Nintendo 64

[weary palm]

Sorry, I'm bored. 😅

[latent dagger]

Hi bored, I'm Pengwen

[uncut gyro]

saw them with my daughter last summer on their 50th Anniversary / Farewell tour. It was a great show. One of her favs is Peek-a-Boo 😄

and "Don't Shoot, I'm a Man"

[weary palm]

I like their hats. 🙂

I have to listen to more of their songs. Seems like they have a lot of good stuff.

[drowsy lantern]

I remember the long while when this didn’t work. Good times. 😅

[uncut gyro]

their album from ~2010 was pretty awesome. their music videos from all their eras are ... bizarre, in a "lean in to take a closer look at WTF is happenign" sort of way

[weary palm]

Spinning potatoes

[drowsy lantern]

After multiple hours of playing Jet Force Gemini without any issues, tonight it crashed on me. Gameplay frozen but music still playing.

[weary palm]

I hope you saved and such.

[drowsy lantern]

I lost about 30 mins of progress :/

[solemn marlin]

I hate playing a game for the first time and having stuff like this ruin my experience, only reason I haven't tried it.. is it possible to go through it all with a bit of luck?

[drowsy lantern]

I’ll try again when I have some time to reach the same area and see if I can reproduce the crash.

[wanton sun]

The game was already completed on the core without hang, so i guess it's relativly "rare"

why did you lose so much progress? doesn't it autosave all the time?

[latent dagger]

https://tenor.com/view/justin-timberlake-snl-saturday-night-live-omg-blank-stare-gif-3539291

[magic girder]

Turbo core?

[drowsy lantern]

No regular core

[drowsy lantern]

It saves often, but I’m at the part where you need to rescue all Tribals, so you must complete a whole level in a single run and find them all before it saves.

[topaz otter]

I heard Robbie don't dance and if he don't dance he's no friend of mine

[paper orchid]

oh yeah, the part of JFG that made me stop playing

I really need to give it another shot, need to get the MiSTer updated again

[next kiln]

It is patched, renamed it after as well to differentiate between the two

[atomic stratus]

I tested one race yesterday on the patched and unpatched versions of Polaris and didn’t get a crash with either version…I’m sure I need to do more races at least for unpatched to see one

[next kiln]

I'll give it another shot later as well

[hidden bolt]

unpatched usually crashes within the first two races, for patched I did two separate times 10 races in a row with no crashes. This was single player though.

[hasty musk]

Or they get killed. I remember completing it when i was 14.
100% all done, it was not easy

[weary beacon]

Sorry if obvious question, but does either the standard N64 core or turbo require dual RAM or are they fine with single?

[twin barn]

Single sdram

[drowsy lantern]

So I replayed the JFG level tonight and it didn’t crash this time. Was able to complete it just fine.

Unrelated, but I noticed that War Gods has a lot of crackling/popping sound, and the empty fifo error is permanently displayed while the game is running.

[mortal panther]

Chalk it up to cosmic bit flip with all the recent solar activity.

[wanton sun]

could you try with the new build? #1096015979055697940 message

[rare relic]

I'm wondering if anyone had insights on this. I've noticed that with bilinear off in some games like Goldeneye, the text is much more difficult to read (almost losing detail), compared to my N64RGB modded N64 with deblur on. I'm connected to a BVM for both the mister and the n64.

is it simply a case of the mister is too sharp? some different deblurring strategy? i tried taking some pics but they kinda dont really show the difference even though I can tell in person.

[wanton sun]

it's not the same. Deblur typically will pick every second pixel of the 640 pixel line, assuming it was a 2.0x scale and make it a 320 pixel line again. With Bilinear off, the original line size(320 or 480 or whatever) will still be scaled up to 640, but using nearest neighbour instead if bilinear interpolated between two pixels.
Now that still doesn't fully explain why it happens in Goldeneye, as the game uses 320 pixel source.
However, with bilinear off it does look sharper on a digital display using HDMI, but not maximum sharpness which can be reached with bilinear, AA and dedither off

all on, bilinear on, clean hdmi(all off)

So i fear i have to blame your BVM or output path if bilinear off makes the text less readable, because the digital output proves otherwise 😅

[rare relic]

thanks for that response robert, this probably wont be the case, but wondering if you see a similar outcome with the text on the mission file screens? the text there is where it looked drastically worse, not so much the pause menus

another game for comparison where the text is identical between the mister and rgb n64 for me is mario 64. the text on both looks super crisp (bilinear off for mister, deblur on for n64)

[mossy vector]

You need to understand that when reducing a taller source image, you either have to throw away horizontal lines, or blend them together. VI bilinear works both vertically and horizontally.

if you are going to stretch an image vertically by less than twice as tall, you need to repeat some lines if not using bilinear.

[mossy vector]

The vi stores 3 entire horizontal scanlines, which allow games to render at a different resolution than they display at. Mario 64 renders at the same vertical resolution that it displays at.

[rare relic]

left is n64 modded with N64RGB (deblur on)
right is mister with bilinear off

not the best pics i could have taken, however you can see the mister has thinned out the text

it seems the takeaway is deblur and bilinear off are doing two different things

[magic girder]

Embrace the Vaseline

[wanton sun]

here you can see the reason: this menu is running at 440 source line -> interpolated(near neighbour or bilinear) to 640

[thorn quiver]

I'm not sure that explains the missing horizontal line in the sideways T

[wanton sun]

no idea what the deblur of your mod does for these resolution. I could imagine it detects that the pixels are not just interpolated and turns of the deblur completly?

[thorn quiver]

It looks like deblur keeps bilinear ON

To me anyway

[wanton sun]

which makes sense for 440->640 pixel interpolation

to make this better, one would require a "bilinear auto" mode in the core that only turns it off for 320 wide content

can you do a comparison of your RGB mod with bilinear on and off at this screen? i suspect they look identical

[rare relic]

both are n64 with rgb mod

left is deblur
right is NO deblur/stock

this is a game/menu where no deblur is easier to read

with deblur it doesnt pop as much, however it's still easier to read than bilinear off on mister

[rare relic]

comparison pic (warning big size). mister bilinear OFF consistently has that last T barely visible for me. in person the text that's easiest to read is

1. n64 no deblur
2. n64 with deblur
3. mister bilinear off

[wanton sun]

yes, bilinear off will be bad in this screen, as you cannot do a 440x325 -> 640x240 pixel scaling with nearest neighbour and still get good quality.
Thinking about it again, this is probably what happens with the RGB Mod and deblur:

• image is bilinear scaled from 440x325 to 640x240 by the console
• deblur transmits it as 320x240 to the screen by throwing away every second pixel
  Such behavior is currently not possible with the core and would most often don't make any sense.
  However, we could do a "bilinear deblur" mode that will only apply bilinear when the source is not 320x240 or better: when the scaling isn't exactly 2.0x

that way you keep all information with odd resolution and still get "deblur" with the common 320x240 games

[rare relic]

great explanation, glad we got to the bottom of it. i would love that bilinear deblur mode you described. i wonder how many other games have spots where the res is weird

[wanton sun]

often it's not switched within the game, but having such an option would allow to always leave it on without the need to tune for each game: less blur for games that have integer scaling anyway, but still important bilinear scaling whereever it's needed

"weird" res in general is not uncommon. especially for PAL games and games that use interlaced modes

[ivory laurel]

I really like that bilinear deblur option. Turning bilinear on and off is something I do a lot. Some games that have it on don’t need it like f-zero, quake 64 or the rush series and some really need it like goldeneye and perfect dark intros or the factor 5 games. Maybe a bilinear force could help too to fight blurriness with filters consistently

[vapid hawk]

i think this might actually be what mods on real hardware are doing too

that case with the goldeneye text is a famous one for "deblur isn't always better"

@civic wind on n64digital is deblur applied to all resolutions or only specific ones?

[civic wind]

the n64digital doesn't know whether a game is 640 or 320, let alone 440

it only turns off deblur with 480i games

otherwise it's very much a manual setting

I've always wanted to make a de-linear filter to try to recover original pixels from interpolated data, but that wouldn't fit on the n64d fpga

[thorn quiver]

It's probably a bit too lossy to actually improve quality if it's arbitrary bilinear

[rich warren]

What about using the Interpolation Only video filter? I always use it on all 240p cores on HDTVs to even out the pixels and prevent shimmering

[wanton sun]

Is my assumption correct that it only takes every second horizontal pixel of the 640, making the image 320 pixels wide again? Or is there something more about it?

[civic wind]

that's correct

it decimates by 2

[wanton sun]

thank you. So we could do the same or also deactivate when the scaling by VI wasn't exactly 2

[civic wind]

yeah, it's really easy to bypass

I think there's something with pal games where that doesn't work. I think it gets interpolated further

[wanton sun]

yes, it's often odd scaling for PAL

[hidden bolt]

Last non-playable game? Nintama Rantarou Game Gallery 64 needed a somewhat long delay before RSP resume. Don't really know why this fixes the crash since it is also broken in Ares. Didn't test this for very long, might need some more delay if it still crashes.

[gilded whale]

Wow! That leaves……. That Mahjongg game I think?

Incredible work!

[daring meteor]

The Mahjong game works iirc if you mess with some stuff

No Cpak or turbo

[weary perch]

correct

Mahjong already works fine and saves using the turbo core

it also doesn't crash if you remove the cpak but then obviously you can't save

incredible work Ruleset!

the most "unplayable" games now are probably Waialae Country Club (saving doesn't work at all, would need to play the whole thing in one sitting), and the WCW games, particularly Nitro I think which runs way too fast. I haven't tested DDR - Disney Dancing Museum but that one might also still be pseudo-unplayable if the audio is still offset from the input indicators

Blues Brothers 2000 might still be uncompletable if there's a second chase that needs to be patched, but no one cares enough to actually get that far in the game thus far 😄

there are a few region specific crashes left

Tonic Trouble PAL randomly crashes
WipEout 64 PAL randomly crashes

[hidden bolt]

WCW Nitro is playable if you max out the ddr3 delay in the debug menu

[weary perch]

adding a note for that to my sheet

presumably that might work for WCW Mayhem as well

[vast delta]

are these CPAK related issues also present in original hardware/other emulators? the Rush series of games also have issues with it, and I think I saw others too

[weary perch]

no idea about emulators, but none of the cpak issues i've documented occur on hardware

[vast delta]

i remember CPAKs being extremely finicky in original hardware, but I guess that's a mechanical issue

or at least it was in my case

[weary perch]

the cpak implementation is not perfect, it's a bit of a shortcut

it was documented in a github issue on the old N64 repo, but that one got nuked when it was put into the mister-devel pot

it tends to work, but that shortcut might be why the rush games and waialae freak out, not sure

i think it doesn't generate the pseudorandom ID codes for separate cpaks?

it uses a valid one for all of them iirc

[daring meteor]

I don't think it matters

But worth checking

[weary perch]

whatever the case, there are a few games with cpak issues

[daring meteor]

Using another CPAK format

[mossy vector]

Wait a sec. If the id is duplicated across multiple cpacks, for example p1 and p2 both plugged in, I could see that being a problem.

