#Handheld Cores

1 messages · Page 3 of 1

fathom trail
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I'll have to compare mine to theirs then. Could be a difference

torn jay
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it depends on what is still in the ram

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the ram isn't cleared, so if you loaded a gb game before, you might get something but likely it is broken because of missing ram refresh e.g. while the core is loaded

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just tried: if you load tetris, then reload the gb core, tetris still starts

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(tetris is a good example, because it doesn't care for the mapper)

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Ideally the core would not start the game, because running from non-refreshed ram could crash any time in the game

hot sparrow
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After testing several controllers with the gba core I’ve decided I like using the nso n64 controller best, it’s surprisingly versatile, pretty good for nes and wonderswan too

rich mason
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wtf. you put that controller down this very instant.

hot sparrow
rich mason
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i forbid you to use it with anything that don't require the bat-pad.

torn jay
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i also used the n64 layout for GBA, it's great 🙂

hot sparrow
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The addition of the c buttons is good for when the Super Mario World style layout isn’t right

rich mason
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heathens

hot sparrow
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it's dev approved

hard sinew
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I prefer this clone of the hori gb player controller for gb games on tv. The a/b button placements and orientation feel the closest to a gameboy. On a snes controller the a/b buttons are oriented correctly but feel like they're shoved to the bottom too much.

s-l400.jpg
unkempt idol
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I used to have one of these

hot sparrow
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if i had an original model gba and not an sp i'd use a link cable plus flash cart and turn it into a wireless controller like that

hard sinew
hot sparrow
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cool

hard sinew
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The hori ones went for 200-300 bucks when I was checking them out a few years ago, so the 25 dollar old skool is a really nice alternative.

hot sparrow
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yea they are way too pricey

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like, might as well just buy a gba and a link cable for that money

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i might get a modded one at some point

hard sinew
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That's my modded gba. Would highly recommend you get a laminated screen. Else the alignment will always be a bit off and there will always be something between the screen and the glass.

20230902_172635.jpg
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Also, boxy pixel shells look super nice but aren't really handy in practice imo.

supple scarab
ashen bone
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Just wondering, is GBA Link function something that will be added in the future?

mortal dust
supple scarab
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The screens are triple buffered so they add about 3 frames of input lag, sadly

mortal dust
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That I'm aware of, anyway

supple scarab
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this video shows it a bit

mortal dust
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Thanks! It may determine if I go forward with one.

supple scarab
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In my personal experience (I own two of those): it's not too bad depending on the game. But the added lag definitely makes fast paced action games like Megaman Zero way harder

ashen bone
mortal dust
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Ah, he goes over the IPS V2 screen. Funny playing has a newer ITA TFT kit. I wonder how it stacks up.

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It's just the lower screen of a DSi, but according to that video, seems 33% faster than the IPS

torn jay
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sorry that i will not say names here, don't want to put any pressure on anyone

supple scarab
mortal dust
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That's good to hear!

supple scarab
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problem with IPS is that they ahve to triple buffer it to rotate, scale etc since it's meant for phones. ITA screens just display the game 1:1 as is so I imagine there's a lot less processing going on

ashen bone
torn jay
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i'm not really interested in that after the gba2p covers many use cases and is much more accessible for users due to not needing any extra hardware. but of course anyone could add it. it requires no knowledge of the gba core, but the serial module needs to be rewritten.

twilit narwhal
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So about saving in the GBA core. In-game saves work on some games but not others?

fathom trail
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What exactly do you mean?

twilit narwhal
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So I was playing an RPG, I saved at a save point, and reloaded the game. My save wasn't there.

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But, when I set up a player profile in F-Zero Maximum Velocity, my profile is there.

fathom trail
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In the osd there's an Autosave option, switch that to On. Then, after you save in game open the osd and you'll see it say "Saving"

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To commit saves to the SD card you have to open the osd like that

twilit narwhal
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OK.

fathom trail
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I believe some cores have Save Backup Ram or something like that which is the same thing but a manual button click

twilit narwhal
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I'll take a look. Thanks.

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Hmm...I'm gonna check other games, but "save backup RAM" is greyed out when I boot up Kingdom Hearts.

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That's interesting. I booted up Shin Megami Tensei II just for kicks, and I do have the backup RAM options.

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But I don't have it for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Huh. Does this core just not like Square-Enix games?

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Confirmed not true. I have the backup RAM option for FF6 Advance.

fathom trail
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Hi @torn jay mind explaining how the backup ram option works?

twilit narwhal
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I'm just wondering why it's greyed out for some games, but not others.

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That it's greyed out on the two games I want to play most is completely coincidental, I'm sure.

fathom trail
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I recommend turning on the autosave option for each console core and then you'll be all set but some clarification on this option being grayed out doesn't hurt

twilit narwhal
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Yeah, for Kingdom Hearts and FFTA, I'm locked into using save states, which I've had fail on me before.

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Fail as in, they didn't save in the first place.

cinder peak
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generally if a game doesn't support saves it will grey out that option in console cores

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are you making sure to use known-good roms, as in a no-intro set?

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it's possible your header is corrupted

twilit narwhal
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IIRC, I did use a no-intro set off Internet Archive.

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And the games in question are Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

cinder peak
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i've done saves in ff tactics advance even very recently

twilit narwhal
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In-game or using the backup RAM option?

cinder peak
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i always set the cores to use autosave

twilit narwhal
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Because the backup RAM options are greyed out when I play those two games.

cinder peak
keen laurelBOT
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"D0O[23],Autosave,Off,On;",
twilit narwhal
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That's the core of the issue (no pun intended).

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I'll check it in just a minute.

cinder peak
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if that option is on, when you save inside the game and you open the OSD it should then say something about it saving the backup ram (blanking out the OSD options momentarily so you can't see anything)

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you always have to open the osd to save to backup ram in every single core, to reflect the changes of the in-game state

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i guess i haven't tested it since i uploaded that latest release a few months ago, maybe save behavior changed in main...? i'm looking there too...

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yeah i don't see anything that immediately sticks out in main, weird

twilit narwhal
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Hmm. I'll check. It's just as much a mystery to me, and I'm very much a non-technical guy.

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I'm a cybersecurity guy, but I don't even know how to script, lol.

cinder peak
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i get it, don't worry hehe. i've worked with DFARS consultants at work, cybersecurity is a broad term

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you can be anywhere from legal/auditor to a programmer/hacker in that field broadly lol

twilit narwhal
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Yeah, I worked with cyber threat intelligence most recently. It was just reporting.

cinder peak
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so what i would also try is to reset the core options, click save options, then do a full power cycle of the mister. just to rule out any other factors. then load up the gba core again and try ff tactics advance again

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the reset core options is in the secondary OSD menu where filters and stuff are

twilit narwhal
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Perfect timing, I was just about to ask that!

torn jay
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it's greyed out until ingame was saved

cinder peak
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oh, i also assumed they tried to save in-game 😅

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i shoulda asked that

torn jay
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some games prepare the saveram instantly on boot, some do not

twilit narwhal
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I did try to save in-game. Granted, I didn't know to look at save backup RAM.

cinder peak
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yeah the osd has a disable trigger upon the backup ram existing int he state

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you will sometimes see other games save everytime you open the OSD (at least on the NES core and SNES core sometimes) because they are constantly writing to that space

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i don't know if this happens for any gba game though

torn jay
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some do, but only very few

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i think for nes/snes it was more common to use sram on carts as intermediate memory, GBA usually has enough itself

cinder peak
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Yup

twilit narwhal
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Just did a test, went almost an hour into CoM, and it worked as you said, @torn jay. Thanks for your help too, @cinder peak.

cinder peak
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sweet

primal lichen
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So what happened to the Neo Geo Pocket core?

mortal dust
unkempt idol
wraith magnet
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Maybe Robert will just bang it out when he is done with N64. This JT core is practically a meme at this point.

thorny apex
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still sad he did that n64 thing I don't have love for instead

radiant eagle
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ridiculously late reply on this, but no I didn’t try that 🤔

wraith magnet
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Hah, well if you do try let us know your finding, may be something in Main that could be fixed if it is a universal issue

radiant eagle
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Yeah, perhaps I’ll give it a try…I’ll look for games with “+” in the title on other systems inside of zip files and see if I can reproduce the issue

wraith magnet
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You could make ones to test easily if you can't

radiant eagle
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oh for sure

fiery vault
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JT just should stay in his lane and do arcade cores. Ridiculous that he called dibs on the NGPC and how the core has been essentially untouched bc of this weird hostage situation

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He probably won't even release the NGPC core. It's vaporware atm

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If Robert wanted to do it, it's about on par with the WonderSwan/Lynx so Robert could probably knock it out in a quarter

torn jay
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it's probably slightly tougher than wonderswan/lynx due to some weird design choices. Byuu/Near has written some parts about it. However, Ares/Higan exists, so the difficult tasks should be solved by now.

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But i still think it has no good games. This is fully subjective, but the main reason i have not worked on it when i decided to do lynx instead (yes i think lynx has more games worth playing, that alone says enough)

radiant eagle
fiery vault
radiant eagle
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That’s true…I guess I just still have faith that it’ll happen eventually. Or that at least eventually he will put the code out there for anyone else to work on. This would be his first console core right?

gray grail
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From an outside perspective, it seems to appear that most of the current work on the core has been done by an EE student or a young engineer working under contract for the JT brand.
Most of the test suites, fixes and advancements came from this person and Jotego only did quick testing/reports on the PRs done.

The CPU gave some difficulties and fixing some instructions is more difficult than anticipated.

Since the beginning of October, this person has had no movement (no PR, commit, bug reports) within the organization.

At the same time, the beta testing phase with core revisions provided to some Patreons appears to have stopped.

fading scroll
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I hope it's not a case of like...it works but there's fundamental flaws requiring a rework

fiery vault
# radiant eagle That’s true…I guess I just still have faith that it’ll happen eventually. Or tha...

Yes. Would be his first console core. The fact that it’s in this weird state is the issue. Jotegp clearly is passionate about arcade games not necessarily console/handheld games so it’ll continue to get pushed down the priority list. He clearly pumps out arcade cores like it’s no tomorrow and I’m very grateful about that, but I don’t think this core will get released to the public due to apathy is what I’m getting at

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The fact that he kinda assigned it to an intern as a pet project means that it isn’t viewed as him as a high priority. I think it’s better that some new dev just takes on the project versus hoping that someone cleans up the code. It’s in a similar situation to Laxer’s PSX core before Robert made his own implementation (not trying to diss Laxer)

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Sorry if my posts come across as mean spirited. TLDR I just think it’s better off if someone who was interested in the core start from scratch. Jotego also announced a Jaguar core and that’s never gonna happen either tbh

radiant eagle
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that makes sense

fiery vault
mortal dust
fiery vault
mortal dust
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If anything in this community, it has taught me to be patient.

