Sega Mega Drive/CD/32X

[fallow dome]

The MegaSega experience cannot be beat

[dense bane]

Yeah specially desert bus !

[fallow dome]

I used to dislike the Genesis sound chip but now I love it. Sega is a helluva drug, tell you wuhat.

[thorny pivot]

Uninspired GEMS tunes gave it a bad reputation

[fading hare]

In the right hands, the Genesis could output some killer music. Unfortunately, there are a lot of games where it was seriously mishandled which lead to its bad reputation.

But man, when you play a game where it was done right?

[simple apex]

Chemical Zone makes up for all of it

[thorny pivot]

Chemical Plant Zone was my jam.

[fallow dome]

My Chemical Plant Zone Romance

https://tenor.com/view/fozzie-muppets-waka-gif-5564088

[simple apex]

When I was
a young boy
my father
took me into the zone
to see some robot bugggs

[fading hare]

https://tenor.com/view/jeb-bush-clap-gop-republican-gif-5952721

Batman on the Genesis also had a killer soundtrack.

[fallow dome]

I thought it was more of a Killing Joke

https://tenor.com/view/fozzie-muppets-waka-gif-5564088

[fallow dome]

I forgot that was a sticker lmao

[pine crystal]

One of my all-time favorite Genesis soundtracks has to be Thunder Force III.

[fading hare]

Which means it can be used without concequence!

Listen to this with headphones. Pure 🔥 !
https://youtu.be/A6aZsRdLbqw?si=G_QRxbQ5g4-5rOwT

[narrow panther]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGo6rSyk3ks This looks great 🤩

[woeful goblet]

Can´t wait for the new build!

[plain quiver]

In progress.

Faster than the machine.

[woeful goblet]

Thank you!!

[plain quiver]

Golden Axe - 32x Edition works correctly now.

So I'm closing the issue on the tracker @woeful goblet

[woeful goblet]

Thank you for open it!

[versed rapids]

testing the core 32x against test
Last Official Release

update of today

[manic ridge]

So... One more green?

[narrow panther]

ROM SPEED TEST4 regressed

[versed rapids]

the background is correct on test and some tests are better and one is regressed

it seems

[noble thunder]

What's with that VDP Spr Change Midscreen

That looks slightly different if those two results are supposed to match

[manic ridge]

Dammit!

[vestal otter]

i guess 32x+CD combo not soon

[pale plover]

Simply because there isn't enough space on the FPGA. It's why the SEGA CD and SEGA 32X are separated cores in the first place.

[night cape]

Maybe if someone finds a way to run the entire CD part on the ARM side, guess it is too much.

[fallow dome]

There’s also practically no benefit for including both in one core. It’s a lot of work for minimal pay off. But I imagine on the MiSTer2’s better hardware it may be doable.

[night cape]

Yeah, only 6 games. Most of them FMV games. I've ran Fahrenheit 32XCD on my tower, didn't went too far.

[fallow dome]

Not saying it isn’t cool and I think fully replicating it is a great goal. But core devs work for free and in their spare time so often a value judgement like that happens and they don’t pursue it.

Gotta be realistic.

[old sierra]

It seems like something that will only happen if on MiSTer 2 srg320 decides he wants to combine all three, which long run may (emphasis on may) be a timesaver as it would be only one core to maintain instead of 3, and the core could run the CD32x games.

But even then, there would still be the 3 separate cores on current MiSTer, so probably not even a time saver

[light mist]

if it is implemented but not wired up, would it still use up resources or are such things optimized away?

like having a single 32xcd project with different build targets

[old sierra]

My understanding is everything is there and taking up resources, even if not used, like the SNES special chips on that core. Another issue if the new Megadrive core is the 1:1 implementation that is very space heavy compared with the previous core.

[pine crystal]

There's also the issue that the original Mega Drive/Genesis core is now defunct, replaced with a newer one that is designed very differently and almost certainly very incompatible with how the Sega CD and 32X cores are designed.

Would probably require a lot of effort to get those to play nice with each other.

[cloud otter]

Some of the dead connections would be pruned by fitter, but it would take up more space. Additionally both 32X and MegaCD are running highly modified f68K implementations that are not the same, so just the act of getting the Megadrive portion wired up to be used by both systems is going to expand it, before even bolting on the other system. There's also the issues of PLA saturation and DSP block utilization. As @pine crystal says, there's also the fact that the original Genesis core is archived. That used the f68K implementation that has been hacked up. The new setup uses a (controversial for a number of reasons, but neat for hardware preservation in praxis) decap process to do a more electrically accurate core. Some things ballooned, some things shrank. But overall the core itself is larger and likely far more sensitive to ripping out components since it's doing transistor level logic rather than output parity logic.

So, while someone with one of those big brains you can't get on Wish might be able to make it work, it would probably take someone with more time and knowledge than is interested in that specific task.

[light mist]

ic, thanks

[cloud otter]

NP. I'd love to see it happen on a newer platform.

Maybe if the planets align some day....
🥁 <pshhh>

[prisma fiber]

We "need" Mega LD as well for our mighty tower of power! 😄

[split moth]

Saturn FPGA Jupiter FPGA

[limpid portal]

I'm wondering if the megadrive core is compatible with the Titan Overdrive 2 demo, has anyone tried it?

[blissful lagoon]

Yep, all effects were glitch free as far as I saw.. I just ran it once when the new core was just released.

[rotund bluff]

In fact, the old core would also run it flawlessly if I'm not mistaken

[blissful lagoon]

Yep

[graceful edge]

Do Lightgun Games actually work over SNAC?

[night cape]

I was able to play Master System games with a Light Phaser over SNAC.

[night cape]

SNAC is like connecting directly to the console, you also need the proper analog video output, like a CRT TV, then it should work.

[graceful edge]

On the mega drive core?

[graceful edge]

I know that. I just want to be sure. The saturn core as an example doesn't support lightguns yet.

[night cape]

Iirc yes.

[cloud otter]

Yes, megadrive supports lightguns just fine over snac. SMS games have less drift than on the SMS core over SNAC as well in my testing (however, they are not perfect and SMS on Megadrive in general isn't perfect even on real hardware).

[trim silo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuQOvlfeCP4&ab_channel=Pigsy'sRetroGameDevTutorials
Some interesting homebrew stuff in the works for genesis. Assuming most of these will work on mister since they're designed for real hardware

[celest robin]

at least as long as they're not fake-o like paprium

[trim silo]

Pier solar is just the tip of the iceberg

[amber gulch]

I played pier solar on ps4 and thought it's pretty mediocre. But some day I'll play it on mister with the enhanced sound cd just for the novelty.

[glass shale]

Pier Solar is a masterpiece!

[light mist]

it does some nice technical things.

[rotund bluff]

But is the story any good or is it generic?

[light mist]

Maybe... I dropped it back then after a few hours because the healing spell caused slowdown on original hardware

[glass shale]

It’s pretty good

[rotund bluff]

Lunar level of good? FF6 level of good? 😄

[glass shale]

Almost Lunar level

The “Solar” in the game name is actually a homage to “Lunar”

[rotund bluff]

Ah, I see... 🙂 I will have to play it then, loved Lunar & Eternal Blue back in the day

[glass shale]

Play it. You’ll like it

[rotund bluff]

I will follow your advice

[light mist]

did any port get a speedup option?

[glass shale]

Lemme know what you think about it later! 👍

[glass shale]

Battle slowdowns are part of the experience! 😌

[light mist]

But it also was on the field

since it played the same animation

and at least in the beginning (if there ever was later) you have no multi heal and have to endure it for each character

[glass shale]

The poisoning at the desert in the beginning of the game can be harsh to some people yeah 🥲

[light mist]

Also the interface for field healing was somewhat strange for selcting the target character

[glass shale]

Oh c’mon! You just don’t like RPGs 🤣

[light mist]

I finished Albert Oddyssey (saturn)!

[glass shale]

That’s not enough

[light mist]

lunar 1 from mega cd up to psp

[glass shale]

Now we’re talking

[light mist]

I was slightly confused after starting the saturn undub a few weeks ago

seems like they took the psp dub instead of WD

[rotund bluff]

I finished Lunar and Eternal Blue both on the PSX back in 2000 or so

A year after I finished Xenogears there. Now that was an awesome game!

And with some adult and interesting themes too

I hope more RPGs were like that, instead of the bland "hero-fights-evil" cliche that plagues many of them

[surreal nebula]

Maybe using the turbo option of the old genesis core

[chrome moss]

I am still waiting for a fully finished translation of the Saturn versions. I haven’t played the lunar games for 20 years and really want to revisit them but a different version. Already played in SegaCD and PSX

[fading hare]

I still need to play the Sega CD versions of the Lunar games. I also only ever played the PS1 versions. Still have them both CIB!

[pine crystal]

Those were my first experiences with both of those games as they came out, and the primary reasons why I have such fond memories of the Sega CD when it was released.

The PS versions were better by almost every metric, but there's still just something about those originals that I will always prefer.

Although I will recommend the 'Un-Worked Designs' versions.

[chrome moss]

SCD battles def go faster. As does loading. No idea in the Saturn version

[fringe zodiac]

Another interesting question is which is the better Remake? PS1 or Saturn. I guess that there is no clear consensus on that.

[pine crystal]

PSP verion is clearly the better option... on the Vita. 😉

[solar hemlock]

I have the latest Mega Drive core (24.04.08) on my MiSTer-Pi but it can't find my games which are in the usb0/games/Genesis folder. How can I fix this?

[carmine pine]

You can either move the roms to the MegaDrive folder or do a symbolic link to that folder

[solar hemlock]

@carmine pine ok that works. My boot.rom doesn't seem to work but it worked fine in an older Genesis core.

[carmine pine]

yeah, boot.rom doesn't work in the megadrive core

the real genesis didn't really have a bios like that so it's not used

[solar hemlock]

That sucks. Worked fine in an earlier core

[pine crystal]

Why does it suck that it's not needed? That's a good thing. Needing it in the first place made no sense.

[solar hemlock]

I have boot.rom for other consoles and it was nice to have a boot animation instead of a black screen.

[pine crystal]

Oooh, that kind of boot ROM. Thought you meant just standard BIOS file.

[proper agate]

The later Genesis had a rom that made the "produced or licensed by Sega" message.

[carmine pine]

https://github.com/uberyoji/mister-boot-roms - check this out and load it with a .mgl file instead

[solar hemlock]

@carmine pine yea I got that working this way, thanks

[limber pine]

I can make it boot to the old bios rom though only via keeping the TMSS-option on - wish there was I way to force it on only on boot, not for other games

[unborn osprey]

guys this may be a stupid question, but i'm trying to play night trap on the sega cd core and it says thie game requires the sega 32x attachement., do i have to do something to get this to work?

[fallow dome]

Get the Sega CD version that doesn’t require the 32X

[unborn osprey]

thanks , just did that

[fallow dome]

As an explanation, the FPGA doesn’t have enough “room” to handle all three processors at once. In order to run the handful of 32X enhanced Sega CD games you’d need the Genesis core, the 32X core, and the Sega CD core bundled together as a single core.

The Genesis core is the most accurate emulation of the Genesis since it’s a complete recreation of the Genesis hardware. That level of insane accuracy basically takes up the entire FPGA alone. This is why all three are split into their own cores.

[thorny pivot]

Correct. This is proof of blast processing, SEGA does, and most importantly, that 32X is more powerful than N64. “MiSTer can do N64 but not the tower of power?” Yes, that’s correct. Suck it, Nintendopes. 😎

[fallow dome]

lmao “Nintendopes”

[limber pine]

Better than "Nintendrones'

[fallow dome]

I am a huge Nintendo fan and these are great lmao

[unborn osprey]

Lol yeah i figured that was the case or i just needed to add the 32x bios or something, not sure why i had the 32x version of the game

But fixed now, thanks for the help

And explanation

[fallow dome]

My pleasure and thanks for being part of the community here! 🍻

[polar cargo]

Say, I keep getting random signal drops from my M30 2.4g for Genesis Mini, as in the controller stops responding for a second or so but then works again as usual. But it’s enough to make you lose at whatever game you’re playing.

