Sega Master System

[smoky dock]

This build fix the regression glitches in Fray - Shugyou Hen (Game Gear) and After Burner (SMS).

[thorny sierra]

For information you shared the previous RBF and not the new one with the fixes.

[thorny sierra]

Confirmed Gamegear games are fixed !

[vivid ledge]

Sorry about that, I'll add the correct one.

Changes:
Fixed stuck button 2
Support for both SC-3000 Megacarts

[thorny sierra]

Working great 🙂

[thorny sierra]

No new issue after some testing of GG, SMS, SC and SG for SMS_SC-3000 core.

[obtuse prairie]

Is the Master System core perfected now? 😮

[chilly dove]

Does 4 Pak All Action work on the Master System yet? I know the mapper wasn't supported last time I checked. Also, there's the 2 baseball games on Game Gear that are missing mappers

[smoky dock]

There are some mappers still not implemented

[vivid ledge]

SC-3000 and SK-1100 Support
Includes the latest changes. Please let me know if there are any regressions compared against the latest unstable.

[obtuse prairie]

Those are in the carts, aren't them?

[smoky dock]

yes

but some SMS ROMs don't have a header to inform which mapper they use

that's why it is trickier. Even with a mapper implemented, we still have to use some heuristic to know when to use them.

[thorny sierra]

No new issue on my side with this build !

[thorny sierra]

I have a question regarding the SMS core.
Do you think it is possible to merge GG in the same Load with SC, SG and SMS on the OSD ?

No no just to simplify the OSD settings 🙂

because we have
Load *.SMS,SC,SG
Load *.GG

It will be better to have Load *.SMS,GG,SG,SC

Some gamegear games have sms extension like Castle of Illusion (gg version) so I think it could be merged
https://consolemods.org/wiki/Game_Gear:Master_System_Games_on_Game_Gear#Game_Gear_Games_Running_in_Master_System_Mode

I see so not possible to simplify 😢

Yes I privileged GG version if the game is available on both supports

[smoky dock]

It would probably require more changes than I can handle. It is a job for a real core developer.

[silver hare]

This was my list a while back
#1056020162391851009 message

Thinking GG specifically, it would be great if you could force GG or SMS regardless of the file extension, and have HDMI output simulate what the GG screen did pixel blending

[vivid rampart]

I saw those GitHub issues—would be awesome to get them implemented, and some are already on your list. About issue #167, I played Turma da Mônica for ~20 minutes and it worked fine on my end:
Turma da Monica em O Resgate (Brazilian Dragon's Trap) Doesn't work #167
Border support for 224p and 240p modes to achieve correct aspect ratio #163
GG: All 4 EEPROM games don't boot currently #130
Issues found by atari-forum user "hyperterminal" #55

[thorny sierra]

Kconger and Skooter for all improvements 🙂

[smoky dock]

Turma da Monica is fine here too.

I'll link the solved issues to the commits.

[long rapids]

If anyone wants to test the SG-1000 games that didn't work before we have them all documented here. Happy for anyone testing to get edit access and update the sheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L9LGqkR_la9N-GRMErXm0mpsR6U0jeuzRbqnKb-_xiw/edit?usp=drivesdk

[visual summit]

The Othello Multivision had built in buttons specifically for Othello, so that version doesn't work with a controller like the stand alone version (which has extra RAM for some reason).

[long rapids]

Probably for the AI player

[visual summit]

Sorry, misread at first. Makes sense. It kicks my butt even on level 1.

It works in SC-3000 mode on the test core (stand alone).

[vivid ledge]

GameGear Gear to Gear(Link Cable) support over USERIO. Tested between two MiSTers.
https://segaretro.org/Gear-to-Gear_Cable

A cable needs to be built to test, some games you can use a GBLink cable with SNAC adapters. Use a level shifter if connecting to a real Game gear.
https://www.smspower.org/Development/GearToGearCable
GG signal Cable pin USERIO
PC0 1 USER_IO[0]
PC1 2 USER_IO[3]
PC2 3 USER_IO[4]
PC3 4 USER_IO[5]
PC4 / TX 6 USER_IO[1]
PC6 / NMI 7 USER_IO[6]
GND 8 GND
PC5 / RX 9 USER_IO[2]

[vivid ledge]

This had to be worked out before that. 🙂

[smoky dock]

This build add support for "4 PAK All Action (Australia) (Unl)"

[thorny sierra]

I have only one MiSTer and no Gamegear so I could test it 😢 but great addition !!!

[smoky dock]

This build supports Nemesis and Nemesis II.
Note: the mapper must be selected in the new OSD option "Korean Mapper".
I don't like this approach, but I'm still trying to figure out some auto detection that doesn't require CRC (costly on the FPGA side or needs changes on the framework in the host side).

[smoky chasm]

Do we have composite blur on the SMS core already?

[sage hill]

Give this build a try - 💬 Sega Master System

[chilly dove]

Is Robby just rick rolling everyone now?

[thorny sierra]

Testing 4 Pak All Action with this build (not tested with previous build) the game starts and proposed 4 games but when one is selected the game reboot and shows again the menu

[chilly dove]

That was my experience with 4 Pak All Action years ago when I tested it. The game always booted but none of the 4 games boot and it sends you back to the menu when selecting any of them

[thorny sierra]

Nemesis I works if I set bios to disable and mapper to Nemesis but I couldn't make the Nemesis 2 works

[thorny sierra]

So maybe the Nemesis build doesn't contains 4 Pak All action

With the test build 4Pak I could go in game

[smoky dock]

That's expected. This build was before I merged 4Pak mapper and Nemesis mappers.