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Azum has been spoiling us, however.

hasty vapor
fiery vault
hasty vapor
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I assume you're part of his Patreon? Did you do a higher tier to produce the NGPC?

fiery vault
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No. I'm not part of his Patreon. I think what happened was his patrons voted for the NGPC and he reluctantly committed to it.

hasty vapor
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I was asking because I know some committed more money than an average Patron so I could understand feeling slighted if you did. He commits to a lot.

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But I have faith. I agree it seems to be dragging though

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I was hoping to see system 18 after system 16 but that's about when he started to commit to more projects so nothing yet.

fiery vault
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Yeah all I'm saying is he overcommitted especially on the NGP. Also porting his cores to the Analogue Pocket has seemingly slowed him down. I'm not upset about the NGP's current status. Just pointing out that the communication is poor

hasty vapor
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I agree. Not enough updates. But I do really appreciate his work, no matter what it is. He's really devoted to preservation, which is great.

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I am looking forward to playing Match of the Millennium on MiSTer though!

fiery vault
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Absolutely. I'm a big fan of Jotego's work! I certainly don't take his work for granted. I just think he overcommits is all

hasty vapor
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Agreed. And I'll bet he agrees, lol.

gleaming heath
cinder peak
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i think he's currently trying to optimize some of his tooling to save himself time, which is a worthy endeavour

lusty coral
gleaming heath
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@thorn atlas Megaduck keyboard support wen?!?! 🤣

thorn atlas
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.................

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I can't believe that exists

unkempt idol
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I was going to explain how to make twitter previews work but then I saw it was for megaduck

gleaming heath
unkempt idol
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Anyway

gleaming heath
hot sparrow
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https://www.retrorgb.com/mister-super-game-boy-borders.html this post mentions being able to pull the sgb palettes and borders from the game rom files in the gameboy core. was that feature removed?

RetroRGB
Bob
MiSTer Super Game Boy Borders

It looks like paulb-nl has just added the ability to load custom Super Game Boy borders, when using MiSTer's Game Boy core.  This feature is now merged with the main project and running your favorite update script should automatically install it;  I’ve been using ‘update_all’ these days.  After upda

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nvm it seems to be working now i've deleted the palette and borders folders

sly gazelle
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I am starting to play GB more but need some tips. The video jitter is really bothering me. (Backgrounds when vertically scrolling - been playing Castlevania II for example) On the MD/SNES I have found masks to hide/rid the shimmer. Is there a good combination to rid the GB core of the same?

hot sparrow
hot sparrow
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Attempting to use the subpixel masks

IMG_3311.jpg
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does that look at all right?

rancid lion
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I was wondering where I'd complain about GBA video roms playing weird or not at all, I grew up watching shark tale on gba and I'd love for it to be compatible on mister

wraith magnet
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Hah, that's funny. It's almost a running joke here but the core doesn't play the larger ROM size video carts

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Maybe Robert or someone will be bored one day and look further into adding support for the 64mb video carts

rancid lion
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Hey thanks for the link! Here's hoping, after watching Shark Tale in its full resolution and framerate for the first time recently, I think I much prefer the film on GBA video.

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Though, robert seems to have his hands full these days, I can be patient

wraith magnet
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It's nice to see someone who genuinely wants to see these supported because you have nostalgia for them and that's how you want to experience these films. Hopefully it happens one day 🙂

rancid lion
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Thank you soldier pig

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GBA video is probably subconsciously to blame for all the video format neuroticisms that led me to FPGAs so it really comes full circle

rotund flume
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I genuinely want them supported for the memes

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Also I own Shrek the movie on GBA lol

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Literally the only format I own that movie on

unkempt idol
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CRT shadow mask and scanline filters on 160p video!

torn jay
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it's only 6 out of 40 or so that don't work. Considering the time it takes, i would assume the development time is longer than the accumulated time it will be used over the next years. That is typically the point where i decide it's not worth it

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but of course i understand that for some it might be important

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the good thing is: you need no knowledge about the GBA at all to implement it

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so everyone could do it by adding this mapper stage between core and sdram controller

hot sparrow
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makes psx core, n64 core, countless other cores. mister community: I WANT TO WATCH SHREK

unkempt idol
rotund flume
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Start with official, move onto unofficial support. After GBA my next step is to start asking “why can’t I watch the Shrek VCD on the PS1 or Saturn?”

gleaming heath
unkempt idol
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Quit asking for GBA video!

Just nag Natrox for that DVD core instead ^_^

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I wanna play that weird TNG Borg game on MiSTer...

strong sierra
fathom trail
unkempt idol
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Thats the spirit!

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OLEDs need screen savers too

wraith magnet
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It would be good if someone added it, if only so the core had parity with the Analogue one and we would never need to talk about it ever again 🙂

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Are there no GBA homebrews that are 64mb? I would have thought someone would have tried to make use of the mapper if it allows for double the rom size

hot sparrow
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the analogue one had screen tearing when i tried it

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though maybe that's just how shrek on gba is

torn jay
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the mapper wasn't even understood until relativly recently. So, very likely no homebrew

wraith magnet
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Ah, very good point

gleaming heath
unkempt idol
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🤔

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Fine.

wispy gate
hot sparrow
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But we can upscale it!

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And apply filters to make it look better

hard sinew
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I ordered an rt4k specifically so I can watch tba shrek on my 77" oled. This is very important. 🧐

hot sparrow
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8k when

harsh abyss
rotund flume
wraith magnet
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When Kevtris is interviewed in thirty years time, looking back at his career in FPGA development, he will be asked to reflect on his greatest achievement. His response will simply be:

"I was able to emulate the Shrek video cart for the Game Boy Advance."

rotund flume
torn jay
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hnmm, does it even work in jailbroken GBA on pocket? I thought GBA carts would use the 32mbyte sized ram not the 64mbyte sized dram?

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with carts it's easy to make it work, as the mapper is in the cart itself

wraith magnet
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Yeah they apparently work on the Pocket "jailbreak", that's how I got someone to confirm it wasn't a version of your core when it was first released

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Maybe someone with a pocket handy can reconfirm that

golden cipher
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I have tested Shrek and other 64mbyte GBAvideos on Pocket’s GBA openfpga core and they do work.

wraith magnet
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Kevtris does like adding in obscure mappers, he also managed to do the ST-011 Shogi SNES special chip we don't have, and many many NES ones for things like dodgy Asian pirate carts and hacks that aren't on MiSTer. Generally obscure stuff vast majority of people aren't fussed about.

rotund flume
unkempt idol
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1200 more carts and you can glue together a throne and be the king of all plebs

hot sparrow
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No dragon ball? 😔

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Oh I’m blind nvm

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Well done

unkempt idol
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Mostly millenials in here, ironically liking things that are terrible is kind of our MO right

rotund flume
unkempt idol
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Actually Robby I apologize, I will let you enjoy things

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Even if they are abject shit

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:D

rotund flume
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LOL

unkempt idol
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I for real do want that DVD core though

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Encoding something into a DVD format is easy, and would allow watching of 480 content with the MiSTer's CRT filters

rotund flume
unkempt idol
torn jay
wraith magnet
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It's a shame he never shared how he did it, might be worth asking

torn jay
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the mgba code is very clear how it works and the article Endrift wrote is also, so no big mystery anymore

unkempt idol
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Are there video rips from the carts anywhere?

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They could just be played with a basic ARM video player app. No filters I guess

wraith magnet
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The carts have menus, and controls, they are a bit more than just a video file on a cart

unkempt idol
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Ahh

wraith magnet
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If you look at the video carts that run in the core (32mb ones) you can see what they are, the ones that don't work are similar

unkempt idol
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Oh, no I dont think I need to boot one of those up lol

torn jay
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When you show some old GBA video cart to your kids: "Dad, you forgot to change the youtube quality from 144p to 1080p"

mild glen
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If it hasn't yet been written yet, the Analogue Pocket GBA core runs all GBA Video roms

rotund flume
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They didn’t like how SpongeBob was made of giant wiggly blocks lol

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I retorted that he’s literally a giant wiggly block but they decided they already won that argument

unkempt idol
rotund flume
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I always wanted one of those cryclops

gleaming heath
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Sadly the Game Gear TV Tuner does not work on the Analogue Pocket. 😦

hot sparrow
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Wank

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I wonder if the tv tuner is why the screen is 4:3

hushed raft
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there's a more famous one in Japan in a super potato store

unkempt idol
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Please tell me that is photoshopped

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there are good games in that

hushed raft
hushed raft
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this is real ^

unkempt idol
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Thats almost as bad

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Oh well

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Id probably sit on it

sudden charm
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super potato is great as a museum, their prices have to be some of the highest in Japan

unkempt idol
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Im guessing people arent actually allowed to sit on that

arctic solstice
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I wonder if Henry Winkler and the rest of the surviving cast of Happy Days are

hushed raft
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looks like you can - there's a few pics of people sitting on it

kPpAIC4wbuuNCOjMU4FzneK4LaQ1non-YJnwnZVUbzo.png
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I shudder to think all those were glued together

unkempt idol
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Ill sit on it one day

hushed raft
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I really need to go back to Tokyo - great place

unkempt idol
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I feel like it is my throne. Who could be more worthy

hushed raft
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whoever can identify every single cart on it... but that might be you

unkempt idol
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That would be me.

hushed raft
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"I sit on the souls of the fallen kusoges of old"

gray grail
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A sign was just in front of the throne last time I visited Super Potato - no photo, no sitting & don't touch.

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It was disturbing people who were playing arcade games and their privacy around the throne + some people tried to steal games on it.

gray grail
wraith magnet
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LOL! JT is apparently going to restart the NGP core from scratch

fading scroll
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Unfortunately, but I had a bit of a suspicion that might be the case

golden cipher
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This is what JT wrote in his partreon post about the Neo Geo Pocket core. The first two paragraphs are about other arcade cores but are relevant to his rewrite of the NGP CPU:

Microcoding is a digital design technique were the  sequencing of a state machine (such as a CPU) is encoded in a memory.  The way you describe the entries in the memory has some resemblance to  assembly code, hence the term. Microcoding is more readable, debuggable  and understandable than regular digital logic. Making debugging as less  painful as possible is a design priority for me, after the NGP  experience. So this time I tried a more radical approach:

  • Minimize the hardware side of the CPU
  • Do as much as possible as microcode
  • Ensure cycle accuracy by automating its verification and correction
    With these design goals, I wrote my own automation tools  and got three radically different MCU models (MC6801, MC6805 and  HD63701Y0) working in just two weeks. With this approach, all these MCUs  are cycle accurate by construction (even the interrupt service timing  is exact). My tools even print a report of the number of clock ticks  that each processor instruction takes and compare it to the  specification.