[vast delta]

would it be possible to calculate 4 separate ones to always use, in case this ID is computed somehow?

[weary perch]

i'd quote the actual github issue from last year but it appears to be gone now. it was on the original N64 core github

most games have no problems with it

it might also not be the issue

[knotty zealot]

i have a problem with most games

[wanton sun]

one could check if that is the case by generating 4 different cpaks with e.g. mupen (or import real ones) and load them with the game in question, then check if it works

also it would be worth checking if it works with SNAC, but i think no one has enough of those cpaks

[weary perch]

@gilded whale was it you who re-tested madden? i'm testing on the latest core and we've still got exploding polygons

it appears similar to what happens in WipEout 64 with the spinning trophy -exploding polygons that only occur when there's sufficient geometry on screen

[vast delta]

so this ID is in the MPK file? not generated by the console on each boot?

[next kiln]

Played the patched rom of Polaris Snocross yesterday with no freezes. perhaps before it was unlucky.

[magic girder]

Sometimes given how much people have tested here, I wonder if we’ve encountered crashes which existed on real hardware

[worn delta]

There have definitely been bugs found that were confirmed to also be on original hardware

[weary perch]

there are ways to crash real hardware but i have played real hardware still an order of magnitude more than the core (because i speedrun numerous N64 games) and have never encountered a single random crash. some known crashes, yes, but not a single one of the ones i've seen on the core

the hardware crashes generally work on the core too

but the core crashes in places real hardware does not

myself and many other speedrunners often leave consoles on for absurdly long periods of time, too. i've left my n64 on for probably 2-3 months straight before on various games. never crashed once

can't rule it out of course due to like, the halting problem

but i can just tell you from the experience of someone who has played way too much N64 in their lifetime, the real console pretty much just straight up doesn't crash like that

there were definitely a few bugs that were determined to be on real hardware as well

the one i recall most vividly is the clayfighter pink outline on some objects thing actually occurs on hardware

there's also stuff like the THPS2 intro being bizarrely fast on real hardware and the SKATE letters clipping out behind the game image (usually not visible with overscan on a CRT)

or Mace The Dark Age i think with the usually-not-visible borders around the image, but only on a few stages

oh yeah there's also Jeopardy which does not accept any input if you have 4 pads connected (3 or less only)... wild that one wasn't caught in QA

[fair stump]

To me, that may be the weirdest case that was found

[weary perch]

the core was already amazing, but the additional compatibility we've gotten this summer thanks to ruleset's patches and some new fixes has been fabulous

very grateful for all the hard work that's been done

[jolly turret]

It's really incredible how much more the core and some roms could still be further improved. I enjoy every bit of it and have absolutely no need anymore to use my real N64 console.

[mortal panther]

No need or desire. 😉

[gilded whale]

Really?? Madden 2001 and 2002 I think were fine I think.

I’ll retest in the newest core, I think I did it on the telescope core.

Is it instant, or gradual?

[weary perch]

i only tried 2001, but it's the same issue. it shows up if you let the game run for a little bit, anytime there's a close camera view with most players on screen you'll see some explosions

it doesn't occur in every scene, most often in the huddles and pre-snap

[topaz otter]

The worst offender out of the entire library is obviously superman 64, but that game is just plain alpha software. That's why it hard locks the system

I haven't encountered another game, in my memory, that crashed or hard locked unless you were doing some stupid stuff with the gameshark

I think most N64 games were fairly well tested as far as stability goes, in those days they couldn't afford to have a game go out with a severe bug because to recall the carts would cost too much money

[spare meadow]

We need a Hero to be beat this game

[topaz otter]

Now that I think about it there may or may not have been a revision of Turok 2 because it was locking up with the memory expander

but that may have been because the third party ones were getting too hot

[weary perch]

😄

[spare meadow]

It would be cool if the N64database.txt could do it when we load the game

[gilded whale]

Oh then obviously I didn’t mean test it thorough enough, I played both for about five minutes and quit because football

[weary palm]

It uses one of 4 pre-generated blank cpak headers.

I generated those files with some cpak tool i found

There is some code put in to make sure that two controllers wont use the same ID, but I think there are edge cases where this doesn't work.

It was a lazy solution. But I haven't heard of any trouble with it until now.

[bronze parrot]

Is there a new version of the turbo core that corresponds with the newest version of the regular core?

I'm planning on playing Hybrid Heaven w/ the turbo core, but if an updated turbo is coming soon, I'd prefer to wait

[atomic stratus]

@bronze parrot updated Turbo core coming soon, I believe

[bronze parrot]

ah ok, I'll keep an eye out then, thanks

[wanton sun]

You can start with the old one, it has no known issues for Hybrid Heaven, played it myself for about 3 hours. (then i fell into a hole and the last save point was 30 minutes ago, so i stopped...)

the new one will appear after a new release when all new stuff is in and tested

[gilded whale]

I beat hybrid heaven earlier in the year, march maybe?

Opening cutscene makes it look like it’s gonna be like a metal gear cinematic type of game, but aside from the ending it’s the only cutscene with voices lmao

[hasty musk]

@wanton sun

I played trough the whole game without any crashes and its not a short Game.
At that time there was only the minor graphic gltches during robot explodes.

The playthrough was at super early state of the core. (1-2 months old core.

I need to try high Resolution with the turbo core. Fps was such a shame for original n64 hardware.

#remake needed

[spiral garnet]

recompilation on pc

[hollow rune]

Your name is the sequel to my dad's favorite movie

[lament escarp]

Weird. I'm not aware of any godzilla movie by that name.

[hollow rune]

I like Godzilla vs Mothra. Good fun

[fair stump]

I 100% read this as though you meant the anime movie "Your Name"

[lament escarp]

I like the showa movies much more than hesei and think most millennium movies are trash. Reiwa era is surprisingly immaculate.

[fair stump]

Why are there no godzilla n64 games?

I guess there is Rampage

[hollow rune]

The hesei ones are just kinda boring.

It is weird. GC/PS2/Xbox had a whole litter of them

[hollow rune]

That is hilarious

[lament escarp]

N64 was after the hesei era ended but before millennium.

[worn delta]

Yojimbo is a fantastic film

[lament escarp]

But there is a decent gamera game on gameboy and psx. Hesei Gamera is pure hype.

[drowsy lantern]

Definitely. We’ve had a handful of people report the same kind of strange random crash where a game freezes but audio keeps playing, which is unheard of on real hardware. It suggests that this is the result of either the known differences in RAM timing, or as was the case with Conker, a remaining bug in the core that hasn’t been identified. The crashes are so rare and random that it’s going to be a bitch to investigate I assume.

[drowsy lantern]

Tetrisphere will lock up on real hardware if you leave the game paused too long (like a day). When you come to unpause it, it will freeze when trying to get back into the game. I reproduced this many times when I was younger.

[little bane]

The only time my N64s crashed was when I needed to change their capacitors.

[bronze parrot]

Are you saying there is a Hybrid Heaven pc recompilation? cuz I would be interested in checkin that out......

[bronze parrot]

Although I love Yojimbo/Sanjuro, my handle is referring to the protag in the old pc game Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

[hollow rune]

My dad says he knows this game. He had a PC gamer friend who had it. He says it was really impressive at the time

[thorn quiver]

It was one of the early fps games so yeah

[bronze parrot]

fun human fps / mecha hybrid; only bad thing is that since it was pre-Half Life, the character models looked poopy

[mortal panther]

I had so much fun with that game when it came out. Local multiplayer with my friends was awesome.

The gameplay and mobility was where it shined.

[bronze parrot]

I still play it from time to time, but config on a modern machine can be a pain

during development, they planned to do a Dreamcast release, but unfortunately that never panned out

[hollow rune]

Would it have worked with just one stick?

I watched a video and that sounds rough

[bronze parrot]

hard to say, but Half Life has a DC port

[hollow rune]

I do always forget that

[bronze parrot]

never released, but fully playable from beginning to end

If you have any way to play CDI-based DC games, it is fun thing to check out

[bronze parrot]

Just wanting to do Hybrid Heaven in turbo to compensate for the times on original hardware when that game's frame rate tanks to the point of almost becoming a slide-show. I don't think the game has any core-related issues on any version of the core tho

[blissful plaza]

Just a reminder to please refrain direct links to copyrighted material.

[bronze parrot]

ah sorry, my bad. was just for illustrative purposes, I'll just use a jpeg or something next time

[vapid hawk]

never made it to retail mind you

[bronze parrot]

yeah I wonder why tho, it is complete and plays fine

[vapid hawk]

i think the dreamcast died basically

sega pulled the plug hard at the end

[blissful plaza]

Brian Kraack : "Sierra decided to shut down PyroTechnix and sent someone to our office to physically retrieve the Half-Life source code CDs.”

[bronze parrot]

so its another thing I can blame on Bernie Stolar's horrible mismanagement of Sega then?

[blissful plaza]

A few weeks before its planned release date in June 2001, Sierra announced that Half-Life: Dreamcast was being canceled due to "changing market conditions".

[bronze parrot]

yep

that sucks

[vapid hawk]

at least it leaked comprehensively

[bronze parrot]

word

[vapid hawk]

the controls are a bit rough on pad but it supports m+kb iirc

[blissful plaza]

One of my acquaintances in Dreamcast preservation has the original disc and documented absolutely everything.
The GDI dump comes from him.
I took the two previous sentences from his researches on HL.

[bronze parrot]

nice, well at least its out there now

[blissful plaza]

Most of the recent dumps come from him (Propeller Arena, Castlevania, Aghartha).

As other collectors don't have the same philosophy at all, a chance to have him.

[bronze parrot]

the community it doing a better job of being custodians of preservation than the companies the control the IP. Nintendo for example lets countless titles die on their eshops w/o releasing those games other ways

[blissful plaza]

I know too well, as I was mostly in charge of the eShop dumping spree back then with my ex-partner (+ Larsenv and a scene group during February/March 2018).

Even inside preservation groups, it could be complex for doing the job right.

