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FPGA Based Videogame System


kevtris

Interest in an FPGA Videogame System  

682 members have voted

  1. 1. I would pay....

  2. 2. I Would Like Support for...

  3. 3. Games Should Run From...

    • SD Card / USB Memory Sticks
    • Original Cartridges
    • Hopes and Dreams
  4. 4. The Video Inteface Should be...


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Yea, if it can't support the Dreamcast, Gamecube, Wii, Xbox, or Ps2 I really hope it could support up to the Saturn, n64, and psx. That would still be 5 more consoles I would need to keep around and have modded for hdmi and odes (or jailbreak to run backups in the case of ps2, wii, and xbox) but I could live with that. I just don't want to have thousands of dollars in modded consoles lying around if I can have a 99.9% accurate all in one with native hdmi and the ability to read backups. But for the love of god support reading from an external harddrive or 1tb sd cards something.

Maybe on the Zimba 4000 but for now I would be satisfied with everything up to 16-bit from the popular to the obscure, from the console to the handheld, to the rare and expensive, etc. with the same compatibility with all accessories for each core and every TV input just like the Nt Mini.

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Sunday Project Update:

 

I have bought a bunch of connectors, and next week I will start the process of designing 6 or 8 cartridge adapters for the system. The list of cart adapters I bought connectors for:

 

* SMS

* Intellivision

* Coleco

* Atari 2600

* Atari 7800

* Odyssey ^2

* Supervision

* Gameboy (salvage units)

* Game Gear (salvage units)

 

Also, I have bought parts to make PS2 keyboard adapters that will let you plug a ps2 keyboard into the fami expansion port.

 

Each adapter will be made the same way- a PCB and 4 pieces of laser cut acrylic. I don't know if I will sell these, I might just release the gerber files and let people make the boards through oshpark or similar. I don't anticipate demand will be super high, but you never know. If there's a market for them, I can provide them for sale.

 

For Atari 2600/7800, it will be separate, because the custom connectors are unavailable. I can use 24 pin and 36 pin connectors, however. The 7800 carts fit perfectly into a 36 pin so that is the method I am going for. Ideally it'd be a combined unit but that isn't possible. I am going to have tabs off the PCB that will be used to open the shutters on the carts. This looks like it will work well. We'll see.

 

The acrylic will have a "front" and a "Back", to make it cart shaped, and then two pieces in the top to guide the cartridges into the sockets. It will be held together with screws and standoffs.

Any idea what kinda price point we're lookin at?

I'll be needing one of each!!

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Maybe on the Zimba 4000 but for now I would be satisfied with everything up to 16-bit from the popular to the obscure, from the console to the handheld, to the rare and expensive, etc. with the same compatibility with all accessories for each core and every TV input just like the Nt Mini.

Eh, I wouldn't pick one up until it could at least cover the fifth generation of video game game consoles. My goal is to have one the covers the sixth generation + the Wii (lets be honest if you can do gamecube you can do the wii) as well. Otherwise it isn't complete imo.

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Kevtris is a guest on the My Life In Gaming live stream, starting now if anybody is interested:

 

This stream is really awesome and you should definitely watch it guys (I know it's long, but there's lot of useful info). What you can learn from this video and what is really bothering me is that kevtris is buying practically all the hardware (often very expensive) himself and doing most of the work in his free time. I think it would be good if the community could finance this stuff... maybe there would be enough funds for kevtris to spend more time on his retro FPGA projects.

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This stream is really awesome and you should definitely watch it guys (I know it's long, but there's lot of useful info). What you can learn from this video and what is really bothering me is that kevtris is buying practically all the hardware (often very expensive) himself and doing most of the work in his free time. I think it would be good if the community could finance this stuff... maybe there would be enough funds for kevtris to spend more time on his retro FPGA projects.

I wouldn't mind donating at all, especially if it got us a spot on the preorder list or some cool swag like a laser signed undercarriage on the console or something.

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Kevtris, I have a question for you (and of course anyone can give their opinions here too).

 

Does anyone use an Extron Super Emotia?

This is a device that converts computer graphics to 240p NTSC / PAL through S-Video or Composite. (With option to interlace in 480i)

This is what I use for all my old school PC emulators so they can look as legit as possible on a real TV.

However, these devices are... extremely scarce. (I first heard about them here back in 2007! http://scanlines.hazard-city.de/)

 

I guess when the Zimba3000 is out, I wouldn't need a device like this as much anymore :-D except, there are PC games that are styled after retro games that actually fit perfectly on TVs! (To cite some examples, I played Rockman 7 FC, Rockman 8 FC and Shovel Knight in 240p on my TV thanks to this device).

As long as the game's window can be resized, I can always adjust the pixels to the TV's lines.

 

BUT My question is... how difficult would it be to create a device like this that can display graphics from HDMI to a switchable 240p / 480i NTSC?

Something that made me curious is how you say that your NES core will output all the same A/V artifacts to a TV as a real NES did, so I wondered if there was a way to make PC games output like that through some device (or close, since timing difference is a thing).

Edited by veelk55
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Make sure you unzip the roms. If they are zipped, it will not work. A lot of ROM packs come with them individually zipped for some silly reason.