What could I do to try to resolve this?
(I have updated the FW so it’s current but no change)

[glass shale]

Throw it away. Ended up doing that here. 😔

[polar cargo]

For real?

[carmine pine]

Probably not lol

[glass shale]

Nah! Just not using it anymore. Those packet drops just make the controller useless unfortunately

[polar cargo]

What about using BT adapter instead for it?

[glass shale]

That’s another controller then. You cant use BT on a 2.4g controller

I personally won’t be purchasing any wireless 8bitdo controller any sooner

[polar cargo]

I have zero problems with the NeoGeo ones like this.

[thorny pivot]

I had that controller with that same issue. There was no fix at that time so I returned it. The 2.4Ghz with DE9 adapter works well though. The only down side is you lose the shoulder buttons when you're wireless as they act as alternate Z and C buttons.

[polar cargo]

Oh, this kinda sucks. Thx for the confirmation on the issue tho. So, what is this 2.4Ghz (adapter? not the one that came with the controller I guess) with a DE9 adapter?

[thorny pivot]

Yeah, I believe the controller and internals are the same between both version, it's just the dongle that's different. The only way to get the dongle is to buy a controller though. https://www.amazon.com/8Bitdo-Wireless-Gamepad-Original-Genesis-Drive/dp/B07HB1XFQW/

[polar cargo]

Gotcha. So then DE9 to USB then?

[thorny pivot]

Yeah, you'll need a daemonbite or similar DE9 to USB adapter.

[polar cargo]

Thx. Not sure what to do about this. Just return it or go for a wired solution or something else.

[thorny pivot]

You can use the M30 controllers wired.

I'd still return it though.

[polar cargo]

Hmm. But do they still lose connectivity wired? I wouldn't suppose so tho.

[thorny pivot]

Nah, it'll be fine.

Personally, I'd get the BT version. You can use it wired or wireless and although the latency is not as low as 2.4Ghz it is low enough that you likely won't notice it

My main controller is the 8bitdo Saturn kit that uses BT. I'm sure its latency isn't the best but my gaming isn't suffering becasue of it.

[polar cargo]

The rpub controller latency site says there's about 0.5ms difference. BT probably would suffice then as long as it doesn't have the drop outs.

[thorny pivot]

I have a few of their BT controllers and they work well with no drop outs, I'm sure the M30 is no different. You'll get the shoulder buttons back too.

[polar cargo]

I presume their controller kits would have the same or nearly the same latency as their BT controllers. I might just get the BT m30 then.

[polar cargo]

Oh, one more thing: do you use 8bitdo's BT adapter or a generic one?

[thorny pivot]

I use a generic one. I do have the 8bitdo V2 adapter but I use it more on consoles, like for the OGX360 adapter. On mister it's just a generic BT/wifi combo dongle. I have an Asus BT500 adapter on another mister and the BT performance between both adapters is identical so don't feel the need to get a high end adapter.

One thing to note is it might be a good idea to attach the BT adapter to a short USB extension to get the adapter away from the Mister USB hub. Some of us have noticed intereference before and the way we've fixed it was but putting a 6" or 1' USB extension in between the BT dongle and the USB hub.

[polar cargo]

Sounds good and good advice on the extension. Appreciate it 😄

[pine crystal]

I've always used my M30 with the USB cable.

[thorny pivot]

Yeah, seems to fix interference/drop outs.

[chrome moss]

My m30’s a button sticks a lot. Always has since it was new. That’s my biggest complaint. Also only ever use it wired

[void eagle]

I didn't have that issue with M30, but I have had similar issues with some retro-bit Genesis and Saturn controllers.

[brave plume]

Does the mega drive core offset to the right on a crt for anyone else?

[livid spire]

What are you comparing it too? Just an FYI in case you might be in the situation I was, RGB SCART for example tends to have an image shift compared to composite on the same TV

[brave plume]

PSX, Snes 240p test suits, pvm 14m2u

I dont have a real megadrive if thats just what it does

[livid spire]

Might have to wait for someone more knowledgeable. My understanding is some consoles are indeed correctly all different from each other

[brave plume]

Only time I have noticed offsetting is some of the arcade cores but theres a h-offset in the options to adjust. my real hardware is n64, saturn and dreamcast, nothing under 240p

might be accurate and the old genesis core was just centered

[fickle hemlock]

the old genesis core and the new megadrive core should have the same centering

afaik the old one was carefully centered to match real hardware years ago

[livid spire]

Ahh, sorry, I'd not considered if you were saying the two implementations were different.

[brave plume]

ok thats something I wanted to hear so maybe a pvm issue

I also tried the genesis test suite for calibration then the others are offset lol

[fickle hemlock]

yeah you want to calibrate it pretty inexactly, with plenty of overscan like how a consumer set would be

that'll conceal all this

have you got the underscan/overscan buttons on your pvm?

[brave plume]

yeah, the shift is about half and inch

[fickle hemlock]

you can think of those as profile buttons really, they have mostly independent settings in the service menu

[brave plume]

ah yeah thats a good idea

[fickle hemlock]

i'd probably make underscan similar to what you have now, neutral more consumer, and use overscan to make gba/gbc fullscreen

but you can do whatever you want

[visual magnet]

hi is it possible to have the 12mhz overclock on the nuked-md? it helps a lot on several games

[fallow dome]

No, unfortunately not. I inquired about this with Sorg (the one who worked with Nukey to bring it over to MiSTer) and there’s no more room on the FPGA for more options.

The Genesis core is still available so you can use that. Just be aware that the option has a tendency to break games so remember that if you run into issues.

Such is the price for accuracy. When you completely replicate hardware it takes up a lot more space than utilizing shortcuts.

[fickle hemlock]

getting nukey to run at all on mister was an amazing feat really, its a super literal genesis implementation with none of the usual accommodations for an fpga

which is why its so accurate

[visual magnet]

It's really a shame, I'm sorry that this overclocking option will never be available 😔

[fickle hemlock]

maybe on some future hardware

[fallow dome]

You have software emulators which do an amazing job. Nothing to be sad about!

[hard silo]

It would be nice if there were rom hacks that could remove the slowdowns

Simlar to Metal Slug 2

[fallow dome]

I think there are a few actually. Road Rash 3 springs to mind.

[hard silo]

I wonder if Sonic spinball got a speed hack

[visual magnet]

maybe they can hack like the super nintendo, let's hope

[surreal nebula]

Maybe if implemented the use of SVP, something like Vitor Vilela did with the SA-1 on the snes

[polar cargo]

All 3 of the Road Rash improvement patches are quite nice on the old core

[thorny pivot]

Might be nice to keep the old core around and updated with most recent framework as a Turbo core, like with PSX and N64.

[polar cargo]

That's actually exactly what I have, except the old core is the turbo core cuz it can do turbo 😉

[fallow dome]

Old core is deprecated and will not be updated anymore. People are always free to manually add it back of course.

Or even fork it and update it themselves

[fading hare]

Or you can stick a fork in it, because it's done.

[pine crystal]

Literally unplayable now.

[drowsy hemlock]

An interesting idea 🤔

[pine crystal]

A great forkin' idea.

[polar cargo]

I got the M30 BT version and I've yet to get any dropouts on the signal. Thx again 😄

[thorny pivot]

Glad it worked out.

[fading hare]

I have two bluetooth M30s, and they're just dandy.

[drowsy hemlock]

Bluetooth? Ew

[fading hare]

Well since I have multiple of them, I should say blueteeth.

[drowsy hemlock]

2.4G master race, rise up!

[fading hare]

The blueteeth will eat them 2.4G for breakfast!

[drowsy hemlock]

If they’re fast enough, which they’re probably not

[fading hare]

If the blue blur has tought us anything, it's that blue is fastest!

[drowsy hemlock]

I do love sanic

Except for those awful water levels

And all the casino levels

And basically anything that’s not the first level on each of the first 3 games 😅

[fading hare]

Sanic hater confirmed! Burn the witch!

[thorny pivot]

Chemical Plant Zone hater? That stage’s soundtrack

[drowsy hemlock]

That’s a good one actually

[fallow dome]

Sonic is cool. Really fun games.

[drowsy hemlock]

It’s probably blasphemy to say it, but I don’t think the original Mega Drive one is that good. A lot of the stages do a lot of things to really slow Sonic down and disturb your flow - waiting for platforms, water levels and things like that. The other games are better, but the first is kinda bad outside of a few stages

[fallow dome]

it’s not blasphemy, sometimes games don’t click with ya

I have fun with the pace changes but I can see why people wouldn’t

[drowsy hemlock]

It didn’t bother me that much back in the day, but going back to the first game feels kinda painful at times

The Master System first game is though

Also… SEGA had the best names for all of its consoles

Mega Drive sounds so much cooler than “Super Nintendo Entertainment System” 🥱

[fallow dome]

Sega Genesis sounds so much cooler than “Sega Mega Drive”

[drowsy hemlock]

False. Black bear.

[fallow dome]

lol damn

[drowsy hemlock]

Saturn vs Nintendo 64 vs PlayStation?

Actually, should I just call the N64, the “64” in this case? 🤔

[pine crystal]

The Nintendo Super Nintendo Entertainment System... Nintendo.

[drowsy hemlock]

Liquid crystal display display

But yeah, I’m definitely gonna start calling it the Nintendo Nintendo 64, if I remember

[pine crystal]

Needs more light emitting diode lights.

[celest robin]

Sonic 2 is the real sweet spot between the awkward stop-and-go design of Sonic 1 and the starting-to-lean-towards-too-much-speed-for-speed's-sake vibe of S3+K

[tulip surge]

Don't listen to Phil Collins' lies

[fading hare]

Honestly completely agree that Sonic 1 isn't very good. Love the other Genesis games though.

[polar cargo]

One adapter works for multiple controllers, roite?

[celest robin]

Sonic 1 does have a baller OST tho

all of the Genesis Sonic games have awesome soundtracks, except Sonic CD

(which has two)

[fading hare]

Any bluetooth controllers, or multiple M30s specifically? I used multiple bluetooth controllers in general all the time, but I've never tried multiple M30s on my MiSter at the same time since I use one of them on my MiSTer, and the other one on my Switch.

[polar cargo]

I thought you meant you had two BT M30s on your MiSTer on one BT receiver - I just wanted to see if that was the case and then I wouldn’t need to buy another receiver for a second M30 controller
I don’t know BT particularly well 😅

[fading hare]

Well by multiple bluetooth controllers, I mean that I use them all with the same receiver, not multiple receivers. Like I can for example use my M30 and my NSO Genesis controller at the same time with the same receiver on my MiSTer.

[night cape]

Sometimes my two bluetooth M30, connected into a single Tplink UB5A bluetooth adapter shows some issues. I'm yet to find out why. Sometimes they work fine.

[glass shale]

Some BT receivers start struggling with 2-3 joysticks connected

[stiff grove]

The MegaDrive core has authentic offsets to real console, the old Genesis core did not have correct horizontal center compared to real console. Offhand, I believe SNES Horizontal Center is also off compared to a real console

you can usually find a good compromise H center position, but if you go by reference overscan for the PVM you'll always have some left and right dead space

[uncut heath]

has anyone here found a way to get Sonic Megamix to work on this core? It's .iso, i kinda figure there are some tools out there somewhere to convert it to bin/cue and then to .chd

[night cape]

You need to use the Mega CD core for the .iso version of Megamix, there is an older version that runs on Mega Drive core.

