Jump to content
IGNORED

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...


  • Please sign in to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

Mine just showed like a hour ago :) already had everything setup ready to go once it arrived. Only trouble I ran into was it didn't want to recognize the update for some reason? but it finally did, not sure what I did to fix it.. But everything seems to be working great, tested rgb on the pvm, no issues at all with my generic cable.

 

I haven't figured out how to open the video menu either while playing in hdmi, seems to go to a black screen when I hit the shortcut keys. I may be doing it wrong oh well I'll mess with it later. Really enjoying it so far :-D

Edited by Thomas83Lin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine just showed like a hour ago :) already had everything setup ready to go once it arrived. Only trouble I ran into was it didn't want to recognize the update for some reason? but it finally did, not sure what I did to fix it.. But everything seems to be working great, tested rgb on the pvm, no issues at all with my generic cable.

 

I haven't figured out how to open the video menu either while playing in hdmi, seems to go to a black screen when I hit the shortcut keys. I may be doing it wrong oh well I'll mess with it later. Really enjoying it so far :-D

My kingdom for a colecovision controller adapter. Playing Smurf is an exercise in futility right now.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I received mine and can not get it to recognize the update either... No luck yet.

 

Also can't sync my controller but I am charging it to be sure,

I had to get a different sd card and load it up with only the latest official firmware just to get it to boot. Then I loaded an sd with only the kevtris firmware and that updated it again. After that I put in the card with all the stuff and it works great. Colecovision star wars seems to freeze randomly at the level select screen though. Cant reliably recreate it though.

 

A lot of colecovision stuff is giving me the "make sure console is turned off when inserting a cartridge" error. Kind of a bummer.

Edited by genfuyung
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had to get a different sd card and load it up with only the latest official firmware just to get it to boot. Then I loaded an sd with only the kevtris firmware and that updated it again. After that I put in the card with all the stuff and it works great. Colecovision star wars seems to freeze randomly at the level select screen though. Cant reliably recreate it though.

 

That worked! I updated to official 2.3 then Kevtris update with no issue. I didn't update at first because I had a picture as soon as I turned on the NT Mini. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I received mine and can not get it to recognize the update either... No luck yet.

 

Also can't sync my controller but I am charging it to be sure,

 

Try the official update from Analogue first. Don't put any other files on your SD, just the update. Power off when it's done and copy all the Jailbreak files over. Once it finishes updating, you should be good to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, folks and hi, Kevtris. I received my NT mini last weekend, and it's fantastic! I'm running it through RGB on a CRT monitor. :lust:

 

Anyway, is this the best place to post error/bug reports, or do you have a preferred forum?

 

So, some bugs (core just prior to 7800 support):

  • I guess you know the GBC core is unfinished, but the audio pitches are messed up & volume sliders don't change anything in the menu. I ran Snow Bros. Jr in both the GB and GBC cores and could really tell the difference.
  • NES Solstice, both on cart and in the JB core, has scratchy static coming out of the noise channel (heard in-game). If the noise channel is set to 0, static stops, but even at volume level 1 (see pic) it is heard.
  • (Not a bug, but if you have sprite limit set to 16, some garbage is seen in the Solstice intro.)
  • FDS loading via RAM adaptor (and real FDS disk drive) in the Fami slot does not work at all. This is a shame. Loading stops / games crash during initial load. Also, several FDS NSFs, such as 3-D Hot Rally, Ai Senshi Nicol, Almana no Kiseki, etc. crash or go off the rails a few tracks in, in the NSF player. So, perhaps your Fami core does not properly enable all the (cart) RAM space needed for FDS games, or there are bus/address range conflicts with some other registers, or something?

My wish list:

  • Please re-enable the Famicom expansion controller for other game cores & the NT menu. That's the only way to add rapid-fire joypads on original Fami hardware, and I'd love to keep using mine for playing games in other cores.
  • Could you add Action Replay support to cores such as GB{C}, Game Gear, SMS? These simply write some value to RAM each VBlank (not so hard to do) and there are plenty of codes out there already for these systems.

Ideas for other users:

  • If you want to listen to GB music, try tracking down .GBS rip packs that have standlone .GB music ROMs as well.
  • If you want the GB Boot ROM to scroll down & finish faster, hex edit location $0049 in the bootstrap ROM from value $0C to something lower, like $04, $02 or $01.

 

post-52926-0-46835600-1489536868_thumb.jpg

post-52926-0-97338700-1489536883_thumb.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still can't sync the NES controller though.. I'll let it fully charge although I'm not sure that will help. Playing with my old NES controller.. that is a tight fit in the NT Mini!

I had some trouble with this also, Hold the sync button on the receiver for 3 seconds then hold (I believe the start button on the controller until it syncs) don't quote me on this because I had alot of trouble also.

Edited by Thomas83Lin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had some trouble with this also, Hold the sync button on the receiver for 3 seconds then hold (I believe the start button on the controller until it syncs) don't quote me on this because I had alot of trouble also.

 

I finally got it but not really sure how.. it was a pain to pair.

 

I turned off the system and the blue tooth receiver remained powered and the controller stayed on. Is there a way to turn off the controller so it does not drain the battery when not in use?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still can't sync the NES controller though.. I'll let it fully charge although I'm not sure that will help. Playing with my old NES controller.. that is a tight fit in the NT Mini!

 

The 8 bit do controller & plug-in are a complete POS, eventually it will sync, somehow, but you'll notice it's quite garbage response-wise anyway. Highly recommend just using an old controller. I'd rather Analogue dropped the price even 5$ and not included the crap but at least it looks good on paper?