[bronze parrot]

thank you for everything you do for the retro scene

[blissful plaza]

I'm retired now after 30 years behind the scenes -with so much helping from others-.
I've seen so much people arriving and quitting during that time.
Only helping on emulators and FPGA now from my part, as I could use some of my knowledge and my "personal contact book" for those projects.

[bronze parrot]

good strategy since FPGA is the future

I love MiSTer, but am also very excited for MARS or Replay2 or whatever thing that takes the next step and brings us stuff like Naomi/DC, CPS3, etc.

[blissful plaza]

Like what we've done during the last month on the Saturn core.

[bronze parrot]

I follow the Saturn core a bit less since I have two tricked out Saturns due to it being my fav console of all time; the last update was sound focused right? looks very impressive

[blissful plaza]

Yes.

[bronze parrot]

one of my Saturns

[blissful plaza]

I gotta go quickly, thunderstorm is coming at home.

[quick otter]

Don't expect that, in exchange more accurate cores like N64

[bronze parrot]

be safe, have a nice weekend

[quick otter]

A greater fpga can't be enough for console beasts

[lament escarp]

Yeah even the n64 is impossible

[bronze parrot]

there are some things that are only barely out of reach for MiSTER or at the very least would be easier on upgraded hardware such as CPS3, Killer Instinct, Midway Mortal Kombat arcade pcbs etc.

[quick otter]

In any case, nothing is going to happen with that fpgas if don't have the MiSTer community behind it.

It is a personal opinion, but I think that the effort of making a core is not worth it for a few

[bronze parrot]

Agreed, so hopefully there will be consensus and the community will move on once MiSTer development dies down and the people are ready to move to the next level; what was already accomplished on MiSTer has been nothing short of miraculous and amazing tho

[neat sierra]

this is definitely a community that likes to move on and not dwell endlessly in the past

[mellow raft]

but this is a retro gaming community. Aren't we always in the past?

[neat sierra]

#thatsthejoke

[hollow rune]

I should find an iso to burn Tom play on our family Dreamcast

[mortal panther]

The Future Past is now Present.

[bronze parrot]

Well, when the next fpga platform comes along, it isn't like the MiSTer is gonna go away or anything. More stuff is better, right?

[fair stump]

I'm actually in charge of confiscating all de-10 nanos when the new thing comes along

[bronze parrot]

I've got 3 MiSTers, you can't find'em all hahaha

my favorite MiSTer is my RetroCastles one since it haz the Saturn rgb AV input

[worn delta]

It has been discussed ad nauseum lately, but MiSTer 2 will be coming at some point in the future, however the real blocker to more advanced cores really isn't the hardware, it is the fact there are only a handful of people in the world who have the skills and the desire to pull off cores like the N64 and Saturn, and the systems beyond that are even more complex.

[fair stump]

The crazy thing to me, knowing nothing of all this tech, is that you have to understand vhdl or whatever and also know everything about a consoles architecture

[bronze parrot]

like I said earlier, wanting more powerful hardware at some point isn't entirely about consoles, but would help the limitations core developers come up against for things like Midway arcade cores and Jotego's work on CPS3

[fair stump]

I don't even know how you'd start learning about all the parts that make up a console

[worn delta]

The reason CPS3 isn't happening isn't because of the DE-10 nano hardware, it isn't happening because JT estimated it would take paying someone to work full time for over a year tracing the parts all out and the documentation etc. before he would even start trying to implement it. It just isn't financially viable for him with how he works.

[bronze parrot]

perhaps, but hardware was a limiting factor for the Midway cores, they said so

I would also like to see a Killer Instinct core one day and I doubt MiSTer hardware could handle that

[worn delta]

Well that developer hasn't done a single core that works properly on MiSTer, so take what they say with a grain of salt

[bronze parrot]

for CPS3, I believe Jotego will finish it for MiSTer at some point eventually, I was just suggesting that more powerful hardware may have made development easier; if I'm wrong about that, no biggie

I'm just in copium mode cuz I can't play 3rd Strike via fpga lol

[mortal panther]

I was hoping for 2nd Impact myself...

[fair stump]

Jotego is an fpga God for giving us cps2 at least

[mortal panther]

That's my favorite arcade platform, and definitely one of my favorite MiSTer cores.

[bronze parrot]

yeah he rocks and his contributions are kick ass; love the turtles core

[mortal panther]

Wasn't thrilled with the sudden deviation from his excellent arcade development to spend so much time on Neo Geo Pocket, I have to say...

It really sucked when you happened to be a director-level Patron, and all of a sudden it felt like your voice and contributions no longer mattered.

[bronze parrot]

playing TMNT on my "Digital Foundry"-style Mister arcade bookshelf setup

after Neo Geo Pocket, maybe he'll pivot back?

btw, why the heck has noone made an IGS PSM core, it's essentially Neo Geo MVS hardware will higher clocks and a couple more chips

I need my daioujou fix

[mortal panther]

That was supposedly on his to-do list as well. Someone donated the hardware long ago.

CPS-3 and PGM were the two biggest requests from his community, last I remembered.

[bronze parrot]

I mean w/ daioujou, espgaluda, and ketsui, you'd figure it would be a top priority

some of the best shmups of all time right there

[fair stump]

There was a patreon vote with both of those and cps3 won out

[bronze parrot]

fair enough I can understand the hunger for Street Fighter 3 winning

[mortal panther]

3 games out of 6 pushed it over the edge... and they were all named Street Fighter III. 😄

[worn delta]

Problem being CPS3 just isn't viable with how he makes cores, he had a post about needing to pay someone to do the tracing etc. for like a year before he could even start

[bronze parrot]

ironic thing is that if PGM won, we'd have it already

[worn delta]

There are weird issues with PGM that would make it complex, I don't know the ins and outs but I think copy protection is weird on it

[cerulean elk]

PGM is awesome. CPS 3 is meh

[worn delta]

This is all very off topic though

[bronze parrot]

random side tangents are half the fun

[mortal panther]

Yeah... sorry about that. Very off-topic.

[bronze parrot]

Are you gonna main Grimmjow in Bleach ReBirth of Souls?

[little socket]

You sir have been reported to the council of 3S fanboys.
(and every connoisseur knows JoJo#2 is the only game that warrants cps3 anything)

[cerulean elk]

Yeah but anyone can play Garou MotW so why even bother with SF III? Best fighting game is already playable on MiSTer

[stone pilot]

They're all just ripoffs of Yie Ar Kung Fu anyway

[cerulean elk]

PGM has Martial Masters anyway. SF III but diff

[little socket]

It would have all the shmups

[bronze parrot]

that reminds me that I've been getting around to buying a Garou cart before CotW comes out.....

[little socket]

or you could save money and space

[cerulean elk]

AES or MVS?

Bring your wallet. Or two wallets 🤣

[little socket]

this being nintendo64, hng64 should be the most to be discussed in here

[cerulean elk]

I keep offering a board for research

We’ve already got 99% of the CPU after all

[little socket]

any day now

[worn delta]

That's one that may benefit from MiSTer 2 with there being more headroom and resources for someone to adapt the N64 core, if this would be based on that

[bronze parrot]

I collect MVS

[cerulean elk]

I really don’t think there would be a snowballs chance in hell anyway for HNG64 on MiSTer

It’s lousy with chips. So many

[cerulean elk]

Nice. I collect AES. The stupider way to do it

[bronze parrot]

no wrong way since a multicart will take you far with either

I have a bunch of original MVS carts, but not many of the expensive ones

[cerulean elk]

I have a shit ton but I got them forever ago

[bronze parrot]

that's a really nice set

you have more than I do

[cerulean elk]

And it hasn’t aired yet but it’s been made

[bronze parrot]

I bought all the shock boxes for the games I wanna get, but I've only filled about 10 percent of 'em so far lol

[cerulean elk]

My beloved 🤣

[little socket]

not even collecting brown boxes 😔

[bronze parrot]

I have a couple brown boxes "by mistake" but I'm not collecting full kits

usually an original cart combined w/ repro shock box and marquee is good enough for my needs

[little socket]

it's a shame ss64.1 was always so expensive...

[cerulean elk]

Yeah it’s gotten dummy high

I just had an offer for the prototype from Dubai too

[bronze parrot]

I've heard of it and seen in videos but never been able to try it myself

[little socket]

Granted, I bought my hng64 + the rest fighting games at the time when shipping was more expensive than board+games

[cerulean elk]

Oh yeah they used to be giveaways

I got it all for like $1200 or so. All seven games plus boards and IO for the racing games

[little socket]

Should have bought a second set, simply to have a WA with unlock ready (or sacrificial hardware for bigger sram mod)

[cerulean elk]

Not including the Sam Sho prototype that today is probably 5K and with the prototype like 40K (highest offer I’ve had is 35 but I made a promise I’d never sell it and I can’t be a shitheel)

[little socket]

It has been a few years and I don't remember but you got that one dumped?

[cerulean elk]

Not yet. I need to finish

I’m still a bit confused by it. 8 rom chips per riser board. 96 total. I need to figure out how to identify each individual chip on the risers to be read as they share some traces and there seems to be SOME form of select going on

I am NOT desoldering 96 chips. Or letting anyone else do that

[little socket]

Seems like MiSTer was an easy way to procrastinate

[cerulean elk]

Haha. Hardest issue is I can’t find the female mating connector

Would be a lot easier if I could find even one to had solder up a “port” to read from

I could desolder one from the PCB that isn’t populated but I’m really trying not to work on it. Just want to keep it “stock”

[little socket]

as long as it will not be decayed by then

[cerulean elk]

I need someone smarter than me. Or with more free time. Lot of offers from people to dump it but everyone wants to keep it for the trouble 🤣

[weary palm]

How are you gentlemen !!

All your base are belong to us.

Seriously though. How are You?

[solemn marlin]

I would probably also vote for him to do PGM because I have no special affinity for street fighter but I've honestly not played a single PGM game before. Or maybe demon front, I seem to recall a metal slug clone...

[topaz otter]

Documentation on these old consoles is scarce

[solemn marlin]

Were any of them documented? Well all of them most likely, but with the documentation leaking

[gilded whale]

Aside from all the Konami titles, sega system 32 is my big dream on the mister in terms of arcade platforms

I also want pgm, I’ve played demon front a lot but no other titles. I’d like to try them all.

[turbid warren]

I want a virtua racing arcade core so I can play all the different versions of virtua racing on mister

[spiral garnet]

nah but more chance of that happening compared to a remake

[gilded whale]

It’s a pretty good game held back a bit by the 64

It needed more voice over and cutscenes to pull the player along throughout

[cloud peak]

CPS3 hasn’t been cancelled by JT

[raw oriole]

Of course not, he loves reserving things for himself. But it's not progressing

[knotty zealot]

lots of silly blabber about other hardware here. don't you guys have some n64 games to play?

https://tenor.com/view/nope-no-way-im-out-gif-25376698

[cloud peak]

There is nothing called “reserving” in open source

[raw oriole]

It’s a very small community and people don’t like to take on a task someone else is working on in case it causes drama. We’ve seen it regularly enough, and it’s to the detriment of the users.