[smoky dock]

It should work with mapper set to Zemina

I'm testing a small CRC16 in the last 8KB to detect both Nemesis and I'll leave an OSD option to set mapper to Auto, Sega, and Zemina. Maybe other games will work wih Zemina enabled and I can add a CRC detection to them too.

[thorny sierra]

Ok thanks !

[thorny sierra]

The option 'set Mapper' has Auto,Zemina and Nemesis. Is it the correct build ?

[smoky dock]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. This is what I'm testing now, I didn't post it yet. The last version I posted has Auto, Zemina and Nemesis options. The one I'm working now I merged the "Disable Mapper" and "Korean Mapper" options into a single "Mapper" option.

[thorny sierra]

Thank you for the explanation 🙂

[obtuse prairie]

Is there a way to have an external BIOS boot in the core by default? I renamed the wonderful Japanese 2.1 BIOS to boot.rom, but that doesn't work.
It only works with "Load Ext. BIOS", and even so, it isn't saved so everytime I load the core I would have to manually load the BIOS...

I have been searching the channel before asking here, but I can't see a clean answer.

[thorny sierra]

You could use MGL file with this line below to run the core with bios loaded at the startup

<file delay="1" type="f" index="3" path="#Bioses/[BIOS] Sega Master System (Japan) (v2.1).sms"/>

[obtuse prairie]

That Bioses path, is it relative to games/SMS or to _Console?

[thorny sierra]

it is relative to the directory /media/fat/game/<setname_choose_on_mgl_file>

[obtuse prairie]

Ok, that works. But now I have two "Master System" entries: one is the actual .RBF core file, and the other is the MGL. Is there a way to hide the actual core?

[thorny sierra]

on _console directory you could create a directory named mgl without "_" to no make it visible and move the rbf in this directory

and change the path of SMSRBF on the mgl file

but after you need to update manually

[obtuse prairie]

Ahh.. not that convenient. I will simply name the MGL to something different.. Thanks!

But I wonder: why does boot.rom work with custom BIOS but not with the original japan BIOS?

I mean, what's different with the japan BIOS? Is there a way to convert it to a working format?

[thorny sierra]

To have boot.rom will require some update on the core to support it.
For the moment mgl is the way to go

[obtuse prairie]

boot.rom works in general. I mean: I can copy Alexx Kidd to boot.rom and it does work.

It's the japan BIOS that does not

[thorny sierra]

Ok maybe the size file is different ?
I think boot.rom was not supported on this core.

[obtuse prairie]

It is, believe me. Take any Master System game, rename it to boot.rom, and you will see that the core auto-launches it... except for the japan BIOS 😄

[thorny sierra]

I see so boot.rom is used to run directly any games but not SMS bioses ?

[obtuse prairie]

Well, it's used to run bioses, too. Custom bioses do run as boot.rom

[charred turtle]

Thanks to everyone that has been recently working on this core , you are the MVPs

[smoky dock]

This build implements mappers for the following games:

• 4 PAK All Action (Australia) (Unl)
• F-1 Spirit - The way to Formula-1
• Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious
• Nemesis
• Nemesis II
• Penguin Adventure

[thorny sierra]

4 PAK All Action and two Nemesis (KR) work !

For Nemesis 1, the bios needs to be disable on the bios to work.

[smoky dock]

which BIOS?

[thorny sierra]

[BIOS] Sega Master System (Japan) (v2.1).sms

With Nemesis 2 it works with his bios

[smoky dock]

The Korean BIOS should work

Maybe Nemesis is failing the Japanese BIOS check

[thorny sierra]

It is the only on the list failing with japanese bios check.

Auto works all cases for Mapper.

[smoky dock]

it has a weird header, but it may be something else

[sage hill]

does this channel need fancy pins?

[smoky dock]

In this one Japanese and Korean BIOS will now load Nemesis and the other new games:
4 PAK All Action (Australia) (Unl)
F-1 Spirit - The way to Formula-1
Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious
Nemesis
Nemesis II
Penguin Adventure

[thorny sierra]

Confirmed all boot with japanese bioses

[thorny sierra]

@smoky dock I found The Castle on SG Mode boots loop now. It has also graphical issues (like previously). (for information on My SG Mode mgl I set disable for bios)
On SC3000 mode it doesn't boot loop for information.

[smoky chasm]

The Castle is the big end boss now 🙂

[thorny sierra]

Regarding games on 4 PAK All Action, the standalone version of "Wonder Kid (Korea) (En) (Unl).sms" doesn't boot (maybe a mapper to add). It is not a regression.

[smoky dock]

This one?
SMS 5e7b18c8 24E29B513CCE7B89 Wonder Kid [Proto] [SMS-GG]/FLAGS=SMSGG_MODE,PROTO/COUNTRY=US/COMMENT=Prototype version of the game, based on 'Adventure Kid' available in '4 Pak All Action'/EMU_MAPPER=41

#define MAPPER_MSX_Generic16_8000 (41) // Register at 0x8000 with 16KB granularity. Same as CodeMasters except initial mapping is 0 for all slots.