…

I am also going to apply this approach to the NeoGeo Pocket CPU and re-design it from scratch. I think it will be faster and more  enjoyable than to continue debugging the current core. So, yes that core  was on hold while I was looking for a way to tackle the CPU debugging.  This is the approach I needed.

torn jay
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Microcode so fine granular to map to multiple CPUs and have it accurate? Well, maybe for some very old CPUs that are not pipelined and measured in cycles per instructions

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in this case it could be helpful to only adjust some numbers instead of doing a whole design over and over again

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for newer CPUs (MIPS, ARM, ...) i don't see a chance. But i think that's not what most arcades are using anyway

rotund flume
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Console hardware architecture is a completely different world than arcades.

unkempt idol
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Maybe he is thinking about custom chips on Konami and Namco arcade platforms from the 80s and 90s

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A lot of them have a bunch of similarities

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Just a guess on my part though

torn jay
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yes, for some 80s CPU it can work well. It doesn't matter if the core gets bigger due to unused/optimized functions and timing closure isn't an issue anyway

unkempt idol
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I do not code, and don't know really. I'll take your word for it.

torn jay
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I haven't done many old CPUs, so maybe don't take my word 😅

unkempt idol
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I am just trying really hard to not be.. whats the term. An "armchair developer"

rotund flume
unkempt idol
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Yeah I dont really get the mentality tbh. Its one thing to go "I think its this" but also understand you cant actually code a core so.. yeah

torn jay
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In the end every developer has to choose the way they can work best. With so few developers compared to amount of cores mister has, this is no issue anyway

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so best to optimize to be as productive as possible, instead of trying to follow some artificial norm

mild glen
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Uh

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Anyone that knows pokemon well that can test?

hard sinew
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I just noticed when I try to load the game boy core from 11.12.2023 my mister freezes and all the led on top of it turn off.

rotund flume
mild glen
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Lol

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The files seem to be from 2021. Hmmm, I asked the user what core version they've tested with

hard sinew
mild glen
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Do you have unstable mister main?

hard sinew
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Yes. No picture output and mister itself goes dark. I ran update all a few days ago, everything should ne stock

mild glen
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Ok, try deleting your gameboy cfg file in the config folder

hard sinew
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I started update_all again in case my system got somehow messed up, will try that when its done. 👍

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So your gb core is running?

mild glen
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I haven't tested yet

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I'll try when I'm home or if someone else can try

rotund flume
#

@hard sinew I’m able to load a GB game, a GBC game, and use mgl to load games in the core.

hard sinew
#

Good to know, then it shouldn't be anything major

#

Thank you el robby

rotund flume
#

My GB core is V231211 though

hard sinew
#

Not v231211?

rotund flume
hard sinew
#

Was mister a thing in 2013?

rotund flume
#

I fat fingered it lol

hard sinew
#

Are you a time traveler? Again?!

#

It's working now after update all again, didn't need to delete the config. Whats strange: the crc32 of the "old" rbf file and the "new" one are different, so something didn't work while downloading them

rotund flume
#

ah weird, glad to hear it's sorted though!

torn jay
#

but it's possibly the channels are not mixed 100% exact. I remember we talked about it a lot back in 2020 and had no clue why

mild glen
#

Just sharing here

torn jay
#

yes, sorry, wasn't directed to you

mild glen
unkempt idol
#

Still waiting on this to er.. "show up" in certain areas of the internet

rotund flume
hard sinew
#

Is dragonyhm (the color version of dragonborne) on gbc a real thing or vaporware? Just heard a lot about it for years and it seems the release is always in a few months.

dim cedar
#

hey all! i am trying to get the GB link cable to communicate between my mister and analogue pocket -- goal is to trade pokemon between the cartridge on the pocket and the ROM on the mister

dim cedar
# dim cedar hey all! i am trying to get the GB link cable to communicate between my mister a...

i have the USB SNAC Adapter: https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister-snac-adapter-usb/

and i have the GB link adapter SNAC: https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister-snac-controller-adapters/

I am connecting the USB SNAC Adapter into my User port and then connecting the GB link adapter to that. No matter what i do i can't seem to get them to talk to each other.

Has anyone had any success with this?

Buy MiSTer Expansion Boards & Accessories
Nat
SNAC Adapter For MiSTer USB

The USB version of the SNAC board uses controller specific adapters to connect original console controllers to MiSTer. SNAC connects via the User Port on MiSTer IO Boards v5.5 and newer.

Buy MiSTer Expansion Boards & Accessories
Nat
MiSTer SNAC Controller Adapters

SNAC controller adapters allow for direct connection of original console controllers to a USB SNAC board. Providing lag free gaming while offering an experience as close as possible to playing on original hardware with supported MiSTer cores.

#

This is the setup that I can’t get working

dim cedar
#

OK i'm dumb -- i went to the core menu and misc. -> link port: enabled 🤦‍♂️

wraith magnet
#

You might want a short cable between the SNAC adaptor and the MiSTer iO port, that looks a like a disaster waiting to happen with something getting snapped

dim cedar
#

good idea!

wraith magnet
#

Are there 3D cases for the SNAC adaptors?

dim cedar
#

Not that I have found for these particular ones

#

So I think your extension cable is the best bet for now 👍

9206DFA4-D691-446D-9D24-FBFAB2150A53.jpg
gleaming heath
#

What's the black box in front of the MiSTer?

wraith magnet
#

Looks like a tty2oled screen

dim cedar
#

Yep tty2oled

gleaming heath
#

Thanks, I keep meaning to look into one of those, just too many projects.

unkempt idol
#

This one is finally out and about to acquire

rotund flume
#

thank you for the heads-up

unkempt idol
#

You are quite welcome friend Blobert

mild glen
hard sinew
#

Still waiting for dragonborne/dragonyhm on gbc. Not sure anymore if it actually exists.

unkempt idol
mild glen
unkempt idol
#

Oh. lol.. okay. One second.

fathom trail
primal lichen
#

So at least there is an update with the Neo Geo Pocket core.

#

Sounds like the entire CPU was overhauled, which might explain the silence for a while.

hushed raft
#

looks like they started over

arctic solstice
#

I like the music in it quite a bit.

arctic solstice
# unkempt idol

I played a bit of the non-DX version. I like what I have played of it, but some of the ideas in it were better used in Gimmick.

unkempt idol
arctic solstice
#

Very nice hack

#

marc_max has done some amazing color hacks. He also did Mega Man V DX

#

Not really a fan of Natsume's US name for the game, though

rotund flume
unkempt idol
rotund flume
#

damnit, even when I think I got you, you still one up me 🤣

unkempt idol
hard sinew
#

Did anyone try the new fire emblem 1+2 remakes on gba yet? They look interesting.

arctic solstice
primal lichen
rotund flume
low peak
#

IF he can also deliver a player core

#

if there was ever a handheld that needed a multi-player core

#

2x Game Gear Streets of Rage is also on my wishlist

thorny apex
#

did they have link support?

misty heart
#

Yeah there’s a lot of fighting games on there that would be great on a 2p core

fathom trail
#

Jotego posted a quick neogeo pocket update and said games are starting to be stable and a lot of the work ahead for beta should not be tough

unkempt idol
hot sparrow
#

Gonna put it in my pocket

unkempt idol
#

Mister core with color please

fallow spade
#

coming soon 2025

ashen bone
#

Why can't GBA?

torn jay
#

because i didn't care for it. For me it's way to much effort creating a special cable for mister<->gba, debugging/analyzing the original connection using 2 real GBAs with cut cable and a logicanalyzer for the like 10 people who would use it for 10 minutes to see if it works

#

gameboy can do it for years and it seems the amount of people using that is in the same range

uneven rover
#

Can confirm I tried it once out of interest and never again

rotund flume
#

The 2P GBA core is the real magic

mortal dust
#

We could just do it with a few more GCs with GBA Players connected, which is the more viable and realistic option if we wanted to do it soon

torn jay
#

that is another different request. gba<->gba is not the same interface as gba<->gc

mortal dust
#

Really? I figured the data would transfer the same. Interesting.

torn jay
#

6 different modes and multiplay also has master/slave, so 7 really

#

currently only the normal 32bit is supported in the gba2p core and even that is more a hack as the byte order is wrong i think. It works in the gba2p core, because the other side has the same issue

#

so to get all the others working, each has to be implemented. Unfortunatly they all have very limited use cases, so the win per workhour is very small

mortal dust
#

Yeah, not really worth doing if you don't just really want the feature included.

mortal dust
torn jay
#

personally, i always wanted the "ease of use" way. That's why i made the 2p cores. For me it's the only convenient way available for everyone and also the only i would use. I understand that a full core that behaves exactly like the real device would need the full feature set, but as i only have limited time available i have to decide what i work on 😅

#

Having a small userbase and me never using it at all reduces the motivation to a minimum, sorry

mortal dust
#

Oh, I wasn't trying to goad you into anything, just chatting and learning

#

I appreciate the responses!

torn jay
#

it's all fine, i just feel i should explain why certain things are not there 🙂

wraith magnet
#

I think Blue was digging into GBA link cable SNAC support, his adaptor for GBC would work so the hardware is done

ebon night
#

Cool thing if we got link cable over SNAC, there's probably a way to tunnel the connection over the Internet by now. Net play on MiSTer would be possible XD

gleaming heath
torn jay
#

You cannot send low latency serial interfaces via internet, the other side awaits each bit in time. This only works in software emulators that can freeze the time and speed up again

ebon night
teal sky
#

ehhhh... hypothetically, if you can keep your packets well within the MTU, there's no fragment/reassembly/buffering ("waiting") if you are doing raw sockets

#

this gets used in extremely optimized web sites, who make sure the first SYN+ACK includes the <1500 byte payload the browser can immediate parse and execute, which saves a couple of 60+ms (or worse) round-trips

#

but even that 60ms could be killer, depending on how much/little wiggle room the wire protocols on GBC/GBA have for noise/retransmits on those crappy cables

torn jay
#

if you want the original protocols, you have 4 us per bit. If you trick it to do full transfers only(32bit mode) you have in best case 125 us of maximum round trip time. Not really feasible for internet connection 😉

mortal dust
#

Hot damn that NGP post by Jotego on Patreon looks good. Still a ways to go, but at least we can check the core out now!

rotund flume
#

I’m still holding out hope it’s secretly a NGPC core 🤞

mortal dust
#

The post mentions that you can't use the Color BIOS yet, but that it's in the works

rotund flume
#

Hooray!

mighty isle
#

Really game him hell getting it running it seems

mortal dust
#

The exact wording is "Only the monochrome color is supported in this release. Do not use the color BIOS"

rotund flume
#

sucks it’s paywalled, first console core to be and might cause confusion. We’ll probably need to be vigilant and help people understand that it’s for Jotego Patreons only.

