Game-Tech.US

Finally some progress on the tg-16 region mod pcb!

There was a vrc7 mapper released for the NES Everdrive. This means Lagrange Point can be played! I had some trouble getting a couple of the roms to work, english translation worked 2 times and not once since... The hi-def nes kit shines here as it's the only way to get the expansion audio to work since the kit generates it internally, no need for the exp audio part of the mapper pack to work, which currently does not. It was also my first attempt at audio capture via line out or headphone jack of the projector and tv, neither work very well. Can anybody recommend a good hdmi 1080p capture card?

Initial stages of fitment of kit to front loader NES.

Some of the Analogue NT's have made it out to customers. Here's a link to one guy's review of it with the Hi-Def kit installed: http://filthypants.blogspot.com/2015/08/analogue-nt-hdmi-first-look.html

Kevin's post from the nesdev thread: Well, Jason (gametech) came over tonight and we did a bunch of everdrive testing. Turns out his everdrive works fine on my HDMI modified toploader. We ran SMB3, Zelda, Double Dragon, Faxanadu, SMB, SMB2, and a bunch of other games and all of them seem to work fine. Overall I tested NROM, UNROM, MMC1, and MMC3 games. The only minor issue I had was reset. sometimes I had to mash reset a few times before the menu would come back up. Once (out of 15-20 games run) I had to cycle the power. This confirms what I said earlier about the ED working back in november. It seemed to work then and still seems to work now. Turns out his ED is one of the very first made, and as such it has really old firmware on it. Rev 3 firmware. I also have a "modern" ED that uses the latest firmware. This ED does NOT work on the Hidef nes. The menu sometimes comes up and the graphics are always corrupt- looks like uninitialized VRAM. You can tell the menu is there, but you can't start a game, it just resets. Sometimes it's showing an error screen I think, but you can't read it. I did not get this version to run a game. So I took the rev 3 firmware off Jason's ED and put it on the "modern" ED, and guess what it worked just as well as his ED did! So whatever change happened between rev 3 and 4 of the ED firmware seems to be the reason. I put the latest version of firmware on Jason's ED and it failed in the same way the "modern" ED failed. These are good data points on tracking down the problem I think. I was thinking of making a video showing this happening. Regarding the HDMI connector fit, I test fitted my toploader with the cable I have here and it worked OK so I thought it was going to be fine. The connector is recessed as far as it is so I could use the same board on the NES and the nt both. I tested so I thought it was OK, but turns out it isn't. Various cables seem to have different "tongue" lengths. I modified one by cutting some of the plastic off with an xacto knife and it only took me about a minute to do this. I was surprised how easy it was actually. This board would work fine on a front loader I think. the plastic is much thinner on the back so the fit should not be an issue there. On the next run I will move the connector out on a little PCB "flag" to fix this issue. Like any other brand new high complexity product, there's going to be some things to fix. There's literally hundreds or even thousands of little things that could go wrong, so it's not unlikely one or two of these things will slip through. I tried to do extremely thorough testing here. This included 20 sets of CPU/PPU's, 4 different NES main boards (front loaders and top loaders), 12 or 13 Hidef NES proto boards I hand stuffed and reflowed, and 10 different monitors. There is also the HDMI Analyzer that I paid quite a lot of money for just specifically so I could debug the HDMI link on this project. Overall I am in fairly deep on this project financially so I hope it will eventually pay off, and that I will make a bit more than minimum wage for the hours I put in and the cash I spent for tools and prototypes. Overall 5 or 6 people were helping me test/debug it (it wasn't just 2 people as someone claimed). Not a whine or anything, just stating what the facts are. Hope this clears up some of the loose ends people have about the project. I hope to be able to supply as many boards as the modding community can use. There's not going to be any limit. So long as people buy them I will sell them, barring any parts availability issues.

I had a couple issues on the first av fami install, but I think we got it figured out!

This vid is a run through of the menu and some features and some game-play on a 120" 1080p projection setup.

I'm gonna say yes, most likely, but i've only tested like 2 cords and i'm sure they aren't all made the same.