[thorny sierra]

Yes it existed on Gamegear set and Master System Set but don't know if both used the same mapper and same hash. Both don't run on the core

[smoky dock]

The CRC16 check will make it easier to add those single game mappers.

[smoky dock]

This build implements the mapper for Castle, The (Japan) - SG-1000

[smoky dock]

This build implements the mapper for Wonder Kid [Proto] [SMS-GG]

They are incremental, this last one also has The Castle and everything before it.

[thorny sierra]

The Castle (SG Mode) and Wonder Kid work great 🙂

[smoky chasm]

Wow, I think I will have to move over from the Coleco core to the SMS one again for the SG-1000 games

[thorny sierra]

Skooter and Kconger ^^

[round wagon]

aka Double Dragon 🐉

[sage hill]

Skooger

[vivid ledge]

GameGear2P core
Supported games: https://segaretro.org/Gear-to-Gear_Cable

You'll need to create a directory in games called GameGear2P.

[vivid rampart]

The Castle (Taiwan) didn’t work in the latest build. In the 04/25 build it got to the title screen but kept looping. I tried it with SC-3000 mode on and off.

[vivid rampart]

Does The Castle (Taiwan) use a different mapper than The Castle (Japan)?

[smoky dock]

Yes, according to Meka documentation, it is a mapper 11.

which is "no mapper"

[smoky dock]

Trying to implement it. Got 4 new games to work: FA Tetris, Flashback, Rally-X, Road Fighter. But broke Bomberman. The other mapper 11 games do not load, including The Castle Taiwan which now doesn't show the logo.
It needs more investigation. May be not the same mapper or may be related to something else.

[sage hill]

lmao you are on a tear!

@vivid ledge will you be submitting these to the mister dev level repo?

[flat sierra]

oh wow, that’s a surprisingly big list!

[valid orchid]

Doyle will be pleased

[vivid ledge]

That's the plan, those two need some cleanup and option removal.

[round wagon]

https://segaretro.org/Godzilla_Kaijuu_Daishingeki

I'm sure this supports the link cable.

Great game, there is a translation if you need it.

It isn't listed on the Gear to Gear games though. 🤔

[sage hill]

Separator line on the GameGear2P looks great, thank you for adding that!

No rush but if you could add that to the AtariLynx2P core then that would make that one perfect.

[bold brook]

Well it's still the Lynx so....

[pale hound]

Forced black border for all games and auto-region detection (which changes the TV System too) is something that i really miss. Is it possible to add?

[bold brook]

I know many of the Master System games that were EU exclusive were still NTSC but there's a few I'm not sure on. Like Ninja Gaiden. Should we be playing that at 50hz or 60hz?

[pale hound]

Native NTSC games in NTSC of course. But the Master System has tons of exclusive PAL games too.

[bold brook]

Yeah but is Ninja Gaiden NTSC? I haven't been able to confirm. I know Power Strike II is PAL.

[pale hound]

Probably PAL

According to the No-Intro naming

[bold brook]

I've played it at both speeds and both seemed right.

Oh ok cool

Thanks. I like it and I think last time I played through on PAL. Just wanted to be sure I was using the right speed.

It would be cool to have the core auto detect.

[smoky dock]

I believe that, ideally, the host would calculate a CRC32 for the ROM and send it to the core.

Or maybe even check a CSV file for mappers and region to adjust automatically. Therefore we wouldn't have to touch the core to support a new ROM.

[bold brook]

Kind of how N64 works?

[smoky dock]

I never checked how it works

Just figured out it's trickier to auto detect mappers, it is easier to have a database.

based on what most emulators do

[silver hare]

A huge amount of SMS games are the same region for one ROM, so automatically deciding region might not be great

[round wagon]

Best option is to call 1-198-6-MARK-SMS you will get a region recommendation while lines are still open.

[silver hare]

Region Recommendation: PAL, 100% of the time

[round wagon]

https://youtu.be/XkI8jIp8Lo0?si=oBhkBpqfaO7Cxwur&t=4

My recommendation is NTSC 95% of the time

I think there was about 10 maybe less that exhibit glitches when run in NTSC. Jungle Book and Chase HQ etc.

I did have a list

Interestingly Chase HQ on Game Gear which is the same game runs at 60Hz with no track glitching

[smoky dock]

New Master System games supported:

• FA Tetris (Korea) (Unl)
• Flashpoint (Korea) (Unl)

New SG-1000 games supported:

• Rally-X (Taiwan) (Chinese Logo) (Unl)
• Rally-X (Taiwan) (English Logo) (Unl)
• Road Fighter (Taiwan) (Chinese Logo) (Unl)
• Road Fighter (Taiwan) (English Logo) (Unl)

[long rapids]

Oh nice, are you checking the SG-1000 games that are marked as not working on the old testing sheet?

[smoky dock]

Not yet. I was checking why The Castle (Taiwan) had a regression from title screen loop to no boot (@vivid rampart found it). Therefore I implemented the mapper 11, which fixed those games.

There are 3 other games that I may have fixed, but my daughter is watching the TV now and I can't test 🙂

I'll get to the spreadsheet, I think most issues are mapper related.

[pale hound]

This shouldn't be a problem, when you can set a region detection order. Just like in the MD core.

[lean fox]

oooh shit thank you for this one

[vivid rampart]

Back to the Future III only works if you set the TV system to PAL in the settings.