#

At least I’m hoping enough people give a shit about the Neo Geo Pocket other than me lmao

mortal dust
#

Temporarily paywalled

rotund flume
#

Still paywalled

mortal dust
#

The shitty versions of the core are paywalled 😄

rotund flume
#

LOL fair

#

that’s a good point though

#

It’s in beta and not easily accessible

#

Which should be that way anyways

mortal dust
#

You pay to test an unfinished product

mighty isle
#

Don’t think I have time to knock one out today

rotund flume
#

I think being really clear this is outside the MiSTer ecosystem and is for Jotego Patreons only would clear confusion.

mortal dust
#

currently outside

rotund flume
#

Ohhhhhh I would love it if we’re officially part of the official repo!

#

Update_all is incredible but for new people it’s a bit confusing what is part of the official repo and what isn’t.

#

But being able to exist outside the official repo is awesome

mortal dust
#

In the post, he gives instructions for MiSTer and Analogue Pocket. He also mentions that because of the RAM size requirements, smaller FPGA platforms like SiDi and MiST are not supported.

rotund flume
#

My head is always in the “new user experience” because we’ve seen tremendous growth in this server alone so the easier that is for people the more successful MiSTer is

#

And for Jotego the larger potential base of users that can be converted to Patreons, so win/win

mortal dust
#

I don't know if it's in the update_all pipeline, though I have to imagine it is like all the other beta cores. He does mention that while on MiSTer it will wind up in the consoles folder, while testing it will be treated like an arcade core.

rotund flume
#

That makes sense

#

Thanks for all the info dude

mortal dust
#

$20 for any more info. Cough it up

mighty isle
mortal dust
#

I've never played a NeoGeo Pocket 🙂

rotund flume
#

but like I get why people don’t care or don’t like it

#

It’s very niche and has a handful of games

mortal dust
#

I grew up in the heart of Orlando, FL through the 80s and 90s. We were all about the game.com! ...that nobody owned because it was so freaken expensive.

rotund flume
mortal dust
#

That explains your behavior

rotund flume
mighty isle
rotund flume
#

I think someone paid for it but I don’t know the details

mortal dust
#

Seems they may not be too far off, maybe. He had focused for a good while on NGP and now he's stepping away from it again for arcade core work.

#

Oh shit I just gave more info without confirming your paypal went through

#

Stepping away isn't the right phrase. He's putting focus way down and will sprinkle some time for it here and there but the focus is now on arcade core work.

mighty isle
wraith magnet
#

I do find it interesting nobody has taken on PGM yet. It wouldn't be easy but it's got a great library.

mortal dust
mighty isle
#

I mean I enjoy it too. But this just isn’t an “ooh change my entire days plan to make a video and try it” core

rotund flume
#

What, the Analogue Pocket doesn’t play NGPC?

mighty isle
hard cosmos
mighty isle
#

I feel like the adapters are done but the core isn’t so they get held? Dunno

#

I’m guessing so nobody take what I say as the facts. Pure presumptions

rotund flume
#

Maybe I’m wrong? I don’t know. It’s a cool-ass device otherwise.

hard sinew
#

I want an analouge pocket, not because I think it's a good product but because everybody keeps talking about it.

mighty isle
hard cosmos
#

This core is still at a veeeeeeery early point of development, even for only the BW version

mighty isle
#

Once color works I’ll give Beast Busters another run. Fun game

hard cosmos
#

Hangs, glitches, games not booting or responding to controls...

hot sparrow
#

they were posting neo geo pocket games to their instagram earlier (analogue). i'm guessing they do have a core but maybe they don't have the adapter yet

hard cosmos
#

Maybe this is obvious, but no signal to CRT using this core

mighty isle
#

Well I’ll take a peek tomorrow. Gotta start on this MiSTer 4K direct video Tink stuff too

hard cosmos
#

Fun to give a try, nothing else

rotund flume
#

Not really interested in it until we have the color version. Black and White is cool, but not much there of interest for me.

hard cosmos
#

On his patreon he comments that he will return to the arcades and leave this core for a while. Considering how development has been going up to this point I wouldn't expect the color version anytime soon...

rotund flume
remote carbon
ebon night
mild glen
#

@rotund flume I believe you did the video filters?

#

One is missing

#

Ngp elmorise

#

Plz add

#

I did mention to jotego that for ngpc he could use an mgl file, similar to wonderswan color so that it can have its own configuration

rotund flume
#

Yeah, that would be smart

#

I have an original NGPC so I’ll take a look at the screen today under a magnifying glass and try to find the best approximation filter for it.

#

No B&W NGP though, those never came out in the US marioohno

mighty isle
fallow spade
uneven rover
rotund flume
#

I think they’re right and 9x scale is a clever solution

#

I play all my consoles at full screen, not v-integer but with handhelds I do v-integer to have that natural border.

uneven rover
#

it's never bothered me before, but I think yeah playing original Game Boy games at full screen on a TV looked worse than say, playing on Super Game Boy with the borders

#

I think I'm fine with it on the handheld itself though

#

I also really like the grainy screen effect on that mockup, not sure if we have anything like that on MiSTer

gleaming heath
rotund flume
uneven rover
gleaming heath
tropic coral
#

Would also be cool if there are filters that simulate light sources like sun, cloudy sky, florescent, incandescent, etc. Light intensity and color temp control

uneven rover
#

Yeah it’s hard to nail down the look of those original reflective screens exactly as you remember them, exactly because they varied so much in different lighting conditions

#

The stock GBP filter on the Analogue Pocket look really good to me at least

ebon night
#

You'd have to use some kind of PNG with transparency that simulates glare and scratches. Isn't that what awbacon uses in his arcade gameplay?

#

Something you can't do on MiSTer unfortunately.

tropic coral
#

I love how the look of reflective screens change depending on light sources. Even slight change in lamp angle would alter the look completely. Very organic and infinitely analogue

uneven rover
#

one of the reasons I keep my old unmodified GB Pocket around, still one of my favourite ways to play the original games - not so great in the dark though, which is where my modified GBC or the Analogue Pocket come in 😄

ebon night
#

Eh, GBC is one of the consoles I would never modify like that.

#

That is the sharpest, clearest, brightest unlit screen ever

#

GB Pocket has a nice look, but there's a bit of image smear to it.

uneven rover
#

I have my original Pokemon GBC that I keep around unmodified too (aside from cap replacement for audio buzzing)

#

but I quite like the look of the Q5 laminated display as well

tropic coral
#

I recommend ring lights or magnifying desk lamps for reflective screens. I personally like the look of them way more than modern lit displays

GBA_-_Final_Fantasy_Tactics_Advance_-opening_2.6.9.jpg GBA_-_Final_Fantasy_Tactics_Advance_-opening_2.6.13.jpg GBA_-_Slime_Morimori_Dragon_Quest-06.jpg GBA_-_Megaman_Zero_3_-title-opening_2.18.8.jpg
uneven rover
#

and the Analogue Pocket is just chefkiss for GBC games

#

I haven't got much love for the original AGB display though, laminated ITA all the way

#

probably looks good to me because I spent the most time playing on DS Lite after I got one

ebon night
#

Yeah, IDK how they managed to make AGB screen quality worse

tropic coral
ebon night
#

I do have a soft spot for the AGS-001 screen though, and I seem to be alone in that.

uneven rover
#

I like that one too, although yeah the ITA display is still my favourite

tropic coral
#

GBC screen is definitely better but GBA screen is really good with good lamps

ebon night
#

GBC screen is even better with lamps

uneven rover
tropic coral
#

I have ITA screen GBA also

ebon night
#

Used to have a mint condition atomic purple GBC, but ditched it with all of my collection a few years back.

tropic coral
#

It's good to have both OEM and modded ones I think

ebon night
#

My worry is that we're going to run out of OEM units over time. If you're going to mess with history, why not just get an emulation or FPGA device?

uneven rover
#

eh, the way I look at it everything will degrade or disappear eventually, no matter how hard we try and preserve something

tropic coral
#

For real. I think it great the Funnyplaying came out with FPGA GB board

uneven rover
#

I at least try and only modify units that have bad displays already

#

ie the screen on the last GBC I modded was already totally darkened in the middle and the contrast knob couldn't help

ebon night
#

Contrast knob?

uneven rover
#

there is one at the back of the board beneath the battery compartment

#

it's not really a contrast adjustment, but the potentiometer can help with screen issues

#

AGB has one as well

#

sometimes needs to be adjusted to get ITA screens to work properly as well

tropic coral
#

Those knobs are actually for flicker control

ebon night
#

Oh, is it the component marked VR2 on the motherboard?

uneven rover
#

I've heard on GBC it can help if the screen is totally washed out though?

tropic coral
#

I'm not sure that would help. When I turn that, only controls flickers

#

LIke GBA

ebon night
#

But one thing I could not stand is the motion blur on the AGS-101 and DS Lite.

uneven rover
#

at any rate it did nothing for my GBC, I think the screen will eventually start to go dark if you use it in the sun too much...

tropic coral
#

I brought this up on setting-workshop, I wish there is filter for Mister to simulate GBC subpixel. GBC pixels have different width depending on intensity of color. The pixels are so chunky that if a pixel is for example only red, green and blue subpixels are turned off so you have thin red pixel, as you can see from MLiG's Analogue Pocket video

analogue-03.jpg
#

Here are shots I took. Not the best pix but you can see width difference clearly with primary colors

gbc-pika-01b.jpg gbc-zelda-la-02b.jpg
#

The only emulator that simulates this as far as I know is GBCC

#

Here is shot of it running on my android phone

gbcc-01.jpg
#

It also has GB camera emulation on phone so it's a really fun emulator

ebon night
#

Wow that's neat

uneven rover
#

Very cool

mighty isle
#

https://youtu.be/rmcByKFS7Nc?si=AJT7h-9H9RO5EyIu

YouTube
Video Game Esoterica
MiSTer FPGA Neo Geo Pocket Core Releases! Beta But Very Impressive ...