[plucky flare]

just convert it directly to chd

[plain quiver]

I tried it with the CHD format, works perfectly.

[fallow dome]

What’s Sonic Mega Mix? Cool mod?

[night cape]

Very, it's worth giving a go.

[fallow dome]

Oh it’s the people who did Sonic Mania, wow

[drowsy hemlock]

Now it’s more intriguing

[uncut heath]

https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Megamix

[grave wing]

I loaded up After Burner 32X and after the Sega logo it went to a diagnostic menu... which didn't surprise me at first until I realized I was playing the 32X version and not the arcade.

I stupidly reset the game before taking a pic and it worked fine. I then looked up to see if people had known about this and there's a code to get into it.

The thing is, I didn't enter any code. Certainly not one that required me to use two controllers.

Has anyone had any weird issues like this?

[nocturne glacier]

@grave wing ROM hack perhaps?

[reef flame]

After Burner 32X and Space Harrier 32X both have diagnostic modes but as documented they're only supposed to show up with button codes.
https://tcrf.net/Space_Harrier_(32X)
https://tcrf.net/After_Burner_II_Complete_(32X)

[night cape]

Maybe something already in RAM when loading the core/game caused it.

[grave wing]

It wasn't a ROM hack and it was the first image loaded after loading the core. Does the core blank RAM when allocating it?

[split moth]

Oh, this looks really cool, definitely gonna check it out!

[uncut heath]

several of the developers later went on to make Sonic Mania

[halcyon lake]

Im curious on the differences ebtween the 'Genesys' and 'Megadrive' cores?

I've been playing some Sonic 2, and on the Megadrive core 'Tails' AI is utterly broken, like its stupid at the best of times but its actually broken. but it seems to behave correctly in the Genesys core though?

[glass shale]

I remeber Tails being super dumb back then in OG hardware 😅

[halcyon lake]

Sorry, I think this might be a misconfiguration / side-effect of me installing an addon for Sinden lightgun support. I've reset the cores configuration/settings and he is behaving correctly now in both versions of the core

(I think the addon enabled the lightgun support for all the cores, instead of just the Sinden specific ones) which might have been feeding garbage inputs or something into player 2? Im kind of guessing at the moment but the reset has made tails behave more correctly (I wont say smarter, as its still pretty stupid)

[pale plover]

Mega Drive core is more accurate than the Genesis core. The Genesis core has been archived so it won't receive any updates in the future, so it's recommended to use the more updated Mega Drive core instead.

[halcyon lake]

While Im here, More of a general question. What does the 'Backup/save RAM' option actually do?

[pine crystal]

The core is basically a blueprint and schematic for the real hardware.

[pale plover]

Saves your game. You can enable "autosave" in the OSD, which will automatically create a new save file every time the OSD is opened.

Just remember that depending on the game, you will still need to manually save in the game first, and some games simply lack the ability to save.

[halcyon lake]

Are we talking around the same idea as 'save states' in an emulator as a comparision then?

[pine crystal]

Nope. That's different.

[halcyon lake]

.... Did Megadrive games even have the ability to 'save'? Oh I suppose some did, I remember some of the RPG's having a battery backed up save ilke. Landstalker and its ilk

[pine crystal]

When you save in a Genesis title on MiSTer, the game thinks it was successful, but MiSTer knows what really happened.
That information is floating in limbo in MiSTer's RAM waiting to be written to a .sav file.
The Backup/Save RAM option does exactly that.

[halcyon lake]

So if a game uses a battery backed save system, I have to either go into the UI and hit 'save' (or just open the UI if autosave is on) to actually save otherwise that data is lost if I just power the machine down

[pine crystal]

Exactly!

[halcyon lake]

Ooooof, okay thats good to know 😄

[pine crystal]

Seems silly, but it is what it is.

I think it was due to Sorg's (overly paranoid) concerns about too many writes being made automatically to a micro SD card, wearing it out prematurely.

They are far more resilient than he gives them credit for.
Dash cams record and overwrite video to them constantly all over the world, many in 1440p and 4K. That's a lot of data compared to a measly .sav file.

[glass shale]

He should disable the sync command from triggering every second on MiSTer Linux then 🙃

[tulip surge]

I believe some games used some of the sram as work ram, so you wouldn't want to write to SD on every modification

On GB at least

Autosave being off by default seems silly though

[glass shale]

Good call

[manic ridge]

Last release: 08/13/08
Status: In Progress

Soooo this got abandoned I'm guessing?

last beta is from 09

[pine crystal]

Looks that way. I've only tried the v3 cart version.

[uncut heath]

yeah, it never got finished, but whats there is still fun, you can still play it from start to end

[manic ridge]

That's cool! Super bummer it didn't get finished

[drowsy hemlock]

So should we be playing 3.0 or 4.0b? 🙂

[uncut heath]

4.0 has more features, as it was ported to sega cd

in my testing on mister though, i did experience some strange bugs

weird graphical issue in the options menu, and then later i got some very odd collission bugs in game

i don't know if that same thing happens on real hardware, as i don't have an actual sega cd to test it on

[drowsy hemlock]

Oh, there’s also a 5.0a floating around, apparently

[pine crystal]

Yep, sure is. Someone was kind enough to archive a 'leaked build' back in '21.

Something sketchy with that one though. 7-zip complains about unsupported compression format...

[drowsy hemlock]

Hmm.. maybe one to avoid

[manic ridge]

Password is your credit card #

[pine crystal]

Hmm... that didn't work.
I wonder if it also needs that 3-digit code on the back...

[rotund bluff]

Out of genuine curiosity, where in the system is that triggered?

[glass shale]

I can check later, but I’m pretty sure that’s being set by one of the Linux system init scripts in the /etc folder

[rotund bluff]

I would be interested to have that replicated on other small light (X-less) GNU/Linux systems I use and configure for emulation, so if you see it, please tell me 🙂

[glass shale]

Look for this line inside /etc/inittab:

::sysinit:/etc/resync &

The /etc/resync file is a bash file that runs the sync command at every 5 seconds

[rotund bluff]

Many thanks!
I believe this could be better implemented as a systemd service, right?

[glass shale]

I think this is good for its purpose

[rotund bluff]

Yes, on the context of the MiSTer it's perfectly fine. But for a more general system, wouldn't it be better to have that running as a service?

[plain quiver]

Just passing by.

SH2 changes from the Saturn core integrated to the 32x one.

[weak orbit]

Having issues with my snac when using it with Genesis/32x/Megacd core...c-button is acting weird on all joypads ive tried.
Before i could just connect straight to the DB9 connector..using Antonio Villena Mister Plus btw and his DB9 to Snac adapter...
tips would be much appreciated

[thorny pivot]

Pretty sure DB9 SNAC requires Antonio's special DB9 cores. You'll have to go to him for troubleshooting. Some of his devices have their own ecosystem of sorts and have their own core forks.

[weak orbit]

Yea, Ive contacted him, and found the DB9 cores aswell...thx!

[torn dome]

And the maintenance on them is nonexistent

faults on the cores for years that have never been addressed

[thorny pivot]

Yeah, I stay away from his products. Even his RAM has issues.

[rotund bluff]

Yes, I had Antonio's RAM and it was a nightmare, everytime he exchange my RAM module for a new one, another core would fail, show corrup graphics, etc...
Also his I/O board would give me electric shocks when I touched the metallic parts of the USB ports etc.
Stay AWAY from Antonio's products.

[drowsy hemlock]

Electric shocks?! Just what you want in your devices!

[rotund bluff]

Yeah, when I played my MiSTer with Antonio's I/O board, I used my d**k so I can better enjoy the electric shocks. Fun times, indeed 😄

[manic ridge]

Yeah mine said to do that right in the instructions. Might have been a translation error I dunno but there's no going back

[limber pine]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/issues/913

Wonder when this will be dealt with

[polar cargo]

I wish MD+ games could boot in the core. Even MD-MSU seems a bit off.

[drowsy hemlock]

This afternoon’s game: Sonic 2

[tulip surge]

Peak sonic

[drowsy hemlock]

Damn Wing Fortress Zone! 😔

[loud tiger]

I have never played much Sonic tbh. Should try to beat Sonic 1 first.

[drowsy hemlock]

I beat it for the first time on the MiSTer - possibly last year?

So close to the end of Sonic 2 today, but couldn’t bring myself to start again from the beginning straight away

[loud tiger]

I have not explored save states on the MiSTer yet, with the Sega core.

I am not sure if I should play on my original hardware which is still hooked up (and has save states, it's the terra onion cart)

or MiSTer...

But for Sonic I wouldn't mind using save states since I ain't got time for too many restarts

[drowsy hemlock]

Sadly there aren’t any. So if you wanna go with savestates, it’s either your TerraOnion card or software emulation

I didn’t think the game was that hard. Play it once a day for a week and you’ll probably have finished it by then 😅

[loud tiger]

Sega Genesis is the only system out of the older systems that I still prefer to use original hardware. Because I have it going through RGB, it looks just as crisp as my MiSTer.

But when I am lazy, I'll sometimes fire up the Sega core on MiSTer haha

[drowsy hemlock]

Unless you count getting all the chaos emeralds. I haven’t done that yet…

[loud tiger]

I just think the actual Genesis is slightly better, due to those save states

I got the model 1, the one with great audio

Whereas I really prefer the SNES on MiSTer. Looks WAY better than my sad blurry looking SNES

My gosh it looks good.

[drowsy hemlock]

My original Mega Drive is hidden away in storage, and a PAL model anyway 😔

[loud tiger]

Ah yeah

[drowsy hemlock]

It also has some weird behaviour where it starts out as black and white until it gets warmed up. It’s always done that 😅

I have no clue what is causing it

[loud tiger]

oh haha, that's strange

[drowsy hemlock]

I don’t really care anyway since I have the MiSTer 😎

[loud tiger]

Well, my SNES is in a closet haha

The only systems I have left (and I had them all) hooked up are: Gamecube, Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, PS2, and Xbox 360. My NES (for some reason) is hooked up still, but I absolutely never use it and am thinking I'll disconnect it soon. Trying to remember why I kept it. Looks worse than the MiSTer since the NES is hooked up with silly composite...

[manic ridge]

2 is peak but 1 is worth your time for sure

Then you can just ride right into Sonic 3 and Knuckles

honestly I don't care for Sonic 3, it felt like they tried to jam in too many random mechanics

I like Sonic and Knuckles though

[fading hare]

I'm not a huge fan of some of the level design in Sonic 3. Sonic 2 is probably my favorite overall, but I also have a fondness for Sonic CD, even though I know it also has some level design issues. But I like that game more than Sonic 3.

[stuck gull]

if you wanna play sonic 1 i highly reccommend the 3ds version on a new 3ds

same goes for streets of rage 1

the 3d really emphasises elements of the graphics in a way that makes you feel like you are experiencing them back when they released

and they look nice and sharp on those little screens

[manic ridge]

Every time I try Sonic CD I give up because I don't know wtf is going on

[fading hare]

Gotta go fast! ||Except when the game won't let you... ||

[manic ridge]

I mean everyone says that but how do you make a game where you just literally go fast forever without stopping

usually in Sonic the fast parts are used to connect the stage they aren't the entire stage

if you just wizzed through loops without getting hurt I don't think it would be fun

[pine crystal]

I always thought every level should at least have the option of going as fast as you possibly can from the beginning to the end of each stage without some obstacle breaking your momentum... some path that experts could work hard to discover and master.

[manic ridge]

But what would be the point then

[lilac chasm]

Hey there 🙂 Just wanted to ask if mangled audio on the Sega CD core is a known issue?

I've got a Mister Pi and when I run certain Sega CD games, the audio via the headphone jack gets garbled. The same audio when running through the HDMI cable is clear and ungarbled, as you would expect.