 

 

Ah, so yeah, it sounds like you're doing everything right. Have you tried renaming the bootstrap in all lower case characters?

 

 

I have a update. After getting a new SD card I used my work computer to download the new version 1.3 and bootstrap files. everything is working great. Thanks for the help.

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Sunday Project Update:

 

I have bought a bunch of connectors, and next week I will start the process of designing 6 or 8 cartridge adapters for the system. The list of cart adapters I bought connectors for:

 

* SMS

* Intellivision

* Coleco

* Atari 2600

* Atari 7800

* Odyssey ^2

* Supervision

* Gameboy (salvage units)

* Game Gear (salvage units)

 

Also, I have bought parts to make PS2 keyboard adapters that will let you plug a ps2 keyboard into the fami expansion port.

 

Each adapter will be made the same way- a PCB and 4 pieces of laser cut acrylic. I don't know if I will sell these, I might just release the gerber files and let people make the boards through oshpark or similar. I don't anticipate demand will be super high, but you never know. If there's a market for them, I can provide them for sale.

All of this is great, but I have to raise a flag here: In two distinct YouTube reviews, it was mentioned that the cart slot on the NT Mini is a little bit loose, which is bad news when you have an NES cart plugged in. One touch and your game easily goes on the fritz. Would it be possible to make the PCB (or at least the edge connector on the PCB) of your cart adaptors a little thicker, just to make it more stable while it's inserted into the NT Mini?

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Any idea what kinda price point we're lookin at?

I'll be needing one of each!!

 

$40 a pop or so probably. I will know more when I make a few.

Is it only me but I got no sound on startropics 1 and 2 .

And trying to start summer carnival 92 recca but only a black screen all these three games working fine on the everdrive.

You have to add an nes 2.0 submapper to make star tropics work. They use MMC6 which operates different from MMC3 when it comes to extra RAM. This is why the sound didn't work. the readme included in the /NES directory explains how to fix this.

 

Kevtris, I have a question for you (and of course anyone can give their opinions here too).

 

Does anyone use an Extron Super Emotia?

This is a device that converts computer graphics to 240p NTSC / PAL through S-Video or Composite. (With option to interlace in 480i)

This is what I use for all my old school PC emulators so they can look as legit as possible on a real TV.

However, these devices are... extremely scarce. (I first heard about them here back in 2007! http://scanlines.hazard-city.de/)

 

I guess when the Zimba3000 is out, I wouldn't need a device like this as much anymore :-D except, there are PC games that are styled after retro games that actually fit perfectly on TVs! (To cite some examples, I played Rockman 7 FC, Rockman 8 FC and Shovel Knight in 240p on my TV thanks to this device).

As long as the game's window can be resized, I can always adjust the pixels to the TV's lines.

 

BUT My question is... how difficult would it be to create a device like this that can display graphics from HDMI to a switchable 240p / 480i NTSC?

Something that made me curious is how you say that your NES core will output all the same A/V artifacts to a TV as a real NES did, so I wondered if there was a way to make PC games output like that through some device (or close, since timing difference is a thing).

I bought one of those types of things back in 1993 or so. It took VGA and outputted composite and s-video. I used it for awhile to have a "large" monitor but ultimately went back to a smaller SVGA monitor. It wouldn't be a good idea to convert HDMI back to 240p NTSC. You'd lose tons of information.

 

All of this is great, but I have to raise a flag here: In two distinct YouTube reviews, it was mentioned that the cart slot on the NT Mini is a little bit loose, which is bad news when you have an NES cart plugged in. One touch and your game easily goes on the fritz. Would it be possible to make the PCB (or at least the edge connector on the PCB) of your cart adaptors a little thicker, just to make it more stable while it's inserted into the NT Mini?

I was going to use the famicom port for the cart adapters, and the NES port for the controller adapters I think so it shouldn't be an issue.

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Is it only me but I got no sound on startropics 1 and 2 .

And trying to start summer carnival 92 recca but only a black screen all these three games working fine on the everdrive.

Works fine for me, Startropics 1 and 2 just need an iNES 2.0 header with submapper 0 set. Summer Carnival 92 loads/plays for me without any modifications

 

 

$40 a pop or so probably. I will know more when I make a few.

awesome. I'll be purchasing a few as well :)

 

 

I've got a bug report! It's simple enough, the option in System -> Menu Button Mapping to control what the Back button should do is reversed. For instance, if I select "Go Back a Level" it actually jumps to start/end, and "Go to Start/End" actually jumps back a level.

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Works fine for me, Startropics 1 and 2 just need an iNES 2.0 header with submapper 0 set. Summer Carnival 92 loads/plays for me without any modifications

 

awesome. I'll be purchasing a few as well :)

 

 

I've got a bug report! It's simple enough, the option in System -> Menu Button Mapping to control what the Back button should do is reversed. For instance, if I select "Go Back a Level" it actually jumps to start/end, and "Go to Start/End" actually jumps back a level.

thanks for the report.

 

I fixed this bug, and you could select 8 options in that menu instead of 6 (whoops) so I fixed that too. and I fixed extra long directory names dropping characters into the file browser border too.