[neat sierra]

I was totally gonna make an M72 core but then Wickerwaka called shotgun

[mortal panther]

I had the N64 core done a year ago... but here we are.
I'd say this one turned out okay though. 😏

[cerulean elk]

I mean who else wants to take it on though?

We don’t need more cores. We need more core devs!

Sadly the Venn diagram of “skills to make cores” and “cares about retro gaming hardware” overlap seems minuscule

Also nobody is getting rich making these things. Or covering them in videos. It’s because everyone loves the hardware and libraries. Not because it’s “worth it”

[mortal panther]

JT isn't doing too bad financially because of his core development.
He's hired employees... 😉

[cerulean elk]

Sure but if he was making anything ELSE in FPGA he could probably make a ton more $$

Retro gaming FPGA cores are probably the lowest profit margin of anything you could make for money in FPGA

[raw oriole]

You’ll have noticed almost everyone does the work as a hobby, free and open source.

[cerulean elk]

Exactly. Hence the Venn diagram comment. How many devs with the skills to make cores also care enough to WANT to make cores exist?

[raw oriole]

Yup. Super low numbers. And most of them are gainfully employed (and often paid very well for their extreme skills) so it really is a hobby

[cerulean elk]

this is the same concept where some viewers think "Video Game Esoterica" makes me a shit ton of money. I spend an stupid amount of time on the channel just because I am entertained by it and enjoy doing it...NOT for some major financial benefit

[raw oriole]

Speaking as a volunteer mod… we do it for the love 🙂

[cerulean elk]

I do it for the hate...I hate you all! 🤣

you the most @brisk drum

[mortal panther]

I love to hate your videos... or is it the other way around? 🤔

[cerulean elk]

You LOVE to LOVE my videos is what you meant

Best YouTube channel ever named Video Game Esoterica!

[mortal panther]

I found it by accident. I was searching for Erotica. Close enough.

[cerulean elk]

Plus September is coming and the channel is getting new shit

Sept-Dec push for new series

[mortal panther]

Will it be a continuing series??

[cerulean elk]

Emulation night school and Port Authority start

Port Authority replaces Unported Playlist long plays and the long play just gets dumped Sat night so that’s one extra vid a week of actual content

And emulation night school will take probably a year to fully air as it’s a PC emulation tutorial and guide for basically every damn worthwhile platform to ever exist

[vagrant ivy]

good to see you wont be covering the 3DO then !

[cerulean elk]

I should cover that first

[magic girder]

There’s gonna be more VGE?!

[brisk drum]

I ain’t even do nuffin!

[cerulean elk]

You know what you did!

[cerulean elk]

More. And I’m gonna do more Deck. Maybe switch on and off with Pocket. Pocket videos don’t do as well and holy shit compared to MiSTer do Pocket people just hate things 😂

[topaz otter]

people are jealous because they can't afford one

[topaz otter]

the other thing is that Nintendo is also not stupid and they'll know if you used their libraries

thats what happened to the n64 portal guy

[brisk drum]

Yes and I already apologized to your mom , so just let it go

[cerulean elk]

You apologized for a bad performance

That’s on you

[brisk drum]

Wasn’t my best day but I’ll make it up to her tonight!

[mellow raft]

Wow don't know why nobody answered. I'm fine, thanks. And you?

Everyone too busy bragging

[calm tundra]

On the Toy Story 2 - Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! (USA).n64 the sound is very low, does this happen to anyone else ?

[knotty zealot]

i only get buzzing sounds

it's because the mister's just a toy but that's another story

[mortal panther]

You get what you pay for...

[solemn marlin]

I love how valve was like "wow this is a neat project, we'd rather not have to deal with nintendo coming after us tho so please cease and desist"

That's why "my dad works at nintendo" was such a big deal, basically saying your dad can financially and legally ruin your dad

[topaz otter]

that dude had a neat project but he was entirely too vocal about it, and there was a lot of hype on it also. Even if he had used that open source library I don't think anything would have saved it

[solemn marlin]

There is a world where a guy works 4 years in secret to avoid the watchful eyes of the nintendo legal team but this is not that world

I think his new project might be even more valid tbh

[lament escarp]

Remember when Nintendo did fuck all for metroids 30th anniversary? Completely forgot about it. But didn't forget to slap am2r with a cease&desist when that released on the same day.

[upper pivot]

What’s the new project?

[vapid hawk]

some kind of third person adventure

[upper pivot]

On n64?

[vapid hawk]

yeah

no depencies on the nintendo libraries though

[upper pivot]

Have you guys seen the SM64 on gba project?

[vapid hawk]

think he's been contributing to that opensource one

he's also done a load of miscellanous type stuff since like getting the occulous rift working on n64 😄

also don't tell nintendo but someone forked portal64 and its still very much in active development

[little socket]

nasty

[vapid hawk]

pretty sure it was with his blessing, its some of the contributors to his original branch

[weary palm]

Wasn't it Valve that put a halt to that project?

[vapid hawk]

Valve basically said they love it but can't have anything to do with anything using Nintendo code

which is basically exactly what they have to say, especially after the whole dolphin thing

it was pretty idiotic to reach out to them imo

[upper pivot]

https://youtu.be/1Oo2CZWbHXw?si=VZVnYaZQOwsBp047

This is somewhat outdated as he has advanced it even more since this video but super impressive imo

[vapid hawk]

that is both absolutely amazing and utterly cursed 😄

[stone pilot]

I have a sinking feeling that trying to put in actual game objects and enemy AI will just drive it to a hopeless 2 FPS

[vapid hawk]

i would of guessed the same about audio and tesselation so you never know

[stone pilot]

it's true

if it works, just add in tilt controls and you've got yourself a winner

[weary palm]

I made this silly thing that let You download a patched version of Super Mario 64 given that you provide a good ROM. It has widescreen, rumble and better performance.
https://krullo.se/n64

EDIT: The ROM seems a bit crash-prone. Especially when trying to pause. I will work on that another time... (soon™)
The ROM isn't my work, I've only messed around in the Makefile script and stuff.

also, my shitty web hotel only allows for PHP, so I had to greatly suffer to achieve this.

[weary palm]

You were hoping this would be a good way of playing Super Mario 64? 😉

[topaz otter]

well you just told me and I heard there's an award for snitching

[topaz otter]

this is actually what the average PS1 3d platformer looks like

[upper pivot]

Pretty crazy considering that it’s all software rendered on a GBA (16.78MHz ARM)

He’s been posting builds that people can try out on the gbadev discord. I think it currently runs at 20fps

[topaz otter]

thats pretty good, it was an ambitious project for sure

[weary palm]

One of the goals of that fork is to remove any dependency to libultra and other Nindendo devkit codem

[solemn marlin]

"Miyamoto is most pleased with your service... but I'm afraid your princess is in another castle, oracle-san"

[topaz otter]

what the heck is this render, I've never seen this one before lol

[solemn marlin]

Like those guys who think they'll get employment at cia for hacking government websites, and they're just taken to Guantanamo

[topaz otter]

Miyamoto points to his ninja assasin, "Give the spy the reward that he thinks he deserves."

[solemn marlin]

Lol just that. "You'll sleep soundly, with the rest of the rom sites. Tell LoveROMS that Nintendo sent you"

[latent dagger]

eyo, did anybody know about this?

also apparently there's a racing game I've never heard of on N64 as well that I now have to check out lol

[weary palm]

Know what exactly? That one of the moveable boxes could act like a ball in a crude game of soccer? 😅

[viral portal]

I didn't find this one as fun as the regular ol' non-2049 version. But I also haven't played either since the early aughts.

[rich warren]

Any Midway racing game is worth checking out! Rush games, Cruisn' games, Hydro Thunder - all fun

[zinc dew]

[magic girder]

He’s back!!!

[zinc dew]

Pneumonia will fuck you up lmao

[magic girder]

Hope you’re feeling better now ❤️

[thorn quiver]

Jeez yeah

[eternal ravine]

Dude, all that fusion cuisine
It's too beaucoup for your immune system

[orchid nimbus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ClCaPmAA7s agreed - hard song to play

[lament escarp]

Had that a year ago. Glad you survived.

[lament escarp]

I see tool mentioned I'm happy. Also Robby is a tool so it's double funny.

[weary palm]

Bop

[zinc dew]

lol damnit

[topaz otter]

We were incredibly bored back in the day

We also invented a mode in Goldeneye where we would crank up the handicap on one player and that person was the terminator

then lower the handicap on another person, that was john connor

then have one person try to protect john connor from the terminator

[amber cosmos]

Perfect Dark MP was so amazing.

So many options for setups, bots, etc., and all anyone talks about is Goldeneye

[topaz otter]

honestly we played goldeneye so much that by the time perfect dark came out, it was really passe and we were bored of it

even though PD is the superior game and everything that is in goldeneye is in perfect dark

[rich warren]

bots in Perfect Dark multiplayer was a revelation (to kids who didn't have Quake 3). Felt pretty endless what you could setup. Which continued into Timesplitters 2

[weary palm]

You could even save setups in PD.

And give them silly names.

[weary beacon]

Does anyone knows how to play romhacks for the N64 core? I am trying to play OoTMM Randomizer but I am getting a black screen. I created a entry in the database with the hash and the save format (flash) but nothing

[stone pilot]

At least an advanced way, yes

[cerulean elk]

Does that one work on real hardware?

I can’t remember now

[hearty oar]

IIRC yes, it's playable via Everdrive

[cerulean elk]

Dm me the…goods. I’ve gotta do some testing tomorrow. I’ll see if it works on my end

[hearty oar]

not sure if it leans on some other behaviour that is needed though, ie extra cartridge rom or weird save ram type...

also shouldn't need to add stuff to the rom DB by hash now unless for whatever reason the patcher decides to modify the rom header (possible, but most romhacks don't)

[cerulean elk]

Yes the only rom hacks I’ve had fail on the core are the same ones that seem to fail on real hardware

[weary beacon]

The file is too big for DM

But from my understanding it needs FLASH save type and cic 6105

NTSC of course

[cerulean elk]

Outside of a few which “work on real hardware” but lean on shit in emulation to make it “actually work”

[weary beacon]

And yes, it works on my everdrive 3.0

Here is the website to generate the random run

https://ootmm.com/

You need OoT v1.0 and Majoras Mask

both NTSC

[hearty oar]

well I stand corrected lol, looks like the game ID in the header when I generated a patched rom is NEDEP, as different to the CZLE and NZSE of the source games, which makes sense I guess seeing as its 2 games combined

but you don't want to be doing this by hash because this might change on subsequent rom generations, instead you want to do it by ID, ie
ID:NZS___ flash128k|rpak # Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask [Zelda no Densetsu - Mujura no Kamen]

[weary beacon]

So just adding like that in the n64 database will work?