[round wagon]

is it possible to have 1 screen appear on one display and another screen appear on the other? 🤔

1 player is on the analog output and the other is on HDMI

So you can't see each other screen

[vivid ledge]

Maybe, all my Misters are dual-ram and I don't have a CRT so it probably won't come from me.

[smoky dock]

New games supported:

• Castle, The (Taiwan) (Unl)
• Magical Kid Wiz (Taiwan) (Unl)

[smoky dock]

New game supported: - Bomberman Special (Taiwan) (Chinese Logo)

[smoky dock]

007 James Bond (Japan) (Othello Multivision) is working too. It is the same VDP mode as Super Boy, so it got fixed as well.

I was updating the spreadsheet but I realize this is still unstable core. Should we wait for a stable version to update it?

[long rapids]

Probably best not update entry until the merge is accepted, or there is a numbered build at least, but no harm in commenting in comments column if you want to use it to keep track of your progress

[smoky chasm]

Or nag sorgelig to simply release as stable.

[thorny sierra]

@vivid ledge Testing a bit Gamegear2P,
There is missing sprites on the bottom right for OutRun in selecting screen

[round wagon]

I wonder if it is there on purpose, something related to the link cable ?

Looks like two pixels

[thorny sierra]

I think the line is shifted on the left but maybe the normal behaviour in link cable case

[round wagon]

Hard to tell

[sage hill]

omg @smoky dock let me rest please

pinning is a very difficult process

[lean fox]

Man I’m excited to see all the sms work going on. Proper SG-1000 and SC-3000 support rules

[vivid rampart]

Right now the SMS core only supports NTSC and PAL-N, not PAL-M (Brazil). Since the Master System was huge here with lots of exclusives, I’m wondering if adding PAL-M could help compatibility in some games (like Back to the Future III) or improve colors in certain titles.

[round wagon]

Back to The Future 3 for SMS was made by Probe in the UK which would be PAL-I

[smoky dock]

The games are only NTSC or PAL.

The PAL-M from Tec Toy Master System is in the RF and A/V outputs. Internally it is the same as NTSC.

[smoky dock]

Yesterday I went through the SG-1000 spreadsheet and I found out most games marked as "Unplayable" or "Issues" are now working.

The remaining are alternative versions of supported games in which the CRC must be added, and a mapper to be implemented "Mapper 15"

Since there will always be some translation, pallet hack, or any other ROM alternative that breaks CRC identification, I think it would be easier to have all mappers in an OSD option. CRC detection will still work for known games, but the mapper option will override any detection for these edge cases.

Any cons?

[silver hare]

Probably very handy, there are always odd mapper cases. I suppose automatic detection would still be the go to, but nice redundancy

[brazen bramble]

Could just use a database

[smoky dock]

A database requires changes in the HPS side

[brazen bramble]

Yes, but if it’s better than having to manually select mappers, isn’t that a better solution?

I mean, I don’t know how many mappers there are, but if it means toggling through ~15 options, that seems a pain

[obtuse prairie]

I am alright with manually selecting the mappers.
Last core using a database (MSX2) has been in development for 5 years because of the complications of that approach.

[brazen bramble]

The N64 core does it, and I hacked one together for the Saturn core in the past - it’s not a huge amount of work

[smoky dock]

The force Mapper option is for unkown ROMs only, and to easily find the mapper to include them.

I'll keep using the CRC option anyway, even if still hardcoded.

[brazen bramble]

But I don’t particularly care - I’m just pitching an idea so that things “just work” rather than having an end user needing to know which mapper to use

[smoky dock]

For now, 23 ROMs will be detected by CRC

All hardcoded

I'm reducing the mess in system.vhd by moving the CRC lists to another .vhd file

Adding a new game will require adding it to this list and recompiling.

[brazen bramble]

Hence why I suggested a separate file 😉

But it’s probably not that likely to need changing

[smoky dock]

I thought you were suggesting a .csv file or something like that.

[brazen bramble]

Well I was, but something that main read and toggled confstr bits as necessary

Exactly the same principle as what you’re doing right now, but not in the core itself

It’s not a perfect solution, but a few cores have used it by now

But honestly I don’t have any strong feelings. I was just trying to save future work by needing to recompile. It’s not major though

[smoky dock]

That was my ideal solution, but I didn't want to mess with the Menu.

[brazen bramble]

Why would you need to mess with the menu?

[smoky dock]

I mean, the HPS side

[brazen bramble]

Ah, gotcha

[smoky dock]

I never edited anything there.

[brazen bramble]

I’ve only edited there 😅

[smoky dock]

I don't think I even have the tools to compile it

[brazen bramble]

Don’t let me derail what you’re doing 🙂

[smoky dock]

But it would be a solution for ROMs that require specific options besides mapper (PAL, no BIOS, Japan region, etc.)

[brazen bramble]

Yeah, you could basically set everything if you needed to

[smoky dock]

I'll keep things simple for now. Only 3 mappers are being detected by CRC anyway.

[round wagon]

I'll make things complicated. SEGA Pico when ?

[brazen bramble]

ShaneLynch is working on it

Just in case you weren’t aware 🙂

[round wagon]

How are the games going to be packaged

[brazen bramble]

Pass 🙂

[round wagon]

a bunch of png's with a rom in a zip 😆

Best would be to vectorise the books

[soft urchin]

Another option is to use different file extensions for different mappers. Some other cores with limited mappers do that.