MiSTer FPGA has a ton of arcade cores from Capcom CPS 2 on MiSTer FPGA to Neo Geo MiSTer FPGA and a ton of other options on the retro gaming side...but one of the cores everyone keeps asking me about is the Neo Geo Pocket FPGA Core...which is basically like a portal black and white arcade board on the go! Jotego and his team just released the Ne...

▶ Play video
#

Fun stuff

trail chasm
#

I know the original systems were not made for CRTs, but when I use gameboy, gameboy color cores on my consumer TV CRT, while the games look fine, the Mister menus look inappropriate for the resolution. Is there anything I can do about that?

supple scarab
rotund flume
#

I'm sure it can be done

#

Found this up-close shot of the GBC pixel grid

GBColor.png
rotund flume
tropic coral
#

Yeah they're RGB

#

GBCC author has great write up about GBC screen and how he made his subpixel option

#

c

rotund flume
#

ah wow!

#

Thank you @tropic coral !

tropic coral
#

Tonurics said it's possible so hopefully you smart people can come up with one!

#

#settings-workshop message

#

GBC and GBA screens also do wonky things like dimming even/odd lines every other frame, kind of making it look interlaced

tropic coral
supple scarab
#

I made it look a bit more like the photo. It's a bit dark tho but I guess it's how the original screen was supposed to be

208f2f85-df22-46a0-a071-cf33238d06c4.png
#

shadowmask:

Resolution=0
v2
6,1
0e6,0e6,4bf,2bf,2bf,1bf

b7562246-a156-44f0-a3db-d87723ae29d5.png
#

This is made to work with 6x resolution, so you need to add a border depending on which resolution you're using

#

for 1200p: (I'm using this)

[Gameboy]
video_mode=1600,1200,60
vscale_border=140

For 1080p:

[Gameboy]
video_mode=8
vscale_border=108

rotund flume
#

@supple scarab oh you're already taking care of it, awesome!

supple scarab
#

I'm not an expert or anything so I'm sure it can be improved

#

I personally prefer just using grayscale to get more brightness

#

Example of a similar effect just in grayscale (brighter)

Resolution=0
v2
6,1
00f,00f,71f,74f,74f,71f

then LCD_Effect_01_V.txt in both axis

#

Looks like this:

644b38f0-0fbf-4ba0-9098-3063a1b164c9.png
#

It's on an OLED C1 but I'm not using HDR so it should similar in any panel

#

I just realized maybe this should have been on settings workshop lol

#

sorry for the spam

tropic coral
#

Cool! I'll give them a go. Thanks!

supple scarab
#

sure, if you need any help we can follow up at #settings-workshop

uneven spear
#

is there a way to load two different games in the GB/GBC 2P core? Bit confused on why the GBA2P can do it but the GBC2P can not if not

wispy gate
#

What would be the purpose of that

uneven rover
#

trading Pokemon I'll bet

wispy gate
#

ahh

uneven rover
#

or Zelda Oracle games linking, probably others that are different roms but still compatible

ebon night
#

Yeah, and I believe Legend of the River King can link to Harvest Moon in the Japanese versions.

torn jay
uneven spear
uneven rover
#

Ah, I should have guessed the obvious thing

hard sinew
#

So my gb player still has a usecase left the mister doesn't cover!

radiant eagle
#

working on cleaning up my gamelists into basically 1g1r sets and noticed that the Japanese release of Alfred Chicken in Game Boy is SGB Enhanced while the US release is not. Anyone offhand know of any other games for Game Boy/Color like that where the game differed slightly from region to region? It’s interesting

lofty owl
#

I like to ask before i report in case its just me/my setup (on newest GBA stable, newest MiSTer unstable) and i didnt see this on github, but does the intro loop for Golden Sun + Golden Sun: Lost Age crash after letting it set there for a few minutes?

torn jay
#

i'm not aware that it would crash

#

but i can't say i ever tried it, i only played golden sun

lofty owl
#

Yeah both of them seem to, not really noticeable if I proceed through with the games

ionic ingot
#

Golden Sun wrapped up its story in the second one or was there more to it? I finished the first one.

torn jay
#

i think it's like the second just continues where the first ends

ionic ingot
#

The first one felt like half a game, iirc, though it's been like 20 years since I played it.

torn jay
#

i can try tomorrow if i can reproduce the issue and add a github entry if it happens on my side also

#

not nice if it's the case, but at least it's still playable fine

fading scroll
#

The first one is, indeed, half a game

#

The first game covers the Mercury and Venus lighthouses, the second game has the other two lighthouses

#

(the second game starts from the perspective of the "other party", and begins during the events at Venus lighthouse)

#

There's a third game on the DS but it takes place later on and with other characters, the two GBA games cover their story in its entirety

torn jay
lofty owl
#

Yeah, I'm an idiot so I'm sorry to waste your time humoring me. Had rumble hack turned on. No problems with it off. Sorry, I'm usually better about checking my baseline before thinking about submitting something

torn jay
#

No worries, i'm happy the core is working as it should 🙂

uneven rover
#

nice to have a satisfying conclusion to the mystery instead of just shrug

vocal cove
#

Where's the Mister version?

mystic barn
#

They're missing the pocket, that would be closest to the mister

hot sparrow
#

2 is better

north ice
#

3 is best :3

uneven rover
#

which is the best screen though? 😆

#

I am partial to the AGS-101 and the DS Lite or DSi, but I can see the argument for something less vivid and saturated

#

definitely the modern displays towards the bottom are too far in that direction

#

(without some kind of filter)

celest fossil
#

I'll stick to my ips gba sp thanks

uneven rover
#

my favourite is secretly DSi I guess ("ITA" display in modded AGB)

celest fossil
#

But keep the brightness below half because I like my retinas

#

As much as I would like an fpga portable, I have most of the gba/c/a caets I'd want and wouldn't use, say, an analog pocket for anything other than portables

#

Thinking I might do the USB-C mod for it too just because

hot sparrow
hot sparrow
tropic coral
#

After getting a magnifier desk lamp, I like og reflective GBA screen the best heh heh. #2 DSi

uneven rover
#

Definitely a winner for both the most authentic and least practical categories

sick plover
#

New here, but I've been trying to get the Wonderswan core to work. Ive run update all. Whether a bw or color game, it comes up with the logo, then just goes to a white screen. Not sure if this could be a more updated OS vs version of core, but I've also tried the newest, and one revision back in core (videos online show the previous revision working, so I thought Id give it a go), but neither prevailed.

rotund flume
sick plover
#

The sha-1 hashes match the ones documented on the devel git page.

wraith magnet
#

Assuming you have 128mb ram stick to ruke that out

sick plover
#

Actually running a dual

#

LOL, at the time I purchased, I saw that MiSTer Addons was coming out with another board that was going to allow analog audio/video alongside dual ram sticks, so I went ahead and decided to not-limit myself.

wraith magnet
#

Only thing I can think is make sure you are using a standard ROM pack, HTGDB or No Intro generally work fine. Also maybe delete your .rbf and BIOS files and run update all again (BIOS DB should be enabled by default but double check it is)

sick plover
#

Interesting, I just removed the bios and rbf files, did an update all, made sure BIOS files were turned on, and it didn't bring down the BIOS files, just the core (rbf).

#

I JUST figured it out, but seems odd. I have an MT-32 Pi, and simply unplugging it made it come up. I wonder if that is a power supply thing, or if somehow a core thing. Iv'e been meaning to get an upgraded Power supply just incase powering that MT-32 pi unit somehow bumps the power necessity over the capacity of my current supply.

rotund flume
#

Wow that’s so odd!

gray grail
sick plover
#

The standard one that comes with the Nano

#

By the way, thank you all for your responses, and everything you do 🙂 I am an ex-FPGA, embedded sw dev, and engineer. I will be retiring in a couple years, and LOVE this project. At some point I would love to get into aiding this and other FPGA based projects along. At this point though, with 2 young kiddos and a (almost more than) full-time job, I have to wait until I am retired and without a J-O-B!

#

@rotund flume - Yeah, Ive had that with another core at one point, but Im forgetting which one. Interesting thing (and also the reason I didn't think this was the issue), is that the ao486 core (which uses a ton of the FPGA fabric does perfectly fine even with the MT-32 pi connected (and actively being used).

gray grail
#

For my dual system with a MT32-PI, I needed a 5VDC 4A power supply, as the standard one is only 2A and plugging some USB dongles and the MT32-Pi could be too demanding.

#

I had some crashes and throttling.

sick plover
#

Yeah, I wondered about that!!!

#

It is in my list of things to get! 🙂 !!!

tropic coral
#

I posted about new BGB gameboy emulator in software-emulation section that does pretty amazing screen simulations #software-emulation message

#

It does subpixel variable width simulation but the killer thing for me is option for setting white point to simulate light sources

bgb-zeldalinksawakeningdx-01.png bgb-zeldalinksawakeningdx-02.png
#

White point filters for various handheld cores would be fun

#

It has contrast wheel option for DMG. Really nice

bgb-zeldalinksawakening-01.png bgb-zeldalinksawakening-02.png
hot sparrow
#

why do we need to break the contrast tho

#

the white point thing is cool

sterile quarry
#

That looks very cool. Interesting thought for handheld cores especially, to emulate how they did indeed look.
On that front, could you also add an effect to add in the slower response time as in pixel response of the displays?

tropic coral
#

I'm just showing as an example. You can make contrast higher

#

It has pixel blend option as you can see on blurry link. GBC also has interlace option

uneven rover
#

those look properly terrible, I love them

#

Really into that subpixel filter, combined with just a little bit of noise I think you’d be about there in terms of a convincing approximation of the real thing

#

At very high resolutions you could start simulating the actual shape of the subpixels I guess in more than just width

sterile quarry
#

Ultimate mode will pseudo randomly vary the screen from dark to a bright moving light source to simulate being in the back of a car with overhead lights. Bonus for wormlight mode

rotund flume
#

meanwhile all the zoomers playing are going “what the hell is this disco light doing?”

uneven rover
#

"I'm touching the screen and nothing is happening, what gives?"

hot sparrow
#

damned young people

cinder peak
#

i figured it might have been for some reason, maybe that person is here actually in that same name...

