vector processing units

[quick sorrel]

Bah that’s right 🤦‍♂️
Regardless, EE vs DC’s SH4?? Could they be that different in needed LEs?

[burnt matrix]

Are we back to bin

For bios

Nevermind, my MiSTer got into a weird state where nothing wanted to load

[gloomy hedge]

Boo

[tawdry lion]

Gonna apologize to those I told that my 2.5 SDRAM worked with the Saturn core. While I believe some do still work, mine does not.... for one reason....

[gloomy hedge]

Updating?

[gloomy hedge]

Sorry I passed my curse to you

[tawdry lion]

Those that are unsure of what the photo means, consult my lawyer @burnt matrix

[safe trail]

Uh, it's been a long time since I assembled one, but is it sitting on the correct set of headers ?

[tawdry lion]

Well it would help if, when I claim something works with 2.5, that my SDRAM is 2.5 to begin with

[safe trail]

Erp

[burnt matrix]

scribble a 5 over the 9

[tawdry lion]

xD

[burnt matrix]

I mean it’s whatever, core isn’t done. It’s gonna be weird for people until everything is ironed out.

Thankfully it’s not weird for a lot of people.

[tawdry lion]

Yeah I've seen others with 2.5 state theirs is fine

but it does seem to rely on having a good batch that can hit higher MHz stable in memtest

most only hit like 140, and I think if yours can hit 150MHz without error then it'd be fine

Whereas 2.9/3.0 don't need to hit 150MHz to be stable with Saturn

Granted now the Saturn core got an update that helped with older SDRAM so

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[gloomy hedge]

Weeeeird

[alpine pagoda]

I haven’t really kicked the tires a lot, but everything that I know used to be broken on my multisystem seems to work fine now, and it’s only stable at 142/3.

[tawdry lion]

I think it has something to do with 2.9 increasing the efficiency with the design.

[tawdry lion]

I believe 2.9 and 3.0 will sometimes not be stable at 150MHz, but that's ok. if they can run 140 I think that suffices

[plush pelican]

I wonder if anybody has seriously looked into a MiSTer Pi hat.

[frail token]

Was it Florida?

[topaz mica]

Glad you like it. It feels underrated to me. Its one of those quirky gems 🙂 To answer your previous question, I haven't actually loaded it up on the core yet so not sure if I get a 2nd level crash.

(I only recently setup my MiSTer again, it was boxed from my move last year)

[plush pelican]

My issue was that it was not clear I had to press start. So I pressed every button but start.

[grim snow]

Hey guys! Just upgraded to the Analog IO Pro board. Is it just me or is everything too green? Any solutions?

[pastel basalt]

I’d say yes

It’s an easy upgrade

I updated PSK with that recent release and nothing bad happened

Though might as well play the Saturn core at this point!

[humble epoch]

Yeah, my classic consoles are packed up like 95% of the time. I am actually getting rid of the CRT and debating what to do with the consoles I can run on MiSTer.

[pastel basalt]

I’m keeping the Saturn but yeah in the same boat otherwise

Bye n64 & Genesis

[humble epoch]

The smart thing would be to sell them, but I am very tempted to get a retrotink 4k and move them into my office. Keep the MiSTer in the living room.

[pastel basalt]

Rt4k could still be worth it especially if you play any ps2/DC

[humble epoch]

Only problem is I already don’t leave my office enough during the day lol

[pastel basalt]

Yeah I feel that

[tawdry lion]

through what cable?

[grim snow]

Saturn RGB from Mister Addons

[tawdry lion]

so SCART?

[grim snow]

I’m doing RBG but not through scart connectors

[tawdry lion]

Then what are you using? Only SCART to my knowledge supports RGB

Unless it's BNC cables

[grim snow]

Yeah BNC

https://misteraddons.com/products/saturn-mini-din-10-universal?_pos=3&_sid=5edeca8ca&_ss=r

These

[visual grove]

That will do RGB

Both the new cables do

Do you have sync on green disabled? (Not sure if it matters if vga_mode is rgb)

[tawdry lion]

Post your MiSTer.ini please @grim snow

[visual grove]

Err assuming you are using a monitor with ext sync like a pvm

[grim snow]

Yes

[visual grove]

And toggling the sog switch on the side does nothing? (haven’t actually hooked my new pro board up to one of my pvms yet)

[grim snow]

Hold on I haven't tried that

[tawdry lion]

your ini is outdated. Doesn't even have the HDR stuff from February

Make sure to grab the latest, then be sure these are set like so:

[MiSTer]
forced_scandoubler=0
vga_mode=rgb
composite_sync=1
vga_sog=0

[grim snow]

Hey turning off the SOG switch worked! Thanks man 🙏

[grim snow]

And thanks to you to for your help and letting me know my ini is outdated. 🙏 remind me where I can find the latest ones?