Just wanted to ask here if this is known and if not, how should I report it?

example, Lords of Thunder, ran from SD or USB, whether compressed using CHD or as a raw bin/cue dump, delivers garbled audio through the Mister Pi's headphone jack (the one near the VGA out) but delivers perfect audio via HDMI. Same for Keio's Flying Squadron and Robo Aleste.

[glass shale]

It’s a known issue with the latest IO board. It happens with both the de10 nano and the MiSTer Pi. Some users don’t have the issue though. Use HDMI audio or get a cheap optical DAC

[lilac chasm]

that's cool, any idea why the audio for the other cores are fine?

[glass shale]

Some people have the issue with the PSX core as well

It’s probably a metastability issue

[lilac chasm]

fair play! thanks for the response 🙂

[thorny pivot]

TIL. I wasn’t aware of that issue. Can it be fixed in software or is it a hardware bug?

[glass shale]

It seems it could be tweaked in the cores in order to get it fixed. There’s a special build in the PSX core channel that fixes the issue for me and several other people but it’s not going to be merged because the reason why it fixed the issue is unknown so far.

[thorny pivot]

Thanks for catching me up. I’ve been using Toslink fora little bit now so I hadn’t noticed.

[glass shale]

That’s the way to go for analog audio!

[ocean vault]

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/148783-doom-cd32x-fusion/

Someone created a CD 32X port of Doom 32X: Resurrection.

For the first time, someone managed to create a non-FMV game on CD 32X.

[pale plover]

There is nothing that supports the CD 32X on the MiSTer, so that can't be played.

Still neat to see though.

[thorny pivot]

Tower of Too-Much-Power for MiSTer.

[alpine parrot]

Does the composite output from the genesis core accurately represent how the console looked? I hear the genesis had notoriously bad composite output and wanted to confirm it was supposed to be like that lol

[pale plover]

Sort of.

Different Mega Drive models and variants would handle the composite differently, so there is no definitive answer to how it should look. Like some would show that rainbow effect (Sonic the Hedgehog waterfall, Streets of Rage 2 ceiling lights, etc.), but others don't.

But if we're talking about the original model 1 variant, then yes it should look pretty dirty over composite.

[fickle hemlock]

mister doesn't reproduce all aspects of what makes the genesis composite output so grungy

but i'd say it does enough to hit the nostalgia spot

you could try using really long unshielded cables to scuff it up a bit more 😄

[livid spire]

I think it's even easier to see as being close to original in PAL, as I don't think the rainbowing was nearly as bad.
Mind you I only had/have RF so maybe that was why!

[alpine parrot]

I see. Well it definitely looks pretty rough from the mister compared to other cores

I wouldnt go making it worse😂

[pine crystal]

It's just effective enough to make those checkerboard dither patterns appear to be transparent. It also creates the perception that the color palette is greater than it really is when it blends the colors of nearby pixels to create an average in the middle.

[normal river]

https://twitter.com/matteusbeus/status/1847303881463660587

So there's a new release from the guys behind Doom 32X Resurrection. Apparently this version runs on the combo system of Genesis + 32X + SegaCD.

Is this possible on MiSTer? I ask because the 32X core and MegaCD core are separate entities at the moment.

Retro Sega Dev (MatteusBeus) 🦇 (@matteusbeus) on X

I wrote something for @RetroRGB why not have a read! Victor Luchitz Unveils Doom CD32x Fusion: A New Era for the Doom 32X Resurrection Project https://t.co/IWSHLz9BW8

Twitter · Oct 18, 2024, 3:49 PM

[normal river]

Thiis should also provide performance enhancements to Doom above the 32X edition.

[hard silo]

No

It wont fit in to consolidate all three cores together

[manic ridge]

Some day on MiSTer 2 🤞🏻

[glass shale]

Day 0 on MARS

[rotund bluff]

After the behavior of some MARS devs, I wouldn't touch that with a 10mts pole

[pine crystal]

Don't reward bad behavior.

[normal river]

interesting thanks

[normal river]

if that analogue 3d system comes with openFPGA, we might see it there. a big "if" though, and a double "if" a core Dev has any interest in porting it over.

[pale plover]

Man if it did support openFPGA, being able to output 4K alone would be a big benefit to many of the cores.

[graceful edge]

It doesn't

[normal river]

it'd 10x sales of the system also. $250 for a FPGA system with near double the LE's of the DE10n's CV, and an internal 4k upscaler...

[ocean vault]

Assuming the Mister gets a sequel that is at least a quarter more powerful than regular Mister, I hope to God someone manages to add CD 32X support, just to play this.

(Although I can do this with the Ares emulator too though.)

[glass shale]

Analogue 3d -> The controller still lacks buttons so it’s completely useless anyways 🙃

[ocean vault]

Two things about this port impress me:

1. First non-crappy, non-FMV game on CD 32X.

2. Doom can run on it.

I'm surprised no one is seeing what I'm seeing.

CD 32X is an uncharted territory in emulation.

Even more so when there's barely any homebrew anything on it.

Until now.

[thorny pivot]

Plenty of us see it, it's just a lot of work and will require a lot of resources in both hardware and time. There are 5 processors running in parallel glued together by an expansion bus and the cartridge bus. 😵‍💫

I've always wanted to see what games could be made utilizing the full power of that combo. CORE Design was going to make a CD 32X version of Soul Star. That would have been cool. There's an alpha out there somewhere.

[ocean vault]

Sega and making exaggerated console processors!

Name a better duo, aside from Sony and the Cell Processor (PS3).

I've always said that the CD 32X is like a prototype/proof-of-concept of what the Sega Saturn turned out to be.

[astral merlin]

What can I read to catch up on this? I’m out of the loop and only remember anticipation and excitement for MARS

[rotund bluff]

They have already said it doesn't and it won't support OpenFPGA. So that's a pass for me.

[rotund bluff]

I don't know where you can find it sumarized, but they insulted other devs (JOTEGO for example), threatened youtubers that exposed contradictions or delays (PCN) to the point of threatening their families, and a long ETC. Toxic people, I wouldn't trust my money on a product of these guys.

[glass shale]

One of the members even sent me this

Definitely not normal people 🙃

[manic ridge]

There's more to it but to add briefly my experience they had confusion about dual ram requirements then blocked people who were confused

Then continued to block people who expressed confusion or asked questions or criticized them

[ocean vault]

They remind me of TwinAphex and his followers.

[nocturne glacier]

TurboDuo

[astral merlin]

that sux. I wonder what funding and staffing we’ll need to arrange to get this next-gen open FPGA work done :/

[ocean vault]

Here's the link to the port, @finite rapids: #1096614378968727652 message

[finite rapids]

Awesome because I was NOT finding it via google

I love when people send me this stuff too. Everyone is always welcome to DM me with new fan games. I need all the research help I can get

[harsh iron]

I still don't know what is Mars

I know the planet Mars

[shut aspen]

like a Mars Bar

it's chocolate 🙂

[harsh iron]

these have so much calories

[fading hare]

I don't even think the developers know what it is still.

https://tenor.com/view/ba-dum-tuss-jokes-gotcha-burn-ouch-gif-5645546

[nocturne glacier]

Uh oh @fading hare...

[fading hare]

I brought this upon myself.

[fallow dome]

Unfortunately it’s dangerous to talk about the MARS project as the developers have demonstrated openly hostile behavior against the retro gaming community.

See this post for more information: https://x.com/pixelcninja/status/1847984797601178104

Pixel Cherry Ninja (@PixelCNinja) on X

Channel Update!
Copyright strikes gone, apparently I live in the USA now 🤷‍♂️
At least according to the address provided to the CCB by the claimant, which was then provided to YouTube. There is a technical name for deliberately providing false info

👇📼👇
https://t.co/sZbAcqo1Zi

Twitter · Oct 20, 2024, 12:54 PM

[stuck gull]

i don't think we should sully this community talking about their drama anyway, feels disrespectful to the devs here

maybe once they have a product that changes

[fallow dome]

I won’t stop anyone from talking about it but honestly it’s a huge bummer and makes me sad.

[stuck gull]

but for now there's only drama to discuss

[fallow dome]

Retro gaming should be fun, not shitty

[timber bear]

have I dreamt or did someone post a new version of Doom running on 3X and Sega CD?

[fallow dome]

Nah you’re right! Unfortunately it doesn’t work on MiSTer since there doesn’t appear to be any room to combine all three Sega systems into a single core that runs on the de10-nano.

[timber bear]

oh 😦

[fallow dome]

Yeah sorry dude. : (

[carmine pine]

yeah either the cores would have be dramatically refactored to fit (probably not happening, the bram requirements are probably a hard stop) or you'll have to wait on a successor platform and someone to make a core with all 3

[drowsy hemlock]

Hmm.. getting some weird behaviour on the Mega Drive core. Playing Sonic 2 and getting a lot more slowdown when I lose rings. I suspect it’s something weird that occasionally happens when you load a core (although this is the first core loaded after startup), but it’s weird

[thorny pivot]

Time to bring the depreciated core out of retirement. 🙂

[drowsy hemlock]

Aw dammit! Ran out of lives on the final boss 😭

But I think I can pretty consistently get to the boss, so I’ll try again another day 😅

[fading hare]

Did he egg you on?

[drowsy hemlock]

[drowsy hemlock]

I hate how he became “eggman” from Sonic Adventure onwards. He’ll always be Robotnik to me

[thorny pivot]

What’s the story behind that?

I always knew him as Dr. Robotnik as well

[drowsy hemlock]

I think it’s a localisation thing. iirc he was always Eggman in Japan, but Robotnik in the west, then they started calling him Eggman but used it as a nickname to reconcile the differences

[fading hare]

Pretty much this. He was always Eggman in Japan. It's similar to the Princess Toadstool vs Peach thing.

[thorny pivot]

Oh another one I wondered about. Thanks for the explanations.

Daisy is just the “Luigi” of Peach right?

[void eagle]

And early ads for Sonic had that odd Kintobor origin

[fading hare]

That's kind of how they treat her these days anyway. She first appeared in Super Mario Land as that game's princess for Mario to rescue. Her second appearence was in NES Open Tournament Golf. After that, I don't think she appeared again until something like Mario Golf or Mario Tennis on the N64?

[void eagle]

and there were a few odd translation gaffes like Kuribo's (JP name for Goomba) shoe and the lack of localization for SML's enemies, which were listed under their Japanese names.

[amber gulch]

Unlike modern gaming.

[fallow dome]

You take that back!

[amber gulch]

Thought that's what you're implying since you were naming retro games specifically.

[drowsy hemlock]

She will always be Peach!

[normal river]

me too, it's my favourite piece of modding / homebrew

[normal river]

I heard five total CPUs are accessible in this configuration

[normal river]

it has double the LEs of the DE10n's CV. Then not putting OpenFPGA on this is absurd, they're mental.

If they did it would be a direct competitor for MiSTer, and they'd sell like hotcakes at $250. I'll never understand that company.

[normal river]

the new Doom mod, from the 32X Resurrection team, would make for a dynamite video. Especially if you compared the new Genesis+32X version to the Genesis+32X+CD version (though the latter would require an emulator as MiSTer doesn't have a core for that)

[finite rapids]

I havent managed to run it yet

my CDX with 32x is no longer in the mood to run backups (needs a new laser apparently) and Ares freezes on the bios splash screen

[nocturne glacier]

I want to dust off my model 2 tower of power and give this a go over the weekend. Y'all have me intrigued.

[finite rapids]

haha nvm got it

[finite rapids]

It’ll be ready for tomorrow

[drowsy hemlock]

That was fast

Did you find a spare Sega CD behind the sofa or something?

[nocturne glacier]

It was behind a pile of Taito X3 boards in the dining room.