[hearty oar]

ideally, as long as you know for sure the details of the rom type, ie. save type and cic

[weary beacon]

Maybe I should had checked the error code before

22 RDP Z writeback wants to write outside of RDRAM

Also, I got 20

20 RSP DMA wants to write outside of RDRAM

[wanton sun]

those are heuristics only. They can lead to an error, but don't have to. Some games (or hacks) have bugs and just try to use memory that is not available. They will always read back 0 from that address and mostly that is fine. For z-buffer anyway, can only cause graphical glitches

I would just try the game and setup the system settings yourself, without database. If you can find settings that work, you can still make the db entry

[hearty oar]

autodetect appears to do the right thing, but yep, black screen with that same error for me also when I try and load the patched rom

ahh, I see, in n64.cpp there is special casing for this in detect_homebrew_header

so yep, absolutely no need to mess around with the database or settings

[thorn quiver]

Loosen your collar, Mario

[hot spoke]

Did we already get a turbo core with all the recent changes implemented?

[raw oriole]

Not yet I don’t think, Robert’s said he’s going to put one together soon though

[cerulean elk]

The best version of the core

[zinc dew]

Not sure how well known this is but you can make your own database entries by making a file called user-database, I think it’s called that

That’s what I do for all my patched, translated, and rom hack games

[magic girder]

#1096015979055697940 message

Yep 🙂

[wanton sun]

currently i don't have much time. Not for the core and not for my game. There are still 2 changes to be done as testbuild before a new release: audio phase and bilinear deblur. After the new release is out for 1 week i will do the turbo core to be sure it's not worthless. (running the PC for 10 hours straight at 24 cores full usage is not nice in summer, so i only do when i'm 99,9% sure it's useful)
So expect 2-3 weeks from now

[zinc dew]

Take your time! Thanks for doing that nice bonus for us all.

[wanton sun]

1 new turbo core before christmas 🙃

[orchid nimbus]

Not going to post that on the FAQ we all know it will be far before Xmas

[weak hill]

you are so committed to your core, thanks

[cerulean elk]

now you know how I feel today; currently 99 degrees in Chicago, 108 with heat index...and Ive been rendering in Resolve all day

[languid dune]

Can't express enough our thanks for the work you've done on this Robert. Incredible stuff.

[cerulean elk]

basically turned my office into a sauna

[languid dune]

Just do your work in the buff.

[cerulean elk]

hot up your way @languid dune ?

[languid dune]

Currently 93ºF here. And humid as heck.

Thank you AC!

[cerulean elk]

yeah I have both cranking but Ive gotta turn them off for voice over time

and too much shit keeps happening so Ive GOTTA VO today

spoiler: everyone go download Super Mario Eclipse. Things a banger

[languid dune]

Just tell your audience that the AC noise is ASMR. Embrace it!

[cerulean elk]

its all I can do to hide the cicadae noise

[weary beacon]

Maybe is a waste of money but how about having the PC as a server in another room and remote into it?

That’s how I had it some years back for a NAS and a Windows machine that I only used for programs not compatible in wine. Of course this was a spare machine I had and since I don’t game anymore in PC, I dont need a fully specced machine.

[thorn quiver]

What you need is a sauna session

[orchid nimbus]

Het airco you hobo 😉

[cerulean elk]

haha I cant run it while recording voice overs

unless everyone wants to hear WHOOOOOOOSH

[thorn quiver]

Just shout louder

[languid dune]

I want to hear whoosh.

[cerulean elk]

Haha I’m done for the day. I sat in front of Resolve from 7 am til now. Seven and a half hours of straight channel work today

[orchid nimbus]

Get a mic boot you hobo 😉 LOL

[orchid nimbus]

I used a bunch of stuff from my gun case a few times to do a voice over

[magic girder]

I’d rather hear whoosh than helloeveryonewelcomebacktovideogameesotericaonthemisterfpgade10nanoproject

[gilded whale]

Well it’s been real but I’m abandoning mister for the next month or so, castlevania ds collection just came out

[thorn quiver]

He'll say that faster than you can say "whoosh". Give credit

[supple musk]

continuing with this problem, i got a replacement snax64 and still, the VRU will not work. https://streamable.com/vp4e8c

[desert crow]

maybe try switching the 2 snac cables around or switch port 2,3, to something else. Someone else had trouble a few months ago but later got it working, they thought it "wasn't seated properly"., so mess with the connection between vru and cable.

[zinc dew]

If you have free time I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

[supple musk]

unfortunately i have run out of things to try regarding this.

[gilded whale]

This will be the third version of haunted castle that I’ve paid for. Yikes

[zinc dew]

Someone has to!

Actually if that version of haunted castle is good I may join you lol

[desert crow]

maybe @zinc dew can confirm it still works in core or can give you some tips about that screen.

[gilded whale]

It has a remade version too

I’ll play both

Like I need to replay the original… lol

I’d like to see them remake the Msx one, or maybe rerelease that wiiware one

[zinc dew]

Oh yeah, I’m in your debt lol. How can I help?

[gilded whale]

Is haunted castle broken in mister?

[desert crow]

follow the quote from Clue to see the sxreen he got. Maybe you can confirm vru still works in core. I know not much has changed in core lately but I guess it's worth checking.

[gilded whale]

Oh my bad you guys are talking about an n64 thing in a n64 thread lol

And I’m just over here with my castlevania chat

[desert crow]

oh Robby make sure to try the 20240807 test version of the core that's the one he was testing.

[zinc dew]

I’m using core 240818

Works perfect for me, well as perfect as Hey You Pikachu can work lol

[gilded whale]

Now speak Japanese in the train game

[zinc dew]

Ok I’m done LOL

[zinc dew]

The translated version actually works with saying the stations in English!

[gilded whale]

Oh really? Do I need a snac64 now then? I have the mic already

It’d be the only thing I’d use a snac for in that core I think

[desert crow]

Thanks dude, I was worried something broke after Robert added that usb controller shift thing when using snac(so no need for dummy usb controls) 🍻

but that was back in April so it's not that

[gilded whale]

Did you tape it to the back of the controller or is there a mount I don’t have?

[rare relic]

awesome to hear bilinear deblur is on the horizon, thanks robert! take your time

[paper orchid]

There's a plastic clip that goes on the back of the controller, you can see the tabs on Robby's photos

[lyric sequoia]

Did you verify the snac jumper pin?

[gilded whale]

Oh shit I’ll have to look at mine later

[zinc dew]

Yeah that stupid plastic clip is expensive

Also I bought a yellow clown nose for my mic

I just wanted everyone to know that my microphone has a yellow clown nose

[gilded whale]

Oh I had no idea it had an extra plastic piece to mount it I always just set it on the floor and it heard me

I’ve been meaning to get a piece of yellow foam for it

Clown nose is a great idea

[desert crow]

n64 only uses 4 io and doesn't use the io that the jumper pin controls, so I don't think it's that.

only other idea would be to only set port 4 to snac, and only plug vru in to snax. Use a usb controller

[gilded whale]

I don’t suppose mister can use usb mic’s for this or for famicom for that matter?

[zinc dew]

I just turned on SNAC to p1 and p4

[zinc dew]

Uhhhh, I think it has to be the N64 VRU

It has an onboard processing chip to decode voice

[paper orchid]

Yeah, the VRU is more than just a mic adapter

IIRC that's also why there's some region restrictions on it

[zinc dew]

Yeah, the English ones are tuned to English pronunciations and the Japanese one is tuned for Japanese so they’re not interchangeable

[supple musk]

what is this?

[supple musk]

thanks for verifying. do you think my snax64 isn't receiving enough power or something? because the P1 controller works fine

[gilded whale]

Oh I had no idea, what about famicom then for the 2p controller?

[zinc dew]

Uhhhh, I dunno. You have a different MiSTer build than me. Could be the IO board, could be the SNAC cables themselves. What’s your power adapter rated at?

[zinc dew]

I think that can barely be classified as a microphone lol. The audio it records sounds like loud buzzing.

I don’t think MiSTer supports any microphone use. May have to use SNAC for it.

[fair stump]

Your voice is very different than I expected. @cerulean elk got nothing on it

[zinc dew]

I was doing silly accents lol

[orchid nimbus]

I always do silly accents up to the point that people think it’s my real accent

[desert crow]

how about a regular controller on port 4? does that work?

[supple musk]

no. only the P1 port works. 2, 3, and 4 don't show up in smash bros.

[desert crow]

hmm that sounds like a problem. try this test rom https://github.com/Ryzee119/n64_controller_test maybe you can experiment plugging a single controller into each port with all 4 ports set to snac.

I say just use one to rule out a power thing

[lyric sequoia]

I would try genesis if you have the cable to verify all your snac pins work

[desert crow]

yeah genesis test if you have that cable might tell us(me) something, only certain buttons will probably work

[junior yarrow]

i tried just fiddling around with settings to see if i could get more than a black screen but turned up blank on my end

https://ootmm.com/faq they mention that only later revisions of everdrive (3.0, X5, and X7) are able to run the game properly

[desert crow]

oh and genesis does need that jumper on io board set to i/o not 3.3v. might be a switch on retrocastle io board

[weary palm]

I like Peach's new signature.

[orchid nimbus]

I baked an FPGa for you

[zinc dew]

I don’t get it

Why would you bake an FPGA? It’s not food.

[weary palm]

to reflow the BGA

[stone pilot]

The router/fitter for preparing an FPGA core uses a "simulated annealing" algorithm that increases the temperature, then decreases it. Like baking.

[vapid hawk]

someone reverse engineered hey you pikachu enough that on pc emulators you can play it using a modern service for the voice recognition

https://github.com/mupen64plus/mupen64plus-core/pull/873

it also turns out its supported in one of those train games, can't remember which

[zinc dew]

Noooo I was trying to troll @orchid nimbus

[zinc dew]

Densha de Go 64, the only other game to use the VRU

[vapid hawk]

you have to do like the station announcements i think

but i guess in japanese so pretty hard

[zinc dew]

Yeah the translation patch also changed those to English

They also added transfer pak support for the GBC game

[vapid hawk]

nice

[zinc dew]

I tested that on the core too using the transfer pak option. Having the GBC game unlocks all routes and trains, that’s all.