[smoky dock]

I remember that on the old Atari 2600 core, but I never really liked it. Renaming a file until finding the correct mapper is way more trouble than changing a menu option.

[lapis crypt]

nonstandard file extensions are usually a bad option from a ux perspective

[smoky dock]

And the idea is that all official ROMs will work on "Auto". The mapper option would be for translations, hacks, etc.

[lapis crypt]

why not all things?

use heuristics like 2600

we've learned the hard way that external metadata is shit

[smoky dock]

There are heuristics for most mappers. But I couldn't find anything for three specific mappers yet.

[lapis crypt]

they don't have any registers?

[smoky dock]

Maybe, I was looking for headers or other patterns.

two of the missing ones are those that have extra RAM

and the other is 48KB with no mapper

[silver hare]

Thinking of automatically working, there's not really a way to force SMS or GG at the moment is there?
Like the distinct different GG release of Castle of Illusion is a ".SMS" file by no-intro standards, but you'd want it to run in GG mode, despite the file extension.
No way to do that on the core is there?

[smoky dock]

Not that I know of. I had to rename Wonder Kid prototype to work in GG mode. It is the same ROM for both SMS and GG.

[visual summit]

Castle of Illusion has some differences, but the GG version still uses SMS mode

Rastan GG runs with the SMS extension, but is silent if you try to use FM sound since it was removed from the GG version.

[lean fox]

does the sc3000 portion include tape loading functionality? There have been some recently done type-ins from old magazines, would be cool to be able to run em

[silver hare]

Those GG/SMS differences would be nice if you could force the system was my thought.
I guess in particular, the difference would be far greater if the GG SMS display output mixing pixel RGB values was implemented in HDMI. In a way, that seems to be what some games (like Castle of Illusion) did to improve text visibility seemingly, accounting for the way SMS mode is handled in particular by the GG screen.
For sure it would need to be an opt in option as people love those clean pixels, but it would be neat to replicate how the at least some of those SMS on GG games were designed

[round wagon]

The few SMS games that were sold on GG carts run in SMS mode on the Game Gear anyway

So the resolution output is the same as an SMS

In my experience SMS mode on the GG screen was awful because of lost detail on the GG's lower resolution screen

[silver hare]

That's why I always think of Castle of Illusion as a great example, as they went to the effort of changing the text and bits. So, that change only makes any sense at all if viewed in different circumstances, like the GG original LCD

[round wagon]

Yeah, they changed palette values too.

But ultimately a hack that changes the viewport resolution would make it better

[charred turtle]

What about a message on load that says: “you know guys, this system is kind of a mess to deal with”?

[smoky dock]

I'm trying a full heuristics approach

So far I managed to break almost all of the mappers 😄

[gray harness]

Tested all the SG-1000 games I have on the latest unstable and the only one that doesn't work correctly (garbled graphics) is Chack'n Pop.

And Othello doesn't load...

[smoky dock]

Othello is the same mapper as The Castle. It will work in the next version.

[sage hill]

Oh wow, always wanted to check out The Castle, thanks for your hard work!

[vivid rampart]

It’s a really cool game—definitely worth checking out.

[visual summit]

I think the version built into the Othello Multivision has a different mapper, but that one requires buttons built in to the Othello Multivision.

The Castle also has a sequel on MSX, Castle Excellent. There's an FC/NES version too, but that one adds choppy scrolling. The NES one (renamed to Castlequest, not to be confused with the FC game by the same name) also has 50 lives for some reason.

[smoky dock]

It is loading, but it plays by itself

The standalone version is playable

Only Nemesis and Wonder Kid Proto are still failing auto detection now.

From the current mappers

[thorny sierra]

SMS Basic 1.0 from JasonA
https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=10362

[smoky dock]

This build fix Codemasters regression and add heuristics to detect these mappers:

• Castle (32KB ROM heuristic based on mirroring)
• Dahjee Type A (preamble detection)
• Nemesis/Korean 1 and 2 (page-0 / last-page blank test)
• Zemina 16KB (header byte detection)

[round wagon]

Skooteristics

[silver hare]

Thanks so much for all the SMS work. My most used core! I'd be loving testing if not for the newborn 😆

[round wagon]

@vivid ledge Have you tried adding support the SEGA Mark III link cable for F-16 Fighting Falcon?

Apparently the cable might not have been released but the code is still in the game to support it.

[vivid ledge]

I have not looked into this.

[bronze lark]

i know this all too well right now lol

[lean fox]

Yeah, you can build one

[round wagon]

But does the SMS core have I/O to support it

[silver hare]

Limitations, but I dunno, maybe enough? IIRC there was an effort for 3D glasses support. I never did have time to dive deeper into understanding that or trying to get a bespoke SNAC to even try....

[smoky dock]

This build removes the mappers used by single games from the OSD menu.

[smoky dock]

This is an attempt to get sorgelig to agree with the merge. He doesn't want the OSD option at all, but it was already there when I arrived.

[supple canopy]

Saint Skooter

keep this up and they’ll make a national holiday in your honor in Brazil

[sage hill]

What’s the purpose of the OSD option?