[finite rapids]

haha no just got Ares booting correctly...just was touchy on the bios

I do have an extra Sega CD though...which ALSO needs a laser 🤣

[ocean vault]

Jeez.

[night cape]

I've modified my Sega CD with a Sega Saturn disc holder. I had a dead Sega Saturn disc drive lying around, got rid of the magnetic disc holder.

[drowsy hemlock]

Are specific versions of the Sonic (1,2,3) + Sonic & Knuckles needed to work on the core?

[night cape]

The usual dumps should work. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is just S&K rom with S3 rom slapped after, it is how they appear to the console when the cart is locked on.

[fickle hemlock]

i'd highly recommend that mod that puts sonic 1/2/3 in one game and gives them all saves and stuff though its incredible

or i would if i could remember the name of it

[stuck gull]

sonic origins?

[drowsy hemlock]

S3&K seems to work fine, but the other two don’t. They’re verified to match no-intro, so I wondered if we needed some kind of patch

On a related note: that final boss on Sonic 2 kicked my ass again 😔

[stuck gull]

not noticed any problem with sonics and i replay them fairly often

[night cape]

Sonic Delta iirc

[night cape]

Even blue spheres (sonic 1)? I remember there is a patched version of S2&K that works on Mister, S2&K, I had forgotten it was failing.

[limber pine]

Get Sonic 3 Complete

https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_3_Complete

[drowsy hemlock]

Actually, just tested again. It’s only S2&K, it seems. My bad!

I must have mistakenly loaded the S2&K twice when I tested S1+S&K (Blue Spheres) 🤦‍♂️

[safe ibex]

S2&K needs a rom commonly marked as "EverDrive Fixed". S&K cartridge had a tiny special rom on board which was only used in conjunction with Sonic 2. However, flashcarts and MiSTer cores do not know what to do with it.

[drowsy hemlock]

Thanks. I didn’t know that 🙂

[quiet thicket]

so which carts work with s&k? s1 and s2 i could never get working but ill look around for the fix mentioned

[pale plover]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Every other game throws up an error screen and a random Blue Spheres course.

Technically Sonic the Hedgehog 1 also throws up the error screen, but uniquely you gain access to every Blue Spheres course, and there are a lot of them.

[night cape]

A bunch of games allows to play a fixed single blue spheres stage based on the game header. Games bigger than 2MB only boot Sonic & Knuckles normally, those games being too big won't have the header available where the Sonic & Knuckles game looks for.

I remember back then trying to use with Street Fighter 2 Special Champion Edition and nothing.

[stuck gull]

damn no knuckles in street fighter 2

[fading hare]

There might be a few knuckle sandwiches though.

[split moth]

I really need to pull my Genesis/CD/32X out of storage to try this new version of Doom

[vital idol]

I really need to pull mine out of storage to see if it has rotted into a pile of capacitor goo

[pine crystal]

My original Model 1 Sega CD probably won't even be able to open the CD drawer...

[inland quail]

32X CD > Saturn?

[thorny pivot]

💯

https://tenor.com/view/voltron-tv-cartoon-1980-robot-gif-16994191

Sega's 'Voltron' of a system cannot be beat.

[finite rapids]

testing Splatterhouse MD on MiSTer for a vid...should be out soon from the dev but I am putting it through its paces on the core

[thorny pivot]

Tell the dev he'll get more colors if he makes it for 32X. 🙂

Dev's like when people guide their projects.

[finite rapids]

works great...first two stage demo off a build he sent me last night

[finite rapids]

haha about as much as I like the armchair "if you did your channel THIS way" comments 🤣

[drowsy hemlock]

The people demand lists!

[finite rapids]

I am making them ONE list

[drowsy hemlock]

VGEs top 10 annoying armchair YouTuber suggestions

[fading hare]

Ha, was going to say the same thing. He's making a list alright. He's making the list!

[fallow dome]

It’s subtle but it’s a world of difference when I get feedback on what the gameplay does versus feedback on what the gameplay should be.

Not that the latter can’t be helpful but most people don’t understand the balance implications or implementation needs. Also not everyone is a designer or processes things from that perspective. They just want what they want without thinking about the needs of the game.

[amber gulch]

And the game needs microtransactions. And a bethesda account. And a constant internet connection for single player content. Layman don't understand what the game needs and just want crazy things.

[fallow dome]

so true!

[fading hare]

Reading this made me cower in the corner in the fetal position.

[amber gulch]

Modern gaming, baby! And it can't be bad, since it sells well, until the publisher manages to poison the entire market and boots all the devs. What a time to be alive.

[hasty void]

Is megadrive (not old genesis core) core available on analog pocket?

[hard silo]

No

[finite rapids]

Something over on share media. Early preview of the Splatterhouse port to mega drive. Did a vid and helped the dev test on MiSTer since he didn’t have one

[drowsy hemlock]

Looking forward to seeing how it compares to the PCE version, which is amazing

(Aside from the change of weapon 😅)

[ocean vault]

First the Mega Castlevania IV port, and now this?

We need more "What if...?" ports like these.

[finite rapids]

I’ll happily make videos on them all

The dev sent me previews of stage 3. Coming along nicely

[ocean vault]

I wish the Symphony of the Night Genesis port would also get some updates.

[fading hare]

Mega R-Type is the one I'm most hyped about. It's made a ton of progress since the demo was released like last year. The developer posts regular progress updates.

https://youtu.be/7OEAig9O8rM?si=wpIVPq2Q-EjPG2Id

[gritty lichen]

Be sure to let us know once it's available. Looks great!

[finite rapids]

Halloween is what I’ve heard

[feral trail]

Both Shinobi and Robocop arcade have also been previewed for the Megadrive and looked very promising. No news for awhile tho 😞

[pale plover]

So does the latest unstable change anything in particular, or is it just clean up?

[plain quiver]

I'm testing some demos and test roms since some hours.
More of a clean up than anything else after some tests.

[bright pivot]

No paprium??? 🤣

[rotund bluff]

Is it the same Z80 implementation used by, let's say, the ZX Spectrum core? I mean, would those changes fit into other Z80 based systems?

Or does the MegaDrive core use it's own Z80 implementation?

[glass shale]

Soon™️

[glass shale]

It uses its own implementation which is also based on Z80 decaps

[rotund bluff]

I see. Many thanks for clearing that up! 🙂

[normal flint]

The music for Sonic 3 and Knuckles - Mushroom Hill Zone is offensively terrible, isn't it? I first played the game on a cheap atgames handheld and thought it was broken emulation, but no, it's meant to sound flat and wrong.

The bassline is apparently played by someone in a separate building wearing ear plugs.

It's the only vgm track that actually makes me angry.

Thank you for listening.

[stuck gull]

i kinda like it

but then i got earwormed by listening to this https://youtu.be/DMrmaU2K9WY

[normal flint]

I don't understand though, it's like nails on chalkboard, not just meh

Like a continuous slap in the face

My ears might be broken

[stuck gull]

i mean if you said hill top zone i could understand

[normal flint]

The bassline is in a different key playing a different song

It's downright offensive

Hill Top Zone is in the right key at least

[harsh iron]

Megadrive

The best console

[stuck gull]

after the dreamcast

[cloud otter]

No...BEFORE the Dreamcast! Hachachachacha!

[polar cargo]

Is that a baby Schwarzenegger?

[limber pine]

AtGames ruined the song for you 😔

[fallow dome]

It’s some super smart alien from Star Trek that looks like a child.

[polar cargo]

Which Trek series? Never seen this Schwarzenegger baby before

[fallow dome]

The original

[polar cargo]

Ah the one I’m least familiar with. 🫤

[fallow dome]

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Balok

[polar cargo]

Born white ends up green. Nice plot

[fallow dome]

lol it’s a puppet he controls to fool the enterprise

Why do I know this stuff

[normal flint]

I'm not so sure, it sounds bad on every video I check too

[tidal python]

Reminder number 800000 that the majority of MegaDrive soundtrack recordings people post are from lousy software emulation that is in no way representative of the hardware.

[normal flint]

What's a canonical version of the tune?

And bear in mind I'm not saying it's slightly flat, I'm saying it sounds "my sheet music got corrupted" wrong to me

[pale plover]

Sonic & Knuckles on the Mega Drive.

[normal flint]

I am sure it can be recorded, and has been

I find it astonishing that it can sound so wrong to me and so right to others

[tidal python]

I'm not home right now, but I have a 96KHz recording taken from a VA3 Genesis model 1 using the original cartridge I can send.

You can use that as a proper reference.

There are also alternate versions in Sonic & Knuckles Collection for Windows 95 using MIDI over OPL3 FM and MIDI for the Roland SC-88 (although many of the stock MIDIs on the disc are broken in some way).

[nocturne glacier]

Dustin has been uploading very high quality captures from real hardware for years now. Strongly recommended if you enjoy Sega Genesis audio.
https://youtube.com/@dustinodellofficial

[night cape]

The "Bishoujo Super Street Fighter II: Glamor Queen" crashes on the Mega Drive core, it works ok on the Genesis core.

[plain quiver]

Crashes after fighting for 1-2 second(s) effectively.

[pale plover]

You sure this isn't one of this cases where the hack isn't compatible with original hardware?

I know this sometimes happens since the developer never accounted for original hardware.

[plain quiver]

That was my idea too.

I'm at my family's place for the week-end, I should send the game to a friend for checking on their system.

[plain quiver]

Test in progress on multiple MD systems and flashcards types.

[glass shale]

I bet it will crash oh real hardware

[plain quiver]

It works on real hardware, without any issue.

Report from my friend in Morocco when I asked him in the last hour.

[fallow dome]

I like that @plain quiver runs the U.N. of retro gaming lmao

That’s awesome dude

[plain quiver]

Issue opened (and praying not pissing off sorg with it within the next hours).

[glass shale]

Thanks! Maybe @warm falcon himself might have some insights? https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MegaDrive_MiSTer/issues/52

[glass shale]

Wondering if the game also crashes on the software based nuked-md emulator? https://github.com/nukeykt/Nuked-MD/releases/tag/v1.2

[harsh iron]

saturn is better ! 🙂

the nuked-md got perfect ?

[amber gulch]

Planning on playing the phantasy star series, only ever played ps1 on switch. So here's the question: should I skip ps3? From what I heard it's from a different team, doesn't tie into the greater narrative and is also quiet bad.

[pine crystal]

PS3 was by far my least favorite. Felt very half-assed.

[amber gulch]

What would I miss by skipping it?

[pine crystal]

Honestly, this does such a good job of describing it, it's easier just to link this, as I agree with almost every word. The soundtrack and the concept and execution of the divergent story paths are about the only highlights. Unfortunately, it just doesn't feel very 'Phantasy Star' when compared to the others (I, II, and IV).
https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/comments/12c0q15/phantasy_star_iii_generations_of_doom_the_good/

I loved Phantasy Star II... except for the dungeons. They can be brutal... not just from a difficulty perspective, but sheer frustration. Extremely frequent surprise enemy encounters and excessive backtracking. When I got the game when it was released, it even came with a fairly thick hint book in the case with all the dungeon maps included in it... and it was still a pain in the ass.

I also wasn't a fan of the battle scenery in PS II. Every single battle took place in what looked like an empty TRON-inspired holodeck. Seemed very low-effort after so many years of JRPGs getting that right.

Get used to seeing a lot of this screen. 😉

[amber gulch]

I'm planning to play it with pen&paper to make my own maps, also got romhacks of 1+2 to cut down on the grind.

[pine crystal]

In spite of the flaws, it's still one of my favorite RPG series, and one of the main reasons why I loved having a Genesis so much.

PS IV knocked it out of the park though. Good times.

[amber gulch]

Yeah kinda reckoned that when there were so few improvement hacks for it. 😅

[pine crystal]

Oh, good point. 😄

I never looked for any.