#

hrm nope

hollow rock
#

um... what?

#

My name is QwerkyPengwen.

cinder peak
#

for some reason i thought your name was qwerkypidgey lol

#

my brain is a little scrambled lol

hollow rock
#

lol

cinder peak
#

this issue is interesting

hollow rock
#

@cinder peak I think this person needs to provide more info though about MiSTer main version, core version, rom version, where they got those roms from, their RAM modules etc.

uneven rover
#

it's really hard to compare audio out from original GBA hardware, mine all sound varying degrees of rubbish depending on if I ever recapped or did other work to them

hollow rock
#

I don't think that's relevant though.
their issue is that there are supposed to be sounds when there isn't any actually being produced. Which you don't need original hardware to deduce since the audio files themselves either have audio or they don't at those points, regardless of how it sounds.

uneven rover
#

it's really hard to compare because like they said the balance is totally off

#

like yep, assuming they haven't toyed with audio filters or anything that is totally a different sound

cinder peak
#

basically i hear it though, it's the shaking sand instrument like sound a few seconds after the 3-2-1

#

and i recreated the same sound on my mister by getting to that stage

#

so the emphasis is way different for some reason

#

seems almost like a volume register is setting that instruement at half the volume than it is supposed to or something

#

just for that instrument

#

the balance of all the other instruments and sounds are correct

#

is there like a... gba sound format and files for it? i've never messed with that yet

#

wonder if they ahve some tool to see what part of th echip is triggered by that specifically

#

oh i guess an emulator might have that

#

oh right it has a psg

#

so it's psg channel 4

#

okay so the left and right channel enables for sound channel 4 are linked up to the eProcReg_gba module

#

weird, if it's some kind of bus issue you would think it would show up in a ton of games, but it's only some that use the noise channel this way? weird

#

http://belogic.com/gba/registers.shtml#REG_SOUNDBIAS - sound bias is not implemented in the core, instead it clips on signed.

         -- skip sound bias and clip on signed instead
         soundmix8_l <= soundmix7_l; -- + to_integer(unsigned(REG_SOUNDBIAS));
         soundmix8_r <= soundmix7_r; -- + to_integer(unsigned(REG_SOUNDBIAS));
#

that can't be related though, it would affect all sound

torn jay
#

that the old gameboy channels are indeed off balance to the new GBA DMA sound channels is known, but the solutons to fix it are...weird

#

here is the example of the currently probably most accurate GBA emulator:

keen laurelBOT
# 
sample[channel] += psg_sample * psg_volume * psg.master[channel] / (28.0 * 0x200);
torn jay
#

dividing the old GB channels by 28, then shift-adjust them back...maybe that is right or better, but it's just such a random number...

uneven rover
#

I suppose you could reach out to endrift and ask them if there is any kind of story behind it other than “because it sounded right”

cinder peak
#

oh cool, she's also writing a DS emulator

rotund flume
cinder peak
#

no

#

i'm a DN emulator

cinder peak
# torn jay https://github.com/nba-emu/NanoBoyAdvance/blob/master/src/nba/src/hw/apu/apu.cpp...

she replied to me very quickly --> https://github.com/nba-emu/NanoBoyAdvance/pull/170#issuecomment-1923876868

She said this is the accurate model:

https://github.com/nba-emu/NanoBoyAdvance/blob/master/src/nba/src/hw/apu/apu.cpp#L186-L196

The one you linked was apparently the HQ mixer. It's still floating point math though so either one can get very close to precision but not 100% or use a LUT I suppose.

keen laurelBOT
# 
sample[channel] += psg_sample * psg_volume * psg.master[channel] / 28;

for(int fifo = 0; fifo < 2; fifo++) {
  if(dma[fifo].enable[channel]) {
    sample[channel] += latch[fifo] * dma_volume_tab[dma[fifo].volume];
  }
}

sample[channel] += mmio.bias.level;
sample[channel]  = std::clamp(sample[channel], s16(0), s16(0x3FF));
sample[channel] -= 0x200;
cinder peak
#

sound is usually pretty lax on timing so i would assume it would be okay to use a LUT, but BRAM is always a scarce resource and I'm not sure how the BRAM is utilized in the gba2p core

torn jay
#

1 bram should be fine

cinder peak
#

i'll see if i can test it out, brushing up on the vhdl lol

torn jay
#

i could also try, but i'm currently not sure where it needs to be done, haha

#

been quite a while since i worked on it

cinder peak
#

yeah and you're busy, i like to have something to try and fumble through

torn jay
#

so if you want to try, i would be glad 🙂

#

if you have any questions, i'm still here

cinder peak
#

yup! thank you!

rotund flume
cinder peak
#

i'm not that smart, i'm relying upon everyone else's smarts and asking questions

rotund flume
#

I dunno, sounds pretty smart to me SureSure

#

“I’m not smart, I just do smart things!”

that’s you right now

hard sinew
#

Maybe they're like migratory birds and can sense the electric field of the fpga or something. rpi

cinder peak
#

i really don't want people playing up what i do tbh. i'm not able to make my own core or anything, nowhere near that level. i am good at googling and searching stuff, and then i bash against the wall trying multiple of these randomly found things, and then i usually fail lol. not beating myself up, just being honest.

cinder peak
#

yeah plenty of bram in the gba2p core still, more limited on dsp's, so it would be worth it to get rid of the multiplication operators in that c++ code when kinda converting it over.

image.png
#

dsp's would be faster access i think? but might cause routing issues since there's so many used already

#

definitely don't want to do something that would mess up the gba2p core getting updated

torn jay
#

no worries, you can use a 8*n bit multiply. 97/112 isn't really that much

#

many of them are for shader colors and 2x resolution stuff, both of which are not in the 2P core anyway

#

wait, this is already the 2P core

#

normal core uses 106

#

it can always still be optimized later, but for testing, i would just implement it and see if it's going in the right direction

cinder peak
#

yeah the normal core actually used more dsps, it's at 96%

#

after i updated sys anyways

#

update sys led to two more dsp blocks being used, at 108 now

#

was already testing that out hehe

cinder peak
#

@torn jay so something interesting potentially. Given her reply...
https://github.com/nba-emu/NanoBoyAdvance/blob/a30da204a1c03e4adc981ac50b77327a002f0e50/src/nba/src/hw/apu/apu.cpp#L123
and
https://github.com/nba-emu/NanoBoyAdvance/blob/master/src/nba/src/hw/apu/apu.cpp#L144-L147
versus
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/GBA_MiSTer/blob/master/rtl/gba_sound.vhd#L422-L425
this looks incorrect. shouldn't the 0, 1, 2, 3 sequence in the case be / 1 (different), /2 (same), /4 (different), and then 0 (which it currently is).

given that this happens on noise, i wonder if this is the only reason the audio imbalance is happening, i'm gonna try just swapping the div on the case when 0 for the case when 2...

keen laurelBOT
# 
constexpr int psg_volume_tab[4] = { 1, 2, 4, 0 };

if(psg.enable[channel][0]) psg_sample += mmio.psg1.GetSample();
if(psg.enable[channel][1]) psg_sample += mmio.psg2.GetSample();
if(psg.enable[channel][2]) psg_sample += mmio.psg3.GetSample();
if(psg.enable[channel][3]) psg_sample += mmio.psg4.GetSample();

when 0     => soundmix5_l <= soundmix14_l / 4;   soundmix5_r <= soundmix14_r / 4;
when 1     => soundmix5_l <= soundmix14_l / 2;   soundmix5_r <= soundmix14_r / 2;
when 2     => soundmix5_l <= soundmix14_l;       soundmix5_r <= soundmix14_r;
when 3     => soundmix5_l <= (others => '0');    soundmix5_r <= (others => '0');  -- 3 is not allowed
torn jay
#

i took the info from Martin:

#

"0-1 R/W Sound # 1-4 Volume (0=25%, 1=50%, 2=100%, 3=Prohibited)"

cinder peak
#

yeah, i wonder why hers is different..

#

i figured you got that sort of thing from no$ like usual

torn jay
#

i mean, you can of course try and see the result

#

while the no$ documentation is typically great, there are some mistakes here and there. That's why for PSX there was a updated version that forked it

cinder peak
#

yup, gonna test it out. thanks! i hope it's something as simple as this, that would be nice 😛

wispy gate
#

What's the issue you're trying to fix? Sound balancing inaccuracy?

#

Just trying to follow along

cinder peak
#

yeah

#

one of the sound channels is probably half the volume it should be relative to another one

#

based on just hearing it

#

but i think this is dependent upon the software's setting of the volume

#

so it only shows up in some games

wispy gate
#

Interesting

cinder peak
#

yeah it'

#

it's PSG channel 4 for sure, tested in mgba

torn jay
#

if it's only the noise channel, then setting the overal PSG sum volume is probably the wrong spot

torn jay
#

but the only thing that modifies volume in ch4 is the envelope and the logic is exactly the same for e.g. ch1, so i doubt it's that

#

the frequency calculation looks suspisious, but it would only modify the noise pattern, not the volume

cinder peak
#

the lfsr shift pattern doesn't look the same i think as no$ describes it?

# 
Noise Random Generator (aka Polynomial Counter)
Noise randomly switches between HIGH and LOW levels, the output levels are calculated by a shift register (X), at the selected frequency, as such:

  7bit:  X=X SHR 1, IF carry THEN Out=HIGH, X=X XOR 60h ELSE Out=LOW
  15bit: X=X SHR 1, IF carry THEN Out=HIGH, X=X XOR 6000h ELSE Out=LOW

The initial value when (re-)starting the sound is X=40h (7bit) or X=4000h (15bit). The data stream repeats after 7Fh (7bit) or 7FFFh (15bit) steps.
# 
               if (new_cycles_valid = '0' and soundcycles_freq >= freq_divider) then
                  soundcycles_freq <= soundcycles_freq - freq_divider;
                  if (lfsr7bit = '1') then
                     lfsr <= x"00" & (lfsr(1) xor lfsr(0)) & lfsr(6 downto 1);
                  else
                     lfsr <= (lfsr(1) xor lfsr(0)) & lfsr(14 downto 1);
                  end if;
               end if;
#

trying something...

tacit mural
#

This is a pretty interesting read ngl

#

(I only like using your mom and your face jokes when they're strangely compliments and not insults. Confuses people sometimes)

hard sinew
cinder peak
#

i realized it looked correct and went to bed lol

#

it's just a different way of writing it upon further examination lol

#

it was mostly from reading it and trying to find where the code that the dev of nba pointed to would fit in that i noticed stuff that i needed to compare to no$ to understand

cinder peak
#

okay so gbatek does have the same order as nba

image.png
#

so i don't know why tthe sound was messed up when i put them in the same order as gbatek and nda... hrm

cinder peak
#

the other issue with the healing potion sound in pokemon ruby is like the duty cycle is running at half the rate for psg channel 1.