[smoky dock]

select the mapper if the automatic detection fails

for translations, hacks, new dumps, bugs, etc.

the option is there in the current stable build, it is called "Disable mapper", but it actually forces de Sega mapper

[thorny sierra]

On Master System "Wonder Kid (Korea) (En) (Unl)", Auto it is just black screen

If I set Zemina and load again the game it is black screen

if I change to auto it starts

[smoky dock]

I don't have this ROM.

I didn't know a final version of Wonder Kid standalone existed

That would be a good use for the Mapper option. This probably uses the Wonderkid mapper.

It was being used only by the prototype of Wonder Kid

[smoky dock]

Bugfix: Wonder Kid would not load when BIOS is in use

By the way: Wonder Kid (Korea) (En) (Unl) and Wonder Kid [Proto] are the same ROM.
So it was already supported, but there was a bug loading it when BIOS was enabled.

[thorny sierra]

Thank you ❗

[visual summit]

From the looks off it, Wonder Kid is based off the NES Adventure Island II?

[vivid rampart]

When I try to run some games like The Castle, Super Boy I and II using a BIOS such as Hang-On & Safari Hunt, the games won’t load and instead return to the BIOS game selection screen. Is this expected behavior?

[smoky dock]

Depends on the BIOS. The Japanese one should run everything.

The Hang On & Safari Run checks for SEGA signatures not present in most unlicensed ROMs.

[vivid rampart]

I just tested it using the Space Harrier BIOS, and Super Boy and The Castle (Taiwan) worked. The Castle (Japan) did not.

[smoky dock]

I will check it. Thanks.

[vivid rampart]

No problem! I’m the one who should be thanking you for all the work you’ve been doing on our beloved Master System core.

[smoky dock]

This build fixes loading The Castle (Japan) with the Japanese BIOS enabled.

[vivid rampart]

Thank you!!

[smoky dock]

This build implements savestates.
Notes:

1. BIOS built-in games will save to DRAM only; saving to the SD would require changes in the Linux side. Workaround: use an empty ROM.
2. Saves from this build may not work in future builds.

[vivid rampart]

OMG😱

somebody give this man a cape

[round wagon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvZ7GYUagUc

[pale hound]

Save States are working fine here, tested some homebrew games too. 😎

[smoky quartz]

Strange bug on my side, the Game Gear & Master System screen are rotated.

I will check with the scaler and the screens at home.

[chilly dove]

Can confirm too. Loaded up about 10 SMS and GG games and all of them are rotated 90 degrees to the right for some odd reason

[smoky quartz]

Sonic 1 can't be loaded immediately on GG too, I need to launch another game before with the core.

[smoky quartz]

EDIT ; I'm testing something.

I remembered something stupid like that one time on N64 and PSX cores testing phase.

[smoky dock]

Thanks for testing. I will check these bugs.
This rotation issue is using analog output or HDMI?

[smoky quartz]

HDMI on mine.

[smoky dock]

I have a Morph 4K, so I'm not using the scaler. I may have broken something on the way.

[smoky quartz]

I'm checking if this is an issue with the older config files.

Nope, I remove all my config files for the core (GG and SMS), no change.
So, it's something that is broken on the core.
(This time, I'm sure.)

[smoky dock]

Sonic 1 still broken too?

[smoky quartz]

Give me a minute.

Still broken too.

Blue light screen after loading.

The ROM file is okay, SHA1 and CRC32 values are correct.

For example, I need to launch "Sonic the Hedgehog - Triple Trouble" and Sonic 1 once again, it will work after that.

[smoky dock]

The rotation thing I think I found it, I'll compile it and bring a new version in ~20 minutes

[smoky quartz]

This may be related to something with the BIOS option.
When I launch the core with a MGL file (SEGA Game Gear.mgl), with BIOS as Disable, it refuses to work.
If I cycle through Internal, Ext. File and once again Disable, the game works just after that.

[smoky dock]

Thanks for the info. This will help me track the regression.

[smoky quartz]

@smoky dock It broke starting that release.

#1056020162391851009 message

2nd release of 2025-04-27.

[smoky dock]

Thanks, that's very helpful.

I think Sonic 1 is being misdetected as Zemina mapper

I'll exclude Zemina mapper from the GG path.

[smoky dock]

It also happens with the SMS Sonic 1, and only on the first load, that's weird...

But I'll have to harden the Zemina detection anyway

[smoky dock]

This build fixes the rotation bug from the last build.
Sonic 1 detection still needs more work. It needs a forced Sega mapper for now.

[smoky dock]

Rotation was an easy fix. I was trying to fix Sonic together to avoid so many builds. I don't want Robby to run out of pins. 🙂
But Sonic detection is being tricky. I'll try a refactor next week.

[lapis crypt]

do these games really not have any kind of header?

how has this been overlooked for so long?

I suppose it's possible nobody has ever attempted to play SMS

[smoky dock]

Some (Most?) Zemina/MSX games starts with 41:42. These were working for a long time. The others didn't load, some of them in the github issues for a long time too.

[lapis crypt]

I thought this was SMS?

are they ports of MSX games?

[smoky dock]

Yes, most (all?) of them are MSX ports. They were released in Korea, unofficially.

[lapis crypt]

is this another system like atari that has no built in headers so you can only determine mappers through heuristics?

[smoky dock]

In most cases, yes.

[lapis crypt]

ah so they are unlicensed stuff on an unpopular system, no wonder nobody noticed

[smoky dock]

They noticed it, they were in the issues for a while.