[amber gulch]

While I adore classic jrpg some of them are really just way to grindy and/or hard.

[pine crystal]

PS III has tons of replay value... if the desire is there to experience it.

[amber gulch]

Yeah, if.

[pale plover]

Phantasy Star II mainly suffers from it being an early Mega Drive game, when SEGA still wasn't familiar with the hardware and the cartridge sizes were still pretty small.

Considering how much of a dumpster fire the first few months of the Mega Drive launch was in Japan, Phantasy Star II could of easily ended up a lot worse.

[manic ridge]

played by the inimitable Clint Howard

[amber gulch]

And from not being final fantasy

[pine crystal]

Not that we had much of a choice in the matter.
I was playing Phantasy Star II in Mar 1990.
Final Fantasy II wouldn't be released for the SNES in the US until almost the end of 1991.

[amber gulch]

My first video game system was a pocket with pokemon blue, so I didn't get to play either till years later

[fading hare]

I played through Phantasy Star 1, 2, and 4 a couple years ago, and 1 and 4 were easily my favorites. 2 is super rough in my opinion. The dungeons, the combat, pretty much everything except for the story and visuals were things that seriously bugged me. I powered through it, but it felt like I was forcing myself to finish it rather than doing it out of enjoyment. 1 was a ton of fun, and 4 was outright amazing.

[carmine pine]

Phantasy star 3 is even worse than 2 somehow. 2 is saved by the story.

And the music

[amber gulch]

And that anime waifu, Nei.

[light mist]

3 is saved by having sold enough to let sega make 4

[pine crystal]

...and charging $100 dollars for it.

[light mist]

sacrifices had to be made

[pine crystal]

It's the one cart I always wished I had bought back then, but the price held me back, plus all the other RPGs that were out in the mid '90s. I couldn't be bothered.

...and with 3 being what it was, I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to experience what they had in store for the next one in line.

I was very wrong on that one, which I would discover years later after playing it for the first time with Kega Fusion.

[carmine pine]

True, it's main contribution right here.

I saw 4 in magazines and was sold, it was such a step above everything else at the time.

[normal flint]

Didn't hear about them until later

Nintendo was quite dominant here

[halcyon lake]

What does the ROM hack do exactly?

I've been thinkinf of trying to play PS myself but yeah, its uh. theres a lot going on

[amber gulch]

Basically more exp and meseta

Also japanese music in ps1

[halcyon lake]

Ahh, got a link for it? just hadny to have it on hand 😄

[pine crystal]

Phantasy Star Retranslation
By the way, the Japanese music is FM. Very strange to hear if you're not accustomed to it.

It is an excellent version of that classic.

[cold token]

3 had some great ideas, but the overall design, magic system and complete lack of maps with high encounter rate and difficulty made it.. exhausting to play. I did finish it multiple times over the years, but yeah, 4 is way beyond 2 and 3. 2 is just hard and slow, I did like the story.

[amber gulch]

I'm just coming home from work, can look up the links in an hour or two

[pine crystal]

If you're referring to Phantasy Star Retranslation, I already took care of it. 😉

[amber gulch]

Yeah I also got a patch for ps2

[halcyon lake]

I think it was the patch for the PS2 game 🙂

[amber gulch]

So for ps1: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1069/

Should be pretty much the same as already posted

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5513/

And ps2. Now you can play just like me. Appearently ps3 doesn't deserve them and ps4 doesn't need them. So go nuts!

[halcyon lake]

thank you 🙂

Walking speed increased by 2x. (lory1990’s code) there is a god..

[amber gulch]

As mentioned, I adore classic jrpg and these games would be very well worth playing without improvement patches, but the grind can be a bit much with a full time job and daily workout I have to do.

[pine crystal]

Actually, I think that is the exact same one. Good stuff.

Both 2.4

I look forward to trying out the one for PS2. Thanks for that.

[amber gulch]

Now I wonder how the gba ports are. And why they put in 3 instead of 4.

[cold token]

I just found out about the remakes for Playstation 2 and am now tempted to try those

[halcyon lake]

Ah for Generations, yeah I've got a copy of that but theres something odd about it that it wont load on a HDD

[amber gulch]

I've also heard they're not that good.

[halcyon lake]

Ah well I figured out the issue at least. seems the .iso files I got where in fact.. .bin files and so the sfotware was choking up.

[amber gulch]

Iirc you could convert bin cue to iso that works on opl with opl manager

[fallow vortex]

They're fairly generic remakes. They lost some of the charm of the originals.

[void eagle]

PS1 has a saving bug and lacks FM. And sound emulation isn't the best, if I remember correctly (but nowhere near as bad as the Dreamcast Smash Pack).

[woeful goblet]

Any new S32X build?

[plain quiver]

I can't build it with the SH2 changes.

[prisma fiber]

I believe I found a bug in Lunar 2. Not sure if anyone can test. I will post a video and save file. It’s a blinking mass of pixels…in the shape of a rectangle during a fight.

[clever nymph]

Are you using the Un-worked Designs patch for Lunar 2?

[pine crystal]

Are you using the No Sprite Limit option? That is known to cause graphical glitches in some games.

[prisma fiber]

@clever nymph Yes, I am using the patch. @pine crystal I have that sprite limit setting disabled. I can try to test with out the patch and also with the sprite limit setting toggled on.

[clever nymph]

I noticed that graphical issue when I was playing Lunar 2 last year. At the time, I assumed it was an issue introduced with the Un-Worked Designs patch. I tested again today using the save file you uploaded, and I saw the same graphical issue on the latest version of the core. I loaded the save on a Sega Genesis with an Everdrive, and the issue occurred there as well. I tried without the Un-Worked Designs patch, and the issue no longer occurs for me on the unpatched game.

[fading hare]

Interesting. Seems that it's tied to the patch then.

[pine crystal]

Hmm. Guess I never made it to that area with the Un-Worked Designs patch. I still have a (bad) habit of using the plain vanilla version. Good to know!

[prisma fiber]

Nice! Thanks for testing! 🙂

[chrome moss]

I wonder if the problem shows on software emulators? That’s likely where it was tested by the devs. Not that it matters, just a curiosity.

[cloud otter]

It almost surely does. It looks like (from the hip here) the patch is using a piece of 'free' memory for a jump function that's actually being read from and into VRAM. I will take a look. I bet it's an easy fix.

[cloud otter]

Confirmed it shows up in MAME.

[cloud otter]

Layer 2 tilemap is having 3 tiles swapped for a specific animation state. I'll throw a watchpoint on that tile offset in vram and see if I can't figure out what it's reading.

[half cargo]

Is there a trick to getting the 32x/CD games to run or is it not implemented?

I mean the 6 that require both

[versed rapids]

it is not implemented no space on de10nano

[half cargo]

yeah, Sega's solution to everything seems to have been "throw more chips at it". There are lots of arcade platforms that are off limits for the same reason.

[versed rapids]

maybe next gen retro FPGA could to the Sega Tower 🙂

[half cargo]

this is the bad boy I really want to see:
https://segaretro.org/Sega_Model_2

[fringe zodiac]

Xexex has 2 CPUs and nearly 20 additional custom chips if I interpret that spreadsheet correctly ("Systems" tab):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1-4YH3xBQobYJ0NR4TNJO10mzUCcyNdEzlFjsFldoQjc/htmlview#

[true tundra]

Anyone else have controller issues on the megadrive core but not the Genesis core? Seems like my B button is mapped to either A or C even after mapping them properly. Maybe some setting I'm not aware of? M30 controller works fine everywhere else

[cold token]

I use the M30 controller (BT) and had no issues with the MD core

Try running it in X-Input mode (X+Start to power on)

[warm carbon]

I think we may have a bug in the megacd core. can anyone in ultraverse prime see if they get graphic corruption while playing the game. it only happens sporatically #help message

Oh, this looks like an old bug maybe #community-feed message

lol, nevermind, very old bug https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MegaCD_MiSTer/issues/36

[ocean vault]

https://youtu.be/dwTxKGFXMJM

I was not aware that they were improving Fantasia.

[stuck gull]

i played through the official aladdin and sonic 3d blast modern revisions on mister

both are pretty cool. subtle, makes things more like you'd remember/hope they were like

lion king could really use the same treatment

[split moth]

Aw man, that’s a bummer. I didn’t know about this game but I am a simple man…I see a "new" beat’em up and I wanna play it hopefully this one gets looked at

[cloud otter]

There's really not much else you can do with Fantasia but improve it. Ripping out boot code so it black screens? Improvement.

[pale plover]

I will say that the orchestra music really does make a difference.

[cold token]

Can you link to more info about that? Or do you mean the ones they released as part of the "disney classic games" collection?

[night cape]

3D Blast received a Directors cut mod, made by the Programmer of the game. https://www.youtube.com/c/GameHut

[stuck gull]

Yes they brought in the original staff for that I believe

[cold token]

ah, cool.. thanks

[plain quiver]

srg320 replied yesterday about the current SH7604 code on the S32x core and the changes from the Saturn branch.
We can't backport the Saturn branch directly as it needs some tweaks (that I don't know at the moment exactly) before being integrated to the S32x.

[true tundra]

for anyone that runs into this, put your m30 2.4ghz controller into d-input mode and things will work again. I only have this problem with x input mode on the megadrive core only (hold the "heart" button and DOWN for five seconds to go into dinput mode. Xinput mode is heart+UP)

[fallow dome]

Do you use another 8BitDo controller?

I had issues until I did the following - #1096614378968727652 message

It's because it was sharing the same controller ID as the Pro 2.

[true tundra]

I don't own any others, but worth trying. All of my other cores perform fine so I think it's just a megadrive core issue for me, but not worth filing a bug etc unless other people run into it probably

[fallow dome]

Did you first try deleting your controller config for the core and remapping it in main + core?

I'm 99% sure its just a controller mapping issue on your end since it's the only core that has that problem.

Swapping input modes makes a new controller config so it makes sense it would solve it for you.

Either way doesn't matter, its working for you now and that's important. 🍻

[true tundra]

yeah tried that, was my thought as well. Mapping the buttons while running the core allows the B button to be mapped, which wouldn't be possible if it were already mapped to A or C (outside of the alternate buttons config after that). The menu layer understands the B button but the core does not which isolates the problem for me

[fallow dome]

Ok I am now longer 99% sure. That’s what over confidence gets me lol.

Well sorry to hear about all that man.

[true tundra]

it's okay thanks for helping. There was a weird issue with dinput with this controller locking in directions that may be solved with your earlier advice so I might circle back and try that if I have the same issue

[glass shale]

You really don't want d-input mode since it's known to give you sticky inputs

8bitdo should really open source their pads firmware so knowledgeable people could fix those annoyances

[true tundra]

yeahhhhhhh ugh I think that's why I wasn't. I might switch to the 'genesis' core for genesis stuff ugh yuck ugh

[manic ridge]

Modern revisions?

[manic ridge]

Ohhh

I gotta check that out I owned the game growing up

[night cape]

Please do, several quality of life improvements, and Sram/Password progress save.

[normal rivet]

New 32X build posted!

[glass shale]

[glass shale]

Very few issues on S32X Github! Is the core already that great? Any outstanding missing features or bugs?

[fading hare]

Only major missing feature that I'm aware of is the lack of 32X CD support. But that's not possible on the current MiSTer hardware.

[glass shale]

Didn't know that s32x CD based games existed until now!

[fading hare]

The tower of power at its full might!

[thorny pivot]

They’re hot garbage but they do exist. They’re mostly just Sega CD games with an expanded color palette and slightly better video encoding.

A couple of weeks ago the first ever 32X game that requires both a cartridge and CD was released. Doom 32X Fusion

[sage mica]

https://x.com/tacolamp/status/1859717403929870444 neat promo for the new movie! hopefully someone gets around to dumpin it ofr us

Brielle Garcia (@tacolamp) on X

Here’s a closer look at the Sonic 3 Movie Genesis cartridge and the content on it! Enjoy!