Ok the first 6 Hi-Def NES modded US top loaders are up for auction on ebay, just search nes hdmi. They were a bit late as I had a hell of a time uploading them because ebay wouldn't let me upload them and they weren't specific enough about why so I had to try several times. Turns out you can use the word 'mod' in the title, but if you say kit they think it has bundled accessories and if you are listing in the consoles category and don't have the bundled accs option listed then it won't upload. I was doing this from misterlister or whatever that shitty prog is named now. Then they marked them as duplicates even though I used different pics for top and bottom shots on each auction and some different txt in description. I had to add the 3 numbers of the serial number to the title to get them to release all the auctions as not dupes, FK!!!

We have the first batch of kits now, but are not planning to sell any just yet so be patient, watch these vids for more info: First look at kits and lots of talk with Kevtris: First full instal on US top loader:

After a very long time of revising the pcb, I may have finally settled on a design that will work in the 4 and 6 switcher atari's that the TIA is socketed. It's a drop in av and pause mod board, only wires to solder are the output jacks or cord, only one resistor to cut and one switch to wire if you want to use the pause mod. There is a couple jumpers to set for using pause mod or not. I actually use the 3-4 channel select switch most of the time to initiate pause, I may have already detailed how to do it in an older vid I made, but will prolly write up instructions for installation as well as make more vids. I don't plan to sell individual kits, i'll leave that to stoneagegamer.com, but might take bulk orders from installers etc. I have my first order in with Myro for a fab and assemble job for the tg-16 region mod pcb, if that goes well i'll move forward with an order for this board. Once I have more concrete info like price and availability i'll post it here.

Kevin's latest update: Ooooh yeah. PCBs have arrived! It won't be long now! //////////////////////// I have already had an email asking if this means it's time to ship their console to me!?!? LOL NO! I know you all are very excited to get this done, but my request of 'please don't email us and bug us about this until concrete plans are put out there' is still in effect, sorry... Kevin is close on his end, but he will only have 100 kits and we haven't decided how to sell them just yet. Not to mention they aren't really done yet and I don't have any in my possession yet. Nor do I want a bunch consoles to show up at my house waiting to be modded...

Latest update from Kevtris: Woot, I finally sent the stuff off so the HiDefNES boards are in production! I have also posted the final "pre production" update. I don't know how long it will be until I get boards in hand but I will probably post another update video when that happens.

No, he just put their name into the firmware of the hi-def nes kit.

For those that didn't see it here is the analogue NT running the hi-def kit scrolling through menu options:

It's supposed to work on ALL NES/FAMI hardware, but we will test them all to make sure. It won't physically fit in the original fami because of the eject, so not sure we'll do one for it.

I think most of the info has been put out there and there's been plenty of game play, but i'm sure more will pop up even if not from Kevin. I can't say on release date, but i'm hoping in the next month or two he'll have a finished product and be able to start getting them fabbed and assembled, but that process may take time too.

New vid from Kevtris: Update #8 is now posted. This time I show how I place the parts and reflow solder it in a modified toaster oven. After a few more minor additions, I think it will be ready for the world.

Here's update #7 from Kevtris: This time I totally redo the board layout, and I took a time lapse video of me doing this. You can watch the board "grow" from nothing to completion! CopyNES USB was added, a 5V buck regulator on-board, and a form-factor re-do so it will properly fit the toploader. Enjoy!

Update #6 is now posted. Looks like I'm about done on the software side. The things left: * copynes * updating via cart * audio register viewer * PCB redesign to fit in the toploader under the main PCB

Latest update vid from Kevin: Update #5 has been posted. The brightness on the HDMI output is a bit blown out but this is because of the capture card. I didn't spot it until it was rendered and posted. bleh. Every time I capture something it seems to screw it up in a different way. Anyways, I show a couple games (Duck Maze, Orb 3D, and Micromachines) which apparently gave the nesRGB fits. Also, the flowing palette demo apparently doesn't work either. All four of these are shown. Enjoy!

I may have found a good solution to getting the hdmi connector to come out the back of the top loader and av famicom!!!

Kev's best update yet! From Kev: Here's the 4th update! Things added since last time: * DVI Mode * Screen is centered * Pixel masking fixed * Set the relative audio volumes * Fixed extraneous pixels * Hot keys were added * Overclocking * Palettes! * Menu info is now correct * Fixed the powerpak NSF player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9gUVcU ... e=youtu.be Enjoy!

This is my first real attempt at putting the pcbs of the Hi-Def NES HDMI kit in to a Nintendo Top Loader.