[lapis crypt]

people make issues for anything, people make issues for weird nes games all the time, but none of the people who play games notice

there's a lot of games out there that aren't really playable

[smoky dock]

There are nice games among the Zemina stuff.

[lapis crypt]

like the entire game.com library

[smoky dock]

I think I got most of them working detecting writes to specific regions

and a few exceptions have to be detected by CRC

[lapis crypt]

well the sms cart header has a checksum in it

and a product code

why can't you use those?

[smoky dock]

do they? let me check this

if they do, it is encoded somehow

I know Sega stuff has the TMR

but unofficial games and even some official earlier japanese games probably won't have that

https://www.smspower.org/Development/ROMHeader

2 bytes only, that could be anything in the unofficial games, I could check for collisions, but I don't think this is reliable to identify ROMs uniquely.

The CRC16 of the last 8KB block which I'm using is safer.

Anyway, the heuristics are supposed to be working fine. Sonic 1 is the only game breaking it so far, but I don't think it is writing to the Zemina registers, it must be something else.

I think ideally we should support all the mappers, even those multigames cartridges, but sorg already said it is pointless, counter-productive and makes core more complicated.

[lapis crypt]

https://segaretro.org/ROM_header

Many unlicensed games, particularly ports of SG-1000 or MSX software, do not include headers, as Asian consoles typically made no header checks. However, many post-2007 games released by Tectoy, which were built-in exclusives in later Brazilian Master System and Mega Drive models, continue to have headers despite never being released on physical media.

you could use the lack of a header as an indicator, in fact

[lapis crypt]

maybe that's realistic on sms, but on NES we deliberately do not because including useless mappers excludes more useful other things, resources being finite on an fpga and all

[smoky dock]

That's a good idea. If a SEGA or Codemasters header is present, all Zemina and other unlicensed stuff detectors can remain disable. That will fix Sonic 1 and maybe other games.

[lapis crypt]

de-facto whatever is in the place of, say, the rom's serial is probably unique anyway

[smoky dock]

Yeah, that's true. The remaining mappers should be low priority.

[smoky dock]

I ran a script through my collection to extract the product code. A bunch of unlicensed games have "00000" there.

And there are unlicensed games which use the Zemina mapper that have a valid Sega header.

[lapis crypt]

well, it's one more bit of info

it's a shame they leave it blank

[silver hare]

The product code region is often set in homebrew too. Admittedly to all 9s or other such things, but so long as you can get around it. 99% of the time just using the default sega mapper at least

[smoky dock]

I removed the Zemina heuristics and Sonic is no longer misdetected. It was only 3 games using Zemina heuristics anyway. Now they are detected by CRC.

I could use the Sonic product code (7A51B) to select Sega mapper for it. But I think it is better to leave the exceptions for exceptions (unlicensed games) than to a original game with the most used mapper. It is likely that there were other games being misdetected as Zemina.

[vivid rampart]

Will some games that use the Zemina mapper stop working?

[smoky quartz]

They will be detected with another method.

[pale hound]

I noticed something weird yesterday. With the internal BIOS enabled Speedball (PAL only game) runs with half of the game speed (or slower). Without BIOS it runs at full speed.

[smoky dock]

The 3 games that currently use heuristics will be detected by CRC. If there are others I can add their CRC too. Most Zemina games are already identified by their first 8 bytes (4142).

[smoky dock]

Does it happen in the stable build? The internal BIOS have some known issues.

[pale hound]

Yes, happens there too.

Loading an external "[BIOS] Sega Master System (Europe) (v2.0).sms" is fine though.

[smoky dock]

I have a mistery here: Olympic Gold, both USA/Japan/Brazil and Europe versions give "Software Error" using western BIOS.

Only the Brazil only version works.

I thought it was a bug in BIOS implementation, but I just got the same behavior from Mega Sg

[pale hound]

Strange, works fine for me using

[BIOS] Sega Master System (USA, Europe) (v1.3).sms
[BIOS] Sega Master System (Europe) (v2.0).sms

[smoky dock]

I was testing the Alex Kidd one

And Hang On / Safari Hunt

[smoky dock]

Same issue with Mega Everdrive Pro BIOS

[smoky dock]

This build fixes Sonic 1 (SMS and GG) mapper detection issues.

[smoky dock]

Regarding the Olympic Gold mystery. I've made a script to check the headers. both USA/Japan/Brazil and Europe versions have a header but their checksum is 0x0000.

Only the Brazil version is correct.

So I wonder if these dumps are actually correct and from the cartridges that were distributed. I don't think they are. Otherwise they wouldn't run in any American/European SMS...

[smoky dock]

The one called prototype, on the other hand, has the correct checksum.

Mystery solved: I was using the ROMs from @Master System - Master EverDrive 2022-05-04.zip

No-Intro has only two versions of Olympic Gold, Brazil and Europe. Both with correct checksum.

I won't trust these everdrive packs anymore.

[sage hill]

yah they’re garbo

[smoky dock]

There are other mistakes, "Felipe em Acao (B)" is listed as a Brazilian licensed hack, but it is unofficial. It was never released by Tec Toy.

They are cool for bringing interesting hacks, translations, tools that are not in No-Intro scope, but not reliable for the origin of the releases.