Twitter · Nov 21, 2024, 9:55 PM

[warm carbon]

Wait is this a thing I can buy?

[plain quiver]

Some games aren't running at the correct speed like Virtua Fighter.
And there is a strange HUD bug on the Pinocchio proto game that can't be reproduced on an original system.

Kolibri regressed a little bit too on the previous version, it was slower on attract mode.

I have not tested the new core so far, maybe later tomorrow.

[fallow dome]

no, its a pr gift to promote the film

itll be dumped shortly

[amber gulch]

Doom 32x seems interesting but on the other hand there are already great versions of doom to play on mister.

[manic ridge]

This is somehow simultaneously cool and disappointing lol

[amber gulch]

How is the button layout when playing sms games on mega drive? Like which button on the sms controller corresponds to which button on the mega drive?

[narrow panther]

Looking forward to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLS1Uh66uoA

[inland quail]

there really ought to be a poll as to the best version of doom to play on MiSTer. there are just so many

I love PSX doom, but it's kind of a unique experience

[amber gulch]

And a poll for the worst version. Gba and snes are... something.

[inland quail]

snes I think has all levels, and most of the geometry intact. so it has that going for it lol

[fading hare]

I rather like Doom Resurrection 32X.

[thorny pivot]

Yeah it’s impressive for what it is. Wish the controls could be remapped. I want the mode button as fire so X and Z can be dedicated strafe for some circle-strafe shooting

[pine crystal]

Easy: DOOM 64

[thorny pivot]

Love Doom 64. Back in the day when it released I ignored it thinking it was beneath games like Goldeneye and PD. These days it is Doom 64 that aged well and still play well.

[fading hare]

Doom 64 is actually my favorite classic Doom game. It's basically "Doom 3" before there was an actual Doom 3.

[shut aspen]

and it wasn't even made by id software

[thorny pivot]

Who made it? I thought it was an id game all this time.

[shut aspen]

Midway

[half cargo]

To be fair, ultimate doom was Doom 3 before there was Doom 3

[shut aspen]

ultimate doom was just doom 1 again with a new episode tho

[half cargo]

yeah, but a lot of the internal game stuff called it doom 3

[shut aspen]

clearly the real Doom 3 was Final Doom

[half cargo]

that might be it. I remember having an upgraded version of doom that called itself doom 3

[fading hare]

To me, what made Doom 64 feel like a true Doom 3 sequel was the entirely new engine and visuals. Even Doom 2 looked identical to Doom 1. Playing Doom 64 for the first time back in the day felt like, whoa this is the first next gen Doom game.

[vital idol]

Hard to beat the og, especially when fastdoom runs so well. Just such a frenetic experience. I also doubt any other port would support as many in multiplayer, although I’ve never actually tried to set up networking in dos to try it out.

Not relevant to this channel in particular, but best way to play quake on the mister would be an interesting discussion.

[half cargo]

Quake requires a math coprocessor. Probably Saturn or 64.

[fallow dome]

We considered Doom 64 to be the true Doom 3.

That was overseen by id; Kevin Cloud specifically. So externally developed but internally directed by id.

[thorny pivot]

Did you work for Midway or id, Robby?

[fading hare]

He worked on Doom 2016 and Eternal.

It's why we are all doomed every time he shows up!

[shut aspen]

oh sick, i loved Doom Eternal

[amber gulch]

Don't say that just to make him feel better. If you don't tell him that doom 2016 was way better he'll never learn.

[cloud otter]

@fallow dome Doom 2016 was much better than Cats. I want to play it again and again.

[amber gulch]

Doom 2016 is the reason why whenever someone tells me to carefully dismantle something I just punch and kick it apart!

[thorny pivot]

That’s how we used to work on CRTs in the 90s. Percussive maintenance.

[half cargo]

https://tenor.com/view/what-can-i-say-thats-right-hit-gif-19447088

[fading hare]

You rip and tear it apart! Rip. And. Tear!

[vital idol]

I heard the reason doom 2016 was so good was the lead designer asked Robby for opinions and then did the exact opposite of the suggestions 😉

[shut aspen]

big reason why i like Eternal more than 2016... meathook

[fickle hemlock]

feel like doom 2016 had a stronger sense of place and more graspable story

eternal tightened up the gameplay but all the globe/reality trotting kind of lost me

[warm carbon]

Doom eternal ends with you ||killing God||. So it definitely goes places.

[cloud otter]

So it's a prequel to ||Jurassic Park.||

[warm carbon]

I mean, isn’t everything

[cloud otter]

According to the IP owners, yes.

[amber gulch]

2016 was a parody of modern shooters that try and tell a compelling story nobody asked for. Eternal is exactly what 2016 made fun of.

[shut aspen]

very true, the story is the worst part of Doom Eternal

i can forgive it tho. love that flaming meathook

[manic ridge]

I just started Eternal the other day and I gotta say I was immediately turned off by the weird cartoony feel, like why did they make it like that

[warm carbon]

2016 and eternal are different vibes for sure. Everyone has a strong favorite between the two, gameplay wise( I’m a 2016 boi myself), but the story is so fucking good in eternal. It’s like someone went to Hugo’s team and was like “no one can make sense of the doom story, so don’t try” and they absolutely “hold my beer”ed it.

[shut aspen]

every time Doomguy talked was my least favorite part of Doom Eternal lol but i LOVED the platforming

the platforming in 2016 felt off to me

[amber gulch]

Just phinished phantasy star 1. I tried making my own maps but gave up halfway through. Looking phorward to how the series develops in phantasy star 2.

Also the retranslation is amazing. Wouldn't play it any other way.

[vital idol]

Ugh, yeah, my suggestion is to use maps for 2- the original US release came with a strategy guide because they are so dense.

[pine crystal]

It was a small but rather thick booklet. I was always surprised it even fit in the cartridge case.

[jagged sage]

When I bought my copy of PS2 it was sealed on the outside of the case. (Shrink wrapped together) - What a game and really a shame it was abandoned in its form after the 4th release

[pine crystal]

Crap... you're totally right. I completely forgot about that. It was sealed on the outside of the cartridge case.

It was a tad too thick to fit inside.

[amber gulch]

My first impression of ps2: I love nei and will protect her with my life.

[light mist]

They did that for the German (at least) first gen (black case) release of Landstalker

Let's just say 9yr old me could not handle that...

[lime ocean]

Have a video signal question, looks like someone had the same issue on the forums but no response there. I'm running Antonio Villena's VGA-Composite adapter to a CRT. For whatever reason the Nuked-MD core is the only core I've tested so far that doesn't seem to play nice with composite out. Everything else I've tried looks fine, including the old Genesis core, but over Nuked-MD the colors are completely hosed, most ccommonly everything's green. Any idea what the cause of this is/if there's a fix?

[warm carbon]

I think there is an option in the core OSD for composite blending. No idea if that will help but I seem to remember it fixing something unexpectedly for someone

[lime ocean]

Will give that a try

Didn't do anything but found something interesting. Tried cycling through Scandoubler FX and it actually changes how the screen is tinted

[true tundra]

What are the best 32x games?

[fallow dome]

Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing Delixe, After Burner Complete, Space Harrier, Doom (32X Resurrection Patch) is a good starting list

[thorny pivot]

Knuckles Chaotix, Kolibri, Tempo, and Shadow Squadron are worth checking out mostly because they were never released on other platforms. They remain exclusive to the 32X to this day.

[pine crystal]

The 32X had the best home version of Mortal Kombat II.

[thorny pivot]

True, forgot to mention that one.

NBA JAM TE is a pretty good version too.

[manic ridge]

Does Doom 32X resurrection work completely on the core? Not the combo CD/32X version obviously

[half cargo]

Star Wars

[fallow dome]

I didn’t play much but it seemed to work pretty well

[manic ridge]

That's what I thought

[fading hare]

Doom 32X Resurrection worked on my end too. Well except for the time when the fuse in my MiSTer blew while playing it!

[amber gulch]

So those phantasy star 2 dungeons... sure are atrocious, aren't they? I'm struggling my way through klimatrol right now.

[cold token]

The dungeons were hell without the map booklet.. even with them sometimes. PS2 still has a spot in my heart, though.. it was the first JRPG I ever played, and I spent ages on it as a kid

[amber gulch]

I wouldn't mind a romhack of 1&2 that redesigns the dungeons.

But then again, I'm a Nintendo baby and Sega does what Nintendont.

[cold token]

For some reason, even with maps and all, I have issues finding the entrance to Uzo island in PS2, every damn time. Did the remake for Playstation 2 get different dungeon designs?

[fringe zodiac]

Well, I would rather go for the Saturn versions of Virtua Fighter, After Burner and Space Harrier, if you can. After Burner and Space Harrier pretty are spot on. Virtua Fighter still not Arcade perfect, but closer.

[fallow dome]

Such is the plight of the 32X!

Comically the 32X version of Virtua Fighter is better than the rushed Saturn launch version.

Also Virtua Racing is better on 32X too lol

Sega be crazy

[fringe zodiac]

Well, it is about a year earlier. Saturn still 1994, 32x 1995 (Virtua fighter)

I wholeheartedly agree with Virtua Racing. That's better on S32x

[fallow dome]

Yuuuup, 32X is baby Saturn

[fringe zodiac]

Virtua Fighter 1 has remix version that is quite OK

The og Saturn port is rushed to meet the Saturn release date. And is terrible

But remix is quite good on Saturn and IMO better than the very low poly 32x

One idea is to go for Virtua Fighter 2 directly. That pushes the Saturn to its limits and I think it's a much better game

[fallow dome]

No way man, gotta embrace the 32X in all its glory. Gotta put yourselves in those shoes, Christmas of '94 and '95. All your friends are getting sick ass new video game systems meanwhile you're stuck with the 32X. Just you, the 32X and Spider-man. It's a tough life but someone has to do it.

[warm carbon]

Knuckles C H A O T I X

[fallow dome]

Maybe BC Racers too

LOL BC Racers

Kolibri?

I dunno, I'm trying here

[fringe zodiac]

All the early fighters are rather bad today: SF 1 is terrible and even the World Warrior is very slow and mediocre. MK1 has latency from hell and even Virtua Fighter is "OK" at best.

[fallow dome]

They need love too!

[fringe zodiac]

The second ones on the other hand are timeless masterpieces that are hard to trump even today:

SF 2 CE, MK2, VF2 All just about a year apart and brought an early formula next to perfection

I would say the same about DoA and Soul Edge. Saturn and PSX were at least good, but the second part on DC peaked.

[warm carbon]

MK2 32x is probably the best console version?

[fringe zodiac]

I'd go with SNES.

But there is no consensus there

But I would say that 32x > Saturn in that case as well

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Unq7aEdCP5g

SNES: better music and background and colours

32x better more hi-res sprites, probably closer to the arcade

[shut aspen]

32SEX where you can play Mortal KUMBAT

[fringe zodiac]

You are certainly not wrong there: Sega CD for MK1 and Sega 32x for MK 2

That is justifiable

[fallow dome]

I think it's fine to play whatever version is available to you. Doesn't matter which is the best; they're all cool imo.

[fringe zodiac]

MK3 is harder. I think that I would go with the PSX "MK Trilogy" (which is some remix of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3) there. But that was a long way from Virtua Fighter 😁😁, sorry for sidetracking

[warm carbon]

Yeah, MK3 is such a weird bird. I feel like it wasn't good on any of the home systems?

[half cargo]

N64 has the best version of Trilogy. Less charachers but no load time.

[warm carbon]

yeah...but that controller......

[fading hare]

Yep. I love Phantasy Star 1 and 4. But I really did not enjoy my time with 2. Like...at all. Felt like I was forcing myself to finish it rather than doing so out of a sense of enjoyment.