[tawdry lion]

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/master/MiSTer.ini

Always from the Github's Main_MiSTer repo

Update_all never touches it

[grim snow]

Bookmarking it! thank you so much 🙏

[tawdry lion]

Your settings are correct in the ini as far as I can see but might be good to have all the documented comments 😉

[burnt matrix]

Yeah @tawdry lion is seriously awesome. Good dude, very knowledgeable, and happy to help,

[visual grove]

Probably muxes the sync signal into the green and nothing extracts it since you’ve got ext sync so green voltages are wrong with the switch on

[tawdry lion]

Hey, I can sometimes let it get to my head. I'm not perfect lol

[grim snow]

The irony right now of the Bully McGuire profile pic 🤣

[visual grove]

Wow @burnt matrix had nothing nice to say even though I also helped. Just wow. Wow. Wowie

10k Owen Wilsons wowing

[burnt matrix]

I’m sorry!

[visual grove]

Hi sorry I’m dad

[burnt matrix]

Yeah @visual grove is seriously awesome. Good dude, very knowledgeable, and happy to help,

[tawdry lion]

https://tenor.com/view/spider-man3-tobey-maguire-im-gonna-put-some-dirt-in-your-eye-raimi-symbiote-gif-22229679

[visual grove]

I’m mediocre dude, very knowledgeable and ready to gently troll you

[sudden pumice]

Mine is stable with v2.5 ram at 145 MHz

[visual grove]

Progress report: 50% through Pandamoniums Sega Rally video

https://youtu.be/1CEdmZ5P0jA?si=XjZB2oyUwDhgfj73

Man I love his videos, truly a master of the long form content. Really long form

[thick oriole]

Yeah, that's mine, too. I think either 144 or 145 MHz.

[sudden pumice]

Are there any particularly taxing games I should try???

[trim nimbus]

I think you can play sim city 2000 if you want to play with taxes

[sudden pumice]

Word

[plush pelican]

how do you follow up Three Dirty Dwarves?

[topaz mica]

Guardian Heroes maybe?

[plush pelican]

ok I'll try it out

[plush pelican]

couldnt get into it

[burnt matrix]

You want a wacky beat em up?

[polar mountain]

Elevator Action Returns!

Every single time I get in an elevator I think of all the action I might have

[serene thunder]

Silhouette Mirage

Here's my list of JP games I selected

Bulk Slash? IIRC there's a translation now
Guardian Force?

[polar mountain]

Awesome list!

[gloomy hedge]

Bulk Slash fuckin rules im excited to play that wit my twinsticks

[serene thunder]

Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari
PriKura (Princess Kurara) Daisakusen
Princess Crown
Sengoku Blade - Sengoku Ace Episode II
Shinrei Jusatsushi Taroumaru
Soukyuu Gurentai
Super Tempo
Time Bokan Series - Bokan to Ippatsu! Doronboo Kanpekiban

[gloomy hedge]

Guardian Force is an incredibly underrated success game yeah

but all success games are good, with cotton boomerang and cotton 2 being mechanically dense and visually beautiful

I used to have baku baku animal as a kid in the USA

back in the day, love that game

someone should mention soukyugurentai tho

oops I just did

[serene thunder]

Tryrush Deppy (prepare your eyes for dithers)

I enjoy Oasis quite a bit, played through that in Japanese back in the day

Or you could spend time honing your skills in ... BATTLE MONSTERS

(now I'm just stuntin')

[gloomy hedge]

princesas crown seems good I saw icarus playing it recently

but no translation right?

[serene thunder]

I think it does now

That would be a choice for sure

[gloomy hedge]

link pls

[plush pelican]

naw I'd like a standard beat em up. guardian heroes doesn't feel arcade stick friendly.

[gloomy hedge]

isnt this like before vanillaware became all booby

[gloomy hedge]

pu li ra or whatever

thats what you want

[hearty carbon]

Yeah, it was kind of designed around a set of shoulder buttons for moving between planes

[gloomy hedge]

this is an arcade port

and the game is actually wild af

[plush pelican]

do we have a core for that yet?

[plush pelican]

that's what made me give up haha gave me fatal fury vibes

[hearty carbon]

It's such a classic to me but I know how frustrating it can be to play especially some of the later fights

But me and my cousin worked our way through every ending of that thing

And played the arena mode constantly

[plush pelican]

I might have played this, looks familiar.

[topaz mica]

I need to play Princess Crown. I love Vanillaware.

[polar mountain]

Just the Saturn port but it's a perfect port!