Edited by Tusecsy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The 8 bit do controller & plug-in are a complete POS, eventually it will sync, somehow, but you'll notice it's quite garbage response-wise anyway. Highly recommend just using an old controller. I'd rather Analogue dropped the price even 5$ and not included the crap but at least it looks good on paper?

Yeah this controller is trash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't even bother to unpack the 8do whatever controller. Get your wired NES pad and call it a day. My current favorite NES game, Crazy Climber requires 2 pads anyway.

 

Plugged in my NT mini for the first time tonight and it wasn't showing a picture over HDMI on a Samsung lcd. So I plugged it into an old monitor and got a picture (*phew*). updated the firmware, so hopefully that fixes it, although I haven't moved it back to try yet.

 

Just playing with it "as is" before adding the jailbreak, it worked great with NES & Famicom carts. I then plugged in an Everdrive and had a great time playing Blaster Master until I accidentally hit select (to get out of the vehicle) while moving the D-pad and the menu briefly came up and then the entire system reset for some reason. I found that the built in commands for the Everdrive also kind of conflicted with the commands for the Mini (e.g. down+select) so there'd have to be some reconfiguration done there.. .. or, I could just leave the Everdrive in the original NES and get some ROMs going on the SD and not deal with it.:P

 

Having fun! Can't wait to get to Kev's additions and try out Colecovision & 7800.. but that'll have to be tomorrow. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since there will eventually be a lack of CRT tubes, I guess efforts are better spent on the rendering side with new hardware?

 

Unless people are storing their CRT's in a sealed metal box, they are going to be ruined even if they are left in storage. Most multi-sync monitors have an auto-degauss circuit, but older ones do not. If the shadow mask gets magnetized, then it's ruined. The phosphors also are still activated by ambient light.

 

Like it's far more likely that a "CRT emulating" OLED driver PCB will be designed at some point. But until then you're looking at HDMI 2.0/USB-C as the end game to getting a retro console displaying accurately.

 

The irony is that a 4K monitor can do a better job at emulating a CRT than a HD screen does. This is because you can get an exact 9x integer scale rather than a window-boxed 4X or cropped 5X at 1080p. If you happen to like scanlines (real CRT's never had "scan lines" as they are emulated straight instead of in a sinusoidal pattern) you could literately could emulate the staggered trinitron mask at 4K. But I think emulating these CRT effects are silly and aren't intended effects on games with more than 16 colors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm having issues with color using Composite and S-Video on certain cores with my NTSC CRT TV. 7800 core is black and white, Colecovision logo during boot is noticeably dull and the difficulty selection is purple instead of blue. Those same cores have the correct color when using component on the same TV. NES looks great in composite, looks very close to the real thing. SMS seemed normal.

 

 

I had to get a different sd card and load it up with only the latest official firmware just to get it to boot. Then I loaded an sd with only the kevtris firmware and that updated it again. After that I put in the card with all the stuff and it works great. Colecovision star wars seems to freeze randomly at the level select screen though. Cant reliably recreate it though.

 

A lot of colecovision stuff is giving me the "make sure console is turned off when inserting a cartridge" error. Kind of a bummer.

 

I thought it was my SD card, but I tried the latest official, then the JB and it worked. I noticed the firmware preinstalled was 1.6 and the latest JB was 1.6, maybe it thought they were the same version and wouldn't update.

I'm having issues with colors using Composite and S-Video on certain cores with my NTSC CRT TV. 7800 core is black and white, Colecovision logo during boot is noticeably dull and the difficulty selection is purple instead of blue. Those same cores look great on component on the same TV. NES looks great in composite, looks very close to the real thing. SMS seemed normal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been using a Wii U pro controller. The 8bitdo controller is junk! I did notice if you have 2 8bitdo recievers plugged in and the 2nd player reciever is flashing it will cause interference with the 8bitdo reciever connect to the Wii U controller. I have not tried to see if I get the same issue with the 8bitdo controller since I hate it.

 

My main problem with the 8bitdo controller is the d pad is horrible. When I hold the down button mario goes up and down. Forget about hitting down and to the right or left.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine just showed like a hour ago :) already had everything setup ready to go once it arrived. Only trouble I ran into was it didn't want to recognize the update for some reason? but it finally did, not sure what I did to fix it.. But everything seems to be working great, tested rgb on the pvm, no issues at all with my generic cable.

 

I haven't figured out how to open the video menu either while playing in hdmi, seems to go to a black screen when I hit the shortcut keys. I may be doing it wrong oh well I'll mess with it later. Really enjoying it so far :-D

Figured out video settings while playing, thanks a post above. Also figured out that the video mode shortcut key I was triggering was switching between rgb and hdmi. I just keep both hooked up now so I can switch between sets.neat :)

Edited by Thomas83Lin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heres a problem ive noticed in a few cores, just saw it again in the 7800. When you have scanlines on and a character is in front of a solid color and moves, the scanlines disappear from where he was and dont draw back in until the character starts moving again. Midnight mutants on 7800 is a good example. Start the game and go left until you see a path downward. Go down and youll be on a bridge over a river. If you move your character along the bridge you'll see the scanlines basically being erased by him wherever he moves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Played shantae on the gbc core for an hour or so earlier and saved in game and to the ram. Double checked to make sure the save was there and it was. Switch over to 7800 and played for a while and just went back to Shantae and the save is gone....do you lose saves on systems if you switch to a different core?

Edited by genfuyung
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...