[fading hare]

This is true! Apparently the Saturn version was licensed out and basically redeveloped from scratch, which is why the driving physics feel so off. The 32X version is shockingly good! It was the best home version for decades until the recent Switch port came out.

[drowsy hemlock]

TIL. Thank you

Now I can remove that from my hard drive 😅

[fallow dome]

Dude I love the Switch port

[amber gulch]

I got my ass handed to my by ||neifirst|| so I leveled up 4 levels to level 20 and I'm also working on getting that ||phone that let's you safe anywhere|| so I can easier retry that.

[shut aspen]

apparently Virtua Racing used one of the first 16:9 monitors iirc

[fading hare]

I remember playing Virtua Racing in the arcade back in the day, and it was mind blowing at the time. That said, it was so long ago that I honestly don't remember if the monitors were 16:9!

[shut aspen]

i just remember watching a video about the Saturn version of Virtua Racing that talked about the arcade version first and mentioned 16:9 monitors

[jade turret]

This version had the 16:9 crt, multiplayer cabs were 4:3.

[shut aspen]

still though, Sega were ahead of the curve. online play, 16:9 monitors, DLC

[compact garden]

What folder should I put my Genesis/Mega drive dumps?

The Mega drive or Genesis folder?

(from what I've seen online , the Mega drive folder)

[fickle hemlock]

megadrive

[plain quiver]

If you use the Mega Drive core, the Megadrive folder.
Otherwise, the Genesis folder for the older Genesis core.

[warm carbon]

Genesis core is very old but, I believe, still has some features the megadrive core doesn't have?

[compact garden]

Sweet thank you. Time for me to ask another question for a different core.

[plain quiver]

Savestates ?

[amber gulch]

Funny, how savestates were such a coveted feature for snes games while they were discarded on the genesis core.

[tulip surge]

Genesis core has savestates?

Can't see the option in the last official release

[plain quiver]

Different design between the Genesis and MegaDrive cores firstly, as adding save states is quite difficult with the differences.
And no more logical space available on the MD one from what I understood.

[tulip surge]

Has an extra composite blend option over megadrive

[plain quiver]

That was a question, sorry, typing too fast.
('Should really take a break now and continue in the next hour)

[tulip surge]

Ah, yeah pretty certain it doesn't

The composite blend option seems to be what folks raise, personally id go with megadrive

*adaptive composite blend

[drowsy hemlock]

Old genesis core has turbo and adaptive composite mode as notable things which are missing

Although the new core is regarded as more accurate, I’m not sure the old one was exactly bad or particularly inaccurate. While ever it works (pending future framework updates), it’s still a great option

[night cape]

Many games were designed with the composite video in mind, for those, composite blend on is a must. Even on a CRT over RGB. You get perfect Sonic 1 waterfalls and perfect transparent tubes on Sonic 2's Chemical Plant Zone. I wish the Saturn core had a working composite blend, maybe in the near future.

[warm carbon]

And the genesis blend is better than megadrive?

[night cape]

Kinda, the adaptive does a great job in most scenarios, sharper image when the blend is not needed. Megadrive is just on\off on whole screen.

[warm carbon]

interesting

[drowsy hemlock]

Adaptive is nice, but it doesn’t always get it right when it should be on or off. I just go with it on unless there’s a particular game I don’t like it with (Snatcher is a good example which looks better off)

But yeah, composite blend is basically a must (imo) for mega drive

[night cape]

I created a simlink on from megadrive to genesis folder after renaming genesis folder to megadrive(reversed from the pin message) so I can still use the genesis core when needed, I did the same with the cheats folder. Cant recall if I simlinked the saves folder though.

[drowsy hemlock]

This is the way

[graceful edge]

i still prefer using the old genesis core. the enhancements are so nice, plus the sega CD and 32X cores feature a lot of the same options, so it feels more consistent

[fading hare]

The turbo function is the main thing the old core has. It's great for the rom hacks of the Road Rash games that allow their frame rate to go up to 30fps. The best way to play those games!

[amber gulch]

How are the dungeons in phantasy star 3? As insane as 2? I won't play it if it's like 2.

[pine crystal]

Earthworm Jim is another perfect candidate for having Composite Blend forced on. There are so many areas throughout that game that benefit from that being enabled.

[fading hare]

I need to give 3 a shot one of these days. It's the only one I never played through. I tested it out for like 15 minutes once, but that's as far as I went.

[amber gulch]

I'm on ||denozia|| in ps2 right now, thank god ||palma blew up|| so there's at least not that much left. 😅

[amber gulch]

Stayed up till 1am but I've beaten phantasy star 2. 😎 I heard the development was rushed, but oh boy this game is torture. Which is too bad, with some actual sane dungeon design and battle backgrounds like in the first part this could've been a great game. The story was quite nice, considering we're talking about an rpg from the 80s. The ending makes me really curious about ps4.

[pine crystal]

You will enjoy PS4 so much. I have no doubt.

But yeah, PS2 was torture. I played it a lot back when it was released... because that's what was available RPG-wise. I do have fond memories of it. But every time I consider playing it again, I immediately think back to those dungeons. The desire is gone almost immediately.

PS3 feels very un-Phantasy Star-like throughout most of the game. The way they tried to tie it in with the rest of that universe felt very lazy and low-effort.

[amber gulch]

I decided to give ps3 a try but if it gets in any way as bad as ps2 I'll skip it and don't look back.

[amber gulch]

Ps3 1st generation down!

[fading hare]

So how is it so far? Better than 2? It's the only one I haven't played!

[amber gulch]

It's bland... the story is almost nonexistent, doesn't seem connected to the other 2 games so far but at least the dungeons are solvable without a guide.

And I'm already on an improvement hack that is meant to improve the translation and references to other games.

[fading hare]

I do at least know the general story, because I read a summary back before I played Phantasy Star 4. And yeah, it is, but only barely, connected. PS4 makes only one super minor reference to PS3. But really PS1, 2, and 4 are what really form the main trilogy of the story.

[amber gulch]

3 also had a different dev team from what I heard.

[fading hare]

You can tell with the art style.

[fallow vortex]

3 is connected.

[cold token]

Yup.. I actually found the underlying story/plot twist damn nice back when I played it first. It still isn't a great game gameplay-wise, but the whole split path thing with sometimes extremely different story paths was awesome back then

[pine crystal]

Barely connected... as in, the way they chose to tie it in with the previous titles seemed like a very low-effort afterthought.

progress check-up months into development...
"Wait... I thought you were supposed to be making a Phantasy Star sequel."
"Oh... crap. We can fix that!"
😏

[amber gulch]

Second generation finished. Gotta admit the story got interesting in the end.

[cold token]

It also depends on who you go with, some paths have more backstory into how they got there/what happened with the other parts than others

[amber gulch]

I got ||ain|| and now started ||sean||

[cold token]

If I recall right, you can't reach all areas in one playthrough, there were at least 2 or 3 sections that are unique to the different paths

[amber gulch]

I'll just finish my playthrough and watch a video about the others. While ps3 isn't offensively bad it's still a bit bland and I'd rather not replay it 3 more times.

[foggy hedge]

Hi all,

Im playing the Mega Drive core frequently, and generally its working great no issues!

Except... Sonic 2 (World)

It seems when loading into and from the special stages im getting graphical corruption. Glitchy artefacts on the screen and the text sometimes not loading correctly at all. Forgot to take a picture but will look out for it on my next play through.

Im using the Mega Drive core - is this maybe incorrect? Ive not tried the Genesis one yet.

Just wondering if the pros had any thoughts! Thanks!

[old river]

Have you tried any other versions of Sonic 2? There's a "Rev A" version, I wonder if it has the same graphical corruption.

[amber gulch]

Mega drive core should be more accurate than the old genesis core. That being said, still weird.

[cold token]

Looks okay to me?

[plain quiver]

I've played through Sonic 2 like 3 days ago and didn't see any corruption.
Either your ROM have a problem, or I've totally missed something.

[foggy hedge]

Thanks will try!!!

[warm carbon]

do you have any HDMI switches in between your mister and the tv?

[drowsy hemlock]

Also fine for me, but I played Rev A

[foggy hedge]

None, just straight in

[fallow dome]

Get a new rom, make sure it’s from Redump

Reset all core settings to default

Then try again

[plain quiver]

@night cape Please use the 1.7 version of Bishoujo Super Street Fighter II: Glamor Queen with the Mega Drive core.
It works with that version, v1.6 had a problem on some systems like on the MD core.
I've closed the issue on the GitHub.

[night cape]

Version 1.7 was released a few weeks after creating that issue entry on GitHub. Thank you for letting me know a new version was out.

[night cape]

I think you'll need to open it again. V1.7 still prone to crashing. It happens more with Avra (or only happens with her).

[glass shale]

It's an issue with the patch and not with the core?

[night cape]

It works in others emulators.

[amber gulch]

But does it work on real hardware?

[plain quiver]

Yes.
Tested myself and on a friend's console.

That's why I accepted to fill an issue on GH.

[narrow panther]

Another fun looking game in development https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5yyFixuXqg

[plain quiver]

I could recreate the issue, I need some tests later on my side and see with also the romhack team.

[narrow panther]

Ooh, there's a demo ROM available: https://www.kiritothegame.com/

[plain quiver]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MegaDrive_MiSTer/issues/52#issuecomment-2510371860
Nukey will be informed.

[night cape]

I've played yesterday with Guile, beat 11 characters just to get the game to crash when facing Avra as a CPU, she replaces Balrog (Boxer) and the game defaults to expert mode. Maybe the bonus stages are broken. Charge characters have no charge time in this mod, fun.

[fallow dome]

Asking just in-case; does the game work perfectly on original hardware?

Ok yeah I see from the Github:

"I've asked to a friend with some flashcards and several Mega Drive/Genesis systems to test that romhack for us.
And reported no issue at all with it."

Nevermind! 🎉

[light mist]

Robby...

[fallow dome]

I DID DUE DILIGENCE, just uhhhhhh after the fact

[plain quiver]

Dang it, Robby!

[versed rapids]

https://x.com/yuzokoshiro/status/1863585192071553177?t=Vbxsk76TTaZz2UvpsIrkQA&s=09

古代祐三 Yuzo Koshiro (@yuzokoshiro) on X

Earthion Stage 2 bg screen(real ver)🤩

Twitter · Dec 2, 2024, 2:05 PM

[cloud otter]

So for once the 32X SH core was ahead of the Saturn one! (checked the changes today and they were already in the SH update 2 weeks ago). That's awesome!

[shut aspen]

32x does what Saturdon't

[cloud otter]

My kid just bought me a hardware 32X. But the power supply packed in was a Gen model 1 (center negative) so I can't use it until I get a new supply. Yay for real hardware HDMI captures (and Doom 32X CD enhanced).

[compact garden]

I ended up buying one of them custom 3 in 1 mega drive power cables. Powers my 32x, Mega CD 2 and Mega Drive 2.

[cloud otter]

Yeah, I like that also because the components are newer and safer and it removes two bricks from the equation!

So I'll probably grab one of those.

[amber gulch]

Hoo boy, finished phantasy star 3. Too be honest I think it was better than the bad rep it has. Not as good as 1 and 2, but not offensively bad. That being said, I played the general improvement romhack on version 1.2, which crashes the game consistently in ||new mota||. I'm 99% sure it's an issue with the hack but with rhdn being in the state it's in I wouldn't know how to contact the dev.

[fading hare]

Worse than 2?

[amber gulch]

Depends, really. Imo ps2 has great bones but the dungeons are just atrocious. It's really bipolar that way. Ps3 doesn't have any huge flaw but it also doesn't have anything as interesting as the characters and story of 2. Some might say it's a bit bland.