It may not be fast paced enough as mentioned before, however I'll take any excuse I can get to shout it out because hot damn!!

[quick sorrel]

The intent on his face to see behind the green door is intense. 🤓

[burnt matrix]

Yeah that’s what I was going to recommend

[gloomy hedge]

just a pink elephant

take that however you want to

[quick sorrel]

Pink elephants on parade 🎶

Though I’ve heard pink spider too

[idle vortex]

🚨 CODE VIOLATION 🚨

@topaz mica You have violated rule #183 - trying to play Princess Crown

[serene thunder]

Looks like it's still incomplete?

[tidal raptor]

pretty sure there isn't a patch available yet, it's been ongoing for a long time

[gloomy hedge]

gotcha

also shoutouts to TF5 on saturn looking MILES better than the PSX version

absolute beauty

[serene thunder]

Soukyugurentai also on both consoles

Saturn also got Thunder Force Collections

I feel like the games have odd sound effects, but you do get cool stuff like less slowdown in TFIV and the actual arcade version of TFIII

Salamander 2 is a good time

If you want some middling fighting, try Crows and Rabbit

Golden Axe vs fighter is not bad, just janky

Reminds me of a Neo Geo game

[quick sorrel]

How’s the soundtracks on the collection? Arranged, original, both?

[analog totem]

there’s always the Batman Forever arcade game

[gloomy hedge]

Also much better on Saturn

However

The PSX version has an OP ship and is much easier to clear

[pearl harbor]

I just wish we had a fan translation! That project has been basically abandoned for ages, but nobody else will take it on because someone else started it!

[serene thunder]

What about Ray Storm on each console

[serene thunder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUUgVlzNs34

[willow siren]

Not played Saturn recently, curious if 480i support was added. IIRC it wasn't there a few months ago

[serene thunder]

Plenty o' non-480i fish in the sea

[hardy lodge]

What are the big issues other than grandia flickering that the core needs to address?

[topaz mica]

what does this even mean? lol

[wise brook]

live laugh love

[thorn pagoda]

480i and lightguns, probably other stuff i'm forgetting

oh snac - currently only works with digital pads

[hearty marten]

The die hard arcade loading issue seems pretty big, but that’s in main, srg320 thinks

And DoA slowdown

[wise brook]

the mister main you say

interesting

[hearty marten]

Well “the main module”. That could be a part of the core, or MiSTer main. I don’t know

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Saturn_MiSTer/issues/191#issuecomment-2171575369

[gloomy hedge]

Raystorm is messier. I think the Saturn has Redbook audio but some different music, but more slowdown and slightly less defined textures. PSX has the 13 ship mode, Saturn has some exclusive cutscenes iirc. Bit of a wash imo

Oh yeah not to mention... The default difficulty stuff is all over the place. PSX US Raystorm is super hard compared to Japanese. And also that difficulty dictates how much of the game you get to actually see. Weird.

I don't recall which versions have extra ships.

[tall radish]

I didn't know US Raystorn had that change for the US, are there any others I should be aware of like that?

[gloomy hedge]

Uh honestly shmups are a rabbit hole so probably case by case. Are you referring to specifically console ports of arcade games? My general rule is Japanese difficulty usually is the right one, and then as an aside, try out player 2 ships just in case lol. Take for example Progear. The US difficulty is set to 4 while Japanese is set to 2. However, if you set US to 2 it's still not the same as Japanese 2. This is actually fucked in the Capcom arcade stadium ports because they share the same leaderboard and set both to 2 but they're not the same game haha

[untold lintel]

SNAC works with the 3d pad too

[burnt matrix]

I can’t stress enough, I am being genuine here; the internet says Thunder Force V was better on PS1? Did I make that up in my head? Is the Saturn version really that much better?

[gloomy hedge]

I'm going to give you a NON APPLES to APPLES comparison because this is what I have on hand. It's upscaled Duckstation emu vs Real Saturn.

So with a grain of salt: observe:

[burnt matrix]

They both look nice but I like the darker Saturn look

Less cartoony if that makes sense

[gloomy hedge]

You don't notice the missing texture? And effects?

[burnt matrix]

Yeah the giant ship

[tall radish]

Regional differences between cosnole ports mainly. I use Japanese ROMs for nearly all arcade games for the reasons you stated but ports are another thing.

[gloomy hedge]

Last one

[burnt matrix]

Oh wow

Thank you for the easy one lol

[gloomy hedge]

It's not that it's just darker, there's color where it's just black on PS1

[gloomy hedge]

Yeah should have led with that one sorry

[burnt matrix]

I guess I made that up in my head, sorry about that

[gloomy hedge]

I posted these on Shmup Junkie discord as I was playing through

Oh no apologies needed

I just got very surprised myself yesterday

[burnt matrix]

Yeah Saturn looks super cool

[gloomy hedge]

Ahhhh yeah probably less so there but I think there are a few. I'll need to scratch my brain haha 🤣

The water on Saturn is gorgeous

[burnt matrix]

Also thank you @gloomy hedge! I genuinely do appreciate you educating us.