#

the frequency is much lower

cinder peak
#

Forgot I had started a GBA palettes comparison across various emulators online, I just finished it with the couple that were missing. saw i had a gba paletttes comparison folder in my pictures folder lol

📎 GBA_Palettes_Comparison.zip
#

decided to redo em all since some were off haha

#

was comparing various emulators behavior, didn't find any that had the diminished channel 4

cinder peak
#

okay multiplied channel 4 psg volume by 3 on output from that individual channel's module and i seem to have lined up the audio balance witht nano boy advance, now gonna compare with the sample from the user's real gba

#

it was way quieter

#

had to iterate a bunch, it doesn't seem correct anyways and i wouldn't submit a pr for just multiplying noise channel volume

#

these two files are normalized to same peak volume because mister is a lot quieter from my hdmi capture tthan desktop audio is for nanoboy advance

cinder peak
#

this is 2x volume from psg 4, i'll have to test it in a lot of games since i'm afraid of distortion, but this sounds better, but almost not as loud in comparison as it should be relative to the other instruments. the previous was 3x volume but seemed to drown out the other instruments since psg4 is added at the end it can have this kind of effect i bet

#

that distortiony overwhelmed sound around 40 seconds is expected i guess

torn jay
#

I have no explanation for why you would have to multiply with 3. Could it be that the frequency of the effect is so high, it somehow gets filtered or so?

cinder peak
#

my first thought was that maybe there is some shenanigans in the signed vs unsigned, which would be a multiply by 2 scenario

#

but tthe balance is better witth * 3 which doesn't make sense, so the problem is elsewhere

#

so the duty cycle of the psg channel 1 appears to be maybe be incorrect as well given his other issue he raised

#

i'm wondering if they are linked. like if the timing was off, or the interval of the noise volume modifier (increase/decrease section) it tmight represent itself in the dutty cycle too. again none of this is meant as an insult, i'm talking out of my rear a bit, not sure, just kinda thinking out loud

#

also i was dumb and misread the whole volume modifier thing earlier i noticed yesterday. duhh you are dividing a 100% value, nba's code is multiplying a starting 25% value 😝

#

total rookie oversight

#

i tried reading mgba code and nba code for the duty cycle waveform equivalent to the code in the mister core and was unsuccessful. i am trying to understand the waveform numbers that were picked here --> https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/GBA_MiSTer/blob/master/rtl/gba_sound_ch1.vhd#L265-L271

if i can find a relation between this and the volume increase/decrease rate (both of which are tied to the clock). I haven't really seen anything else, like the new cycles stuff is what i was looking at originally...

keen laurelBOT
# 
case to_integer(unsigned(Channel_Wave_Pattern_Duty)) is
   when 0 => wavetable <= "00000001";
   when 1 => wavetable <= "10000001";
   when 2 => wavetable <= "10000111";
   when 3 => wavetable <= "01111110";
   when others => null;
end case;
cinder peak
#

I wonder why the bot isn't highlighting case statements from vhdl. gonna open an issue with that bot... testing...

case to_integer(unsigned(Channel_Wave_Pattern_Duty)) is
   when 0 => wavetable <= "00000001";
   when 1 => wavetable <= "10000001";
   when 2 => wavetable <= "10000111";
   when 3 => wavetable <= "01111110";
   when others => null;
end case;
#

yeah works normally, weird

torn jay
#

wave duty, the amount of consecutive ones in the VHDL code should be the same as the consecutive ones in the documentation

#

the offset was probably due to some info i found somewhere, i cannot remember. The pointer starts at zero when it was written

#

overall, i think to get this really correct, we would need a testrom that can set all registers and test only a single channel, then compare against hardware

cinder peak
#

yup

#

i was looking to see if the mdfourier crowd had done anything with the gba, didn't see anything in my initial search

#

i was gonna signaltap it and just see what the heck is going on if they had a test rom

torn jay
#

there are some from belogic

cinder peak
uneven spear
#

Can someone confirm if the GB2P core lets you play X-Men: Mutant Academy VS mode? It didn't work for me on the latest stable main/core (Game runs normally, but the vs option was greyed out. On a real system that would mean the link cable was not connected).

cinder peak
#

Yeah I can't seem to get it to work either. interesting

#

I kept resetting the game too, maybe thinking it would be that.

cinder peak
#

forgot i had a gba sp laying around. ordered a krikzz everdrive gba mini

hard sinew
#

Those are great 👍

slim brook
#

I can’t get gbc mario tennis to link either

torn jay
#

that should work for sure, i tested it and have a video of it working 2 years ago

slim brook
torn jay
#

oh wait, it's a different game

#

sorry, i only remembered this one

slim brook
#

Yeah that’s a diff one. Quick question on the cores. My mister pulls a wonder swan and a wonder swan color core. Are these the same core listed twice?

#

Just trying to tidy up my core list

torn jay
#

yes, it's the same core

slim brook
#

Thanks, I assume the same for gameboy and gameboy color in that case

torn jay
#

yes, some prefer to have two entries

slim brook
#

Gotcha, 😉

tacit mural
#

I really do hope the GBA link functions get improved on in the GBA2P core some day... I can't even play Mega Man Battle Network multiplayer 😦

#

Also a way to more easily use the save data from the normal GBA core would be nice... or a way to import/export them

#

There's a hack for MMBN6 that makes it co-op, and that'd be so cool to play...

torn jay
#

the issue is that GBA2P currently needs to run from sdram and ddr3 and they don't have exactly same timing, so some games cannot tolerate. Also some communication modes are not supported yet

#

maybe some day in the future or with a faster new board

tacit mural
torn jay
tacit mural
torn jay
#

if you have 2 eixisting save files already, you need to copy them manually e.g. using a script or hex editor. The first file starts at 0 bytes, the second at 128 kbytes, no matter how large the files are

#

if you start fresh on the core with a coop game, e.g. Zelda four swords, you have no issues anyway

wispy gate
#

Wait y'all getting four swords working? I tried it with no success

torn jay
#

im played through the whole game with my daughter

#

the last time i tried was about 6 months ago and it still worked

mortal dust
#

He played Two Swords

torn jay
#

well yes, you cannot connect more, so 2 players only 🙂

rotund flume
fading scroll
#

Isn't it that one GBA instance is running off DDR and the other off SDRAM?

#

Don't know if you could do two more instances off of DDR in that regard or if trying to share that memory would be painful/impossible (this is assuming two more GBA instances would even fit in the logic)

mortal dust
# rotund flume Real dumb question but would 4-players be possible? I assume no or else it woul...

If someone else wanted to figure it out and some hardware could be made for SNAC, I'm sure we could have serial port connections between MiSTers and real hardware, but Robert isn't going to be the one to do it. Currently the best we have is the 2P core, which only supports 2 players. As far as I understand it, the 2P core has a GBA core in two different areas, and there really isn't room for a 3rd or 4th to pull off more than 2 players.

rotund flume
#

admittedly even if it were real it’s a feature I’d probably never use but it’s fun to think about

#

maybe dual ram could enable a third GBA haha

mortal dust
#

I would use it but I'm in the extreme minority!

rotund flume
#

That’s awesome, I am envious. I have three kids but only one of them doesn’t mind “pixel games” lol.

mortal dust
#

Pay them

torn jay
#

if we had more space, 3 or 4 could work, but the FPGA is 90% filled, so no

#

any multiplayer solution using mister + real GBAs or a second mister and some special cable is so niche that i doubt it would be often used

#

The only external connection i might want to do some day is using a real GBA as SNAC-like input for the core

tacit mural
# torn jay if you have 2 eixisting save files already, you need to copy them manually e.g....

This is the info I needed. Appreciate it. Would be nice if a script existed but I just didn't know the details of where the data should be.

I should mention that I have not tested normal Mega Man Battle Network. Just the co-op mod. The normal game may or may not work.

Starting new saves isn't really ideal as Mega Man Battle Network is an RPG that takes many many hours of single player play to get good enough setup to play the multiplayer effectively, but you want to fight your friends with your own setup with how the game is designed. I was hoping to copy the data from our emulator saves to fight against each other.

For Four Swords, there's only one flaw to that. If you wanted to be able to unlock the exclusive dungeon in Link to the Past, you'd want to be able to do that on your own save. While codes exist to directly unlock it, some people don't like cheating like that.

rotund flume
wispy gate
solemn tartan
#

hear me out (dont) emulate gba on the linux side as the 3rd and 4th players

hard sinew
#

Software emulation is for the bad guys, we're the good guys. NotLikeThis

rich mason
uneven spear
pulsar trench
#

Is a Lynx two-player splitscreen core possible, similar to GBA2P and GB2P? It would be cool for Slime World, Robosquash, Warbirds...

torn jay
#

Yes, but there was no effort to do it yet

#

Probably lynx could even do 4 player if we would really want it

pulsar trench
#

Wow that would be so cool.

torn jay
#

the core can run at 4x speed in fastforward, so 1 sdram is enough for 4. Not sure about memory. Maybe needs ddr3 for the screenbuffer then

proud rivet
#

That would be fantastic! Four player Slime World, California games, Xenophobe, Rampage etc. The Lynx has really good multi-player support.

dim plover
#

Currently the Atari LYNX core does rotate 180° when pressed "Option 2"+Pause. Is there a way to activate a toggle between "horizontal, vertical and vertical180 as in the OSD with control pad inputs?

rotund flume
dim plover
#

OK then.

#

On most other cores it is not so a big deal. The Lynx has so many different orientation on game boot up, that it is not very comfortable to switch between games.

rotund flume
dim plover
#

Klax per example is also vertical and some arcade ports.

#

But anyway, the original is still working, so not much issue 😉

#

Would it be possible to write an mra or mgl file, that changes the settings for those games? - I think the setting that must be changeable is the orientation "horizontal, vertical, vertical180" and a toggle for the 240p output setting, that must be disabled in vertical orientations.

wispy gate
dim plover
#

the core indeed supports the CONF_STR with those arguments supported.