 

These fixes will be pushed out friday with the new batch of cores.

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All of this is great, but I have to raise a flag here: In two distinct YouTube reviews, it was mentioned that the cart slot on the NT Mini is a little bit loose, which is bad news when you have an NES cart plugged in. One touch and your game easily goes on the fritz. Would it be possible to make the PCB (or at least the edge connector on the PCB) of your cart adaptors a little thicker, just to make it more stable while it's inserted into the NT Mini?

Looking at the design of the NT mini case and the NES cart, I'm not sure anything can really be done. I would think the console shell would need to be taller, sort of like NES Top loader.

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Thanks Kev, great work as always! I did have an issue while testing the 2600 core however. I tried it first via HDMI, it worked great, no issues. But when it hook it up via RGB to my PVM and select the 2600 core, it flips out.

 

https://goo.gl/photos/id4shpjYof2Ji3tb7

 

Here's a short video of the issue I'm having when loading the 2600 core on my PVM. I'm able to back out and choose another core, and it goes back to normal. Is there something I'm missing?

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Works fine for me, Startropics 1 and 2 just need an iNES 2.0 header with submapper 0 set. Summer Carnival 92 loads/plays for me without any modification

Tried with INES header editor setting the submapper to 1 now I got sound but the saves dont load when the unit is turned off and on again.

 

Sorry if it is a stupid question never worked with nes header editing before.

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Tried with INES header editor setting the submapper to 1 now I got sound but the saves dont load when the unit is turned off and on again.

 

Sorry if it is a stupid question never worked with nes header editing before.

 

Ah yes I misspoke in my last post, submapper 1 is correct. To save, make sure you go to the ROM menu first by pressing Select + Down and it will ask you if you want to save the SRAM, press yes and your save will be available when you power off.

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Ah yes I misspoke in my last post, submapper 1 is correct. To save, make sure you go to the ROM menu first by pressing Select + Down and it will ask you if you want to save the SRAM, press yes and your save will be available when you power off.

It create a save file and it working as long the unit is on I can load another rom and then load startropics again and the saves work.

But if I turn of the unit and load startropics again I can se it is trying to load the ram file but it does not work, but if I remove the nes 2 header the save file work...

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https://goo.gl/photos/id4shpjYof2Ji3tb7

 

Here's a short video of the issue I'm having when loading the 2600 core on my PVM. I'm able to back out and choose another core, and it goes back to normal. Is there something I'm missing?

It's possible I kinda sorta didn't test the analog menus on 2600. The problem could be the 2600 not running means vsynchs are not being generated, so the menu has nothing to lock to. I am not sure how I can fix this. It might be possible to fix it by subbing fake vsynchs if the game doesn't produce them, I dunno. I am not sure when I will get to fixing this, I will put it in the todo though. If I have time I will try to push out a fix friday.

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It create a save file and it working as long the unit is on I can load another rom and then load startropics again and the saves work.

But if I turn of the unit and load startropics again I can se it is trying to load the ram file but it does not work, but if I remove the nes 2 header the save file work...

Hmm just checked it out, you're right! I think this might be a bug. I got to the first dungeon and saved, then powered off through menu and powered on, and it loaded the ram, but my save wasn't there.

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Eh, I wouldn't pick one up until it could at least cover the fifth generation of video game game consoles. My goal is to have one the covers the sixth generation + the Wii (lets be honest if you can do gamecube you can do the wii) as well. Otherwise it isn't complete imo.

I would because if the fourth generation is the best the FPGA hardware and Kevtris can pull off then that is the best that could be pulled off. I rather buy that to save the space in an entertainment center for most of the consoles I own and many I don't than wait another 20 years or however long it will take to get fifth and sixth generation hardware replicated in an FPGA to clear even more space from an entertainment center. To have everything up to the fourth generation replicated, preserved, and miniaturized into one console that is compatible with all the controllers and accessories of those systems, can be hooked up to any TV I own with any output I choose to save on A/V mods on those systems, can have all the ROM's contained within it to save on all those flash carts, etc. in one console would be amazing and worth it to me. If Kevtris was to pull that off or at least come very close then it would be worth it to me and even though it would be a clone I would likely consider it the best console I own. It would definitely be the most important console I own because it would preserve so much.

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Still waiting for the NT minis to fall off the boat...Ordered mine on the 8th I believe. Come on Analogue you should have made more initially.

 

I would give some money to assist Kevtris , especially with the zimba 3k

Interesting, I haven't been able to order yet cause they are sold out. I was hoping to order one once they get off the boat. Hopefully they got plenty of stock, to handle pre-orders like yours and new purchases also.

Edited by Thomas83Lin
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Yup my order number was #3000 something so I didn't think I was that far down the list. Maybe they were worries about sitting on too much product

 

That's interesting actually, because the JB firmware was basically a surprise, and that might have sent more people to see a better value in it than simply a $450 NES.

 

(Many discussions immediately after the NT mini was released but before the JB firmware poohpoohed the NT Mini for being twice as expensive as the RetroUSB AVS, and 9 times the cost of the NES Classic (assuming you could find one) or the Raspberry Pie (which costs what? $10)

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