[cerulean elk]

He sounds likes he’s got a mouth full of ribs

I assume he always has a mouth full of ribs

[raw oriole]

Mmm, ribs

[zinc dew]

GOD I love beef ribs

[gilded whale]

The remake of haunted castle is very much like the Wiiware remake of adventure

Very similar aesthetic and music style

And like the remake of adventure it makes it into a competent castlevania

[zinc dew]

Damn that’s cool!

[weary palm]

Are me a ROOM haxx0r?

[zinc dew]

Ok that’s pretty good 😂

[gilded whale]

I almost beat the whole thing on my lunch break

Not quite lol

[thorn quiver]

How? With all those unskippable bits

Takes me a whole lunch break to do world 1-1 with the chomp and the mountain

[atomic stratus]

@thorn quiver Billy is having a side convo about playing Haunted Castle, not sm64

[thorn quiver]

Oh

A conversation gaiden

[stone pilot]

The Man Who Forgot His Words

[gilded whale]

It’s a 64 bit remake of Haunted Castle so it’s relevant

Replaying haunted castle on hard now, not that it was hard to do but this remake completely supersedes the original in every way

[languid dune]

Missing out on our conversation about it on games-and-patches

[potent stream]

Oot might be an exception to this because a lot of the hacks rely on ACE. I'd try the speedrun practice rom hack to see if that works before meddling anywhere else if it were me. That thing is incredible

[mortal panther]

Can't even get from the top to the bottom of the starting tower in Quest 64 in a lunch break.

[weary palm]

I have a 4P N64 SNAC adapter waiting for me in my mail box when I get home. Eggzoided.

[vagrant ivy]

you did have thanks for the adaptor your Neighbour

[weary palm]

My mail box has a lock, Tim! What did you do?? Holy hand granade?

[drowsy lantern]

Has anyone actually finished Quest 64 on MiSTer?

[junior yarrow]

i think some people made that a priority early on

[weary palm]

There's a spreadsheet

I need to get a short male-to-female USB3 cable

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H4KYg0gsOWGayioXKSETtlM7d7g3Tk4w0QXqtXvugG8

USB3 cables are needed for SNAC, right?

[drowsy lantern]

Oh right. I had forgotten about the compatibility list. Poor soul.

[rich warren]

Yes - and make sure they transmit data and not just power. 6 inches or less is best. I tried using a longer one and most of the buttons would not work

[drowsy lantern]

I see that JFG is still marked as "Boots". Do patched roms count or not?

[rich warren]

No - JFG technically boots, but locks after the name input screen without a patch. Anything in this zip file requires a patch. Ruleset left a changelog in the first post:
https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=8078

[drowsy lantern]

Oh I know, but for the compatibility list I mean. Would it be fair to upgrade JFG to “Playable” since it works with the patch?

[latent dagger]

If it requires a patch then it's not playable, it should be in a separate category for playable with patch.

[daring meteor]

Originally the compatibility list explicitly didn't consider patches

[lean vector]

Anyone have the 8bitdo mod kit and the USB adapter 2 and got it working on mister? Mine won't pair in d-input pairs in s-input but mister doesn't recognize any inputs. Wired works fine.

[weary palm]

I wouldn't consider it USB 3 if it doesn't do data.

[weary palm]

I'm actually considering adding patch data to the N64-database.txt file.

[zinc dew]

Dumb question but I don’t think you need to? All the patched games work fine as is. I think it’s the same MD5.

[weary palm]

I don't do things because I need to but because it will make the core easier to use. Not having to apply patches beforehand isn't a bad thing, is it? But ok, I'll keep the change in a private branch then, perhaps.

[zinc dew]

I could be wrong so do correct me but if it’s the same MD5 then the regular entry will work just fine, right?

OH adding patch data, not adding an entry.

[weary palm]

Oh, sorry. I should've been clearer. 🙂

[zinc dew]

Nah my bad, you said patch data, I skimmed over that part lol

[weary palm]

But yes. As long as a patch doesn't alter the unique "game id/serial code" stored in the ROM header, it should be identified correctly. Only a few entries in the db uses exact hash sums, mostly homebrew.
https://niwanetwork.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_64_games_by_serial_code

[latent dagger]

adding pacthes on the core level would definitely make things easier for the total noob who doesn't know any better and only understands how to run all the automagic setup stuff and drag and drop a rom into a folder

I'm curious to know if that super optimized 60fps build of SM64 runs correctly on the core? it's supposed to work on original hardware. Was mainly done for the sake of optimizing the game to make it so with his massive mods the game performance would still be playable at 30fps at the lowest.

[weary palm]

It seems like the patches in that zip only rewrites a few bytes of the ROMs in question, so it should be easy for me to add. More complex patches are a nk, though. They often contain big chunks of the original code, so bad from a legal perspective too.

When I've tried that 60fps patch by FazanaJ (https://github.com/FazanaJ/ultrasm64/tree/m%26m's) , I've had some graphical issues and even crashes. The physics seems off, too.

[latent dagger]

I'm talking about the other guy. Kaze Emanuar

[weary palm]

It's fun to play around with, though. It feels amazing, when it works. 🙂

[latent dagger]

he has a YT video about how he went about optimizing the game

[weary palm]

Ah, that patch is only for software emulators.

[latent dagger]

I don't think so. he says in his video he made it for original hardware

maybe not all of his rom hacks are for original hardware, but the initially patched version of the game with more performance works. and requires the RAM expansion

[weary palm]

Ok, must be one I'm not aware of then. Kaze has submitted patches to https://github.com/HackerN64/HackerSM64, though.

[latent dagger]

This is the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_rzYnXEQlE

[weary palm]

Looking forward to that huge sm64 romhack he's been working on for so long.

[chilly ember]

It's gonna be tight. He's been working on that rom hack forever

[weary palm]

Yes, that's the one. I don't think he's made a patch for vanilla sm64. Correct me if I'm wrong. I hope he backport all his optimizations for vanilla when he's done with the hack.

[latent dagger]

hmm, I thought he had released his optimizations for vanilla

[chilly ember]

Wanna say i heard that was the plan after he released his hack but it's been so long since I looked into it

[weary palm]

Only some of them.

[latent dagger]

I mean, that video was 2+ years ago. if dude hasn't released his optimized build of the game that's a shame

[weary palm]

I subscribe to him on yt. Not the most humble guy, but I like him. RAMBUS goes vroom vroom.

[latent dagger]

vroom vroom

that was legit the best part of the whole video

[weary palm]

Looking forward to more frames and fewer invisible walls. 😉

[latent dagger]

assuming he actually releases it cuz from what I'm gathering he hasn't and never will at this point.

[weary palm]

I think he will. Patience my young padawan

[chilly ember]

I'm sure he'll release it but probably has a case of wanting perfection so could be still be awhile

His most ambitious hack yet and probably doesn't wanna release it until he's absolutely certain that it's the bees knees

[weary palm]

I hope he's not to dependant on the patreon money, because then he's never gonna want to finish. 😉

He's done like a hundred hacks already.

[latent dagger]

Patreon is both the arbiter of glorious births as well as horrific deaths of so many good projects and tools.

YUZU for example

[chilly ember]

He could release it and people would still be donating to support his future endeavors. He's the poster child of rom hacks basically at this point

[latent dagger]

ye. also Patreon I don't think is the best place to use either these days if all you're hosting on it is some small files for rom hacks. They take a bigger cut than is necessary. Would be better for him to move over to something like Kofi but that's just my opinion.

[zinc dew]

Can’t paywall emulation, that’s a red flag to any company

People really need to learn that. Patreon should be for optional donations only. The moment you hold something back behind a paywall, you’re selling a product that you don’t own and that gives a legal avenue for companies to react.

[weary palm]

jotego?

[chilly ember]

Jotego at least releases to public eventually

[zinc dew]

I’m not naming anyone. It’s just a dangerous game to play.

[chilly ember]

but yuzu did the same, but they had other reasons to be in trouble

[zinc dew]

That was a reminder on why we need to be vigilant on sharing pirated material and not allow that.

[chilly ember]

I haven't paid much attention to mister news the past 3 ish months but yea judging from the past, it's best not to name drop to shame anything related to the mister fpga or the likes. unneeded drama

[weary palm]

I agree. Just wish sorgelig and others got more of the cake.

I'm an fpga communist.

[chilly ember]

I like video games

[neat sierra]

Insane friend and video games up in a tree, K I S S I N G

[weary palm]

I like turtles

[zinc dew]

I like people who make retro games more accessible for everyone

[chilly ember]

"If you like video games so much why don't you marry them"

[neat sierra]

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the babby in the babby carriage

Instain in babby carriage

[weary palm]

Thanks 🤗😅🙃

[zinc dew]

I wish consumer solutions were up to better standards but I guess that’s the reality we live in. Passion projects like this will always lead the way.

At least we have an example to point to when we hold companies accountable to improve their emulation solutions.

[latent dagger]

btw, did ya'll hear about the crackdown on some of the top Anime streaming sites? bruh, it's a good thing I started keeping an anime watch list separately via other sites cuz one of the places I used to go to is gone now and so I can't log in to see my watch list.

[weary palm]

Pirated movies and series?

[chilly ember]

I don't watch anime mainly because that's a rabbit hole I don't wanna go down at this point in my life. Everything nowadays is getting crackdown with copyright infringement. Too easy to send out those automated cease and desists with ai now

[zinc dew]

Any moment not playing the N64 core is a moment wasted. They are doing you a favor.

[weary palm]

I sleep sometimes, but when I do, I dream about golden bananas and rainbow coins.

[zinc dew]

OOOOOOHH BANANA

[chilly ember]

We have anime at home

The anime at home

[zinc dew]

is that game cool

[chilly ember]

I don't know it's a point and click adventure

I think

Point and click with N64 analog

[weary palm]

Too few dating sims on the 64

[chilly ember]

When I dream, I use save states in case things go bad

[weary palm]

I'll try that next time.

[zinc dew]

Are there any? There’s that multiplayer board game where you compete to date girls.

It’s real weird lol

[chilly ember]

I remember you posting about it when there was the translation released

Dating sims give me weird newgrounds vibes so they're not my bag

[zinc dew]

Yeah, I’ve never been interested. Like I’m happy they exist for people to enjoy but it’s not for me.