[smoky quartz]

Yes, Omar Cornut (Bock) and Maxim have redumped most of the cartridges with some others over the years.
And the dumps were integrated into No-Intro.

The Everdrive packs are generally out-of-date and based on GoodSMS (which was faulty at least or even called a fraud on some 'verified' dumps).

[sage hill]

I like that people here can actually explain why something sucks. I just go “IT BAD, NEXT”

[smoky dock]

I'm trying to understand why there is a button called "Arcade 3" in SMS.

[thorny sierra]

the SMS core is used for Sega System E, some MRA's is present on Release directory

[long rapids]

Presumably for the arcade games that use the core

[smoky dock]

Yeah, I got that the Coin button is for System E

but Arcade 3 is a weird name, maybe it is START and it was renamed to avoid confusion

Any reason to have these buttons mapped in SMS mode?

maybe some homebrew

[thorny sierra]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/SMS_MiSTer/commit/376228fadee8099e8f3548bf6ca2ec19b9bfa2ff

it is this commit

those two games are Sega System E and may required a third buton

[smoky dock]

I get it, buy are these buttons (Coin, Arcade 3) ever used in any SMS game?
I see no reason to have them in "Define SMS buttons"

System E games have their own names for buttons, and skip the unused ones, according to the MRA files.

[long rapids]

You may still need to map them from the SMS core for them to work if you load an arcade game via MRA

Controller mapping is sometimes esoteric (see: N64)

[smoky dock]

Yeah, ok, but there are other two buttons that are currently hidden

buttons 10 and 11

[thorny sierra]

They are added on the commit for Sega System E but don't know the use case.

@soft urchin may have the information

[long rapids]

As an aside, are there any SMS based arcade games we are missing that could potentially be run on the core?

[soft urchin]

The naming should be clear ``` "J1,Fire 1,Fire 2,Pause,Coin,Arcade 3,Soft Reset;",

[thorny sierra]

also we have question regarding buttons 10 and 11.
We figured out for Arcade 3 button.

#1056020162391851009 message

[soft urchin]

I don't see buttons 10 and 11 where I am looking.

[unique gulch]

The mapper should skip buttons named '-'. in the SMS core name the arcade only buttons '-' and then in the arcade MRAs name them whatever

[smoky dock]

These ones:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/SMS_MiSTer/blob/5c07fe8bf4cae1009e42b335bfd782ec611aa880/SMS.sv#L894-L895

[ember dawn]

.j1_start(swap ? joy_1[11] : joy_0[11]),
.j1_coin(swap ? joy_1[10] : joy_0[10]),

[smoky dock]

I'm using button 12 for SaveStats for now:
"J1,Fire 1,Fire 2,Pause,Coin,Arcade 3,Soft Reset,-,-,SaveState;",

[visual summit]

While it wasn't done officially (AFAIK, it's possible it was done in Brazil since they had systems packaged with 6 button controllers), some games were hacked to support the extra buttons of the Genesis controller and they work on real hardware (SMS and Genesis).

[soft urchin]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/SMS_MiSTer/blob/master/releases/Astro Flash (Japan).mra#L26 10 and 11 are defined in the mras. Maybe they are duplicates of 6 and 7. mras were new when I did this

[ember dawn]

<buttons names="Fire/Button1,Transform/Button2,-,-,-,-,Coin,Start,Pause" default="A,B,R,Start,Select" count="1"/>

[soft urchin]

Or maybe I was simplifying things because inputs are handled differently on arcade hardware. Feel free to rewrite to better match newer standards.

This was the first core to support both a console and arcade in the same core (neo geo worked differently).

It also may have been an attempt to make coin and start consistent across arcade cores.

That actually seems to ring a bell somewhere for me.

[smoky dock]

I'll leave it the way it is and add savestates in button 12, skipping buttons 10 and 11 on mapping. It is safer, less chance of breaking something.

[smoky dock]

This build adds the SaveState button.

[vivid rampart]

I mapped a button on the controller as save state, and when I pressed the button to test it, this message appeared on the screen. I didn’t understand how it works. Do I need to use a button combination to make a save state and load state?

[smoky dock]

Yes,
SaveState + Left or Right to select a Slot
SaveState + Pause + Down to save
SaveState + Pause + Up to load

I copied the hint message from the SNES core. I don't like it, but I couldn't think of anything better with so few characters.

The combo is also not my creation, it is in mister documentation: https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/basics/hotkey/#cores-that-support-savestates

[pearl briar]

The new unstable nightly fixed Gear2Gear support? Isn't that the Link Cable functionality? Is there a method to use the core to play the multiplayer games somehow?

[visual summit]

I tested a few of the Genesis controller hacks via the SMS core. They work with an actual Genesis controller via SNAC.

[round wagon]

I think there was a small visual bug on the 2p gamegear core

But it was working

[pearl briar]

I wasn't even aware we had a 2P core 😀

[round wagon]

#1056020162391851009 message

Not sure if it is on update all etc

[smoky dock]

System E pause is currently broken in stable core, right?

[supple canopy]

i wasn’t aware

but also

https://tenor.com/view/denzel-training-day-gif-16743259178450786472

adding save states to the core is a very pleasant surprise

[supple canopy]

tested the feature on Alex Kidd, swapping states, restoring and loading works fine!

[flat sierra]

so happy to see save states added! I should be able to test a bit next week

[hallow wadi]

#games-and-patches message