#

Pure MGL seems not to support all arguments according to doc. Do not know if MRA is more powerfull yet.

rotund flume
#

I use MGL because I also made a Lynx vertical preset

dim plover
#

Have you used the "setname" to overwrite the default config?

rotund flume
#

It doesn’t overwrite the default config, it makes a new one

dim plover
#

OK. Then I have at least the same understanding. Do you mind sharing one example?

rotund flume
#

I’m not at my PC sorry, I’m doing yard work lol

dim plover
#

No prop, will figure it out 😉

rotund flume
#

Like you said you just use <setname>AtariLynx_Vertical</setname>

dim plover
wispy gate
rotund flume
wispy gate
rotund flume
#

That’s the vertical video preset I made

rotund flume
#

@dim plover

    <rbf>_Console/AtariLynx</rbf>
    <setname>AtariLynx_Vertical</setname>
    <file delay="1" type="f" index="1" path="/media/fat/games/AtariLynx/Klax.lnx"/>
</mistergamedescription>```
thorny apex
#

did she agree?

rotund flume
#

Considering I left in the middle of yard work, probably!

dim plover
#

Don't want to interfere that much in your private life. haha

rotund flume
#

No no, not you. You're good.

#

It's that DINIERTO fellow!!!!

dim plover
#

But I started it and gave him the chance to mock you 🙂

rotund flume
#

lol nah man, you're cool. I needed a break anyways, my left shoulder is killing me

wispy gate
#

Mine too

#

it's always killing me though

rotund flume
#

but anyways, I know this isn't the best solution. Sorry, but at least it'll work.

#

When you use setname you're effectively creating a new "core variant" that will need it's own set of directories, like any other core.

#

So that means you'll want to symlink your //media/fat/games/AtariLynx_Vertical folder to //media/fat/games/AtariLynx

#

By creating that setname that mean it'll have all it's own options too so you could also symlink controller inputs and anything else you want.

#

Symlink meaning Symbolic Link which is a fancy Linux version of a Windows shortcut

wispy gate
dim plover
#

Thats clear thanks for the starting point.

#

I am on linux since 1995 too

#

shit, I am getting old...

rotund flume
#

If you use WinSCP to access your MiSTer you can create a Symlink by doing this:

  • Right click the folder you want to Symlink to and select "File Name -> Copy to Clipboard (Include Paths)
  • Right Click where you want to place the new Symlink, in this case the //media/games folder, then select "New -> Link"
  • In the new pop-up window you'll want to give it the "AtariLynx_Vertical" name in the top field
  • In the bottom field you'll want to paste the path location to the regular "AtariLynx" file location
  • Make sure to delete the quotations if there are any
  • Hit "OK" and you'll have your new Symlink!

So now when you launch any game with the <setmame>AtariLynx_Vertical</setname> you'll still be able to access your game folder as if you were using the regular Atari Lynx core

#

You can follow the same process for the cheats folder, saves, savestates (if it supports it), and docs folders. That way your new core variant behaves the exact same as the original core. You can also symlink config files, including controller configs to eliminate having to rebind everything.

#

ok bye bye, raked up all the dead leaves + grass and now I'm gonna mow

#

have a good day!

dim plover
#

I think this workaround should be documented somewhere, since it is also usuable for other cores like PSX, where even more settings can differ or are needed between games.

#

There it starts with the controller, and with countless features that can be toggled.

rotund flume
#

But I don't use MGL to launch games with it. In //media/fat/_Console I have an MGL called PSX_2XCPU.mgl

    <rbf>_Console/Hidden/PSX2XCPU</rbf>
    <setname>PSX_2XCPU</setname>
</mistergamedescription>```
#

That shows up as a new core in the Consoles directory and that features it's own set of core configs and video presets. I use that when I want to play a PS1 game with all the bells and whistles like widescreen, turbo, texture smoothing, etc.

dim plover
#

Yes, that is clever. Thanks for these insights. This way, I will have time this evening for my woman 😉

rotund flume
#

Again, sorry it’s not as elegant as it should be but those work arounds have worked well for me.

#

@wispy gate

dim plover
#

Nothing to be sorry. At least there are ways to work around.

#

You saved me at least 3 hours, that I would have spend to come to similar conclusions and solutions...

torn jay
#

The button combination you found is a Lynx feature, it works the same on the real console. For vertical there is no button combination on the Lynx, but you could of course rotate it 🙂

dim plover
#

Someone is early up 😉

hybrid wedge
#

is there a 3ds core?

wispy gate
hybrid wedge
#

yes

#

ill just use retroarch

wispy gate
# hybrid wedge yes

Sorry I just wasn't sure, current MiSTer hardware tops out at N64 and PS1 generation

#

And portable at GBA

hybrid wedge
#

okay thanks

hybrid wedge
#

you never know. they said N64 was impossible

frank pasture
#

Are there any downsides to symlinking between the 2P core rom directories and the standard core rom directories? Thinking eg about things like save files getting corrupted or similar.

#

Ah, the concern about saves was dumb - they’re in a different directory anyway. Still, anything I should be concerned about?

rotund flume
#

I symlink the hell out of my files and have had no issues.

frank pasture
#

Awesome. That’s good to know. Thanks!

rotund flume
#

My pleasure @frank pasture, I hope it goes well for you!

frank pasture
#

Now I just need to find some friends 😂

frank pasture
#

Another core related question: the gameboy core keeps going over to the DMG palette every now and then. Even when I set it to something else and save the settings, eventually it comes back after a few reboots. The only solution seems to be removing the config files and setting it up from scratch again. Anyone else had this behaviour?

mortal dust
# hybrid wedge you never know. they said N64 was impossible

For sure, any console can eventually become a core for FPGA... but not on the Cyclone V that MiSTer uses. N64/Saturn/PlayStation pack it pretty full with very little room for much else. We may see a few slightly more advanced arcade cores down the line and maybe potentially a DS core in some fashion, but 3DS would be way too big for the Cyclone V.

frail stag
#

I think the possibility to play DS (and 3DS/PSP) on a big screen is what would make me pay for a next gen mister.

mortal dust
#

PSP and Dreamcast for sure for me. But even just a little extra wiggle room to get more accuracy out of the current hefty cores would be enough for me, honestly.

rotund flume
#

Tech really isn’t a limiting factor, it’s a human resource problem.

#

What y’all are saying is correct but even with sufficient hardware to support a 3DS core you need someone who’s willing to work for free over several years recreating hardware that is exponentially far more complex then anything running on an FPGA now.

#

Hardware that took a team of some of the industry’s leading chip designers to figure out versus a hobbyist programmer who does shit in their spare time.

mortal dust
#

Naturally. Cores can only exist if the interest in R&D for said cores is there. But I think it's okay to speak candidly about it as if the interest is already there.

rotund flume
#

And yeah you’re absolutely correct. I think we get there through community generated interest and encouragement.

#

I only repeat that just to set expectations on future FPGA development. Future hardware really won’t solve the human resource problem, which is the crux behind FPGA development.

mortal dust
#

Totally!

rotund flume
#

But to your point I honestly think Dreamcast is a no brainer

#

DS too

#

Those will happen

mortal dust
#

But in the case of cores on MiSTer, currently the project is confined to the de10-nano which uses a Cyclone V. That was the intention in my responses regarding the "impossible" comment.

rotund flume
#

Yup!

#

It most definitely is impossible. The N64 and Saturn are really hitting the ceiling.

wraith magnet
#

This conversation has popped up quite a lot recently, and Robby has nailed the key point that talented people willing to give up their free time to make cores are the main blocker to things rather than technical specs of FPGA boards.

There will be a successor board for the official MiSTer project in the future, but realistically the only consoles that could be viable on a next generation board that aren't doable on the DE-10 Nano are DS and possibly Dreamcast. That's really it for consoles, and Dreamcast would be a beast for someone to try take on.

mortal dust
#

Absolutely. I would figure that aspect would be inherently obvious and shouldn't need to be brought up every time we spark a conversation of what could be possible in terms of actually fitting on the FPGA chip of the de10-nano. I would hope people aren't ever considering cores would just appear out of thin air or would be assumed something someone is going to work on, but the iteration and reiteration of this reminder has me believing I've missed a lot of those conversations and that it is in fact an expectation people seem to put out there...

hybrid wedge
#

I just figured N64 is more complicated than 3ds but wtf do I know? that's why I asked here but the dude who answered thought it was a joke

#

rude but ok

#

I want to play Samus returns but Im not a fan of handhelds

mortal dust
#

Software emulation would be the way to go for a good long while for now. I don't see anyone showing an interest in reverse-engineering the 3DS chipset for the sake of hardware emulation for a long time. I can't imagine how complicated that will be, either.

#

Samus Returns is pretty great, btw!

wispy gate
#

It needs a Switch port very badly

mortal dust
#

In an official capacity, absolutely. Turning up the resolution with Citra and using a controller does the job very well, however.

rotund flume
#

It’s exponentially more complex than an N64.

hybrid wedge
#

no worries 😁 thanks for the info.

#

I want to play on my OLED tv but I guess I'll need to just emulate on my pc

#

citra core on switch sucks

hard sinew
tawdry walrus
#

What existing cores would a bigger fpga allow improvements for?

wraith magnet
#

That academic audio improvement on the dual ram version of the PSX core, and maybe other minor things there.
Certainly more headroom for features in the N64 core
486 if someone wants to try improve that one
Munt should be able to run natively so no need for MT-32 Pi

That's off the top of my head, Saturn another one that could likely benefit

hard sinew
#

I wouldn't be suprised if we yet see a ds core on mister.

wraith magnet
#

Almost certainly on MiSTer 2, but unlikely on current DE-10 nano without major compromises based on comments Robert has made

hard sinew
#

He is always very modest. I believe!

tacit mural
# rotund flume What y’all are saying is correct but even with sufficient hardware to support a ...

people did say that about N64.... Obviously not on the MiSTer, but there's no telling if hardware analysis tech will be developed that could make the work easier for consoles past the generation of consoles currently.... I would say it's best to not assume yes or no both. I agree that being overly hopeful of the possibilities is bad, as annoying FPGA developers drive them away. But expecting it to be impossible is also never going to achieve anything. 😉

wraith magnet
#

Well we can safely there is no way a 3DS core could be made for the DE-10 nano

tacit mural
#

I think currently developing a core for some FPGA for a PS2 seems like an impossible feat... but who knows. Maybe some day someone will have hardware to assist them to tackle that crazy chip...

tacit mural
#

Mainly just setting expectations for things to not happen. People never would drive themselves to develop the cores we have if they thought like that