[neat sierra]

Well you’ll never get a harem of virtual waifus with that attitude

[zinc dew]

I tried to play Sakura Wars and some lady told me to pick up some spoon and I was like NAH and shut it off

So that means I beat Sakura Wars

[neat sierra]

A gentleman picks up a spoon for a lady

Never played any dating sims either

Probably not because they are creepy but because they aren’t in English

[zinc dew]

Nintendo invented dating sims

[chilly ember]

Picking up a spoon for a woman when she asks for it is where Robby draws the line

[zinc dew]

She dropped it on purpose!

[neat sierra]

He was okay with all the butt stuff before that

[chilly ember]

That was a hint that she wanted to spoon, don't you understand women and their hints?!

[neat sierra]

Man has some pride on the subject of who picks up a fallen spoon

[vast delta]

For some weird reason, when the N64 came out, this was one of the few games I could find in my hometown. The strangeness was they were all bootlegs, and I lived in central Brazil, where people barely spoke English, let alone Japanese

[latent dagger]

did you ever play the Love Hina GBA game?

[vast delta]

For some reason someone decided to import a ton of Wonder Project J2 bootlegs into a relatively small city in Brazil

[chilly ember]

Robby is a strong eater and it's probably her first thought was that she could impress him by dropping an eating utensil

[chilly ember]

Leave it to brazil 😛

[weary palm]

Got recommend this once. https://youtu.be/0VHSPS8tT0A

No thanks. 😆

That's not for the N64, so #spicy-off-topic, I guess

[zinc dew]

Nope

[chilly ember]

I heard of it but never played it

https://youtu.be/aujOb50T8Pc?si=tn-XpY_LPdB3l_NN

[solemn marlin]

One of those games where the game design itself feels like a foreign language

Not necessarily a bad thing, killer 7 is a bit like that, but too much of the life simulation stuff just makes me wonder what I'm supposed to enjoy about it

[potent stream]

Omg please. I'm putting off sourcing all of these files and patches until they're done or given up lmao

[vast pollen]

Still waiting for my Mister to arrive, but I'm curious, how accurate is ths N64 core when put side by side with real hardware?

It seems hard to find any information regarding this on Youtube/google

[blissful plaza]

For some of us, enough to store the console in its box from now on and not caring about software emulation anymore too.

Almost all existing testroms passed so far.
All games are at least booting and are playable (some need a SNAC like for the Hey You! Pikachu microphone).

Timing is a little bit off on Killer Instinct when selecting a character (like 500ms loading that don't occur on the original console) and during the final boss, but nothing that could stop playing the game.
Menus backgrounds are playing too fast on the Zelda games (30 fps instead of 15, but some software emulators have the same issue).

[remote hatch]

you also have to remember that there is a maximum of 5 games worthy of attention on the N64 😛

[blissful plaza]

As long as Ganbare Goemon games are working perfectly, I'm satisfied.

Those games require quite strict timings for working correctly (like the synchronization of the characters movements with the music on the first one), I've waited like 22-23 years for a solution that could really do the job.
Only the latest versions of Ares and the core are satisfying for me.

I let others explain more technically on the accuracy question, good luck!

[weary perch]

i think so. game is very unique and has some of the best spritework on the console

the first one on Super Famicom is also very interesting

pretty niche titles overall but definitely worth trying out

the spritework alone is really quite stunning

[zinc dew]

Is it for weebs

[weary perch]

being a weeb probably doesn't hurt lol

you give commands to the girl and try to teach her to be a Real Human

you can make her be a real jerk if you like lol

[spare meadow]

The core is amazing. For me, the only game that I am sad that has some issues is RE 2. Some slowdown at beginning of the game and an issue with some texture later at game (on Leon and Claire B)

[zinc dew]

This doesn’t dismiss or minimize your issue at all as it’s valid but at least we have a perfect way of playing it with the PSX core.

[rich warren]

I've been playing N64 since I was ten years old when it launched in 1996, and the MiSTer is the only thing that comes to close to a real console. You'd need a pretty powerful PC (at least $1000) to do low-level emulation to come anywhere close to a real console, and even then you'd have to know to configure the emulator, plus you can't use a CRT TV (which is required for me). The remaining issues are incredibly minor and all of the major games work perfectly. As someone who has waited decades for accurate N64 emulation, the MiSTer is the best.

[orchid nimbus]

@rich warren weird my $100 HP off lease can run n64 just fine

[magic girder]

The MiSTer is so good I don’t even have to try software emulators on my PC to even find out 😉

[orchid nimbus]

my rpi4 even runs n64 at full speed

[magic girder]

Unless things have changed over the last year, I find that hard to believe 😅

Last time I tried, Goldeneye ran like a dog!

[orchid nimbus]

I only ran the recompiled mario 64

[zinc dew]

This is definitely the best way to play N64 outside of a real console

[rich warren]

Frame counter says 60 - must be perfect emulation!

[orchid nimbus]

@rich warren shut it

[plush summit]

We really getting into it now

[orchid nimbus]

be carefull I might come over and shave that beard

[plush summit]

How I see it, if people are passionate enough, I think the projects are doing its job 😛

More options are nice 😌

[orchid nimbus]

The N64 core is fantastic - why the @#$@#$@ would I run n64 emulation on a pi...

the only software emulators I use are for platforms the MiSTer can't do

[magic girder]

Me too

And sometimes for netplay 🙂

[plush summit]

I let everyone duke it out and I steal all their ideas and setups, I play the long game

[orchid nimbus]

except for MSX - emulation is still better (openMSX)

[vast pollen]

Seems like I've got nothing to worry about then! Not gonna lie, N64 is my least played system as I've beaten most of the classics to death already

[plush summit]

The MiSTer core is the only way Ill play N64 from now on, I have no interest of getting my real N64 modded or connected in anyway

[zinc dew]

I play N64 on my Pi 5

[orchid nimbus]

you're poor - you can't afford te Pi5 @zinc dew

[plush summit]

We all get a lil sad once in awhile, its normal

[magic girder]

I play emulation station on my MiSTer

[orchid nimbus]

that poor arm core

[magic girder]

Anyone else like to run scrapers on their MiSTer?

[surreal bay]

I play smash bros competitively and have played with some of the best players in the world on my mister and consensus among players is mister is better than original console.

[zinc dew]

Because of accessibility and accuracy?

[surreal bay]

Accuracy is there but mostly stability

Console has random lag spikes

[zinc dew]

Oh interesting! I didn’t know.

[inner isle]

Will Mister be able to run this?

[surreal bay]

Yeah remix has things that try to reduce it. Low poly mode and stages without a lot of polygons but it still happens. Even on overclocked consoles

[plush summit]

Did he ever release it?

[inner isle]

No idea lol

[plush summit]

Yeah, if we had the patch with changes, someone wouldve tested it already 😛

Im guessing it'll work

For the most part, some rom hacks act pretty similar on real hardware vs MiSTer

so if it craps out on real N64 like B3313, the MiSTer core craps out too

[inner isle]

even on a Turbo core?

[plush summit]

I haven't tried on the Turbo core, but its worth a look

tbh, I havent touched the MiSTer in forever lol

[zinc dew]

HERETIC!!!!!

[plush summit]

Im sorry, Infinite Wealth takes priority 😭

[inner isle]

Ha!, I play arcade mostly.

[zinc dew]

I play update_all

[chrome quest]

Update_all into 240p is the combo right there

But also getting further in Goemon, great fun!

[mellow raft]

Gonna be getting on a plane in 48 hours :S

Taking my MiSTer

[zinc dew]

Where we going

[mellow raft]

Based on others' experiences, seems they're fine...

Minnesota 😄

[zinc dew]

MiSTersota?

[mellow raft]

mmhm xD

actual concerns would be when there's a PCB connected to a glob of goop or a container of liquid

PCB's alone can't esplode lol

that's what they're generally looking for

That's why someone got pulled aside for a PB&J once

peanut butter sets it off

[zinc dew]

I’ve taken my MiSTer a few times on the plane and no one’s asked me anything

Which was disappointing honestly

[mellow raft]

yeah I have a friend in security. I described the device and he's like pfft... people travel with random PCB's all the time... it's fine

even with the coin cell battery

[mortal panther]

I've walked through airport security with my vape mod never leaving my pocket... and if anything looks like a makeshift bomb or remote detonating device, it's that.

[thorn quiver]

I got asked about what looked like a bomb belt

It was a family pack of Nutella jars they sold in the tax-free shop

[topaz otter]

We're you wearing them in a bandolier lol

[thorn quiver]

It was a row of five grenade-sized jars in a sort of gift box

[elfin depot]

Security screener, "what pretell is this device", Robby:

https://tenor.com/view/slap-chop-worthless-toss-get-out-go-away-gif-20375405

[vast delta]

what vscale_mode would be optimal for the N64? i just played a bit of conker in the latest turbo core and I had some artifacts in the image, almost like ghosting

I had vscale_mode=0 and vsync_adjust=0

hdr and vrr enabled

[raw oriole]

I got pulled up in JFK security for having a Nintendo DS in a clear replacement shell. Had to play Mario Kart at them to get the grudging go-ahead.

[lament escarp]

I would've demanded metroid hunters as proof.

[latent dagger]

https://youtube.com/@videogameesoterica?si=_XLGQyUSsztowy7U

[topaz otter]

Esoterica involves things that are only understandable by an inner circle of people, such as those with in-depth knowledge of an obscure subject.

[latent dagger]

lolol

@cerulean elk guess your content is only for the most hardcore of nerds and nobody else

RIP channel growth

[cerulean elk]

Someone isn’t using their Google fu

I even spelled FPGA wrong and still found it

[latent dagger]

I'm just talking shit about the quote from Oracle bro

[turbid warren]

I love misspelling terms that are just letters

[storm vessel]

Gonna keep on misreading it as Video Game Eroticas.

[latent dagger]

nice. just like that one Madonna song

[cerulean elk]

Haha I know

Also I haven’t done real hardware comparison yet

[compact depot]

FGPA

[latent dagger]

FAP(G)

[cerulean elk]

It’s on my list of shit to make but I just haven’t made it

I’ve got way too many N64 themed videos I’ve already made and scheduled

[cerulean elk]

That’s what they call @zinc dew Mister Fap isn’t it?

[zinc dew]

Video Game Erotica

[cerulean elk]

Too late burnt you first

[latent dagger]

Robby popped in too fast for it to be from the ping which means he was already lurking

[zinc dew]

I give up lol

[cerulean elk]

The Texas rangers told him he can’t lurk anymore. There was that peephole in the Strickland Propane bathroom he got caught using

[latent dagger]

@zinc dew you advocate for Raspberry Pi's right?

explain to me why my Pico was dead on arrival?