[gloomy hedge]

Oh no worries! I can only report what I see myself as I explore through this retro journey 🥹

[tall radish]

No worries if there isnt anything obvious, kinda surprised to see that type of change betweeen regions of a home version.

[gloomy hedge]

Let me find a source for this one to make sure I'm not insane

[tall radish]

had a look on TCRF "The original Japanese release has the difficulty threshold set to 2 in all levels by default. While the American release increases it to 4, the value was not changed in the European localization. "

So it look like whilst the default value is higher you can still set it to match the Japanese version.

[gloomy hedge]

for Ray STorm?

yes but the thing is ,default difficulty gates the game

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=7710

it was the gated thing that I remember discussing in a forum ages ago

thats the real issue

you match the difficulty but you dont get to see the rest of the game

THAT is a problem

[tall radish]

Gotcha, that makes sense and that's the first time I have seen such a thing between home regions like that. Thanks for digging out the info, much appreciated.

[gloomy hedge]

no worries, I cant think of many other examples like this, brain fried, its pretty specific

but its also pretty fucked lol

one of my best shmup friends is a bit of a "ray expert" so I get these nuggets of info sometimes lol

[tall radish]

I rememebr people saying soukyugurentai has a harder default over the arcade version and sure there are more but changing it betwen regions as well is nuts.

Stuff like this is why over the years I increasingly consider a lot of the 32 bit ports as being their own thing compared to the arade releases, the more you learn the more different you realise they are. Great releases for the time but hard to recommend in a lot of cases instead of just playing them in MAME.

[mortal mist]

new release and bug fixes

[burnt matrix]

[naive whale]

Fun couple of updates

He sent a big cumulative patreon status update out too. I wonder if this may become the new update all core? Since that’s far behind what these updates are

[rich violet]

It will be, see the "Release 20240628" commit

https://www.patreon.com/posts/progress-update-107053482

[naive whale]

Nice. Will have to do a vid tonight even if I did one last night...so its already in Update_all if its in MiSTer-devel yeah?

[short shore]

SNAC SUPPORT!!!

[pine elm]

Ooh. I'm late for the news, but has another update come for the Saturn core?

[lofty spire]

yummy snac support 🙂

hope the 3d pad works with snac

[short shore]

Digital only

....for now

[lofty spire]

shame

[short shore]

I used to play exclusively on blue1 snac releases, now I can finally stay up to date

[thorn pagoda]

oh, yeah i thought so

anything new on this build vs the prior unstable?

[naive whale]

if anyone can confirm the core is coming down with update_all Id love you for it...capturing currently for something else

[hearty marten]

Running it now. Will let you know

Yep, came down with update_all

[naive whale]

super appreciate you checking!

[hearty marten]

No worries. I was just playing Conker anyway 😅

[naive whale]

I finished at like 2 am last night on V2. Worked fine

so seems like Conker has been Conquered

[hearty marten]

I just got past the bees for the second time - so further than last time 😅

[frail token]

How far back did that post go cause it was a lot

[naive whale]

march I believe

I think the last official core is 3/XX/2024

the VO was basically "if you are playing just the update all core...prepare for a TON of improvements"

[frail token]

Yeah that makes sense

[naive whale]

Id say 90% plus of commenters do NOT manually install cores

lot of "gonna wait for update all" comments

[lofty spire]

i do have the latest unstable Saturn core. played some Grandia on it. haven't run update_all yet

[naive whale]

thumb for 4

[frail token]

Yeah I've seen people on Facebook who are like "the Saturn core is janky AF" then people tell them they're using a version out of date by months lol

[hearty marten]

There’s something appealing about a newly minted release core though that just feels good

Like clearly srg320 feels happy with the progress, or is seeking more feedback

[naive whale]

people get excited for it for sure

ok back to what I was ACTUALLY working on now that I am uploading haha

[hallow fossil]

Exciting stuff, be interesting to hear what is all working with SNAC now, and what still needs implementation. Would be very interested to hear is mice and light guns are working now.

As an aside, does anyone here confess to owning the Saturn keyboard?

[lofty spire]

i wanna own more console keyboards lol

[hallow fossil]

You can get them for under $100 on eBay etc. so they aren't cheap like Dreamcast ones, but they aren't horrifically expensive like the N64 one

[gloomy hedge]

well for ST-V games always over mame, because mame is still fucked for ST-V is the thing