[cerulean elk]

More like Raspberry Why amirite 🤔

[latent dagger]

I had to order a new one

I can't RGH3 my 360 without it bro

my whole desk is a mess for the next week

[cerulean elk]

That reminds me I’ve still got a Pi 5 in a box and I need to make up a project so it’s not just $80 wasted dollars

Or sell the damn thing

[turbid warren]

I've heard the name Raspberry Pi but idk what it is

[latent dagger]

Turn it into a Pi Hole

see? messy desk

can't do anything with it until I get the new Pico

and hopefully this one isn't DOA as well

[zinc dew]

I don’t know why your pico was doa

[latent dagger]

I don't either and it sucked lol.

[cerulean elk]

Hey look @zinc dew it’s your old high school group

[latent dagger]

I did all the soldering work only to get to the step with the pico and Windows was just like "this device malfunctioned and windows doesn't know what to do with it"

[cerulean elk]

(Burn from a detail in a photo I didn’t take. Thats why I’m PRO)

[latent dagger]

lol. The Jack Pack

[jolly turret]

I'm still working with FGPAzumSpass on the audio, might be best to wait until we're entirely finished to get the most accurate comparison. I'm also holding back from releasing my audio filter presets in the meantime.

[teal citrus]

Oh, for fogs sake!

[cerulean elk]

I always hit O somehow

[teal citrus]

Mistypes like these also happen to me.

[gritty basalt]

Yo! I'm new to the whole making reports aspect for debugging/play testing stuff, so I'll try to not take up too much of everyone's time on this. I'm here to make a report on some of my repeated playthroughs of RE2. So I'm real late with actually reporting on this, but since the Turbo Core hasn't been updated yet and I did all my testing on the current Turbo core build I figure that what info I was able to gather over this month might prove useful somehow if only to confirm whether some things are working as intended or still need to be examined.

I'll be dividing my report into three segments starting with this one, where I'll start from the beginning of my testing towards the start of August and make a general summary on everything as I go along, adding images/video clips along the way and any additional commentary as needed, because there was at least one area of the game I didn't think to get any footage for that I think is bugged in some way. Anyway, to start, at the beginning of my testing which started around the beginning of this month I managed to get the game to crash ONE time in the spot shown at "RE2 Only Crash on Turbo Core.jpg". It happened around 35 minutes into my having started the game with Leon A, where I shot the zombies grouped on the ground in front of the corpse in the image, which caused the game to freeze. I didn't know about the existence of the debug menu until today, so I unfortunately couldn't have used it during this specific instance or ANY of the additional testing I did in order to record some numbers/data that might prove useful to you guys, so I took a picture of the scene with my phone (which is what you'll see me using with the other stuff I'll be mentioning in due time) in the absence of proper video capturing hardware.

I never encountered any other crashes since then. Moving on to section 2 of 3 of my report...

[eternal ravine]

He's illuminati

[gritty basalt]

I didn't think to capture any footage of it, but I HAVE encountered the texture glitch that is seen when Mr. X burst through the wall and into the hallway outside the conference room of the RPD, which looks identical to what other people have reported.

I don't know if this particular visual effect was ever reported, but on the large-sized elevator leading to the underground lab, which you can see in "RE2 Texture Glitch Large-sized elevator", I noticed that the light fixtures lining the tunnel of the elevator would briefly glitch through the floor, rightr around where the control pannel is shown, before disappearing back behind the background JPEG and moving upward as normal. I first encountered this glitch in the Leon A scenario, and it's present in the other three scenarios as well.

I know this particular visual glitch was also previously reported, but the rubble seen falling from the ceiling in the self-destruct room of the underground lab doesn't render properly. I'm merely reporting this to confirm that this glitch was also present on my particular MiSTer setup (Dual 3.0 Ram sticks and digital/HDMI out, for those who are wondering what some of my specs are.).

Now, last section, section 3...

I played the game normally through repeat playthroughs, using either one save or no saves through most playthroughs. I don't know what exactly happened in that one particular hallway that managed to cause the game to crash that one time, but it never happened again even after I repeated the same exact actions that seemingly caused the game to crash in the first place.

Also, I almost forgot to mention this, but in Claire's A scenario, when you need to synthesize the DEVIL vaccine, the room on the top floor of the underground lab where you create the vaccine base seems to have an audio glitch present where, after you start up the large machine that creates the base the electronic humming noise the machine makes stays on loop long after the process is completed, and can be heard even if you leave and go into other rooms, and even in the inventory menu. It would only stop sometime after going down to the lower floors of the lab.

I didn't think to get footage of this particular glitch either, because I forgot to do so the second time I had a chance to do so, so unfortunately I can only give you my word that this glitch indeed occurred on at least 2 playthroughs where this exact scenario can happen, both on regular and randomizer modes.

... And that pretty much sums up what I was able to gather on my own. I finished testing the main game just the other day, after having unlocked the 4th Survivor mode.

Again, not sure how useful any of the information I provided here will be at this point in time, especially since I didn't know how to access the debug menu as I did all of said testing, but here you guys go.

On a final note though, I will say that randomizer mode on this version of the game is pretty fun. It screwed me out of an A ranking for Leon B at one point because that particular run NEVER spawned any blue herbs out in the wild at any point and some stupid spooky spider decided to spit poison on me and forced me to use all my herbs and first-aid sprays that I had collected until I could get to the stash of blue herbs located in the lower floor of the sewer level. Want my advice? NEVER assume that the RNG gods will bless you, until they actually do. It'll make EVERYTHING much more stressful as you play, in a good way.

[mellow raft]

how dare you flaunt your access to a Jack in the Box at me...

We don't have them in GA.... yet

Funny enough @maiden lintel ... GA may be getting Jack in the Box next... I recall our conversation that one time haha

https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/entertainment/dining/2024/07/01/jack-in-the-box-national-chains-opening-15-new-restaurants-georgia/74271778007/

If I drive north or south of me... I get Jack in the Box

Just fucking GA man ... lol

🌮 🌮 🌮

[mortal panther]

We don't have them in MS either, and I really wish we did.

[spare meadow]

If you liked, I could check this weekend if this happens to me too

[compact oracle]

Sorry to ask where do I get the Turbocore?

[remote hatch]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/N64_MiSTer/tree/main/releases_turbo

[compact oracle]

cheers

[compact oracle]

cheers

[zinc dew]

Heads-up, there’ll be a new release soon. So check back in a few weeks!

[dawn halo]

Just to be sure, regarding the crash, were you playing with ruleset's patch?

[maiden flower]

ooh i just saw this - does this mean conker's bad fur day no longer crashes/freezes randomly?

[magic girder]

Not if you use the most recent release core from update_all. The turbo core hasn’t been updated yet though

[maiden flower]

that's awesome!

[magic girder]

Just reminded me to update the pinned post 🙂

[spare meadow]

Can confirm: same glitch at my side too (Leon A). Have a save file at this point if anyone want to try

@gritty basalt if you could open a github issue it would be nice. My English isn’t that good

[weary palm]

Where does JFG crash without a patch?

After name input is what I've heard, I think.

[zinc dew]

Yeah, when initializing the first cutscene

crashes on some asteroid in frame

[spare meadow]

For me, always crash just a few moments after the name input, when the first cinematic begins

[gritty basalt]

By all means!

[gritty basalt]

I was, yes.

[gritty basalt]

I'll get right on it!

[dawn halo]

ah ok!

[gritty basalt]

Yeah, it only happened just the one time. It's why I did several no-save/single save runs just to see if I could get it to crash again in a single setting, but it never happened again.

[weary palm]

I'm trying to implement n64 patches in mister main right now

[spare meadow]

This is amazing!! Thank you!

[weary palm]

I'm hardcoding the jfg patch in main for this first proof-of-concept...

[gritty basalt]

Now this should be interesting! This won't cause any conflicts with already-patched ROMs, will it? Will it be like soft-patching like what some software emulators are capable of?

[weary palm]

No, it will check for en exact byte-to-byte match. Yes, pretty much

[gritty basalt]

Cool!

[gritty basalt]

The issue is now open on Github!

[weary palm]

hm, I'm getting alignment exception. that's probably because I try to use 8-bit addressing in 32-bit space when patching the in-memory rom.

[weary palm]

that was it

[gritty basalt]

There, now you're flexing BOTH arms 👍

[viral portal]

Hey it's me, from a few weeks in the future. Just wanted to come back and let you know that this new release is confirmed not to release today. See you all in my present!

[velvet nexus]

there's voice in gauntlet legends now. That was the final thing I personally wanted from the core. Thanks so much

[weary palm]

Patches are working now 🙂

[jolly turret]

Built into the core?

[weary palm]

Built into MiSTer main binary

but i haven't done a "pull request" yet

[jolly turret]

This is amazing.

[magic girder]

Whatcha trying to do? Patch on the fly?

[weary palm]

I'm getting rid of the need to applying patches manually for the games listed here: https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=8078

[magic girder]

So, yes? 😅

[spare meadow]

So are we gonna be able to use cheats for the parched games too?

[solemn marlin]

It has to be patched or played on a special core?

[weary palm]

Yes, that should work

A test build added to #test-builds 😉

[zinc dew]

@weary palm that’s cool, how does it work? It detects an unmodified version of the rom and automatically patches it when it loads?

[weary palm]

Yes, exactly

cheats works, I'm cheating my ass off in JFG right now

I added a tag type to N64-database.txt
772cc6eab2620d2d3cdc17bbc26c4f68 ntsc|cic6105|flash128k|rpak|p4:853f30b5|p5:2e13d8f9|p27fa7:1f006315|p27fab:1b008314|p27fae:1800c314|p27faf:021b0500|p27fb1:15004004|p27fb3:1300401c|p27fba:0c006014|p27fc0:03006014|p27fc3:03004010 # Jet Force Gemini (USA)

all those p-tags are new.

[spare meadow]

How does it work? When I load a unpached rom it will be pached for the time I play (like a virtual pach) or it will pach the rom “forever”. Sorry for the noob question

[weary palm]

It's just an in-memory patch. I don't patch the files on the SD card

questions are welcome

If no obvious bugs are found I will make a pull request at the end of this week

Wow, JFG sure has great frame rate

I've never played this game

...but I do own a cart of it. xD

[vapid hawk]

the patches themselves are stored inside n64-database.txt ?

[weary palm]

yes

[vapid hawk]

could you support references to external files for bigger patches?

[weary palm]

Perhaps, but how would we distribute those?

[vapid hawk]

hmm

yeah i don't know, all the ideas i can think of involve like, UI changes i think

how do emulators that support runtime patching do it?

[zinc dew]

I think patching games so they work with the core is a good idea, it’s very core specific, but anything beyond that gets tricky

[vapid hawk]

yeah